Keeps gettin’ better

This evening, Chelle and I took some time to make some caramel apples. We all remember last time I made caramel apples (with mostly disastrous results), so this time, I was hoping that maybe time and a little distance had made me a little better. Well good news, I was right, it did. I had a clearer mind about things, and I approached them with a different attitude, which I think helped a lot. We had our caramel to dip in, we had our chocolates, and we had our dipping candies – we were ready.

We melted down the caramel, and once it was ready, we got to working on the apples. It’s a little tricky to get the apples and caramel to make friends with each other, but I think we did a good job. We dipped a bunch, waited for them to cool down enough to dip in chocolate, and kept the cycle going. We had Butterfingers dipped ones, Oreo dipped ones, coconut…so many delish things. I was nervous the whole time we were making them, just because of how unsure of how well I’d do. I just assumed it’d be like last time, when I just sucked it up in general. But as the evening went on, I could see that we were doing good work. Instead of being like my class and wrapping up all the apples as soon as we were done, we decided to wait overnight, to make sure the apples were completely set. So I left them in Chelle’s house, waiting to see them the next day.

When we went over there the next day and looked at them, I was so excited by how great they looked! They all looked so good, and not at all as horrible as I had previously imagined. Here are a couple:

See how good they look! I was so pleased. We had bought these cutie little bags to put them in, to make them super presentable to people, because that’s how we roll, so this is what they look like in the bags:

Even more adorable.

I had so much fun, and I look forward to our next baking (dipping?) adventure that we’ll have soon. Now, my only issue is…who do I give these to? *wink*

Miscellaneous Monday

I think I’ll make this a weekly tradition – lets begin.

I was watching Lucky 7 this morning (you know, that delish Lifetime movie with Patrick Dempsey and Kimberley Williams-Paisley) and as she’s getting her morning coffee, and he just hands it to her, because he’s already made it for her, and with the bagel that she always orders, I thought “I would love to frequent a place where they already know what I want to order, and give it to me when I come in!” I am recognized at the cupcake place sometimes (depending on who is working) but it’s just not the same. I want them to greet me by name, have my order ready for me.

Best thing I’ve heard all day: (and please excuse the language on this) was at lunch, Pop and I were watching Smallville. Lois is trying to catch Clark and Mom, and they step into an elevator, and right as the doors closed, Lois gets there, and is frustrated, and just stands there looking at the closed doors. Dad, while watching, goes “Use the stairs, lazy bitch” and I laughed so hard I almost choked on the sandwich I was eating at the time. Classic.

I wish I had a machine that, whatever I’m craving at that moment, would just pop up with it. That would have been especially helpful today when I was craving Munchies mix. There wasn’t any in the vending machines here at work. I tried to compensate by eating Nacho Cheese Doritos, but, alas, it wasn’t the same, and I was disappointed, with a belly full of tortilla chips.

Effort…failing…

I love when my toes are painted. For some reason, when they are bare, I think they look horrible. I already think my toes are weird looking, and I think the polish helps cover it up. I have the opposite with my fingernails. When they are bare, I like it, I’m used to it. When I have polish (besides clear, ha ha) on them, I think they look crazy, and I always find myself looking at them. I do, sometimes paint them, but usually its just like, a peachy color, or a clear with glitter, which I love doing. I wanted to paint them the glitter color this week, but boy is it hard to do!

Thursday is when I wanted to do it. I had some time, dinner was cooking, I was just chilling. I took the old polish off, filed, etc, got a new clear coat on them, then I was all ready to paint them when dinner was going to happen, so I had to rush make my food I was contributing. Then the rest of the day was taken up my dinner, dinner at Boyfriend’s. family fun, etc, so I never got to it.

Friday was shopping, then nap, running, errands, movies, early sleep, so I couldn’t get it in there either. If only nails didn’t take so long to dry! If it took like, a minute to dry, I could do them whenever, but they take so long! Saturday I meant to do it, but then I accidentally started cleaning, and it took like, 3 hours to do, then the rest of the day got away from me.

Sunday was totally going to be my day, but then I overslept, so I couldn’t do it before church, and then afterwards, I started to decorate the Christmas tree (but didn’t finish it, a blog about that later), and then got done and had to write in here, and now even though I have an hour or two that will be free while I watch my Sunday TV shows, I just don’t know if I can bring myself to get up and get the polish. So yes, my earlier days, time got away from me, but right now, I think laziness might be my downfall.

So here we are, deciding if I will be painting. I’d like to say yes, but being wrapped up in my blanket sounds so much more appealing than having my hands outside, waiting for them to dry, hands getting chillier than the minute.

