Melissa's Musings

Freedom & Funnel Cake!!

2011-07-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

This was prolly THE busiest 4th of July ever! But it was so great! I started my day WAY too early considering it was a day off from work. 5:30 in the AM to be precise. A few days before I decided to run the Firecracker 5K. Who knows why. Ok mostly it was to cancel out the guilt I knew I'd feel later when I consumed my funnel cake. The race started at 7:00 which really is too early but what can you do!? I talked Joelyn into running it with me, Bless her! and of course we had a little photo session with ourselves before we ran!

Here's me running to the finish line. I realize it looks like I'm not running very fast but trust me I was! I think my freakishly long legs make me look like I'm not going very fast. I'm willing to bet those 2 girls behind me took 2 or 3 steps to my 1!! But man I've got some great legs!!

I shaved almost 5 minutes off my time from my race last year! Go me!!

After I ran my fat face off I had grand plans of sitting around watching the parade. Then I got roped into walking with my Branch's float & passing out candy to the onlookers. Ok fine I'll do it. So after running the parade route I turned around & walked it while passing out candy. Good grief! It was really fun tho & it made for some GREAT people watching let me tell you! All the weirdies this city has to offer were out in full force & they wanted candy!

After that it was funnel cake time! Not since my Jenny left me have I been able to find someone who loves funnel cake as much as I do.....until Megan!! Bless her for coming into my life & loving funnel cake! Pretty much our whole day was centered around when we'd be getting our funnel cake. I can't celebrate my independence without funnel cake. It's unheard of.

Delicious!!!

Now that's the look of happiness!!

After that we had a little BBQ at Chris's house. Honestly I ate too much in such a short span of time but that's what a holiday is for right?! Originally I wasn't going to go to the river to see the fireworks but my friend Arie got a group together so I went & it was a great time!!

The 4th of July always makes me think of my beloved Grandparents & the carnival we would have in the backyard at Knollwind. And of course that parade she'd make us all march around in! We'd march around that yard till we dropped & she'd keep going with her drum major baton & all manner of patriotic music blaring in the background while Grandfather char broiled our burgers. Man I loved it & man do I miss them!

Let Me tell You About My Sister Kristy....

2011-05-18T08:24:00.001-07:00

Today is Kristy my sister’s birthday! Let me tell you a little bit about her….I’ve known her all my life! Of all the siblings Kristy & I are the closest in age-14 months apart to be exact. Also of all my siblings Kristy is the one I’m closest too. All my life it seemed like it was me & Kristy….and then everyone else.

There are 4 years between me & the next sibling. For 4 years it was just me & Kristy so we spent a lot of time together growing up.

When we were growing up all the relatives seemed to have it in their heads that me & Kristy were twins or something. We always got the same things for Christmas & birthdays except in different colors. Anytime Grandmother made us outfits ours were either out of the same fabric or exactly the same. People we are not twins!

When we were really little my sister Kristy couldn’t say my name right. Instead of calling me Meliss-a she called me Baby-sa. She also used to sing that song “Baby Love” (by The Supremes) to me but her lyrics would go…”baby-sa my baby-sa I need you oh I need you..baby-sa my baby-sa.” That song always make me think of her!

My sister Kristy wasn’t always very nice to me when we were growing up & she was forever trying or was succeeding at getting us/me into trouble. Here are just a few examples:

One time we had gotten into some argument & she punched me right in the nose. Nobody will acknowledge that this ever occurred but I distinctly remember laying on the kitchen floor gushing blood out of my nose. You don’t just forget something that traumatic!

In another such argument she decided the best way to resolve things was to pinch me under my eye. Who does that?! Some blood vessels got broken & I had this red mark under my eye for years.

Kristy had a problem with drawing on the walls in our bedroom. My mom told her if she did it again she’d be severely punished. Do you think that stopped her? I say nay-nay. She kept drawing her mural on our wall & then wrote “Melissa did this” next to it. I hadn’t even learned to write yet so obviously mom wasn’t fooled!

One Christmas she woke up in the middle of the night & decided that we should sneak downstairs & get into the chocolates my mom was using to make holiday candies. I told her we shouldn’t but don’t you remember how she punched me in the face & pinched me under my eye!? I had no choice. I had to go along with it. So we snuck downstairs, grabbed some chocolates out of the bag & took them back up to our room. But then we needed more so back downstairs we went. This time my dad heard us rummaging around. we raced back up to our room & pretended to be asleep. “Give me the chocolates.” “We don’t have any” Kristy replied….which might have been convincing if she didn’t have chocolate all around her mouth. I gave mine up immediately! After my dad went back downstairs Kristy lifted up her blankets & revealed a hidden stash of chocolates that we then proceeded to eat. The next day our punishment was that we had to sit there all day & not play or do anything. I had to sit on the bright blue staircase leading up to our room which was completely blocked off from anybody & any other room in the house. There I sat all by myself all day long. Kristy got to sit in this green director’s chair we had in the kitchen….IN THE KITCHEN…with everybody else. She’s the one who masterminded this little plan & I’m the one getting the brunt of it! Those chocolates weren’t even that good.

I could prolly go on & on with these stories but let’s just move on!

The thing about me & my sister Kristy is that as adults we are incapable of getting along if we live in the same state. Weird right?! If we live in different states we’re like BFFs!

A few years ago my sister married this boy Todd. He’s a great time!

She really likes that boy A LOT! I mean yes she loves him but man she just REALLY likes him. Kristy & Todd give me hope for a happy marriage. I see so many of my friends in unhappy marriages & it makes me sad for them & a little scared of ever getting married. I don’t wanna be like that! But then I always hear Kristy say stuff like “if I have free time I want to spend it with Todd. Why would I want to go play with my friend when I can play with Todd?”

My sister Kristy has these 2 kids….Owen & Erin. Aren’t they cute?!

Owen

Erin

Well as cute & adorable & hilarious as they are they are THE most high maintenance children I’ve ever seen. Bless.Their.Hearts. Besides having endless amounts of energy & a 30 second attention span Owen has Juvenile Diabetes which means his blood has to be tested countless times a day & has to be given insulin shots. Also he never stops talking. Ever. He is a riot! Erin has needed to be held almost every second of everyday she’s been on earth. All day. All night. Honestly I don’t know how Kristy does it every day & still finds time to update her blog, make endless amounts of crafty crafts (even she made me a skirt when I was down there last weekend), plan & execute the yearly BHCP (that’s the Betty Hively Christmas Party. Gosh surprised you didn’t know that!), and (this is by far THE most impressive one) get herself ready & her hair done everyday instead of sitting around in mom jeans or sweat pants all day!! Now that’s impressive! And even more impressive how much she LOVES those 2 crazy kids of hers even tho they are SO CRAZY!! I am constantly amazed with all she is able to handle. She is an amazing mother. And she calls me at least twice a week when I’m at work which I absolutely love!

So that's my sister Kristy! I love all my sisters but she is my favorite!

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life. ~Isadora James

Happy Birthday Kristy! I love you!!!

Emancipation Anniversary Celebration!

2011-05-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's been 2 years since I made my big move!? I can't believe it either! Not gonna lie the 2nd year was harder than the 1st. I think I felt it more this 2nd year all the lasting effects it's had on my life....for good & for bad. We won't even get into the bad but 2 of the best things that have happened in this last year are #1 I have been doing some work at the Domestic Violence center here in town & I love it! Which has lead to #2 I decided to go back to school & get a degree in Social Work! Crazy right!? For as hard as it was, had I not gone through what I did I don't think I ever would have gone in this direction so for that I'm grateful. I need for something good to come out of this for me & I think I finally found that something!

I didn't think I could top last year's celebration of running my 5K & then going down to Salt Lake & eating at the cheesecake factory! Please! So i didn't try! This year I got my group together & we had a BBQ. The 1st BBQ of the season! It was great! My dear, Sweet roommate Chalise planned the whole thing. She is so amazing!! For some reason she kept the location a secret from me & no one was allowed to tell me where the BBQ was at. Mostly she did this cuz she knew it would drive me nuts not knowing what was going on. true story-it did!! Matt had just moved to a new little house & he graciously let us have my celebration there. I was so excited to eat my 1st hot dogs of the summer!

Chalise & Matt gettin ready to man the grill

mmmmm burgers & hot dogs! We decided to name Chalise Mrs Lowry after she dumped almost an entire thing of season salt on those burgers!

And even Dain took me for a ride on his motorbike! You know I'm not a daredevil in any respect but I do love a nice motorbike ride!

Sometimes I think of these friends I've made since I moved & I think "what if I had never met you?" If I hadn't made that choice to move I never would have. 2 years ago I made a choice & it was the hardest thing I've ever done in life & they have helped to make that choice worth it!

Me & Matt

Me & Chalise

Anne Kelly

Matt & Chalise

Dain & Chris

Me & Megan

Uhhhh why are there no pictures of Joelyn?!?! She's super important to me!

So here's to another year down. My goal for next year is to not feel the need to observe it!

Matty's Birthday Celebration!

2011-04-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

So we had Matty's birthday celebration a couple weeks ago. It was a great little evening & there were a TON of people there! Dain & I co-hosted & decided to pull a surprise over on Matty. On Tuesday nights our Branch does visits to new members, less actives, etc so we thought this would be the perfect night to have his party. So I got the visits canceled & told everyone we'd be having Matty's birthday instead BUT we just let Matt think visits were going on per usual. So everyone showed up for visits as normal, got there lists, but then headed to the restaurant instead. Then Dain brought Matty a few minutes later. When he walked in the door this is what greeted him......

I don't know about you but this would make me feel pretty good! I can't believe how many people were in attendance! The month of March just wasn't very good to our dear Matty so I'm so glad so many people turned out for his party. He really needed this. We then proceeded to stuff our fat faces with delicious Mexican food. It's a good thing they put us in a totally separate room cuz we were pretty rowdy!

I especially love Chalise in this picture!!

And of course we had them sing to him & he got to wear this very fashionable hat!

For Matty's present I decided to do a whole 1978 themed gift. I got a bunch of stuff that came out the year he was born. Such as..

Season One of Diff'rent Strokes

Reese's Pieces

Hungry Hungry Hippo

And Whatchamacallits

I also put together a CD of 1978 Billboard chart toppers consisting of songs by the Bee Gees, ABBA, Grease, and Barry Manilow to name a few. The best part of this little ditty was the CD cover that Dain helped me make. Ugh the image won't upload to the Blogger. grrrr but we put Matty's face on John Travolta's body in the Grease poster. IT.WAS.A.RIOT.

Honestly I couldn't really tell if Matty did or didn't like my gift. I thought it was a GREAT gift but you know creativity is lost on some people. Whatever I loved it!

Happy Birthday Matty!!

Joelyn's Chinese New Year Birthday Celebration!

2011-02-22T11:20:00.000-08:00

So Joelyn's birthday was earlier this month & since she was headed for Hong Kong a couple weeks later & since it was also Chinese new year I decided to do an Oriental themed dinner for her. I love Joelyn cuz she lets me throw fabulous dinner parties for her! This turned out to be one of my favorites that I ever put on.

I created a fabulous menu of delicious Chinese food that I made all by myself!

Chinese noodles

Egg rolls & crab rangoon (super delicious & look how great they look. very professional)

And Orange Chicken which I had never made in my life but not to be all whatever..I totally rocked it!!

I decided that we should use little take out boxes instead of plates & it looked really great on the table & I think everyone enjoyed it. Also for Chinese New Year you're supposed to give your guests "lucky money" in red envelopes so I made these cute little envelopes on my Cricut & got fake money from the dollar store & set them at each place setting as a little party favor. So cute!

the table

looks like a Chinese Restaurant!

And of course we had fabulous guests! It's how we roll!

Nellie, Dain & Kaylin

Chalise & Matty

TJ & Joelyn

seriously one of my favorite dinner parties ever. Happy Birthday Joelyn!

Vent..........

2011-02-08T07:03:00.000-08:00

Ok I need to vent for a minute....So you know i'm doing Biggest Loser with my crew right? well I'm also doing one at my office as well & the contest at my office is about to drive me to drink. I am in last place as of today. How is that possible?! This will sound like a dumb excuse but seriously something is wrong with the scale here at work. I'm for real. my group biggest Loser is a week ahead of my office one & according to my group contest I am down almost 10 pounds. great right!? Would you like to guess how many pounds I'm down according to my office one? 2.2!!! that's it. 2.2 pounds. while the other peeps in the contest including this fat girl who eats cup o noodles everyday for lunch & pigs out on food every weekend is beating me. what the hell is happenign at my office?! we've got 9 weeks left but sitll come on. I don't get what's happening wiht me & that scale. I'm eating right & cutting calories & I'm working out almsot everyday & showing results on the scale at home but I come here & get deflated every single week. UGH!!!! These lazy fatties at my office can't beat me! vent over.....

Biggest Loser Day 21

2011-02-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

Well this week started out great. My running is getting easier & my legs aren't feeling so old & decrepit & the Icy Hot smell is starting to leave my apartment. I'm not quite sure what my problem was but when I came home from work Friday afternoon I was STARVING! Seriously starving. And I meant to eat. I stopped by Kiwi Loco to treat myself to some frozen yogurt. Delicious. But that little treat didn't satisfy me whatsoever. Next I ate the leftover curry chicken & rice I had taken for my lunch & then to top that off i had a bagel & cream cheese. Ok it was one of those bagel thin things so not as bad as a full on bagel. Good grief Melissa. Later Friday night I went to Joelyn's to play and she continued to feed me. Spaghetti (which honestly was more tomatoes than actual soaghetti so that's not too bad)& some veggies, an english muffin with butter, a pudding cup (sugar free) and a little bitty York peppermint pattie. Stop eating Melissa! Saturday started out better & I ate sensibly all day. Then me & Chalise decided to try this new frozen yogurt place Orange Leaf. These frozen yogurt places are going to be my downfall. This place is even better than Kiwi Loco! That night we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. Joelyn & I were sensible & split a burrito & I had rationed out my calories so I could eat said burrito. Then for some stupid reason we decided we just had to have more frozen yogurt. Seriously someone needs to come slap my face. Oh the guilt & the calories. I did not ration for this. Saints be praised the next day was fast Sunday. Melissa you need to have Fast Monday through Friday to make up for this! Them of course it's Super Bowl Sunday. We tried to keep it healthy by doing kabobs on the grill. Sure meat & veggies how bad could that be?! Not that bad until the chips & salsa came out along with cheese dip. It was over for me. And having not eaten all day due to fasting I was starving again. We all just kept eating & eating & then Chalise had a great idea that we should make a cake & eat that too. oh my gosh! Luckily we decided to weigh in before all this pigging out. I didn't lose my 3 pounds like I wanted but I did lose 1 1/2 so I'll take it. This week needs to be better. Dear Melissa sort yourself out!

Biggest Loser Day 28

2011-01-30T19:13:00.001-08:00

So pretty good week on the dieting front. Working out, however, could've been a little bit better. Monday I had a GREAT workout! Ran my fat face off! Of course my legs were aching after & the next day. I had my 1st go at the strength training workout I was attempting. There are 12 exercises in the workout....I got through 5 of them & I wanted to die. It was rough. Squats & lunges are not your friends! My legs were killing the next day. Tuesday I tried running but had to split my cardio between that & the bike cuz my legs were screaming at me. I did a few more of my strength training exercises. Still a good workout. Wednesday I didn't get to the gym until way late & 2 of my gal pals were just getting ready to go sit in the hot tub. I felt that was better use of my time! Thursday I helped Joelyn move so that burned some calories right!? I finally talked myself into going to the gym but when I got there I discovered that I left my ipod at home. I can NOT workout without my ipod. Forget it. I drove back home & you know I wasn't going back. Friday I had to weigh in for Biggest Loser at my office. why am I only down 1 pound?! i think this scale is wack! that night I indulged in some frozen yogurt. hey it's better than ice cream so back off! Saturday me & Chalise drug our butts to the gym & I had a GREAT run! this was my last chance workout before todays weigh in & I was determined to get rid of every calorie I could. I will have my 3 pounds even if I have to cut something off! So today we weighed in....I stepped on the scale....and....I had lost my 3 pounds!!! YEAH!!!! I was so excited! So in total I have lost 7.8 pounds & I have 17.2 pounds to go. Next week I have GOT to be at the gym at least 3 days but really I should get in there 4 days this week.

Also I indulged in another round of frozen yogurt. Don't judge me. Don't you dare judge me! I lost 3 pounds this week!!

Biggest Loser Day 21

2011-01-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

Today was weigh in day....While my eating the previous week was on track I only made it to the gym 3 days. Plus some other factors were going to mess me up...I'm a girl...you figure it out! I was hoping to at least lose 1 pound from last week & I'd still be on track with my 25 pound goal. I stepped on the scale & i was EXACTLY the same weight as last week. Down to the fraction of a pound. That's pretty crazy. Ok so i didn't lose any weight but I also didn't gain any so I'm ok with it. This week I'm doubling my efforts at the gym. Cardio 4 days instead of 2 or 3 & I also printed out a full body strength training routine to do 2 days a week plus some target routines for the other days (legs, shoulders, back, abs & the ever dreaded glutes). I'm looking forward to getting to my new routines & trying them out. Altho I'm about to become one of those people I always make fun of who come to the gym with all these notebooks & paperwork to keep track of everything. Now people will be making fun of me! I'll report back next Sunday on the week's progress.

This Is What I'm Doing....

2011-01-22T19:45:00.000-08:00

Ok so it's a new year & of course that means the dreaded New Years weight loss resolution. I expect 96.5% of people in America have made this same resolution. Ok so have I. And I'm serious about it. For realz. I read online that blogging about your weight loss journey can be really helpful so I thought "hey I already have a blog so why not throw some of this on here. It's my blog & I can do what I want!" So here we go....it's truth time....

So last Spring you may or may not remember that I ran a 5K. I'm still really proud of that. from January to May I worked to turn myself into a runner & let me tell you it was painful. Seriously there for about a month I thought my ankles were going to snap. My legs hurt so much every day. Icy Hot was my new BFF & my apartment reeked of it. After 30 years of never running I was determined to turn myself into a runner. There were days I could barely drag myself out of bed because my legs hurt so much. I had to take the stairs one at a time like some toddler. There was even one day that I just couldn't go to work cuz I couldn't get myself out of bed. My legs!! eventually it went away & running became easier. I was eating well, I was exercising & I lost a good amount of weight. It felt great! Then summer came & I had no desire to work out or eat correctly. I just wanted to be out playing & soaking up the sun & everything involved food. Burgers & hot dogs & smores & chips & potato salad & I wanted to eat all of it & honestly I didn't feel guilty about any of it. Summer was great. Somehow in all my frivolous eating i only managed to gain about 7 or 8 pounds. please you can't even see that! Then came Fall & Winter & my bad eating & lack of exercise continued. And frankly I just didn't care. I felt fine about the state I was in. Yeah sure I would've loved to be skinnier. who wouldn't?! But I didn't feel self conscious enough or unhappy enough with myself to even really care. It was actually kind of nice. Then one day I woke up & felt like my pants were getting tighter. well crap. I paid a lot of money for these pants & they need to fit me cuz i'm not buying bigger ones. By the end of the year I had put on another 6 or 7 pounds. Really that's not too bad for all the eating I did & frankly I enjoyed it. However that's got to stop. My clothes are starting to get tight, my face is looking chubby & I'm starting to feel gross. Hence the New Years weight loss resolution.

