Monday, June 30, 2008

Shout Out

If you haven't discovered the delights of Suzanne's totes, you should. Each one is a carefully selected work of art. I haven't bought one; I'm waiting for the perfect fit. But I love to look at them. And she's doing a contest to win one here. I have entered 3 or 4 times now and never won, but even if I never do, I still love to just check out her bags.

This month's tote: "Subtly Patriotic"

Sunday, June 29, 2008

We Have Arrived

I knew our small town had clearly hit the BIG TIME when I saw this down the street from me today...



NYC, Paris, Tokyo and Milan: Eat your heart out.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Du Bist Eine Lame Ente



Which translates loosely from German as "My sister is my best friend ever."

She's in town, very briefly, for a writer's retreat and I have enjoyed every minute of the very frenetic visit while she has gotten prepped for her retreat. I got to see her for 3 hours while she and I went grocery shopping for the food for her retreat, we played Rock Band for an hour, went to bed, got up in the morning and made 3 failed chocolate cakes, a strawberry trifle, and a huge pot of Cranberry Beef beef. Then we drove to SLC while she had lunch with a friend, which I crashed, and dropped of some videos project for her husband. Then she left for her retreat. I get to pick her up in SLC tonight at some unGodly hour, bring her to my house to sleep, and then get up at 5:30am to drive her to the airport tomorrow. It sucks. Raise your hand if you think she should move back to Utah...


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What Happened To my Cupcakes

A few weeks ago we were having a big family birthday party for all the June birthdays in my husband's family (there are 5 or 6). I was in charge of dessert. So I made these wonderful lemon chocolate chip cupcakes with homemade chocolate ganache. I was really excited about them because it was my first time making ganache and it turned out perfectly. I put them in the back of the car and propped them in place with a computer tower that I needed to take to D.I. so they wouldn't slide around. And I instructed my husband to drive cautiously, just in case. Well, 3/4 of the way there, he took off from a dead stop on an incline and this is what happened to my cupcakes...



There's another set of cupcake prints on the other side of the computer. Needless to say, we ended up swinging by the grocery store to get an apple pie for dessert. Bummer.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Grammar Police

Hi Ladys
Does anyone know who I can call, because I called fed ex because they have not called me back and I wanted to know about my package so I asked them if there is anyway i can request for a signature for all of my packages and they advised me if the shipper does not request it at the time of shipment they automatically leave it at the door step. So if anyone has a # I can call to see if i can apply a signature request for all of my package's please let me know. thanks


That is a direct copy and paste from a "professional" forum I belong to for my at-home business. It contains some of my all time favorite (or, more appropriately, least favorite) grammar mistakes. Let me first give a disclaimer: I'm not perfect. I do make errors. But most of them are from typing fast and being too lazy to go back and fix them. Things like "teh" (the) or failing to capitalize the beginning of a sentence (which is due to my weak pinky. I'm working it out.) Plus, I'm a naturally bad speller and have had to teach myself painstakingly, word by word, to spell correctly. I still never know if words end in "ent" or "ant." But spelling and grammar are not tied together. They actually access completely different parts of the brain. (That's my excuse for being a bad speller while being a grammar Nazi.) So maybe I shouldn't judge anyone else for their grammar mistakes. But I do. Because I have pet peeves when it comes to grammar. It's mostly from grading high school homework for 6 years and being sooooo sick of seeing the same common mistakes that you learned the rule for in THIRD GRADE. So it really stands out to me coming from adults or in published ads and such. So here are a few at the top of my list:

#1) By far, my biggest pet peeve is the 's to create a plural word. Plurals are created using an s or es or ies, not an apostrophe. Cats. Monkeys. Skies. Basses. Not pie's and mom's.

#2) On a similar note, ending certain y words with an s that should be changed to an ies in the plural, like ladys. (Incidentally, the rules is: If a word ends in a vowel + a 'y', just add s. Like keys or bays. Otherwise change the 'y' to an ies).

#3) Good and well. You don't talk good or write good if you use "good" with a verb. Use "well" with a verb and "good" with a noun. Good work.

#4) You don't feel "badly" unless your hands aren't working when you try to touch something. You feel bad. It's an adjective describing yourself. "Badly" is an adverb stating that the action you're doing isn't being done very well. (Ha, see how I threw in that "well?" Two for the price of one!)

