I should be your budget planner...

Last night Mackenzi and I went to the grocery store so she could pick up some toothpaste. Apparently, this small task required two of us. Grocery stores have been known to suck people in and only release them after they have dropped a good $40. Mackenzi must have needed my support and strong will power to hold her back from spending money. The flaw in her plan: I have no will power of my own. In fact, I often encourage my friends to spend money. That way, my spending habits seem less substantial and I feel better about myself. It's an evil plan, but one that has worked well in the past for me.

Note to friends: This disability of mine comes in all shapes and forms. Do not be fooled. Common and/or typical persuasive techniques include phrases like, "Oh sure, Sue, that sweater looks really good on you. In fact, you should get two. One in black and one in white." or "You definitely need that pair of shoes. I can't think of anything in your closet that resembles it. Well, maybe the shoes you are wearing right now, only they have a small strap across the front. So yea, get those. They are totally different."

To make a long story short, not only did Mackenzi start to acquire things that she didn't initially go in the store for, but soon I was picking up items too. Milk, yogurt, hairspray, condoms, oatmeal...oh wait... not oatmeal. Anyway, our arms became so full with all these items that we grabbed the closest cart available:


Man, why didn't we have shopping carts like this when I was a kid? Kids are so spoiled these days. I was tempted to ask Mackenzi to squeeze inside the cart car, but I refrained. Mainly, I was worried that the small social society of Dan's Foods would judge the young, unwed, childless lady pushing the child's cart and think, "That poor lady. Look at her push that cart wishing she had a child inside it." I would have said back to them, "Poor lady?? Man, why do you think I bought the condoms?"

Note: Mom, don't worry, no condoms were actually purchased. Give ya a scare did I?

6 Things About Me.. I've Been Tagged...

Now, normally these things annoy me - refer to this post if you need remembering. But this type of "tag" is interesting to read - so without further ado....

#1 - A typical shower for me takes 7 minutes. I believe my max time in a shower has probably been 15 minutes. I think I get claustrophobic standing in such a small space with steaming hot water. I then, don't understand people who can't take showers in under 15 minutes. It seriously mystifies me. What on earth takes 15 minutes?

#2 - My taste buds still have not matured. If I could, I would still order off of the kids menu at most restaurants. Basic foods like chicken fingers, fries, grilled cheese sandwiches and pizza always sound good.

#3 - I had surgery on my left eye almost 3 years ago. My eye sight was too bad in my left eye to get lasik, so I had a lens implanted in my eye. I had 9 stitches in my eye after the surgery. And now, if the light catches my eye at the right angle, my eye reflects like a cat's in the dark. I call it "my cat eye". And just the other day, I had a friend see it and say, "Oh my gosh, are you half cat?"

#4 - If you catch me on the wrong day, I might cry for no reason at all. I cried once after going through security at the airport when they took away my hand lotion. I had just spent $20 on the best hand lotion known to mankind, and I forgot that it was in my carry on. The security lady was mean and yelled at me for not taking my Ziploc plastic bags out of my carry on. Oh, and did I mention this happened 7 months ago? Yes, I am a grown woman and cry in public.

#5 - I once had a glow in the dark retainer. I luckily never had braces, but I did have a big space in between my two front teeth that needed to be fixed. So, a retainer did just the trick. When the option of a "glow in the dark" retainer was available, I jumped at the chance. It was awesome. If I held it up to the light for a good 30 seconds, it would glow in all it's brightness through the night. It was a hit at sleepovers.

#6 - I love mayonnaise. It by far is my favorite condiment. When I lived with Kristine, Katelyn and Megan, I would have a turkey sandwich almost every night for dinner. What I should have called the sandwich was a mayonnaise sandwich, with turkey and cheese. I am pretty sure I bought one of those ginormous tubs at Costco and had cleaned it out in 4 months time. All. By. Myself.

So, nothing too deep - but just some meaningless facts about me. So, who's next:

Alisa
Miranda
Diania
Amanda
Nicole Esplin
Amy Taylor

Flashback Friday - My Good Ol' Friend Kristine

Last week we had a bridal shower for my very dear friend Kristine. It was a great shower with lots of friends, good food and fabulous conversation. I took very few pictures from the shower, and I really only like this one enough to post for the world to see:


Jake will LOVE these...I am sure of it. I suggested that instead of the naughty piece of clothing I purchase for her, she should wear this on her wedding night. She told me she would think about it.

