Why not jump on that train... woot woot

A couple months ago we got a letter from our HOA letting us know that our fees have been raised by $15/month. The explanation letter was very poorly written, giving reasons like "This other complex had a tree fall on their roof, we have to be prepared in case something like that happens to us." (There are no trees near or tall enough to hurt our buildings). Anyway, Geoff wrote a mock HOA letter, it is high-LARious. Read it here. I suggested we send it to our neighbors because it's funny, but we decided not to.

Finally done!

SPOILER ALERT! Don't continue if you still plan on reading the Twilight Series. (Although I can't imagine many people who actually want to read it have waited longer than I have)

Well, I finally finished the fourth book last night, which means life can return to normal now. Unlike many other Twilight fans, I was not disappointed with the fourth book at all. There were some differences, like Edward went from being a dangerous and smoldering hot forbidden love to a very comfortable companion/fatherly/husbandly type... a family man. And Bella's entire tone was different, which made really the entire book different. (Well, the part that was hers and not Jacob's). It was not in a bad way, just a different, less addicting way. Which is good for me because that means I'm not too disappointed that there's not more to read. I think there was nowhere else for the story to go anyway, without repeating itself or shifting the focus to other characters. But still good. I still have my soundtracks to listen to and they are very good.

Now we get a couple more days of play before going back to the grindstone (a.k.a. school). It's New Year's Eve tonight, just got home from work, and looking forward to nothing more than hanging out at home with Geoff, being comfortable and taking it easy. He's gone right now, getting pizza, I think. We haven't had pizza in almost three weeks! (that's pretty good for us). Plus I think Geoff's cold is about to become my cold, so relaxing feels really nice.

Resolution Schmezolution

Our new year's resolutions according to Geoff: Geoff's BLAHG.

New songs

Just changed up the playlist with some mellow stuff. FINALLY someone linked to my favorite Mraz song so I can put it only list... O. Lover. A dangerously seductive song. (It's at the bottom if you care to have a listen.)

Oh - I just bought Howie Day's Australia (because Stop All the World Now was so awesome how could this one not be?) The song "Ghost" is amazing. It is also at the bottom.

Update: Ang has given me the Twilight soundtrack and all the music that the author listened to while she was writing the novels... how freaking awesome is that??? (How freaking awesome is she??) I'm just starting in on them now, and there's a song on the soundtrack that I have totally fallen in love with - Flightless Bird, Iron & Wine, it is also now in the playlist at the right, at the bottom.

Total ECLIPSE of the heart

I feel somewhat brooding tonight, don't know why. But I tell you my hubby is such a bright spot in my life. Where would I be without his even temperament and upbeat attitude?

I know I am talking about this a lot the past week or so, but it is sort of dominating my world in that short space of time. BUT I just finished book 3 this afternoon, and I LOVE it. After checking out the soundtrack and musical score on itunes, I decided it was time to see the movie. Edward and Bella were exactly as I pictured them even before I saw advertisements, but the acting was horrible. Especially Bella. Charlie was pretty good though, actually. His performace actually stood out even though it's one of the lesser supporting roles. And the girl who played Jessica was actually pretty good at her part, too. Anyway, regardless of all that, I did enjoy it. And I daresay Geoff enjoyed it too. I want to start book 4 but it's just taking up too much of my time and thoughts... might be good to give it a break for a few days. And though I admit it reluctantly, I really do heart Edward. There's a facebook group called "Because I read the Twlight series I have unrealistic expectations in men." Chuckle. That was always Geoff's gripe with chick flicks. I suppose that's true. We "chicks" deal with the same thing though, pretty much anywhere you look. It is what it is though, eh?

Speaking of... Christmas candy at Wal mart is 50% off. I loaded up on cordial cherries, orange-creme mints, and sweet stripes. I've been working really hard this break to watch the food intake, (have actually lost a couple pounds) but blame it on the mood I guess. Hopefully it will just sit around.

About the dog in Murray that walked into a Smith's, went straight to the pet food aisle, selected a raw-hide bone, and walked straight back out the door. Got a pretty good laugh out of that. That is a smart dog. I love pets.

Lovin' Christmas

We talked to Alison yesterday morning on the phone. We got up early on Christmas and drove to Spanish Fork to do this. It was worth it though, of course. (Read my mom's account plus letters from Al here.) We stayed to open presents and eat breakfast with the fam. It was fun. Mom & Dad got both Geoff and I brand new winter coats - nice ones that we could wear to church - I love them! And they also gave us a portable DVD player since we keep borrowing theirs all the time. We've got a lot of nice stuff from both sets of parents and siblings (and others!). I was just about to write thanks to people but I thought that's tacky to say thanks on my blog, I'd rather speak to them.

After mom & dad's we came home so geoff could shave cuz he felt hairy, we took a nap and went back to SF to grandma's this time. The extended family was there and we ate lunch and exchanged gifts. Geoff has had a cold the last few days, and he'd taken some cold medicine that made him loopy, so we came home then, and he totally crashed on the couch for at least an hour. I started book 3 while he was asleep, then he woke up and we watched the Dark Knight. Wow, I thought Heath Ledger was amazing! Because he was so creepy, the way he talked and kept licking his lips. He really stole the show. (Yes, I know we're about six months behind the pop culture trend, everyone else has already seen it).

About 11:00 we crashed. I say though, it is so nice, to know that you have all of the next day to do whatever you want! And better, the day after that too! Love it!

Christmas Eve

Today was a half-day at work. It was crazy and hectic, but lots of fun. They gave away all of the festival of trees stuff, and did the final gift thing for the secret sister game. Usually at that time, you have the option of revealing your identity to your giftee. Some do and some don't. I didn't know what to expect, but I hoped that the person who's been gifting me (and they've been steadily giving them all month) would reveal theirself so I could say thank you, but that was not the case. They did give me a Scentsy bar of wax and a wax melter (smells sooooo good). I looked all over the card, the outside, and the underside of the wrapper, and took out the melter and looked for a name or something anywhere but didn't find one. I just hope the person knows I've been touched by their kindness. I'm quite certain I'm undeserving of it. Maybe next year I will pick someone and do it to them, to pass it on. Actually, I should pass it on all the time. :)

Tonight we'll go to Grandma Bingham's with the fam, but right now I'm off to the gym. I'm staving off the third Twilight book until the day after Christmas so's I don't end up neglecting Geoff and my family (cuz it will trap me for hours). We rented some Christmas movies anyway and that sounds kind of fun. (Elf, which is Geoff's recent Christmas favorite, Muppet Christmas Carol, and the Santa Clause.)

Life is wonderful. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

I love it more than a fat kid loves cake

Okay, I'm officially addicted. I LOVE THE TWILIGHT SERIES! I am finishing the second book on my lunch break today.

PS- I love cake, in case any are inclined to take offense.

Lunchtime thoughts

IT. WON'T. STOP. SNOWING. View from window.

I leave my car in the parking lot for a couple of hours and it goes and collects four inches. (Or something like that, I didn't actually measure it). I didn't bring any food to work today, thinking I'd just go home, but driving home in this weather would probably be an act of suicide. I hope it lets up enough for the snow people to plow it. And I hope they plow it. So instead I ran to the Wendy's across the street and got a chicken salad and now I'm sitting at my desk eating it, blogging. (On my lunch break... and the salad's not that great). Can I add that I nearly died just running across the street.

We've got couriers running all over Utah & Salt Lake counties, and Heber, whatever county that belongs to. I hope they make it back okay.

I wish I'd brought Twilight book 2 to read. Guess what I'll be doing tonight... if I make it back okay...

Did I mention that my work has a Twilight Christmas Tree? They bought it from the Festival of Trees, as an afterthought, to tease my boss. Do you think it would be allowed to post pictures of it? (I don't want to get in trouble)

Oh yeah, and this morning when I got in, someone had left some of those miniature cream pies with fruit on top from Kneaders on a cute little Christmas plate. Those pies are my favorite. Someone has obviously paid attention. I wish I knew who it was, I can't believe they'd be so kind to think of me.