So me & my little crew (Chalise, Matty, Joelyn & Dain) have started a Biggest Loser contest amongst ourselves. It lasts 12 weeks & I am determined to win. I'm also in a Biggest Loser contest at my office which is ending a week later than this one. I am also determined to win that. Joelyn & I started our weightloss extravaganza week ahead of the official Biggest Loser start date & in the 1st week I lost 2 pounds. good job. Last week i was down 3 more pounds. good job again. I want to lose 25 pounds in the 12 weeks.

what am I doing to achieve said 25 pound goal? well Ill tell you...and it's painful...besides dieting...I am back to running! and it hurts!! Pretty much I'm having to go through the same misery I did last year with getting my body into running condition. MY.LEGS.HURT. Icy Hot is my new BFF & my apartment reeks of it. a few days ago I came walking out of the gym & by the time I got to my car I was in tears. My legs! I just need to power through for 2 or 3 more weeks & I'll be fine. Hopefully I can make it. Ok I'm not trying to be all whatever but I was blessed with a fabulous pair of legs. seriously I was. they are my most valuable asset & I've been praising them all my life. It's time for them to earn their keep!

Also I found this GREAT website www.caloriecount.about.com where you can keep a food journal & track your calories & finD out where your nutrition is lacking. I am FOREVER lacking in the vegetables department. You can also keep track of what you're doing with your workouts & how many calories you're burning. There are workout plans on there & TONS of great recipes. I am possessed by this website. After Icy Hot it's my new BFF.

Another thing that really motivates me is having some visual goal items where I can see them. It gives me something to work towards. Currently I have a pair of jeans tacked on the wall in my bedroom. They're staring me in the face. Begging to be worn & I intend to wear them soon. I also found a fabulously vintage swimsuit I want to be able to wear this summer. I look at that picture every so often to keep me on track. I will look so cute in it! Also when I reach a certain weight milestone I am going tom splurge on a fabulous pair of new jeans. I'm going to buy them next month but in the next size down from where I am then. They cost $80. I'm not spending $80 on a pair of jeans that never fit me. I intend on fitting into them!

SO that's what I'm doing right now. Pretty much all my energy is focused on this right now. what am I having for my meals everyday? When am I going to get home to eat dinner? When am I going to be able to get to the gym? When are my legs going to stop hurting? Are my ankles going to snap today? I'm hoping to devote some time to blogging about this little odyssey so hunker down for that.

My next weigh in is tomorrow. I have a feeling there might be some tears...and not just because of my decrepit legs! I'll report back.

How Domestic!!

2010-12-28T14:44:00.001-08:00

So you know how I love having fabulous dinner parties right? Well I've been trying to think of new fabulous foods to try out for said dinner parties plus I need to start eating better in general. So I got this amazing cookbook for Christmas. I've been eying it for awhile ever since I saw her on Oprah. And you know I have to do what Oprah says!

You NEED to get this book! There are so many great recipes in it & they're all healthy for you. She has you add some kind of bean or these vegetable purees to everything so you're getting your veggies & stuff without even knowing it. Genius!

So today I tried my 1st recipe...Pumpkin Ravioli. 1st you put a can of white beans (such as navy or the like), pumpkin puree (like you'd use for pie filling), ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese & garlic powder all in a food processor. I'm glad to have more uses for my food processor cuz I never use it.

Puree it all up & that's your filling. So easy & healthy!

Next line up some won ton wrappers

Add a tablespoon of the filling. Don't overfill them or it'll squish out the sides!

Wet the sides with an egg wash so they'll seal up & put another wrapper on top.

Drop 4 or 5 of them in boiling water for about 4 minutes. I found if you put too many in the pot all at once they tend to start sticking together.

The recipe calls for you to use a marinara sauce on top but I used just a traditional flavor spaghetti sauce cuz it's what I had in the cupboard. top with sauce & a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese (my own addition)& enjoy! It is delicious!!

I wanted to try this recipe out before I served it to people & since it's just me there were leftovers so I decided to see if they froze well to eat later. I placed the uncooked raviolis in Ziploc bags & threw them in the freezer.

If they freeze well then I'm going to make up a bunch more to have on hand. This is a great recipe & it was really easy!!! How domestic am I?! I'll report on further recipe experiments!

Biggest Resolution Ever!!

2010-12-27T12:48:00.000-08:00

So as the year's winding down I'm starting to think of my new goals & resolutions for the new year. This could be my biggest challenge ever!

Ok it's truth time...on any given day this is what my bedroom looks like....

I know it's a disgrace so you don't need to tell me. It's ridiculous. I keep the rest of my house neat & tidy & hostessing ready & this is where I let loose. I can't keep my room clean for more than 1 day to save my life. Honestly I'm frustrated with my inability to get it together in there. So for 2011 I've decided one of my goals is to work on keeping my room clean. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to accomplish this but I'm gonna die trying!

I also decided it was high time for a new bed set. I've had this one for quite a few years & I'm over it. It's white so it's hard to keep clean & white & it's too big to fit in the washer so I have to get it dry cleaned & it costs more to do that than I paid for the stupid comforter. It's time for a change.

Out with the old

In with the new

Don't you love it! I love the way this set looks on my black bed. Good choice Melissa!

And after like 2 days of work I got my room all cleaned up. I'm exhausted!

How am I gonna keep this up all year?!?!

Holiday Dinner Part 3: The Table

2010-12-19T18:45:00.001-08:00

Ok I've saved the best for last....the table!!! Pretty much I'm in love with this table setting! I've been needing to get some new plates, napkins & glasses (since I've broken so many lately!) and I found some really good deals & used this dinner party as the perfect excuse to finally purchase them.

1st I laid down this delicious red table cloth

Next I situated all the napkins

Rolled them up

Then added ribbons

Then the name tags that I cut out on my Cricut

Finally I slipped in a candy cane. How festive!

Here they are all done! Not gonna lie this took awhile! But they look so great!!

Next I set the table. I found these cute plates at the Dollar store. No Joke! And placed a napkin roll on each plate.

Then the glasses

Good thing My Grandmother taught me how to set a proper table. Don't worry I know which side the knife & fork go on!

Next up was the centerpiece & the little gift bags I made

Here's the festive centerpiece I put together. Sorry it's a blurry shot.

I love these place settings!!

The table looked just how I pictured it! I wish I could do this all the time!!

Holiday Dinner Part 2: The Food

2010-12-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

I know everyone's been waiting anxiously for more pics & happenings from my holiday dinner. So we'll talk about the food & my next post will be the table setting...save the best for last! So I really wanted to be able to put on this whole dinner all by myself & pretty much I accomplished that! Go me!! I had everything so organized & planned out there was no way I could fail. what do people get so worked up over making Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners?! Yes it's a little stressful but if you're organized it's not a big deal. So the night before I decided to make the rolls so I could get that out of the way.

Really I made like 3 pans of these which was WAY too much but really can you have too many rolls!?

On the day of the dinner party I came home from church with a RANK headache. oh great I don't have time for this. I thought I could lay down for a bit before I had to start cooking but then my ever growing to-do list kept scrolling through my head so that didn't last long. First up I got the ham ready & put in the oven. I found a fabulous recipe from my cooking idol Paula Deen & knew I couldn't go wrong,

Cola basted ham! How festive does it look!? Every 1/2 hour you baste it with cola.

All Done! And it was tasty!!

Next I got the potatoes ready to be cooked at a later time. I was trying my hand at a sweet potato souffle. I've never cooked sweet potatoes before but after this amazing recipe I'll be using them more often!

Here it is all finished & it was SO tasty!!!

I had reminder after reminder on my phone of when to do everything so it was timed jsut perfectly....put potatoes on to cook.....put sweet potato souffle in the oven....assemble green bean casserole....get dressed.....put green bean casserole in the oven....touch up makeup...make stuffing....fill water pitchers....seriously it was that detailed. But it paid off cuz everything got done right on time!

The spread

Not to be all whatever but I pretty much ROCKED this dinner!!!!

Holiday Dinner Part 1

2010-12-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

So one of my most favorite things to do is to host fabulous dinner parties so I decided to host one for my crew for Christmas. I've straight up lost my mind with this one! I want everything to be just so & for it to be really nice for my friends. Rule #1 everyone needs to be looking nice for dinner. Rule #2 Use your manners. When you're using real cloth napkins instead of paper ones you know it's serious business. My dinner is on Sunday but I'll share some of the things I've been working on for said party.

So I discovered I could make these cute little bags on my Cricut. Just fold & glue & they're good to go & SO cute!!

So I decided to use these little bags as party favors for everyone & to help decorate & fill the table. Next I filled them with holiday candies

Add a little tissue paper to jazz it up. Aren't they so cute & festive?!

I also made these cute little tags to use as place cards for everyone at the table. I told you this is a serious dinner party!!

I'm also working on a fabulously festive centerpiece but it's not ready for viewing yet. Don't worry I'll have pictures of everything soon!

O Christmas Tree

2010-11-28T19:04:00.001-08:00

So it's Christmas time in case you weren't aware & that means you need to get a Christmas tree!! And so that's what I did! Here the story....So on Saturday we headed out & about to check out some tree lots. I'm very particular (big surprise I know) about my tree so it took awhile to find just the right tree & one at just the right price. Times are tough so i can't be spending all my monies on a tree! at the third lot I finally found the one. Then comes the question of how we're going to get said tree back to our apartment. I don't own a truck & neither does my roommate. All we had was Keifer.

So this is what we did

That's right we shoved it in the trunk!! what of it?!

The drive back to our apartment took awhile cuz Matty only drove about 30 MPH since everyone time we stopped the trunk lid would slam down on our beloved tree. we can't be having that! when we finally got home we took our tree into the garage to get the stand put on him. It was quite the project

Notice how Chalise is just clowning around while me & Matty are doing real work!!

I love how Matty is kneeling on his gloves!!

I love my tree!!

After we got him in his stand we took him inside & started stringing the lights

We thought we were so clever by stringing the lights all around the tree & then putting in in the corner where it was going to sit. Good plan right? well when you do that you should really keep track of the starter plug that you're gonna plug into the wall. We didn't so much do that so when it was in place we couldn't find it. Under the tree I went in an attempt to locate it.

I looked & looked for that blasted plug all up under the tree with no luck. Eventually Joelyn found it.....in the front of the tree...right in front of our faces. I was stuck under the tree & Chalise pretty much had to drag me out. Too bad we didn't get a picture of that!!

Then we started decorating

Here he is all dressed up!!!

It's Christmas time! Let the stress begin!!!

Book Report

2010-10-15T12:37:00.001-07:00

You may or may not know that one of my goals for 2010 was to read 5 books. Not listen to them on CD as I normally do but to read them with my own eyes. I’m sure you’re thinking “oh wow 5 whole books!” well you can suck it! That’s huge as I hate reading! I am happy to report that today I finished book #5!! That’s right!! And I still had 3 months to spare. Go me! So here are the 5 books that I read with my own eyes & my thoughts on each one. Here we go…..

Book #1 Silent In The Grave
This was a recommendation from my friend Chalise & she is in love with this book. I am not in love with it but it was good. Murder, romance, sexual tension, scandal, heartbreak & corsets! There was this particular line from the book that really spoke to me. Basically the main character’s husband dies at the beginning & in the end he wasn’t the person she thought he was in the beginning which I can totally relate to. My favorite line from the book: “I mourned the boy I lost because I had already lost him….” Good stuff.

Book #2 Dust and Shadow
Another recommendation from Chalise. It’s Jack the Ripper as told & investigated by Sherlock Holmes. It was a good book but I was hoping it’d be a little more bloody & tragic. I mean it’s Jack The Ripper! But it seemed to have more to do with Sherlock Holmes (who I find to be very self-centered!) than with Jack The Ripper. Whatever Sherlock Holmes. Still it was a good book & easy to get through which is good cuz I have a pretty short attention span!

Book #3 The Secret Life Of Bees.
Good book. Those crazy bee keepers! I liked it cuz it was sprinkled with tragedy & what I’ve discovered in my reading quest this year is that I like tragedy! I like it when the characters are soaked in misery. For some reason it speaks to me & holds my attention way longer. Take your happiness & get it out of here! Anyways…Secret Life of Bees is good & I got through it pretty fast & really wanted to find out how everything was to get resolved in the end. However, it was made into a less than great movie. Where’s the tragedy?! Why did you skip over everything? And why did you change what her father says to her at the end?? Come on Hollywood!! Good book tho.

Book #4 Where Light And Shadow Meet
Ok so one of the very very few movies that ever makes me cry is Schindler’s List. I only watch it like once every 5 years cuz it’s so tragic. In my opinion it’s one of the greatest movies ever made & even tho it’s rated R I think every person should see it. So I had just finished watching Schindler’s List & decided I would read the book that it’s based on. Well I also found this book-Where Light and Shadow Meet which was written by Oskar Schindler’s wife Emillie and is their whole story told from her point of view & what she experienced during & after the war. After reading this book I feel as tho she really is an unsung hero. She really did so much for the Schindler Jews & really I don’t think anyone has any clue that she was behind the scenes. With that said I also found her to be a very bitter woman and at times it seemed like she’s just mad that she hasn’t gotten enough recognition for her part in things. Sure that’s fair but it’s not all about the rewards after. Yes her husband was always leaving her behind & cheating on her & in general was a d-bag to her but I found her bitterness very off putting. Still it was very interesting that someone who can be so uncaring & selfish to his own wife could muster the compassion to save thousands of people from being killed. I find it very interesting & in that respect it speaks to me. Good book.

Book #5 Left To Tell
Ok remember how I said I love tragic stories & for the characters to be miserable? Well really that really only applies to fictional characters. I’m not heartless. That said I’ll tell you about Left To Tell because oh my gosh it is TRAGIC! It’s written by this woman Immaculee` Ilibagiza & she lived & survived the genocide in Rwanda by hiding in a 3x4 foot bathroom with 7 other woman for 3 months. No talking. No showering. No laying down. Barely any food. And rarely ever sleeping. All the while her family & pretty much everybody she knew were outside getting slaughtered. This woman is so amazing! She talks all through the book about discovering God through this horrible tragedy. You cannot believe what was going on over there & really the rest of the world either was unaware of it or they ignored it. Frankly I’m shocked by how much attention was not & has not been paid to this event. If you have a chance to read this book do it. I think I’m going to write this woman’s name on a piece of paper & whenever I’m feeling like my life sucks I’m going to tack it up on the wall so I’m reminded of how good I have it. I slept in a bed last night in my own room. I woke up & took a shower. I ate 3 meals today. And all of my family is with me. This woman’s best friend in the world was her brother Damascene & he was very brutally killed while she was hiding in the bathroom. At the end of the book she goes to a prison where they’re holding a lot of the people who carried out the genocide. She comes face to face with leader of the group who killed her brother. The guards at the prison expected for her to scream at this man or spit on him or hit him. Instead she looked at him, touched him on the hand & said “I forgive you.” WOW! I’m telling you read this book. It will change your life.

So those are my 5 books and I read every one of them with my own eyes. But I’m not done yet. Chalise has hammered into my head that you meet a goal & then you must exceed it so I have to read one more book. I’ve checked out this book “The Glass Castle” from the library at least 4 times & can’t seem to get it read. It’s a pretty in demand book so I can never renew it & then it takes forever to get to the top of the waiting list again. It’s waiting at the library for me as we speak & since I’m already more than ½ way thru it I’ll have my goal exceeded in no time!

Side note……while I haven’t actually read it with my own eyes I’m going to mention one more book in this write up. It’s called “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and I have decided that it is my very favorite book. It’s by the author of The Kite Runner which is also a fantastic book. I’ve listened to it twice on CD & I just bought the actual book the other day so now I have a book on my book shelf that I’ve actually read! I love this book! It’s hauntingly tragic. It follows 2 different women in Afghanistan from the 70’s til after the Taliban are driven out and all that they go thru as women in that country. Seriously I’m haunted by it! Read it!

What's The Haps?!

2010-09-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

So what’s been happening you ask? Well I’m going to tell you!! This is likely to be a long post but I know you’ll make it through!

I’m all moved to my new apartment! And I love it!! I can’t believe how much better I’m doing at my house work now that I don’t loathe where I live! I think Kiefer doesn’t really like not having his little house anymore but he’ll soldier on. And so far so good on the roommate situation! I feel very good about my new living situation!

I’ve been attempting to be more domestic lately. Mostly after discovering that I have like 4 buckets of flour in my storage I decided it was high time I actually used it. I made zucchini bread for the very 1st time!

All my provisions

I soon discovered that I no longer own a cheese grater. I’m not quite sure what happened to it but don’t fret I busted out my food processor which I rarely use and since I rarely use it I’m not even sure what blades & parts need to be used for what. So the 1st zucchini I put through to be shredded turned out to be mush since I had the wrong attachment on it. Well what can ya do?! I sorted myself out & got it working.
Ready for the oven

Ta-dah!! It turned out fabulously & I am very impressed with myself!

Did you know that it was my birthday a couple weeks ago & that I am now 31 years of age?! True story-why would I make that up?! Yikes! That sounds so much older than 30. When you’re 30 it’s a big deal & it’s a big time birthday but when you hit 31 it’s just getting old! And I felt it. And let everyone around me know I felt it! I had a big hoopla for my 30th last year so I decided this year to make it a little more low key but still it was a really fun birthday. 1st we stuffed our fat faces at Craigos pizza buffet & even I had soda to drink! Tone down the crazy partying I know!!

Me & Sherri

Some of my peeps at dinner

me & Strudel

After stuffing our fat faces we went back to my new house for cake & ice cream (homemade by Lisa! Delish!!) and more merriment.

Dear Chalise

Me & Matty

And even Matty, Chalise & Joelyn got me a new little desk for my computer! It’s so cute & I love it! And even Matty (and a couple other peeps) put it together for me!
It was a delightful celebration.

my desk!

Happy birthday to me!! I’m officially in my 30’s!!

So have you caught on to this coupon craze? I’ve heard people talk about it & all the cheap & sometimes free stuff they end up getting. It doesn’t make any sense to me? How are you getting free stuff? So my mom is WAY into it now so I decided Chalise & I needed a tutorial as we are all about cutting costs (hello that’s why we’re roommates now) so we tagged along for one of her shopping adventures. IT IS STRESSFUL! You really gotta know what you’re doing & I knew we were doomed when my mom said we needed a basic knowledge of math! Oh great! We made our 1st coupon purchases & got all this for only $6.63!! What the!? How did that happen!?

oh you can see part of my fabulous new kitchen which I love!!

So we’ll be getting better acquainted with this little fad! Times are tough people!

Ok I think that’s what’s going on here. I’m trying to do better at my blogging but no promises!

On The Move Again!!!