Memory of a goldfish, yes that’s me…

I try to remember things, I really do. I of course have things written down, the most important things to make sure I have the info, but holy crap I can never remember things after like 5 minutes. This is apparent mostly when its like a shopping list, or something from work that I needed to remember. For instance, I will tell myself in the shower that morning, “Ok, I need to remember that I’m out of shaving cream, to write it on my list to go buy it” I’ll get out of the shower and get ready with my normal routine, and I won’t remember it until the next morning, when I get in the shower and find the emptying shaving cream container. I’ll try to remember again, but alas, it’s a vicious cycle.

The reason I’m telling you this (besides this being my blog and I get to choose what I write on) is because I had a really good blog idea today. I thought of it while driving home, and I was like, this is going to be a good one. Good subject, I had a way of doing it, and then by the time I got home, got the laptop turned on and sat down to write it, I had totally completely forgot what I wanted to write on. So you get this boring entry instead, explaining why the blog fail today. I will try to remember things in the future, even if I have to write it on my hand the second I think of it, to make things better for you, the reader. I can’t make any guarantees though, or even that I’ll remember that I made this promise. But I’ll try and really, isn’t that enough?

Sometimes, it just feels like insanity

Happy Black Friday, shoppers! All right, I don’t know that many of you hit up the stores, but it’s a holiday nonetheless. I of course, participated once again, even though stores opened earlier than last year. I awoke at 2:52 AM – my alarm was set for 2:45, but what I didn’t realize until I woke up is that I set it for PM and not AM – holy lucky that I got a text this morning and just happened to wake up for it! I hurried out the door and made it to Target by 3:30.

After standing outside in the freezing freezing cold for half an hour, we finally got in. We were really quick with everything there, then moved onto the next store. We basically just went from store to store for the next 6 hours, finally finishing with everything by 9:30. I came home and immediately went to sleep – I was so tired after my less than 4 hours of sleep!

I know that most people think that doing Black Friday is craziness, but I still like doing it. You go in with a great attitude, and you’ll have so much fun! I’m glad that I went, but I’m always glad when it’s over.

Holy freezing cold

Happy Thanksgiving!
All right, now that that’s out of the way, I’m just going to do a quick one, to detail my race – the annual Earn Your Turkey run.  First of all, it was 6 degrees outside this morning. I was in running tights, shoes, a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeve shirt, and some gloves. I thought I’d be ok, and for the most part, I was. I wasn’t all that cold before the race, I was more hyper. PJ and I were just jumping around to stay warm, chatting, etc, and Boyfriend was so grumpy about how cold it was outside. In his defense, this was his first race, and it was freeeeeezing cold. I let him complain, because it was funny to hear.

The race was good, I finished in the time I wanted. By the time I was done, my hands were in pain. They had started by being freezing, but at the end, they just hurt. PJ was trying to warm them up, but they hurt so bad that tears were involuntarily running down my face. While we were waiting for all of us to finish, I was getting colder and colder. I couldn’t warm up, nothing was helping. I was given a giant blanket to wrap up in, and it wasn’t helping all that much. By the time we were all done, I was shaking so hard I could barely walk.

We got into the car and cranked up the heat whilst I was still wrapped in the blanket. I was cold the whole way to the house, and when we got there, I was still cold. We turned on the fireplace, and I sat directly in front of it, still in my blanket, drinking hot cocoa until I warmed up. It took 20 minutes for this to happen. I’ve never been this cold in my life, and I’m not even entirely sure why my body was failing me this morning, but thank goodness it’s not anymore.

Well, that was the race. It was short, but cold, and I loved every minute  of it, and I don’t regret it at all. If its this cold again next year, I might just run with a blanket on – make sure that I keep as warm as possible!

Turkey Lurkey

At FHE the other night, our activity was frosting cookies (which I had done a great cookie of Justin Bieber. It wasn’t on purpose, but it looked pretty good. And he tasted delicious) and finger painting. I’ve never really finger painted before, and I was excited to do it. This is what I painted:

 

That is my hand, decorated as a turkey. It is really good, I know. It took me a while to make it, and the stuff all over the place is my fingerprints, just in different colors. I know it looks like a small child painted it, but I don’t care, I’m proud of it anyways.

PS Sorry about it being sideways, I don’t know why that happened.

Another check off the list

All right, I know that my bucket list has some crazy entries. Eat a Grey’s Pappaya hot dog isn’t all that impressive, waxing my legs is weird too, and touching a cow all seem like things that shouldn’t really be on your life list. (BTW, since I’ve written this list, I have touched a cow, just in case you didn’t know.) But there is one on my list that I recently did, and of course I’m going to share it. The thing I did: eat a McRib.

I know that that’s not at all exciting, because people do it all the time, but usually, those things freak me out. Last night, Boyfriend and I were waiting for FHE to start, and I was hungry, so we went to McDonalds, and as I was deciding what to get, he told me to get the McRib, and usually I would ignore him, but today I was like, you know, I’m going to do this. So I ordered the combo meal, ready to dig right in.