Twilight

I did it. Read the first book. Angie was right, I was both totally into it and rolling my eyes. It was pretty good, pretty good, then got kind of boring about three-fourths of the way through, then got REALLY intense. Now after reading the first one I do think it's a little... mmm... shall we say different that my 37-year old male boss loves the books... but I'm going to read the next one anyway. As soon as I get it from my mom's house.

The only thing that would ruin this book for me is that they were so in LOVE, so unconditionally and lifetimely committed after a few short days. Doesn't happen. Puh-lease. I didn't like his temper either.

But who doesn't fantasize about being adored by an out-of-this-world-good-looking vampire who takes exceptional care of you and is extremely dangerous for you? Especially one that no one else could get? I sure do, I tell you what!

Uh... I can stand upright

Props to Geoff for coming to a yoga class with me tonight. He said afterwards that it felt like he got beat up by six bullies. Ha ha he is such a cute boy. And we discovered that he is not only stronger but also more flexible than me! He was totally able to do the birds of paradise pose:
I could reach behind and touch my hands together but there's no way I could do that and balance on one foot at the same time. Yeah, the man is full of surprises.

Recently updated

I just re-did my blogroll so it's supposed to show the most recently updated first and so on... it doesn't appear to be working yet, but it probably will as time goes. So no offense, all you "bloggers" who haven't blogged since July, you are going to the bottom of my list and there you shall apparently stay! HAR har har

Wally is a weirdy

Snow. Sucks.

Geoff started a new blog. Yes, this is his third blog, but he says he's finally found his calling in life and that's to keep the new blog. SO CLICK HERE for some Jack Bauer-esque enjoyment. I heart Geoff.

Gives literal meaning to letting the cat out of the bag.

So true

more animals

How did she know I'm an airhead

This was left on my desk yesterday by "Ang," one of my awesome coworkers and friends. She is also the one who decorated my office on my birthday. I just love her cute personality, and it's so thoughtful and out of her way to think of me, I just love her. :)

Yesterday for our human performance meeting we did something a little different. A guy came and spoke to us about values in business and how they spill over into our personal lives. I really liked it. It was kind of like the business lecture series I took at school last year, except shorter!

Finals are done! For the next three weeks, I look forward to getting Christmas shopping done, going to the gym (which hasn't seen me since October), and spending time with family and friends! Oh yeah and let's not forget read the Twilight series... really, let's not forget.

Al should be in Chile by now, getting used to her surroundings, hopefully.

Hey, my cat vibrates too

Okay, so I can be somewhat of a blogstalker. (Blogstalking: linking from blog to blog to blog... ). In my defense, I do, or, shall we say did know most of the people whose blogs I hit on... it is fun to see what people are up to. ANYWAY, I saw this one and had to laugh because that is Wally to a T... right down to the shoes and plastic bags. Must be a cat thing.

Sisters and Christmas parties

Today I was sitting at my desk working when a call came on my cellphone. I don't typically answer the cellphone when I'm working or if I don't recognze the number, and this was both, so I let it ring through to voicemail. When I listened to the message, I wanted to kick myself! It was Alison! She was calling from the airport while waiting to board her flight to Chile. (Well, Georgia then Chile). Luckily, she knew, and called right back a few seconds later and I got to talk to her for about 10 minutes or so. It was cool to hear and talk to my little sis! It was weird it still almost seemed like she was calling to see if I wanted to go to the mall or something. (For LDS missions, phone calls are a rare privilege). Except she bore her testimony in spanish so I could hear what she's learned so far. She talked in spanish for probably a full two minutes straight, it was neat to hear her rattle off a bunch of stuff. I couldn't decipher it at all. The next time she calls will be Christmas Day, so only ten more days. So she's officially been in the air for about two hours now. She said she's traveling with about 17 other missionaries who have the same flight plans, (which made me feel better that she's not alone), and she'll be in Chile by about 10 a.m. our time tomorrow. Crazy! She seemed pretty nervous and excited, she mentioned - in so many words - that she sometimes wondered if she knew what she'd got herself into. But it will be a good experience for her, and it's only 18 months. Actually, only 16 months now. She'll be just fine and I know she won't regret her experience.

This was from our work Christmas party last Friday night. It was at the Grand America again. We were both laughing because Geoff (or was it me?) dropped the Christmas present right as Joe snapped the picture and were trying to hold our pose. Anyway, it was fun. We just ate a nice dinner and did a white elephant gift exchange. I gave a couple of cute cocoa mugs with candy in them and we ended up getting a Clapper. (Clap on, clap off). We actually installed it on the bedroom lamp and have been goofing around with it ever since. My work gave us a one-night stay at the Zamott Resort in Midway (which is supposed to be super nice) along with $50 spending money while there. It was so nice of them.

Saturday night we went to some friends (the vegas friends) and had chocolate fondue and played mad gab and taboo, and watched a movie. It was pretty fun. Now we're just in the middle of finals. I've got one tonight and one tomorrow night and then I'M DONE! Geoff should be done soon too. He's got three down, three to go.

Domestic Savvy, I has it not

Okay, so ironing clothes is about the most frustrating thing in the world, right? Because you get all done, then you look at it and go, "I swear I ironed that!" Then you go over it two or three times until you finally give up and throw it in the dryer, again.

Well, today I finally figured out the key to ironing clothes!

Use starch! It really works!

Mental note- now that I think about it, it seems like I've had this epiphany before... some things just don't stick, I guess...

Pink Chapagne on Ice

I just added the Eagles, Hotel California Live Acoustic version to my playlist over there on the side. I love this song. Geoff can play the beginning guitar part. I just love the spanish-sounding guitar at the beginning (maybe it is spanish guitar? I don't know enough to tell), and when the percussion comes in. I adore it all the way up until the familiar chord progression starts, where it becomes "that song." (It's still good after that but the beginning is more captivating).

Sometimes Geoff will play the guitar part on his guitar, then when it comes time for the percussion I'll hit out the beat with my hands. We're so dorky, but it's fun. Back when I had my piano, we could play Ben Folds Five's Brick together, me on piano and him on guitar. That was so fun, I love doing stuff like that.

A secret

My work does this secret santa thing each year, where you draw names and do something nice for your person once a week... decorate their workspace, give them treats, gifts, etc. And all in secret of course, until Christmas Eve, when we have the chance to reveal our identity if we want. I participated the first year, but last year and this year I've opted out.

However, someone's been giving me gifts. I thought the first one might've been an accident (even though it was so incredibly nice of them to let me keep it anyway) but this week I got another one! And they know I'm not playing. But the one person who I know knows who it is, refuses to tell me. I'd love to thank them properly for the nice gifts but I have no clue who it is. (I think it is a female because men don't buy those kinds of things... that might be kind of weird anyway). Last week they gave me this way cute wooden santa that stands on its own, and this week was a cute wooden sign that says merry christmas on it and they are so cute. I love them, and they are the two sole pieces of decoration in my office right now. So of course I'm very flattered, and it has made me very conscious of the way I'm treating the people around me... which is a good reminder, regardless of why.

My routan babies

Today I went to the women's health care center in A.F. for my yearly checkup. While in the waiting room, I observed a girl come out from the back, grasping her husband's hand in one and what looked like an ultrasound in the other. She was smiling and had an obvious pregnant glow. There was one girl about seven-ish months pregnant who looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and one that couldn't have been a day over 18. And it's probably likely that there were some there who were trying to conceive and hadn't yet been able to, and probably a few like myself, just there out of routine. Anyway, I thought about what they must all be doing there and realized how amazing and strong women are. They go through so much with the whole child-bearing thing, no matter what phase they may be at, it can take such a toll physically and emotionally. Women are amazing.

Anyway, as for my own experience. I really like my doctor, she's really great. Her name's Ekaete (Ee-ky-tay) and she's so nice. I was expecting a normal checkup though, you know the expected uncomfortable-ness of taking your clothes off and donning hospital-esque clothing, having your insides pinched and poked. Anyway so there I was on my back, lying spread-eagle and anticipating the end, and the door opened. And someone else walked in the room. And stood there while the doctor finished. I wanted to die; I got so nervous and the doctor kept saying "relax, relax" but how in the world was I supposed to do that, tell me. Anyway, it was over before I knew it, but I bet it was almost as horrifying as the time Geoff realized he accidentally drank his auntie's breast milk. Probably almost. I'm glad it's only once a year.

