Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 62

Right now I am blogging on the plane. This is a first for me. Its kind of nice... I'm not going to lie. I think it has been making the time go by faster for me. Its kind of a long flight.... so it was worth it to pay 12 bucks or whatever. Even more so because of who I am sitting next to. I have mentioned before in past confessions that when I fly I always hope to sit next to an attractive single guy... and that NEVER happens! Seriously... you would think out of all the times that I have flown one place or another that it would happen at least once. Nope! Today I am sitting next to a young newly wed couple that is on their way to their honeymoon. Great..... awesome.... NOT what I want. They are nice and all, don't get me wrong, they just can't keep their hands off of each other and can't stop kissing. Its too long of a flight for that. It was worth the money to just help distract me from that. The best part is when I first sat down and they asked me if I was visiting or going home and I asked them the same question and they said they were going on their honeymoon. The conversation then went as follows.

Me: "Oh congrats! I'm still waiting to get married"

Newly Wed Couple: " Oh... it's SO worth the wait"

Me: "Ummm.... how long did you have to wait?" *thinking they both looked pretty young"

Newly Wed Girl: "I'm 19"

Newly Wed Guy "I'm 22"

*I'm trying not to laugh because that is not a wait at all*

Me: "Oh... well, I'm 28"

*Little bit of an awkward silence*

Newly Wed Couple: "I would have NEVER guessed you were 28. You don't look it at all"

Me: "Gee... umm, well.... thanks"

Conversation ends. ha ha. Oh, how I wish they even knew what they were saying....

Speaking of being around couples.... my BFF neighbor was one of 3 guys that bought the Bishop's wife's Thai dinner at the ward auction. They were required to take a date, he took me. I was ok with this because I love Thai food and my BFF neighbor is pretty awesome too. On the way there he informed me of the other people that bought the dinner at the auction. Two engaged couples. Oh good.. this should be interesting. And it was. There was a lot of wedding talk and of course since we were not even dating... we got teased... A LOT. It was a little awkward for us at times, but nothing that we couldn't handle. I mean... we just played along, calling each other sweetheart, darling and dear. What else do you do? I will have you know though that the food was totally worth it. Thanks again Darrell for taking me. 

Speaking of my BFF Neighbor... he has gotten into photography and I have invited him to the photography crew blog (which we are trying to think of a new name for because I have never loved it). Anyway... I took a picture of him in front of the graffiti wall, so its legit. He's in! Check it out here.

Sunday was the big change. A lot of the people in my ward were moved out. Including my new FHE BFF's. I was kind of sad about that. However, they all assured me that we would all still be friends. I hope so. We have some fun summer plans coming up.... I hope they all pan out because I have enjoyed hanging out with them all. Monday was my last FHE with them because I am going to be out of town next Monday. I was kind of sad... but it was good times. James and I made crepes for everyone. I thought that was a good note to end on. When I get back everything will be different. Which will be a little bit sad in some ways... but mostly good I think. 

One of the many nice things about having my parents close by again is that every week I get a BBQ dinner that is amazing. I really missed this when I moved out. Something else that I enjoy that I didn't think about until my parents moved close is that I get to invite friends to eat with me and my family. Until recently I forgot how great this is. In the future it will be a good test for guys that I date. I think it says a lot about a person how they interact with your family. Anyway... I took a guy friend this last weekend and he was SO great with my family. It was so refreshing after dating someone that wouldn't ever open up to my family. Its a big deal. Being able to see that early on will be really nice. It will make me like people even more that like my family and enjoy being around them. My family is awesome... so I don't see why you wouldn't enjoy spending time over there... but like I said, it says a lot about a person. 

This last weekend I went on 2 dates in one night. I think that's a record for me. I was pretty excited about that... even if I was completely interviewed in the second date.

I talk too much. I don't know if its because I sit a lone in an office all day so I crave attention when I am done with work... or if that doesn't matter and I crave the attention anyway... but I do. I talk too much. I went visiting teaching the other day and I was there for 2 hours. You ask me to tell you about something and I get all excited to tell a story and don't leave out any details. Maybe that is why I love my blog so much. Anyway... I'm sorry if this bugs anybody... I just like to talk. 

Photo of the Week 60

Love the flowers at Pikes Market.

