roxy pants

maybe

2011-02-18T09:36:00.001-08:00

february is okay

2011-02-16T17:15:00.000-08:00

my new job has kind of kept me from blogging. that, or the fact that I've been more sickly than I ever have in my life. found out yesterday that it's bronchial/viral pneumonia. a new antibiotic, inhaler and $200 later I'm feeling just about the same. awesome. nothing says "I'm sickly" quite like an inhaler.

speaking of which, the new job has been a dream. I am a big girl now, keeping big girl hours which means I can't stay up til 3am watching The First 48 or Kim & Kourtney Take New York (if you haven't watched these, watch them. they are SO addicting).

I'm the brand new marketing director at Pinnacle Quality Insight in Salt Lake, and so far I am loving it. it is the perfect amount of design/branding/writing/freedom/facebooking that I could ever ask for. more to come on that later. I even asked why they decided to hire me out of all of their way more qualified candidates (taboo? maybe. I just needed to know.) I start traveling next month, excited to rack up those frequent fliers. who wants to see me?

valentine's day was way more eventful and nice than I thought it was going to be, because it included dinner at Carrabba's and these beauties. bless his heart.

and today was a lovely surprise, as it always is when I get to see my favorite nephews, and best older sister in the entire world. met them for cafe rio, fought over house dressing, and loved every minute of it. she makes good bebis.

P.S. iPhone made it safe and sound to me last Tuesday. iGot it. iLove it. iRecommend it.

if the shoe fits

2011-02-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

you know what they say...if the shoe fits, buy it.

I feel like this winter may not be particularly wet or filled with tons of snow, but it's definitely colder than I remember some of these winters being. actually, for sure it is. I used to wear flip-flips until I absolutely could not wear them anymore, and that day came in October last year.

because of this small fact, I've had to buy even more boots. my feet are always cold, never not cold. thanks to the Nordstrom shoe expertise of Miss Richelle McGuire, I brought home my very own Corso Comos on Tuesday.

I think I may have FINALLY found a place in Salt Lake City. it is this very darling house, with these very darling girls, and one of them just so happens to be mine and Andre's friend Heather. right near capitol hill, the house was renovated, and then taken over my anthropologie. my bedroom is ginormous, two sinks in my very own bathroom, and a walk-in closet. we celebrated by eating noodles at Charlie Chow's with Fishkins, Heather, Andre', Richelle, Todd, Adam, aaaand Adam's friend. sorry, I can't remember your name.

Andre' and Fish are so cute together, don't you think? twins. besties. Andre' is jealous I'm moving to Salt Lake.

Sidenote: I realized last night at dinner that when I move to Salt Lake, I will live the furthest I ever have from Andre' in my life, all 24 years of it. (minus his Argentine mission, which re-surfaced yesterday on Facebook. don't think I missed much...)

my iPhone is ordered, and will be here in 6 days. NEXT THURSDAY! which is just fine with me, because the Blackberry that I thought was done acting up keeps freezing. if you can't get a hold of me, I'm not ignoring you, I just can't answer. unless I am ignoring you.

speaking of things happening next week, my new job starts Monday. am I nervous? excited? I don't know. I don't really feel ready for a grown up job, and I just keep thinking to myself, I hope I know what they're doing.

my toes are froze

2011-02-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

Seven. seven degrees. feels like, -5. every year, winter comes to Utah. and every year, I am surprised that I have lived here in these types of conditions for four years. am I even required to leave the house in these types of conditions? because I don't want to.

also, just barely saw a runner outside, 12:30am in Provo. regardless of what time of day, or what time of year, someone is ALWAYS out for a run in Provo. kind of absurd. very predictable.

the brad bachelor. week 5.

2011-02-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

- Brad, you're wearing a vest.

- glad Shawntel is still holding onto that running/jumping into his arms thing. don't hurt him.

-all of a sudden I want to go shopping in Vegas.

-I can't stop thinking about how she sees dead people.

-how is she all of a sudden someone he can see himself spending the rest of his life with? isn't this their first one on one date? where did she even come from?