I don’t know how many of you have had the McRib, but its not as good as you think it’ll be, but you just can’t stop eating it. You have a bite, and you’re like, hey this isn’t that bad, but the more you keep eating it, the more you’re thinking, dude, this is not all that good. And I know what you’re asking yourself: “Vieve, why did you keep eating it?” And I’ll tell you – because I was hungry, because it was on the bucket list, and because I didn’t want to admit defeat by not finishing. So I ate almost the whole thing.

Now, I’m just glad to say that one more thing is off my list, and for sure it’s gotta be the impressive, right? I’m just glad the McRib came back, so I could cross it off. Onto the next item!

Miscellaneous Monday

Today I have a bunch of random thoughts that I’d like to share. They’re not enough for an entire blog, so I’m combining them into one!

I recently bought a new soap for my bathroom – Nutmeg Cream. It makes think of Christmas every time I use it. Plus, my hands smell delish even for a while after having washed! I would recommend this to anyone.

Today on my way to work, the roads were a little slick, thanks to that wonderful snowstorm we had over the weekend. I didn’t really alter my driving though, I kept going like I usually do. There was a time when I started to slide and skid all over, and as I was heading over to the sidewalk, I thought to myself, “I really don’t want to die while listening to a Ke$ha song. That’d really make my death even sadder”. Luckily, I survived, and changed the song.

I was eating a delicious slice of cherry pie, (thanks Chelle for the free slice!) and it was sugar-free, which I imagine to be healthier. As I was eating it, I noticed that without sugar, cherry pie is really tart, and then tart made me think of a slutty person, which just confirmed my suspicions that cherry really is the sluttiest of the pies.

The other day, a friend brought her baby into work, to show him off. He was fussy, and the ladies around me were all talking about how you should bounce a baby when it’s fussy, to quiet it. Asking why, one of them explained that it’s like when it’s in the womb, you bounce when you walk, and it’s used to it. I guess the look on my face expressed disbelief, because the same gal picked me up in her arms, slung me around her, and then walked so I could see what it was like. What a weird thing that was to happen –especially at work.

That’s pretty much the extent of what I have going on. I’m sure there are more miscellaneous thoughts going on in my head, but I should save those jewels for another time! Happy Monday (Imagine I just threw some confetti or leaves up in the air when I said that, it’s much more fun!)

Penny Can!

I have discovered a new game. I took it from Cougar Town, my new favorite show. It’s a delicious game, and it requires so little! Alls you need is a can (like a big, coffee can. This presented a problem, since I don’t drink coffee. I had to substitute with a vase I had around the house. It still works.) and a handful of pennies. The number of pennies you need is directly proportionate to the amount of times you want to get up out of your seat to collect them. I started with 5 or so, but as the game went on, I was playing with like, 20+, because I got sick of getting up.

The premise of the game is such: place your can/vase a few feet away from you. You can play this game sitting or standing, I so far have only done it sitting. After your can/vase is set up, toss a penny into the can, trying to make it in. And that’s it! That’s the game! Every time you make a penny into it, you have to yell “Penny Can!” to celebrate.

It’s quite hard to make it in the can, I’ve found. When I had like, 20 coins, I maybe only made 1 in. If I was really lucky, I made 2. But I still love this game, and once you get started, it’s hard to stop! If anyone wants to play, let me know. You bring the can, I’ll bring a sock full of pennies, and we’ll play until the sun comes up. Or until we’re sick of getting up to collect the pennies, whichever’s first.

Yeah, this is how much I love them.

Everyone here knows I love cupcakes. They are one of the things I love most in this world. Today, after I was done shopping, I decided that it would be delicious if I had one today, I was really craving one. So PJ and I set off towards the place. As we got to the mall, we noticed that traffic was horrible. As soon as I saw it, I remembered, today was a BYU home football game – and we were mere hours away from it! Gah! So quickly, I turned away from the traffic and into the mall’s parking lot, but as soon as I did that, I wondered what my plan there was, because traffic would be bad everywhere.

As we were driving into the mall, I thought, the cupcake place is not that far from the mall, what if we walked there? I got iPhone, and deduced that it’s only 1.8 miles away, we could totally do that! I laced up some shoes (I was wearing flip flops, but I had some spare running shoes in my trunk), zipped up my hoodie (it was so cold and windy!) and off we went.

It took us about 36 minutes to get there, and cold it was the whole time! By the time we got there, my hands were frozen and barely moving, and I was just cold overall. I ordered myself a cupcake (pumpkin chocolate chip!), a hot cocoa (with vanilla flavoring!) and sat down to warm up. It took a while, but at last, feeling was regained. I kept saying I thought our idea to walk there was a great one, but PJ disagreed with me.

As we were walking back to our car, it was colder outside! We were moving fast to make it, and as we got about halfway back to our car, a friend happened to pass us, picked us up, and drove us the remaining bits. It was nice to have that happen! I maintain to now that it was a good idea. Sure it was cold, but I appreciated that cupcake and hot cocoa more since I had to work for it, and we definitely avoided all the traffic, which was our main goal! I would absolutely do this again.