Anyway, all the thinking about babies and stuff, and someone showed me a website where you can upload yours and someone else's photo and see what your babies are going to look like. So, I took these two photos:

And got this baby:

Then I tried it with these two photos to see if it would give me something different:

And got the following babies:

I can't tell if any of them really look like either of us. The module puts markers on your faces and constructs a baby for you based on that. I do think it's interesting that we got almost the exact same baby from two different picture sets though. The person who showed me the website got a baby that just looks exactly like her husband. Anyway, I couldn't get the exact URL but google Routan Baby and you can find it. Kind of funny.

Counting blessings

It seems every day I am reminded in some way or another of just how lucky and blessed I am. You know, I've been a little stressed with school and the fact that my brain turned to mush in Vegas and hasn't quite resumed it's normal shape yet, but I have nothing to complain about, for real. With the times being what they are, I am sooooo lucky to have a job that I feel relatively secure in, that I love, and that helps us to be self-sufficient, even though we're both in school and we're supposed to be poor... I don't feel a struggle at all. That is an amazing blessing. And I just realize all the time what a great husband I've got... I just love him so much. I feel so secure with him and I think no matter what happens, that he is the one next to me at night is all I want. Things are good.

Smells Like... popcorn

Geoff and I just watched the 100 greatest songs of the 90's countdown (well okay, numbers 40-1 without commercials thanks to the divver). It was so much fun. I couldn't believe how old some of those people are now. It was only ten years ago they were in their prime, most of them. I was also surprised to know 99% of the songs, and it took me back to the terrible confusing days of Jr. High, with the black baggy pants and teeny tight little shirts, chain-link necklaces and horny boys. That was just when I was starting to emerge from my world of Dad's music (Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Timothy Schmidt) to genres of my own... grunge and pop... X96.3 was tha bomb before they started playing the crappy pop-punk, which I'm sure will comprise the 100 greatest songs of the 2K's. I love the 90's. (That Smells Like Teen Spirit was first introduced to me by Weird Al Yankovich will remain our little secret, mmmmkay?)

So I was scrolling through the TV guide the other day and lingered over the lineup for Spike TV... which is obviously a man's channel. I was amused at the upcoming shows, which included MANswers: How to bust out of handcuffs, bullets and samurai swords, taking a stripper home, and killing a bear. This was followed by Horsepower IV, Prisoners out of control, and When animals attack. Thinking the busting out of handcuffs thing just might come in useful one day, I clicked on the show where I immediately learned which animal farts the most. (But I forget what it was now, dangit). Men are so funny.

Flip from Spike over to Lifetime, where we have Flirting with Forty, Will & Grace, and If You Believe, which promises the story of "a highly stressed book editor who nears a breakdown, her inner child appears in order to help her find the joys of life."

Sometimes I wonder which of these encompasses me more. I hope to find out when I read the Twilight series, at which I expect to either melt with excited giddyness or roll my eyes and go "C'mooonnnnnn for real?" We will see.

Geoff just made popcorn and it is calling out to me...

World keeps turning

It is so busy this week! And probably for the next week or two! Finals and stuff coming down, so it's taking up pretty much all time, I'm pretty much too tired to do anything else, including blog. (gasp!)

Three of our employees got laid off today, including one who I considered my friend from the time I started working there. She was one of the few who really took me under her wing and just made me feel so at home. I wanted to cry. I will miss her.

Earth to Cali?

Talk about coming back after a holiday.

The first thing I did when I got to work this morning was respond to an eight-month-old email from a co-worker, and copied three other people on it. This was followed by a round of "I'm sorry, please disregard" emails.

The auditors came back to our CPA saying they never got the 2nd qtr. reports from me. "Yes they did!" I exclaimed, pulling up the email with the 2nd qtr. attachments. I pointed to the dates, 7-1 thru 9-30, "See, second quarter!" (yeah, I felt like an idiot)

Back when I went on 4-10's, Tiffany took over doing Monday's banking, and when I went back to 5-8's, management said they wanted her to keep doing it on Mondays so she would stay fresh. Well, about an hour late, I went to pick up the stack of invoices, wondered why there weren't any to pick up, then did a walk-through payroll and called for banking. Tiffany had already done it an hour earlier. (She laughed pretty hard at me when I told her)

On lunch break, I went to mom's office to pick up my earrings, which I'd left at her house, then went to the bank to cancel my debit card, which I'd lost.

To my boss's question, "What'd you do now?" I respond, "Well, you just never know..." The rest of the afternoon went okay until I got to class and realized I brought the wrong textbook.

Oy vey. Now the day is almost over, thankfully. Just grocery shopping and homework. ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS LEFT OF DANG-BLASTED SEMESTER LEFT!! Yippee.

How to Profit from the Coming Rapture

I was a winner in this contest. Yee haw. I am going to proudly display it on my coffee table.

Announcement entry.

Las Vegas

Vegas was fun! We went with a couple we knew from my work (the girl is the one I worked with about a year and a half ago). We grabbed lunch at the Cracker Barrel on the way down, and the four of us talked all through the entire six-hour drive. We all got along so well, I really enjoyed both of their company. I was glad that our husbands got along so well, too. (I worry about that, I don't know why. I always just worry that everyone is having a good time). But it was fun.

We stayed at the NY-NY the first night. I think our room selection had been upgraded somehow, but we were fine with that because it was huge! And what was cool was that it was on a corner of the building, so two entire walls were covered with windows. And there was a column/pillar-thing too. It was neat. After we got there, we went out on the strip and played until about 2 a.m. I actually saw a real pole-dancer in one of the casinos. Also, I had forgotten to bring my ID with me, and got carded and kicked out of one of the bars. (We were only there for water, but they didn't want me there.) Anyway. It was pretty embarrassing, but I really didn't expect that I look like I'm that young. (Someday I'll be grateful for that, I'm sure). Anyway, we walked through some really cool looking casinos, Geoff played the tables a little bit and won $130. We also went to see the Bellagio water show, with the Andrea Bocelli/Sarah Brightman song.

The second day we went back out on the strip and shopped a little bit at the outdoor kiosks and the mile-long mall or whatever it's called. Our feet were aching and tired by about noon, so we went upstairs the coke store and did the 16 flavors of the world for 7 bucks. The four of us passed around the flavors of coke and decided which ones we liked. There was so much soda that we had a lot leftover, so Geoff mixed a bunch of them together and chugged. It was disgusting but we cheered him on. Then we went to a HUGE buffet at the Excalibur, which was yummy. We joked about getting tickets to the Thunder from Down Under, ha ha. We ended up not going to that one, but tried to find a show that all of us could enjoy and afford. We really couldn't find any shows that we wanted to pay $200 to see, so we ended up not going to one. Next time we go though, I'd like to plan a show in advance then we don't have to worry about it when we get down there. So since we weren't going to a show, we decided to blow a little cash on the roller coaster, which was way fun. I love roller coasters.

The rest of the night we just walked around the MGM Grand, which is where we stayed the second night. It was SO NICE!! The room was just incredibly nice. The covers were all soft and fluffy, and they have this green light that they shine up at the rooms from the outside, so you have this soft, calming green light coming through the windows, I loved that. We had some creepy pictures on the wall though, of girls from the movies from decades ago. So we thought even though we knew our hotel room wasn't haunted that we should do EVP. Yeah, we didn't catch anything. (It was kind of a joke anyway.) We walked around the shops they have on the main floor... HOLY CRAP. I was just amazed that people can live that way... they had all the expensive stores... Gucci, Dolce & Gabana, Armani, Cartier, etc. The shops went on forever and ever. We actually walked in one to look at the clothes and couldn't find even a single shirt for less than $250. It was neat to see it all though. Afterwards Geoff went to gamble a little and I walked around with Ashlee & Jared for awhile and went to the room and took a hot bath, which felt so good for my tired legs. (It seems like we walked so much our legs were always so tired).