-I hate that purse. but I wish I had it anyway.

-brit- what are you wearing? the cap? a white fuzzy robe?

-was it necessary for shawntel to have to get ready in the hotel with everyone else looking on and hating her even more?

-"I really want to take this time to tell him that I stuff dead people."

-I would probably recommend never using the words "orifices" or "vein drain" on a first date. or any date. or at dinner.

-brad: way too many hand gestures. say what you mean. use your words.

-flip-flops and a fendi dress. that's cool I guess.

-what is Brit doing here? how does she keep getting invited to these dates?

-the Ashleys are friends?

-Las Vegas is NOT looking good on Michelle. zits...fuzzy hair.

-Ashley H., please let me fix your eyebrows. I have a license.

-Brit, loving the neon outfits and white KEDS.

-Michelle is crazy.

-not sure if I could love Emily any more at this point.

-"I swear, I'm usually fun!" emily you are darling. I pick you.

-can she even see over the steering wheel? is this safe?

-Alli has the worst attitude. gross.

-"we all have problems, we all have issues" oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you lost a spouse.

-bad body language Brad. so glad Emily put him in his place. you are old.
Emily manned up, you need to.

-lots of drinking...a lot of emotional highs...and lows...

-whoa. the L-bomb. gross.

-too bad Brad and Michelle can't have a normal conversation...oh, good makeout instead.

-Ashley H. big forehead. bad hair. bad eyebrows.

-Ashley S. baby voice. really annoying baby voice.

-"I'm always trying to convince someone to be with me." I get that. I do. hits home a little bit.

-the extraordinary wife comment for somebody else hurts a little bit. be sensitive brad.

-Ashley H. did not seem half as sad as Ashley S. said she would..wait. punched. in the face. and in the heart.

-Brit only wears neon. never not wearing neon.

-what intense connection? I don't see it.

-the Elvis "Lonely Tonight" montage is almost as painful as Taylor Swift Pandora radio after a breakup. almost.

-your first instinct may be to close yourself off Brad, but straight to the therapist isn't much better. enough with the life coach.

-I feel bad for giving her this much attention, but Michelle is straight crazy. the lap dance was cool though, and not even trashy.

-dang. cute notes don't work, and get you sent home. note to self.

-team Emily.

oh mondays

2011-01-31T11:51:00.000-08:00

sidenote: this is my last monday as a kiddo. I grow up next week, and will be working every monday, probably for the rest of my life. 7 more days.

iNeed this

2011-01-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

I don't have a really good track record with phones, but I'm not ready to take full responsibility. maybe when I'm 25.

my phones have had a history of dying some pretty tragic deaths, may they rest in peace. more recently, I have gone through two blackberries in the past four months, and to the same thing: it just decides to stop working.

yesterday, I picked up the phone to text an ex, and the phone broke in my hands. I'm going to go ahead and take that as a sign.

the screen is frozen, I'm due for an upgrade, and Verizon isn't letting me have the iPhone until February 10. that is 4 days, 12 hours, and 45 minutes from now.

that's a long time to go without a phone.

salt lake city slickers

2011-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

so with a new job starting in salt lake, I have been looking non-stop for housing up in that area. I just had no idea what an event that would become. first I realized this, I wasn't in provo anymore.

thursday morning I drove up to meet Sandra, owner of a home off of 800 east near the U.

Sandra had to have been in her mid 40's. at least. a part-time snowboard instructor and full-time interior designer, Sandra was nice enough. but so old. and so wrinkly. and even had to get a new kidney last week, bless her heart. she was falling apart, as was the house. charming enough on the outside, but the house was built in 1908. you can put cute, eclectic pieces all you want but it does not a new house make. I didn't really feel like it would be a good fit. thanks anyways. and come to think of it, she kind of reminded me of Yzma.

next, I went to go see a cute and quaint one bedroom, one bathroom near s. temple. I'm not going all emo and I'm not about to get a cat, I just like to have my space. and it looks cute, right? definitely thought it had potential.