#5) She and I. I remember the first time someone told me not to say "her and me." And that person, my mother, mistakenly believed that you never say "her and me." According to her, you always say "she and I" because "she and I is proper." Well, that's not entirely true. I realize I'm about to get a little technical on you, but bear with me. When pronouns are the subject of the sentence (i.e. doing the action) you use "she, he, I, we." When they are the object, or receiving the action, you use "her, me, him, and us." Here is an example: "She and I are way too anal about our grammar." And "I am sick of my friend correcting her and me." I know it sounds funny, but it's right.

6) I also really like (don't like) misused quotation marks. Like at Jim's Family Restaurant where every menu item is in quotes, making you wonder if you really are eating bacon and eggs, or if it's some mysterious substitute called "Bacon" and "Eggs." My husband and I laugh every time we eat there, trying to decide between the "ham sandwich" and the "meatloaf."

7) And last, but not least, your going to love this one. (Did you see it?) Yes, it's the "you're" written as "your." In this same family are the their/there/they're ones, but the your/you're bugs me far worse.

Got it? Good. Now never make another grammar mistake as long as you live.

Oh, and here are some professional grammar/spelling mistakes for you to enjoy:

(Read the small print on the border of the plate)







WHAT ARE YOUR GRAMMAR PET PEEVES?



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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Disaster Averted



Remember this post?

I had misgivings about getting rid of my security verification phrase. I was sure that either
A) My computer would be attacked by icky, contageous, blood sucking viruses
B) I would be blog stalked by groups of blog-stalking sickos
C) Obscene words would suddenly show up in my comments section w/o my knowledge (I'm fine with the ones that show up there WITH my knowledge)
D) The great unknown would occur and I would seriously regret getting rid of my one barrier of safety and security between me and the big bad world.

Guess what? Nothing has changed. Except that maybe some of my blogger friends are relieved not to have to tease their brains with those crazy letter combinations written in Ophelia Italic font on acid.

You're welcome.



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Monday, June 23, 2008

Self-Exploration Junkie

Even when it comes to Disney Princess quizzes, I'm a sucker...



You Are Belle!
Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Intelligent and kind. Your beauty goes much further than your apperance. Also, you make judgements of people based on their personality and not their looks. Attaining all the knowledge that you can is one of your major goals in life, but you are also a person who can make things happen.


Which Disney Princess Are You?

Rockin' Out!!!




Yes, it's official. I'm going to be a rock star soon. I've been practicing for several hours on my Wii so I'm nearly professional now. I even tried "hard" on the bass guitar part on "Roxanne" (you know, by The Police) and survived it. See, we just got our Rock Band game, so I am on my way to stardom. I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to be a guitarist in my rock band or a drummer. The drums are harder, for sure, but I do like a challenge. The guitar is easier, but there's a lot more competition to be the lead guitarist. I could try for base guitar, I suppose. But there aren't that many impressive bass guitar solos. And singing? Well, that's out because I don't know the words to any of the rock songs.
Well, I've got to go. I need to lock my kids in the playroom so I can work on the drums some more. Plus, I need to think up a kick-A name for my rock band. See you later when I'm famous.

The Fabulous F.P. Diet!

2 Lbs in 36 hours is my result so far. Sounds like a great diet, right?

Is it safe? NO!
Is it fun? NO!
Is it easy? Depends on what you consider easy.
Does it work? YES!

Oh, and F.P. stands for Food Poisoning, by the way. If you want to try this diet, let me know and I'll tell you where I ate on Friday night.

Friday, June 20, 2008

I'm Tagged


I am simultaneously flattered and chagrined at being tagged. Oh, who am I kidding? I love doing this stuff. I guess that's why Mindi tagged me--she knew I'm a total sucker for filling out anything about myself. Here goes...

How to play the game. Post these rules on your blog: List 3 Joys, 3 Fears, 3 Goals, 3 Current Obsessions/Collections, and 3 Random surprises about yourself. Tag five people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

3 JOYS:
1) Trees. I love a really green patch of trees. It makes me happy.
2) Singing. I just love to sing. I sing alto, so I'm usually harmonizing along to every piece of music I hear. Sometimes I even imagine that I'm auditioning for American Idol.
3) Sleeping. I can't think of much that gives me more joy than sleeping.

3 FEARS:
1) Spiders
2) Open Water
3) Something happening to my kids

3 GOALS:
1) I'm not big on goals. But I do want to learn to balance my kids and my personal time better.
2) Lose 10 more lbs.
3) Grow my hair out long again. I know it's futile. I always get sick of it and cut it off somewhere between my shoulders and an inch below my shoulders.