You down with the HP? Yeah, you know me

Listen, I love Harry Potter. I will admit it freely. I have read all the books, some of them many many times, and I have seen every movie, again, several times each. I didn’t get into them until the 4th book had come out, this is when my younger sister introduced them to me. I started with the first, and from book 1, I was hooked! When people tell me they aren’t Harry Potter fans, it baffles me. I don’t know why, I just can’t believe that someone isn’t a fan of these amazing stories!

Today was my mama’s birthday. (happy birthday mama!) So for her birthday, she requested that we all go to the latest Harry Potter movie, which opened in theaters today. We get there, and immediately, family fights are abounding, over miscommunications in when we should have arrived there to meet for the movie. Luckily, after about an hour, people had simmered down, and we were good to be all friends again.

My brother, James, had a hand in that, he was really funny at the theater. James is someone like me, who doesn’t embarrass easily, but he takes it to the next level, where he out-and-out tries to see how far he can go with things before they get embarrassed. This evening, I didn’t get embarrassed, but mama got there after about 3 minutes of him just being himself. He would make loud announcements when people would try to pass him when we were sitting (he would loudly say “person passing!” to let everyone else in our row know to tuck their knees in) and then when I came in to the theater mere minutes after he had, he loudly screamed my name to let me know where I could find him (even though I had already seen him) so I loudly screamed back to him until we met up.

It was a blast, and the movie was great to boot. Luckily, there is a second half to this final movie, because I’m just not ready for this series to be over. When it finally is, I’ll probably shed a tear for all the good times I’ve had, escaping into the imaginations that is Harry Potter. And I don’t care if that makes me a nerd – I’ll embrace it.

It’s not laziness…

So today, I got home from work later than normal, after some shopping and errands and what not. When I got home, I was going to work out, I was so ready for it. It was on my to-do list and everything. I get home, I put on my workout clothes, lace on my shoes, and after I had done all of this, I decided that instead of working out, I would instead eat taquitos.

So, I’m in my workout clothes, making taquitos, then I sit down and eat them, and the whole time while I’m eating, talking on the phone, I’m thinking, wow, I could not be lazier. But at least the intention to work out was there, so I can feel better about myself. Which I do. And I’d like to say I regret the decision to skip the workout and eat, but I don’t. I feel like I made the right choice.

Toes in the water, toes in the sand

I probably think about my toes more than most people. Most of my toes are pretty normal, I have to say that. My big toes are pretty good, but my pinkie toes are just ridiculous. They are barely even toenails they’re so small.

The reason I usually think of my toes are because of running. Ever since my first half-marathon, some of toes have never recovered. A few of them are just blackened and ugly, and some keep threatening to become that way. There are also many blisters that keep popping up my toes like little jerks that won’t leave me alone. Why don’t they just stop popping up?! Come on!

Anyways, today seemed like a toe day. In the shower, I dropped a relatively full bottle of shampoo on my toes, ouch! Then, for my sisters birthday, I gave her a pedicure, and she finally cashed that in. I say finally, because her birthday was back in July. So after smashing my toes this morning, I pampered them a little this evening. It felt awesome.

I was going to include a picture of how I got my toes done, but every picture I took made my toes look like tiny sausages, and I was uncomfortable with it. But for a mental picture, I painted them a light blue/teal color, with the cutiest snowflake painted on them. Yeah, this is the girliest I’ll get – but I can deal with it.

Doodle doodle doodle

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am a doodler. If I am somewhere with a pen and some paper, I will draw either tiny peoples on it, my name with varying flourishes, or anything, pretty much. Mostly it’s in meetings, or at church, but basically I’ll do it anywhere.

I decided to blog on this today (well, I was given the idea by Chelle, gracias chica) after our meeting at work. I was sitting there, looking at it, and  I knew the world would want to see everything I had drawn. I know it’s all terribly exciting. I’m not at all a good drawer, but the things on this paper are things I know how to sorta draw. I’ve been working on this tiny sheet of paper for over a year now, and this is the result.

If you’ll notice the tiny peeps, I like the little guy with the bowtie and the fro. I like that I felt I had to specify on the page that his hair is a fro, and not a crazy hat, apparently. Most of my peeps wave, I like to draw them that way. My name is definitely on here about a hundred times, and there are letters all over the page, singly, and those are my name, just separated and hanging out. My turkey on there must have been drawn at last Thanksgiving, and the birthday cake must have been drawn near my birthday, I guess. I never remember when I draw these things. I’m pretty sure I drew the wizard near Halloween and the little house with the lights, plus the little choir boys around Christmas.

I hope you enjoy looking at these tiny photos, and I urge everyone to become a doodler, if you aren’t already.

Aloooone….