2010-08-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

So I'm on the move again!!! I'll be moving to a new place in just a couple of weeks & I cannot tell you how excited I am about it! When I moved in to my current apartment I only intended to live there for 6 months & now over a year later I can't wait to get out of there! I HATE that apartment! HATE IT! I've hated it since the minute I moved in there. I hate that the screen door wont' shut unless you throw all your weight against it. I hate that you have to slam the front door every time you shut it & that my landlord would never fix it. I hate all the spiders that come out of everywhere in the summer. I hate that when it rains the walls leak & again my landlord would never take care of it or even come clean the carpets after it flooded. I HATE the kitchen & everything about it & most especially that no matter how many times I mopped the floor it still always looked dirty. I hate that when it gets rainy & muggy outside that it smells like cat piss in there. I REALLY HATE my upstairs neighbors & can’t wait til I never have to see their stupid faces or hear their stupid lives ever again! And most especially I HATE that I had to move there in the first place! Ok you get the idea right?! Well the packing is in full swing & man I’m the most organized mover you’ve ever seen! Everything is labeled & neatly stacked & I have lists of what stuff is being moved first & where it’s going & good grief why am I this way?! I can’t believe how different it feels this time around. Last year when I was getting ready to move I was crying every five minutes as I was packing up my life on K Street. Not this time! If anything it’s all tears of joy!! And every day when I come home & see the bare walls & empty shelves instead of breaking down I feel like jumping up & down cuz I’m so excited to leave! I love the new place that I’m moving too (especially the kitchen!!!) & I’m even getting excited to live with my friend Chalise (even though neither of us is looking forward to having a roommate) and about all the money I’m gonna be saving!! So by the end of this month I’ll have a brand new address!! Pics to come don’t worry!!

Am I Outside...Again!?!?

2010-07-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

So a couple years ago I took a little (now infamous) trip to the wilderness. I pretty much vowed that I’d never return. And I meant it! Well I finally decided to lift the wilderness banishment & give it another chance. Let’s compare shall we?!

The last time I went camping I shared a tent with 3 other people & the 2nd night we were there it leaked. This time I decided to purchase my very own tent. A lot of thought went into this purchase let me tell you. I can’t just be in any old ugly tent. It needs to be cute! Here it is & me putting it together all by myself! that’s right I’m a skilled wilderness woman now!

I tried putting this all in a slide show but for some reason it wasn't working. deal with it!

Look how cute I am in my tent!

The last time I went camping we went where you just pretty much find a good spot of grass & set up shop. This time we went to this place that had these campsites all sectioned off. Every spot had a fire ring, a picnic table & a set spot where you put your tents & everything. As we drove around trying to find a spot I was put off by this designated camping business. And where are the tents supposed to fit in some of these spots? This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen! I found it very bossy! I’ll camp where I please!

Chalise fancies herself a serious camper & decided that this forced tent spot just wasn’t going to work for her so she found a little spot off the way to put her little camp spot. And please she’s not sleeping in a tent either. she was determined to be out under the stars. No thanks! What if some rodent or worse a snake came slithering across your face in the middle of the night?! I’m not coming to rescue you. I’ll be in my tent! Her little area looked like a homeless person slept there!

She didn’t end up sleeping there after she/we creeped herself out so she made her headquarters right outside my tent & still slept under the stars. In the morning when it was raining she didn’t budge. Instead she put a poncho over her face & she was good!

The last time I went camping I had to be a real frontierswoman & pee outside. It was too much for me & my body would not allow it. So by the time I got home I had pretty much not gone to the bathroom in 2 & a ½ days. That’s wretched! This time there were toilets near our campsite. Thank goodness right? I’m not so sure. These toilets were basically an outhouse consisting of a toilet seat hovering over a dark abyss. And there was no way I was venturing to said bathroom facilities by myself. Forget it. Someone had to be with me at all times. I can’t decide what’s worse dropping trou in the middle of the wilderness & worrying about what or who might sneak up on you or setting my bare butt over that abyss! Please I’ve seen enough episodes of X-files to know what might come out & grab me! I was so panicked to get out of there I’d race out of the bathroom with my pants ½ way pulled up. I’m sure the rest of the campers appreciated it! Again my body wasn’t allowing it & by the time I got home I pretty much hadn’t gone to the bathroom in almost 2 days!

There was one time that I braved the bathroom by myself & of course I made a big to do about it!

Here I am triumphant!

The last time I went camping it rained pretty much the whole time we were there & I could never figure out why we didn’t just go home. It was cold & miserable. This time I made a rule that if it was raining I was leaving. And I meant it. Saturday morning I woke up to the sounds of rain pitter pattering on my tent. You are freaking kidding me!! Don’t worry it stopped after about 20 minutes & all was well!

The last time I went camping I was pretty much useless when it came to pretty much everything especially the cooking. This time I rocked it! I am a really good camp cook! I made us breakfast burritos, dutch oven blueberry cobbler & dutch oven chicken enchiladas. I’m not trying to be all whatever but man the food was awesome!

Don't you just love my hair & outfit?!

Chalise is quite a show when she gets in the wilderness. She has this pair of velour pants that she busted out & after she put those on she was a whole other person! She even has a little dance that she does when she wears them!

That night we played a fortune telling card game (think MASH when you were in grade school) that was supposed to reveal who your one true love is. If it was your turn to deal you had to wear the head lamp.

The game told me that my one true love is Val Kilmer which means it really works cuz Val Kilmer IS my one true love!!

All 3 of us brought something to dispose of whilst in the wilderness. One of Joelyn’s frogs passed away so we buried him & had a little graveside service. RIP Frank RIP.

Chalise brought leftover wood from her theater sets & we mostly used that for our fire. So she got to set her sets on fire.

I brought a stack of emails from someone that I’d rather not have around anymore. All together it was about 2 reams of paper. I had been hanging on to them all this time & just wasn’t quite ready to let them go. I decided my return to the wilderness was the perfect time & place to rid myself of them! At 1st it was very sad & I’m not even gonna front there were some tears but once I started throwing them on the fire it was on! It was very therapeutic to watch them go up in flames.

And then we made some killer smores over the ashes!!

And here's just some fun random pics from the trip. As if you haven't seen enough already!!

So the wilderness has redeemed itself!

Book Report

2010-06-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

I finished my 2nd book of the year! well i finished it a couple weeks ago but just haven't had a chance to report back. Dust And Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. R H Watson....basically it's a Sherlock Holmes take on Jack The Ripper. It was a good book but I was hoping it'd be a little more gruesome! I had started 2 books before that which I got part way through & then took back. One called The Black Dahlia which could have been good but it got filthy & I'll have none of that! The I started The Glass Lake (a recommendation from my sister Kristy) but it didn't hold my attention so it got dumped. After Dust & Shadow I started reading The Glass Castle (another recommendation from Kristy) and I was really liking it but then it was due back at the libary & since there was a line a mile long waiting to check this book out I had to turn it back in. I re-reserved it but I'm like 9th in line! Good grief people it's just a book! I'm not sure what I'm gonna do in the meantime. Should I just read another book while I wait? But what if I get all confused with all the books I've got going on?! My life is rough!

I've also listened to several books on CD. Peter Pan , Alice In Wonderland, & The Looking Glass Wars. Peter Pan is fine & all but by the end I was sick of Peter & his antics. still it's magical! Let's talk about Alice In Wonderland for a minute here...that book is straight up indulgent nonsense! It's really about nothing! Why am I so in love with the Disney version?! These are the mysteries of life! Looking Glass Wars is good but it's a little too literal but still magical & entertaining. Right now I'm listening to Gone With The Wind. Don't worry that it's 41 discs! That'll keep me occupied for awhile.

I'll report back on my next book! 2 & 1/2 down...1 1/2 to go!!!

Any recommendations on what I should read next!?

Happiness Is......

2010-06-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

I was looking at my friend Marissa’s blog the other day & one of her postings was a list of things that make her happy. I was then inspired to make a list of my own. Here it is....so far!!

Chilled Cake
Sprinkles Cupcakes
Shooting guns
24
Sleeping in
My living room
Lifehouse
Weddings
Red lipstick
Pedicures
Cooking on a fire
S’mores
Fabulous dinner parties
Flip flops
Cardigans
Long & Lean jeans
My stems
Disney movies (I’m talking the old school ones!)
My big girl bed
Jaxson Jewel
My kitchen table
Hot tubbing
Summer
Boating
Disneyland
My sister Kristy calling me at work
Crab cake sandwich from Cheesecake Factory
Sundresses
Taking naps
When a boy comes to play with me
Shrimp
Pepsi in a can
Telling stories about Grandmother
Easter bonnets made from paper plates
New hair cuts
Taco Bell
Movie previews
Toe rings
Laying out in the sun
Having blue eyes & blonde hair
The Temple
Books on CD (unless they have a crappy narrator!)
Bottomless express lunch at Chili’s
Christmas decorations
Birthday parties
Skee-ball
Gummy bears
My stories
Smell of bacon cooking
pancakes
Pajamas

What things make you happy?!

The 5K!!!

2010-05-18T14:03:00.001-07:00

Well I completed my 1st goal of the new year! I ran my 5K race on Saturday!!!! It was QUITE the event let me tell you! Me, Joelyn, Chalise & our friend Barbara had been planning to run in this race for weeks & the night before we were all sorts of nervous. I just really wanted to do well & not feel like a flabby loser. The night before the race I went to bed early to get a proper night’s sleep. I felt way loser-ish going to bed at 9:00 on a Friday night but whatever! I woke up really early Saturday morning so I could eat breakfast & start hydrating. I was still nervous & as Joelyn drove us over to the race she kept saying she was just gonna drop me off & leave! I am so sure! So we got to the race & got our packets which had some pretty random stuff in them. A can of pineapple juice, a pen, a packet of rapid energy jell (gross!), and a t-shirt that I’m sure won’t fit me! The only useful thing in there was a coupon for a free loaf of bread from Great Harvest!

After that we had a little photo session with ourselves per usual.

Then we were ready to run!! There were a lot of people racing including my girl arch nemesis from the gym. Oh gosh really?! So we get ready at the starting line & my parents are no where to be found. Are you kidding me? I only reminded them about this 43 times & they know what a big day & event this is for me & they can’t be bothered to show up? Whatever I’ve got a race to run! So me & Joelyn decided to run together & help eachother keep pace & both decide that we’ll walk for a minute to get warmed up. But when the race started & everybody took off running I took off running too! Sorry Joelyn! I saw Sherri & Martin about ½ mile into the run standing on the road cheering me on. It was so great! Now the thing about running is that it’s WAY different running on a treadmill than it is outside. It is WAY harder running outside & since the weather had been so rude lately I had had very little outside running time. I was crapping out really fast. I must have gotten a jolt of runner’s adrenaline cuz I just kept running & running. Not gonna front I had to walk here & there a little bit but overall I think I did really good. Don’t worry that all the incline & little hills were at the end of the course. Why?! I still can’t believe my parents weren’t there! So I’m rounding the last ¼ mile of the race…I can see the finish line….Michael Jackson’s “Will You Be There” is blaring on my ipod….I look up….and there are my parents!!! They came!! It was quite a moment & all the events of the last year plus the thrill of seeing them there plus MJ singing just swirled around in my head & I about lost it! I started running faster to the finish line & by the time I got the end I wanted to die. I DID IT!! I ran my race!!

Joelyn & Barbara crossed the finish line a few minutes after I did & then we went back to where my parents were standing to cheer Chalise on to the finish. She was walking the course instead of running but when she got about 20 feet from the finish line she just took off running til the end. It was so great!

At the finish line!

Afterwards Great Harvest fed us sandwiches & handed out loaves of bread…mmmmm cinnamon burst my fave! What a great morning! Shortly after my race started Sherri & Martin were participating in a walk for MS at another spot along the river so I headed over to see them & got my picture taken with Darth Vader! Delightful!

So I ran my race & I am quite pleased with myself! This time last year I was a fat, flabby mess & now I’m running in a race. Well done Melissa! I plan on doing another one august 7th & this time I will run the entire thing without stopping!

525,600 Minutes

2010-05-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

A year ago I made a decision that changed the course of my life. It was the best & hardest thing I've ever done in life. And now that I'm on the flip side of a year I am beginning to see & understand all the reasons why. As I look back over the last year I can't believe how much I have changed & the direction that my life has taken. There are times that I miss the life I once had & long for the people & places I once knew. I miss my old apartment the most!! But when I look back & think about where I was this time last year I would never want to be there again. In the end I know that I would not be the person I am right now & I would not have been able to experience all the good things I have this last year if I had stayed. Every day is different. Some days I'm angry over the things I went through. Some days I'm just sad that things had to end up like this. But some days I am thrilled to not have to deal with the things I left behind & am so happy with the new life I'm living now. Today is a good day!

I wanted to mark this milestone by doing something fun so me & some of my gals pals drove down to Salt Lake to eat at the Cheesecake Factory mmmmmmmm crabcake sand which.....mmmmmm cheesecake!! Kristy, Todd & OP joined us for the event as well! On our way back to Idaho Falls I decided that I had earned myself a pepsi! It was delicious! It was a great little outing & I am so grateful for friends who knew how momentous this occasion was & drove all the way down & back with me! Bless your hearts!!

How cute is OP?! Don't worry that Chalise's sister Allison was seated next to him & he kept taking food off of her plate & either eating part of it & putting it back on her plate or just playing with it & putting it back on her plate or just throwing it on the floor! bless him!

me & Kritty! We're cute!

I MADE IT!!!

Busiest Saturday Ever!!!

2010-05-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday was absolute craziness! There was SO much going on that I need a nap just to recover from it! My day started early…way early for a Saturday when normally I prefer to just lay around in my big girl bed until I’m good & ready to get up. I was up, dressed, and out the door a little before 9:00. That’s pure insanity!! I drove down to Pocatello (which is liek an hour away) to see my dear Joni graduate from ISU. I went & picked up Strudel & we headed over to graduation which basically was 2 & ½ hours of listening to names being read & of course Joni was near the end! But it was so exciting when her name was read & she was up on the stage! It was a long road for Joni to get here & I am just so proud of her. Dear Joni you are amazing!!

Afterwards we had a little photo session

After the graduation festivities I headed back to Idaho Falls & met up with Joni & Co. for a celebratory lunch. Good times! Then I went straight from there out to the parents where we were having a Birthday celebration/farewell for Strudel as she was leaving for her South African safari in a couple days. For part of the celebration we got to go shooting! I LOVE SHOOTING!! You wouldn’t think so to look at me but man I LOVE it!!

Pictures of course! P.S. don’t you love the prissy little outfit I’m wearing?! Cardigan & flip flops…the only way to shoot!

Check this action out!!

Just call me Jackie Bauer!

After our shooting outing we had a BBQ at the parents & stuffed our fat faces. It seems like all I did Saturday was eat! I feel fine about it tho! After the festivities I headed back into Idaho Falls to see Iron Man 2 with my dear friends Sherri & Martin. I can’t decide if I was too tired to enjoy the movie or if it was just not that great but it’s definitely not as good as the 1st one. I finally got back home around 11:00 & I was exhausted! Got right into my big girl bed & went to sleep. What a crazy day!

Monday morning I dropped Strudel off at the shuttle to leave on her safari. I think she's so awesome for going on this little trek & she's been saving & planning for it since I can remember! I love you Strudel!

Beauty & The Beast

2010-05-07T13:10:00.001-07:00

So my friend Chalise is a high school drama teacher & this year for their spring musical they did Beauty & The Beast. Magical right?! I know! well it was quite an undertaking & I thought by the end we’d find Chalise sitting in the corner rocking back & forth & chewing on her hair or something! That girl was STRESSED! So Joelyn & I got recruited/volunteered to do some painting on the set. Truth be told I rather enjoy painting so it was no big deal to paint the sets. 1st of all I don’t own any grubby, scrubby painting clothes-why am I so prissy & how did I get this way?!

Here’s me & Joelyn at the top of set. Prolly Chalise wished we would get to work instead of having a photo session with ourselves!

Also dear Ken made this AMAZING book for the opening scene of the show. It was massive! And even when you opened it & turned the page it totally looked like a page in a real book was being turned. I was mesmerized by it! So we had to paint that too & it was so big that I had to get up on a ladder to get the top of it.

The set was so fantastic when it was all done

And Ken's book turned out even more fantastic!

And Chalise in all her glory on stage!

Well done Rigby High School!!

What I've Been Up To!!

2010-05-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

So you're prolly thinking "What's that crazy Melissa been up to these days?" well here's your answer: A LOT!! So as you may know my New Year's resolutions consisted of becoming a runner, reading 5 books with my own eyes & working on my family history. I'm happy to report that none of those resolutions have been broken yet! Go me!!

I have been running my fat face off these last few months. Sometimes I love it & sometimes I loathe it! But I'm doing it! And with these running efforts I have managed to shed all the emotion weight I put on last year which to me is a great accomplishment! Next Saturday I am running in a 5K race with some of my pals. Don't worry I'll have pics & a full write up of said race. I'm hoping that my desire to not look like a flabby wimp will outweigh my body's desire to stop running. Wish me luck!

Did you know that there's this building downtown where they let you borrow books & then return them when you're done and get other books?! For free! It's this crazy place called the Library (or Libary as some would call it!) and I have been a frequent visitor of said building. Me & Savanna go pretty much every week. So far I've read (with my own eyes) this book called "Silent In The Grave" that I got from my friend Chalise. It took me awhile to read it cuz I've got a pretty short attention span but I made it through & it was an enjoyable book. Murder, mystery, corsets & sexual tension-delicious! Right now I'm reading this book called The Glass Lake. So far I'm having a hard time getting into it but I wanna finish it. I'll report back when I've done so. I'm also really into listening to books on CD which, truth be told, is my preferred way of "reading" books. So far I've "read" "The Boleyn Inheritance" (those Tudors were crazy!!), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (some Sherlock Holmes nonsense), "The Virgin's Lover" (again with the Tudors & their nonsense! this one got a little racy which I'll have none of. Tone it down you guys!) & my favorite so far "A Thousand Splendid Suns" which is by the same author as the Kite Runner. I LOVE this book! It's seriously haunting me cuz it's so tragic! You need to read it. More book reports to come.

And finally my family history: I have been saving souls all over the place! I have gotten so much done and not to be all whatever but I have single handedly gotten the city of Idaho Falls back to the Temple! I'll hand these Temple cards to anyone who's breathing. People we've got souls to save! I love that their all my own family. It's such a great experience taking all their names to the Temple & getting their work done. I'm now grateful for all those boring family reunions Grandmother & Grandfather made us go to & the countless headstones they made us take pictures by cuz as I go through all my cards I totally recognize their names. There's still a lot to do but I've made a huge dent in it.

So there's a quick update. Stay tuned for a lot of events to be happening in the month of May!!

Remember This?

2010-04-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

Remember this from last year?

It has been sitting at my house since then whilst I tried to decide what to do with it. Should I finish it? Or should i just set it on fire & be done with it?!

Well I FINALLY got it finished!!! Check it!

1st I sanded it! P.S. I am a whiz with the belt sander now!

Next I painted it

Before

After

Then my dear friend Ken drilled some holes in it or something & put it all together!

Ta Da!! All finished!!

I still need to hang it on the wall which I'm kinda scared to do since it's HUGE & I'm afriad it'll rip out the wall or something! Seriously it's almost bigger than the span of my arms! So for right now it's just sitting on my craft table:

I love it!! It looks just like I pictured it would! Dear Ken bless your heart for helping me finish this!! Seriously this board hold so much weight & history for me & I'm so excited to finally have it done......I still might set it on fire tho!!!

The Year That Was....

2010-01-31T21:46:00.001-08:00

So 2009 was one crazy year!! I can honestly say I’ve never had a year to match it. I had my doubts that I’d actually make it thru but I did! So here it is my year in review!