The way home was probably one of the best parts of the trip, because we just took our time getting home. After we left the hotel we went to the Las Vegas temple and did a session. It had one of the most gorgeous rooms I've ever seen. Then we changed and drove to St. George, where we stopped and went shopping at the outlet malls. Then we went over to Neilson's Frozen Custard before hitting the road again. On the way home we talked for a long time then listened to a bunch of really loud hip/hop and pop, which I loved. The only thing about being on vacation is you can't surround yourself with the music you listen to and I sometimes miss that. So it was fun. We didn't get home until midnight Tuesday night. It was a way fun trip.

In front of the Bellagio

Cali all tired at the end of the night.

Journal entries

Well, Geoff is taking a nap right now, and we've got a few hours before Ashlee & Jared pick us up, so in looking for something to do, I dug out one of my old journals from high school. I love reading old journals. There were a couple of entries that I thought were funny:

November 4, 2001 - Friday (I worked at Hollywood Video at the time)
"Last night at work a van full of people came - they were drug-rehab people "in recovery" one guy called it. They were funny. They rented a movie called 'Dope Case Pending,' and the lady in charge made them bring it back and get a different one. Mike and I thought that was pretty funny."

October 20, 2001 - Wednesday
(Brittany, if this isn't teenage angst, I don't know what is! It's probably the most angstiest journal entry I ever wrote. PS- it's kind of embarrassing to write, but if dooce can incriminate herself with past journal entries, then so can I. Names are changed however, because most of these people have access to my blog... though they might still recognize themselves if they read it)

"This is crap. Me, K, D, K, & G all hung out tonight. (I called G) We went bowling first. It was fun - then we went to Arby's (KP was there) then we rented a movie and went to D's to watch it. Bad movie. We turned it off. Then they started playing nintendo and K & I became nonexistent, so we left. That boy drives me nuts! It just baffles me. I mean, I've been confused about guys before but this is a very different case. I keep hearing he likes me dangit, but there was absolutely no sign at all. It would've been so easy for him to do something small to let me know he's interested. K & I came to the conclusion that he's not interested in me, but that's the only conclusion we came to. K said that he's a dead fish, and I said no, he's not even a dead fish - more like a slug that has dried up on the cement and died because it was in the sun too long. We thought that maybe he's scared of something, or maybe he's just not ready for any kind of relationship. It's stupid though because he's never going to get married, and the problem isn't that he won't be able to find a girl, the girls find him! Only he won't know that any of them like him because he's too stupid to see it! And I just don't understand WHY! There has to be a reason. I've said before that I've given up on him, and yet I just keep coming back for more, and nothing ever comes of it. But after tonight, I am really through. K asked me to name the reasons why I like him, and I realized that I only like him for the wrong reasons! I like him because he's fun to be around and I know him well enough to be myself around him and those aren't the wrong reasons I suppose, but I also liked him because I thought if I don't like him, then who else is there to like? And also I guess just because I want someone, and maybe he seemed like a good one to go for. See those reasons are so wrong. Then we thought there's something wrong with us or there's got to be something we are or aren't doing. What's going to happen in college when some guy is interested but we aren't mature enough to have a relationship because we never had any experience in that kind of thing? This is all just the dumbest thing, how is it possible to be so sick of it and so upset over it all? I'm so upset about the way things went, I will never figure out why he is the way he is. I mean I think one of the components of having a relationship is accepting the other person who they are. But I can't handle someone who never shows you they care. So, I hope D didn't take it against her that we left. This is old now. I'm going to bed."

Ha ha. I just laugh now, but I'm glad this phase of life is over. It's funny looking back, I always felt so incredibly out of place as a teenager, but I think maybe that is what being a teenager is about.

And just one more, for good measure: (and because I'm having fun)

November 3, 2001 - Saturday
"Grandpa had an operation today. Grandma took him to the hospital last night around two because they thought maybe his appendix burst or something. They were still waiting around for the doctor at 6:00 this evening - at least they had him on an IV while they waited. Al & I took him a dozen roses this morning - Grandma and Mom & Dad were there visiting already. Grandpa looked fine; he was even making jokes about stuff. I love his sense of humor.

You know what, I think lately I've been falling into a trap of thinking I'm not that great, academically. And so my homework and grades start to slip, I procrastinate this and that. But that is really kind of stupid. It won't be tough to get my grades back up (they're really not that bad to begin with - just one) and I feel really good about re-taking the ACT and re-taking Pre-calculus. I'm sure I can get a better grade this time around, all factors considered. It's just when I think about people like K & G, who'll be going to school back east, and probably some big ivy league school, I think of the amazing experience they're going to have then, and how so not a part of that sort of thing I'm going to be, just because I don't feel ambitious enough or smart enough to take on something like that. And then when I tell people I'll probably go to a tech school or to Snow or something, I feel like it's a little looked down on. But I'm not stupid. I just don't feel ready to take on something that huge, and maybe I never will, and I guess I'm a little ashamed that I'm not an ambitious go-getter about college and stuff."

Hmmm funny how things can change in the course of time - it did take me forever to figure out what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it. I've been out of high school for almost seven years and I'm just now coming up on the bachelor's degree. I'm sorry it took so long, but at least I'm now in something that I really want to do and I have to be grateful for that.

A little rant

I just finished a dumb budget-spreadsheet thing for my cost-management class that is supposed to be 3% of our final grade, to be emailed to my professor since I'll be gone on Monday. I spent a good four hours on it, but I'm really frustrated because I know it's all wrong. I just put together all the crap I could and hoped it came out looking somewhat real. I'm a little mad because he just kind of threw this thing at us without really spending much time talking about it. "C'mon, this is the easy stuff," he says. "You guys are lucky I'm easy on you," he says. Apparently, when he taught in Georgia and Lousiana and Canada or wherever the heck he was, he was much much harder on those students than he is on us Utah students, because those students were students first. Apparently we are different because we all have jobs and families and other responsibilities besides just school. We are not students first. (Shame on us). The funny thing is, and all the other students will attest to this, this guy gives us more homework than any other professor we've had. That may say something about the quality of our education, but mostly I just think he's on a high horse. It just gets me so mad.

You know I really want to learn from this class, and in fact I have learned a lot - it is potentially the most useful class I've had here yet - however, it is this kind of thing that makes me just do whatever I can do and throw it back to him hoping to get a passing grade. I'm really interested in budgets, really. I really am. But this is literally the first time I've seen it in my education and he expects that we know it already so, no need to teach it, right? Let's just hope to get a passing grade.

I'm not going to cry, I'm not. Frustration is detrimental. I chose this, I chose this, I chose this.

I'm going on vacation. And I'm going to have a good time. Forget school.

I'm thankful for my home.
I'm thankful for my job.
I'm thankful for my husband.

A bus full of chinese people

So a couple of days ago Geoff saw a flyer in the advisement center for a Physician-Assisted-Suicide seminar at the school. Being from Oregon where this is legal, he thought it would be interesting to go see what it was all about.

So, he got there about ten minutes early today and was the first one there, and he looked around the small conference room and thought, "man I hope everyone can fit in here, I hope we aren't all squished." He decided to leave for a few minutes and come back later after there were people there. He walked in the room, and it was full of finance/economics professors, about nine of them. One of them said, "Oh, is this open to everybody?" The presenter said sure, and Geoff, figuring he already drove here why not stay, took his seat. (Awkward!!)

So there he was the only student in a room full of professors, and listened to them talk not about the ethics of PES, but the economic benefit, or worth, in utility. Meaning, what ways is it a good thing not related to the money. As if that could be measured. But the presenter had this huge equation he went through which Geoff didn't really follow, but he stayed for the whole thing. He says, imagine being a tall white blonde person on a bus full of chinese people, and that's how he felt. Because nobody looked at him, but he could tell they were thinking about him. Ha ha. I just laughed my butt off when he told me about it... of all random situations to put yourself into. I said, "well at least you learned something," and he said, "yeah..... actually no, not really." But he felt smart. He's so funny.