Paparazzi Jewelry Party

My friend Bre and I met about 6 years ago through mutual friends... although, we now realize we should have been roommates. Anyway... now we are blogging buddies. One day she blogged that she was now selling jewelry... and everything was only $5 and if we wanted to host a party to let her know. Say What? Only $5? It must not be cute stuff then (I thought to myself) so I asked her to post pictures. She posted pictures and it was cute stuff. I was sold. The next day I set up a time to hold a Paparazzi party at my house.

It was a success. I had a handful of people that came and bought stuff and were very happy with what they got. She sold enough that I was able to get some free stuff too... which was a total bonus. Here is what I ended up with.

Here are some of my friends that came to the party. *I more remembered to take pictures in the beginning of the party then I did towards the end*

Since there was going to be a small party at my house, I knew I had to have a cute dessert table. :o) Rachel helped me with the food and decorations. The decorations was just using stuff that I already had... which was really nice. We decided that it would be really cute to decorate the table with purple and zebra print. I loved it. For the dessert stands... I just hot glued a plastic plate and cup together and then spray painted it... that way I could have dessert stands that matched our setting, but I could just throw it away after I was done with the party.

Since I have been so crazy busy... I bought all the food needed on my lunch break and then Rachel made the cupcakes and the homemade oeros! They were SO good. Everyone was super impressed with the dessert table.

Amazingly this is something that Rachel and I were too busy to put together... so this is us doing a party SUPER last minute. I still LOVE how it turned out. I love the colors. The food was amazing. I probably ate a bit too much sugar.

Thank you Bre for doing the party and thanks to everyone that came. It was a lot of fun!

I Made My Mark

I made my mark on the Burton's home.

At Rob's farewell party... we were all just sitting around and watching Rob's favorite youtube videos when suddenly he gets out his pellet gun and told us that we should have some target shooting....

He put up a target next to the window. First he gave it to Allyson. She shot and hit the blind... made a hole. Then he gave the gun to Shelley. She also aimed for the target and hit the blinds... which made another hole. Then he gave the gun to me. I didn't hit the target or the blinds... so I felt left out. I wanted to make my mark on the Burton home. So I tried again and made a hole in the blinds. Great thing about Rob... he doesn't care. He thought it was funny. Why would he get mad though when he gave us the gun in the first place. ha ha.

 *Here we are pointing to the holes we made in their blinds*

Then we gave the gun to James. He of course hits the target on the first try. Show off. Just turns out that James is talented and amazing at everything.

We had a lot of fun at Rob's goodbye party... if you couldn't tell. :o) I had never shot any sort of gun inside the house before so it was kind of fun. I guess James and I had target practice with his nail gun in his garage. Does that count? Probably not...  Regardless... I need to go shooting more I have decided.

P.S. I heart Allyson. I love that she is just up for anything. She is my right hand woman! We are going to have a Summer O fun!!!!!

Easter Fireside

Today was a REALLY long day for me. We had a special stake conference. They asked our ward choir if we would be the closing number "Consider the Lilies". They needed more people, so I told them I would sing in the ward choir. Therefore... I was practicing at 10am... got home around 11:45 to change and get ready for church and then we had to practice before the conference and then performed... which I heard we did well.

I was asked by a guy in the ward if I would sing in a special musical number for the Stake Easter fireside... which is kind of a big deal. Our stake firesides are legit. And the guy that asked me to sing is legit... so I felt honored that he was asking me. I knew that everyone that he asked to sing was going to be a really good singer... so I felt like I had made it in the cool kids club. Its a good thing everyone knew what they were doing because that is the only way we all could have looked at the music for the first time the night before the fireside... and then pulled off our number in the fireside. :o) After stake conference we had to head to a different room to practice for the Easter fireside. Thank goodness they fed us dinner or else I wouldn't have gotten to eat all day. We practiced with our group... they ran through the whole fireside and then we performed in the fireside. We sang a song called "The Empty Tomb". I had never heard it before, but I thought it was beautiful. We made a few additions. I had a friend record us during the run through performance.

*Side Note* This was not our best performance. We had one goof up at the end... but for only practicing the night before and that day... not bad. The piano is too loud and the mic on us is not loud enough... but hopefully you can hear the song okay. When we sang in the actual fireside.. It was the best we had sung it... and we huddled together more around the mic... so you could probably hear us better too.



There is an acapella group at BYU called "Noteworthy". I guess a couple of the girls in that group are in our stake... so they got their group together to perform in our fireside and I was blown away. They did this song... (I found this on youtube) but I don't think this recording does it justice. They are awesome and I think are acapella Champions from what I hear. They even competed in the NBC's show "The Sing Off". They did two numbers. Loved it.