I met Andy at these cute remodeled apartments downtown, and was immediately afraid for my life. nestled right in between an organic cafe and a very large construction site with very large machines, was my potential new home. as we were walking into the building the very large crane started working and the whole building began to vibrate. p.s. I have edited the following for our younger readers.

Andy: what the f is that? are you f'ing kidding me? the whole f'ing building is shaking! this is tripping me out, for sure.
Rox: ......
Andy: are you sure you wanna live here?! I'm not even sure I would move in. is this an f'ing joke? but this place is wicked awesome, like the tenants are so cool. you know the head chef of this restaurant lives here...I even have people say that they come home like at 3am and there's a guy drinking a beer in his underwear. but they weren't complaining, they were just like, this is awesome.
Rox: ......

at this point I was really less than thrilled, not to mention the apartment smelled like a smoked out port a potty.

last hope: a townhome in daybreak with a 34 year old girl named shiloh. and her diaper-weraing lhasa apso named jake. I don't really have anything else to say.

brain dump

2011-01-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm almost back to normal. 103 degree temperatures, pneumonia, kidney stones.

it was a roller-coaster of a week, touch and go there for awhile, but the doctor says he thinks I'm gonna make it.

I've never watched so much TV in my life, Netflix was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not to brag, but I watched four seasons of Keeping up with the Kardashians, one season of Kourtney and Khloe take Miami, one season of Heroes (turns out I'm not that into sci-fi), two seasons of Hoarders, two seasons of Pawn Stars and one season of Cake Boss. I wasn't sleeping much, turns out I was too sick to sleep. I had my kidney stone on Tuesday and it was the worst.

I really can't stand the "?" at the top of the screen, but can't make it go away. help me.

turning 24 tomorrow. not excited. good news, the guy at the grocery store thought I was 12.

grocery store guy: so when are you graduating from school?

me: in the spring

grocery store guy: oh that's awesome, do you think you're gonna go to BYU

me: ummm. no, noooo...I'm graduating from college

grocery store guy: REALLY?

I'm 12. I look like I'm 12. class of 2011, hollerrrrrrr.

I'm hired. after being full time unemployed for over two years, I am a workin' woman. starting February 1 in Salt Lake City, I will be working as a marketing coordinator over the visual arts of the at home learning division at the waterford research institute. what up grown up life.

sidenote: that means I'm moving to Salt Lake. if you know of any normal girls looking for a normal roommate in SLC, let me know. I'm tired of people requiring me to be gay friendly.

so glad the Bachelor is back, what a blessing.

black eye Michelle is straight crazy, and it turns out she cheated on her husband with Carlos Boozer. gross. I don't normally condone violence, but if one of those girls did punch her, I'm totally on board. She is a psychopath.

Chantal O. is sometimes pretty, but wears way too much makeup. And Brad, "I've been waiting soooo long to take Chantal on a one on one?" In Bachelor TV time it's been a total of like eight days. Maybe its like EFY and it feels like so much longer than the week you're there. Chantal wins though when she points out that Michelle's date card doesn't say "love" in it. hilarious.

Emily is a true gem, I'm not even sure that Brad deserves her, and I'm so sad for next week's episode. So traumatic. I'm just glad the vampire is gone. and Jake is slower and dumber than I remembered.

following the kidney stones, I was diet coke free for over one week. not only was it not an option, it didn't even sound good. now, I can't stop thinking about them. good idea or bad idea?

I want this...

2011-01-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

I'm obsessed with teensy little jewelry, and this necklace is no different. my friend Shauna is giving away a gold state necklace on her blog, and if you don't win one, you should buy one at the Saylor Rose etsy shop, because I have seen them and they are darling.

the question is...home means nevada? or texas on my mind?

puppy police

2011-01-23T12:52:00.000-08:00

so while out on a sunday night drive, richelle and I were driving on 800 S in orem, sipping diet cokes, minding our own business and having a sunday night chat about all the normal things,

richelle: I feel like we're really fun, smart, outgoing girls, why can't we just hang out with ourselves?

roxanne: we're gonna make awesome wives.

