Life of Tracy

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 102

2012-01-26T23:51:00.001-08:00

I'm not really even sure what to say about this last week. It has been cold, we finally are getting our Winter snow. On Saturday we drove to Park City just to turn around. I swear the people who plow the roads thought they had this year off since we have not had much snow this Winter. None of the roads were plowed and it was bad by park city. Seriously... I have never seen so many cars stuck and slid off the road as I did on Saturday on the way to Park City. It was nuts. My favorite quote that day was from my friend Dave's facebook status that day.. "Don't worry UDOT... I got this... I'll just plow every road between Provo Canyon and PC with my Mazda. Just send the check in the mail."

I was watching the Bachelor this week and they went to Park City Utah. It was for sure filmed in the fall because it was beautiful. It was so fun to see them here in Utah and to see the dates he took the girls on. One of his one on one dates he took the girl to the Crater! I recognized it as soon as they got there seeing as though I went 3 times in one month. It was cool that they decided to do that, but at the same time I had to laugh because they made it sounds so scary because they repelled from the top. They were claiming it was 300 ft down but it really is not that high at all. They didn't show the platform inside the crater or that there was another entrance. Desiree and I had a good laugh about it. Makes you think what else they terribly exaggerate on that show. Pretty funny.

I have been being a little more social with the ward lately. Everyone has been asking me where I have been. Ha ha... I didn't realize that I had not been around lately... but I do feel that way, just not sure what I was doing instead... how did it happen. I feel like I'm in a time warp or something.

I went to a Chinese New Year Party tonight. A friend and I jammed out on the guitar at the party... he was teaching me some new songs. The Chinese New Year Party was good. Not as awesome as the one we threw last year of course, but it was good. I had a great time hanging out with everyone. This year is the year of the Dragon, which is pretty legit. More legit than last year which was the year of the Rabbit.

Other than that, besides going to the temple, it has been a pretty discouraging week. Mostly because I feel like I have not lost any weight. Given, I have not weighed myself yet, but usually you can tell with how your clothes fit. I mean... I have not been eating any carbs or sugar ALL month long. The one time I cheated I had a slice of corn bread when going out to eat with my roommates. My roommate also made a whole wheat banana bread that I had some of... but besides that, nothing. Seriously. I have also been eating 1200 calories or less and have been keeping track on my phone. I ALSO have been continuing with my workouts doing Pialtes and Zumba and running. All of this you would think you would have seen more results. Ugh. I hate that my body is so stubborn. Guys on the other had just stop drinking soda and they lose 20 pounds. Jason lost 20 pounds this month and he just started eating better and a little less, he doesn't even exercise. I know I shouldn't compare myself to guys because they lose weight so much easier than girls... but seriously. I need some encouragement, I need to see some results in order to keep this up. I want to fit into my pants again!!! This is so discouraging. I want to have my hard work pay off and show some results! Okay... I'm done venting. Anyone have any suggestions of how to help a stubborn body? I will take any advice I can get. Maybe I should sign up for a personal trainer again...

Photo of the Week 100

2012-01-25T23:23:00.000-08:00

Ice ice baby...

Colors

2012-01-24T23:33:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have taken the color test... again. Some people think that the color test is silly, but I really like it. Once you get to know what each color means, it really helps you understand people a lot more. At least it does for me. It helps you understand what motivates people and why people react certain ways instead of getting frustrated and not understanding why people don't think and handle things the same way that you do. Of course you still get frustrated... but at least it helps you understand more.

Because it helps you understand other people more, it is really great to take this test with other people. The other Sunday James was over for dinner at my families house and we took it together with my sister. It is amazing how well I know him. I could have taken that test for him. In fact he asked me what I thought on a lot of those questions. In the end it helped us get to know each other more and it opened up great discussion on what we need to improve on with communication and so on. I thought it was so great that I came home and told my roommates about it. They wanted to take the test too, so I borrowed the book from my mom and I read the questions to my roommates (plus Vicki & Tara) and they all took the test. Once you have an understanding of all of the colors... you usually can guess what people are before they take the test. I am usually pretty accurate. Nonetheless it was still great to take it as a group and talk about our differences and similarities of how we react and handle situations. I think we left learning more about each other and understanding each other more... and that is never a bad thing if you ask me. I recommend taking it with people you want to open up communication with. It is super great for that. Just make sure they are honest when taking the test... some people try to take the test with the outcome they want rather than what they are. Not sure why... it is not like there is no right or wrong answer.

I have taken this test a handful of times since I was in middle school. Of course it changes a little as I have gotten older and understand more of who I am and what life has molded me to be, but my core colors have always stayed the same. Blue / Yellow. Some people have a hard time taking the test, but it is amazing to me how easy that test is for me. I really know who I am. I am fully aware of my weaknesses because I hate those things about me, but I also know that I have some really great strengths and can appreciate that about myself. Yep, I am for sure a Blue / Yellow through and through.

Here is my score when I took it this last time.

Blue = 22
Yellow = 13
White = 7
Red = 3

Here is what the book says about my color combo (Blue/Yellow):
First thing it says is that we are fun to tease (this explains why I have been teased by everyone my entire life). "I call them my duel personalities, because they can be footloose and carefree one minute then suddenly turn very serious the next.... They are intimacy-based and have no strong desire for power in their relationship."
Blues are motivated by altruism. Blues crave intimacy. Blues need to be loved. Blues are directed by a strong moral conscience.
Yellows value play. Yellows welcome praise. Yellows need intimacy. Yellows want to be popular. Yellows like action.

Yep.... that is me in a nutshell. Do you think it would be too hard to find a guy that was blue/yellow? I think that would be good for me... not sure what other color I would need to balance me out. Guess I will find out... one day.

LAZY

2012-01-23T23:39:00.000-08:00

Seriously... this is all I do these days. We watch LOST over at Jason's. We are only half way through. We have fun for sure, but I need to get out more. I love these girls!

Angry Birds

2012-01-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor, Jason (he is the one that bought me the Mini Mouse Santa Hat), went on a business trip to California. While he was there he got a little gift for me and my roommates. What is it you ask? Angry Birds Beenies!! We decided right then and there (ok, mostly me) that we should take pictures together with our new beenies. Rachel said it had to snow first. Well... it finally did. So here we go... our Angry Bird Photoshoot!

Here is what my Angry Bird Beenie looks like.

Tina and I

Angry Faces!!

All of us!

Thanks Jason for the beenies and for thinking of us while you were on your business trip. You are going to be the best next door neighbor ever!! :)

Gateway with the Girls

2012-01-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

Friday night we had a fun girls night. Went up to Salt Lake City to the Gateway mall. Love this mall. Reminds me of shopping at home. The weather was nice, we shopped at a couple of stores. You know how I am redoing my room to have my dream room this year? Well... we stopped at "Z Gallery" for this. While I was spending big bucks, this was going on...

After shopping we ran through the fountains. We then went to dinner at this nice place where I could stick to my diet because they had a section of the menu that everything was 550 calories. We had so much fun... we were loud and probably a little obnoxious but we didn't care. We stopped by some random 80's party with a bunch of people we didn't know on the way home. I partnered up with a guy I didn't know and played the Michael Jackson dance game on the Connect. We kicked butt and then went home.

It was the perfect Friday night girls outing. Thanks ladies for a good time!

Flashback Friday 48

2012-01-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

The weather has been rainy and snowy... so I thought I would flashback to Winter of 2006 when I took these pictures with Sara and my roommate Tessa.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 101

2012-01-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

This week I was browsing facebook and one of my really good friends, Monica, posted that her little sister (17) had written and recorded a song that is now on iTunes. I went and bought it to support Monica's sister. The song is called "Winterlude". Anyway, it is actually really good. I love it. When I see people that I know who are successful writing lyrics and composing music and actually record it... it ALWAYS makes me want to do that too. Such a great way to express yourself. The thing is... I am not very good at it. Otherwise I would have done it already right? Every time I try to write lyrics I feel like they always come out super cheesy. This leads me to listen to some of my favorite songs and really listen to the lyrics and really think about how the lyrics are written and why it is so powerful and why I love it so much.

So this lead me to listen to one of my favorite songs (as of now), "Empty" by Ray LaMontagne. I love him. I would LOVE to see him in concert... seriously. Anyway... I was listening to the song, trying to figure out why I love it so much. I of course like the tune, but as I listened to the lyrics I really relate to the lyrics. It is poetic, the music and the lyrics really express emptiness. I relate. One part of the song he sings...

"There's a lot of things I don't understand, why so many people lie. It's the hurt I hide that fuels the fire inside me".

The beginning of that is such a simple sentence that really touches a deep subject. I couldn't have said it better myself. That hits home for me. I think the same thing all of the time. I DON'T understand why so many people lie. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I think about it a lot because I truly don't understand why people do. Not that I have never lied before in my life... but I really don't have it in me to just lie to people. However, people lie to me ALL of the time. Little lies that people make up about themselves... (maybe to make themselves feel better, I don't know) to big lies to hide things from me and everything between. I wish I knew why people did it. Is it to make themselves feel better? Is it to help me not get my feelings hurt? Is it to save them from feeling guilty for knowing they are going to hurt my feelings? I'm really not sure. What I AM sure about is that I now have trust issues. I was really hoping that I wouldn't... but I do. If anything seems fishy I assume people are not being honest with me and I don't trust them. I hate this. I want to trust people. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt but more and more I find myself instead just not trusting people (especially men) and putting up walls so that I don't get hurt.

I am working on this. I know it is not a good quality to have, but it does bring me back to the question I don't understand. Why DO so many people lie? I really hope there is a guy that comes a long to prove me wrong one day. Maybe all of this will inspire song writing? :)

Photo of the Week 99

2012-01-18T23:39:00.000-08:00

This was taken at a Petting Zoo that happened to be at a gas station in the middle of nowhere Utah

Internet Funnies

2012-01-17T22:38:00.000-08:00

Remember a couple of months ago when I posted some of my favorite funnies that I had seen online? Well... there are so many that I thought I would do another post of them.

"The Birds" Barbie

Of course the Harry Potter ones are always my favorite. There are so many out there!

Hope they make you laugh as much as they make me laugh.

Mr. His Name is My Name too

2012-01-16T22:11:00.000-08:00

So I have written about this guy before... but I thought he deserved his own "Guy Story" post.

Facebook is an interesting world. It has changed so much from when I first joined in 2005. You can find just about anyone on there, which is awesome. Over the past few years I have received random messages from different Tracy Mills's out there in the world. The first time it happened I remember getting an email saying "you received an email from Tracy Mills on facebook" and I thought to myself... that's weird, I don't remember writing myself on facebook. ha ha. Turns out it was a Tracy Mills in England that just wanted to say hi because we had the same name and wanted me to join the group "Mills, better than your average Brady Bunch" or something weird like that. Maybe a year later or less I got another message from another Tracy Mills. This girl was from the Midwest again just saying hi because we had the same name.

In October 2010 I received a friend request from a Tracy Mills. I went to check it out and this time it was a guy from Alabama. I wrote him back and said something like... "Why should we be friends? You think just because we have the same name that we need to be facebook friends?" or something like that, I don't quite remember. Anyway, he wrote back and turns out he was quite funny so we ended up writing back and forth and I did end up accepting his friend request.

We have chatted on facebook several times over the past year. It goes through phases. He likes to comment on my pictures and randomly leave me messages telling me he loves me. Sometimes it is awkward when he does that on my wall because I wonder if anyone notices.. but nobody has ever said anything about it. Anyway.. he hits on me a lot and he always jokes that he is going to marry me (which would be the second couple to meet on facebook because of having the same name and getting married... if it were to happen). I have never cared because he lives in Alabama and I know I will never meet him.

One week I got one of the most random phone calls ever. I got this call from a 205 number. I had no idea who it would be... but decide to answer it anyway.

Me: "Hello"
Guy: "Hey, how are you?"
Me: "I'm fine, how are you?"
Guy: "I'm good. Do you know who this is?"
Me: "Nope, who is this?"
Guy: "Tracy Mills"
Me: "Common, really... who is this?"
Guy: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm just hanging out"
Guy: "Sounds boring"
Me: "Umm... seriously, are you going to tell me who this is?"
Guy: "It's Tracy Mills"
Me: *Pause* "OHHHHHH...... my gosh... I don't remember giving you my number..."
Guy: "You didn't, it's listed on facebook"
Me: "really? I don't remember putting it on there"
Guy: "I just wanted to randomly call you"
Me: "Mission Accomplished. This is random"

It made me laugh. I guess 205 area code is from Alabama. He had a strong accent. He kept telling me not to make this awkward because it didn't need to be and told me that I should call him sometime and that it shouldn't be awkward to call each other. ha ha. We never did talk on the phone again but sometimes I hear from him on facebook. Ha ha... oh facebook. Did I tell you how weird it is to talk to someone that has your same name? I always like to think I'm one of a kind... but turns out there are a lot of Tracy Mills's out there. Even in the movies! Gwenyth Paltrow plays Tracy Mills in the movie "Seven" where she is married to David Mills who is played by Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt and I have the same birthday. ANYWAY sidetracked!! I bet out of all the Tracy Mills's out there... I have the coolest blog though. :)

The Journal Jar

2012-01-15T20:53:00.000-08:00

"To you women of today, who are old or young, may I suggest that you write, that you keep journals, that you express your thoughts. Writing is a great discipline. It is a tremendous education effort. It will assist you in various ways, and you will bless the lives of many - now and in the years to come, as you put on paper some of your experiences and some of your musings." -Gordon B. Hinckley

I was going through my stuff and I ran across this Journal Jar that we put together back when I was in Young Women's in High School. It has been sitting around for a LONG time. The purpose was to help us with our Journal writing by giving us questions.... so I have a big jar FULL of questions. I started right after we put it together... but I didn't get very far. So... I thought I would give it another shot. I have started a new blog "The Journal Jar" and I am going to answer each one of those questions. I have NO IDEA how long it will take me, but I figure it would be a fun challenge. Never a bad idea to journal I say. I mean.. obviously I do that already... but this will be journaling in a different way.

