My island in the sun

I am so excited that it's August tomorrow! So many great things about this August! Hot weather, long days, no school, my birthday, and time off work. Oh I am going to enjoy it to the fullest. Bring on the snow cones. Tonight my co-worker's husband, who just started massage therapy school, is going to come to our house and practice on me and Geoff. I have a lot of pain and tension in my upper neck - as does my coworker - and she says he is wonderful at getting rid of that. I haven't ever been to a massage therapist who really works on that area - even when I tell them to - so I am looking forward to it. Then we are going to see Harry Potter sometime tomorrow probably. There will probably be some housecleaning. And sleeping in, for sure. Okay well enough of this boring post I'm just daydreaming about the awesome weekend ahead.

Random quote: "Hey, let's name our kid Parry Hotter." -pause- "What do you think?" (Geoff)

We are DONE

Geoff and I both had our presentations tonight. Geoff's was at five; mine was supposed to be at 7:s0 but didn't actually start until 8:30 because we were behind. We pretty much got reamed, but I didn't feel that it was in a hateful or demanding way, more of a "you shoulda probably done this-or-that" in a helpful kind of way. I mean, that's what I hope anyway, cuz it's not like we're a real management team that knows what we're doing. At any rate, IT'S OVER!!! No more class for a whole month!! Yeeehaw!!!!

Trying to win

So on the radio about an hour ago they announced that they are giving away Collective Soul concert tickets to the Las Vegas show, backstage passes to meet the band, and they're putting you up at the Hard Rock hotel and casino. Does this trip not sound meant for me??? And they said the contest was just minutes away.

An hour ago.

I've been glued to the radio. A Collective Soul song came on just now and I dialed and redialed, only to find out that's not the cue to call. The radio guy said they'd probably do it in the next hour. And he also said it's just to qualify for the trip. Which means I'd have to do this again, if I won.

So this is why I've never tried to win anything on the radio before. My co-worker's husband wins stuff on the radio all the time. In fact, he's won, only to find out he couldn't have the prize because they can only give prizes to the same person every so often. Ha.

Update: It's now been an hour since the guy told me it would be within the next hour. I can't believe I'm still sitting here. I keep thinking right after the next song...

Update: Okay, I think the radio guy might've took me for a sucker... Successfully. That is sad. I'm leaving.

WOW

Are these homes on shortsale or something? I don't know how to tell. But I just cannot believe the gorgeousness of this home for this price. And there are a lot of them here. Oh it makes me want to buy so bad! For sure, you'd get a lot more home for your money down there than up here!

Facebook - where time goes to die

I deactivated my facebook account, ha ha. Oh freedom. I'm slowly cutting myself off socially, so it's just you and me now, blogosphere. (oh and also all the people I see in person on a regular basis) The nice thing about facebook is that you can reactivate your account at anytime so you don't exactly feel like you're cutting off your right arm, but we'll see. I might never go back on it again. I kind of like the feeling of some privacy.

It's time to clock back in and go to our weekly meeting: it's skill day!! I can hardly wait.

I think I need a snow cone

I am sick! Blehhhh my tummy hurts I hate feeling sick.

Natalie trimmed my hair today on my lunch break. It's been growing since October without a trim. When I graduate I'm thinking of making a big change, maybe going completely blonde again? That would be fun.

Once Geoff is done with school in three weeks!! he's going to study for the GMAT, which is in December. He thinks he wants to get an MBA at UNLV. I think he might apply to BYU and some of the universities around here too, but I think UNLV would be fun. The only thing that scares me about living down there is the cockroaches but otherwise it would be a blast. And I'm so proud of Geoff for setting such a great goal. I know he can do it! So I guess we'll know about that in the next year or so.

I really like Harry Potter 5. I'm getting more excited to see the sixth.

Bleh. I'm gonna go lay down. I am so grateful I can be sick at home and not have to go to class tonight.

Bring your own cape and wand

Saturday was a house-cleaning frenzy. It needed it so bad! We did about a hundred loads of laundry - which was most of it. And we scrubbed and dusted and vacuumed everything else. We finished on the house around 4, then started our Harry Potter marathon again. Apparently Geoff had made an open facebook invitation for it, (BYOCW - Bring Your Own Cape and Wand), and his friend Marshall actually showed up! (Without the cape and wand, but with pizza!) It was so good to see Marshall. I don't think we have all just hung out like that since he got married. Well, his wife didn't actually come which is fine. We all chatted for a little while and then watched numbers 3 and 4. It was two a.m. by the time #4 was done, so Marsh went home and we went to bed. We finished number 5 today.