richelle: I know, I just can't seem to convince anyone else how awesome we are.

roxanne: I'm gonna find myself.

next thing we know, we almost hit a golden retriever. richelle flipped a u-turn, put the hazards on and pulled the car over. I hopped out of the car and chased the dog down the street. before you know it, we had a 100 pound dog in the backseat of the subaru.

we fed him canned chicken, gave him water, named him comet and tucked him in the for the night. turns out it was the first taste of motherhood for richelle, who woke up hourly because of the pup's whining.

we woke up and took him to the animal shelter: saddest thing you've ever seen.

if you're wondering, he's wearing a scarf. we didn't have any other way to walk him.

we cried after dropping him off at the puppy prison.

most. traumatic. experience. ever.

for all of us.

my body hates me

2011-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure how else to tell you this, so I'll give it to you in chronological order.

P.S. TMI? I don't care.

Saturday night: nausea, vomiting, sharp stomach pains.

Sunday: more nausea, and sharp stomach pains result in a trip to urgent care and the ER.

after being accompanied by megan, benita, richelle, andre', chelsea, lola,

ryan rodriguez and ryan spencer (I really just think they wanted out of church), and

five rounds of fanta tasting barium, an IV and an MRI

we ruled out appendicitis, but sent home and on painkillers. lovely.

Monday: nausea, no more stomach pains, and a temperature of 103.

Tuesday: diagnosis, kidney stones. that was the good news. bad news was a lovely chest

cough that I have developed on the side.

Seriously? WTF.

I'm not a sickly person, so the only logical explanation is that

my body refuses to turn 24 next week. it just won't have it.

also, WebMD is really not giving me anything here, so if you have

any ideas, feel free to leave me some love. you could save my life.

but if you plan on attending my funeral instead, I prefer calla lilies.

coconut kills...

2011-01-10T10:10:00.001-08:00

it's a new year, one of goals, resolutions, and before I can do that-

I need to get something

off of my chest.

someone almost died my last day of finals in class,

and I'm pretty sure I was responsible.

I walked into my last final with a friend, and as we passed this girl

on the front row, she immediately got up and ran out of the room.

chaos ensued after that.

people started filing into class, asking frantically:

who is wearing coconut?! she is allergic, and having an attack.

SHE USED AN EPI-PEN!

what was I supposed to say?! it was me? how was I supposed to know?

it wasn't me, it was THIS.

and then, it got worse. people started sniffing other people out,

and they narrowed it down to our corner. "I think it's coming from over here."

all I could do was sink lower in my chair, and use pink grapefruit antibacterial to rid myself of the smell.

the girl never came back to class. and it was all my fault. so miss coconut allergy, it was me. and I sure am sorry you missed that final. but kind of not sorry, because coconut smells delicious, and you weren't exactly wearing a sign.

alabama, arkansas...

2011-01-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

home is wherever I'm with you...

merry christmas!

2010-12-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

all I want for christmas

2010-12-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

is...a JOB.
my mom does a great job collaborating with Santa every year,
and I don't think we ever really appreciate the effort it
takes to ask for, and then purchase

{8 christmas wish lists}.

I think it's the "Wish" part that always throws us off...so maybe that
is what prompts us to ask for exactly whatever
it is that we feel like asking for.

She always has encouraged dreaming. Also, please note the suck-ups in this family,
made obvious through their very "endearing" requests this year. No names included.

Andre'.

I also love how what everybody asks for speaks volumes of their personality.

For posterity, here is the Hutchens' kids 2010 "Wish-Lists":

JACLYN ANDERSON:

1. DYSON vacuum
2. yellow sheets/euro pillows
3. clothes for Ben
4. blu-ray player
5. clothes for Jaclyn
6. sunday socks for ben
7. sherlock holmes dvd
8. perfume for jaclyn (COACH Poppy, DKNY Pure, True Religion)
9. MAC gift certificate
10. tools for ben

ANDRE':

1. love at home
2. christmas spirit all year long
3. a sugar mama (I'll raise the hijos)
4. lots of snow
5. jeff and grandpa to visit
6. costco pack of capri suns
7. new pair of vans
8. clothes (jeans, plaid shirts)
9. blu-ray player
10. a job in provo