I don't expect anyone to follow the blog... it really is just for me. However, I am going to keep a link to the blog for anyone who does want to read it and even a better idea... if people want to copy the questions and do it for themselves. You can get to the blog by clicking on the picture of the Journal Jar on my side tab.

Can't wait to see what questions are inside the Jar!

Knitting

2012-01-14T23:42:00.000-08:00

Desiree and I like to get together and hang out. Sometimes we craft. It had been since our scuba party since we saw each other last.... so we decided to get together again. This time Desiree decided that she wanted to learn how to knit. So I taught her. She is going to knit herself a cute scarf. I can't wait to see it when she is done. (I should post all of my knitting projects sometime)

It is funny... we tend to match each other when we hang out. Not sure how that happens since we don't see each other often and have no idea what the other one is going to come over wearing.

I always love hanging out with Desiree. She is a great friend. Thanks for driving down from SLC to see me Desiree.

Flashback Friday 47

2012-01-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

Since my friend Holly's Birthday is coming right up, I thought I would do a flashback from her birthday party we had for her in 2004.

All of us that grew up together in Santa Barbara got together to celebrate Holly's Birthday. It was great. We used to be so good at getting together. There used to be more of us here as well. Being with my Santa Barbara friends makes me feel at home. Happy Birthday Holly! Hope you have a great one. Thanks for being my friend all of these years. We really have been friends for MANY years. Your awesome.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 100

2012-01-12T19:08:00.000-08:00

In the last couple of months, I have been really hard on myself. Not happy with the way I look mostly... but that affects so many other things. Well... the new year is all about setting new goals right? I did set some goals for myself. One of my MAJOR goals is just wanting to look hot. I know that is vain... but I would like to feel hot for a change.

I also want to look at myself differently. Treat myself differently. I feel like I am always punishing myself and hating myself when I look in the mirror each morning. So here is what I want...

I want to exercise and eat super healthy to get my body looking it's best and feeling it's best too.
I want to relax and take more bubble baths.
I want to redecorate my room and make it my dream room that makes me happy every time I go there to go to sleep. Heck, maybe it will make me want to be in there more and I will read more.
I want cute clothes that I FEEL cute in (which goes back to the health and exercise).
I am continuing with my eyelash extensions because that is one thing about me this year I have loved.
I am going to continue to get pedicures every 2 or 3 months, because I love it.
I want to try to style my hair more, so I feel stylish and cute.
I want to get new perfumes and not just wear them for special occasions.
I want to surround myself with music. Lots and lots of good music. Different music. Music that I create too. I want to get better at playing guitar and I need to sing more. Music fills my heart with happiness.
I want to stop getting attention from guys that only want a piece of action. I want a man who truly cares about ME. Wants to be with me because he likes me.. not because he thinks he can take advantage of me or because he is bored or whatever stupid reason.
I want to take pictures in a different more creative way. Maybe I want to look at life that way too.
I want to travel and experience somewhere new. Every time I do, I find out something new about myself.
I want to paint my nails a different color every week.
I want to be nicer.
I want to give more compliments to people.
I want to be totally and completely content and happy with myself.

Why? Because I'm worth it!

Photo of the Week 98

2012-01-11T22:39:00.000-08:00

Kid History

2012-01-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite episode of Kid History. I don't know why... but it makes me laugh every time. Maybe because I am dieting. Maybe because they sing the Carpenters. Not sure... but I love it. I quote it all of the time.

Boondocks

2012-01-09T23:03:00.000-08:00

While Ashley was here, I got a call Saturday morning (waking me up) asking me what we should all do for the day. Although I was half asleep, I mentioned going to Boondocks in Draper and everyone went for the idea. Almost all of us had also never been there before. I have always wanted to check it out so I thought this would be the perfect group to do that... and it was. The average age there is like 7... but we bumped up the average on Saturday. ha ha. We got the unlimited use pass for the day and played our little hearts out. Sadly since it is Winter... the batting cages and bumper boats were not open, otherwise we would have done them even though it was snowing and freezing outside.

What did we do at Boondocks on Saturday?

Well... We played games like DDR, Guitar hero, shooting hoops etc...

We watched 3 different XD movies.

Played Laser Tag.

Went on the Go-Carts outside... twice! The first time wasn't even fun for me because my hands were so freezing I thought they would fall off, so the second time I went with Jason. Much more fun because I was warmer and he is a better driver. We passed up like 8 cars and we started in the back!

We won lots of tickets from video games and then picked a group prize at the end... which was sunglasses and dice for when we played games together.

Yes, good times were had at Boondocks. I'm glad I have friends like me that don't want to grow up!

Storage Bench

2012-01-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

Remember my India Inspired living room? Well... it's great and I love it, but it was missing a few finishing touches. I felt like under the window it could use a little seat. About a month and a half ago I asked my dad if he would build me a storage bench to go under the window. He looked online for some ideas and then it didn't take him very long before he made this...

I didn't even tell him what I wanted it to look like... but I love it. It is perfect for the room. Just what it needed and now I have even more storage space. My mom was great and made the cushion for the top. It is a beautiful piece of furniture that not only is perfect for the space and gives me more storage, but it is also something that my dad built for me that I can treasure forever. Thank you Dad! I love it!

Guess who's in town?

2012-01-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

Ashley... and we have been having lots of fun.

More to come...

Flashback Friday 46

2012-01-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

Today's flashback takes us back to May 2003. My BFF Lolly and I had little crushes on a couple of guys in the singles ward in Santa Barbara. We wanted to spend some time with them... so what did we do? We planed a group date to the happiest place on earth. The guys didn't realize it was a group date. I wonder if they ever figured it out. Hello 3 girls and 3 guys. Is it not obvious? Ha ha... regardless... it was SO FUN!

On the tram, excited to spend the day at Disneyland.

My "date" and the other guy that I started to have a crush on when the first guy didn't work out.

The girls! I Love these girls.

The group trying to take the sword out of the stone and riding Splash Mountain.

the WHOLE group.

Group date at Disneyland = Best Group Date EVER!!

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 99

2012-01-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

The weather has been SO nice! Almost feels like spring. I really love it... a lot. I just hope that it doesn't mean that the Winter will last longer because of it. I guess we will see.

Speaking of the sun... I took an hour nap in a patch of sun on the floor in the conference room. It was awesome. I asked my co-workers first if they thought it would be weird if I did it... and they said no, it was a great idea. I did it when everyone else was gone for lunch so it was all nice a quite. It was actually really nice. ha ha. I'm so weird.

So... I'm super addicted to LOST. We started a week ago today and we are already done with the 1st season and on the 3rd disk of the second Season. You could say I'm into it. I get a little obsessed actually... they all think I'm crazy now. Seeing a different side of Tracy. This is why I don't watch a lot of TV. I hate my life revolving around it... but everyone once in a while, it is fun to watch a TV series with some friends.

I got sick on New Years Eve and I have kind of felt crappy since. Tis the season I guess.

Even though I work on the 4th floor now and have been since November... I still use the loo on the 5th floor. My old floor. Why you ask? Why walk up a flight of stairs to use the bathroom? Well... good exercise, but I mostly do it because the 5th floor is pretty much empty and so nobody is ever in the bathroom... and I'm pee shy.

Have I told you about Operation Cruise? My friend and I want to lose some lbs. A lot of lbs. Like 40 lbs. Turns out we wanted an awesome reward to help motivate us to reach our goal. We chose to go on a cruise if we lose the weight. As I have told people about our goal... it turns out that a lot of other people have the same goal in mind and want in on Operation cruise. There are now 6 of us doing it. When I accomplish my goal, I am sure I will be blogging about it because I will be pretty happy to accomplish this goal.

Today... I was sitting in my office and all the sudden I could smell smoke. Not smoke from a fire but like someone was smoking and it was coming through the vents. I am sick... so I thought maybe I was going crazy and I asked my co-worker if she could smell it in her office and she said no... so I go around the floor sniffing and I could smell it and the smell was coming on stronger and stronger. I went to other floors and the same thing. Other people were coming out of their offices smelling it. It probably smelled that way for 20 minutes or so and then it went away. And then it happened again later. The smell made me want to poke my eyeballs out. Who does that? The WHOLE building smelled. I hope this doesn't happened again.

I really like pen pals. I like keeping in touch with people and having people to write. It is nice since I am a lone in my office all day and it is a great thing to do while I am bored at work.

Last night my friend Tara convinced me and James to go with her and her roommate and her roommates boyfriend to this abandoned prison right next to our house in Provo. I guess it is haunted. Which is why I didn't want to go. James told Tara we would go... so off to the spooky abandoned prison we went. Not that I thought evil spirits were going to come out or anything... but big, empty, dark, trashed, graffitied buildings that used to be prisons freak me out. Call me weird. Thank goodness there was a cute boy to hold my hand... otherwise why do it at all? I don't like being scared. Anyway.. we searched around that place for like a good 20 minutes and it was... interesting. Creepy. Nothing happened... but it was creepy. I guess I can cross that off my Provo Bucket List... even though I didn't even know about it until the other day.

Photo of the Week 97

2012-01-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

One of the many sunsets on my way home from work

Mr. New Years Eve

2012-01-03T23:07:00.000-08:00

Mr. New Years Eve and I had known each other for a while. When we were friends before... I was seriously dating someone/ engaged. Even still, he would occasionally flirt with me and I thought to myself... if I wasn't dating this guy, I would go out with him. A year or so later we connect again. Start chatting again and flirting and then he asks me out. I was excited. Here was my chance with this guy to see if there was anything there. (Don't get me wrong, I would have never cheated... I never even have any interest in any other guy while I am dating someone. That's how I roll).

Mr. New Years Eve and I go out. We have a great time, we go out again. We are enjoying each others company and continue to see each other and talk. He confesses that he had a crush on me while I was in my other relationship. We talked about how we liked each other. It was cute really.

Christmas was over and done and the question I was waiting for came. "What are you doing New Years Eve?" So we planned our date.

New Years Eve came and the date did not exactly go according to plan, but we were still having a great time talking, setting goals for the new year and being together. In fact.. I felt like things were progressing. I could feel that we were getting closer and more comfortable with each other. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to be in a serious relationship with this guy... but I was getting excited about him. I mean... it is hard to find someone that you like that likes you back. As midnight approached... I was hoping for a New Years Eve kiss. Doesn't every girl hope for that? Especially from a guy you have been spending so much time with? I'm not going to tell this guys secrets or anything (not that you know who it is anyway) but I had a feeling I was not going to get that kiss and I was right. I was a little disappointed, but still having a good time. As our date came to a close, he was a gentleman and walked me to the door.

Mr. New Years Eve: "Well, thanks for going out with me tonight Tracy. Sorry that nothing worked out the way we planned. Please don't let this end up on your blog"

Me: "I won't (woops). And don't worry about the date, I still had a great time being with you. Doesn't matter what we did or didn't do on the date"

Mr. New Years Eve: "Ok good. Well have a good night. Hope you accomplish all of your goals this year"

Me: "Umm... you too?"

And he was gone. Was that a goodbye forever? I mean... I thought the date wasn't that bad. Did I do something wrong? Maybe I am reading into this too much. But doesn't "Hope you accomplish all of your goals this year" imply that you won't be seeing them so good luck?

Turns out I was right. I have not seen him since that date. We have talked since, but that is how it ended. "Hope you accomplish all your goals this year". What the. He might as well have said "So what did you have for dinner". Don't get me wrong, I think he is a great guy and we are still friends... but what a way to end things forever. Oh, and some advice for the guys out there.... don't ask a girl out on a date on New Years Eve if you don't plan on giving her a kiss at midnight. Just sayin.

Burn Baby Burn

2012-01-02T23:47:00.000-08:00

One day, James came to visit me at my work. We were chatting in my office and I reach for my hand sanitizer. For some reason I have kind of been obsessed with hand sanitizer ever since I went to India in 2010. As I am using the hand sanitizer.. James asks me if I have ever lit my hand on fire with the hand sanitizer. What? Umm No. He says... Oh really? Like I should have totally done that before. We will have to do that sometime. Okay I say... sounds like a good time.

4 days later... Hand sanitizer is out.

Which leads to corn starch ...

Which leads to pure entertainment. :)

Cheers to 2012

2012-01-01T22:51:00.000-08:00

Like I said before, every year I have big hopes and dreams for New Years Eve and every year I end up doing something low key. A part of me is disappointed and the other part of me doesn't care because in all reality, it is just another day.

Well... this year was no different. Another low key New Years Eve spent in good company. Tina, Rachel, Jason and I (the new LOST crew) decided we would first get dressed up nice and go out to dinner. We chose GoodWood for our last meal of the year. I was happy with this choice especially since we are all going to be on a major diet starting Monday. It was a good meal. This is what I left for our waiter. (A crane and a kiss)

We then headed to a party of our fellow ward member who now lives in Pleasant Grove. I danced it up on the game Just Dance. We stayed at the party for a couple of hours and then headed home to watch the ball drop on TV. Rachel then made us the most amazing waffles, strawberry daiquiri's. The night before she made us Frozen Hot Chocolate so I thought I would throw that in there too since I have discovered how much I love them. We then watched LOST until late until the night.