On another note, this morning as I was getting ready for work he asked me what I wanted for lunch, and I said leftover stroganoff from last night with noodles. I thought we had leftover noodles from the night before too. But I came out to the kitchen just before leaving and he was finishing boiling a pot of noodles for me so I could take it to work. I hadn't expected him to cook more noodles for me at 7:30 in the morning, I just thought we had leftovers! And then there was last night as we lay in bed watching 24, my neck was sore (it always is) so I started rubbing it, and Geoff offered to rub my back. So he gave me like a 30 minute full back/neck massage which felt like absolute heaven. Why he is so sweet I don't know but he has been waiting on me hand and foot. I think I've finally figured out what his love language is; it's acts of service. Geoff is like the least needy person on the planet, and I've always had a hard time figuring out what things I could do for him that would be meaningful to him. Of course, he does what he does without expecting things in return (I really believe that too, because like I said, least needy person on the planet) But maybe I need to kick it up a notch in doing nice things for him... i.e. treating him like royalty for a change. (I know I need to). Now maybe I have an idea of how.

Anyway, this is getting a little corny. I just can't wait to go on vacation this weekend and just spend time with him just hanging out, not worrying about school and work and housework and blah blah blah. It will be so nice.

It's fun to try and figure out what other people's love languages are. Like I've always thought Geoff's dad's main one is gifts, because he's always giving us cool little things out of nowhere, like cards or gift cards or keychain gadgets or miniature flashlights or emergency glow sticks (and lots of other stuff too.) Some people are harder to figure out than others though. Like my own husband, ha ha.

I'm a .... what are you?

I'm a Ford Mustang!

You're an American classic -- fast, strong, and bold. You're not snobby or pretentious, but you have what it takes to give anyone a run for their money.>"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Shelby Cobra

Okay, I am not much of a car person, but tonight was pretty cool. There's a place just down the street from where we live that manufactures shelby cobras. (They don't do the engines, which apparently is what makes the car... if you buy one of these, you have to put the engine in yourself). But cool nonetheless. So we saw them at different stages of the process. One of the finished cars they store there is owned by Mr. Shelby himself (I saw MR because I can't remember his first name... Carol?), and one of them was owned by a crown prince of Saudi Arabia. The only one I got a picture of was this:

It's an original car, the one they patterned the parts from. The old guy standing behind it is the dad of the family (it's a family business - Kirkham Motorsports), he said he bought this car a long long time ago for $4500, and not too long ago turned down an offer for $750,000. Crazy! These guys are the only ones in the world that make the bodies out of 100% aluminum, and Mr. Shelby buys them from these guys - he's bought about 200 of their cars, they said. They only make 70 cars per year. Anyway like I said, I don't know much about cars, but this is neat and to think we never knew it was just down the street.

Oh yeah - this was a class "field trip." Our professor has done some work for them and the people let him bring his classes in to show them around.

Boris the spider

Okay, actually his name Gimpy the spider, named by my coworker. It scared me so bad yesterday when I looked over and saw him, this massive spider, hanging there for the first time, inches from my face. Luckily he is outside the building or I would've flipped a lid. Well, I still did, but at least I know he can't touch me in any way. Then today we saw him again, going down this time. He looks bigger today than yesterday. Then we saw him going back up again, which is when I snapped these pictures. You can see from the top picture that he's missing a leg on his right side, hence his appropriate name. And he is much faster at going down vs going up, when he has to stop and rest every foot or so. We watch in fascinated disgust.

I wonder how long he'll be around. I hope he doesn't find a way to crawl into the building and out the vent which is directly above my head. Hebegebees.

All scientists are mo-fo's because the monkey up there said so.

The fat cat actually climbed into my lap and let me pet him today. Hmmm, I thought that was a lost privilege, considering I'm the insane torturer at our house. By the time he was done with me, my hand looked like sasquatch and had to wash my hands to pick the cat hair off my face. (I'm allergic, so it bugs when it's in the face).

Well, we feel like exceptionally endowed at this time; some friends (yes FRIENDS, as in, couple-friends) invited us to go to Vegas with them next week, so off to sin city we go! We're so pumped. We have to cut the trip short and come home early for a class though, which is not so cool. But we'll take it! We're staying in a different hotel each night just to maximize the experience. I'm way excited.

Our human-performance meeting thingy today was on Gratitude, which is done once each year. I loved it! We talked about the scientific studies that show Gratitude is nothing short of a miracle drug, and in fact a performance-enhancing drug. Apparently people who are grateful get better sleep, are less stressed, have more energy, are sick less, and are overall more happy. (Go figure?) My "action item" for this one was to get my gratitude journal back out and start writing in it again. Just for fun, I'm going to include them in my blog on the days that I blog.

Thing to note - frustration is extremely detrimental and is a negative-priming exercise. We should take our frustrated times and turn them into gratitude. (in other words, I'm so thankful I couldn't find frames because now I get to go to Ikea and look there!) Well, it's a start, anyway. I am committing to being a grateful person! Yee haw! Let's do three things each time. They can be as simple as I want.

Well, since we're missing class on Monday for our trip, my homework is all stacked up since I'm turning it in early. I'm grateful for that because it means I'm going on vacation! (That's two things in this post so far). I'm also grateful for my sweet darling husband because he does so much for me.

PS - The title of this post comes from a random thought I had during class tonight. (Yes, it was quite the stimulating finance lecture, I assure)

Just Dance

I'm so totally flabbergasted at how hard it is to find perfectly square wall-mount picture frames. 8x8 or 10x10. I've searched everywhere (walmart, target, bed bad & beyond, and all the craft stores in the area). Why am I so intent on finding them? Look at this. That's my friend from high school. I love love love the vibrant colors and think they would brighten up the new office beautifully. (and then someday, they'll brighten up my house). I've already bought one piece of hers, but getting the frame was so hard (and expensive) that I want to find the frames first this time. Oh, existing art in square frames is plentiful, but I am not going to pay extra money for art just to take it out of the frame and replace it with more art. I'm just not. Purchasing over the internet is a last resort because shipping tacks on that much more (plus the assembly, etc.). There were some PERfect 8x8 frames at Bed Bath & Beyond and I was so excited, and as I got closer notice they had a special matting inside with the BYU logo all popped-out and fancy-like which jacked the price of the frames up to almost $30 per frame! Stupid BYU.

Also, will someone tell me to quit getting annoyed that all my $8 convenience-store sunglasses keep breaking?

I love this Just Dance song by Lady Gaga. (Only the itunes version!) I heard her on the radio a couple of days ago in an interview with an SLC dj, and this dj was trying so hard to get her to bag on Christina Aguilera. I guess Christina Aguilera said something really mean about her not too long ago, so this DJ was doing all he could to get her to say something mean back, and she refused. She absolutely would NOT talk bad about her; in fact only had nice things to say. This girl's got more brains than the rest of the dumb young girls out there right now... you know the ones who feud with anyone and everyone. Anyway, I think her voice is sexy. Weird? Oh well.

The word "meh" is officially in the dictionary now.

Time off

So I've been pretty apprehensive about the coming semester. One weekend of being overwhelmed was enough to stop me in my tracks and think, "am I serious?" Maybe I shouldn't have been so public about my plans because now they're changing again. I'm going to have a counselor help me decide which classes to drop, and I'm going to extend the schooling through December. It's not worth it; Geoff says I'm a fire-breathing dragon when I don't get enough sleep. I HATE being a fire-breathing dragon. It feels awful.

So, push the GMAT off for another year and take a few semesters off, that's what I'm going to do. That will actually be really nice. Am I superwoman? I think not. I'm totally okay with that.

Rock it baby

I've concluded that the whole higher-education system is a giant crock of shizzy poo, to borrow the term from my sister. It intends well, but really, it's all messed up. I'll probably expound on that some other time though.

Yesterday I went back up to South Towne Mall to use a "spend $30, get $15 bucks off" coupon at New York & Co. Spend 30 get 15 off? That's a great deal! That's like, a pair of pants for 15 bucks!! I was so excited, then got there, and there was nothing to buy. Like, nothing that wasn't 100 bucks, or nothing cute that wasn't already on sale for 15 bucks. (Also, I noticed that most of the customers in the store were middle-aged women with ultra-blonde bobs... I don't know what that means, I just noticed it). Anyway, not being able to find anything, I went and bought a pair of shoes that I'd been eyeing elsewhere:

Cute high-heels are a celebration of being a girl if you ask me. Even if you hate them by the end of the day. If you can pull off your day in a pair of stillettos then that's awesome. (I'll sometimes bring a pair of tennis shoes though, to wear to school, because usually walking across campus at the end of the day will do me in!)