ROBBIE:

1. new cowboy hat
2. new cowboy boots
3. adobe photoshop
4. byu/texas clothes
5. jeans (straight-fit)
6. shirts
7. g's
8. TV
9. car stero, iPod transmitter
10. hats

ROXY:

1. black boots (or short brown furry uggs)
2. black lacy tights
3. vera bradley villager tote for traveling
4. juicy couture perfume
5. gift certificates - j.crew or banana
6. black purse
7. bare minerals makeup
8. wii
9. wal-mart or costco gift cards
10. dvd rack

HOLLY:

1. snowboard bindings
2. hard computer cover
3. light brown flat leather knee-high boots
4. season pass to the canyons
5. movies, money, iTunes gift cards
6. betsey johnson perfume
7. kitchenware
8. records, food gift cards, movie tickets
9. vacuum, best buy gift card
10. gift cards (makeup, clothes, target, wal-mart)

HUNTER:

1. iPod touch
2. iPod player for my car
3. red, yellow and green NEFFO beanie
4. long sleeve/thermal shirts
5. some sweet TOMS
6. new pair of basketball shorts
7. jump rope

SAMANTHA:

1. iTunes gift card
2. personal dance studio
3. iTouch
4. moonlight magic (book)
5. happy family
6. massage
7. barnes & noble gift card
8. 2011 calendar
9. a 'sam i am' shirt
10. surprise me!

CARMEN:

1. gmail
2. new nintendo DS
3. 2011 calendar (animal planet)
4. herbal essences (red raspberry)
5. barnes & noble gift card
6. dragon hunters (book)
7. celtics basketball shorts
8. art canvases
9. earphones
10. khaki pants

Santa Claus and my parents have been very busy this year.
I can't wait for tomorrow! the buddies are going to be so excited.

quote of the night: santa, take off your beard so I can see if you're uncle glen!

Merry Christmas everybody!

home for the holidays

2010-12-24T00:11:00.000-08:00

I really love being home. Today, we had a perfect Christmas day,
including, Christmas shopping, and lunch with the girls.

Followed by, running errands with mom, and
card games with the family.

Carmen and I share a room now. Actually, I just don't have one.
So she is nice enough to share hers. We stay up late and share
facts like: did you know that emus and elephants can't walk backwards?
followed by: no. did you know that rhinoceros beetles are the strongest animals
in the world, because they can move 350 times their own body weight?

Yes, we are nerds, and share a bond of loving animals.
I love my little Mowgli.

I love our home always, but especially at Christmas. My mom
is so cute, and works so hard so that everything is just perfect
for her kids to come home.

she fancies her nutcrackers, I've counted at least 9. this one, is life sized.

and my most favorite room in the house! christmas tree, scripture reading,
game-playing, multi-functional fun place to be.

and Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a list. Elizabeth's includes some things
I probably should have asked for this year.
she's really got her head on straight.

my list only says: JOB.

Santa, seriously. Please.

You've got 2 days.

I love Christmas

2010-12-23T22:56:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Story, as told by the children at St. Paul's church in England,
and brought to you by yours truly, Shavs Lewis.

Way too cute not to share.

Merry Christmas!

ode to finals

2010-12-08T18:16:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before finals, and all through the college,

The students were praying for last minute knowledge.
Most were quite sleepy, but none touched their beds,
While visions of essays danced in their heads.

In my own apartment, I had been pacing,
And dreaded exams I soon would be facing.
My roommate was speechless, her nose in her books,
And my comments to her drew unfriendly looks.
I drained all the diet coke, the time I cared not,

and no longer caring that my nerves were all shot.

I stared at my notes, but my thoughts they were muddy,
My eyes went a blur, I just couldn't study.
"Some pizza might help," I said with a shiver,
But each place I called refused to deliver.
I'd nearly concluded that life was too cruel,
With futures depending on grades had in school.