The only goal that was discussed for the New Year was wanting to lose weight. If we can lose the weight that we want to... there is a great prize in store. :) Even though we did not talk about goals we wanted to accomplish this year besides weight loss, I still want to write some of mine down because I am big into goals... and I feel like if I write them down, I am more likely to accomplish them. First let's see how I did on last years goals. I mentioned that I wanted to do another race. Check! I ran in the Dirty Dash. Next I mentioned wanting to travel outside of the country again. Check! I went to South Africa. I next mentioned that I wanted to get Scuba Certified. CHECK!! I did that in August! Now... I just need to use it. Next, go to the temple more regularly. Check! Thanks to my good friend Sara. She really helped me in this area. Next, do another painting. Uncheck. I didn't do that. Seems so simple... but I guess I never sat down and really thought about what I wanted to paint. I will have to try again for this year. Next, I wanted to read more. Check! I did read more. Was it a book a month like I later put on my year list, not quite... but I did read more. Last I put that I wanted to learn how to play Guitar. CHECK!! I am still a work in progress, but I can play songs. Woohoo! 6/7 is really good right? Okay... let's be honest, I have a lot bigger list than that which I didn't read off... but I am still thinking I did pretty well.
So... goals for 2012? I will of course have a much bigger list than what I give you... but to give you a few... I want to run in a 10k race, travel outside the country again, reach my goal weight, learn to sew better and I am going to go ahead and put the painting goal back on there.

I am thankful for the last year being a good one with good people in my life. Let's hope that 2012 is even better! Cheers!

L-O-V-E that spells Family

2011-12-31T22:38:00.000-08:00

My week off was spent with these cute kiddo's. *Notice the ipad is obviously a hot commodity with them*

And of course I got to spend some time with Jamie who was in town and my Grandma who now lives here!! Thursday my Grandma treated Jamie and I to Zupa's and a pedicure! I really wish I would have gotten a picture of the three of us getting our pedicure :( but here is a picture of me and Jamie's toes after.

Spending time with my sisters! It was a nice week.

Flashback Friday 45

2011-12-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

Last night I was trying to think of one of my last REALLY exciting New Years Eve's. You know, the ones where you get dressed up and go dancing or something really fun. Not that just chillin with friends isn't good... my roommates and I were trying to figure out something fun to do this New Years Eve and I always want to go out and do something really fun, but that never really happens. Maybe I am just getting too old for that?

The last time I really had an exciting go out and party New Years Eve was in 2004 and 2005. These were the days when I was in Santa Barbara for the Holidays and would stay until New Years. Every year there was a big dance party at a Mansion in Santa Maria for all the Young Single Adults. It was a formal party where they served a nice dinner and served fancy drinks and all of that. I only went a couple of years... but it was fun.

Maybe I am too old now... but every year, I still have the desire to go to a New Years Eve party like this.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 98

2011-12-29T20:21:00.000-08:00

This last week has been pretty relaxing. Way more than I am used to... which is probably good for me every once in a while... but I have discovered that if I have too much down time, I tend to get lazy. I felt like with so much time off, I should have gone out of town somewhere. Oh well. I still had a lot of fun.

Friday there was hardly anyone at work because it was so close to Christmas... so I suggested that we watch a movie in the conference room on the projector. So we did. We watched Funny Farm and then we left work early... which was also nice.

Christmas Eve I spent the day cleaning... my mom and dad brought over my finished bench that my dad built for me. It is beautiful. When the cushion gets made to put on top I will take a picture and show you. My dad did an amazing job on it. It is beautiful. I did some last minute Christmas shopping and spent some time with my parents watching old Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concerts and then I went home. It was probably the weirdest Christmas Eve ever. We normally go caroling. We normally have more family around... it didn't feel like Christmas Eve at all. I went home after that and watched Muppet Christmas movies with Rachel.

Christmas Day I went to church with my parents in their ward. Went to my parents house and my dad made me an egg sandwich just like he did when I was a kid, then we waited for Kristy and her family to get there and we had a Christmas message and opened presents and then had a nice Christmas dinner that my mom made. It was really nice to also have my Grandma there for Christmas. It has been so fun to see her regularly.

My sister Jamie and her family came the next day. The whole week (since I had it off) was spent going to my parents house and playing with my nieces and nephews and hanging out with my sisters. It was fun and relaxing. I don't think I have had a week to sleep in everyday and just hang out with no major plans since last Christmas. Although I would have like to have done more with my sister in town... it was still nice just to hang out. It is hard to plan things with the kids. I wish I got to see them more.

I was on facebook the other day and I saw that my friend Jarrett that I used to work with years ago is in a new band, "The Anser". He has always been into music and he has always been very good. He auditioned for American Idol in 2009 and made it to Hollywood but that was it. This year... I just barely discovered (because I don't watch much tv) that his band auditioned to be on "The X Factor" and made it through the first round of Auditions. I think they are pretty good! You can check them out here. Look at him singing for Simon! Way to go Jarrett! I am proud of you. P.S. Notice my little high school choir friend playing in the background. ha ha... who knew I would know so many people in show biz.

My roommates and I saw both the new Mission Impossible movie and the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Both very good. I also started the LOST series. I know... I am a little late, but I didn't want to watch them until they were all out and until I found someone that had all of the Seasons because I knew I would get addicted because it is the same guy that wrote Alias... and I loved Alias a lot. So... turns out my neighbor and friend, Jason, not only has all of the seasons but he has them all on Blue Ray... so he is excited to watch them all again with someone that has never seen them before. We just started this week and we are already almost done with the first season. It is good. Yes, I am already addicted. I have a feeling that this is going to be my life for a while. I guess a good time to do it? During the dressing Winter where there is not a lot to do? Plus we are all going to be dieting and wanting to take our minds off of food. So it is a good thing I guess.

Speaking of food. Now that it is Winter (even though it has been a rather warm winter so far) do you know what we do with our food if it doesn't fit in our fridge? We keep it out on the porch. It shouldn't be that funny to me.. I mean it makes sense, but for some reason... every time I see our stuff stored out there, it makes me laugh. Just doesn't seem quite right to me.

Photo of the Week 96

2011-12-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Breakfast

2011-12-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

The roommates and I wanted to have a Christmas breakfast together and do our gift exchange... so we did that this week. The breakfast was nothing big or complicated but our table is of course very cute.

Here is our cute table that Rachel decorated.

We each got our own hot chocolate kit.

For breakfast we had eggs, hash browns, sausage, cinnamon and sugar rolls and Orange Julius. YUM!

Our presents to each other under the tree.

The roommates! I love them.

Santa Baby

2011-12-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

My neighbor and friend, Jason, gave me this cute Mini Mouse Santa hat from Disneyland for a Christmas present (for my love and Christmas and my love of Disney... Super Sweet right?) and Rachel gave me these super cute Santa PJ pants since she gets new Christmas PJ's every year. Rachel and I planned on making a "Santa Baby" music video in this little outfit of mine on my week off of work. Somehow that didn't work out. However... I found these VERY old Christmas music video's I did with friends 6 & 8 years ago... so I thought I would post them, especially since one of them is Santa Baby! ha ha. They are silly... and probably only funny to me and my friends that were there at the time, but I figured I would post them all the same. I'm silly like that.

All I want for Christmas is You - Heather Cover Girls 2003

Santa Baby - Devonshire 2005

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Last night my roommate and I noticed the cemetery. I know people put flowers out for Memorial Day and that they put out Christmas wreaths for Christmas... but what we didn't realize until last night was that there was lit tea lights in bags all over the cemetery on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful. I tried to get a picture... but my picture didn't do the scene justice.

It wasn't a typical Christmas for me. I have spent the nights at my apartment with my roommate Rachel watching Christmas movies, not a lot of my family is around. I went to church today to my parents ward just me and my parents. My dad made me lunch... it was low key, we don't do a lot of presents, etc... And even though Christmas has changed for me over the years... the Spirit of Christmas is still there. The day is still special. I am thankful for my family and I am thankful for the holiday season that we celebrate Christ. When people are more giving and a little more kind and we take time to spend with our loved ones. No matter what else changes, that will always be the same.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Lights

2011-12-24T22:49:00.001-08:00

One thing that my friend/roommate Rachel likes to do every Christmas, is to drive around and look at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music. I think it is a great tradition.

Seeing the lights on the houses is great... but my favorite is Pond Christmas in Salem which she introduced me to last year. I just love those lit trees on the water. It is so pretty and magical... so I was happy to go back again this year.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Flashback Friday 44

2011-12-23T23:44:00.000-08:00

Today's flashback is another family Christmas flashback. It was 2005 and it was our first Christmas in Utah because Kristy had just had Sierra a month earlier. Chad was on his mission and everyone else made the trip to Utah.

We went to SLC to the Joseph Smith Birthday celebration.. which was awesome.

My dad had bought recording equipment so we made a CD

And we went Christmas caroling (family Christmas Eve tradition)

No matter where we are or what we are doing... it is always great to be with family anytime, but especially at Christmas.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 97

2011-12-22T23:03:00.000-08:00

It has been a pretty good week. I got my eyelashes filled, Cheryl and I finally traded massages again (which was so overdue for me), I got my hair done (I love it... Nicole always does a fantastic job), celebrated my birthday with friends and family and the list goes on. It has been busy and good. Even though it has been good... it also has felt like everyday should have been Friday. I am ready for the weekend.

I am just about done with my Christmas shopping. Just a couple more things to get. I like giving gifts to people, however... Christmas shopping is not a fun experience for me. I try not to get angry and try to keep a smile and the Christmas spirit, but the crowds and the traffic really get to me. It can really stress me out. I think next year... I am going to try and think ahead and try to do most of my shopping online. That sounds so great to me.

My roommates and I have been watching Christmas movies like it's nobody's business. Not done yet... so I will probably make a list of all of them that we watched when we are done. I think this is the most I have ever fit into one Christmas season.

I posted this as my status on facebook but... I wonder the same thing every year. Who decided that "M favorite things" from the Sound of Music is a Christmas song. It honestly kind of gets on my nerves. The responses on that status were pretty funny though. Comment #1 It's a Christmas wish list? It's also why Santa has to check his list twice, after that disastrous year when he accidentally gave her raindrops on kittens and whiskers on strudels. Comment #2 but seriously Comment #3 It's not a Christmas wishlist at all, though. It's nice things to help you not be afraid of storms. I don't get it either. and my favorite... Comment #4 The one argument I've heard for it that kinda makes sense is that it DOES include a few essential ingredients of a Christmas song:

Snowflakes (that stay on my nose and eyelashes)
Silver-white winters (that melt into springs)
(Doorbells and) Sleigh bells (and schnitzel with noodles)
(bright copper kettles and) warm woolen mittens
brown paper packages tied up with strings
please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't apple strudel also associated with Christmastime?

However, there are also things that point to other seasons:
Geese migrate in the fall (which is when they would fly with the moon on their wings).
Raindrops on roses are most definitely NOT a winter phenomenon and, when paired with the kittens, seem to be an indicator of the spring into which the silver-white winter is melting. Stinging bees wouldn't be in evidence in the winter either but are more of a spring/summer occurrence.
In short, yes, I do take the question way too seriously. What are your thoughts on this?

My Grandma Mills moved to Utah last week. My dad went to go get her and help her back up. I am SO excited that I am going to get to see her ALL the time now. I could not be more happy about this. She was even there for my birthday. What a treat.

We went to Applebees for karaoke again this last Tuesday. One of the managers totally recognizes us because we have gone enough times I guess. ha ha. He tells us welcome back and he comes to our table with the extra mic to have us help out singing whoever is on stage. He did that a couple of times. Probably because we rock out and sing along with every song. ha ha. We had a blast. I finally got up on stage. Not solo... but I might as well have been solo. James and a group of his friends met up with us later. Some of the girls in that group signed up to sing Spice Girls "Wanna Be" and asked if I would sing with them. I said sure. James also wanted to sing with me and he signed us up for something... however he signed us up too late and there wasn't enough time to get to our song. Guess we will have to go back sometime. They did call up our girl group though because a bunch of people in front of us had left already and were not there to sing. So we got up and the other two girls were so quite.. so you could only hear me singing and I was rocking out. It can be a fast song to sing solo at parts and it wasn't my best singing or my choice of what I would want to sing at karaoke, but it is what it is. I sang and it was fun. What I really want to do it a fun duet. Maybe one of these days.

Work this week has been kind of busy... but it has also been pretty awesome. Let me list the reasons why. #1- Monday we celebrated my birthday with bagels and cream cheese AND a game of darts as a team (I'm really going to need to practice. #2- Tuesday we had a reunion lunch at La Jolla Groves at Riverwoods. Really nice restaurant (picture below) and I had this yummy Tuna salad... it was like eating a sushi salad. The best part though was seeing everyone together again (almost everyone). Daniel was in town from Texas (as well as Ward) and so he arranged the lunch so he could see everyone. Shaylene had left Novell for a different company and she was there. Ryan had left to go work at Adobe and he was there. Paul and Les who got let go with the big lay off in April were there (Paul is now also working for Adobe) and then everyone else that still works at Novell all went. It was just so fun to all be together again. I miss them.

#3- My boss called us all in for a meeting and said they found a way for us to take time off for Christmas if we want it. Last week I was just saying how bummed I was that I wouldn't get any time off... well... now I do. I get all of next week off even though it's quarter end. I was super happy about that. #4- My boss treated us to breakfast this morning (which he usually does as his Christmas gift). #5- The head of our department and Legal department bought 10 nerf guns and set up an appointment for us all to play today on the 5th floor (our old home which is now an empty floor). So for a half hour or so we were all running around the 5th floor shooting each other with nerf guns and trying to avoid the cameras so security wouldn't catch us and keeping score on a white bored in the hall. I got worked... but it was still fun. I did tell being only one of two girls in the game. The guys get so competitive. I have a feeling we might play again tomorrow. #6 I told my boss I had nothing to do at the end of the day today and he said I could go home early. I have a feeling this will be the case tomorrow as well. Not a bad work week at all. I'm still loving my window office. I love looking out the window at the Christmas lights. I just love that Novell decorates for Christmas. It is fun to look at everyday when I go in for work.