I am always blown away by our stake firesides. There is so much talent in our stake. Everyone that participates in the firesides are hand picked from the best. So when you go, you are getting an amazing performance. I am easily touched by music. I always leave very uplifted and inspired. I am so thankful for beautiful music and the way that it touches me. I am also thankful that I am able to share my testimony with music. It was a LONG day... but well worth it. I'm thankful they asked me to participate and I adore the people that I sang with. Well... I didn't know them all at first, but by the end I felt that way about everyone. Here are the people from our ward that sang.

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye...

Tonight there was a goodbye party for a very dear friend of mine in the ward. Rob Burton. I get sad just thinking about him leaving. Many of you might find it strange that I am dedicating a blog post to my dear friend Rob.... but we have been in the ward together for 5 years. Its weird for me to even say that. I don't feel like we have been around the area for that long... but at the same time it seems like I have known Rob forever and he has always just been there. He is a sweetheart and a dear friend that i know that I can always count on if I need help with anything.

I have so many fun memories with Rob that I don't even know where to begin. In the 5 years we have been in the ward together, he has been my home teacher more than once. We were in the same FHE group more than once. When we were in the same FHE group we made this video knock off of "The Office" Rob got an award for it because he was so amazing with his part. He helped me put my bench swing together on my back patio (with his shirt off of course). He helped us move to our new place across the street and since we had to move on Halloween day... he came over dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow because he said it would help us move faster if he was dressed up. :o)

 * At Halloween Trunk or Treat for the kids that I tutor. Also with Rob's older and younger brothers also in the ward*

We used to have movie nights all of the time. We wouldn't watch just any movie though, we watched 80's movie classics's from our childhood. Together we found out the mothers name from Never Ending Story that the kid yells out the Window.... "Moonchild". We had many things to say about that. We have laughed together, we have danced together, we have sung together.

We have done so many fun activities together over the past 5 years... and they always seem to be more fun and entertaining when Rob is around. He is so random and funny. We love to just goof around. It's not wonder why everybody loves Rob.

Why is Rob leaving? He is done with school and has more job opportunities on the east cost by where he is from. He is moving to Virginia. Virginia will be lucky to have him. I will miss him telling me every Sunday that I look nice and smell good (as he sometimes smells my hair) sadly not many guys do that for me on a regular basis. I will miss his friendly and caring personality that makes everyone feel welcomed and loved. I will miss his funny and odd sense of humor that makes him Rob. I will miss our bird hugs (even though they are kind of awkward... I still like them and that we have our own special hug) and his real hugs.

I will miss having Rob around. Rob... thanks for being such a fantastic friend over the last 5 years. Have a blast in Virginia and make sure that you come back and visit. :o)

Flashback Friday 8

The flashback today is of a date that I went on in November 2005. The date was with "Temple Boy" someone who I had known and been friends with for about a year at the time. There were a couple of things that I knew about this guy. #1- He was a huge flirt. #2- He picked up the most random hobbies. When I first met him he had just gotten his motorcycle license (not that random) he was always trying to get me to get scuba certified so that I could go on scuba trips with him then he got SUPER into model airplanes and then Gold Panning! He asked me if I would go with him. Nobody had ever asked me to go Gold Panning on  a date before... nor did I think that would ever happen again, so I said yes.

As part of his new hobby and part of our date, we went to the BYU library and looked at different maps of the canyons around to look at trails and the best place for us to go gold panning. We decided that we would go up American Fork canyon and made copies of the necessary maps.

Since it was November, it was pretty cold... but we both dressed warm and went up American Fork canyon to find us some gold!!! Out of all the searching we only found a few specks of gold, however it was VERY beautiful up there. Even if I was freezing. He taught me how to sift through the dirt (yes.. there is a method to it) using the stuff he had.

When crossing a river.... the little container that was holding our tiny specks of gold fell out of my pocket and float down the stream, along with my phone... which sank to the bottom of the stream. I was so sad because I thought for sure the phone was a goner. Turns out when I got home I just took it apart and put it in the window to sit and dry out in the sun and oddly enough it worked just like before. I still felt bad about loosing our only specks of gold though.

It was actually a fun date. I love being out in nature and I love learning to do new things. I don't know if I will ever just gather my buddies to go Gold Panning... so I was so glad I had the opportunity to do it and try it out. And props to the boy for thinking of cleaver dates to take a girl on.