Tonight when I was driving home after FHE, I got a hankering for some tacos. And not just any tacos, the tacos from Del Taco. That’s right, those delicious $.49 ones. And I didn’t want to wait to get home to eat them, so I ate them on the way. One, I ate on surface streets, and the second one I ate on the freeway. Which, BTW, it is pretty hard to eat a crunchy taco while trying to go freeway speeds. I don’t recommend it.

As I was eating my tacos on the way home, I realized that it’s a little weird to eat in your car when you’re alone. With others, its totally cool, you and a friend, (or friends) are eating, having a good time, but when you’re alone, you feel just a little weird. And then I thought of other things that are totally normal when you’re with other people, but alone…kinda weird.

Hitting up an amusement park. I’ve never done this, but I can only imagine how odd it would be to be at this sort of place by yourself. There’s no one to enjoy the good times, to laugh at all the craziness happening! Bowling is another one. With friends – a great night! Alone…you seem a little sad. Playing on a seesaw. Well, now I just feel bad for you. You couldn’t find one friend to sit on that other side? Aw.

I know that I do weird things all the time, and this is neither the first nor the last time I’ll eat in my car. I don’t care that I do it, it’s both delicious and a time-saver. Genius.

My Secret Longing…

Today in church, in class, we were talking about how excited all of the kids in my ward are for the upcoming Thanksgiving break. Being in a predominately college-age ward, I’m used to hearing about classes, breaks, etc., that they have. Today when they were talking about it, I had a little longing for the times when I had these too.

I love being an adult. I would not go back to school, I would not go back to being a kid, let me just get that out of the way. But I miss being in school, because I miss the breaks. I miss having that week or two of Christmas off. I miss having a few days of Thanksgiving off. I miss having a whole summer off for vacation! I miss being forced outside a few times a day to get some exercise on the playground. I love the playground! Monkey bars, parallel bars, swingset! Oh my heck I love playing on those – I even play on them now!

 

I know that it wouldn’t be all fun and games to be back in school. For one thing, I would have to deal with homework again, and that would just ruin things. Plus now when I get time off, it’s so much more precious to me, because it rarely happens, so I appreciate it so much more. But sometimes, when I see kids outside while I’m at work, I think “Man, this place would be so much more awesome if we had a playground out back”

Tick tock, on the clock…

I went running today. (a shock! I know!) I have this running spot that I go to, it’s down in the Sports Park of SF. Today, I get all ready, hop in my car, get down to the place, do a pre-run stretch (not like an actual stretch, just the kind that you do when you wake up, you know, arms over your head, full body tense, just to yawn it out) and then started walking. I made sure this morning that I had enough clothing to be warm, long sleeves, longer shorts, etc. I had my iPod, I had gum, I had chapstick. I took a few steps, then went to turn on my stopwatch on my watch, looked at my wrist, and…nothing. I had forgotten my watch!
It’s not that big of a deal to forget my watch, but still, how irritating. To do my run with no timer, just to free-form it…I never do this! So instead of doing this new run I had envisioned, I went with an old run that I know about the time that I have on it, to have an inkling of how long I had run, because I’m not really sure when I started. The last time I remember looking at a clock was in my car, on my way down to the place, but I was still a few minutes away when I looked at it.

It was actually a pleasant run, not one that was ruled by the clock, I had to just go on feel. I did the route I thought of, and when I got in my car at the end and looked at the clock, I figure I did about an hours worth of running. It was interesting experience to not have minutes to be counting down on, but I don’t know that it’s one I’d do more than a few times. Its not that I’m ruled by the clock, its just that if I want to put the effort of running in, I’d like to be able to know exactly how long I did it for! Next time, I’ll just have to remember – double check for the watch!

Vieve’s Video

All right, ya’ll, I haven’t done one of these in a while, but I found a video that I enjoyed, and I’m sharing it. It’s not really a video so much as it’s a commercial, but I heard of/stumbled upon this, and it made me laugh so hard, I want to share it with you:

I don’t know how many of you have seen this commercial, but it is freaking hilarious. I love two parts in this the most: First of all, when he says “I’m emotionally compromised…whoopsies”, I about died laughing. Then later when he says “And I’m all, OMG, Becky’s not even hot” I seriously couldn’t have laughed harder.

So I hope you enjoy this commercial, and if you’ve seen it, laugh along with it again. Because seriously, is there anything funny than a grizzly old man acting like a teen with pink sunglasses on his head? I say no.

Why, oh why?!

Today I was at work, hanging out, when my phone rang. That’s normal, since I answer phones quite a bit. I answer, and who’s on the other end but the receptionist of my dentist? How exciting! She was calling to remind me of my appointment that I have tomorrow morning, a cleaning, at 7:00.

The first thing that popped into my head was, why oh why did I make myself an appointment so bloody early in the morning? 7:00 AM?! Who does that? I must have gotten far more sleep back then, to think that getting going an hour earlier was no big deal. I know I can make it there that early, but still, that sucks. And then I still have to go about my day like normal, albeit with a cleaner mouth.