Photo of the Week 95

2011-12-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

My Christmas gifts to my roommates.

Christmas at Riverwoods

2011-12-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

The Riverwoods is a classy outdoors shopping center with some fancy restaurants. It actually reminds me a lot of Santa Barbara because that is what all of our shopping is like. We don't have indoor shopping malls. The Riverwoods has been there for a while, they always put up Christmas lights, however this last year they remodeled a little. Along with that they decided to go all out for Christmas... so now there are TONS of lights. We decided to go and check it out.

It was FREEZING!! And since we went too late (on our way to karaoke at Applebees) and nothing was open, we couldn't get hot chocolate... so we went straight for the heat lamps!! Ha ha, we loved that they have them everywhere. *These pictures made me laugh*

They also have a large stage area now where bands can come and perform. Jason took the stage... but he sadly did not perform for us.

They also have water fountains and fire pits everywhere. Each with a different design. We visited lots of those too. We saw one group roasting marshmallows at one of them. Brilliant!

But my favorite thing there is Santa's house. It has a cute tree inside that kids have written notes to Santa and put them on the tree, there is a fireplace with fire going and cute stockings hanging. It is just super cute.

If you are in the area and have not checked out the Riverwoods yet, go do it! You won't regret it.

Gingerbread Birthday Party

2011-12-19T22:57:00.000-08:00

As my birthday was approaching, my friend and roommate Rachel asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. I wasn't really sure. Last year Rachel threw me the most classy Christmas birthday that one could ask for. It was a big party that everyone could just show up when they wanted and come and go as they please and just socialize. It kind of stressed me out to be quite honest. Don't get me wrong... people showed up and the party turned out great. I just decided that I didn't want that this year. I just wanted to hang out with my friends that I am closest to and I wanted to decorate gingerbread houses. I like to do all the festive things during the holidays. Rachel took that idea and she ran with it. She still threw me a cute party (totally different from last year) and it was small with just a small group of friends where almost everyone came and we could spend quality time talking and creating together. My kind of party. :) You can find more pictures on Rachel's blog here.

It was the cutest Christmas birthday party ever. I of course helped as much as I could. Rachel made the cutest sign full of glitter. I provided all of the jars (happened to just have some in storage). I helped decorate the drink jars (we had chocolate milk, Egg Nog and Milk)... I also decorated the cupcakes... which idea I found on Pintrest. Everything else was Rachel. She put in a lot of work to throw me a cute birthday party and I really appreciated it. It was a lot of fun. Everyone that came had a great time.

Remember how I said I wanted us to decorate Gingerbread houses? Rachel had a cute idea to take it to another level. We got into 4 groups, all started out with the same Gingerbread House kit. Each group then drew fairytale themes from a jar and then decorated their Gingerbread house according to that theme. It was so fun and everyone got into it which made it more fun. Here are the different groups and themes for the Gingerbread Houses.

There is Jason... who didn't want to be in a group so he volunteered to be a judge (kind of a crappy one at that) and he made a black snowman?

Group #1- Little Red Riding Hood - Made by Tara, Jessie and Steve

Group #2- The Little Mermaid - Made by Rachel and Tina

Group #3- Cinderella - Made by Darrell and Sara

Group #4- Jack and the Beanstalk - Made by Vicki, James and Me

Oh and I can't forget about the cake Rachel made me. Not only was it delicious.. but it was SOO cute!

And here are my dear friends that came to my party. Thanks for coming guys! It meant a lot to me for you to celebrate my birthday with me. It was a fun night.

A Very Frosty Birthday

2011-12-18T23:29:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday. I am another year older. I can't believe I am 29. I don't feel 29. I don't think I look 29. I don't feel like I act 29 either. But it is true... I'm 29. Still single. Still living the same life. The older I get the less excited I am for my birthday. I don't really want to get any older... especially still being single. I don't expect much for my birthday anymore either. People have always been out of town or taking finals or just busy with Christmas to be around or care too much about my birthday (besides my family).

All this being said... I actually had a pleasant birthday. It is Sunday... so I didn't have to work and I could just relax. We had sing a long Christmas program which was awesome since I love to sing. I got to go to my parents house for a nice dinner and cake and James came a long.. which was nice of him to amuse me on my birthday. I also got phone calls from my two out of state sisters, got sung to by my niece and nephew, also got phone calls from my best friends Lolly, Steve and Nate. This is the first year I have received Happy Birthday HeyTells which was fun ... from Jason and Ashley. Happy Birthday messages from my family on Spokt.com. 11 Happy Birthday text messages and 100 Happy Birthday facebook messages. Even though facebook tells everyone when your birthday is... I still felt loved. Along with all of the messages... I even received some gifts. My good friend Brittany dropped off a cute card and some VS lotion. James took me to lunch. Lolly sent me some bracelets. Allyson got me a super cute shirt (which I wore to church today) my sister Kristy sewed me this SUPER cute reversible apron and place matts (my family is so talented like that). There is a gift from my dad in the works (which I am sure will get it's own post because it is that awesome). My mom got me a tuner for my guitar and Simon and Garfunkle sheet music for guitar. I heart them. Rachel let me copy Light Room (Thank you Rachel, I can't wait to try it out). Oh and my visiting teacher dropped off some goodies as well. Way more than I was expecting. It is nice to feel loved and appreciated it.

Along all of that... it was a cold day. VERY cold! But it was also a frosty day, which doesn't happen all of the time.. and it was very pretty. Nature gave me some bling for my birthday. :) So Rachel and I took some pictures on our way out of church.

It was a good birthday. Thanks to everyone that helped make it that way. Thanks for being a part of my life... it means a lot to me.

Christmas Town

2011-12-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

When I got home from my weekend back home in Santa Barbara... I came back to my house all decked out for Christmas. It was very fun to come home to. I called it Christmas Town when I saw it. It is beautiful. Rachel did an AMAZING job decorating. I thought it would be fun to show off my place "Christmas Town". This is what I get to come home to everyday. :)

Our front Porch

The basement.... I decided to put up my little Christmas decorations that I had in the basement living room.

The Kitchen

The Living Room

I absolutely LOVE our tree! Every night I sit on the couch and just stare at it.

I also love taking naps next to it. I just feel happy sitting in this room. Hope you have been festive this Holiday season as well!

Flashback Friday 43

2011-12-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting to spend time with my family. I love them a lot.
*These pics are from 07 & 08

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 96

2011-12-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

Last Friday we had our work Christmas party. We had lunch at Magleby's in Provo with the Legal department. The food was good, we played some fun games and we had a white elephant gift exchange. The gift that was most fought over was the movie "Valkyrie". I ended up with chips and salsa. Some funny gifts that were given out were the Twilight Book (which one of the guys ended up with) and a case of non alcoholic beer. After the lunch was over... they let us go home!! Happy Friday!

Since I had some extra time that I didn't have to be at work during work hours... I finally went into the bank and changed my PIN number. Not sure if you remember back in September when I got back from South Africa and totally forgot my PIN like an idiot. Not sure why... I have had it forever! Oh well... hopefully I don't forget this one.

Sunday we had our Stake Christmas fireside. As usual... it was really good, full of beautiful music. During the Christmas season... I LOVE listening to a lot of Christmas music and watching a lot of Christmas movies. So far... I have been doing a lot of both. There is no other month that I try and cram in so many movies into one month. There are so many great Christmas movies.

This week has been so busy at work. After work too. I wish I was looking forward to a Christmas vacation... but I don't get one this year. Sad huh? I think so. I am looking forward to my sister Jamie coming to visit though. I don't get to see her and her family often... so that is what I am looking forward to. Hopefully they will let us off of work early. Wednesday I went straight to the temple after work. It was so nice because there was no line. Everyone leaving for vacation I guess.

Last Friday my parents threw a Santa Barbara party at their house. I didn't get to stay that long... but it was fun to see familiar faces from my old ward back home. Kinda of makes things feel like more at home. I mostly hung out and talked to my friend Katie that I grew up with. I don't see her very often.... so it was good to see her and catch up. I love Santa Barbara and the people from there.

Photo of the Week 94

2011-12-14T23:40:00.000-08:00

Another picture I took of the lights at Temple square. I love the lamp in the back

Christmas Music Part 2

2011-12-13T22:40:00.000-08:00

Since I made that list of songs last week... I realized that I have a lot more than top 10 favorites... so I am just going to continue with another 10 of Christmas favorites. Enjoy!

#11- Christmas Waltz - Performed by Frank Sinatra

#12- Rockin Around the Christmas Tree - Performed by Brenda Lee

#13- Nuttin for Christmas - Performed by Spike Jones

#14- Believe - Performed by Josh Groban (I heart him)

#15- Winter Wonderland - Performed by the Andrews Sisters

#16- Breath of Heaven - Amy Grant

#17 - Little Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth - Bing Crosby & David Bowie

#18 - Hey Santa - Wilson Phillips

#19- Candlelight Carol - Performed by Disneyland's Candlelight Choir (Yes, I am in that choir somewhere)

#20- Santa Will Find You - Mindy Smith

Christmas at the Mall... After Hours

2011-12-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight James and I went to the mall for possible Christmas shopping. It was not a successful trip. We both ended up not buying any Christmas presents. However, we did end up going to the movies. We saw "Hugo" in 3D. Loved it. We both did. Great movie... totally recommend it.

We went to a later showing... so by the time we got out of the movie, the mall was closed down. Everything was dark and quiet except for laughter and car sounds coming from the toys down stairs. (Kind of creepy actually) We could have gone straight outside to the car... but what fun would that have been? We wondered around the abandoned mall. Talking about the places we would hide. Taking pictures with movie posters in the movie theater...

We came across where Santa comes to visit. Santa's big chair looked so inviting... so... where Santa usually takes pictures with the kiddos...

We did our own photoshoot!! Well... until we set off an alarm... then we decided that would be a good time to leave. :) It was fun to wonder around the mall after hours. Hopefully the elves don't tell on us.

Christmas at Thanksgiving Point

2011-12-11T23:27:00.000-08:00

My roommates and I are really wanting to be super festive this year. We are trying to think of all the Christmasy things we could do during this month. I suggested Thanksgiving Point... because I know they do lights and I have never been. Saturday night we checked that off of our list.

We did a little drive through with the lights... which was short, but very cute.

We didn't want to drive all the way up there to look at lights for 10 minutes and then go home... so we got out, found out they had reindeer and went to visit them.

Saw a legit snowflake ice sculpture.

Stood by the fire to get warm.

Went inside to get Hot Chocolate Floats (with vanilla & peppermint ice cream) YUMM!!!

And the place was so cute decked out for Christmas that I had to take some pictures.

And then we left. It was a fun roommate bonding. I heart my roommates. I heart Christmas.

Temple Square Christmas Lights

2011-12-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

Every year I try to go to Temple Square at Christmas time if I can. It is crowded for sure... but the lights are beautiful. To me, Christmas lights are magical. Temple Square always does an amazing job decorating for the season. I love that it draws so many people to go to the temple.

Last year I went and I blogged about it here. Someone from Temple Square found my blog post and asked if I would write a little something and share my pictures on their site, which I did... and you can find that here.

This year I went with my good friends Vicki and Tara. It was cold for sure (you will probably notice our pink noses in the pictures) but we had a lot of fun. I'm lucky to have such great friends. You can look at my past post to see more pictures... I tried to get some different pictures this year. Hope you love them as much as I do.

If you are in the area and get the chance... go visit the lights at Temple Square!

Flashback Friday 42

2011-12-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

I made a lot of really good friends back when I worked at Apx. Even when we had spent all day working together, we would plan activities together outside of work as well. I love the friends that I made there.

Christmas 2007... the girls decided to get together and watch "White Christmas" at my place.

Shortly after that, Lindsay and I got together to make Sugar cookies to bring to work the next day so we could all spend time together decorating Christmas Cookies. We had so much fun together. I miss them.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 95

2011-12-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

Being home in Santa Barbara was wonderful. The weather was great, I got lots of sleep, I got to play with my nephews, spend time with my sister and see some old friends. Great weekend that I wish would have lasted longer. My friend Cherry and I have a tradition that every time I come home to visit, we go see a movie together. We decided to go see the new Muppet movie. I actually thought it was cute, but I have always been a fan of the Muppets.

My mom and I drove back to Utah on Monday and instead of jamming out to music, my mom got some audio books by my request in hopes that it would help me reach one of my goals by the end of the year. We listened to "The Last Lecture" which I thought was wonderful and inspiring and we listened to "Seeking Persephone" which was a Beauty and the Beast type love story. Both great and really did help the drive seem faster.

When I got home on Monday night it was a party at my house. My roommates were home, Vicki came over, James came over to see me and eat a late dinner together and Jason (in the ward) came over to give me an early Christmas present. (Possible guy story entry later... have not decided yet). It was fun to come home to that. It was nice to socialize and be entertained after sitting in a car for 9 hours. James was even playing with fire. I video taped that... so I may have to post that later. ha ha.

Coming back to Utah it was VERY cold. Just not okay. Tuesday morning I tried turning on my car... and it wouldn't start. Luckily my neighbor (Stan the man with the winning smile) was home and he also happens to be my home teacher and he was able to jump my car so that I could go to work. I thought that after it warmed up during the day that my car would be fine... but the cold killed my battery and when I left work once again it wouldn't start. This time it was my dad to the rescue. He is the best. Now my car has a new battery.