We all know what January through May consisted of so let’s not re-visit it. All that needs to be said is that in all my 30 years of living I’ve never been as unhappy as I was in those few months & my hair was falling out as a result of it. Hereafter this time period will be referred to as The Unmentionable. However, it was in these months that Team Dunbar was formed & it was my saving grace. I would not have made it through this time with out them! Dear Team Dunbar I love you with all my heart!

Team Dunbar in full force:

In May I moved to my new apartment & marked this event with my Emancipation Celebration! It felt good! I have not regretted my move not one single day!

Me & my best girls at my Emmancipation Celebration

After that it was full speed ahead & I had prolly the busiest summer of my whole life! We spent A LOT of time outside this summer & man we got tan!!! It looks good on us!

What a great summer! It was just what I needed!

In early June I made an important life decision. I got rid of my cable!! WHAT?!?! I know it’s insane but it’s true! I no longer have Tivo & only about 5 local channels to speak of & seriously I don’t even notice it! How is that possible!? I haven’t watched any of my shows at all this season. The only time I really watch any of them is when they happen to be on when I’m at the gym. I’m too busy with other stuff to even miss them! This is monumental-my shows were my life! I’m really growing up!

In July my dearest, most special friend Jenny left me & moved to Ohio. That was ROUGH let me tell you! I just figured we’d always live near eachother. We had a whole plan of living next door to each other with our hooligan children. Well we can’t very well do that when she lives all the way across the country now can we!? RUDE!!! We had quite a tearful goodbye & I don’t wanna do that again!! I miss her. Dear Bo(red).

In August my beloved Grandfather passed away. I was ready for him to move on but it was still so incredibly hard. I did the life sketch at the funeral & it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in life. I was once again reminded of how much I love my big, crazy family & how grateful I am that we are all sealed together. And how there’s just no other family quite like us. Who else would have Kentucky Fried Chicken & cans of Pepsi for an after funeral lunch?! I came off my soda sobriety & drank a can of Pepsi in honor of my Grandfather! Dear Grandfather I love & miss you so much & hope that I’m making you proud of me!

As if that wasn’t enough my Grandma Gail (my dad’s real mom) passed away 2 weeks later. Now while she’s not as near and dear to my heart as my Grandfather I do still love her & I was so sad that she passed away and really sad for my dad to lose both of his parents in the space of 2 weeks. It was a rough time for my family. But I saw us all really come together in this time to try & take care of each other especially of my dad & I was really impressed with us!

In September I turned the BIG 3-0!!! It was a momentous event to say the least! I had been counting down all year for it! I made a list of things I wanted to do by my 30th & not one single thing got checked off my list! But I was fine with it cuz I had had the busiest, most fun summer in years & really at that point all I wanted to have accomplished was that I was feeling better after earlier unpleasantries. I can honestly say that I was happy for my 30th! it was a great day & I was surrounded by all my favorite people (except my Precious but we won’t get into that!!)

Me at the strok of midnight! I'm 30!!!

A few days after my 30th I had another momentous event take place. I made my Temple debut!!! I had originally planned to make my debut when I was getting married but that wasn’t happening & I felt like I was denying myself a lot of great opportunities & blessings so I decided the time had come! It was quite a day and once again I was surrounded by some of my favorite people! I’m an official Mormon now!! No going back!!!

In October I flew to San Diego to witness THE event of the century (so far)!! My Johnny got married! It was a blessed event & I had such a great time with the Turners in San Diego!!

In early December I got a clear bill of healthy hair from my stylist! Go me!!! she said my hair was no longer falling out & that it was really growing in nicely! And somewhere in the months since I moved I found my forgiveness for what had happened to me in the past year. Not that it’s completely behind me (so don’t get it twisted!) but it’s a start.

I really wanted to end this year with something totally awesome & to be able to cap off such a crazy, tumultuous year with something really great. At 1st my plan was to buy a house before the year was up. After going through the process with 2 different houses & being only days away from closing I ultimately decided it wasn’t the right thing for me to do right now. I decided not to buy my little hacienda & to just stay put in my apartment for right now. Now while I felt totally fine about not buying a house I was a little fussy that I didn’t have something great to cap my year off with but I soon found it. My cousin Danielle had her Temple debut on December 30th in the Salt Lake Temple. So I drove down to attend & almost didn’t make it due to the CRAZY weather that day. It took almost 4 & a ½ hours to get down there when it normally would’ve only taken 3. I just wanted to make it down there in time! I managed to get there & get to the session barely in time. Why was this such a great year ender you ask? 1st of all the Salt Lake Temple is amazing!! I had never been in there before & was just in awe of the place. I was touching everything! And 2nd because me & my sister Kristy & my cousins Courtney & Danielle all grew up together & they really are my nearest & dearest relatives so for the four of us to be in there all together was one of the single greatest moments of my life! We had this tender little group hug in the Celestial room that had us all tearing up & I knew that Grandmother & Grandfather were there too & that they were so proud of us!! That was the happy ending to this year that I needed!

So now it’s 2010 & it can only get better from here on out. It’s just got to!! I made a few goals for the new year. stuff that’s all about me & for me & things I really want to accomplish not just the usual “I wanna lose weight” stuff we all usually spout off! this year I do want to turn myself into a runner (yeah that borders on the whole “I wanna lose weight” thing but it’s a good goal!”), I want to read at least 5 books (crazy I know since I hate reading), implement my new savings & budget plan , to work more on my family history & to be happy! So let’s kick 2009 to the curb & wash our hands of it!! Happy New Year everyone!!

Good Bye 2009!!

2009-12-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

It's the last day of 2009 and I, for one, am glad to see this year done & over with! It has been QUITE a year! Don't worry I'll be doing a full wrap up of this year's events soon. Hunker down cuz it's gonna be jam packed & heavy!! All I can say is I'm glad this year is over & I can't believe I actually made it through!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Geneology I Am Doing It!!

2009-12-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ok check it if you haven't been on the church's new family search website you really should take a look at it! It is pretty cool! I am OBSESSED with it! I am always on there seeing what needs to be done for all my family. Straight up I don't think my mom wants me entering information or messing with anything so I just go through every one's ordinances & keep track of who needs what done & even with all the work that my parents & grandparents have done there is still a ton of stuff that needs to be done. I printed off a whole stack of ordinance cards & I'm obsessed with them! I'm like that chick from that movie The Saint (starring my one true love Val Kilmer) who has all those formula cards & she carries them around & is always pulling them out & trying to organize them & rearrange them. However, I don't keep them hidden in my bra like she does cuz that just wouldn't be right!! But I did organize them just so on a board like it's a school project or something!

I've got my couples that need to be done & sealed:

And my families that need to be done & all their chillins sealed to them:

I know it's a little bit overly organized but that's how I am! I've gotten a lot done but there's still so much to do. It's a completely different experience to take your own family name to the Temple so I'd encourage every one to get in there & get your own cards printed. I've been getting my friends to take some of these names through for me cuz I just have to get them all done! I even got 2 of my bosses to do some of them for me! Bless their hearts! People we've got souls to save!!

Check out the new site new.familysearch.org

It Is On!!!

2009-12-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

So I’m starting a new thing on my blog in the hopes that if I keep track of everything & write about it I might actually reach my goal. WEIGHTLOSS!! Hunker down everyone! 2009 was supposed to be all about slimming down in anticipation of my 30th but people please you know 2009 was ROUGH for me (hello my hair was falling out from all the stress & misery!!) and there was A LOT of emotion eating going on so the slimming down didn’t so much happen. Give me a break it’s enough that I’ve made it thru the year!! Now I need to undo all of that & then some. It’s going to be quite a project!! So here’s what’s gonna be going on-I’ll be keeping track of my caloric intake & what foods I eat & also what I do in my daily workouts (i.e. calories burned, amount of time spent working out, etc.). I can have a total of 1800 calories each day. I’m not quite brave enough to post my weight so I’ll just update with how many pounds I lose (or gain cuz you know that’ll happen! Jerk weight!!) each week. I will say that in total my goal is to lose about 38 pounds overall. Then I’ll be at my ideal weight. This is gonna take some work! I have a pair of jeans that I was able to wear earlier this year so I’m using them as my 1st goal. I would love to be able to wear them by the end of the year & I really think I’ll be able to! I find that writing stuff down & keeping track of it really helps me monitor what I’m eating & what have you. There’s a good chance I won’t be posting something every single day but I’ll be keeping track of it so there might be 2 or 3 days posted at the same time. Deal with it I’m busy & popular!! Also if anyone has any suggestions or tips or good healthy recipes let’s hear them! Here we go!

November 30, 2009-Day 1!!

I got up this morning & met my new workout buddy, Susie, at the gym at 5:15 AM-yeah I said AM!! It’s crazy!!! As always my arch nemesis was there working out & making me steadily angrier! Who’s my arch nemesis you ask? She’s this girl who works out in the early morning as well & I hate her! I’m guessing she gets there in the 4:00 hour sometime cuz by the time I get there at 5:15 she’s well into her workout. Why do I hate her so much? Cuz every morning she rolls up in there ALL done up. I’m talking hair & makeup totally done & wearing her cutie little workout outfits. What time does she need to get up in order to make herself all up like that & get to the gym before 5:00?!?! Why can’t you roll up in here looking all trashy like the rest of us?! It makes me so angry & it fuels the idea that boys have that we just roll out of bed looking like this. And she wears a different little out fit everyday. I swear she prolly has more workout clothes than regular clothes! Good grief! I shank her with my eyes every time I see her. You’ll hear me refer to her quite often cuz she makes me so crazy!! I bet in real life she’s prolly the nicest person ever but I don’t care cuz she’s my nemesis & I hate her! Ok enough of that! My workout this morning consisted of 41 minutes & 2 seconds on the elliptical where I traveled 2.78 miles at 4.06 MPH & burned 394 calories. Not too bad for a Monday morning! I prolly need to consistently be doing at least 45 minutes everyday so I’ll need to increase that. There’s always tomorrow!

My meals for the day went as follows

Breakfast: Maple & Brown Sugar Weight Control oatmeal 160 calories
Lunch: Chicken salad wrap 500 calories
Dinner: Ham & about 2 bites of green bean casserole leftover from Thanksgiving & a small piece of chicken

I have no idea how many calories that was but I don’t think it was much. Let’s just say it was 1000 (prolly not but we’ll high ball it)

Total calories: 1660

I also got weighed today & I am down 2 pounds from last week! Go me already!!! I have 36 pounds to go to reach my ideal goal weight.

December 1, 2009

Breakfast: ½ pack of Maple & Brown Sugar weight control oatmeal 80 calories

For some reason I was not feeling good this morning & that’s all I could choke down for breakfast.

Lunch: Marinated chicken, green beans & corn 500 calories
Dinner: Tuna wrap & tortilla chips 450 calories

Total calories: 1030

Ok I need to be eating more calories than 1030 but seriously I wasn’t any hungrier than that today. I’m sure I’ll make up for it later on in the week!

I headed to the gym after work & did 30 minutes on the elliptical & burned 317 calories & then jumped on the treadmill for 18 minutes & 46 seconds & burned 170 calories. After that I did 2 sets on each of the weight machines in the little circuit they have set up & then jumped back on the treadmill to do a little cool down for 15 minutes & burned another 67 calories. I’m not sure how many calories were burned during my weightlifting but in total on the cardio machines I burned 554 calories! Go me!!!! My plan is to do cardio 5 times a week & throw in some weightlifting at least 2 times a week. We’ll see how that goes for awhile.

December 2nd 2009

I didn’t make it to the gym this morning as I had planned. I had a REALLY rough night & wasn’t able to sleep very well but I’m planning to make up for it by going twice tomorrow. Hunker down!!

Breakfast: Totally didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I told you I had ROUGH night!
Lunch: Southwest rice sautéed with tuna & a piece of chicken 370 calories
Dinner: scrambled eggs & turkey bacon 400 calories

Total calories 770 ok that is not NEARLY enough calories for the day! I needed to eat more but seriously I wasn't hungry. What's wrong with me!?!? I did get weighed again today & dropped another pound! Prolly due to a lack of eating but I'm NOT turning anorexic so don't get it twisted!!!

PS I started this post like 3 days ago & am just now getting around to actually posting it. I told you I'm busy & Popular!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding

2009-11-26T17:18:00.001-08:00

That's right people my Precious got married!!! What a delightful event! This is going to be a long post so pencil it in!!!

I arrived in San Diego for the blessed event on Thursday afternoon. I was a little stressed out about the situation as I have never been to San Diego before & pretty much I was left to my own devices! That means I was driving in California for the very 1st time!! Hunker down San Diego!! Marissa & I arrived about the same time & were going to be traveling together from the airport. Too bad out gates were in separate buildings! Picture me wondering around outside the airport trying to figure out where the next terminal was! Good thing I had like a 1/2 hour to kill before she landed. After our little reunion at baggage claim we headed outside to catch the rental car shuttle which, according to the instructions the rental car place gave me, was supposed to pick us up curbside where the public bus picks up. So there we are in the ever growing heat just standing there...standing there some more...and some more...finally we spot another lane of buses across the street. we're a little slow what can I say. Then we couldn't figure out how we were supposed to get across the street as there was no cross walk & no sidewalk on the other side. Up and down the street we walked until I finally asked the skycap what was going on. Turns out you have to go inside & up the elevator to a walk-way that goes across the street. Good grief why is this so complicated?!!? So we get ourselves across the street & on to the shuttle. Nevermind that the rental place is like 5 miles from the airport & it hit me that I didn't mapquest from the rental car place! PANIC!!! We get to the rental car place & I stand in this absurdly long line & discover that there's like 1 person working the desk. Seriously?! By the time it was my turn I couldn't remember a time before I was in that line! I get up to the desk & the attendant informs me that my car had not been paid for it had only been reserved. Well son I don't have the credit card it was reserved with! So I had him my regular debit card & tell him I'll just pay for it with that. Apparently my card wasn't good enough & for some still unknown reason he just HAS TO HAVE my itinerary that was emailed to me. I didn't print it out. Why did I need to when I have the confirmation #? He informs me that he needs me to go ahead & print my itinerary so he can process my card. And how do you suggest I do that!? Oh let me just pull my computer out of my back pocket & get that for you! Son please! He takes me around the desk so I can print out my stupid itinerary. I am so sure!! There was NO way I was getting back in that line after that so I printed off my paperwork & shoved back up to the desk. Back off people-Don't crowd me! FINALLY he gets my car situated. Keep in mind this is the very 1st time I've ever rented a car by myself & that I'm stressed out by nature so it was quite the happening! Marissa & I get into our little rental car & it's like a Fred Flinstone car! Why do I gotta lock & unlock the doors by hand!?! Is this the stone ages!? Well what can you expect for $18 a day!? And you better believe I paid the extra $11 a day to get some GPS in that car!!

Here's me & Marissa in our little rental car who we named Escondida (well mostly we called the GPS Escondida) and don't worry she would prove to be some trouble later on so hunker down for that later in the story!!

After getting Escondida & ourselves situated we were on our way! Keep in mind this was my very 1st time driving in California so I was a little bit nervous, but before I knew it I was on the freeway driving along! I'm doing it!!!! We met up with Mom & Dad Turner & Amanda (Johnny & Marissa's little sister), ate dinner & then headed to the cabin where we'd be staying. Oh and this is where we had our 1st problem with Escondida who didn't seem to know her left from her right & was screaming at us to turn right when our destination was CLEARLY on the left. Foolish thing. More of her shenanigans later! We had a delightful evening at the cabin just hanging out & talking. Oh I do enjoy those Turners. Loren & a couple of their gal pals arrived later that night as well. We didn't get to see Johnny that night as he was being a bit of a bridezilla! Sorry Precious but you were!!!

The photo session we decided to have with ourselves at the cabin!!

Me, Loren & Marissa

Amanda, Me & Marissa

Dear Loren!

I love how Marissa hoisted her 8 months pregnant self over the banister!! That girl is such a trooper!!

The next morning we got ourselves ready for THE event of the year.....John Turner's wedding!!!! We headed to the Temple for the sealing & oh my word the San Diego Temple is AMAZING!!! It's so beautiful!!! Everyone always say that it looks like a castle & seriously it does!

I got to go inside there!! Jealous!!!!

Even the grounds are amazing!

Stained glass window

Not only was this an event with Johnny getting married but also cuz it would be the very 1st time that Alyssa (Johnny's other BFF) & I would be meeting! An event years in the making! For years I have heard about this girl & all her crazy stories but somehow we had never met. That's insanity right there! So I met Alyssa right before we went in for the sealing & straight up I LOVE HER!! She's my new favorite person! It's tragic that it's taken this long for us to meet!

We decided to have a little photo session with ourselves (as we often do!) while we were waiting to go in for the sealing

Alyssa, Me & Marissa together at last!!!

Alyssa's ADORABLE daughter Lauren. I didn't get a pic of Grayson who is equally adorable

So next was the sealing & pretty much it was one of the most amazing things I've ever been witness to!!! After being in there & seeing that there's just NO WAY I could ever not get married in the Temple! I am so glad I got to be a part of this day. It was just so great!!

Next up yet another photo session!! Here's us waiting outside the Temple for Johnny & Lindsay to come out. We don't waste time just sitting around!

Marissa & Loren

Loren & his backpack or "Snack pack" as we named it! He stuff that thing full of snacks & bless his ever loving heart for bringing it cuz man we were hungry!!

Me & Loren!! I could just stuff him in my back pocket & carry him around with me!!! What a darling!!

Marissa, Mom Turner & Me

Johnny & Lindsay coming out of the Temple

Lindsay''s fabulous dress! I loved it! Very vintage!!

Bless their hearts

Dear Johnny & Lindsay thank you for having your own photo session the day before cuz it really cut down on our sitting around time!!

PRECIOUS!!

After finishing up at the Temple we headed to Lindsay's parents house for a little family lunch. It was a delightful little time & gave us all a chance to visit. Good times & the pizza was really good too!!! Me, Marissa & Amanda decided we needed to get some power naps in before the reception that night so we headed back to the cabin & did so! Later we got ourselves ready for the reception & headed over. We had a fabulous dinner at the reception & I must say over all we were fed very well at this wedding which I greatly appreciate cuz there's nothing I hate more than being at a reception & being served a lame cup of mixed nuts & some after dinner mints!

Johnny & Lindsay at the reception

The cake cutting

The garter toss

Which got a little racey!!!

The First Dance

Mom & Dad Turner

Pretty much the rest of the reception was one big dance party!! It was so much fun! Pretty much it was the most fun I've ever had at a wedding reception!!

Let's talk about Marissa here for a minute cuz that girl was in full force!! She was not letting the fact that she was 8 months pregnant slow her down! She was sportin some fierce heels & was out on the dance floor all night! The comment was made that that baby was jsut gonna pop out right on the dance floor! She is my hero!!!

Lauren was my dance partner for most of the night & it was a delight!! She is so cute!!