Now, after discussing my love for blogs, my friend Diania told me about a fun thing that her friend does every friday on her blog. She does something called, "Flashback Friday". She puts an old picture up and tells a story. I really liked this idea and I have decided I will partake of this idea.

I decided my first "Flashback Friday" post will be dedicated to Kristine. With her wedding a week from today, I thought it would be fun to take at trip down memory lane. Kristine and I have been friends for over 10 years. 10 years!!! It is so crazy to think that time has gone by so fast! So, without further ado... I give you Kristine...

High school sophomore year christmas party (1997). Please Kristine, don't kill me. But this picture was too good to pass up. Nothing is better than her light wash jeans, oversized white long t-shirt and fleece sweater vest to match. Classic 1997 fashion:

Kristine and Bekah

Summer after sophomore year of high school (1998). Kristine was gracious enough to invite all us rowdy kids up to her cabin in Oakley:

From left to right: Me, Lindsay, Kristine, Ashley, Allie, Katie

The next day we went boating and rode her wave runners at Rockport Lake. Gosh, thanks goodness for the invention of the straight iron. My hair shows classic sign of a poorly round brushed blowdry job:

From left to right: Richie, Kyle, Allie, Lindsay, Matt, Steve, Ashley, Garrett, Katie, Cameron, Me, Kristine

I am thinking this was taken sometime senior year. We would always hang out at Katie's house. This was taken in Katie's bedroom:


A common hangout place amoungst our group of friends was Einstien's Bagels. This was taken on one of the last days of senior year.

From left to right: Ali, Katie, Allie, Erica, Katelyn, Me, Kristine

Our friend Jessica moved to Vegas sometime after high school (I don't remember when) and so all us girls went to visit her one weekend. This was taken on the way down to Vegas:

Left to right: Me, Katie, Allie, Kristine, Katelyn and Amy

Me and Kristine being dorks:


At a Utah football game. I am thinking this was sophomore year of college (2001) - but I can't be sure:

Kristine, Allie, Amy and Me

I haven't a clue as to what we were doing in this picture. I think that might have been Ben Barker's car behind us... a boy both Amy and Kristine (both in the picture) dated (2002).


I think this was the summer before sophomore year of college... at Garrett Burbages farewell:

Katie, Allie, Me, Callie, Katelyn and Kristine

We played Powder Puff with our LDS sorority (Gamma). For some odd reason we had cake at the game. And of course instead of eating the cake, we got in a food fight. This was fall of our junior year (2002):

Jen, Kimi, Kristine, Me and Amy

We were biker chicks for Halloween one year. I think this was sophomore year of college (2001).

Amy, Kathrine, Me, Kristine

Now, for anyone that knows Kristine, her birthday is the most important day of the year. She starts counting down a month before her birthday. And then her birthday is just not a day, but an entire week. This picture was taken at her birthday party at Fat Cats junior year (2003):


This picture was taken as we were about to go into the Medals Plaza downtown during the Olympics. We were going to see Dave Matthews Band perform. First of all, Kris and I aren't the biggest Dave Matthews fans, but we thought it would be fun to go. Big mistake. We have never been so cold in all our lives. I even remember wanting to spend time in the port-o-potties (which were new and unused by the way) because they provided shelter from the cold. That night was miserable. This is us before we realized what a night we were in for:


Kristine, Katelyn and I were lucky enough to be students during the years of Andrew Bogut (basketball) and Urban Meyer. With my involvement on Student Alumni Association, I was able to get us sweet tickets to all basketball and football games. This is us at one of the many U basketball games we went to:


And this is us at my parents right before the Utah/BYU football game (2004):


Our friend Adam got married a few years ago. We drove up to Logan to his reception. Now that I think of it, I haven't seen him since his wedding. Sad :(

Allie, Me, Adam, Kristine and Katelyn

This picture was taken on my cell phone, so it isn't good at all. But this was the 4th of July at Sugarhouse park... about 2 years ago.