My ear infection came back when I got back from my trip too. What is up with that? Is it one of those things that once you have had it once it is easier for it to come back again? I hope not. Thankfully I realized what it was sooner than last time AND I had left over medication from when I had it in July. So I had it for a few days... but it is gone again now. Thank goodness.

Tonight we had dinner as roommates (which includes Vicki, our adopted roommate) and we also invited Jason and James (as if Monday was not awkward enough). We had Indian food, which I LOVE and watched Love Actually (the edited version... which cuts the movie down about an hour). I love our little dinner parties. I miss cooking for people and having people over. It needs to happen more often.

Can Guys and Girls JUST be friends? That is the question. This video was going around facebook the other day. I watched it thinking... of course this was totally just changed for that one guys view. Video a bunch and take out the ones that don't prove your point and leave in the ones that do... I just didn't believe it because I have had so many guys that have been friends. I just wasn't convinced with this video so when my friend Tara and I were at Walmart, we asked 5 different guys in Walmart if guys and girls could just be friends and 4 out of 5 said no. This proved the video was true. This changed my world! The more I thought about it... the more I realized how true it was. Of course there are always exceptions... but for the most part I think this is the case. One of the guys we stopped and asked in Walmart (the Chemist) gave us a long explanation why. Guys don't want to just become friends with a girl unless there is interest there. The only time guys and girls are just good friends is because they have spent enough time together for him to know that they are not compatible and he is fine with continuing to be friends. It was very interesting to think about. It made me think about all of my friendships with guys in the past (not the acquaintances but the ones you hang out with all the time) and when I really think about it, I think that they did probably like me. The more I have talked to people and thought about this, the more I have thought it was true.

After watching this video... and from your own experience... what do you think? Can guys and girls just be friends?

Photo of the Week 93

2011-12-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

The Christmas lights are up at work. I love seeing all the trees lit up as I am leaving work. I am already happy to be going home, but seeing pretty lights on my way out makes things so much happier. These last few days when I have left... the Christmas lights are one, the sun is setting to the right and the moon is coming up on the left. It's awesome.

Christmas Music

2011-12-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

So one day at work I was talking to my manager and we started talking about Christmas music. He then said... "You know what one of my all time favorite Christmas songs is? ... All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey". I started laughing... I guess I wasn't expecting that to come out of an older married man that works at a software company. Right after that he pulled up the video on YouTube and everyone started singing and dancing to that song. The other departments must think we are SO weird. I guess that is okay because we kind of are.

Anyway... this got my manager and I talking about our top 10 favorite Christmas songs. I thought it would be fun to make a list and post them on my blog. So... here they are in no particular order.

#1- Baby it's cold outside performed by Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald

#2- Merry Christmas Darling - Performed by the Carpenters

#3- All I want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey

#4- Where are you Christmas - Performed by Faith Hill

#5- Christmas Tonight - Dave Barns

#6- One More Sleep Till Christmas - The Muppets

#7- When Christmas Comes to Town - From the Polar Express

#8- I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas - Performed by the Drifters

#9- Ave Maria - Performed by David Archuleta (I heart him)

#10- Mary Did you Know - Performed by Donny Osmond

Okay... so now that I started putting this together, I have a lot more than 10 than I love... so I think there is going to be a part 2 to this. I love music and there is A LOT of great Christmas music out there. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am this season. :)

Disneyland's Candlelight

2011-12-05T23:21:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a freshman in High School, the first weekend of December = Candlelight at Disneyland. Last year we didn't make it and I was quite depressed about it. I missed it so much just missing one year. Had I got last year, this would have been my 15th year performing in Candlelight... instead it was my 14th. I guess it doesn't matter anyway since my wish came true of them getting rained out. Anyway.. if you have not been following my blog for a long time and am not sure what Candlelight is, I have explained more about it in past posts like this one and this one.

This year I was especially thankful to be there because I didn't do it last year. I realized how much I missed it, how much I love it. Candlelight and Christmas time at Disneyland really does hold a special place in my heart. I was so glad that my mom wanted to make the drive with me to do it. I think we both got a little teary eyed when singing with the amazing choir and Disneyland Orchestra. It was a great performance. We also had a great narrator this year. Gary Sinise! He is a great guy turns out. I had no idea that we put so much time effort and money into helping out military and their family. He did a fantastic job.

As always it was an amazing experience that I loved every minute of. I am so thankful to Mr Huber (my high school director) for putting this together every year and letting me drop in from Utah. I am lucky to be a part of it. Truly. When I die and go to heaven... I want to find Walt Disney and shake his hand and tell him thank you. Not just for everything Disney... but for his Christmas Card to the community, Candlelight... and for making sure that it would go on forever. It is an awesome experience. *First picture is part of the choir lined up and waiting to get our candles for our first performance*

Violet is a friend I have had since childhood... she has done Candlelight for many years as well. It is always fun to see her there and know that someone else I was in choir with loves it as much as I do to keep going back.

One day... I would like to see it live, from the audience. Until then, I'm thankful for people who have video taped it and put it on youtube. Like this one.

After both shows are over, we are allowed back in the park to play. My mom's sister Valerie came and watched the show and then met up with us after. We watched the Christmas firework show... which I really love.

We went on Star Tours which they changed... it has a new video and it is in 3D. We also went on my favorite (Haunted Mansion/ Nightmare Before Christmas) which we saw Violet and her brother and sister in law and so I rode with Violet on that one and one of the guys running the ride completely scared the crap out of me... randomly peeking his head in our cart after we had already started on the ride... which means he followed our cart up the ramp a bit. CREEPY!! ha ha. Then we also went on Small world, which they switch up for Christmas. With all of the lights... it is hard not to be lead straight there. Ha ha.. it was a good time.

Then it was time to go home. What a great day. What a way to start off the Christmas Season. I love it. I heart Candlelight. Until next year.... I hope.

Rancho Oso

2011-12-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

While visiting my sister Lori in Santa Barbara, one day we decided to go a little up the road from her and visit Rancho Oso. The thing that not everyone knows about where my sister lives... is that it is up in the mountains of Santa Barbara. Like... I don't get cell phone reception there. She has to put logs on the fire in a stove to warm up the house. People go up there to go camping. When I was younger... I went up there to go camping. In fact... my first couple of years at Girls camp were at Rancho Oso. So I was going back there for the first time since Girls camp when I was 12 & 13.

The kids like going there to visit the animals, so that is what we did. They have chickens (my favorites are the ones with feathers on their feet.

They also have goats

and horses

But who Lori REALLY wanted us to meet is Bob. This is Bob.

He is the BIGGEST pig that I have EVER seen in my whole life. He usually just lays there, but I happen to be eating an apple because I was hungry, which attracted all the animals towards us, including Bob. Bob got up and stuck his nose RIGHT at me. I fed some to the goats, but Bob got most of the apple core. I later learned that he gives kisses for apples. I was not looking for a kiss from Bob. ha ha

After feeding the apple to the goats and the Big Pig... we started petting the horses and I remembered that I had some left over carrots from the trip there from Utah. So I went to the car and crabbed them and fed them to two horses. I really do love animals, so I enjoy visiting them and petting them and feeding them. I used to think I wanted my own farm or zoo. Not so sure about that anymore. ha ha. But I do love Animals.

As I was petting and feeding the horses and saw a tree with water containers all around it and then looked into the fenced area and saw the horse trough... I had a flashback to girls camp. We had the option to pay extra to go horse back riding if we wanted to at camp. I of course did. The cowboys that lead our horses on the trail were big teases and they made up some rules for our ride. If you scream or are caught complaining or you are not smiling and looking like you are having fun, then you got a point. They said if you reached 3 points then you were punished. Somehow.. I reached 3 points. I remember giving out a screech once because my horse took off unexpectedly. That was point number1. I believe the other two were because they caught me not smiling. Anyway... I was not the only one that reached 3 points. However they seemed to give me the hardest time. Story of my life. When the ride was over I didn't think anything would really happen. The cowboys offered to help me off of my horse. I though.. oh how nice. Instead of giving me a hand down they lifted me off of the horse and he started to carry me into the horse coral. I started to get worried and cry for help... but he carried me right over to that horse trough and dropped me in it. GROSS!! I wet back side. Not just water, but dirt, hay and horse slobber. Ewww. I walked back to camp like that. I was the only one that got it. That year at Girls Camp, our theme was Indian. At the end of camp people were given Indian names based on what had happened to them that week at camp. My Indian name? Bathes with Horses. Yep. ha ha. Kind of funny. That memory is strong and came right back to me when I went back to the same place 17 years later. Kind of wish I had a picture of that moment. And the look on my face as I was dumped into the trough.

Santa Barbara Christmas Parade

2011-12-03T23:52:00.001-08:00

Right now I am home in Santa Barbara. I LOVE being in Santa Barbara. I'm just so happy when I am here. Its nice to see familiar places and familiar faces. It is nice to spend time with my sister Lori and my adorable nephews. I just love being here.

Last night we went to the Santa Barbara Parade. The do the parade on State Street. Out of all of the years that I lived here... I don't remember ever going. It was a cute parade and it and was to go. We sat right across from the announcers who were pretty funny... so that made it more entertaining.

Here are some pictures from the parade.

Took this one for my dad. (Scott driving the DP helmet car. He has been there forever!)

Took this one for Jamie (Young Singers Club... there are TONS of them now)

Took this one for Billy & Lori (the forest service, where Billy works)

It was also not only fun for me to go with my mom and sister and her family... but it was also fun to sit next to the Pearce family. I was friends with Brian Pearce when I was in High School. I had his for Physics as a new teacher at Dos Pueblos High School when I was a sophomore, and then when I was a senior, I was his Teachers Assistant for his Chemistry class. I was more like his personal secretary though. We were good friends though... so it was fun to catch up with him a little. I was also lucky enough to be right across the street from my high school friends Phil and Catherine VanNostran!! I was SOOO excited when I glanced across the street and saw them. I ran over to give them a hug and of course get a picture. Love them!

And Here I am with my mom and sister Lori. It was a fun night in nice weather. It was fun to cheer for my old schools and to get into the Christmas spirit. I also really enjoyed watching my nephews watch the parade. They thought it was pretty neat so it was fun to watch.

Flashback Friday 41

2011-12-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

Since it is now December and I am going all out for Christmas... I guess that means my flashbacks should be Christmas related as well.

So here I am with Shawntel and her brother Aaron. My first 2 years out of high school... I did just about everything with these two. Seriously. We took college classes together, we road tripped together, we did matching halloween costumes together, we went to Disneyland at least 3 times together, all our weekends were spent together, so naturally we got a Christmas photo together. This was taken in 2001. Aaron is obsessed with Star Wars. We had dressed up as Star Wars Characters (I was Queen Amidala) for Halloween and then again to the Star Wars Episode 2 premier (where we got on the news) so for Christmas, he got me a Queen Amildala barbie doll... which I may or may not still have. I am sure whatever Shawntel got me was Disney related. In fact... I am pretty sure she got me an awesome Nightmare before Christmas mug. Yep... some things never change. I miss these two. We had such great times.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 94

2011-12-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is December. This year flew by. Like I said in a previous post, I resist Christmas during the month of November. I want to enjoy fall for as long as possible. I need a break between Halloween and Christmas. I like to appreciate and celebrate Thanksgiving. I need that month to accept that another year is coming to a close and yet again I'm not exactly where I thought I would be at the end of the year. It is December now though... so I say BRING ON CHRISTMAS.... like full force. I'm ready now.

To celebrate Christmas time today... my boss and manager took me and Paula out to a Thai lunch that was super delish. After lunch I went back to work for only a few more hours before I drove to Mapleton to meet up with my mom to leave for California. But that last hour or so of work... James came to visit me at work and stayed up in my office and chatted with me while I worked. I think I have only had one other visitor at work... so it is a treat. I guess it is kind of a pain for people because you have to fill out a little form and get a guest badge to get in. It is fun for me though... James had gotten there and wanted to tell me an idea that he had and I mean I have an extra seat in my office, so why not come talk to me while I work. I love that he didn't care. I love that I can do that and my co-workers don't care... in fact they offered him a donut. In fact... I should have introduced him as Careless Whisper because they all would have known exactly who he was because of that one time he called me and everyone heard his ringtone. HA! Anyway... visitors are fun and it made my last hour go by quickly. Then the rest of the afternoon and night were spent driving with my mom. We listened to Christmas music almost the whole way there. I have a pretty impressive collection.

Last week, even though I was by myself the majority of the time (except for shout outs to Tara and Vicki for being extra awesome friends and having slumber parties at my house with me so that I wasn't a lone) it was so great to have time off AND be by myself because it forced me to be productive. I got like 95% of the things on my list done. Not too shabby. It was also nice just to have a break from work. This hardly ever happens because when I take time off it is to go on vacation. So I appreciated a little time to myself, but I was REALLY happy on Saturday night when people started coming back.

I have some friends that told me about this app on your phone called Skout. It basically lets you know about other local singles that are also on Skout. You can send little messages and pictures and what not. I never search anyone out and the only time I get on is when someone sends me a message... in which I usually read and don't respond. You are probably wondering why I have kept the app if I don't really use it. Well... I have found it to be quite entertaining. For example... I was with my friend Tara one night and I get a message from this guy telling me he thinks I'm cute. He happened to live in Alabama. Not sure how he looked me up. Occasionally that happens. Anyway, he asks me if I will send him pictures and I said I didn't have any so he started sending me some of him. The first one is of him with his shirt off in front of the mirror... taking a picture of himself with his phone. You know... the usual. Except he was a little chubby. The rest of the pictures he sent me was his face photoshopped on different body building bodies and the last picture was of a body building trophy. I just responded and said the pictures were fake. He laughed and said everyone always thinks that... but he just didn't spray tan his face to match his body the day of the competition. HA HA HA HA... it wasn't just the tan, his face didn't match the bodies. It was so funny. Tara and I were getting the biggest kick out of it. I also get a lot of great pick up lines on there.... like "Can I save your picture? I need to show Santa what I want for Christmas" or my favorite "You want a raisin? No? How about a date?". Yep, Skout is always good for a laugh.