As the reception winded down Marissa was spent & I don't blame her! So she, Amanda & I headed back to the cabin. Here's where Escondida really had some Tom foolery going on! It should have taken us about 15 minutes to get from the reception back to the cabin but after 20 or 25 minutes of driving around here & there round the outside Escondida took us to some creepy looking camp ground down this even creepier looking dirt road. Where have you taken us!? This is not right! So we turn around & make her recalculate herself. She takes us here & there & round the outside for another 10 or 15 minutes & where do we end up?! Back at that same creepy campground down that same creepy dirt road!! This is something out of a horror movie! Any minute something was going to come out of the woods with a chainsaw & have at us!! We were straight creeped out!! We turn around AGAIN & make her recalculate herself AGAIN & she takes us here & there again & tried a couple more times to make us go down another creepy dirt road. After ignoring her directions a few times she finally pulled herself together & we FINALLY arrived back at the cabin. Keep in mind that we left WAY before everyone else & when we got back to the cabin everyone else was already back & had been there for sometime. When we walked in Mom Turner was like "Where have you guys been?!?!" Oh you know Escondida tried to kill us!!! Little azure whore!!!

The next morning we all departed. Marissa & I headed to the airport but first we ahd to stop somewhere & fill Escondida up with gas before returning her. That was a trial! As we were jsut about to the rental car place I see a gas station sign off in the distance but Escondida was screaming at me to turn left & I got all frazzled & quickly turned. Stop bossing me Escondida!! And trying to find that or any gas station in the whole of downtown San Diego was next to immposible! We drove around for a good 15 minutes before finally found our way back to the gas station I had already seen. all the while Escondida is screaming at us that we're going the wrong way "turn left, turn left, turn left" shut up you skank!!! When we rolled up into the gas station my card wouldn't work at the pump or inside the gas station. that's great! Escondida needs to be filled up before she goes home! gosh! Don't worry Marissa saved the day! We get Escondida turned back in & hopped on the shuttle to the airport. Then we were off!! It was a really quick trip in & out but it was SO much fun!

And now my Johnny is married & even better I got to witness it with my own eyes!!Congratulations Johnny!! You're my dearest friend & I love you!!

This Is It!!!

2009-10-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

So me & Strudel went to see the Michael Jackson concert movie! Don't worry that she made us go at 10:00 at night on a tuesday night!! RUDE!! But I know how much this moment means to dear Strudel so I soldiered on! I was pleasantly surprised when they handed us these little badges like we were VIP or something!! Well of course we're VIP!!!

People this would have been an AMAZING concert!!! It was quite sad to see how excited MJ was about doing this concert series. Just tragic!! If you have a chance to go see it you really should. Straight up MJ was a weirdie there's no question about that but the man was a genius & there will never be another King Of Pop!!!

Here's me & Strudel! Don't mind the state of disarray that my hair is in-it was late folks!!! All in all I thought she handled the event quite well but I'm sure she went hom & cried herself to sleep!

Dear Michael Jackson why are you dead?!?!

P.S. I know it's been FOREVER since I posted but don't fret I've got a super post in the works..I was jsut getting tired of putting it together!!!

30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-01T05:46:00.000-07:00

I AM 30!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!

For My Grandfather

2009-08-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Grandfather,

It’s hard to believe you’ve only been gone a short while and already I miss you more than I can say. Thank you for sharing your life with me and for being such an amazing grandparent. I can honestly say that nobody else I know or have ever known or probably ever will know had grandparents like I did. All of my best memories have you and Grandmother in them. My childhood was one of a kind thanks to you and all you did for us. I don’t even know where to begin-all my memories are so jumbled up in my head. There’s just so many of them!!

Thank you for taking me on all those family reunion road trips even though I didn’t have a clue who any of those people were (and yet they all seemed to know who I was!!). I remember the night before the first road trip I went on. I was so homesick & we hadn’t even left yet. I was sleeping in the “Pink Room”. I was complaining of an upset stomach but you saw right through it! You came and sat on the bed and talked to me until I felt better. I had the most fun on that trip with you and Grandmother! Good thing you talked me out of going home!! Thank you for taking us to Kings Island all those times. What did you do the whole time we were in the park!? Again I don’t know where you were but I knew you were there! Thank you for operating the video camera so faithfully at all the family gatherings, line dancing in the basement, Easter Fashion Shows, Christmas morning, the Nativity re-enactment, 4th of July parades in the backyard, and whenever else we wanted to record ourselves! Thank you for BBQing in the summers. You were a one of a kind chef! Hamburgers and hot dogs don’t taste right to me unless they’re burnt to a crisp! Thank you for letting us ride the horses and for helping us get up into the saddle when we were too little to do it ourselves and for helping us trot them around the yard. Thank you for hiding the eggs at our annual Easter party and for not remembering where you hid them all enabling us to find some missing ones at next year’s party! Thank you for speaking at my Baptism and for the tender little talk you had with me afterwards. I have that moment captured in a picture & will keep it forever.

Thank you for marrying Grandmother and for loving her so much. Thank you for sealing our big, crazy family together. I love them all so much. I can’t imagine my life without all my cousins. Thank you for all of our time at Knollwind. It is truly the treasure of my childhood.

I want to tell you that I love you. I love you for the quiet way you sat in the background & let Grandmother be the center of attention (as I’m sure she preferred to be). I can’t honestly say I remember what you were doing all the time but no matter what was going on you were there-probably video taping!! I love you for how excited you would get when we would come to visit and how you just loved to hugs us & scoop us up in your arms! I love to see you sitting in your yellow recliner watching the news at 6:00 with your trusty glass of Pepsi with the crescent shaped ice cubes in it and to see that you’ve once again fallen sleep! I love to go feed the animals in the barn with you and to help gather the eggs. I love to play on all the broken down trucks & flatbeds scattered across the yard next to the barn & to ride around on all the farm equipment even though most of the time I was too afraid to climb up on them! I love to hear you play “Edelweiss” on your harmonica. I love to hear you call me “Missy” and want you to know that I hold that name in reserve only for you and Grandmother.

I’m glad you’re back home with Grandmother. I know you’ve missed her so much since she’s been gone. Even though I am so incredibly sad that you are no longer here with me and that I will have to live the bulk of my life with you so far away, I am that much happier that you are once again with the one you truly love. Please give her a hug for me and tell her that I love her so much. The greatest desire of my heart has always been that you would see me get married. Please come and see me on that day.

I know I will see you again and can’t wait for that reunion and for you to scoop me up in your arms and hug me. Goodbye….for now.

Nobody loves you like I do.

Love,

Missy

Man I'm Such A Great Friend!!!

2009-08-03T14:30:00.001-07:00

So check it: I am such a great friend! Not even gonna front about it! Who else do you know that would drop EVERYTHING they’re doing to drive 4 hours just to eat dinner with you and then drive another 4 hours back home?!?! I’m pretty much the greatest friend ever cuz that’s just what I did when my Precious came to Utah last week! Before I start my tale let me just say for the record that I’m still a little fussy that said Precious didn’t inform me that he was arriving in Utah-hello I could have been down there all day to play instead of the measly 3.5 hours that I was able to be there on such short notice! RUDE!! Ok now that I’ve gotten that out of the way let’s begin my story!
My dear, sweet friend Joni made the little trek with me & it was such good times! We cranked up our tunes & had plenty of nonsense to talk about! The ride home would be a different story but we’ll get to that in a minute! We managed to get down to Provo just a little after 6:00 & only ran in to 1 area of “road construction” wherein we had to stop & wait for traffic to clear up. Why is there always road construction going on but you never see anyone actually constructed anything!??! Utah’s a mess!! We got to Provo & retrieved Johnny at his sister’s apartment. What a great little reunion! And Joni got to meet him too! Or maybe I should say that Johnny got to meet Joni! Whichever! After retrieving Johnny we went across town to Kristy’s house so Johnny could meet little OP! 1st of all we drove Joni’s vehicle down which happens to be a stick shift which I happen to hate driving but what can ya do!? So after we picked up Johnny I go to back up from our parking spot & find that I don’t have it in reverse. We go forward instead & I am ALL up on the car parked in front of us which just happens to be Dad Turner’s car-that’s great! I tried unsuccessfully a couple more times (as did Joni) to get that crazy car in reverse & it just wasn’t happening! And then when we did finally get it in reverse I was too scared to try & back up as I was convinced we were gonna hit Dad Turner’s car! So Joni & I switched spots so she could back the car up-you know like I was at my 1st Driver’s Ed class!! She backed the car up & we switched seats again! We are retarded!! So we get to Kristy’s & OP was in quite a jovial mood which is quite a change!! I wish I would have taken some pics of that little OP & his booty shakin that he does now! Oh I love him!! Next we went to the Cracker Barrel for to get some grub! I love that place! They have GREAT mac ‘n cheese which everyone know is my one true food love!!! Delicious!! We had a delightful time at dinner discussing this & that & the other-simply delightful! And of course we had to have a photo session with ourselves! It’s how we do!!!

Dear Johnny-he is but my dearest friend!!!

New BFFs Johnny & Joni!!! I love it!!!

I am cute!! And look how tan I am!!! Apparently Johnny thought he was at a GQ photo shoot!!

So precious!!!

So after dinner we had to get to getting so we could get back home. Good grief the drive home was LONG!! We had run out of things to talk about, nothing was sounding good on the ipod, & we were straight up exhausted!!! I thought I was going to die!!! The road just kept going & going & going & going-when are we going to be home?!?! We started talking absolute nonsense just to keep ourselves awake!! Absolute nonsense!!! We finally made it home about 2:00 in the AM & I crashed!! But I also had to get up & go to work like 4 hours later! I am so sure!! I certainly hope John Turner appreciates me!!!

Team Dunbar:The Finale!!!!

2009-07-29T07:05:00.001-07:00

Well it’s the end of an era! Since John Stasiuk (it’s Polish!!) is departing for Maryland today Team Dunbar had its final gathering last night! Oh I love us so much!!!! Now while I’ll miss John S immensely I know the remaining members of Team Dunbar will carry on! It’s how we do!!

Alex was of course the main source of entertainment for the evening saying such things as:

"Curve is wear it's at"

"I missed all this because I was riding the wiener…Oh I have that book."

And for some reason was fixated on whispering the word "moist" without laughing which he could NOT do!!!

Also I seemed to be having a problem keeping my cleavage under control last night & Alex became obsessed with trying to show his "man cleavage" off in our pictures!! where did he come from!??! Oh he is such a delight!!!

It took like 5 tries to get our final picture taken-good grief you guys!! Here are some of the failed attempts:

Cleavage Melissa-Gosh!!!

Here we are for the very last time! And have you ever seen a better looking or tanner group of people?!?! I don’t think so!! Well except for Sarah who is just slightly sunkissed!!!

And check out me & Alex!! Well we are married in Rexburg after all!!!

Dear Team Dunbar why do I love you so much?!?!!?

Island Park Extravaganza!!

2009-07-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a trip up to Island Park with good ole' Memorial Branch! Every year we trek up there for various summer pleasantries & spend the night in a cabin. It is good times!! It was specially fun this year as ALL of Team Dunbar was there for the festivities! Sav & Sarah came from Rexburg, I abondoned my new branch to be there & we joined the rest of our crew that was already there! SO.MUCH.FUN. On Friday me & Joni got up there about 2:00 & hit the water!

1st up was Joni trying out the jetskis for the very 1st time!

I thought she might wet herself!

Brian, Casey & Trevor from my new branch joined us for some boating Friday afternoon & it was fantastic!!

Trevor & Brian in the tube-those boys just think they are too cool for school!! :)

Brian's failed attempts at wakeboarding! He gets serious points for effort tho cuz that looks hard!! I'd never be able to do it!

And Trevor making it look so easy!!

So Joni gave it an unsucessful shot but she's my hero for trying!

The room that the girls stayed in had this awesome bridge & slide that Brian just HAD to try out! And apprently he didn't feel the need to wear all his clothes whilst doing this!! Dear Brian!!

The rest of Team Dunbar arrived later that afternoon & it was a blessed reunion!

Sav & Alex-I heart this picture!

Ready to hit the water!

My hair is once again a hot mess!

Me & Alex-I also heart this picture!! The tannest & the tallest!

Still the tannest & the tallest & we look HOT in this picture!!

Dear Sav & Sarah

Bless this event!

We spent Friday night at the cabin & by Saturday morning I have to say I had hit my fun barrier but then my friend Kyle showed up & took me out on the jetskis which I had never done before since everyone knows I'm afraid of everything! I told him there was to be NO Tom Foolery & absolutely NO shenanigans whilst we were out there! Don't try & tip us over or try & make me fall off or any of that nonsense! The 1st time we went out we hit some nice little wakes from the boats & for a minute there we had some Tom Follery going on but it was fun! The 2nd time we went out we got on a faster jetski & hit some bigger wakes & got into some straight up shenanigans! I thought for sure I was gonna fly right off the back of that thing but I had my kung-foo grip on Kyle's waist & managed to stay on!!

And I look good on the back of this jetski mmmkkkkaaayyy!!

By lunch time I had hit my fun barrier twice over so me & Joni decided to bounce on outta there! We were so sunburnt & so exhausted but oh my soul it was such a great weekend!!!

Some Summer Stuff!!

2009-07-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

So Team Dunbar had a delightful reunion yesterday! Oh it was just the best day!!! First me, Savanna, Sarah, John Stasiuk (it's Polish!!), & my new friend Joelyn had a delightful little afternoon at Rigby Lake! Of course we got fried!!! I love being in the sun!!! Now normally I don't enjoy swimming in lakes & such cuz you know there's prolly dead bodies & what have you floatin out there but it was crapping hot & the water was actually really clear yesterday so I jumped on in!! We were out there for a good 4 hours & got pretty deep fat fried!! A most delightful afternoon!!

Me & Sav floatin in the lake! Side note Savanna's "Noodle" was only $5!!! you can't beat that right Sav!?!?

Sarah & John building their little sand castle-how tender!!

It even had a little mote!! Well done you guys!!!

And the subsequent mud fight that occurred! You'll be finding sand in places you didn't know you had after these such shenanigans!!

Me & Sav scorchin in the sun! My hair is a HOT mess!!!

Dear Joelyn soakin up some sun!

Alex joined us that night for a movie & oh it was just the greatest day! Team Dunbar for the win!! And my hair continues to be a hot mess!!

I love us!!!!!!

4th Report!!!

2009-07-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

Ok it's taken me a bit to get my 4th of July write up done but when you're popular like me life just doesn't allow the time to sit down & play on the computer!! 1st of all let me just say on a personal note that while most people base their lives around New Year's I seem to base mine on summer & the month of July in particular. Things just seem to happen to me in the summer months. I'm especially surprised this year as I look back at my life compared to last year & it just seems so different & sometimes I can't believe where the last year has taken me. Anyways.....Ok here we go folks my 4th of July!!

Me, Jenny & Strudel got up early & drove down to Logan to see my BFF Jared as he is heading to Iraq very soon & I just had to see him before he left! I met Jared coming up on 10 years ago when I was at Ricks! I can NOT believe it's been 10 years!! We were just kids when we met!!! Even though I don't get to see him as often as I would like to he is still one of my closest friends & knows me better than almost anybody! I'm sad that's he's going to be gone for the next year & I'm concerned that I'm going to have to have his wife Cheryl fill in if I were to get married in the next year while he's gone as Jared is supposed to be one of my bridesmaids-which would be fine as I adore Cheryl!!! Still I just want Jared to be there!! On a cheezy note (and cuz I am talking about the 4th of July) let me just say how proud I am of Jared for giving up his life in service of this country!

ok here's me, Jared & Jenny

Dear Jared-I just love you! Here's to 10 great years!!!

Bsically we just drove down there, ate lunch with Jared, snapped some pics, and then headed back home! I love little road trips like that!! After we got back to Idaho Falls we headed to the river to eat funnel cakes! That was our only purpose in going over there & at 1st we could NOT find the funnel cake stand!! I was pretty much devestated & close to tears! We walked all up & down the street looking for the funnel cakes & couldn't find them! I can't celebrated my independance without stuffing my fat face with funnel cake!! I almost resigned myself to settling for eating anything that was fried when out of nowhere that funnel cake stand appeared before us! It was right there the whole time! I haven't been so excited in quite a while!! Strudel had never even had a funnel cake before & almost dind't get one! We weren't having any of that nonsense!! Oh they were so delightful!!!

Here we are stuffing our fat faces!!

Holy crap I love funnel cake!!!!!!

After eating our delightful funnel cakes we headed out to the parents for their annual BBQ with all their crazy neighbors! I dind't take any pics of that-sorry folks! Whilst we were out there we had our Michael Jackson Memorial for Strudel! Me, Jenny, Strudel, my brother Geryk & my sis-in-law Heather headed over to one of the canals by the parents house & put little candles in these white paper bags & sent them floating down the canal while listening to "Will You Be There"-which I thought was a great song for the memorial.

Strudel sending the 1st bags down...

Dear Strudel why are you so sad?!?!

Us sending the rest of the bags down the canal

One of the bags caught fire part way down & I FREAKED!! I can just see the headline now "Five Local Idiots Set Town On Fire While Having A Michael Jackson Memorial"!!! I'd never live that down! But not to worry the bag sank pretty soon after & all was well!!

Here's the bags floating down the canal

The local idiots who had a memorial for Michael Jackson

Oh by the by-the doll we're holding is of course 1 of Strudel's Michael Jackson dolls & this 1 in particular played several MJ songs & had a different outfit for each song! I am so sure!!

Dear Michael Jackson why are you dead?!?!?

After the memorial me & Jenny headed to the river to watch the fireworks. This would be our last time to watch them together as Jenny & Boyfriend are mvoing to Ohio this week. Don't get me started! As we were waiting for the show to start it occured to me that the very 1st time Jenny & I ever hung out together was on the 4th of July, at the river, waiting for the fireworks 9 years ago & that now our last time together before she moved was on the 4th of July, at the river, waiting for the fireworks! That's crazy!! And tender!!!

Here we are! Dear Jenny-I love you & I'm going to miss you more than I can say!!

Holy freak this was a long post! But there you have it-my 4th of July report!! I look forward to next year's festivities & of course more funnel cake!!!!

Quick Post

2009-07-02T07:15:00.001-07:00

So I've been listening to pandora.com whilst I'm at work & it's pretty great! Altho I'm sure Aerosmith would be thrilled ot know that they've been group together with the boy bands station!! HAHA!!! And yes i have a boy bands station!! What of it!?!?

Get ready for a bunch of posts cuz this weekend is gonna be CRAZY busy!! The following things are scheduled to be happening:

Jenny is coming up for the weekend & we will be having our final farewell before she moves to Ohio. Get your Kleenex out!!

I'm going down to see my BFF Jared before he departs for another stint in Iraq. Good grief!! Kleenex again!!

It's the 4th of July and that means i get to eat funnel cakes by the reeever!!! Oh I love it so much!!

We will be having a memorial service for my sister Jamie in observance of MJs passing! Oh it's going to be so great! I've got some good stuff planned for it!!

I'm exhausted just thinking of all this stuff!!! Stay tuned for pics & stories!!!!

Side note: I seem to be obsessed with this MJ song "Will You Be There" who knows why but I just love it!!!

Can You Believe?!?!

2009-06-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

I am so sure Michael Jackson died today!!! That's just plain craziness!! I seriously can't believe it!! There's no question that he is the weirdie of all weirdies but you can't deny that he is an ICON!!! Good grief who's next!??! The entertainment world is dying off!! I was hard pressed to find a decent picture of him-you know where he's not looking freaky with his crazy nose or grabbing his crotch or some such nonsense so this one will have to do and I mean come on Thriller is after all the best selling album of all time!!! Don't worry that Strudel is in mourning & will be for some time I'm sure. Be sure to pay her some condolences!