When all of a sudden, our door opened wide,
And Patron Saint Put-It-Off ambled inside.
Her spirit was careless, her manner was mellow,
She wore a white toga, she started to bellow:
"What kind of student would make such a fuss,
To toss back at teachers what they tossed at us?"

"On Cliff Notes! On Crib Notes! On last year's exams!
On Wingit and Slingit, and last minute crams!"
Her message delivered, she vanished from sight,
But we heard her laughing outside in the night.
"Your teachers have pegged you, so just do your best.
Happy finals to all, and to all, a good test!"

So God rest ye merry gentlemen...after finals. Until then, I will be in the library until 2 a.m.

the real christmas

2010-12-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

most of the time, I let the month of December get to me. for the past few years,
it has always mean the same thing: snow, finals, bad drivers, and being cold, and christmas songs.

but I sometimes forget, it's supposed to mean something else. it is the Christmas season,
and for one month a year, people tend to take on Christlike attributes, and do so
more consciously. People are more willing to give of themselves, of their time,
and "the simple teaching of the Savior that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) becomes a reality.

I had lunch with megan yesterday, and bless both of our hearts we struggle in the winter time.
but this year, I decided I want to try and truly feel and study the meaning and feeling of Christmas.

we have decided to read one Christmas devotional or story everyday in the month of December, and I could not be more excited about it. Today is day three, and here is my favorite quote:

Christmas is not a day or a season, but a condition of heart and mind.
If we love our neighbors as ourselves;
if in our riches we are poor in spirit and in our poverty we are rich in grace;
if our charity vaunteth not itself, but suffereth long and is kind;
if when our brother asks for a loaf, we give ourselves instead;if each day dawns in opportunity and sets in achievement, however small—
then every day is Christ’s day and Christmas is always near.

Merry Christmas season!
and please bless that I will get a better Christmas spirit.

we're in a recession folks

2010-11-18T13:20:00.001-08:00

I've been slowly catching on to a growing hair trend: the hair melt aka ombre hair.

at first I really didn't think I liked it that much, but, I do.

it doesn't look like regrowth (okay it totally does),

but rather sunkissed tresses. Amazing how trends

can change your perspective. I am so hip.

I'm totally having this done to my hair tomorrow. I'm copying Richelle. Kind of.

If you really don't want me to, stop me by tomorrow.

The best part is I will let it grow out and save monies an no one will know the difference.

I am poor.

loving these

2010-11-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

these albums have been on repeat in my car for a good two months now. I realize that two of them are country. so sue me. buy them now, I'm serious. you need these songs.

Taylor Swift:
1. Mine
2. Never Grow Up

Brandon Flowers:
1. Hard Enough
2. Crossfire

Lady Antebellum:
1. Love this Pain
2. Perfect Day

Pretty soon I'm only gonna be listening to this:

good thoughts

2010-11-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

I just remembered a phrase I used to use in every

single one of my prayers growing up:

"may we have good dreams not bad dreams, good thoughts not bad thoughts."

I wish my concerns were that simple now too. Here is my good thought today.

"With any major decision there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been an illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don't give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don't give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts. Master your fears. Cast not away therefore your confidence. Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you."

--Jeffrey R. Holland

Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence

Liahona June 2000

brain dump

2010-11-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

I can't help it, I am terrible at blogging. I always read others blogs though,

so it makes me feel like I don't need to call dear friends like Shauna Lewis because

I constantly feel like I've just been updated on what's new in her life.

(not an excuse.)

I seriously can't wait to be done with school.

Glory glory hallelujah.

Taking 18 credits your senior year is not recommended.

I still have no job- esthetics in Utah is mostly a joke.

You people are cheap. I have had one appointment in two months.

I love having Andre' in my ward, and having Holly close.

Nothing like having family nearby while you're in school.

I went to Disneyland two weekends ago, haven't been forever.

I loved it. For so many reasons. If I ever move to LA, I will be a season pass holder.

It's getting cold in Utah again. I shouldn't be able to complain,

seeing how it is the middle of November and we haven't even REALLY seen snow,

but I hate it. I do not do well.