Along the same lines (of being a girl), we watched a movie the other day about an anorexic and a morbidly obese girl who become friends. There were some strange parts in the movie, but overall I thought it was an interesting look into the two ends of the spectrum. I think body image is only part of what people struggle with when it comes to their weight (under or over), but it is still a big part of most people's life, women in particular.

I'm pretty snowed in with homework today, so I should quit putting it off and get started!

When Mac & Cheese takes over the world

"What if you and I were to take over as CEO and CFO of Kraft Foods, and it got BIG, so big that it took over Russia and changed Russia's name to Kraft." -Geoff Stanley, spoken to Cali after hearing a Kraft rep speak.

Earlier this week we went to a "networking dinner" at the school, at which the Regional VP of Kraft Foods spoke to us (yayyyyyyyyyyy). We had to pay for our own dinner, but in the end I was glad we went. It was an HVA event. (High-value-added). Mr. Human Performance Coach would ask me to name three things I took away from it, three ah-ha moments. I did it in my head so you don't have to read it here.

We've been under a blanket of coulds for almost an entire week. I've been waiting for the sky to clear up so I could take these pictures:


It's hard to escape the crappiness of cell-phone pictures, but that is the view. Gorgeous, I love it.

Also cool, was last night as I made the daily trek from work to school, in the dark because the clouds were so thick, I looked toward the south end of the valley and there was pink/orange light coming through the clouds at the peak of a mountain down there. It was only right at the mountain peak, and the way the clouds swirled around with the pink in them was a semblance of an awesome-looking volcano in full eruption. I wish I could've taken a picture, but that's not exactly the smartest thing to do while driving. Pretty though.

Geoff brought me lunch today at work. He's such a cutie, I love him. I switched from 4-10's back to the 5-8's schedule. I really think that the combination of shorter work days, the extra hour of sleep each day, and the ability to take a lunch break each day will stave off the school-burnout much better than cramming for 4 days straight and taking one off. At least it should help get rid of those weird spreadsheet/GL dreams, eh?

We both have a finance test tonight, then I'm looking forward to just taking the rest of the night off with him and relaxing. Because... yes... the tiredness... JUST... hit me...

Runaway chickens

Okay, I could think of nothing interesting to write tonight, so I just tried to make up something really wacky and crazy and hilariously funny and totally false. Just to be weird. But I'm not that creative. Snap. What happens to our brains when we get older? When I was a fourth-grader, I wanted so much to grow up and be an "author." I loved making up little stories; in fact, I once wrote a three-part, 26-page story about a chicken named George who ran away from the farm into the mountains, where he met a girl-chicken named Martha. George and Martha then meet a skunk name Harry. The three of them have all kinds of adventures from being chased by lions, which they somehow managed to outrun, sharing their stories, and stealing a bag of food from a runaway boy. George, Martha, and Harry eventually end up being adopted by runaway boy and living happily ever after.

Then one day I tried to write a story about a girl with long brown hair, almond-colored eyes, and a rayon pants-suit, and that was the end of my story-writing days.

Anyway, today was pretty busy; the upstairs left-half of the building at work is finished, so it was MOVING DAY! My office has the most gorgeous view of the mountains, up close! They fill up almost the whole window from where I sit! The boss said if he comes in there and catches me staring at the mountains daydreaming, I'm fired. Ha ha. I went and bought some coasters so I can have drinks at my desk without ruining the wood (I don't know if it would even get ruined, but just in case). It will be fun to be upstairs now.

And other than that I really have nothing to write about. Same old stuff. Boy if it's this bad now, I'm going to be really interesting in January.

Kalai and the good old days

Now there's a new song by Kalai in the playlist. In the summer of '04 when Geoff and I were just getting to know each other, Kalai came and did a mini-concert at the house Geoff was living in at the time. He said he would come and just charge a flat fee and as long as he got paid the flat fee he would do it. So Geoff's roomies just charged everyone $5 to come inside and it was packed! It was pretty fun. I remember us sitting on the couch at the back of the room. There were some girls from his ward there, one whose name was Cherish. I remember thinking, "that's a pretty name," and then, "hey, BACK OFF sister!" as I realized Geoff had an interest in chatting with her. Ha ha. I'm psycho. Fun days.

The primary program went great today, (thanks to Katlin who put it all together!). And then when we got home I took a nap and got started on my homework, and have been doing that for about the past seven hours. So yeah, brain=mush. I think I missed a meeting I was supposed to go to. Oops, I'm bad. I guess I should call her.

Now Geoff is making taco soup to take to work for lunch tomorrow, and more confetti cake because boy did we eat that cake fast! I'm going to go be with hubby now. Night night.

I'm just rambling now

It is Friday night and Geoff is out there watching The Strangers. I watched about 20 minutes of it and came back here to chill. Not my cup of tea. Check out the new song - Save Room by John Legend, I kind of like it.

Today we had the primary program practice. It went pretty well and actually, we have three new kids. It is pretty exciting because it almost doubled the size of our primary. The best thing about it is our oldest boy, Gavin, now has friends his own age in there with him, which I think will be nice for him. They seemed like really great kids.

These are the other girls in the pres.I stole this from Kayt's blog! It's Kaitlyn, Kayt, me, and Staci. They are so great and I'm glad I've had the chance to get to know them better, they are really amazing girls! (That is from the Halloween party - no we don't dress like ladybugs every day!)

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Afterward, Geoff and I went up to South Town Mall because there was a store I wanted to hit up. I found what I was looking for pretty fast, and we wondered what else we could do since we were already up there. We ended up driving up the hill to get a better look at the new Draper temple. It's not finished yet, but the outside is pretty much done. It was very impressive, but I was equally impressed with some of the houses up there! One was as big or bigger than the temple itself, not exaggerating! Looking out from up there, you could see the entire Salt Lake Valley, and you could see the Jordan River temple, the other new temple (not sure of it's name), and you couldn't see the Salt Lake Temple, but you knew where it was cuz you could see all the high-rises from downtown Salt Lake. Kind of neat.

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Other than that very very rich part of town (which I could never hope of being in), the other parts of Draper seemed really cool; I don't think I'd mind living there at some point in the future. The distant future though. Hopefully we'll get to move out of Utah sometime, for my sake. Just because I want to try it. Geoff really likes Utah though. I guess we'll see where our employment takes us.

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Okay the movie's done.

Just a thought

Maybe in another 30 years we will elect our first gay president.

Do you think they'll pay me overtime?

Check out Geoff's blog. Turns out I'm a sleeptalker.

Converting mp3's

When I came home from work today, Geoff had made a nice dinner of beef stew (in the crock pot), flaky biscuits, and martinelli's with little wine glasses. And confetti cake, which we love, for dessert. Just to say he loves me. (cue - awwwwwwwww) When I thanked him for being such a sweetheart, he just hung his head and said, "nawwwwww you mean I'm such a sweetfart." Ha ha.

I am ADDICTED to this song. Keep the Faith, Michael Jackson. I remember thinking, "this is weird," when listening to it as a fourth grader, but now I love it! I'm pretty sure it played about 30 times on my little CD player at work today, and I'm pretty sure I sung it at the top of my lungs in the car another hundred times.

I need help! Does anyone know how to convert protected Mpeg4 files to Mp3's?? I figured out how to host the files online myself so I can stick 'em over there in the playlist, but I can't convert them to mp3's, which is the only file type playlist supports. I've searched and tried a bunch of different things and nothing works. :( At least short of paying for a converter program.

Not that I'm saying you should all want to share my love for this Michael Jackson song...

Prop 8, what about their rights?

I didn't really want to get into this matter again on my blog, and I realize by doing so, I open myself and that which I love up to criticism and contempt (which I don't like, naturally). But I just can't sit here and go on with my happy little life and pretend stuff's not happening. SO, here it goes.