The second thing that I thought of was, why me? It seems like only yesterday that I was at the dentist getting worked on. Surely that should buy me a free pass, right? Man these people sure like to schedule you in for these appointments.

I know that it’ll be better once its done, and I only have to do this every six months, but holy cow do I dread the dentist. I can seriously think of about 100 other things I would rather do than go. I’m just hoping it’ll be quick, and I’ll get a clean bill of health and be sent on my merry way. With a free toothbrush!

I'm taking a stand

It is now, officially, cold. There is rarely any warmth outside. When the sun is out (from about noon to four) it's still not enough to make it feel like its more than about 6 degrees. But still, I will not waver. I'm taking a stand against the cold, a losing battle it might be.

I will not give up my flip flops. I don't care that it's 30 degrees outside, I don't want to have to wear regular shoes yet. I just like my freedom. I like having my shoes on and off within 4 seconds. I like having my toes wiggle. And now, when I'm outside, which I'll admit is rare, since I'm just working all day, my feet are cold within a matter of minutes. And I get that it's not smart to be wearing flip flops this late in the year, I just still want to.

I know that in a week or month or so, I'll have given in and I'll be back to wearing socks and shoes that cover my toes, and I'll resent it. But I'd rather wear shoes and keep my toes than be a weirdo with no toes at all.

The passing of a friend

This is an ironic event that has happened. We all know of my friend, Leafy. He has had a special place in my heart these past seven days of our knowing each other. We’ve had our ups, basking in the sunshine, hanging out, and we’ve had the downs of a few recent rainstorms. Even during all of these rainstorms, Leafy held onto my windshield wiper with all of his might. I thought, foolishly, that we would be together forever. It took me so long to blog about him though, that you all have barely gotten to know him before he has left us so quickly.

It happened so fast. I headed out to my car this morning, and noting that it wasn’t snowing (like the radio announcer said this morning) I was happy. As I was getting to my car, I thought, I should take a picture of Leafy this morning, so that people can see him. But I was in a hurry, so I just jumped into my car, and fired it up. Noticing I had some rain/snow on my windshield, I turned on the wipers. This is when everything went horribly wrong. As soon as they went, instead of hanging on like he usually does, Leafy just…let go. Off he flew, into the oblivion of things. My friend is gone, and now I am mourning him.

I had a quick eulogy for him on the way to work, and shed a tear or two for the good times we shared. I’ll always have him in my heart, and think of him fondly whenever I see a tree. For now, Leafy my dear, I will miss you. You’ll never be replaced.

 

RIP Leafy 11-2-09 to 11-9-09

A new friend

I have a new friend. He is a week old today, and what a crazy week it has been. He first came into my life as just a passing thing, I didn't expect him to stay. But he's kept on this whole time. His name...is Leafy.
Leafy, as you can probably deduce, is a leaf. He landed on my car last Tuesday, after I had parked under a tree. When I came out of work, there was about a hundred leaves on my car, and when I drove away, most of them fell off, except for Leafy. He has now survived countless trips on the freeway, so I feel like I can't just take him off. He used to be a full leaf, gloriously colored, but the wear and tear of being thrown about by the wind has taken a toll, and now he's just his stem plus a little foliage. Not quite as magnificent as he used to be, but we all get worn down with age!
I'll keep you updated for if/when he finally leaves (ha, get it?!) us, but for now, he's sticking with me. Bless his tiny leafy heart.

Shuffy the Shuffle

I love an impulse buy. Whether it be a pack of gum as you’re going through the check stand line, or a chapstick as you’re casually walking by them, it’s always a good time buying something that you don’t really need, but it looks appealing to buy. I had such an experience on yesterday, but it wasn’t as small as a pack of gum.

I was walking through Target, more specifically, through the electronics section, when I wanted to go look at the iPods. Now, I already have an iPod shuffle, a 1GB little silver jewel that I use constantly. I use it for running, I use it when I’m cleaning, I use it when I get ready. It’s not like I’m neglecting the little guy, believe me when I tell you that he’s always being used. But when I was looking at the new iPod shuffles, I really liked what I was looking at. They’re smaller, more squarey and it has 1 GB more memory than my current one – what’s not to love? So I decided right then and there to purchase it. I don’t know why, it’s really not like I need it, but I wanted it, and that was the only thing in my brain right then.

I named him Shuffy. Before you think that’s a dumb name, let me tell you that my previous shuffle was named Vieve!, so Shuffy seems a step up in the right direction. I’m not terribly clever when it comes to naming things, on my computer, I’ve named my phone iPhone – so clever am I, right? But I’ve decided to use my old shuffle as my running one, and the new one will be for everything else. I’m pleased with my purchase, and it was kinda nice to just buy something for fun, not for necessity. I think Shuffy and I will have a nice life together. I’ve included his picture, so you can see what he looks like.

End of Season

Tonight was the last RSL game of the season. I didn't know going into the game that it was the last one. It was a playoff game, we were playing against Dallas. We had already played Dallas in the first leg of things last weekend, at Dallas, and they beat us, 2-1. I was not happy, but not discouraged, because I knew that we could turn things around at home. We are so far unbeaten at Rio Tinto for the last 25 games or so. All we had to do was beat them by 2 or more points, and we would continue onto the next round, but that was easier said than done.
It just wasn't our night. We played pretty well for the first 15 minutes or so, but then Dallas unexpectedly scored, and then we kinda fell apart for the rest of the half. We came back from the half and played really great - and had so many missed goals, and opportunities to score that we just couldn't finish on. Fortunately, we scored in the 80th minute, tying up the game, but we needed one more goal to stay alive, which we didn't get. Although the game ended in a tie, we lost out of the series, so season over.
I'm sad that the season is over, soccer is my favorite season. It'll start again in 3 months, so at least I have that to look forward to during these cold months. And the good thing is now my weekends aren't going to be determined by an RSL game going on, there's more of a freedom here. But still, I'm sad. Good work, RSL. You finished a strong season.

Like a Virgin…of the Flu…

I have never gotten a flu shot. There- I’ve said it. I’m a virgin of the flu shot. This is because I never get sick, so why do I need a shot to prevent something that, odds are, won’t happen anyway? I have also never had the flu (knock on wood!), which I think just makes me awesome. So I usually will accompany others onto their trips to get the flu shots, but I will leave shot-free. Today, I changed this and got my very first one.

This year, Chelle was heading over to get her flu shot, I was heading over with her, in case she needed someone to hold her hand. (She didn’t, but come on, what if she did?) As we were getting up to go, they told me that I should get one this year. I laughed, like I usually do when I hear about the flu, but they reminded me that something is different about this year – I’ve been a little close with someone, (Who I’ve already caught a cold from) so maybe it’s a good idea if I try to head off anything before it comes to me. I grabbed my wits and a little courage, and off we went.

The gal who gave me a shot asked me if it was my first time (I had marked it that way on the form, did she think I was lying to her already?) and when I confirmed that it was, she asked me if I had people that worked in my office with me. I gestured to Chelle, saying she was, and then she told me that since it was my first time, I needed to make sure that I was still alive fifteen minutes after getting it, since I could have a reaction. My throat could feel like it was closing, I could feel nauseous, all sorts of things. So of course, that makes me panic more than anything else does. She gave me the shot and sent me on my merry way.

On the walk back to my desk, I noticed a mediciney taste in my mouth. I asked if that was normal, and Chelle said she had one too, so I was fine with it. I was super paranoid for the next 15 minutes, making sure everything about me felt normal. I think had the gal not said anything to me about it, I would have been better off, because every little thing that happened, I was like, “Is this ok? Am I dying? Is this something else?” but luckily, I survived it. A couple of hours later, my arm started to hurt. Typing, writing, using my mouse, lifting my arm, everything just aches! It’s still that way right now, 5 hours later, but I am surviving. I will be stronger from this. And hopefully, I will be successful in once again dodging the flu.

There's an app for that!

I love iPhone. There is so much it can do. I can be anywhere and get any kind of information. I can check Facebook, play games, book a flight, pretty much anything. I am always checking for new apps, things that are not really worth anything, but can waste my time nonetheless. I've recently stumbled upon a new app that just makes life worth living.
It's called Talking Roby, and he just brightens my day. The purpose of the app is really unknown, I think it's mostly just to be a time-waster. But whenever I need a pick me up, I just open the app and he makes me smile. When you open the app, the first thing Roby does is wave at you and say hi in his little robot voice. It's so cute, I'm immediately happier. Then, there's a few things he does that I play with. If you rub his belly, he giggles a little, then swoons and puts his hands over his heart like he's in love. If you poke him anywhere, he spins around, and sometimes falls over. When you make the phone move, he'll sway with it, making a noise like he's about to fall over. And one of the best things of all, is he talks. You type in what you want him to say, and he'll say it. If you talk to him, he'll repeat what you say. It's cute.
Now, I'm not sure why a simple talking robot brings me such joy, but he does. When I need a smile, I just turn to Roby, and he takes care of me. I appreciate all he does for me.

And, as an FYI, I typed this whole entry from my iPhone. It took forever.

I wish this was something I was better at...