My North Face fleece and my UGG boots are

going to be the only thing you see me in until next year.

Too bad Bethers isn't here to be hating winter with me.

I have not gone shopping, even once this semester.

Okay once, and I bought these gems:

I don't regret it at all, and I wear them with everything on the days I'm not wearing my UGGs.

I cannot wait to have a real grown up job with real grown up paychecks.

But just because I'm not shopping does not mean I'm living under a rock.

I could really use these items:

I've really gotten back into chicken soft tacos from Del Taco recently,

not sure why but I think they are really really good.

I miss my friends, even though most of them live in the same complex as me.

Amazing how that seems so far sometimes. I could really use

more of them in my life. Also, I want to be back here:

I can't stop watching two movies:

1. How to Train Your Dragon

2. Sleepless in Seattle

How had I never seen How to Train Your Dragon before? That movie is hilarious, action packed, and an all-around good time.

Aidan and Ethan can't stop quoting it:

Aidan: "I have beefy arms! I have beefy eyes!"

Ethan: "Ha. ha. Beeth eyes!"

Hilarious.

It is almost the holidays. Richelle has been lighting her christmas candles,

has her tree up already, and has been listening to N'Sync Christmas on Pandora.

It makes me want to be home with these crazy peeps:

And it's a fact that I have the cutest nephews inthe entire world. Seriously.

stress

2010-10-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

if there is one phrase that I possibly overuse, it is this:

I. am. stressed.

Or any other sort of variation. That stresses me out. I'm stressin. Mostly I'm kidding, but enjoy making things semi-awkward and uncomfortable.

This week, midterms stressed me out. But not as much as they normally do because I am beginning to not care. I just need a job.

Two nights ago, I could not stop watching the show Hoarders: Buried Alive. These people are crazy, and watching them live in these types of conditions stressed me out. I spent the entire day cleaning.

Midterms ended, I stopped staying up late to watch stressful television, and woke up and started watching TLC's A Baby Story, and I Didn't Know I was Pregnant.

What the freak?

Like I wasn't terrified enough already of growing a person inside myself, people go on national television to share their awful, stressful experiences. These people are crazy.

All of this stress has caused me to become sick. Which is how I'm going to spend the rest of my fall break from school. Awesome.

At least my room is clean, I'm not pregnant, and I dominated my midterms.

breakthrough

2010-10-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

sometimes, I surprise even myself.

between me, Meggers, Bertolli and Richelle, the last thing we need is an excuse not to date somebody. Seinfeld said it best:

She had man hands.

He's a regifter.

She's a two-face.

She's got the jimmy legs.

She's a virgin.

She just took credit for my salad.

She's one of these low-talkers.

He's a high talker.

He's a bit of a close talker.

She's bald.

She went out with Newman?

She's too tan.

She's too good.

She wasn't my type.

and we can definitely add our own to the list.

he wears gloves. he's not funny. he has weird friends. he made me eat vegetables. he made a double comeback. his heart just isn't in it. he likes bad music. he had a booger in his nose. He won't chew gum. He wears gargoyle shirts. He has baby hands. He has a weird laugh. He only wears free t-shirts.

But recently, I've grown.

Me: I hate his jeans.

Richelle: Jeans are fixable.

Me: You're right.

Richelle: How bad are they?

Me: Awful.

Richelle: Yikes.

Me: I've met plenty of guys with good jeans and bad attitudes.

Maybe there's hope for me after all.

keaton andre'

2010-09-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

Keaton Andre' Anderson

was born September 21, 2010 at 5:12 a.m.

I know everyone says this, but I really do have the most darling nephews in the world. And he is just barely 24 hours old here, and he doesn't even look like an alien.

THAT is good baby-making.

I wasn't able to go to bed until 2:00a.m. Monday night

(thanks for nothing Professor Barron, your class is really terrible.)

and then woke up to Holly banging on my bedroom window thirty minutes after I'd gone to bed. We picked up Andre', picked up Wendy's, and headed over to the hospital. After a series of VERY fortunate events (I will spare you the details which my sister did not do here) bebis Keaton arrived safe and sound, breathing on his own, at 5:30.