Prop. 8 passed. Someone told me once that I write about this a lot. Well, it's because I've thought a lot about it in the past couple of years. I think it's important to have considered all points of view. I've gotten so many "Yes on Prop 8" facebook group requests, and read many notes like the one I posted a few weeks ago, and also this article posted by my church about why they stand where they do. They make points that could be reasonably argued, however, I ultimately do not agree with them. I am of the conclusion that homosexuality is not usually a choice (so how can it be condemned if it's not a choice), and even if and when it is a choice, who cares? Live and let live. If they want to be married, let 'em be married! Put simply, my marriage is the greatest joy in my life, and I just can't see how denying someone else that with a person they love can be fair.

Having said that now, I think the hellfire that the church has come under isn't fair either. Leaders had this to say on the website:

"Some, however, have mistakenly asserted that churches should not ever be involved in politics when moral issues are involved. In fact, churches and religious organizations are well within their constitutional rights to speak out and be engaged in the many moral and ethical problems facing society. While the Church does not endorse candidates or platforms, it does reserve the right to speak out on important issues."

Folks, they are right! Just as you and I have the right to say and push for what we want, so does the church. They also said this:

"Before it accepted the invitation to join broad-based coalitions for the amendments, the Church knew that some of its members would choose not to support its position. Voting choices by Latter-day Saints, like all other people, are influenced by their own unique experiences and circumstances. As we move forward from the election, Church members need to be understanding and accepting of each other and work together for a better society."

Probably the most dispicable thing I've heard so far is of that commercial someone did of mormon missionaries breaking into a lesbian couple's home and ripping up their marriage licsense, announcing "we're hear to take away your rights." It is utterly dispicable, ridiculous, and totally immature. I do wonder how the people - like my sweet little sister - who literally put their entire lives on hold to do what they do, will feel when they see that/hear about it.

The protesting outside an LDS temple, as if the momon church were the only one involved, (and as if there weren't other people who voted for it) is just an example of people who need someone to point the finger at.

I welcome your comments, even opposing ones, if you feel like you want to. However church-hate-mail and name calling will probably be discarded (I've heard it already, believe me).

AS MICHAEL JACKSON SAYS, "HEAL THE WORLD, MAKE IT A BETTER PLACE." :)

Dangerous

Re-discovering Michael Jackson. Yeah keep the faith. Don't let nobody take you down, brother.

Accounting questions

IT SNOWED TODAY!

We had a nice long fall this year at least; it was nice.

I felt like I'd drunk half a bottle of cough-syrup for most of the day today, though indeed I did not. It's hard to work when you feel high! ha ha.

Well the "high" or whatever it was started last night before I blogged because there was actually more I wanted to write about the graduate program. It's going to be a pretty tight squeeze to get in under the wire. For it to happen, first, I have to be able to stay enrolled in and pass all 15 credits next semester... I hope to know within the first couple of weeks if that is going to be possible for me. Next, I have to get a good enough score on the GMAT, then finish the capstone and the rest of the classes during the summer. Before I heard that the program begins only in the fall, I had looked forward to taking a break for maybe a year or so. Also, I had actually wanted to do the MACC, not an MBA, but MBA is the only degree offered in this program. The reason this one looks good is because it is right across the highway from our house, (which means no having to move or sell our condo to find another place), AND you can work a full-time job while going, which would allow me to keep mine, which is what I want. And it's not like an MBA is a bad thing, so I'm not totally against it.

SO, keeping these things in mind, I'm going to push full-throttle for this MBA program, and if it doesn't work out, I'll take a few semesters off and either try again or find something else. Maybe I could commute to UofU and do a macc up there (a pain!), or maybe I could get into BYU (never been too excited about the thought of going there, but we'll see what becomes available at that time).

I just realized if I do get into the Utah State program, I'll have followed the exact same educational path as my boss. Though I don't expect to be quite where he is even when I've finished, of course. I don't think he knows, but I really really look up to him for his educational and career accomplishments, and his mature professionalism, and that he has such an amazing ability to think critically about things and see an issue from so many different angles, so that there is never anything missed. I hope to be like that someday. To be able to work with and receive instruction from such great role-models (both him and my "other" boss, the CFO) is such a golden opportunity and I hope to learn much from them in my time here.

PS - in case you didn't know - I LOVE MY JOB! Our CFO is in the process of teaching me how to audit the GL (just the tax liability accounts since those are the ones I use the most), and we've just been over it a little bit so far but I love it! How geeky am I!

New Beginnings

New President.

Here's hoping he delivers. And that's all I'm saying about it. Right now.

I'm really just writing tonight because it's been a few days since I did last. There's really not much to write about, except Geoff did some research on the MBA program that Utah State offers on our UVU campus. Apparently you can only begin it in the fall, and you have to take the GMAT in February.

So, studying for the GMAT while taking 15 credits and working full-time is going to be EXTRA EXTRA FUN. But really, having three months to study can't be a bad thing, so I'm somewhat optimistic. It's pretty exciting to think about, actually. That we have a definite/tentative plan in place for graduate school. If we both get in and both at the same time (which we are going to try for), then we'll be in all the same classes for 18 months! Which will be the only time we ever see each other!

This program is a Friday night - Saturday morning thing. So we'll be able to work full-time while going, and of course we'll really have to be committed. No vacays for us. But worth it in the end, we hope.

Now I'm listening to Obama's address to Chicago; he just said, "Hello Chicago!" Wow... I'm pretty amazed it actually happened. I hope hope hope things go well in the coming years. I'm going to go listen to the rest of his speech.

A family blog!

Hey, Geoff started a new blog! This one is a family blog though, so there probably won't be any more pictures of people pulling their guts out of their chests and holding it up for you to see... (well, I guess you never know on that) He is pretty cute. He said he might change the URL though so if he does I'll just keep it updated on the blogroll.

PS - thanks for your comments on the post a couple back! I appreciate your thoughts and support!

We are so studly

Here are our Halloween costumes. Geoff came to pick me up for lunch at work, and our receptionist (who I love) said afterword, "I saw him come in and I was thinking to myself, 'Who's that pervert coming in here?'" Ha ha ha. Geoff said he was an undercover 60's cop posing as a pimp.


Come clooooser... I vant to suck your blood! Ah! ah! ah!



We had so much fun though. At work, anyone who dressed up got $20, then after work we went down to Mt. Pleasant for a little party at my friend's house. It was pretty fun. Then we got home around 11:30 (yes we left early) and I was so cranky from wearing a cape all day and fake eyelashes (they start to hurt after awhile) so we went to bed around midnight. It was a fun day though. I think we'll dress up next year too.

Apples and Oranges... or fruit salad?

So picture two different scenarios: (I couldn't decide whether to post this or not)

One – you have the chance to get all the education you want, freely, build your career until you are where you want to be, have the satisfaction of accomplishment and competence in a job you love, be financially free – enough to have a nice home and spend years traveling and seeing different parts of the world you always wanted to see, live wherever you want, do whatever you want, anytime.

Two – you are in your 60’s and are having a giant family dinner; kids, kids’ spouses, grandkids, good food, maybe a little football, being happily surrounded by lots of family.

Is it possible for a girl to have both of these things?

Biological clocks run out. Yearning for certain things runs out. But maybe sometimes it doesn’t. At some point I’m going to have to decide where to go next… and Oh is it HARD! I don’t want to end up having regret for something I did or didn’t do.

(I know this would be an easy thing for some. Maybe I’ll be eating my words in a few years, one never knows. Also I know the future isn’t solely at my discretion, either… there is another half to this marriage). :)

An accountant's worst nightmare

Last night I finally fell asleep around 1:00 a.m., only to have restless and fitful dreams about taxes and spreadsheets that wouldn't balance. Aaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

In the words of Johnny Chaston, "Well, here comes my death."

Well, here's a change to the schedule for next semester. Added one class. So as of January, it will go something like this:

Monday......... work 8-5...class 7:00-8:15
Tuesday.........work 8-5...class 5:30-6:45, then 7:00-8:15
Wednesday....work 8-5...class 7:00-8:15
Thursday.......work 8-5...class 5:30-6:45, then 7:00-8:15
Friday............work 8-5...class 5:30-8:00
Saturday...........................class 10:45-1:15

15 credits. Words that come to mind.... CRAY-ZEE, and STOO-PID, and oh yeah, I'M GOING TO KILL MYSELF.