3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS
1) I don't collect much, but I do like to send myself postcards from wherever I travel.
2) I'm obsessed with Coke. I let myself drink it until I start to think about it during sex and dream about it at night. I guess it's time to start weening myself off of it again because last night I had a very romantic interlude with a tall glass bottle of brown liquid in my dreams. JK.
3) I guess blogging. And the internet in general. Serious. Addiction.

3 SURPRISES ABOUT ME:
1) I've had 12 teeth pulled.
2) I have taken ballet, ballroom, folk, and modern dance classes. I kind of regret not going into dancing as a career.
3) I vote Democrat more often than Republican or Independent.

And I tag: Crap, Mindi, you already tagged Tiburon? Then I tag: Becky, Mia, Kami, Christie, and Kristine and Jennie.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

A Penny For Your Phone?


How would you like to get a $300 cell phone for just a penny? I did. It's not a joke. It's a huge promotion on Amazon.com. They're having a mega sale on a bunch of the really cool, really expensive phones. Some of them are only $.01. In fact, mine will end up making me $50 after the rebate! So really, I got paid to buy my new phone.

The catch? You have to either be an AT&T customer and extend your contract or you have to switch to AT&T. Since I was already an AT&T customer, I just extended my contract and got the phone I bought for $300 two weeks ago (and returned yesterday because of this sale) for free, well for -$50. Sweet huh? Gotta love Amazon.

Pass it on!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Middle School Homeroom Entertainment

Who am I going to marry? What kind of house will I live in? Where will I vacation? How many kids will I have? These are the kinds of questions we labored over in 7th grade homeroom, writing down our top choices while our friends filled in a few that we dreaded. We picked a numbe and started crossing them out. Remember that? Now I can find out with the ease of the computer. And so can you...HERE

My future looks like this (you have to scroll down. There are some spaces included with this HTML code that I can't get rid of):


































 
Behold... My Future
  I will marry George Clooney.  
  After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in Bali in our fabulous Apartment.  
  We will have 5 kid(s) together.  
  Our family will zoom around in a Green Passat.
  I will spend my days as a Writer, and live happily ever after.  
 
whats your future
 



Sounds pretty good to me! What's your future? I'll be checking your blog later to find out if you ended up with John Stamos or John Candy. Good luck!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

OH ...MY...GOSH!!!

I don't get geeky excited over much, but I just found out about this and I got so excited I'm about to pee my pants. Let me give you two hints...Moulder, Scully. Need I say more?

WATCH THIS

I Heart Oreos



I'm definitely picky about my treats. I really don't like candy. I don't like milk chocolate (except in rare cases like peanut M&Ms), and ice cream just doesn't thrill me. I like my sugar in the form of baked goods--cookies, pies, tortes, cakes, etc. And I like them homemade, preferably warm, right out of the oven. So it surprises me that I seriously love Oreos. Because I usually won't waste my time or calories eating any other store bought cookies. Yet, I never get tired of Oreos. I can (and usually do) eat about 8-10 in a sitting. (You don't even want to know how many Weight Watchers points that is. These babies are NOT low fat). I like them dipped in milk, never dry. And now I like them even better because they come in a package with a resealable flap. Have you seen this? It has revolutionized my Oreo experience. I used to have to try to cram the Oreo bag into a big ziplock bag (it barely fit) because once you opened a bag of Oreos, they would quickly lose their crunch. But now, with the new bag, you can pull out a couple (Ok, twelve) and reseal it for next time. Man, Oreos, I heart you more than ever.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Shoot, I Forgot my Anniversary

Technically, today is my Fantaversary (Fantasy-Anniversary) because we were married on February 16th, not June 16. But let me tell you something about Valentine's weddings: They seem really romantic and fun when you plan them. But then your anniversary is ruined every subsequent year by its proximity to Valentine's Day. Ours was two days after Valentine's Day. So for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple (363 days after our wedding), we did the usual Valentine's Day stuff--romantic dinner, creating a touching home-made card, sexy lingerie, carefully picked out gifts, and something extra fun in the bedroom. And then we realized our mistake. We had to do it all again two days later! I had to buy new sexy lingerie, think of something new and sentimental to say on my card, find another special and meaningful present, and get creative in the bedroom...AGAIN. Yeah, we both thought that was too much to ask (well, we might actually have been OK with the extra sex part). Plus it's butt freezing cold in mid-February. Hardly conductive to fun dates and skimpy outfits. So we decided the day after our first anniversary that from that year on, we'd celebrate our anniversary (Fantaversary) on June 16th instead. It works out way better that way.