Then I did homework. Both mine and Geoff's groups have to give presentations to the "board of directors" (aka - the professor) on Thursday night. My job was to make the proformas for the next four "years." I did a best and worst case scenario, but I'll be honest it was pretty half-assed because I don't know how to get legitimite numbers based off that dumb video game. I don't think you can. How do you make financial statements when you don't have a real piece of software that tracks expenses and revenues and cash and real transactions? I should say - how do you make financial statements when you don't even have a real business! I guess proformas are more or less an estimate anyway, but still? It's really quite ridiculous. Well at least Geoff had already made a spreadsheet template which was a really huge help and gave me some sort of direction. Our professor tries to act all grumpy and demanding like a real board of directors during the presentations - in fact I think he chews most groups out pretty well. I don't really care though, we just have to get through it and then we never have to do this dumb class again. Then all weekends can be as wonderful as this one sans homework.

I LOVE OUR CLEAN HOUSE!

It's saturday morning

Yesterday was a state holiday. Most peeps have the day off, but a lot of our clients are out of state, so we worked. They came around at 1:00 though and told us to go home. (Also, the CEO & CFO gave everyone a little gift bag with some goodies and a couple gift cards to Wal-mart and Jamba Juice - for nothing! How nice are they!) So I was able to make it down to grandma's for the family picnic. We've been doing it ever since I can remember. There were a lot of people I didn't know this time (Donald's family) but I'm glad I could go. Geoff knew I might not make it but he went down without me anyway! (give that man a klondike bar). After lunch we went to a movie with mom and dad. After that, we bought the Harry Potter series and came home, planning to stay up all night and watch as many as we could. I drank soooo much caffeine to stay awake - more than the last time it kept me up 'til three - but it really had no effect on me this time. By midnight we were done, we didn't even make it through the first movie.

Geoff is out helping someone move now, and I think our goals for today are pretty much do laundry, clean the house, and continue Harry Potter. I've opened all the windows and it smells like rain. Love it!

12:03: The books I found on Geoff's side of the bed:
-The Scientists: A history of science told through the lives of its greatest inventors.
-World History pocket encyclopedia
-Bill Bryson: A short history of nearly everything
-The Fellowship: a portrait gallery displaying a group of remarkable characters who made important contributions to the rise of modern science
-Einstein: His life and universe
-Studies in scripture: volume one the Doctrine and Covenants
-Teachings and Commentaries on the Doctrine and Covenants
One thing I noticed when I met him was he was always reading stuff- he loved to go to the library and just hang out and read and read. He drinks it in.

Cali's coast

Courtesy of Kenna...

I wanna go.

I'm longing to soak up the warmth, the smell, the beauty, and maybe a few good books.

This guy is GREAT!

My hero... enjoy

Satan in good, satan is our friend

Last night we laid in bed talking about our love/hate for gory movies. (Him: love. Me: hate.) Somehow we got on the subject of evil and Geoff started chanting:

I want to kill
Everyone

And I joined him:

Satan is good
Satan is our friend

(It's from the movie The Burbs, and is meant to be comical.) We got to the word "friend" and the floor lamp in our bedroom turned itself on! I'm not kidding! But, it wasn't really surprising because we installed the Clapper, which I got at my work's white elephant gift exchange last Christmas, on the floor lamp. And it has a tendency to turn off and on when we lay in bed laughing at Conan or Who's Line or whatever it is we watch. It spooked us for a second but then we just laughed about it.

Random quote of the day:
Co-worker to others: "I told him I feel like I'm walking around half-blurred, and he said, 'that's because you are.'"

Les Schwab

Took the car to Les Schwab on my lunch break. Because we bought my tires there last year, we get some kind of free tire-rotations for life thing. But they fixed my flat for free too! I think they must've repaired the old tire, or you'd think they would charge for a new tire. Anyway, even though it took an hour to change the tire, at least it didn't cost the hundred bucks or so I thought it would.

Hmm

After work I went to school to meet with a group. We worked until about 9:30, and as I pulled out of the parking lot I decided to roll my window down to enjoy the weather and guess what I heared - the lovely sound of a car rolling along on a flat tire. Luckily my sweetie could come and change it for me! I'm on a spare tire now, and a little nervous about driving on it tomorrow, cuz I've got to go to work and then the tire place on my lunch. I wish I knew what happened. I don't recall any blowouts, and it seemed to be fine when I got to school. It's not a bald tire either.

They treat all humanity the same

So, call me weird, I was googling pictures of skinwalkers. It brought me to this blog. Strange context aside, this is the sort of thing that breaks my heart. Someone who wants only to be obedient, and harbors such hope and torment together, in trying to find their place. Yes, I am conflicted, yes, I have some "cognitive dissonance." There have been some who tried to tell me my beliefs are wrong and I am wrong because of such things, and I just want to push them away. A bit of my light has gone out lately with all considerations. I can't expect to know all mysteries. All I know is I just want to cry and reach out to those who struggle so much. Does God really intend for some to hurt so much?

I heart Utah and scary movies

Well I was gonna say more to finish off that last post, but now it's been a few days and it's old, so nevermind. We've had a great weekend! On Friday there was a potluck contest at Geoff's work, and Geoff entered some crock-pot chili and won. They gave him a gift basket with a t-shirt and some candy. After we got off work, Andrea, a friend of the family, came to visit. She's down for a family reunion. It was nice of her to stop by; we haven't even seen her since our wedding reception!

Saturday we got up early and studied for a test, which we took at ten at the testing center. Then we went up to Thanksgiving Point around 1, because Geoff was working at the "I Heart Utah" festival for the United Way and I just wanted to go with. It was pretty much the same thing you see at the Freedom Festival in Provo - lots of booths. Only there weren't very many people there - I'd say they didn't do a very good job advertising because I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. Anyway, we sat at a booth and talked for a couple hours with a lady Geoff works with. She was so funny. Somehow the conversation got on the subject of ghost tours. Her husband is a recreation professor and they've done some study-abroad programs, which has allowed them to travel. Something they enjoy doing is ghost tours, and she said the best one they ever went on was in Edinburgh, Scotland - they toured the underground vaults. Ghost Adventures did a show down there. (Have I mentioned we love Ghost Adventures?) She was telling us there's a local ghost tour for Orem, and said there's a house right on state street that's part of the tour. Also - somewhat unrelated, she said they lived in a Mortuary at one time - and not by choice, they didn't find out until after they'd moved in. They used to do haunted houses for the boy scouts and stuff (a bring a can of food and get in type of thing), even though she said it wasn't really haunted. Anyway. It was an interesting conversation.

We were at the festival for a couple of hours, and it was so hot! We were dying. We learned later that it reached 106 degrees!! (Gosh maybe it was the heat that kept people away. I guess it also could've been the cheesy name though, ha ha). I tried something new there- a waffle sunday. It had ice-cream, whipped cream, and cinnamon-sugar on it and was to DIE for. There was something different about the batter that made it sooo good. I wouldn't've thought about putting ice-cream on a waffle but it was GOOD. (No, I didn't meet the nutrition points for the week. Did good on the water and exercising though!

Anyway, on our way home we thought it would be cool to stop by that house on state street and check it out. I didn't think I'd ever seen any houses on state street - but there it was. It's been converted into an antiques and gift shop. In the upstairs there were four rooms, and only two of them were open. One of the doors was chained off, except the padlock was open, and the door was cracked, and it was dark and you could only see a few objects inside. We dared each other to undo the padlock and poke our heads in, but we chickened out. I just didn't want to get in trouble, wink wink. The girls that were working there had a standard poodle named Charlie, and we loved that poodle. It was huge! I've never seen a standard before. It was sooo mellow. We talked and I said when we have a house with a yard, I want a standard poodle and a standard schnauzer. Geoff wants a bassett hound, so I guess we'll just have a bunch of dogs.

When we got home, we made dinner, got the air mattress out, and watched Inkheart and a Haunting in Connecticut. That movie was SCARY! We both screamed. It's about a family that moves into an old mortuary - funny that we were just talking to someone who did that earlier that day. It was so creepy that I took sleeping pills to avoid having another night like that recent one, because I knew Geoff would fall straight to sleep. Well, today it felt like they never wore off. I've been sooo sleepy and almost winded, you know weak.