I recently took a caramel-apple making class, at Gygi up in SLC. I was looking forward to it, because, hey, who doesn't want to learn how to make this stuff? It seemed to me like it could be pretty easy, like, not rocket science or anything. So, I get there, and they have everything all set up for me, apples, sticks, dipping supplies, etc. After a quick intro to everything, they set us free on the caramel, in hopes that we could do stuff ourselves.
Turns out, I'm actually not very good at caramel-apple dipping. I don't know if I just don't have the patience for it, or if I didn't follow directions very well, but like all of my apples looked so ugly! So I just keep going with it, because what else am I going to do? So then I just keep trucking away, and I'm trying to salvage my apples, and I'm looking around at everyone else, and they all seem to be doing such a great job! I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about everything, but when I'm not that good at something, I just keep getting angrier at myself. I tried to keep calm, but I was just so upset at my badness!
So at the end of the day, I had made six apples - an Apple Pie one (which was dipped in caramel, then white chocolate, then rolled in a cinnamon/sugar mix), an Oreo one, an M&M one (which was not nearly as good as I thought it was going to be), a chocolate coconut one, a Butterfingers one (which was crazy delicious), and a Reese's peanut butter cup one (also pretty good).
I was glad I took the class, I'm glad I learned things, but I feel like there's so much room for improvement that I feel so behind with it. I don't know if I had an issue, but a few of my apples had the caramel just slide off of it, so that there was like, a ring of caramel on the bottom, but the apple was basically naked. So I need to figure out what's going on with that because I need them to be perfect before I start giving them away to people. So I'll work on that, and then everyone I know will get one!

Best.. night....ever....

As everyone knows, I have RSL season tickets. I've had them almost as long as the team has been a team. We've moved from stadium to stadium, and we've tried different parts of the stadiums too, to see which parts are best suited to us. We found one that was really great section, we made loads of friends over there - some of who we keep to this day. But then we had to move stadiums, and our friends bought more expensive tickets, so we couldn't sit by them anymore, sadly.
Our tickets now are in a really good section - mostly because the people we sit by are really cool. We sit by some of the RSL staff - kinda. I sit by one of the coach's wives, and the rest of the people are just people that help them out with stuff, fundraisers and the like, so pretty much they all know the players. One night after a game, Jen turns to us and asks if we want to go to the club with her. I thought she meant like a dance club, so I was hesitant to say yes, until she clarified that it was to the clubhouse where the team goes after games. Uh...hells yeah I wanted to go! So we waited a while, for the place to clear out, and into the clubhouse we went. We grabbed a table, some food and drinks, and awaited the arrival of the players.
They finally came, and they were swarmed with fans, so we waited for most of the fans to clear out, and then Jen introduced us to most of the team. It was so amazing to meet them in person - I was shaking so much from like, excitement and nervousness. We got loads of pictures taken with them, some of which I will share with you here. It was only about an hour, but it was definitely one of the best hours of my life.
Me, PJ, and Nick Rimando

Us and Chris Wingert
Us and Jamison Olave - this guy is as big as a house. His calves alone are like, as big as my head, I swear

And Kyle Beckerman, the captain of the team.

The guys were all really nice, and while I didn't get to meet all of the players (there was not enough time, nor did they all come to the clubhouse) I got to meet some of my favorites, so it was just amazing. I hope we get to go again next year!

It's that time again!

Ya’ll, it is that time of the year again. No, not just autumn, or holiday, or anything legit, it’s National Blogging Month again! I have been so sporadic lately with my blogging, I know. I have a new someone in my life that sucks up a lot of my time, so there’s that, but this month, I am committed to writing an entry every day – regardless of excitement of said entry. So today, let’s kick things off by a quick recap.
Recently, I traveled to Denver with PJ for our annual “Stalk the Real Salt Lake soccer players” trip. Usually, this trip brings us great rewards – we usually see a bunch of players, and a coach or two in our hotel, but this year they weren’t staying in our hotel! The trip was still awesome, don’t get me wrong, but it’s so hard to stalk – er, I mean, make friends with – the players if I don’t know where they’re staying! So maybe I need to do some more research there. Of course, I found a cupcake shop while I was there, I can find those anywhere.

The cupcake I tried was called Twinkielicious – and boy was it. It tasted just like a Twinkie – only better – and it was gigantic. The owners of this place were smart when they named their place Big Fat Cupcake; it took so much out of me to finish this cupcake. I had a stomachache afterwards, I had to lie down on the bed, waiting for it to pass before we went to the RSL game.
The game was awesome. We tied, which usually would suck, but we came back from a 2-0 loss, so it was amazing. We scored our goals in the last 5 minutes of the game, and we celebrated so much afterwards, and stayed for so long that we were asked to leave by security. This didn’t sit well with me, so I calmly explained to the policeman that I would leave when I was good and ready. As he started making his way over to me, I decided that I was good and ready right then, so I quickly turned and left the stadium of my own accord. It was such a great game night.
That’s pretty much the highlights of the trip. It was really quick – we flew in late Friday night and flew back out Sunday morning, so it was the perfect amount of time. I'm always so excited for this trip, regardless of if I get to see the RSL players or not. Here's to looking forward to next years trip!