Kristine and I lived together for 6 short months. We lived in this darling house in Sugarhouse and had so much fun that summer. I believe Kristine went grocery shopping maybe once while we lived there. She would go home every day for breakfast and lunch before and after she went to the gym. I am laughing now thinking about it. This picture was taken on the 24th of July at our house:


And finally, this picture was taken on the cruise we went on this past January. We had a blast on the cruise. We stayed up until 3 every night, were up at 8:30 to get a good lounge chairs, met new people, ate ourselves sick and got ourselves some good tans. The cruise was a blast and now that I think of it, our last singles gal trip we will ever take together!


Love you Kristine! We have had some great memories over the years!

Europe Trip Part 4: Salzburg

The last installment of my Europe trip posts is here... in Salzburg. After spending only one short day in Vienna, we hopped on another train to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg was the hometown of Wolfgang Mozart. We visited his birthplace and also the home he grew up in. Very cool. Made me want to go out and buy a Mozart cd. That reminds me, I'll buy one on iTunes today.

We did some shopping, site seeing and goofing around. I bought a fabulous pair of boots (my goal while in Europe) and was pleased to think that no one will have them at home :)











I believe the Sound of Music was filmed in Salzburg (or at least quite a few scenes) and we made sure to make those as priority stops.

The fountain the the Von-Trapp family dance around. And if you look closely, you can see the steps they hop up and down on as they sing "doe ray me":



We also saw the little glass house that Lizel and her want-to-be boyfriend danced in while singing "You are 16 going on 17". This is me reinacting Lizel's leaping:


On our last day, we rented a car and drove back to Vienna. We stopped in few small towns along the way and became a little frustrated when NOTHING was open on Saturday. I mean freak, we just wanted lunch! And, if someplace was open, they certainly didn't speak English. Hunger, cramped quarters and car sickness wasn't a good combination for the Harris clan.




Our main stop was this fortress. Again, haven't a clue to what it was called... but it was pretty cool.





THANKS MOM AND DAD! IT WAS ONE FABULOUS TRIP!!!

Apparently, I can't always win...

So, my gas light has been on for who knows how long. I like to play a fun game of "chicken" with my gas light. How long can I go without filling up?? I am sure over the past 9 years of my driving career I have coasted into gas station on fumes.... but I have never lost to the power of my machine.... until this morning.


One annoying thing about my car is the gas light. It will go on and tell me how many miles I have until I am at empty. However, this number changes depending on who knows what. One day, I was leaving work and the light came on and said I had 32 miles until I was empty. I drove straight home and when I got home it said I only had 9 miles until I was on empty. WTF? Downtown is not 23 miles away. So after that, and a few other instances, I decided not to trust my gas light reading. I have learned to reset my odometer (I believe that's what it is called) and I fill up according to how many miles I have gone.

However, today my machine beat me. As I drove up the street from my house this morning, my car completely shut down. And my some cosmic force, I was directly in front of a gas station. I left my car in the middle of the street, ran into the gas station and rounded up 3 nice gentlemen to push my car to the pump. It was totally embarrassing.

Things I learned today:

1) My car can go 408.2 miles on one tank of gas
2) My car's tank holds 20.2 gallons
3) It is extremely embarrassing to run out of gas
4) I should pay attention to my odometer
5) I should fill up when my gas light first comes on
6) It cost $60 to fill up my gas tank from empty to full

Europe Trip Part 3: Vienna

Disclaimer: I pretty much wore the same outfit everyday. I either wore my black zip up fleece or my black pull over fleece. I depended on if it was my day to carry the camera. I wore different long sleeved shirts underneath, but still, I look the same in almost every picture.

After Prague, we took a train back to Vienna. We only spent one day in Vienna and most of it was spent at Marie Antoinette's childhood summer home. I believe it was called something like, Shombrunn. Anyway, it was gorgeous and the tour we took inside was fabulous.

We ate lunch at a little cafe they had on the grounds of the palace. And, I decided to venture out of my safe choice of pasta dishes and order something authentic to Austria... Wiener Schnitzel. Now, Weiner is pronounced with a "v", not "we". I didn't know this but was nicely corrected by my dad before I embarrassed myself and ordered the "wEEner schnitzel." Man, I really would have looked stupid. Thanks Dad!

Anyway, here are some pictures from Vienna. Most of them are from Shombrunn.






This is one of my favorite pictures: