Yup, Another Christmas Post

It would seem that packing up to deliver the gifts is almost as exciting as the actual giving of the gifts...ok, it isnt quite THAT great, but it did make me a little giddy!

Christmas Countdown

Do you know whats great? When it gets so close to Christmas that instead of counting dates to make sure you are on track with your cute little advent calendar (ie: 25th, 24th, 23rd...) you count days to make sure you're on track with your cute little advent calendar (ie: Sunday, Saturday, Friday...)

Christmas Decorations

I love Christmas time and want to enjoy the season for as long as possible so I usually decorate right after Thanksgiving (which I did again this year). My little apartment is so cute with my Christmas tree and lights and little decorations all over, so I thought I'd share some pictures:

This is my little tree. Fun, huh?

And here are Brandon and Whitney after Whit and I hung some lights up in their apartment.

(tee hee, it started out looking nice, but then we had extra and since B was in the other room we decided to just fling them about wildly to see how he reacted. He walked into the room, paused, and said "oh boy...". It was funny. We fixed it later, they are pretty dang cute now)

And THIS is the picture that I received from my dad of my parents Christmas tree. Yeah. Its tipped over. There were a plethora of jokes to be had.

Mom claimed that she thought it would be easier to hang the lights if she just lay them out on the floor and rolled the tree around them.

I have yet to see the finished tree, but I did call to verify that no people or pets were injured in the falling of this tree. Apparently they were busy decorating and it just up and tipped over. Needless to say, I laughed. A lot!

Pocatello

This weekend I took a little road trip to visit two of my very favorite people, B & Whit, in lovely Pocatello. We had so much fun (at least I had so much fun, and they said they did too...I choose to believe them)
Wanna know some of the fun things we did? Ok, I'll tell you:
They showed me around town a bit, I saw where B goes to school and works, and they pointed out where Whit works, and we went to the mall, which was...well...a little sad. The mall in Pocatello isn't really that impressive.
Then we went to the Fort Hall Casino...which is also not the most impressive thing ever... While there we got some hot cocoa, and we all played some slots. Whit and I played more than B did, we both played $1.00, Brandon only played $0.01. We are High Rollers!
Once we had decided that we had inhaled enough second hand smoke, we left the casino and went to a movie. We saw Arthur Christmas, which was SO GREAT! I really loved that movie!
After that we went back to their apartment, made some Muddy Buddies (yum!) and hung out until the wee hours of the morning.
It was so great! Thanks Brandon and Whitney for inviting me to visit!

An Invitation

Thursday, December 8, at 10:45 pm I am the lucky recipient of the following text:

"Muddy buddies, an Xbox Christmas preview, comfy queen size bed with feather mattress pad and matching sheet/comforter set, and a special pan of vegetarian lasagna await your arrival in exotic Pocatello (a mere three hour jaunt) this weekend if you choose to accept this limited time offer.
*limited to the first caller, most expenses paid, offeree responsible for interstate travel."

I immediately called in (to my younger brother) and found out that I was, in fact, the first caller!! Whoo Hoo, I won a trip to visit my Brother and Sister-in-law! Pocatello here I come!

My Friend Santa

I am lucky enough to live within walking distance of work. In fact, it would probably take me longer to get my car out of my parking garage at home, drive over, and park it at the parking garage at work than it does just to walk the two(ish) blocks. In order to get to work, I usually walk through the building that houses the children's museum here at The Gateway. Well, during the holidays they have a little area in that building where Santa comes to hang out, and the kids can sit on his little purple sofa and get their picture taken with him. I LOVE that. I love walking past all the fun holiday decorations every day. I love seeing the kids that are all excited cause they just saw Santa. And I love that I have been walking past Santa on such a regular basis, that we have started to become friends.

It started out slowly. I would walk past, smiling cause I was happy to be seeing all the Christmas spirit around me, and Santa and I would kind of make eye contact and smile at each other. Then after a couple days of that, he obviously noticed that I walk past everyday cause I started getting that little head nod of recognition. One day as I was walking home, I got a full on hand wave from him. A couple days ago, he actually said "hello" to me. And last Friday as I was walking home for lunch, there weren't any children there, so we exchanged a little small talk. It makes me so happy!

So if anyone needs me to do some damage control cause they were a little more naughty than nice this past year, let me know. Santa and I are totally becoming friends!

I'm Back...(to blogging)

I finally got the internet....and I want to start blogging again...ok, here I go....

Day One

Well, I survived day one of my new job...I got a lot of information and I'm not sure I can remember all of it at this point. That was a little overwhelming but all in all it was a really good day. I think that this is going to be good!

More Happy News

I (with lots of help from my mom) found an apartment! I (again, with lots of help from my mom) looked and looked on the Internet and went down to Salt Lake a couple of days and was hopeful of finding a nice place, but didn't really think it would happen very soon. Anything worth moving into had a waiting list, and most places were telling me they didn't think anything would be available for at least a couple months. Actually, it was the office personnel that was telling me that, not the building itself...I didn't want to confuse anyone...ha ha, man I'm funny! Anyway. I was finding that if I wanted to actually live in Salt Lake and not in a neighboring city, I either had to compromise on my budget and pay more than I thought I could really afford, or compromise on my expectations of how nice a place I could find. Well folks it turns out that sometimes you really can have your proverbial cake and eat it too! I went to look at the apartments at The Gateway and thought they looked really nice, but found that they were WAY out my price range. I gave up hope on those apartments and continued to search elsewhere, but my wonderful mom didn't give up. After some phone call (thanks mom!) and some serious time on my part trying to convince myself not to get my hopes up, we found out that they do have a few select units that would fit my budget...but (pause for effect) they aren't often available. Bummer, huh? NOPE! My mom is a diligent one! She found out that one of these units had just been rented, BUT that the people were thinking that they didn't actually want it. So she called and called and called some more and when the renters finally decided they didn't in fact want the apartment she was the squeaky wheel that got the grease (yup, i threw another little proverb in there for you. You're welcome.).

It (by "it" I mean my soon to be apartment) is (in case you didn't figure it out from the above story) at Northgate Apartments at The Gateway. It's a one bedroom, one bath cute little place and I am so, so excited! It should be ready for me to move in (assuming the application process goes smoothly...knock on wood) April 19, which is only a week and a couple days after I start my new job down there (which is MUCH better than the month-ish that I was expecting) Thanks for all the help Mom! Yay!

New Job

Hey guess what...after looking and looking for WAY too long, I have finally found myself a full-time job! Cool, huh? Yeah, I'm pretty excited! Starting next Monday (April 11th) I will work in Salt Lake for what seems like a really great company and I am very excited about it! I am so very ready to start a new adventure and I think that this is just what I need. Yay for me!!

Natural Highs

Yes...this WAS an email that was forwarded to me...who are you to judge? I liked it, ok? So I decided to post it on my blog...wait...its MY blog, I don't need to explain my posting choices....

• Laughing so hard your face hurts


• A hot shower


• No lines at the supermarket


• A special glance


• Getting mail


• Taking a drive on a pretty road


• Hearing your favorite song on the radio


• Lying in bed listening to the rain outside


• Hot towels fresh out of the dryer


• Chocolate milkshakes


• Bubble baths


• Giggling


• The beach


• Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter


• Laughing at yourself


• Looking into their eyes and knowing that they love you


• Midnight phone calls that last for hours


• Running through sprinklers


• Laughing for absolutely no reason at all


• Having someone tell you that you're beautiful


• Laughing at an inside joke with friends


• Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you


• Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep


• Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner)


• Making new friends or spending time with old ones


• Playing with a new puppy


• Having someone play with your hair


• Sweet dreams


• Hot chocolate


• Road trips with friends


• Swinging on swings


• Making eye contact with a cute stranger


• Making chocolate chip cookies


• Having a friend send you homemade cookies


• Holding hands with someone you care about


• Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change


• Watching the expression on someones face as they open a much desired present from you


• Watching the sunrise...or set


• Knowing that somebody misses you


• Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply

See, they were all nice little thoughts. Sometimes forwarded emails SHOULD be shared...dang it, I'm explaining my blog actions again...I wasn't going to do that, remember?

A Song in my Heart...er...Head

I have a question...does anyone ever wake up with a song stuck in their head? As in, it wasn't there when you went to bed, but it was there when you woke up? For as long as I can remember I have. Almost every single morning there is a new song just stuck in my head. Sometimes it's a song I like & sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's a song I heard just the day before & sometimes it's one I haven't heard in years. I assumed that it was something that happened to everyone, but the other day I was talking to my friend Dale (who happens to be as passionate about music as I am) and we somehow got around to this topic of conversation and I was shocked to find out that he DIDN'T wake up with a song in his head. So I started asking some more people...so far 6 out of 6 have said "nope" no song in their heads in the morning either. Interesting. I like having a song in my head in the morning, I wonder why I do? And how did it get there?