And please we can't forget the Moonwalk!!!

I put "The Way You Make Me Feel" on my Tunes For The Blog (if you'll notice). Not only is it my favorite Micheal Jackson song it's also one of my favorite songs of ALL time!! I'll be having a King Of Pop music day tomorrow in remembrance!!

In other entertainment news: have you heard this mess about the Academy having 10 Best Picture nominations next year instead of the usual 5?!? At 1st I thought nothing of it except that it's twice as many movies I'll have to see in preparation but still I was fine with it. Then I read some nonsense about how they're hoping that having more nominated films will let a wider range of movies have a chance at the big prize. Sci-if movies like Star Trek (you know I'm a total Trekkie but seriously Star Trek winning a Best Picture Oscar!? Get serious!!). They're also hoping that comedies might have a better shot now....comedies like The Hangover!!! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!! I'll die before I see The Hangover in the Best Picture race! You heard me DIE!! What's next having Britney Spears host the show!?! Good grief pull it together Hollywood!!!

Since You've Been Gone....

2009-06-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Well I've got a lot to report...ok maybe not a lot but it'll take a while to spill it all out. Let's start with the FABULOUS trip me & my crew took down to Utah to see Kelly Clarkson!!! I LOVE HER!!! After Lifehouse she is the soundtrack of my life!!

Here are videos of my 2 favorite parts from the concert.

LOVE how at the beginning of this one she talks about being in a relationship where the other person PISSED you off!! You know I was screaming over that!!! Also I crapping love this song & it was so written for me!! I even wrote part of it on the mirror in my bathroom! As Marissa says it's all "BAM YOU SUCK!!" true story!!

This next one I had never heard before but now I absolutely love it!! And man that girl can sing!!

And of course some pics of us from the concert! We had pretty much the best spot in the whole place & we were SO close to Kelly!! oh it was such a delight!!!

Me & Sav-yet another delightful picture of us!! It's how we do!!!

The whole crew!!!

Dear Kelly....we LOVE you!!!

Also, last week I celebrated a month of being at my apartment!! I can't believe it's been a whole month already!! crazy talk! I celebrated with my buddy Junior from work & here's a pic of my celebretory piece of cake! And yes I know it seems silly to celebrate such a thing but it's a HUGE milestone for me!! I'm feeling better & better as each day passes & feel like I'm getting control of my life back!! Well done Melissa!!

So I decided it's high time I took some pics of my new place so my fans can see it-if they haven't seen it in person already!! So look for that in my next post!! stay tuned......

The Bucket List

2009-06-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

If you’ll notice my countdown I am going to be 30 years old in 83 days!!! 83 DAYS!!!! In anticipation of the BIG 3-0 I am compiling a list of things I would like to do/try/get done before the big day comes! So far my list is as follows:

Paintballing
Toilet papering
Sing Karaoke
Catch, gut, clean, cook, & eat a fish
Eat a meal at a sit down restaurant by myself
Learn to play a song on the violin
Finish the quilt I started 5 years ago
Eat snake
Lose 15 pounds
See an opera

If anyone can think of anything else to add to this list please feel free to leave your suggestions!!! I've only got 83 days so I better get to gettin!!!!

This Is The Last Time

2009-05-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Turn your sound on for this one-please click on "Watch Over You" by Alter Bridge from the Tunes For The Blog playlist to the side.

I tried to carry you & make you whole
But it was never enough. I must go.
You say you care for me but hide it well.
You long to hear my voice, but I'm long gone.
And when I’m gone who will break your fall?
Who will you blame? Who’ll ease your pain?
Who will give you strength when you're not strong?
And who is gonna save you when I’m gone?
And who’ll watch over you?

"Watch Over You"
-Alter Bridge

He and I had something beautiful
But so dysfunctional it couldn't last.
I loved him so, But I let him go.

"Near To You"
-A Fine Frenzy

Never again will I hear you
Never again will I miss you
Never again will I fall to you
Never.

"Never Again"
Kelly Clarkson

It's time to make my way into the world I knew
And then take back all of these times that I gave in to you.

"Let Me Be Myself"

3 Doors Down

I've got to breath-you can't take that from me
I can finally say we're through

"Wind Blows"
-All American Rejects

Enough said. He won't be mentioned again.

It's No Surprise I Won't Be Here Tomorrow

2009-05-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

So I’m all moved into my new place!!!! I can’t believe it!!! It was a CRAZY weekend!!! I started Thursday morning moving my “stuff” stuff over. My dear, sweet friend Joni helped me haul boxes & containers over & holy crap we got a lot done in a short amount of time! I was pretty impressed with us! I continued taking stuff over on Friday morning with some help from Jon Judy & of course we had some drama go on. Whatever. Then in the afternoon Lisa came & helped me & we got my dinning room table all set up in the new place & it fits perfectly in kitchen which I was quite concerned about. I would DIE without my table!!! After Lisa left I just layed there on the living room floor for awhile not wanting to do anything else! Saturday morning it was on! The boys came over & loaded up all the furniture & it took 3 trucks to get it all over there! That’s a lot of stuff!!! The highlight of the morning was when Kelly Fitzsimmons was wanting a snack & found some yogurt in the fridge but of course there was no silverware to eat it with so he just opened up the little container & threw it back like it was a jello shot or something!! It was great!!! The Sav, Sarah, JT, & John S went to town cleaning the apartment!! I was back & forth between the 2 apartments all afternoon & felt really bad that I wasn’t there cleaning with them. Let me just say that I am so in love with those guys for all that they did!! I went & grabbed lunch for everybody & came back to find that they had pulled the fridge out & scrubbed under it, scrubbed the crap out of the stove & oven, washed all the walls, & the bathroom was sparkling clean!!! I about started crying when I walked in & saw how hard they were working! We got done a lot earlier than I thought we would & I was so busy that I didn’t even have time to breakdown & start blubbering! But then when Judy, my landlady, came to do my final walk through I teared up a little as I walked through all the empty rooms. I’ll never be in that apartment again. I passed my clean check with flying colors!! That apartment looked so amazing!!!

Here’s the empty apartment

The living room

the dinning room

the spare room

my beloved room

I should have taken some pics of the mess & chaos going on in the new apartment but I just didn't have the energy. It's pretty crazy over there right now but I'm making progress!! I spent my 1st night there by myself last night & it felt great!! I did it-I actually moved!!! Hardest thing I've ever done but I did it!!!

If I could see the future & how this plays out I bet it's better than where we are now.

You and I will be a tough act to follow.

"No Surprise"
-Daughtry

Unfinished Project

2009-05-13T13:59:00.001-07:00

“We’d actually deceived ourselves into thinking that a toy made out of tissue paper, glue and bamboo could some how close the chasm between us.”

-The Kite Runner

So I started this project with Jon Judy a couple months ago & was waiting til it was finished before I posted anything about it but let’s stop kidding ourselves-it’s not ever going to get finished. I thought this might have been a good project for us to work on together & that it might help fix our broken relationship. Not so much & we’re at a standstill on it. It’s gonna take more than this board made out of wood and glue to close the chasm between us. But here’s the pics of what got done just the same. Truth be told it would have been an awesome thing for my craft room.

Jon cutting the board to size

Still sizing!

See how I'm working!!

Still working!!

This is as far as we got on the board. It's also supposed to have corkboard pieces on it

Jon building the frame which he made from scratch!

The frame pieces

The finished frame. I have to say it's pretty spectacular & enormously big!!

Who knows if this will ever get finished. I guess time will tell. If it gets finished I'll post the finished product for all to see!!

Side note: The Kite Runner (where I got that quote from is a must read!!!)

Times Are Tough!!!!

2009-05-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Well folks the unthinkable has happened.....you'll never guess what I've done....wait for it....wait for it.....I downgraded my cable & got rid if my DVR!!! WHAT?!?!?! I know you're thinking to yourself "What in the HELL is going on?!?!" Believe me I thought the same thing myself as I went & turned my DVR box back into the cable company. They all but had to rip it from my cold, dead kung-foo grip!!! Here's the deal: when I move to my new place I can have my DISH back again which is infinitely cheaper that crappy Cableone (they can suck it!) & I didn't want to pay for a whole month for the crapping expensive cable & frankly times are tough & something needed to give! So I turn in the DVR box & the next day as I was perusing through the channels I noticed a couple things: #1 the remote I'm having to use now on the living room TV is so small & insignificant compared to the remote I was using before. I feel like I'm in the stone ages or something!! #2 I didn't really see a change in the channel line up now that I had downgraded. I can live with this through the summer & save myself some monies!! Don't worry that Monday when I went to watch some shows I had like next to no channels!! What's the meaning of this!?!? Turns out they hadn't downgraded it yet & being without DVR was all I had endured over the weekend! Rude Cableone RUDE!!! They were just toying with my emotions!! So in real life i only have the basic local channels BUT i also have E! & Bravo which is really all I need to get me through the summer!! Thank goodness!! I am missing my DVR something fierce tho! How do people live like this!?! Now i have to wait for a commercial if I need to get up & use the bathroom or something!! That's uncivilized!! And to add to that mess I no longer have the guide to look at to see what's on & what each episode is about. I've been reduced to watch the TV guide channel & waiting for it to scroll through the guide!! It's a real punch in the gut that's for sure!! Luckily my dear, sweet friend Savanna has been gracious enough to record a few of my main shows so I can get through Finale time!! Dear Sav-bless your soul!!!! It's gonna be touch & go for awhile but hopefully I'll make it through this difficult transition!!!

Update.....

2009-05-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well the move is in full swing!!! My house is looking pretty sad right now! With nothing left hanging on the walls & almost no decor' left in sight it's starting to look less & less like my house & is making me less sad to be leaving it. That's a good thing!!! My room is all but packed up except for the furniture & my clothes of course!!! The living room & dinning room are in total disarray! After spending what seemed like hours scrubbing the kitchen floor on Saturday (I'm talking on my hands & knees scrubbing the crap out of it with a toothbrush getting into every little corner!!) I took my dinning room table apart & it is now in pieces sitting up against the wall! That thing is way too big to fit through the front door & you must be trippin if you think I'm just tossing it off the balcony when I move! Strudel & I have now filled the dinning room with all the boxes we've packed in an effort to get them all consolidated & so that my newly cleaned kitchen floor won't get dirty again in the next 2 weeks!! I am NOT scrubbing that again!!!

Here's some before pics of the living room & dinning room:

So cute & quaint right?!?! Well here's what we're living with now:

And let's talk about these blinds for just a minute!! These are the original blinds that came in the apartment & you better believe those got taken down years ago!! I had to put them back up the other day & 1st of all I couldn't even remember how to put them back up & #2 they are so hideous & they make me cringe every time I have to look at them!!!

I need to take pics of my room in its present condition! It's so empty now that it echos!!!! Next Thursday I can start moving my things into my new place!!! Everybody's changing & now finally I am too!!!

The Holiday

2009-04-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ok this is prolly THE greatest movie clip maybe ever!!! And if you've been paying any sort of attention to my life recently you'll get why I love it so much!!! I am SOOOOOOO Iris in this movie!! If you've never seen The Holiday you need to drop what you're doing & go get it!! I've been watching this movie non-stop the last few weeks!!! Gumption ladies...gumption!!!!

"Because you’re hoping you’re wrong & every time he does something that tells you he’s no good you ignore it & every time he comes through & surprises you he wins you over & you lose that argument with yourself that he’s not for you” That is THE greatest line!! I substituted the "she" for "he" to make it applicable!!

It's true it doesn't matter how many gyms you join or new haircuts you get! Truer words have never been spoken!! All I need now is to find MY Miles (Jack Black)!!!!

Breakaway......

2009-04-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

You may or may not have heard that I am moving!! It's true!!! In 19 short (or long more likely) days I will be vacating 760 K St #6 where I have resided for the past 3 & 1/2 years!! It's a bittersweet move & frankly one of the toughest choices I've ever made but it's time to move on & leave certain things behind (one certian thing in particular!)!! I LOVE that apartment & am going to miss living there & I'm totally gonna miss living in the ghetto!! But I am really anxious to get moved & started on a new life which will, God willing, hopefully be less dramatic than the one I'm leaving behind! Good grief!! I've begun the long, frustrating task of packing & chose to start with my bedroom & to my great surprise there wasn't a single tear shed as I boxed up my things & took things off the walls. Go me!!! I'm taking pics of each room before I start dismantling everything-you know for posterity! There will be many more updates over the next couple of weeks as I countdown my final days on good ol' K St!!!

Here's a couple before pics of my room:

Side note: have you ever seen someone with more stuff packed into their bedroom before!??! Just wait till you see all the food storage & clothes I've got crammed in the closet!!

Another side note: it feels like it's the end of the school year when I was in college & everyone is moving home for the summer! Sav & Sarah departed last weekend, Strudel's departing next weekend, and I'm packing up the week after that!! It's weird!!!!

Me & My Jenny!!!

2009-04-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Speaking of everybody changing…..my Jenny moved to Burley a couple months ago right? I do not like it one single bit!! Lucky for us she’s had several occasions to come back up to Idaho Falls, but soon reality’s gonna set in that she doesn’t really live here anymore. We’re running out of reasons for her to come up!!! Good thing she’s only 2 hours away instead of all the way in Ohio like Boyfriend originally wanted! How can we realize our dream of living next door to eachother with all our hooligan children if she’s living all the way across the country?!?!

Here’s me & my Jenny at my brother Geryk’s reception last week. Yes my brother Geryk got married AGAIN & don’t even get me started on that disorganized mess!!!

And here's us with Cheryl (my mother!) and holy crap what's with all my cleavage!! That's indecent!!!

Farewell to Sav & Sarah

2009-04-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well everybody’s changing and I don’t feel the same……Sav & Sarah made their move to the booming metropolis of Rexburg last weekend. It was tragic! Team Dunbar is disbanding but don’t you worry our plan is to create new crews in our various locations & then merge!! We all arrived at headquarters (Sav & Sarah’s house) to help them move. Every 10 minutes Alex would ask us girls if we were crying yet or if we were getting emotional –STOP IT!! That’s making it worse! Truth be told I think it was Alex Trost that was getting emotional & on the verge of crying & wanted to make sure he wasn’t the only one! Good grief!!! Let me give some Kudos to one Sarah Larsen for a minute as I’ve never seen someone with such amazing packing skills before! She instructed us to take a HUGE pile of boxes out to her car and all of us thought she was nuts thinking they would all fit in her little car. PUH-SHAW she said! That girl squeezed every one of those boxes in her car & still had room for a passenger! It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!! After we loaded up the various cars & trucks we headed to Rexburg to unload-it took us about 30 seconds to unload everything which was odd! Why did it take us so long to load everything up!??! After a delightful little lunch at Sav & Sarah’s new pad we headed back to headquarters to finish cleaning everything up. We managed to keep it together til close to the end of the day when Sav looked at me and said “I’m going to miss you so much” SHUT IT!!! Then the waterworks almost got loose!! Girl pull it together we got too much work to do!!! One by one everyone departed but I was determined to stay till the bitter end & I did!! I sure am gonna miss headquarters!

One last time at Headquarters! We are so cute!!!

The Hair Show!!!

2009-04-23T07:07:00.000-07:00

Ok check it: a couple weeks ago Sav, Sarah & I attended the Austin Kade Academy Hair Show! What the junk is a hair show you ask?! Yeah I asked the same thing & never really figured out what was going to be going on! Let me tell you it was the most delightful little evening I’ve had in awhile!! Our friend Nellie is a student at the Austin Kade Academy & had selected our dear Alex Trost to be one of her models. Of course Alex was in heaven!! All those eyes on him!!! The cost of admission was $10 and at 1st we were a little put off that we were gonna have to pay $10 just to look at hair but it was worth every penny & even better when we were told it was going to a battered women’s shelter. Ok then you may take my $10!!! The whole evening was a montage of Broadway musicals!!! Several dance crews from around the city would dance & then the models would work it on the cat walk & show off their hair which was designed around the costumes for each of the musicals. I wish I had taken more pictures!!! Don’t worry we made a HUGE ruckus when Alex Trost came out & you could tell he was loving every minute of it!!

Here's one of the other models & the craziness she was sportin!! It took them at least a 1/2 hour to get that mess off her head!!

Alex & Nellie

Check out the blue hair & "guy"-liner!!!

Alex on stage

What a delightful little evening!!!

Team Dunbar

2009-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

So it's been FOREVER since I posted anything-yes I'm aware of this!! So here's some pis of some of the activities my crew (A/K/A Team Dunbar) has been up to lately! We are good times!!! Last week we went on a shooting outing courtesy of Jon Judy & his arsenal of weapons!! It was a delightful little outing-nobody got shot, nobody blew their hand off & we even managed to hit the clay pigeons!! I,myself, hit 5 out of the 12 that I shot at!! That's amazing!! We looked pretty fierce holdin those guns I must say! Do NOT cross us!!! And yes I am aware that I look like a cancer patient with that hat on but I don't care cuz it was cold!!

We also celebrated Jon Judy's & Alex;s birthdays on Friday. We took a jaunt down to Pocatello to Red Lobster where we stuffed our fat faces with seafood-delish!! Then we traveled back up to Blackfoot and had a bonfire at Sarah's parents' house where we continued to stuff our fats faces with smores!! again-DELISH!!! It was another delightful little outing!!! Happy Birthday Jon Judy & Alex!!! There are more pics to come but this''ll get you started! Enjoy!!!

Say It Isn't So!!!

2009-02-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

Ok people I just read the most disturbing news article-they're saying that Krispy Kreme might be closing!!!! WHAT!?!? I may as well be dead cuz if that happens there's not much worth living for!! I love Krispy Kreme!!! They hold a special place in my heart. The very 1st time I ever had them I was in Mesa, AZ getting dumped by the love of my life and was introduced to these magical things called Krispy Kreme Donuts-totally changed my life and made everything better....at least for a little while! This is just tragic!!! Next I'll be reading that Sprinkles Cupcakes is closing too!! Then I really will have nothing to live for!!!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!!!

2009-01-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

And you thought Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year!! Puh-shaw!!!! It's Oscar season people and nominations came out today!!!!! I love it!!! It's looking like it's gonna be a good year for the Oscars!!! I've printed out my ballot & done my initial predictions-I'm gonna have to do a little more research before I pick a couple of them. You always wanna find out what the various Documentaries are about-the Academy loves anything to do with human suffering so I'm gonna go with whichever pulls the most heart strings!! I love love love that Heath Ledger got a nomination!! It's delicious!! And they are totally predicting him to win which in the history of the Oscars only like 1 person has ever won after they died! I'm predicting that he's gonna win!!! Benjameeen Button got a slew of nominations and while I thought the movie was fantastic I'm afraid it's gonna go down like Gangs of New York did a few years ago where it got like 11 nominations and didn't win a single thing! That was tragic. And I'm sayin it right now if Kate Winslet doesn't win an Oscar this year I'm gonna stop watching them!! You heard me!!! Give her a crapping Oscar already!! She just needs to win!!!

Plans for my annual Oscar party will now commence!!! I'm ordering Sprinkles Cupcakes for the occasion!! It's going to be so fantastic!!!