Anyway, today Geoff and I have just been watching movies - Happy Feet, Madea Goes to Jail, and Doubt. Talk about lazy Sunday, but I love it! Oh, and I bought the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack and love it!! I wanted to post some of my favs from the album but they aren't on playlist.

sleep and addictions

Someone moved in upstairs. We haven't met him, but I know he drives a truck that appears to be from Texas. And I think he lives alone. And he snores. Loudly. Apparently he moved in a couple of days ago, because I've been waking up wondering what in the world is someone doing outside with a leaf blower, turning it on and off, on and off. Yeah, it was just the guy upstairs in deep sleep. I almost feel bad saying it, but pretty much the only thing that differentiates it from the sound of the downgrading trucks on the freeway is the pulsing regularity of it. I'm sure he's a real nice guy and I shouldn't say mean things. Maybe it's just another reason to buy a house (hint! hint!)

I've thought about addictions a little bit in the last few months. I'm not addicted, it's just interesting. The commonality I've noticed is that addictions are driven by deap-seated self-worth problems, which the person avoids confronting by committing the addictive behavior. It's not about being bored, it's about low self-worth. And it's extremely hard for people with addictions to recognize their low self-worth and admit it's there, because they've been denying it and running from it - the whole purpose for the addiction. It's a way to stay out of touch with feelings so they don't have to face them. It sounds like kind of a hard thing to fix. I'm told that addicted people can quit the behaviors, but the driver for the addiction (the negative feelings) will still be there until they're faced, sometimes causing the addictive behavior to shift to something else.

Sad songs say so much

Today is celebrate the saddest songs ever day. It is sad because I'm stuck doing homework which I don't know how to start and is going to take me all night. SAD. Less personally, it's also about depression and seperation and not fitting in and growing distant and self loathing and all that good stuff, hence my lovely playlist.

PS- watch out for the f-bomb in the eminem song if you don't like that. I couldn't find a clean version, sad because it's a pretty song

PPS - If anyone knows any more good sad songs I am open to suggestions

Bleh

This is my crowning achievement for the night:

A high of 50%. I feel pretty dang lousy for wasting the whole night playing cards. I've got homework. I guess that's what I'll be doing for lunch tomorrow. BLEH!!

Wellness

I keep thinking that just because I don't have class every night means I don't have homework, too; there is lots of it still. Well Geoff and I are staying up late together tonight just for homework, so hopefully I can get most of it done.

Our wellness program started yesterday. I did awesome. Today, not so much. But it's only one day; tomorrow I'll do better. We are supposed to eat 5 servings of fruits/vegetables and drink at least 48 oz of water per day for five days of the week, and exercise at least 30 mins per day for four days of the week, and there's a point system involved including percentage change in BMI and body fat at the end of the competition, which ends in November. It's right in between the two extremes we had with the company we had doing our wellness programs before - not too hard, not too easy.

one loud ghost

Okay, I know I sound like a psycho when I talk about this stuff, but I'm gonna anyway. Our bedroom is friggin' haunted. Last night was awful, I didn't get to sleep until 2 a.m. We hear sounds every night after we've turned the lights off, but usually it's just a couple of little things, and then it stops and we go to sleep. I've come to think of them as the "normal sounds." Like, the TV makes a loud cracking noise, as though someone were trying to disturb it's happy existence by pushing it off the dresser. (I've heard this can happen with TV's, so it probably isn't anything.) We also hear crackling/crinkling sounds like a shopping bag settling. Even when the room is squeaky clean. Other than that, there might be some little clicks or pops here and there, but that is probably just the house settling. Once in a great while we seem to hear scratching on the wall, it's loud and definately in the room, and we can't explain that, or the crinkling.

Last night, I sat up in bed reading with the booklight while Geoff slept. Heard all the usual noises, the tv crack, the crinkling, clicking and popping. I laid down and tried to sleep but the noise was everywhere. The apartment above us is currently for rent and has been empty for weeks, so it isn't that. I was actually getting really annoyed and at one point said out loud, "Whatever." A few seconds later there was a loud knock on the wall, then a pause, then another knock. The first knock startled me, the second one sent me scrambling onto Geoff's side of the bed, freaked out. I frantically asked him if he'd heard it. He had; it had woken him up. I tried to tell him there were noises everywhere and he calmly said, "it's just noises, just noises," and went back to sleep. I laid awake for another half hour and finally asked Geoff to trade me sides of the bed so I could be away from the TV-side of the room where all the noises were, and he patiently did. Around two I fell asleep.

