Jazz

Last night I was invited last minute by my friend Tara to go to the Jazz game in SLC. Her friend bailed and she had a free ticket and invited me! I felt so special. It was my first Jazz game. Not only did I not have to pay... but they were like $100 tickets, so our seats were pretty good.

I am usually not into sports. When I say usually... I mean that I never watch them or care to keep up with it so at first I was kind of like whatever about going and was mostly just going to be there for Tara. Once I was at the game, I forgot how into I get. Watching games on tv doesn't really do it for me, however when I am at the game, there is an energy there that is hard NOT to get into. I got super into it. It was a great game. They were about 10 points behind the whole game and then at the very end passed them up and won the game. Very exciting!

We decided to be funny and make signs to try and get on camera. We got on camera in the corner for like a second.... but beyond that nothing. Too bad too because I think our signs could have gotten us some dates.

However, we were blocked by these guys. Their signs were just so much bigger. *We had post game passes so we could stay after and say thanks to the guy that gave us the tickets and saw these boys while we were waiting and told them they blocked our sign and then asked if they would take a picture with us. ha ha *

I had so much fun. My roommates and adopted roommates had talked about going to a Jazz game in the next couple of months... and this just made me more excited to go. It was a blast. Thanks Tara for the invite and a good time.

Mario Brother's Baby Shower

On Saturday I went with my mom and sister Kristy to my sister in law Clara's baby shower. She is due in March. They are having a girl. I will be getting my 4th niece. I'm excited.

Clara decided to have a Super Mario Brother's themed shower because I guess that is how they are decorating the baby's room. Most original baby shower I have seen yet.

Here was her invite to the shower.

These pictures are from both of her baby showers. Had to steal some pictures from her other one so you could see more of the theme. :) I was pretty amazed by her diaper cake and real cake. Way to go on the Mario theme! She got a lot of pink and green. Some people asked her if they were her colors. She said she wasn't sure on colors yet. I told her pink and green totally work because she could decorate with Princess Peach and Yoshi. ha ha

Here I am with Clara, my mom and my sister Kristy.

Can't wait to meet the newest addition to the family. :)

Buffalo Wild Wings

While I was in Flagstaff AZ in November, Vicki, Ashley and I ate at "Buffalo Wild Wings". I had never eaten there before. I guess it is one of Vicki's favorite places to eat.... she loves her wings. I don't care for wings too much but I had an awesome wrap when I was there.

Well... turns out they just opened up a Buffalo Wild Wings in Utah. Kind of a big deal I guess. Vicki and Tina were pretty excited about it. They went once last week without me... and Friday we decided to do a girls outing there. I just ordered another wrap and was excited when I looked it up that it was under 500 calories. Because it is new, it was a LONG wait and very crowded and it is loud and overstimulating (TV's everywhere with multiple basketball games on) but we were surrounded by attractive men, the food was good and the company was even better.  It was a fun night.

 "You'll lick parts of your fingers you never knew you had"

Cheese Party

On Wednesday... Rachel, Vicki and I went to a fancy cheese party. Really... it was required to wear a fancy dress. It was fun to have a reason to dress up. And it was required that we brought fancy cheese... no cheap stuff. So... this is what cheeses we brought...

Here was the whole spread. It was all really good. I thought it was a great idea for a party actually. I love cheese and crackers. I think that is why I love Wallace and Gromit. :)

Here we are all dressed up for the party!

Flashback Friday 49

Today's flashback is from September 2004. Santa Barbara gang got together for Brett's birthday. It is always good times when we get together.

We hung a little surprise in Brett's room. We wrote little messages on each one. He thought it was funny.

I love my Santa Barbara friends!

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 102

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

Ice ice baby...

Colors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Internet Funnies - Take 2

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.