Go ahead and peruse oscar.com for all things Oscar!! What a great day!!!!

Ok People.....

2009-01-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

So I haven't had much going on to blog about but there are a couple of things on my mind this morning and just FYI these are gonna be pretty random!!!

#1 The new season of 24 started and everyone knows I HEART TONY!!! I love him!!! I'm glad to have him back and was all hunkered down to have him be the baddie this season but seriously now we find out he's back from the dead and is working under cover?! That's so lame!!! This isn't a soap opera!!! It's kinda putting me off and detracting from my initial happiness of having him back and I swear if they kill him off again this season I'm gonna stop watching! you heard me!!! I lived through that tragedy once-I can't do it again!!

#2 In my efforts to eat healthy and slim down I decided to take Oprah's suggestion and eat Steel Cut Oats instead of regular oats. They are weird!! They look like bird food 1st of all-which based on where they were in the bulk bins at Winco might be a possibility......hmmmm...anywho I cooked them for what seemed like forever and they never really got soft...you know maybe they are bird food!!! Well if Oprah says to eat them I better just do it!!!

#3 Yesterday at work we got to stop & watch the Innauguration and I must say it was very exciting!! I had never watched any of the previous ones before. And we got to eat donuts-you can't beat that!! There were a couple of things I noticed:where was Oprah?!?! I thought for sure she'd be in the front row!! And didn't Aretha Franklin have the most DIVINE hat on?!?! I wanted it!! ok maybe not what I should have taken away from the event but whatever!!! Still it was exciting!!! And what I pulled from Obama's speech was that he was saying "pull it together America!!!" true story-we do need to pull it together!!!

So those are my random ramblings for today!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody!!!!!

I'm happy to report that as of midnight I am now 2 years sober off of soda!!! I had a dream the night before that I was 45 minutes away from midnight and wasn't paying attention and downed a can of Dr. Pepper and then was so distraught that I didn't make it 2 years and that I had fallen off the wagon with Dr. Pepper which i don't even like! That dream haunted me all day long!! But I made it!!! I've decided that on my 30th birthday I get to have a can of Pepsi (my drug of choice) and a can of Cream Soda! I hope I make it that long!!!

And in case you didn't notice the countdown I'm gonna be 30 this year!!! HOLY BALLS!!!! That's right folks-30!!!! Everything is revolving around that so hunker on down!!!

Here's to hoping that 2009 is less crazy & dysfunctional than 2008!!! 2008 just about wore me out!!!!

Seriously?!?!

2008-12-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ok just a quick little vent: why is there a chick hanging out in my area wearing slippers instead of regular shoes?!?! This IS an office isn't it!? Not her living room!??! Casual dress does NOT mean your pajamas people! Have some sense!! If I can manage to get all THIS (finger pointing at my fabulous self!) ready and looking good everyday the least you can do is throw on some regular shoes and not your house slippers and bathrobe!!! Gosh!!!

Wentworth!!

2008-12-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of Wentworth my little gay tree!! You prolly can't tell from the picture but he's totally leaning! oh that Wentworth!! It took me like a week to get some decorations on him-he just stood there naked!!! I don't care I love him!!!!

Story Time!!!

2008-12-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

Ok I’ve got a lot to catch up on people so hunker yourselves down for story time!!! Let’s start with some Christmas items!!! I started my annual candy making project yesterday and things are in full swing!! I’m in a bit of a time crunch here so I’ve had to use my time wisely! You see when you’re popular like me and have events every night it’s hard to find the time to get candy making done so you’re forced to squeeze it in wherever you can!

Here's all my candy making provisions-I've got a lot to do!!!

Yesterday during lunch I was a multi-tasking fool!! With one hand I was stirring a pot of melting chocolate and with the other I stirred my lunch! Then after my lunch was done cooking I began pouring my chocolate out onto the pan while sneaking bites of my lunch in where I could-don’t worry that at one point I had a mouthful of piping hot noodles but I soldiered on!! I managed to get 2 of my candies made, my lunch eaten, my mouth burned, and the kitchen mostly cleaned up! Go me!!! After work I began working on some of my other candies until Jon came over to help me make caramels!! This was my 1st attempt at making caramels and it showed!! Jon read off the directions for me and I put everything in the pot. Side note: Jon Judy is a caramel making expert and I don’t know why but it is so random that he makes them!!

Ok back to me!! I get everything in the pot, turn on the heat, and hunker down for the alleged 2 hours that it takes to make these caramels. Jon stayed in the kitchen for the 1st few minutes and chatted with me while I stirred but quickly got bored of that and plopped down in the living room to watch a movie. About 20 minutes later I look down at my pot of boiling caramel and it’s awfully dark for how long it had been cooking. It’s burning!!! Jon comes in to take a look and sure enough I had somehow managed to cook the 2 hour caramels in 20 minutes! They were gross!!! Well crap Jon-why weren’t you supervising me better!?!? So we pour that batch out and scrape the remnants out of the pot (and by WE I mean Jon!!)!

Me during round 1-Look how i'm so excited to be making caramels like I know what I'm doing and I'm not about to ruin them!!! Side note: Jon refused to have his picture taken to document this little project! I don't know why he has to act like that!! Gosh!!!

So Jon decides that maybe my stove is just hotter than his so it cooked faster blah blah blah so we decide to go down to his house and use his stove. After making fun of me for a few minutes (and rightfully so!!) we got back down to business and Jon paid a little bit more attention to what I was doing! I was a bit nervous as I poured everything in the pot and began stirring! Jon would never shut it if I ruined a 2nd batch!!! Things went better this time around so don't you fret!!! My caramels turned out smashingly!! I can’t wait to hand them out!!! Thanks Jon Judy!!!

I Love My Big Gay Tree!!!!

2008-12-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

Ok so check it! I got my Christmas tree last night!!!!Fa la la la la!!!! So last year getting my tree was QUITE a fiasco!! It took me forever to pick him out and forever to get him situated in his little tree stand (mostly cuz I don’t own any tools so we were hacking at his stump with a steak knife or the claw end of a hammer or some such nonsense!!!) and then when I finally did get him situated he seemed to be leaning an awfully lot! No matter what we did he was always leaning and then I discovered that his trunk wasn’t quite straight-he’s gay!!!! I named him Sebastian and I loved my big gay tree!! So last night I went to the tree lot and scoped out the trees. The 1st one I saw was just too big and then I saw the perfect tree! He was just the right size and appeared to be standing straight!! Wrap him up I’ll take him to go!!!!! so we get him home and in his little tree stand with minimal fuss and I think he’s perfect and everything is going well! Yeah too bad he also leans a little and doesn’t stand up straight! Another gay tree!!!! Oh good grief!! But he only leans just slightly as if he just hasn’t quite decided if he’s gay or not!!! What can ya do?!? I love my little gay tree!!! I’m gonna name him Wentworth!!!! Pics will be posted as soon as I get him all gussied up!!! Merry Christmas!!!!

Get Your Gratefulness On!!

2008-11-25T12:26:00.000-08:00

Man I’m excited for Turkey Day this year!!!!! I am ready to eat my weight in stuffing and mashed potatoes and pie!!! We get to eat pie for breakfast!!!! I can’t wait!!!! I thought I would take a few moments and reflect on a few things I’m thankful for right now (in no particular order & FYI some of these might be quite cheezy which I know is so unlike me!!! Deal with it!!):

#1 I’m thankful for my roommate!!!! Currently my sister Jamie (Strudel) resides with me and for the 1st time EVER in my life (besides when I was living by myself) I’m not having to deal with an ounce of roommate drama!!! It is so great!!! At 1st I wasn’t sure if me & Strudel would survive as roommates but seriously it’s been great and I’m glad we’ve had this time together. So tender right?!?!

#2 I’m thankful for Johnny my Precious!! No joke- it has been a hard time lately for yours truly and Johnny has had to listen to me out right bawling my eyes out more than I’m sure he’d care to but he’s been really good to me even tho I’m sure he wants to pull his hair out!!!! We’re coming up on 9 years of Precious good times!!! So much tenderness!!!

#3 I’m thankful that Lifehouse is back in the studio recording a new album!!! They really are the soundtrack of my life and I need some new anthems!!!

#4 I’m thankful to be reunited with Marissa!!! She’s one of the few people in this world who truly gets me! Reunited and it feels so good!!!!! I am so looking forward to our visit in a couple weeks!!!!

#5 I’m thankful for the unusually warm weather we’ve been having lately. Sure 40 or 50 degrees doesn’t sound that warm to anyone not living in Idaho but it’s amazing for us! It’s getting a little chillier but still NO SNOW!!! Consequently I am thankful that I haven’t had to turn the heat on in my apartment yet!!!

#6 I’m thankful to still be employed!! In case you didn’t know I work in the Mortgage Industry and unless you live under a rock you know it’s not really the market to be working in right now. But I’m still gainfully employed and even better I still have an assistant!!! Who else is gonna get all my work done!?!?

#7 I am thankful for my DVR!!! I went 12 days with no DVR and honestly it wasn’t that bad but I am grateful to have it back! In general I’m thankful for the person who invented the DVR-there’s a special place reserved in heaven for that person I’m sure of it!!

#8 I’m thankful that gas has gone down so much lately!!! There’s a gas station that I pass every day on my way to work and every time I see the price drop lower it just fills me with warm fuzzies!! If only I could find a way to add that to my food storage!!!

#9 I’m thankful that it’s Oscar season!!! It’s the most wonderful time of the year!! There’s gonna be some good movies coming out here in the next little while all leading up to the most important night of the year-Oscar Night!!!! I love it!!!

#10 I’m thankful that my man Tony Almeida will be back on 24 this season!! Now while I do think it’s lame that they killed him off and then brought him back his absence has left a whole in my heart that can not be filled!!! Altho from looking at the previews it looks like he’s a bad guy (can you blame him!!?) and you know what happens to all the bad guys in 24!! Jack Bauer snaps their necks with his legs!! I survived Tony dying once-I don’t think I can do it again! But I will get to wear my I Heart Tony t-shirt again when I watch!!!

So there you go-the top 10 things I’m thankful for right now!!!

Melissa Hively Has Voted!!!!

2008-11-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

So I pulled the lever for Democracy today!!! Me & Strudel went downtown during lunch to do our civic duty!! Couple of things about my voting experience today:

#1 Our designated voting place was the Courthouse Rotunda. ohhhh La-ti-dah the Rotunda!! by the sounds of that I was expecting to go down there and have finger sandwiches and other such refreshments waiting for me like we were going to a garden party. Yeah right!! Turns out the Rotunda is the lobby of the courthouse and they just crammed us all in there and it smelled like crime!!!

#2 Is anyone else concerned that old folks are running these voting booths?!!? Those crazy oldies couldn't get our names right prolly cuz they didn't have their hearing aides turned up!! And we're trusting them to handle and tally up our votes?!?! I'm scared.

#3 They make you listen to and watch this little tutorial on how to punch your voting card!! People is it really that difficult!??! If you can't figure that out on your own then I don't want you voting!!! And after you hand in your ballot they announce your name & that you have voted! It's kind of exciting!!!

#4 Before we went to perform our civic duty I played Sister Suffragette from Mary Poppins for us as I thought it an appropriate anthem for the afternoon's events!!!

Cast off the shackles of yesterday!
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray!
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
"Well done, Sister Suffragette!"

And of course I took a picture of us!!!

Sister Suffragettes indeed!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!

2008-10-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everybody!!!!! Everyone at my office is all dressed up and we've pretty much done no work all day!! It's been so great!!! Here's a pic of me in my fabulous costume!!! I was born in the wrong time period-I totally should have been born in the 1920's!!! Look how well I pull this look off!!!!

And this chick Rachelle dressed up as Flavor Flav!!! It was crapping hilarious!!!! She has been in character all day!!!!

Seriously tho this wig is startin to hurt my head!!! Good thing It's time to go home for the day so I can get out of this get up!!!! I'll be posting more pics later on!!!

Update On That Update!!

2008-10-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

So remember that one time I said i was all better from my throat nonsense? Yeah not so much!!!! I had to go back to the doctor the other day cuz apparently I'm not all better. I have to do another round of antibiotics but thankfully it's a different kind cuz my tummy can't handle those other ones anymore!! So after I finish this round of meds if it's still not all the way gone then I'm gonna have to go see and Ear, Nose & Throat specialist and they're prolly gonna want to take my tonsils out!! People I can not deal with that!!!! All I can think of is how horrible it was when i had to get my wisdom teeth out and how the anesthesia made me so sick after words and I was puking everywhere but since my mouth was swollen it made having to puke all that much more awful!!! I really don't wanna have to do that again!! Everyone better start praying and (as Jon says) do a little jig for me in hopes that it doesn't come to that!!! It sure is hard being me!!!

Since I'm Sure You're Dying For An Update!!!

2008-10-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

Just in case you wanted to know I'm all better from my nonsense of last week!!! I just took my last antibiotic, the bruise from my IV is just about gone, and I've had no further reactions from the Iodine they pumped in me!!! Thank goodness!!! Those pills I was on were not good to me!!! I've pretty much had an upset stomach for the last week and a 1/2 and having to lay on my stomach a bunch in my Yoga class was not helping!!! But i'm all better now and so help me if I have to deal with another throat related issue I'm yanking those tonsils right out!!!!

Just Another Manic Monday!!!!

2008-10-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

This one time (yesterday) I woke up with what I thought was the strep AGAIN!!! already I’m agitated cuz I can not deal with that crap again!!! Not to mention that the last time I had it they had talked about maybe needing to get my tonsils taken out if I keep getting it like that. Ummm no thanks I’m good! I try looking at my throat in the mirror with a flashlight but it’s so swollen I can barely open my mouth and every time I swallowed I wanted to die!! On top of that I was having some difficulty breathing. Just walking across the room totally made me winded-please I’m not that out of shape!!! So I soldiered on and went to work and everyone could tell I was not feeling well. Steer clear folks!!! So at 11:00 I went over to my doctor’s office to get checked out thinking they’d shove some antibiotics down my throat and send me on my way. WRONG!!! the Physician’s assistant checks me out and has the nurse do a swab for strep-which I had never had before cuz it’s always been so bad they could just look at me and know I had the strep. I could do without having another one of those throat swabs!! Totally almost hurled!! So that comes back negative. The PA has the doctor come in and look at me and he decides that prolly I have an infection or something in my tonsils and that I need to go get a CT scan to check things out. And then I hear some nonsensical talk about maybe having to put a needle in my throat to drain out the infection. Ummmmm yeah that can NOT happen!! so they send me on my way to go get a CT scan. I get over to the place and have to put these wretched scrubs on-I was lookin hot I’m sure!! they get everything situated-which took forever-and get me in the CT machine, start my IV, and tell me what’s gonna be going down. they have to inject you with Iodine for the scan and the nurse said it feels really warm going in blah blah blah but that’s normal. She said if I start feeling sick or itchy or can’t breathe or anything to let them know right away cuz that means I’m prolly allergic to the iodine. Yeah turns out I am!!! They inject it all in me and as soon as she finished I could not breathe!!! Panic!!!! They pull me out of the machine and sit me up and the doctor runs over and they give me something to counteract that and then I thought I was going to hurl!!! And even better I broke out in some hives on my face and neck-now if that’s not hot I don’t know what is!!!! I’m of course panicking cuz I can’t breath and think I’m going to hurl which I’m sure would have felt great with my sore throat!! And then at 1st they said they didn’t get the scan done in time before I wigged out so then I felt bad for some reason and kept apologizing-like it’s my fault!! Please!!! after they get me situated I start getting really tired from the meds they gave me-great!! so they made me lay in there for a bit and then said they needed to keep me there for another hour so they could watch me. so they move me to another room and just laid there kinda dozing in and out. I had to call Jenny to come pick me up cuz they wouldn’t let me drive. Good grief!! so after that I had to head back over to the doc’s office to figure out what they wanna do with me. at this point I’m thinking “there better be something really wrong with me after all this!!!” they decided to leave my IV port in just in case the doc wanted to give my IV antibiotics so there I am wandering around town with an IV shoved in my arm!!! I get back over to the doc’s office and the PA has yet ANOTHER doc come in and look at my throat but since it’s so swollen and hurts like nobody’s business he decides that we should numb the back of my throat so he can look at it better without me wanting to junk punch him!! so they lay me down and spray this stuff in the back of my throat and it was DISGUSTING!!!! I shot straight up and again almost blew chunks!! So nast!! He looks at my throat again and then it turns out that they were able to get my scan done before I wigged out so in the end I had an abscess on my tonsil which had caused this big infection and that left un treated would either cause my throat to close up (which it was on its way to doing anyway) or could even travel up into my brain. Good grief!!! so they give me these massive antibiotic pills to take and a steroid shot-right above my butt nevermind and it hurts like nobody’s business and still does! Oh and right before I left I’m all “oh did you guys wanna take out this IV I’ve been carrying around!?!” don’t worry that it’s totally bruised now. I finally got to go home close to 5:00-I was spent!! What a day right?!?!

So there’s my story!!!!! How were all of your days!?!?!?

Worst Date Ever!!!

2008-10-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

This is in response to the "Question of The Day" on my sister Kristy's blog:

This wasn't so much a bad date because of something my date did, but becuase i'm a raging idiot!!!! here you go: this one time when I was at the college we had this group date going and the guy that was my date didn’t have a car (that’s kinda loserish but most people at the college didn’t have cars) so I went to go pick him up and the street where his apartment building was wasn’t lit like at all and it’s night so it’s totally dark. I had never been over there before either. So I can see that there’s a set of stairs you have to go down and then walk up to the building. Well I couldn’t see how many steps there were or how far apart they were or anything-all I could see was where they started and where they stopped so what did I do? I decided that the smartest thing to do was to just take a big flying leap over the stairs and avoid them all together!! Genius right!?! So that’s just what I did!!! Kinda got a sort of running start and took a flying leap over the stairs!!! Totally cleared the stairs (go me!!!) but when I landed my ankle totally snapped!! I heard this awful crunching sound and it hurt let me tell you!! I was like “oh sh!t!!!!” 1st I tried just walking it off but that wasn’t happening and I didn’t want to have to tell him that I needed to cancel cuz I was retarded!! So I sucked it up and soldiered on with the date. I walked up 3 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS to his apartment and then back down and then had to drive. We went bowling and it took me forever to get up and bowl and somehow by the end of the night he found out that I had hurt my ankle so I had to tell him what happened. It was a long night and totally embarrassing!!!! And i was on crutches for like the next week!! Lovely!!

Feel free to share your bad date stories!!!!

But I Loved Him!!!!

2008-09-30T10:48:00.001-07:00

Can we just observe a moment of silence for the passing of one of my Hollywood Husbands? Of course I’m devastated!!! I love Paul Newman!!!! If you’ve never seen Cat On A Hot Tin Roof you MUST go out right now and rent it!!! You will not be disappointed!! Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor-does it get much better than that?!?! I think I might have myself a Paul Newman marathon this weekend-that’ll make it all better!!!

I Went To Lose a Jolly Hour On The Trolley!!!