Last Day in the City...for now...

6-12-10
June 12th was the last day that I got to spend in The City before moving back to Utah. It was a beautiful day, and I had plans to do nothing in particular, which is my favorite way to spend the day in New York City. I started out by going to brunch because whats not to love about brunch? Great food (french pancakes) and a mimosa is such a wonderful way to start the day, especially if its not early enough to be called breakfast! I went to The Village and ate at Yaffa Cafe on St Mark's place, its a great little cafe with so much personality (you pretty much have to have a ton of personality if you want to be a restaurant or establishment on St Mark's place) Yaffa stays open 24 hours a day so if you get there early enough on Saturday morning its basically full of people just wandering over from the clubs on Bleecker Street from the night before.

After that I just wandered The Village for a while. I found a little street fair going on and shopped and enjoyed myself there for a bit. Then I made my way up to Central Park to wander around there for a while. I went to Strawberry Fields to see the Imagine mosaic that pays tribute to John Lennon and to see The Dakota (which is the apartment building just outside the park where he was living and that he was shot in front of). I also just hung out for a while around the park and watched the tourists, the locals, and the rollerbladers in all their flamboyant wonderfulness.

After I was done hanging out in the park, I decided to go to the NY Public Library, cause it was one of the things I wanted to do while living back there but hadn't done yet...unfortunately that list is a long one...I went inside and looked around then just sat out in front of it and enjoyed the sunshine and the pulse of the city. I did a little more wandering around, got a little shopping in, and that was about it. It was kind of sad to me as I rode the train back to Connecticut and tried to imagine when I would be able to get back to NYC. Hopefully it wont be too incredibly long.

It's Almost Here!!

Look what I found this morning as I was leaving for work...

Its a little tulip! Poking its little head up out of the dirt in my parents garden! Oh, welcome glorious spring!!

Time Zone

oohhhh....I just changed my blog from the Eastern Time Zone back to the Mountain Time Zone....it was a little sad....ok, enough of that, I've been in this time zone for a while now...

Disclaimer

This is a disclaimer regarding the randomness and inconsistency that will be my blog for the next little while...did I use the word 'disclaimer' correctly? I think I might have, if not...too bad! So, I think that most of my next few posts are going to be random pictures that are on my computer (or still on my camera...it's so hard to download them isn't it, it never seems to get done!) that spark a reminder of a story or event that I feel like sharing. I'm going to try to remember to date them but I can't promise that they will be in any sort of order and some of them may be pretty random, but...well, its my blog and I can do what I want to with it....so there you go....consider yourself disclaimed. By the way, if anyone still reads my little blog, I LOVE comments...that was a hint :)

Addison Marie

June 2010
I got another perfect little niece! I was still back east when Miss Addison Marie (Addi) was born on June 14, 2010, but I got to meet her in the hospital just a couple of days later on June 16th. She was (and still is by the way) so sweet with such a good little disposition! And Kinley was so excited to be a big sister! She was 20 inches long and you should see her little feet, she might just grow up to be a basketball player or something, they are so long! She weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz and is just a happy healthy little baby. When she was born it was hard to tell if she was going to have red hair (like her big sister Makinley and her Aunt Chelle..thats me) or if she was going to be blond (like Jared and Kayleen...that would be her father and mother in case you didn't know)
Welcome to the world Addi!

Here is Kinley introducing me to her new baby sister And here Addi is with her proud Grandpa Jay

Remember Me??

Wow, nine months is a long time to go without blogging! Life has been a bit of a roller coaster, but I realised today while I was reading my old posts that there has actually been a lot that has happened over the last nine months...some great things, some not so great things and I really should start blogging again. It was really interesting to me to read posts from when I first started this little blog and notice little things about myself that have changed and a year from now I'd like to notice more things about myself that have changed. So while I'm not going to make any promises about how well I will do, I will promise to TRY to blog more...hey thats something right? I'm not sure how much I want to blog about some of the "not so great" things so I think to get myself back into the routine of blogging I'll just post some pictures and stories of some of the "great things" over the past months. Look at me, I'm back to rambling away already! :) hhmmm...where to start.....