Geoff remembered the knocking this morning too. It came from the wall that divides the bedrooms. I've looked for anything that could've made that noise - probably from Wally moving around. There is nothing against the wall that could've made such loud, distint knocks on the wall, not even Wally's little cat body. We've got the mattress from the old bed leaning up against the wall and a file cabinet. I'm tellin' ya.

Last year sometime I lovingly named our ghost Nolan. Geoff forgets his name all the time and refers to him as Norvul, lol.

Sunday blah-dee sunday (not really though)

The fish meal went off perfectly! We've had three decent meals this weekend, dang good for our track record. Although, Geoff hasn't touched the corned-beef and cabbage leftovers even though he said he liked them. Maybe I won't make that again?

Today in church I met an old friend who I haven't seen since we were probably nine years old, Laura. We had been friends when I lived in Pleasant Grove; were in the same ward. I remember playing dollhouse with her and jumping on the trampoline in their backyard. What's funny is that our moms met a couple of months ago, and now she and her husband have moved into our ward. Anyway, it was really something to see her!

Also, Geoff and I went to sunday school together today for the first time in at least a year. Because I had that primary calling for awhile, and in the past few months we haven't really been to the full three-hour block together. So that was pretty nice.

A great day

The other day Geoff's mom sent us a package. Wally, who is always looking for something new to sit on, helped himself to the wrapping. He sat there peering over the edge at us.
He's so stinkin' cute. How can we not love him?

I just noticed I got an email from Alison. I know she doesn't have a lot of time to write people individually. She reminded me of the times we lived in Pleasant Grove, and we had an old, fuzzy tv in our bedroom. Dad didn't like us watching VH1 because it had bad stuff on it, so we would sneak into the bedroom and watch the Michael Jackson marathons because we liked the music videos. he he. I miss Pleasant Grove. That would've been cool if we could've bought that house. I don't know if I fully appreciated it at the time, but I'm glad that I had a sister close enough in age that we could be friends. We have lots of memories. I'm excited for when she gets home. (Yes mom and dad I wrote her back.) :)

Last week, J-Dawgs catered our staff lunch. It was a pretty good hot dog. They have a shack in Provo, so I'm taking Geoff there today. Then I think we're going to the city library to find some fun stuff to read. And you never know, we might take in some shopping or a ball-game. I don't think there could be a better Saturday.

Oregon memories

Check out the new song in the playlist - Ain't no rest for the wicked, cage the elephant. Likes it mucho.

Geoff's going to be gone until probably 9:30 or so tonight, so I've got a good three hours to prepare dinner. I'm pretty excited to make something. I'm making my mom's corned-beef and cabbage recipe with carrots. I loved it as a kid, hopefully Geoff likes it. He pretty much covets my mom's cooking, so he probably will. Tomorrow I'm going to try broiled salmon with butter herb stuff with rosemary and something else I've never heard of before. With steamed veggies and maybe fresh rolls or something. Mmmmmm it is so fun!



Thinking about the Oregon coast the other day brought back some honeymoon memories. We only saw the stretch of coast between Brookings, OR and Crescent City, CA, but it was beautiful. We stayed in this cute little place close to Brookings that was right on the beach. One night we drove to Crescent City and went to the only movie that was playing - The Ring 2. If you've never seen the movie before, know it takes place in the pacific northwest, which is pretty much where we were. (Actually it takes place in Astoria which is the north end of Oregon's coast, but everything looked pretty much the same as where we were.) There is a scene in the movie where Rachel and her son are driving along a road lined with thick, tall trees, when they hit a deer. The deer is unharmed, and turns to eye them intently as it walks away into the forest. They sit there in shock until a few moments later, they are suddenly battered from all sides by several deer who throw their bodies against the car over and over. (It's a pretty creepy movie; probably wouldn't watch it again.)


Anyway, by the time the movie got out, it was late and dark. And we had to drive this road to get back to our room:

Talk about freaky!! Pretty much exactly the road in the movie. This picture was taken during the day obviously, and from behind the windsheild, but you see it. Anyway.