After realizing that graduate school requirements are one more class that I didn't have in the schedule yet. And now that I've accustomed myself to thinking I'll be done in August, there's just no way I can spread that out over one more semester. Well, here's to kissing movie-night goodbye, but hoping it will be worth it in the end, eh?

Sickeningly cute, we are

They sat in silence after a somewhat serious conversation; a somber mood filled the air. The plate of frosted cupcakes leftover from the ward halloween party lay between them. Geoff picked a candy corn off a cupcake and ate it. He was about to eat another one when Cali asked if she could have the third (and last) one.

"Oh, you like candy corn?" he asked incredulously. "I'm sorry, you can have this one too," and tried to hand her the last piece of honey-flavored goodness.

"No, you eat it," Cali replied, and shoved it into his mouth, leaving a little frosting on his cheek. Then she traced her finger through the remaining frosting on that cupcake and smeared it on his face.

"Oh, you're gonna get it," he said, while grabbing another cupcake and shoving it right back at her. Seeing the smeared cake all over her nose, he immediately felt bad and stuck his own face out for requital. Cali picked up the final, bright-orange colored cupcake and smashed it into Geoff's face so hard he would never forget. Then she shrunk back in horror as Geoff advanced upon her with a wicked grin and layed a big, messy, wet-cakey smooch on her already-covered mouth.

Laughing hard, they looked around at the cupcake smashed all over the floor and decided they should probably clean up.

And they lived happily ever after. The end.

Oops

I thought we had a ward chili-cookoff tonight. I told Geoff we did. So, he found a recipe, went to buy the chili ingredients, got up at 6:00 a.m. this morning to get the crock pot started, and spent all day tending it.

Come to find out, the cookoff is tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm good. I felt pretty rotten about it. He is just so nice about it though. He is the best.

Tonight is pizza and movie night. Ahhhhhh.

"Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot."

I had the best day today. I just feel so blessed in my employment. Who knew there were such wonderful opportunities in little old Lindon Utah?

I'm going to be learning some new stuff tomorrow and I'm so excited! It is really something to be able to feel excited about being a part of the company you work for. Since being with them it's opened my eyes to some new paradigms and possibilities, and I actually feel like my life is moving in a direction. If it is always like this then you're going to have a pretty hard time ever pulling me out of the workforce. It truly is my cheese, or one of the many cheeses of which I currently partake. (I just re-read Who Moved My Cheese).

Today Geoff wrote Alison a letter and sent her a package from us. That was so sweet of him. I'm glad that he supports my family. I hope Al is doing alright! We got an email a couple of days ago.

I guess that's all for tonight. The Office starts in ten minutes!!

Well at least I can alter the space-time continuum

In the last couple of days I've come to a realization about myself: When confronted with an important and suspenseful situation, my imagination runs completely out of control, and as the time passes I begin to expect the worst and get myself all worked up, then I imagine how it could be even worse than that, then I start to make mental plans around what's going to happen if this or what's going to happen if that. Then it turns out I was just thinkng too hard about it.


I should probably cut that out.

Well either way, I've been spurred to condense my class schedule a little bit - I've got eight classes left, and I was going to take three, then three, then two. But I've just decided to do four and four, and I'll be done by my next birthday! I can't believe we're almost at our second-to-last semester!!

Anyway, these are cute comics, if you haven't seen them before. I thought they were funny because we've actually had fights about these things. :) (I hope they're not too small to read)

Snooooooze I'm tired

Reasons why my house is haunted

Okay, that should probably be: "Reasons why my house is (probably) haunted." Of course we don't know for sure, and we're not willing to do what it takes to really find out. (We'd rather not face the truth.)

I've blogged about this before, but that was just one of a few experiences.

About a year ago, I was cleaning up all the crap that had fallen between the dresser and the wall, and Geoff was in the next room on the computer. I was sitting there on the floor, when I heard, "Hey." I looked up and said, "what?" and there was no one there. I called, "Geoff? Did you just say something to me?" No, he called back. He was still in the other room. The "Hey" I heard was clear as day, brief, a man's voice, and was right next to me. I had thought Geoff had poked his head in the doorway or something, but nope.

Now, if you know me, you know I could sleep through a natural disaster if it was happening in my own backyard. I don't ever wake up in the morning by myself, I have to be woken up. Especially if I've stayed up as late as I did two nights ago. Well, it was about seven a.m. this last Saturday morning, and I heard Geoff saying something to me, in a loud whisper. I don't remember if it was my name that was said, or just some attention-getter to wake me up, but I woke up. I looked over at Geoff, who was fast asleep, and asked him if he just tried to wake me up. Well, that woke him up and then he was up for the rest of the morning, but he said he didn't say anything to me.

Then, just this morning as I was in the bathroom doing my hair, out of the corner of my eye I saw something dark dart from the back room, past the bathroom doorway, towards the front room. It was low to the ground, so I thought it was Wally. But it kind of didn't seem like Wally, so I walked into the front room calling for him. I felt a little creeped out, and I wasn't able to find him out there, so I went back past the bathroom to the back room and there was Wally, asleep underneath the computer desk. Soooo it couldn't have been Wally that I saw, and Geoff was gone.

?These could all just be myself playing tricks on myself, but are they?

Then there's the way Wally sometimes just stares down the hallway and arches his back like he's freaked out. (Wally is our cat, in case you wondered).

Anyway, our condos are only about 7 years old, so I can't imagine there's much history here. We've talked about doing EVP's like TAPS, then we decide we'd rather not, just in case we did catch something.

Crazy. I know I sound crazy.

Heretic's Fork? I'd rather not!

I've been asked to do "Sharing Time" for the primary tomorrow. (A 20 minute teaching-session for the kids ages 3-12). As much as I love the kids, I have to be honest - this is totally and completely out of my comfort zone. So much that I sometimes wonder why I couldn't just be struck by lightening instead.

The other 3 girls in our presidency have to do it way more often than I do though, so I shouldn't complain. I hope it goes okay.

Geoff is out there watching a Discovery Channel show about Medival Torture mechanisms. I can't stand to watch that stuff. He is fascinated by gore... gory movies are his favorite - especially if they involve the mafia and/or zombies. I guess that is one of the "guy things" I love about him, but DON'T ask me to participate. He once convinced me to watch the movie Hostel with him, and that was the last time I ever have or ever will be convinced to watch a slasher movie. I refuse. It's so unnatural, and makes me sick. So about those Medieval torture devices... let's just say I'm so glad to not have been born in that time and place. I can't understand how people can torture each other. It boggles me. (He just came and told me how "heinious" it all is... then he realized he said "heinous" wrong so we've been laughing about that. Gee, is it late?)

But we did something tonight that we haven't done in months. We pulled out the giant air mattress and watched movies in the living room. (Non-gory movies.) I can't wait to be done with Sharing Time.

Goodbye Alison

Well, we took Al to the MTC yesterday. It was the first time I've been-there and done-that. It was quite the experience to see soooo many young people my sister's age, leaving. You realize they really do leave their entire lives behind for 18 months or two years (whichever it is), and they go willingly and happily to different parts of the world, because they want so much to share the message of the gospel with others. (I mean, she really wanted to go.) It was very humbling, and exciting! It didn't really hit me completely until we were walking out the doors of the MTC without her, then I started bawling, and was trying to choke back these big ol' sobs in my throat. (I mean, everyone there was crying, but no one else was sobbing). It is so crazy to think we have a real-live missionary in the family! I admit, it still almost feels like she's just on an extended vacation, but I'm sure it will sink in before long. I've added some pictures here to commemorate the big day.

You can tell she's excited in her expression - pre-mission glow

The whole fam

I love this expression. Can anyone else lift their lip that high?

The most awesome candid of my little brother. He's so dang cute.

The sibs. (Not the most flattering pic of me but the rest of them are so cute)


Mom & Dad

Again - I just love her expression

Now that she's gone who is going to tell me when my hair is too big?

Rollin' away

Storing luggage with all the other new missionaries'

The nametag - "Hermana Jones" (That's dad clipping it on)

All ready now!!

I know she's going to make a great little sister-missionary. It'll be such a growing experience for her too. It's hard to say good-bye (especially for my parents) but we will recieve blessings, and she will love Chile so much that she won't even want to come home at the end. :) I already wrote her a letter.