I'm going to be pretty excited to go back home after my little weekend trip. Not that I will be excited to leave California at all... but I am going to be excited to see my house. That sounds silly... but my roommate Rachel is the bomb dot com and an interior designer and so when I get back, the house is going to be all decked out for Christmas. I feel bad that I was not able to help out, but I know it is going to look amazing. Don't worry, I will blog about it. I just am excited because I have Christmas decorations... but not enough to go all out, so this is going to be a special treat. I just know that I am never going to want to leave the house. I am just going to want to have the Christmas lights on and watch Christmas movies and drink hot chocolate next to the tree. Before I left.... the house smelled SO good because Rachel was making these cute ornaments to hang on the tree. I love it already. :o)

Photo of the Week 92

2011-11-30T23:17:00.000-08:00

Cape Town, South Africa.

Cheers to the Freakin Weekend

2011-11-29T23:39:00.000-08:00

I'll drink to that! Okay... that is from a song, but I thought it was appropriate for the pictures. Last Friday Vicki and I went on a little friend date to Spark. I had a gift certificate there that a friend gave me for Christmas last year and it was about to expire. So we used it. It was Vicki's first time to Spark. She liked it. We want to go back. They have a lot of fun drinks. I blogged about it here and also went back another time on a date.

We had a nice little dinner and a little dessert that we shared. Everything was super good.

We of course also ordered drinks. Vicki loved that there was cotton candy in hers. :)

It was also all cute and decorated for Christmas and had cute Christmas music playing. You know... before Thanksgiving, I am so ANTI- Christmas. I hate that it is shoved in my face right after Halloween. When I am shopping in the store I have to try to ignore all the Christmas stuff and tell myself NOT to sing along with the Christmas music playing over the speakers. ha ha... but the day after Thanksgiving is over, I am all about it. This was the day after, so I was like... bring it on. ha ha. So there you go, my first Christmasy post. LOTS more to come. :)

Thanks Vick for coming with me to Spark. Let's go again.

Harvest Dinner

2011-11-28T23:22:00.001-08:00

The roommates and I (and our adopted roommate, Vicki) decided we wanted to do a nice Fall Harvest Dinner. November flew by and we were all pretty busy, we we decided to do the dinner tonight. The very end of November. There were just 4 of us, but we went all out... cause that's how we role. Go big or go home.

Everything was delicious and pretty healthy. Even though it was a lot of work, it was fun and we love it. It is kind of a luxury to eat together as roommates and spend quality time together (that is not in front of a tv) and to fix a fancy dinner. I loved it. We want to do a fancy Christmas dinner as well since this one turned out so nice.

First off, I used my Jewelry Tree and made it a Thankful tree for the center piece.

The rest of the decor is stuff Rachel and I had. We do make a great team. I made the sassy salsa pumpkin soup and made the Give Thanks sign. Rachel made the salad and the corn bread which were both SUPER delish. Tina bought the sparkling Mango Cider and toppings for the Carmel Apples and Vicki was in charge of the Carmel Apples (cause they are her favorite) and she made them to perfection. Seriously. It was a great dinner. Here is the spread...

Here are our carmel apples dipped and ready to eat.

Thanks for a wonderful dinner party girls. I'm thankful to have great roommates and friends. :)

Joseph City

2011-11-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

My good friends from Lake Powell really wanted me to go to their hometown of Joseph City Arizona and visit for a weekend. So we planned a trip this month. I took Friday, Monday and Tuesday off of work. It was a really nice break.

Many of you may be wondering where Joseph City is? It is a SMALL town. If you blink, you may miss it. There are no stop lights, one gas station and one place to eat (Mr. G's). Many people that live there work at the Power Plant. Joseph City is about 80 miles east of Flagstaff and was founded by Mormon settlers in 1876 as Allen's Camp, and its name was later changed to St Joseph. The town was located on the Santa Fe Railway, which also went through Saint Joseph Missouri. Due to both towns being on the railroad, in 1923, the name of the town was changed to Joseph City to avoid confusion. It is the site of the Jack Rabbit Trading Post, a famous Route 66 landmark. (which they show on cars... except as a tractor)

I told my friends that I would be happy to take a road trip to their home town is they promised to show me a small town good time. That they did. We did a lot of activities that they did growing up. Here are the things we did in our weekend in Joe City.

They took me to the WIGWAM Motel, which they show on the Pixar movie "Cars" except in the movie they have Cones instead of Teepee's. I loved all of the old cars that they have parked.

We went to Sonic for the BEST Sonic drinks (according to Vicki)

We squished pennies on the railroad tracks

We went shooting

We went to the Badlands and burned tires and rolled them down the hill. I even got to roll a burning tire down the hill. Good times.

Vicki and I got matching animal beenies for our trip. I stayed with Vicki's parents and her mom got us matching fuzzy blankets. We took a nap by the fireplace... which was so nice and cozy since it was a cold weekend... but I woke up to a surprise. Turns out I was allergic to the firewood and I woke up to swollen watering eyes and Vicki's mom had to take a quick trip to the store for some eye drops and allergy medicine. I didn't even think that would be something I would be allergic to.

Let's not forget about visiting the Hawman's llamas! Baby Barack O Llama was born in October. He is so cute and fluffy that I can hardly stand it!!

It was a great trip, great fun with great friends. Thanks girls for showing me a small town good time!

Chad & Clara Take 2

2011-11-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

My brother Chad and Sister in law Clara asked me if I would take their Christmas Card photo's again this year. We again took them on Thanksgiving day... this time in my parents backyard in Mapleton. With the 10 minutes of light that we shot the pictures in... I thought we did pretty well.

Next year... there will be a baby to add to their family photo.

Here is how they turned out...

Flashback Friday 40

2011-11-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving reminds me of family because I am thankful for my family and that is who I am usually with on the Holiday. So today's flashback is our family photo from 2003. Back when I had braces. Yuck. Besides that, it is a nice family photo. Can't believe how much our family has grown since then. Time for a new family photo!! Although... maybe we should wait until I get married so that I can have a spouse in the picture too..

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 93

2011-11-24T23:11:00.000-08:00

It has been a good week. Friday our ward had a service auction to raise money for people who are less fortunate. I bought an Indian dinner from my neighbor. It is nice to get a good dinner and know that your money went to a good cause. The rest of my weekend was relaxing. Sunday I got together with friends after being at my parents house. They had a friends Thanksgiving dinner. It is fun to all get together... especially because starting on Sunday, I was home a lone at the house for this week.

Monday at work we went to the movies. We actually ended up splitting up and seeing two different movies. Lauren, Alex and I saw Breaking Dawn. It was just as bad as the book. I chuckled throughout the whole movie. It was serious and cheesy and COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY to make into 2 films. It was really dragged out and I just didn't like it (and glad I didn't pay for it). I really hated the last book though... so I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise. What is sad to me though is that so many other people think it is such a great movie. I think my favorite part of going to see that movie was seeing the previews for "The Hunger Games". Now THAT is a movie I am excited for.

Tuesday my good friend in the ward, Tara, came over and spent the night. We had a good time chatting and it was nice to not be at the house a lone. Wednesday at work was a joke to be there. There was no work to be done... so we sat around each others office chatting until we decided to go and play frisbee golf. We came back from that and Lauren and I ate our lunches on the balcony on the 8th floor of the Novell building. It was so relaxing and it was such a beautiful day that day. Then it wasn't too much longer that the manager let us leave early (2:30). Not a bad day at work.

This morning and early afternoon I spent my time cleaning the house. It feels good to have it clean. Then I spent the rest of the day at my Aunt and Uncles house in Springville with my parents and my brother and sister in law. It was a great dinner and it was fun to see my cousins and their kids. After I went to my parents house to hang out with them and watch a movie so I didn't have to go back to being home a lone. I ended up getting into this big discussion with my mom about different guys that I have dated and different friends that I have had in my life. It just really made my reflect on who has made a difference in my life for good and bad. It made me think about what kind of impression I am leaving on people's lives... and I hope that it is good. I am really thankful for the people in my life that have changed my life for the better. This leads me into what I want to do next. Since it is Thanksgiving... I thought it only be appropriate for me to list off just a few of the things that I am thankful for in my life.

I am Thankful for...

A Loving family that I love dearly and that loves and supports me in all that I do. I am also thankful that we all get along and enjoy each other's company. My parents who are so good to me. My sisters. I wish we could all be together more. I love them a lot
Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for me
My health and ability to exercise
Not only a good job but an office with a window :)
A beautiful and cozy house to live in
Roommates that I love and get along with
Music that can sooth, comfort, uplift and inspire me
Good friends to play with and that I know truly love and care for me
A car that gets me where I need to go with hardly any trouble over the last 5 years
Technology that not only gives me a job, but makes my life easy, convenient and fun
Traveling to new and exciting places
Creativity
Laughter and the power it has to make me smile and forget about every stress and worry
My blog because it renewed my love for keeping a journal
A comfortable bed... which I don't spend enough time in lately, but I am working on getting more sleep.. which I also love and am thankful for
Delicious food to eat
Having happy and positive people around me that inspire me and make me want to be better
All of my nieces and nephews, I know I already mentioned family... but I had to give a special shout out to them... they are so cute
Cute clothes that make me feel pretty

I could go on, but I will stop there. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Photo of the Week 91

2011-11-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

Rad sunset in Joseph City Arizona while we were target shooting.

I Can See Clearly Now

2011-11-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I was in a band called KAICIA. I know... kind of a silly name. We only performed once and then stopped practicing. We got together the next year to perform for a dinner for our stake leadership. Anyway... I was just looking back at my old video's since I am by myself at the house and I came across this video. It was my favorite song that we performed.

It makes me wish I was in a band again. I love singing and performing. Anyone want to be in a band with me? Especially now that I can somewhat play the guitar.

Poker Night

2011-11-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

A month or so ago, I wrote about going to FHE and playing poker with some people in my ward and how much fun it was. We wanted to do it again and we talked about doing it again for a while. Well... tonight we finally made that happen. After FHE, we got together at Jason, Geoff & Steve's house and we played us some poker!

But it just wouldn't be a party by me if we didn't go all out. I made a little sign, I brought a green table cloth, Tara and I bought Root Beer, Cream Soda & other snacks, Brittany made "J Dogs" and I even made a Poker Playlist. This playlist of course included Lady Gaga's Poker Face, Kenny Rogers Gambler, a remix of The Gambler with Kenny Rogers and Wyclef (which I like even better), Luck Be Lady from Guys and Dolls and The Winner Takes It all by Abba. It was pretty awesome. Serious fun was being had during this poker game when people were not too busy being Poker know it alls.

Poker Faces

I am still not very good at Poker. I only won 2 games in the 3 hours or whatever that we played. Tara on the other hand kicked all of our butts and we started calling her the bank. :)

Jason collected all the bottle caps and is keeping them in a glass. He says it is the new tradition of Poker Night... so if poker night really does continue, then we will be seeing a lot more caps in that glass.

It was a fun Poker Night and I am hoping this continues to go on. Hopefully I will get better in the future.

My Stats

2011-11-20T12:36:00.000-08:00

My stats according to the BBC website. (learned about this at Institute)

Take it Easy

2011-11-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

Take it Easy - Eagles

Well, I'm running down the road
tryin' to loosen my load
I've got seven women on my mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she's a friend of mine,
Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to take your stand
and take it easy

Well, I'm a standing on a corner
in Winslow Arizona
It's such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin' down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
gonna save me
We may lose and we may win though
we will never be here again
so open up, I'm climbin' in,
so take it easy..."Alright"

Well I'm running down the road trying to loosen
my load, got a world of trouble on my mind
lookin' for a lover who won't blow my
cover, she's so hard to find
Take it easy, take it easy
don't let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy,
come on baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me, ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh

Oh we got it easy
We oughta take it easy, yeah

Flashback Friday 39

2011-11-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

Because I am SUPER excited for Thanksgiving next week I thought I would do another Thanksgiving Flashback. Part 1 is from November 2004. We had some ward Thanksgiving dinner. These awesome guys in our ward came dressed up. I LOVE that. Why didn't I think to do that?

Well.. so the next year I did! They inspired me. November 2005 we had a ward Thanksgiving party. I convinced my friends Meg and Shelley to dress up with me. Other people that will dress up with me = awesome people. So we went to D.I. and found our outfits. We got creative. We made an entrance to the party too. Everyone was seated and chatting and all of the sudden Meg just walks in by herself all quite. I am sure she got some funny looks. Then Shelley comes running into the room gobbling like a chicken and then I am running after her trying to attack her. Ha ha.. Our Bishop got the biggest kick out of it. When he found out it was my idea I think that is when he decided that I was going to be the Activities Chair that next semester. ha ha. I'm so weird.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Next week!

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 92

2011-11-17T22:14:00.000-08:00

Did another week just go by? I feel like I was just confessing the other day. Well... here we go again.

Well... a lot of this past week I spent in Joseph City Arizona... which I am going to blog all about... so you will hear about that soon. I always picture Arizona to be hot compared to Utah because usually when I visit AZ I am visiting my sister and my grandma in the valley, but Joe City is north and the temperature is pretty much the same as Utah, so it was cold... but not unbearable. It was nice to get away from my everyday life and have some small town fun with my friends. It really helped me get out of the funk that I had been in.