So back to the story. What is today? It's June 16th. And I didn't even realize it until I was reading my sister Jennie's blog just now from a few days ago where she said it was her anniversary. I suck! But fortunately so does my husband. He also forgot. I guess we'll have to push it to JULY 16th this year.

Anyway, here is a photo montage of us over the last 6 years:









That's us! Happy 6 years, Sweetie.

What I Got My Hubby for Father's Day

Me and Her

I know that some people hate Vegas. I'm not one of them. I love it. I can't get enough of it. It's so interesting, such a hodge podge of people. It makes for some seriously great people-watching. And there's tons to do. And the weather is always better in Vegas than here (well, maybe not July and August). And it's the best fun place to go within driving distance. So I just love to go there. And thankfully my hubby was so good about letting me escape this week, even the week of Father's Day. So my friend Cara and I took off in my oh-so-hip Subaru Just-Shy-of-a-Minivan (Tribecca) and headed for Sin City.

From the pictures you can't really tell much of what we did (other than eat). Most of them are just pictures of her and me (and yes, that is proper grammar in case you were thinking of correcting me with a "she and I.") So without further ado, here is a photo journal of our trip...

First is a picture of me exiting the very posh bathrooms at our last pit stop, about 20 miles before Vegas. We had to stop here when I casually remarked to Cara (who was driving), "Hmmmm...why does the read out say the number of miles until we are empty is three dashes?" Unfortunately, I also had to pee and this was all there was.

Cara also captured us on film enjoying the ambiance from the outside.

Here am I in the hallway of The Flamingo. They have renovated a part of the hotel to create these hip, modern rooms called "Go Rooms." Even the carpet in these wings is modern and hip and it made me kind of dizzy.


The rooms feature smoked glass doors, a big king bed with a tufted white vinyl headboard, a mini TV in the bathroom mirror, and a giant flat screen TV. Pretty cool.

We had dinner at a restaurant in the hotel called "Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville." It was fairly good and reasonably priced, which is hard to find in Vegas. We sat at a bar table to avoid a wait and another (older) couple asked to share it with us. It was kind of weird, we thought, but we let them and they turned out to be nice. We all enjoyed the entertainment together--a scantily clad girl sliding down a water slide on the faux roof behind us into a giant ho-sized Margarita. Entertainment doesn't get more Vegas than that.


When we finally settled into bed around midnight of the first night (I was about 20 seconds from being asleep), we were debating about whether or not to watch a movie, or rather Cara was trying to convince me that I would be able to stay awake for The Other Boelyn Sister. I'll let you be the judge of who would have been right on that account. Just then, our TV went out. The maintanance man said it was shot, so Cara persuaded the hotel staff to move us into another room--one with a view. So instead of a roof-top and pool view, we got this view, which included a head-on view of Caesar's Palace and a side view of the Bellagio fountains...




We went to see the amazing water show at the Wynn called La Reve. You can watch some video clips of it here. It's kind of Cirque de Soleil-esque, but peformed almost entirely in water (like O? I've never seen that one.) It was amazing. And the theater was amazing. It was a round bowl with maybe 20 rows of super cushy arm chairs. We were in row 4, which gave us an incredible view. They don't let you take pictures until the end, so all we got is a picture of us, and one of the closing fountain.
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The Wynn, as mentioned in my previous post, is an amazing hotel. It is just beautiful inside with attention paid to every detail. Here are a couple of shots of it, including the breathtaking waterfall garden restaurant, at which we could not afford to eat. That big white square you see in the second picture is a giant wall of water falling into an infinity pool. Amazing in real life. Sadly, boring in a picture.

And this is Pedro, the guy cleaning my windows on the 22nd floor. He couldn't see me (or so Cara swears) but I could see him. I tried to go up to the window and get his attention, but he ignored me. I still got changed for the pool in the bathroom, just to be safe.

Here are some pictures of me enjoying my spaghettini with lemon caper butter, Cara enjoying her ice water, and the both of us super excited about our dessert, although it ended up being a very disappointing apple crisp with little crisp on it and the a la mode part costing an extra $1.50, which is a rip off when your crappy dessert was already $5.95. (How's THAT for a run-on?)




We stopped in the ghetto outside Vegas to get some gas. But they only took cash. We thought about stopping here for some donuts, but the fact that they had to advertise them as "real" made us a little suspicious.

Finally, we stopped for yet more expensive gas in Beaver. After a few obligatory Beaver jokes and some jerky, we got back in the car and headed home. We finally arrived at 10pm: somewhat tanner, definitely fatter, and thankfully more relaxed. Just as it should be after a girls weekend (midweek) in Vegas.