2008-09-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

Clank, clank, clank went the trolley!!! You better believe i was singing the trolley song from Meet Me In St. Louis as we rode the trolley car through the streets of San Fran!!! It was very exciting!!!! After standing in line an exceptionally long time we boarded the trolley and it was so full that Loren had to hang onto the pole on the side of the car-it was great!! Maybe not for him but me & Johnny got a kick out of watching him have to dodge any cars on the roadside and having his personal space seriously invaded by the guy next to him!!! We rode the trolley to the end of the track at Union Square where we went to this ENORMOUS mall!! Loren was in heaven!! We trolled around the shopping district for a bit and #1 my hair was a wreck!! I had to go and purchase something to pull it back with! Good grief!! #2 it was getting chilly outside so thank heavens for Old Navy I was able to pop in the 3 floored store there and purchase a little sweatshirt! so that's the reason for the wardrobe change folks!! After we ate dinner we again boarded the trolley and headed to Ghirardelli Square!!! Magical!!! We came upon this little cupcake store that had the appearance of our beloved Sprinkles Cupcake store so we just had to check it out!! It was NOT Sprinkles mmmkkkaaayyy!!! And the chick working there seemed quite offended when Loren mentioned Sprinkles to her!! so touchy!!! They were good cupcakes and would get you by if you needed a cupcake fix but they are not Sprinkles by any stretch!! Then we headed over to get ice cream!!! delicious!! Me & Loren both wisely chose The Gold Rush which is ice cream, peanut butter, and Ghirardelli chocolate!!! I am really on this peanut butter kick lately and it was fantastic!! Johnny on the other hand was not so smart in his dessert selection and got this milkshake that seemed more like a glass of melted ice cream!! We didn't even bother taking a picture of it!! Too bad Precious!!

While in San Fran we also went to Fisherman's Wharf and I got to gaze out at the ocean!!! I heart the ocean!!! Oh we also ate fish 'n chips at one of those little roadside seafood places and it was delicious!! We hoovered that food in let me tell you!!! By the time we got home we were exhausted and I was sunburned but man it was a great day!!!

Alcatraz!!!

2008-09-03T21:24:00.001-07:00

So I just got back from visiting Johnny (my Precious) in sunny California!!!! We're gonna need to do this in chapters or everyone will just be overloaded with all my pics and stories!!! We'll start with Alcatraz!!! I have been wanting to go there for like forever and was more excited for this than pretty much anything else on my trip!!! Me, Johnny, and Loren took a little road trip to San Francisco and it was very exciting!! We took the ferry out to the island which was way fun!! We took the "Audio Tour" of the island where they just give you a headset and send you on your way-genius!!! No listening to a stupid tour guide trying to be funny or stupid tourists asking asinine questions!! It was a very interesting place. I think the thing I was most surprised by was when they talked about how some of the guards had their families living on the island with them-WITH THE PRISON RIGHT THERE!!! That's insane!!! There were quite a few areas that were closed off cuz the place is old and falling apart and that made it all the more creepy!! For some reason I had a morbid curiosity with the Morgue-which we were not allowed to go in but we could look through the window so that would have to do!!! We got to get inside a few of the cells and I'm not gonna front it was a little creepy!!! I was having visions of that movie The Rock where the tour comes through and they get inside the cells and then Ed Harris pops out and locks them all in and holds them hostage!! Now while I would love for Ed Harris to pop out as he is one of my Hollywood Husbands-I just don't have time for such shenanigans!!! Don't fret tho-Ed Harris was no where in sight!!!! we spent a good couple hours on the island and it was all very exciting!!! Anywho-enjoy the pics and hunker down cuz there's more to come!!!

Road Trip!!!!

2008-08-19T06:40:00.001-07:00

Me, Strudel, and Jenny took a little trip down to Utah over the weekend. It was good times!! We arrived at Kristy & Todd’s on Friday evening and stayed with them until Sunday. This would be Jenny’s 1st weekend away from Boyfriend since being married & she was trippin a little bit!! Married people are so weird!!! Why do they fall apart if they’re away from each other for more than a day!?? You lived your entire life without that person but 1 weekend away is about to do you in?!! Get serious people!! Ok back to the weekend….Saturday we had an unsuccessful shopping outing with Kristy. We all barely bought anything!! Weird how we all had money to spend and seemed to not be in the mood to spend it!! I don’t understand what’s going on here!!! Saturday night me & Jenny ventured up to Salt Lake to play with my BFF Jared & his wife & kids-who are so stinkin cute!!!

New Baby Alex-who has the greatest head of hair you’ve ever seen!!!

Me & Kameron!! That kid has the most fantastic little personality and totally makes me wanna have kids and that’s sayin something since everyone knows I don’t generally care for kids!!! All night long he kept calling me & Jenny “the ladies”!!! I love it!!!

Whenever we get together with them we tell all the same stories and they’re just as funny as when they happened in real life!!! Me & Jared were just kids when we met and now we’re getting so old!! Ok we were like 20 or 21 when we met but come on!!! I freaking love those guys!!!

And we got to spend some quality time with OP!!! ok really I think we saw him a total of like 2 hours the whole weekend cuz he was ALWAYS sleeping!!! Who knew being a baby was so exhausting!! But man he’s so sitnkin cute!!!

I heart the Olympics!!!!!

2008-08-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

I would just like to take a moment to say how much I HEART the Olympics!!!! I have been waiting all year for them to start!! I am really into the swimming right now and just about wet my pants when the US won the men’s relay race on Sunday night!!! It was so awesome!!!! Those Frenchies were talking a bunch of smack and thought they totally had that one in the bag!!! Stupid Frenchies!!!! That was one of those leaping off the couch, screaming at your TV moments!!! Man it was fantastic!!!!

And even though my boyfriend Ian Thorpe decided to retire (rude!!!!)

Man that Michael Phelps makes it all better!!!

My sister Jamie is trying to say she’s boycotting these Olympics (too bad she’s glued to the TV every night!!!) don’t fret she’s not going to kill my Olympic spirit-I heart the games too much!!!!

Memories...light the corners of my mind!!!

2008-07-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

This is fun!!!!

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Happy 4th!!!

2008-07-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

Obviously we just celebrated the 4th of July. I just read my sister Kristy’s blog on her 4th of July festivities-so funny that I had just been telling that same story of the parades my Grandmother used to make us have when we were little. Oh that Betty Hively!!! We had this big-to-do carnival type thing going on with face painting and games and all kinds of stuff! And that parade!! Good grief!!! Grandmother has us marching around that yard till we couldn’t stand it anymore! I don’t know how she did it but she had so much energy and would just keep going and going till she wore us out!!! I’m so glad we have that on video!!! Man I miss that crazy old lady-more than I ever thought I would!!! Ok let’s move on before I have a breakdown…

Onto my 4th of July festivities! So check it-my day started early when me & Jenny decided to walk from my house over to Smitty’s for breakfast. mmm Smitty’s!!! I think we were trying to convince ourselves that we were getting some exercise in since we walked over there but we stuffed our fat faces with food that we know isn’t good for us so that pretty much canceled our walking out! But we did walk back to my house so that’s gotta count for something right?! So I live by the river right? Well they a bunch of food booths and such by the river every year and last year I discovered that there was a funnel cake booth!!! Score!!! So naturally I am really looking forward to that this year. I can’t celebrate my independence without stuffing my fat face full of funnel cake!!! And that’s just what I did!!! Me & Jenny walked over to the river and found that booth!! I had mine drizzled in chocolate fudge sauce and heavy whipped cream-I’m not talking cool whip crap either!! It was scrumptious!!! That was pretty much the highlight of my day!!! As mentioned before I live right by the river and since that’s where they set off the fireworks you better believe it was nuts in my neighborhood! It took us like a ½ to find a way out of there!! me, Jenny & boyfriend & Strudel (my sister Jamie) decided to walk over to the river to watch the fireworks and it was madness down there!!! it was a good show this year tho!! Here’s a couple pics I took with the camera on my phone. They’re not too bad….

I had Boyfriend take one of the three of us which dind't turn out that great but still it's cute!

So after the fireworks we walked back to my house which was no small task!!! I got man handled a few times while trying to fight my way thru the crowd!!! A few minutes after we got back to my house Judy my landlady came around and told all of us that the cops said we needed to stay in our apartments until they said we could come out. She didn’t know why but that’s what she was told. Judy stop trying to boss me-I’ll do what I want!!! Turns out some fool the next block up at a pipe bomb and the cops were all a buzz over it! How exciting!!!

Hope everyone had a fabulous 4th!!! Where else can you celebrate your independence by stuffing your fat face and blowing stuff up!!?! God bless America!!!

Crazy Psycho Duck!!!

2008-06-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Here’s one: me & Jenny were walking around the river this morning (at 5 AM-Gosh!!!) and as soon as we got on the greenbelt this white duck started following us and was squawking up a storm!!! We’re thinking this stupid duck is totally gonna try and peck at us (wait do ducks peck!?!) or try and eat us or something and frankly I just don’t have the time or desire to deal with that at 5 in the morning!! We keep walking and that stupid duck just kept following us and squawking like nobody’s business! Jenny’s starts panicking a little and starts to run and of course the duck starts running faster after her! I tell her to simmer down or he’s really gonna try & get us so she stops running but we’re both walking pretty fast. And since she’s Jenny and only she would think of this she decides the duck is trying to tell us something and we should listen to it!! Girl it’s not Lassie for crap’s sake!!!! After another couple minutes of this we both start panicking and take off running and sure enough that damn duck tore right after us and chased us ½ way around the river!! He would not leave us alone!! Thankfully when we got to the little stretch of the greenbelt that’s on Broadway I think he got distracted either by all the cars zooming by or the other people that were walking the river cuz he slowed down and eventually gave up his chase!!! Good freakin grief!!!!

The Dirt Bike

2008-06-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I posted a story but this one is worth the wait! The only thing that could make it better would be if I had a picture to go with it!! so check it: We went out to the parents for Father’s Day festivities yesterday and my brother Matthew borrowed his buddy’s dirt bike & brought it over. So everyone was taking a turn riding on it. I’ve never ridden a dirt bike before and have been wanting to try it out. Of course I’m too scared right!? I finally work up some gumption and decide that I am going to do it!! But 1st Jenny decides she wants to just see if she can get the thing started but she doesn’t want to ride on it. So we’re all kinda gathered around watching to see if she’s smarter than the dirt bike! Clearly that was a mistake!! She manages to get the thing started and then doesn’t really know what to do with it so in true Jenny fashion she just lets go of it and it’s heading RIGHT for me! I had no where to go-I was trapped between the outside set of stairs and the picnic table so that bike totally hit me!!!! Knocked me down on the stairs and ran over me!! I am so sure!!! I’m all banged up now!!! So of course now I’m too scared to try riding it myself!! After a few minutes of the children trying to give me a pep talk I decide to give it a try! I managed to get it started on the 1st try but couldn’t quite get the hang of keeping the gas going so it took me a few more starts before I was ready to go. My biggest fear was of course that I would tip over and after already having the weight of the bike on me I really didn’t want to have to deal with that again!! So I get going but at 1st felt like I was going too fast but couldn’t seem to get my hand on the brakes and I was too worried about tipping over that I couldn’t get my balance enough to pull my feet up so they’re just dragging in the dirt!! I made it like ½ way around the yard and felt I was done!! A pathetic 1st attempt but hey at least I tried it!!!!!

Holy crap am I outside?!?

2008-05-28T09:56:00.001-07:00

So everyone knows that I don’t care for the outdoors (in fact I pretty much loathe being outside and especially I hate being dirty!) but I braved the wilderness this weekend and frankly did things I never thought I would or really want to do again!! Mostly it was having to use the bathroom outside that just had my skin crawling and believe me my body was not liking it!! It was saying “Melissa this isn’t right!!!” Word-it’s not right!!!! So it was me, my roommate Tamara, Jon, his brother Ammon, and a couple of other peeps. From the get go I was stressed!! I hadn’t been camping since I was like 16 and even then it was Girl’s Camp and that doesn’t really count seeing as how we had showers and running water. What exactly do you do when you’re camping?! Packing was quite the project for me and I prolly brought more stuff than I really needed to but everyone just had to deal with it! The 1st day the weather was actually really nice but the next day it was chilly and it rained pretty much all day!! Not fun but I soldiered on like how I do!! We woke up thinking it had to be around 8:00 or 9:00 so we got up and got ready to go fishing. Yeah too bad it was really only like 6:15!! I had never been fishing before and it showed! At 1st I couldn’t cast my line out to save my life and either Jon or Ammon kept having to get me situated. I got it together though so don’t you worry! Then we kept getting our line stuck on stuff and Ammon and Jon had to re-tie our line I don’t know how many times. Me & Tamara were getting a kick out of it but I sure don’t think the boys were!! I got my line really good and stuck and broke the pole (for the record Jon actually had the pole when it snapped but I still feel bad about it). I think I got a few bites but unfortunately didn’t catch anything but I’ve got my fishing license to put in my scrapbook so that’s what really matters!! After we got done fishing it was nap time and we took that very seriously!! Four hours later we get up and it’s totally raining and the tent is leaking! That’s great! We all gathered in our tent to play card games until it let up a little. Later on we did some shooting and unfortunately I have a mishap to report. I was shooting what me and Tamara call the old west sheriff’s gun and wasn’t paying attention to how I was holding it and had my hand up too high so when it went off it snapped my fingers and I think maybe burned off my fingerprints! It felt like I had slammed my fingers in the door a few times and it HURT let me tell you!! I was a little skiddish for a few minutes but got back in there when Jon got my Jack Bauer gun out-lock and load!! That night we decided we weren’t going to be able to sleep in our tent cuz it was just too wet so all 4 of us had to squeeze into the bed of Jon’s truck. Good grief!!! 4 people and all our sleeping bags! It was not comfortable and I pretty much didn’t sleep all night but it’s better than getting all wet and it makes for a good story!

Here’s me fishing. I’ve got kind of a weird look on my face here too. I think I was trying to figure out if I had caught something or if I’d gotten my line stuck again. I’m pretty sure it was just stuck!

Do we want to talk about my hair for a second!? It is lookin rough and it was lookin even worse by the end of the trip!!! Melissa in the wilderness is NOT attractive!!!

Me & Tamara all soggy and freezing our booties off!!

That’s what I’m talkin bout!!!

I love that Tamara has her eyes closed in this one!!! That gun throws ya back pretty good!!

And here's Jon toatin his gun!!

By the end of the trip I was completely filthy and quite disgusting!! I knew the wilderness had gotten to me when after packing things up my hands were covered in mud and yuck and I just said “screw it” and wiped them off all over my clothes!!

Project!!!!

2008-05-22T07:22:00.001-07:00

So I’ve had my big girl bed for like 4 years now and straight up-it’s ugly!! I have been wanting to paint it since I got it but #1 you know I don’t like to get dirty and #2 you know I need some help & supervision!!! So I finally found someone foolish and/or bored enough to help me/do most of the work for me!!! I suckered my buddy Jon into helping (probably with promises if ice cream or free dinner-you know how boys are!!) So we started this project on Tuesday night and apparently I was hopped up on paint fumes before we even started and totally forgot to take a before picture. I’m so ashamed!!!! Now no one will appreciate how ugly my bed was before, but just trust me it was! Also I never noticed before that the posts on the foot board kind of look like bowling pins!!! Random!! So check it: I decided I was totally gonna get in there and get my hands dirty and that’s just what I did!! I even took the bed apart all by myself!!! After sanding the crap out of it (ok it really wasn’t that big of deal but it makes for a better story so go with me on it!) we started priming and soon realized that we didn’t buy enough primer. After going to 2 different stores to get everything we needed we got down to business. We worked till way past my bed time but got a lot done the 1st night. By the time I got home I was disgusting!!! For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to wear flip flops so my feet were covered in dust and paint and they were nast!! My hands were totally covered in paint and my clothes were ridiculous!!! I was gross!! So since my bed frame was getting worked on I just had my mattresses on the floor in my room and had to sleep on them like that. I don’t know why but it has really put me off. Weird right?! Last night I managed to pull it together and brought my camera. We finished priming the headboard and I wasn’t paying attention to the way my spray can was facing and sprayed my own self with primer!! Nice right!!! My hand was covered in it!!

So here’s a couple pics so far-mostly just to show everyone that I was actually working!!

This is the headboard after we finished priming it

Check me out sportin Jon’s greazy old sweatshirt. Now if that’s not hot I don’t know what is!!!

See how I was actually working and getting my hands dirty!?!?! Crazy talk!!!

And here’s Jon-probably re-painting something I messed up! He was a little put off with the picture taking but he wants to be on my blog so I don’t know why he’s frontin!!

Phone F-I-ASCO!!!!

2008-05-16T10:10:00.001-07:00

Ok check it-I got a new phone the other day. I was very excited as I had had my current phone for 2 years and that’s ancient when we’re talking about electronics!!! I get the new phone and all is well and then the next day it just stops working! I couldn’t send or receive calls and txt messages. What the crap!? So I called tech support and they try resetting everything and it starts working again and then a few minutes later it’s not working anymore. Tech support can’t figure it out so they tell me to take it back to the store I got it from and have them swap it out for a new one. So I drive ALL the way across town and of course the store is closed! So I have no phone! No one can call me and I can’t call anyone else! So I head over to the other Verizon store and they’re still open (why both stores don’t have the same hours is beyond me!!). So this kid is trying to help me and he gets on with tech support and they do all the same resetting stuff and it comes back on and dials out and he thinks he’s fixed it. Ok kid I already said it’ll come back on and then go back down-what aren’t you getting about that?!!? Sure enough it craps out again. So he decides he’s just going to swap it out for a new one but of course he needs the box my other one came in and all that crap so I have to go ALL the way back to my house and ALL the way back to the store. He swaps out the phones and transfers all my #s and would you believe the new phone was doing the exact same thing!!! I could not believe!! So we’re on with tech support AGAIN and they are a bunch of retards!!! I thought this kid in the store was gonna reach thru the phone and strangle the tech support girl!!! if I hear you guys say “oh that’s weird” once more I swear!!! He says to me “I hope you didn’t have plans tonight.” To which I respond “well I wouldn’t know since I can’t use my damn phone!!” I was in that stupid store for an hour and a ½!!! Finally the phone starts working and we wait a bit to make sure it’s still working before I leave. We made several calls and such and everything appears to be ok so I head out. Just in case he tells me that if it craps out again I can call tech support and have them transfer me back to my old phone and use that for the night. So I head home and of course by the time I get home the phone stops working AGAIN!! So I grab my old phone and the new one and of course I now have to use someone else’s phone to call tech support AGAIN!! Of course Tamara’s not home and of course my BFF neighbors aren’t home so I knock on the next door neighbors door and ask to use their phone and the guy looks at me like I’m high AS I’M STANDING THERE HOLDING 2 PHONES IN MY HAND!!!! This guy has Verizon too so it was wanting his phone info and password and crap so that wasn’t working. Just then my BFF neighbors roll up so I go to their house and use their phone and I’m on the phone with Verizon for like a ½ hour!! They transfer me back to my other phone and the guy says that he’s putting all this in the notes on my account so when I go to the store they can situate me blah blah blah and I say to him “are you also putting in your notes that you’re giving me something free for all my troubles???” so he knocks some money off my bill and gives me a bunch of extra minutes and txts-all in all about $40 worth. Nice!!! So I was back to my old phone. So now I have to take my 2nd new phone back to the store today and get it situated. I just want my new phone!! Why must everything be so hard!?!?! Good grief!!