Tuesday was pretty much dedicated to driving back to Utah. It was hard for me to stay awake because we stayed up until 5am talking the night before. We figured that would happen. I really think it would be good and healthy for me to get more sleep. At night... its like I don't even know where the time goes. I look at the clock all of the sudden and its SUPER late and I should have been in bed a while ago. I REALLY need to break this habit. Anyway... I got some text messages from friends that missed me. It is always nice to come back from a vacation and know that you were missed. In fact... shortly after I got home and unpacked and did laundry I got a phone call from James saying welcome back and he wanted to come over and watch a movie, which was great because I was home alone and I don't like it most of the time when I am home alone (and that is how it has pretty much been all week. At work everyone was asking me how Joe City was and kind of teasing me about going on vacation there. Going to work the first day after a little vacation is always hard. Your not quite ready to go back, but you have to do it. Thankfully it makes it a short week for me.

Today is of course Zumba day at the gym. Today they had the heater on in that room. It was no bueno!! I lost energy fast. The last few weeks have been funny because this new guy started coming to Zumba and he is not only serious about it... but he kind of gets really into it and makes up his own stuff. I wish I could show you a video because I am really not describing it properly. Oh well. It is hard to not laugh sometimes... either that or I am annoyed because he is in my way and I can't see the instructor.

Anyway... tonight I had tithing settlement. They just held it at my BFF neighbors house. I have to say this was the best tithing settlement experience I have ever had. It was like a party. They provided donuts and other treats, one girl brought her bird and I got to hold it, I had a singing session with Wes & Darrell... and lots of other people were there waiting or staying behind because it was just a good time. I know I was there for an hour just because. Usually (with past bishopric's of singles wards) you just get asked if you are a full tithe payer and they you are done, but this was a little interview... and I enjoyed it. It was more personal. I have to say I really like our new bishopric. I had a good time tonight. Who knew tithing settlement could be so fun.

Now that I am in my new office, I have been thinking about a few things. One, I am so far away from all of my co-workers and my office just looks into the hall at the copy machines. I feel kind of out of the loop now. Even the manager comes over and checks on me sometimes and is like... "Tracy, what is wrong? You are so quite now. The action is gone now". I am not sure how to fix that. I am still getting used to being on a crowded floor where there are people in every office. Maybe I will make more friends this way. Another thing... I LOVE having a window. It is nice to feel the warmth of the sun on my back while I work. It is nice to have natural light. Amazing the difference that makes. Probably not something you think about much. I mean... I never complained about my office before. Also... now I really want my office to feel homey.... So I want to decorate it. Not sure what I should do though besides a few pictures and some plants. How do you decorate an office?

Photo of the Week 90

2011-11-16T22:06:00.000-08:00

Hairspray

2011-11-15T23:37:00.000-08:00

I know I talked a lot about practicing for this little production for our Stake Road Show "Musical Review". Each ward in the stake (10 wards) was given a musical and 5 minutes to perform that musical. Some of the musicals performed included Annie, High School Musical, Footloose, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, West Side Story, etc.. Most groups didn't use props or any sort of set. Most of the groups either lip sinked or sang along with the recording for their songs.

Then our group comes along. We had Hairspray (which I LOVE by the way). I love the girl that was in charge of putting our show together. She takes my approach (Go big or go home). Not only did our costumes look awesome and we were one of the only ones with a set (and even though it was small on a big stage, it looked awesome) BUT we were the ONLY group that not only sang the lead vocals but the chorus as well. We were the only group that all sang and danced at the same time. We learned and practiced for a month and our word paid off. We rocked it. That is the good news.

The bad news is that we were not able to practice where we ended up performing. We rocked our practice run through... however on stage for the real show.. only one of the mic's worked. It was a nightmare for our group. All that practice for nothing... you could hardly hear a thing. It was heartbreaking for us to experience while we were all up on stage and I think it affected our performance because we knew what was happening and we couldn't do anything about it. I think it made me so mad because it was such a huge problem that could have been easily fixed had they just checked all the mic's before the show started. We all wanted to redo it as soon as it was over. So did a lot of other people. There were many people in the audience that yelled redo! We were all upset and felt like we failed. Even though you couldn't hear us, everyone told us that our's was their favorite. The guy in charge said it was the best put together and most polished from start to finish. So... I guess we can feel good about that.

Even though this 5 minute performance took up a lot more of my time than I expected it to, I am still glad I did it. I hardly knew anyone in the group that did the show and after a month I ended with lots new friends. We all had fun together. Plus... I love to perform and I don't feel like I get the chance to do it often. Here is the whole group.

I was going to wait until we redid it and got a good video of our performance... but I am not positive that is going to happen, so I am posting it now. If we do end up redoing it, I will replace the video with the new one. In the meantime... you are stuck with this. Just pretend you can hear us singing. *Special thanks to my roommates, Tara, Brittany, Vicki and my parents for coming to support my 5 minutes of the show. :)

Mindi's Birthday

2011-11-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

Today is Mindi's Birthday. Went out to breakfast this morning at Denny's (her favorite) and pretty much did whatever she wanted to do today here is Joseph City. Her mom made a yummy lasagna dinner and Ashley made a cake. I told her that I would decorate the cake. It is not my best cake decorating work.. but she liked it, so that is all that matters. Better than not being decorated at all right? Mindi likes the beach... so I put a sun and a surfboard and some tropical flowers. Happy Birthday Mindi. Thanks for being my friend and letting me spend your birthday with you. :)

Me and My Guitar

2011-11-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Back in the beginning of October (I know... it has taken me a long time to post this) my friend and roommate, Rachel, wanted to do a photoshoot of me and my guitar since I just started learning. That and she is getting into photography and wanted to practice. I'm always up for pictures... so I said sure and we went up the canyon at the prettiest part of the fall. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! We were so happy to just be up the canyon taking in the beautiful scenery. I was going to post a video of me playing the guitar to go along with this post, but I am not quite sure I am there yet with my guitar playing skills. Maybe in a later post?

In the meantime... here are some of my favorite pictures that Rachel took. Good work Rachel!

Hawman Family

2011-11-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

Right now I am in Joseph City Arizona. I am visiting the hometown of some of my friends that I went to Lake Powell with. Since Mindi & Ashley were both coming to town as well, their family decided to have a family get together yesterday and asked me if I would take their family pictures. I thought they turned out nice and I really liked the location. I was really wondering where in Joseph City we would take them since there is not much there... but they chose well.

Here is how they turned out.

The whole family with in-law and grandkids.

Just the kids. *they found this wooden frame on the ground and put it to use. I thought it made a cute prop*

Sisters

The Hawman family. Are they not so cute? They were fun to photograph.

Flashback Friday 38

2011-11-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today is 11/11/11 and I am posting this at 11:11pm. Does that mean I get some sort of wish or something? No? Well... it is pretty cool all the same.

Today I wanted to flashback to somewhere between 2001 and 2003. I don't remember when exactly it happened... I just remember I was working at Far West back home in Santa Barbara. We worked with this old lady, Alice. Alice loved Dr. Laura and listened to her everyday. She was old and lonely and loved to talk to us young kids and make up stories about her son being taken to prison in Honduras by midgets. We would sometimes try and call her bluff... but she wouldn't have it and would talk even more... so people learned to just smile and nod with Alice. Sometimes people wouldn't even be listening to her at all, they would have their headphones in listening to music while Alice was just chatting away at them not having any idea that they were not even listening. Poor Alice. She was a nice lady, kind of weird, but nice. It is probably no surprise to you that she was a cat lady. She loved and talked about her cats like they were her children. She brought in cat calendars to work for everyone to use and look at. Every month I would look at the picture of the cat and think how creepy it looked. I am already not the biggest cat fan... but I really thought these pictures were creepy. I had voiced that to my friends there and one day I came into work and saw the calendar looking like this.....

Yeah, it creeped me out.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 91

2011-11-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Another crazy week in my crazy life. Still not getting enough sleep. Either out until late hours of the night or talking on the phone until late hours of the night. Friday we actually didn't have hairspray practice... I didn't know what to do with myself... ha ha... I ended up relaxing at home with Rachel and trying out this new BBQ place. It was nice. Every once in a while I need to relaxing night at home where I don't do anything. Next day I am ready to be out again though. Saturday I had early morning hairspray practice and then I cleaned the house just to go back and run through hairspray one more time before show time. That is pretty much what my Saturday was dedicated to. I still need to blog about the show. I have lots of pictures. I am glad that it is over, but I kind of miss practices just because I miss hanging out with all of those people I started out not knowing anyone except for Wes and Oliver and ended with a bunch of new friends. We had fun together.

After the show on Saturday Wes and I showed up late to our good friend Brittany's birthday dinner still dressed in our Hairspray costumes. We got some funny looks, but we didn't care. After dinner we went to an after party with our Hairspray friends. After that James came over to hang out. It was a long and tiring but fun day.

Sunday was busy but pretty normal. Got together with some friends and had a discussion of how we are going to form a movement to get rid of clowns. It was a funny conversation, but seriously... I wouldn't mind getting rid of clowns forever. They are pretty creepy.

Monday was the start of a new week. I never look forward to Mondays. I was kind of looking forward to this Monday though because we were supposed to go to the movies. All the sudden my manager decided against it. Everyone doesn't argue against it but counts on me to try and change his mind (with no support). So I wrote an email to everyone with a top 10 list of reasons of why we should go to the movies that day. It was unfortunately not successful. I thought the list was pretty legit though and it made some people laugh and its a good thing that I didn't get in trouble for it. Some of the things on the list included following through with promises, showing Jomon (our co-worker that was in town from Ireland) the American Cinema and that going to the movies would help us forget how cold it was outside. Anyway... it didn't work, but I am going to give it a try next week and I am thinking it will work then.

On Tuesday, James took me with him to visit his old roommates (one of which is FHE Boy) who I used to have a crush on. We pretty much had stopped talking because he started dating someone and they dated for 6 or 7 months and were going to get engaged... but they broke up. I felt bad because he seemed to still be having a hard time. It was good to see them and hang out with them again though. I always did love hanging out at their apartment because they were so funny and entertaining. Still are.

I have been thinking about all the goals that I had set for myself this year. This year is almost over and there are a lot of things that I have not accomplished yet. I am too determined to give up on my goals... so I will have to be playing catch up in these next two months (which are busy months) I hope that I can pull it off!

Wednesday and Thursday were spent moving offices. We went from the 5th floor down to the 4th floor and it didn't seem like it would be that big of a deal for me to move since I don't have that much stuff... but it was kind of a pain. I set up my computer in my new office and it got a bad virus... again! So my computer was taken away from me to be fixed and was gone for almost 2 full days which means I couldn't really do my work. However, we also had to move ALL of our files. We had hired some temps to do it, so I didn't think I would have to help much, but I was helping for two days move heavy boxes and putting all of our files back into the file cabinets in their new location. It was kind of irritating that all the girls were moving heavy boxes while the guys all just sat there. Ugh... My back and arms are kind of sore but at least it is all done now. My office is still a mess, but I will deal with that later. Oh, I also have two monitors now... which will be really nice. I also have my window office now. So... should be nice. It will be weird for a little while though to have the change.

With the move... it was pretty tiring. I was also leaving for a road trip this weekend, so I didn't really go grocery shopping, so I didn't have a lot of food to bring to work like I normally did. On our first day of the move I said out loud to my co-worker for my boss and manager to hear that I felt like we should have pizza on our moving day. Next thing I know... I hear my boss ordering pizza. My co-worker was so impressed with it. I make food and activities happen in our department. My co-worker said it is like having my own wish fairy at work. I just have to say what I want and my boss makes it come true. ha ha. Not a bad deal. The next day... since we were still moving, my boss brought in doughnuts for everyone (which was nice). When I went to go grab one, I looked in the box. There were many different kinds to choose from, but two in the box looked funny to me. I turn to my boss and say "Do those doughnuts have Fruity Pebbles on top?" and he says yes like it is normal. SICK!!! My co-worker Lauren and I were so grossed out by it. However we had to try a little bit of it just to make sure it was as gross as it looked... and it totally was. ha ha. Do yourself a favor and never try one of those. I mean... who's idea was it to put that together anyway? Not the best idea.

Photo of the Week 89

2011-11-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

Turns out guitars make for great props in photoshoots. Not sure why... but they do. This is a little preview of a photoshoot that I did at the beginning of October that I have been meaning to post. More pictures coming soon!

Laughing Out Loud

2011-11-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

I love the little things that go around the internet that make me laugh. I need some giggles here and there throughout my day. Facebook and Pinterest are GREAT for this. Here are some of my favorites as of late. There are kind of a lot, and you may have seen some of them before, but I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

How to offend all nerds at the same time...

Harry Potter ones...

I could probably post these forever... ha ha

Mr. Accident

2011-11-07T23:20:00.000-08:00

This story is not my own... but it made me laugh too hard not to share it. This is actually someone that my co-worker knows. (maybe.. the more the story is told, the more I am not sure I believe it, but it is very funny all the same) They were talking about worst date stories and this one was told.

It all started when Mr Accident was on his way to pick up his date. This is where he got his name. This is where the accident happened. He sneezed so hard that he ...uh... pooped his pants a little. Embarrassing huh? Instead of going home to change and take care of everything (like most normal people would) he didn't want to be late to pick up his date, so he went to go pick her up. Meanwhile he still has crap in his pants.