We drove a similar road somewhere out there - I think it might've been the highway between Grants Pass and the Oregon Coast Hwy (HWY 199 - I'm not positive though). I just remember the trees were so, and caused it to be dark even though it was day, and the roadside was flecked with horribly run-down-looking houses, with broken windows and moss growing on the roofs. I even remember a little old motel-ish looking thing and thought it looked like a ripe horror movie. There was a house with displays of carved wood flowing all over the yard- as though someone would stop for a souvenier. There was evidence of people, but no people. It was enchanting, but I would seriously hate to break down on that highway.

Anyway, I'm off to the grocery store.

ajdsifol

For a couple of days I've kind of been thinking about going private. Just cuz sometimes I feel kinda, out there. This is not an attempt to get comments of people to ask me not to (as I've seen on a few), I'm just compulsively writing down what I'm thinking.... probably a good reason to go private, lol. If I do and anyone is still interested in reading, I'll ask for email addresses.

Last night I decided once and for all to nix San Diego and do the Oregon coast for my vacation... I even cemented it with a phone call to my mother in law and a facebook message to my brother in law... then today I changed my mind. Could it really be that I'm scared to go anywhere unfamiliar alone? For all of my wishing I could see new places, it seems I have an aversion to doing it by myself. What a scaredy cat! So as of now, it's still in the air. We will see.

Went tanning last night, wahoo! I bought the tanning pass and lotion thinking I was going to San Diego and not wanting to burn my pasty white skin in the first ten minutes. I know, I know, skin cancer. Also went to the gym. Then came home and watched Jeopardy with my hubby. We really enjoy Jeopardy lately. It is niiiiiice not having class every single stinking night. I love it love it love it.

Fun 4th

Last night we went to mom and dad's for a barbeque. Boy my dad really has the backyard decked out. They've got a patio with a canopy bench-swing, patio table & chairs with umbrella, a separate alcove thing with a backyard firepit, and topped it off with tiki torches. I'm pretty sure the tiki torches stay out all summer long. It's their own little haven for relaxing in the summer, they love it. It was fun and relaxing. We did a few fireworks -they had gotten them in Evanston if you know what I mean - but you should've seen the party going on up and down the street. There were probably four other families doing illegal fireworks - the really cool kind that light up the sky. Every time one went off -which was a lot- everyone cheered and whooped and hollered. We could've been in Mexico on New Year's. It was so fun. And yes I did think about our country and the sacrifices of those in service of it. I'm thankful for them. I love the 4th of July.

Life is a highway, I'm goin' drive it all night long

So here's how it is - I really want to just take a road trip in August - the more I thought about flying to the east coast the more uncomfortable with it I got. I just want to be able to drive somewhere. Somewhere with boardwalks and beaches. Warm beaches, where I can lay in the sun and dream for awhile. So, San Diego it is. I'd love for Geoff to come but he doesn't want to ask for time off, not even two days, so I'm kind of looking for a travel friend. We'll see how that goes.

It feels really lonesome to think about going down there by myself. But there's also some freedom in it - just going and doing what when and where I want. I'm not even making reservations. I don't know when or where I'm going to stop or stay, or what I'm going to do when I get there, but dammit, I'm going on vacation.

The only thing I worry about is driving into the wrong so-cal neighborhood in a bright red car. Since I'm doing it my way anyway maybe I'll get a white or silver rental. Is that being too paranoid?

Oh happy day

How awesome is today? The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays, and we even get tomorrow (Friday) off because my boss is nice! And there's no school this week! And the book I ordered on Amazon arrived today! I feel great.

I did take an exam today after work, but it wasn't bad. Geoff and I went to redbox to get a movie. So now I must decide... go to bed and rest my eyes, watch TV, or read my book??? Hmmmm choices choices.

Later on...
Well, after such a lovely day I ended up not feeling too well and wanting a snow cone to cool my insides off. Geoff was a sweetie and took me to Sonic for a slush (the next best thing to a snow cone when the cone shacks are closed), and we came back here and Geoff watched Friday the 13th and I am sitting back here contemplating if I should fly or not and trying to get my free cell score above 42%. And listening to itunes. Gotta love itunes. What fun we are, he he.