He picks up his date and he asks her if they can make a quick stop at the store so he could pick up some things (like new underwear and pants). So they go to the store. For some reason he expects her to stay in the car, but she does not. Mr. Accident comes up with a plan. He tells her that he needs to buy a sweater for his friend. After he picked up the sweater... he tried to pick up his undies and pants while he sent his date to stay in the check out line. When he gets up to pay for his things, Mr. Accident leans over to the cashier to tell her he doesn't REALLY want the sweater... he really just wanted the undies and pants and to just put the sweater aside. So she said "Of course, not a problem". He grabs his bag and still does not visit the bathroom but goes straight to the car to pick up the other couple for their double date. They did that. I have to wonder that by this point he is pretty smelly. Right?

For their double date they decided to go to the Heber Creeper and ride the train. As soon as they got on the train and found their seats, Mr. Accident finally excused himself to the bathroom. You know... to take care of his messed up business. He takes care of it... feeling better... but not for long. He decides that he needs to get rid of his messy underwear and pants. So what does he do? Mr. Accident throws them out the window of the train. He then reaches into the shopping bag to pull out his new undies and pants only to find the sweater... and NOTHING else! Oh dear. The Cashier lady did NOT understand him. How do you solve this one now? I bet he was thinking to himself at this point... *you know, I should have just gone home and taken care of the problem right away and called my date I was going to be late*

Mr. Accident is now in the train bathroom with no pants or underwear on and holding a sweater. Without any better solutions he puts his legs through the arms of the sweater. Unfortunately there is a hole where the neck should be and it was still quite revealing. So what did he do? Could he really go back to his date and the others at this point and explain what happened? (I don't blame him for that ) So what did he do? He wrapped that sweater around his bottom half and he jumped off the train SERIOUSLY jumped off the moving train. He walked however long it was back to the car and drove home leaving his date and other couple on the date stranded and not having a clue of where Mr. Accident was.

I laughed so hard that I cried when telling this story to a couple of guys. It is super funny... but so many things went so wrong. It could have all been simply avoided. What do you think the moral of this story is?

South African Masks

2011-11-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

I got these cool masks while I was in South Africa. I wanted to get bigger ones, but they were more expensive and I didn't know where I would put bigger masks... so I got 2 smaller ones. When I got home I didn't know how I would display them. One day it hit me. Remember my Bucket List craft that I did? Well... I remembered that I had a matching frame, so I decided I would display them in that frame! I painted the frame black and put burlap on the back and hot glued the masks on there. Tada! I completed a new craft of something from my travels that I can display in my room. A simple craft that I turned out being very pleased with.

Day of the Dead Party

2011-11-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Brittany. Today is her birthday. On Wednesday she had a birthday party with a couple of friends that also have birthdays a few days apart. She decided to have a "Day of the Dead" Birthday Party. Also known as Dia De Los Muertos. Brittany served her mission in Spain and also does an awesome job with make up... so what a great party idea! I know this is the first Day of the Dead party I have been to, so I was excited.

Brittany did an awesome job with the food and decorations. Everything looked colorful and amazing! I loved it. Look at that amazing cake!!!

Not only did Brittany decorate, but she also offered to paint faces for the party for whoever wanted to. Not many people wanted to, but Vicki and I were all about it. Look at how awesome we look. Brittany rocks at face paint.

After cake was served and our faces were painted, we went outside for some sparkler fun.

What a fun party!! I loved it, but I love the girls that threw it even more. Brittany and Tara have become very dear friends of mine in the ward. They are the sweetest and I love them. I also love it when Vicki is not working so she can come hang out with me too... because I love hanging out with her. Thanks Vicki for coming with me and Thanks Brittany and Tara for throwing such an awesome party and being such awesome people. Happy Birthday Brittany!!!

Flashback Friday 37

2011-11-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

Since it is now November... I still can't believe it is November already, I thought that I would flashback to different Thanksgiving celebrations (we will see how many I have actually documented.

We will start with 2007. My Uncle Dale and Aunt Teresa invited all of the family (my mom's side) that were in Utah to come to Thanksgiving at their house. My Aunt Sharleen was in town from Washington and my parents were in town and my sister Jamie and her family were in town as well. It is always fun to be with family. I always enjoy spending time with my cousin Lauren too since she was one of the few cousins my age. We have stayed pretty close over the years. Here are some pictures from that get together. *The picture of my dad with my nieces on his back is from the same visit, different day.*

My mom with her brother and sister

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 90

2011-11-03T23:08:00.000-07:00

I'm so tired. It is starting to get really cold. I'm really busy. I'm starting to get in a funk. I don't like being in a funk. I'm not depressed... I am just not as happy as I normally am... This seem to irritate me more, I'm a little more sensitive and I feel like everyone is against me. I hate being in a funk. I don't know if it is just me or if it is because of other people around me that are down that causes me to get down too. I am not sure, but I need to make a plan to help get myself out of it.

On Monday (Halloween) I went to Pilates and my instructor came dressed as a gypsy and taught class and did pilates like that. She also had a fun Halloween playlist for us to work out to. I love it. We also had trick or treaters at work on Friday. I love having the kids coming to my office trick or treating. I think my favorite costumes were Zelda and Bruno Marz. There were a lot of super cute kids though. One little toddler came dressed as a cupcake. Oh my she was cute.

Monday was super busy with quarter end. I was so happy when it was over.. although it was really busy the next day for me too.

Friday I went out on a date with a friend of a friend. He was nice, but it was a little bit awkward. Fortunately and unfortunately it was not awkward/ bad enough to blog about. After I watched Footloose for the first time with my roommates who had also never seen it before. Hot Rod became even more funny after watching it. I am trying to decide how bad I want to see the new one. I mean, I am sure I will see it. Not in a rush though even though my roommates said they loved it. I'm glad I saw the old one first.

We have been in meetings all day these last couple of days because we have all of our co-workers that work in different offices and out of their homes in town and in the office. It is always kind of fun but I have a hard time sitting through that many meetings. I have to draw to stay awake. We did get to go to lunch at Tuccano's today. That made me pretty happy. I had not eaten there in a long time.

Yesterday my friend James called me while I was at work. My office door was open and my phone was turned up loud for some reason. It was funny/embarrassing because everyone heard his ringtone... which happens to be "Careless Whisper". There is a story behind that and it has to do with Sexy Sax Man on YouTube and a video of our own that hopefully one day we will finish. Regardless, they didn't know the story. They all just heard Careless Whisper playing from my office and my boss and his boss both were like "What the... what is that? Make it stop!" ha ha. I was still hearing about it today at work. In fact the manager brought it up in our meeting today in front of everyone. I have to admit every time he call me I chuckle a little. It is funny.

I look back on this last week and all I can think about is Hairspray. I have watched the movie twice. Once on Friday with my roommates after Footloose because they had never seen it before and I was trying to get outfit ideas and once tonight while I was over at some girls house in the ward that are in the show with me. It is probably all I can think about because I feel like that is all I have been doing. Because it is the week of the show, we have been practicing every night. I had no idea that a 5 minute production was going to be such a huge time commitment. For all this time I hope it turns out awesome. It is turning out cute though. I have a lot of fun with my partner Bronson too. I will be happy when it is over in a couple of days though.

I don't know why I started doing this... and I don't remember when I started doing this, but on Friday when I get home from work, I turn on my lava lamp that I have had since I was in Jr High (when they were popular). I know they went out of style, but I just liked it too much that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. One time I thought it was broken because the lava was not forming the way it was supposed to. We were going to throw it off the roof, but some how it ended up in the refrigerator. When I took it out of the fridge I decided to give it another try for some reason before I got rid of it. And it worked again, like new... so I decided to never doubt the lava lamp again. Anyway... that was like 6 years ago. Now I turn it on Friday after work and I don't turn it off until Sunday night when I am going to go to bed. It is like how you know it is the weekend or not when you are down in the basement. Ashley and Vicki took notice to the lava lamp while they were spending the night so I told them I only turn it on during the weekends. So... now it has become a Friday tradition. Every friday Ashley sends me a HeyTell with the stupid Rebecca Black's Friday song that I hate so much and I send her a picture of my lava lamp. I think she got the better end of the deal... I mean one day she could put together a flip book and it would be pretty legit. :) So excited to turn it on tomorrow after work.

Photo of the Week 88

2011-11-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes.... I think the sky tells us stories.

Scuba Party

2011-11-01T23:06:00.001-07:00

About a month ago, I got this in the mail...

It is my Scuba Certification card. So when I go to rent scuba equipment and go scuba diving... they will actually let me go, because I am now legit. Desiree and I talked about getting scuba certified together for so long that when we finally completed and it was official, we decided it was worth throwing a party. So we did. And why have a party if it is not going to be done cute? So... I brought some stuff from my bathroom over (since it is beach themed). We hung my shower curtain to the wall and Desiree's tablecloth happened to be the perfect color.

Desiree bought some shrimp and sushi. Both very good.

I made cupcakes. I had a vision of what I wanted the cupcakes to be like. This included using fondant. I had never used fondant before, so my friend, Rachel, taught me how to color and mold fondant. It was great to learn because I think I will be using it a lot in the future. Since this was my first time... I had no idea how the cupcakes would turn out. Rachel helped me, but she had never done anything like this before (scuba and fish) but the cupcakes turned out way better than I had even imagined. I LOVE them. I love that they are bright and colorful and that we added bubbles and seaweed. I love how my goggles and snorkel turned out. The fish and shells were awesome. I just loved it. Rachel and I had so much fun making them together too.

They were also a big hit at the party.

It was so fun to get together with Desiree again and celebrate our scuba certification. I am still SO glad we did it together. She is such a great scuba buddy. Thanks for everything Des. Here's to future dives together!

A Jolly Halloween

2011-10-31T23:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! I hope you all had a fun one. Mine was kind of stressful with quarter end at work. To try and forget about the work stress and think about something happy and because I am a proud Aunt that likes to show off her adorable nieces and nephews, I will keep my tradition going of posting what my nieces and nephews were for Halloween. Oh how I love to see them all dressed up in costume. They are all so cute I can hardly stand it. Love them all to pieces.

First we have Kristy's kids. Theme: Dragon & Princesses. Grant made a VERY cute dragon and the girls are beautiful princesses. Reanne is the Princess from Tangled and Sierra is the princess from Princess and the Frog. I would like to note that Kristy made both Princess costumes. Are they not amazing?!

Next we have Lori's cute family. I love that Lori and Billy dress up with their kids and do themed costumes. This year they dressed up as characters from Pinocchio! Is that not the cutest thing ever? Lori was the Blue Fairy. Billy was Geppetto. William was Pinocchio & Zach was Jiminy Cricket! Love it! I would also like to note that Lori put together these costumes with trips to DI and some sewing. Turned out awesome.

Last we have little Gwen as Alice in Wonderland (from the Tim Burton film). Is she not a doll? This dress is amazing too and of course... Jamie sewed it... without a pattern. That is how she rolls. She is the most talented in our family when it comes to sewing. Asher was Captain Jack Sparrow. Jamie also made his wig. He looks so great.

I love my nieces and nephews. They are the cutest and I just have to show them off. :)

Now to my costume...

A couple of weeks ago I didn't know what I was going to be. My friend Wes and I were talking and he told me he wanted to be Bert from Mary Poppins. So he told me I would make a great Mary Poppins and asked if I would dress up with him. I have never been Mary Poppins before, so I thought that would be fun, so I agreed.

Here are some friends at the party we went to tonight for the Stake. It was a lot of fun.

My friends Chris & Brad cracked me up with their costumes. I HAD to get a picture with them. They are too funny.

We were a little disappointed though, we thought we were being somewhat original with our costume idea, but turns out a couple from our ward had the same idea. I also saw one other Mary Poppins. Sadness. However, we still had lots of people wanting to take our picture and everyone telling us how cute we were and how much they loved our costumes.

This is how our costumes turned out. Not bad for putting it together in the last couple of days. All it took was a trip to WalMart, DI & our closets. Wes found his shirt, shoes, jacket & chimney sweeper at DI. The hat he is wearing is actually mine. I found my hat at WalMart (actually covered a skull with flowers). I bought some red material and my mom made the bow tie and sash. I bought the skirt at DI and I had the tights, shoes. blouse, gloves and purse. Not too bad huh? I loved it. We love to sing together so we sang a little Jolly Holiday on the way into the party. I had never done a couple costume before (probably because I have only been in a relationship during Halloween once and we didn't match because we didn't plan) so it was really fun to do it. Some people asked me if we were dating, which I figured people would. We had a blast walking around together showing off our costumes and speaking in a British accent. It was a jolly holiday indeed.

Halloween Dinner for the Kids

2011-10-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago my sister, Kristy, started this really cute tradition for her kids. She makes a Halloween meal for her kids. They love it and it is so cute, she does a different menu every year. The first year I was invited to attend. This year not only did I get to attend... I also got to help contribute. It was at my parents house this time and so my parents helped too. My dad even got really into it. Here is what my dad made... dancing ghosts. Cute huh?

Here is what I contributed. Tombstone cupcakes. Cute right? I got the idea from my roommate Rachel who is a cupcake pro.

I also suggested a few ideas like the pumpkin throwing up guacamole. I carved the Pumpkin.

I also suggested the deviled egg creepy crawlers since my dad makes deviled eggs every week anyway.

Other than that, Kristy thought up the rest of the menu which included gobblin toes (sausage & crescent rolls), mummy pizza's, witches brew (dry ice included), Potato creatures, bug infested salad and Frankenstein jello cups. It was so great.

The kids had a hard time having to wait for this meal. While Sierra waited, she read Ghost jokes. (I totally remember loving those joke books as a kid)

The girls also dressed up as witches.

Then they were able to eat the awesome meal!

We also had fun decorating... mostly because they knew I would want to. I really love how it turned out. My sister is so creative and talented and does such fun awesome things for her kids. I am just so glad that I get to be a part of it.