Later that day, I played single mom to two munchkins, had a sleepover, watched Wall-E, made breakfast, and drove a minivan. and I would do it all over again. maybe.

P.S. I named him. After my high school crush/boyfriend Keeton Little, while we were having lunch at Carl's Jr.

Oh, memories.

(I can't remember if we actually "dated", which is probably not a good sign. but we did kiss. that is all that matters.)

you learn a lot about yourself from roadkill

2010-09-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

I'm serious. I think it says a lot about a person when it comes to animals and death.

Recently, my friend ran over a squirrel on the freeway. It wasn't his fault- but he apologized to the little squirrel whose resting place is now the I-80.

When I was 15, my friend Elizabeth and I were at Bucks Lake, CA for girls camp. Girls camp...is a different experience. It probably even deserves a post all by itself. I even had a bear encounter once. But that year was different. We were infested with squirrels. They were everywhere. They were eating our trail mix, nibbling our toes, causing havoc in the camps. You get the idea. These things are nothing short of really obnoxious.

Elizabeth and I woke up one day, and we decided we had had enough. While laying on our bags for sleeping one morning and listening to N'Sync, a little dusty grey squirrel perched himself up on a tree stump, eating some kind of stolen goodness and stared at us. I was protecting my candy bars with my life, and Elizabeth decided to take a different approach. She grabbed a handful of small-to-medium sized rocks, and started chucking them at the squirrel. With her very first rock, she hit the little sucker square in the temple, knocking him to the ground. He never got up.

Now what I mean in learning a lot about yourself is this: we both laughed. Hysterically. The poor little squirrel never even saw it coming, and we took some sort of sick pleasure in ridding ourselves of one squirrel- even though there were thousands of the things left.

But this summer was different. While I was living in San Diego, I lived at my friend Brittany's house, which is across from a park. Every morning on my way to work, I saw bunnies. Not the ugly jack rabbit kind- but the cute little Peter cottontail bunnies with white fluffy tails. One morning, I didn't see the bunny in time. I killed him. Flat on the road.

"NOOOOOOO! What are you doing little bunny? Why? Why did you throw yourself in front of my car?"

But the bunny didn't answer. I felt so bad I had to tell someone, so I called my friend Nick, looking for some sort of comfort. He just told me it was probably somebody's pet. Clearly, these types of incidents cannot be avoided. But why me? Why my tires? All that was left of the little guy was a tuft of fur on Auburn Ridge Way. The only thing I learned from this experience is that at least I know that I'm a better person than I was at 15. I wonder if Elizabeth is too.

Sorry everyone, Easter is cancelled.

back to schoolings

2010-08-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

back to school, back to school, to prove to dad I'm not a fool.

Also, I realize this blog has lost some substance over the past few months. I apologize. But not really. Because summer 2010 sucked the life outta me. For reals.

P.S. I am blogging this from school where these two returned missionaries will NOT stop talking about how they picked up their wives in Russia, NOT because they were Russian, but simply because that is whom they happened to fall in love with. Get real. But maybe get real somewhere else. Nobody cares.

Anyways. My friend Fish blogged about something I've been giving a lot of thought to, and it seems everyone else has as well. You may have heard about the proposed and approved mosque and community center near the 9/11 site. Unless you're like me and call Us Weekly the news.

This plan was approved by a city panel, just two blocks from ground zero. As you can imagine, controversy has ensued ever since. Sarah Palin was so upset about the whole thing she even asked for peaceful Muslims to "refudiate" the plan, and called it a stab to the American heart, all via Twitter. Lots of problems with this statement, beginning with the fact that refudiate isn't actually a word to begin with. Anyways.

I understand both sides, but I really think the issue has gotten a little out of hand. So how should something like this even be settled? Precedent? A coin toss? My friend Fish had the idea to "put a New York Yankee on the very top of the freedom tower (that doesn't yet exist.) Now, it needs to be an American citizen. No Mexicans. Probably not even a Puerto Rican. And not just some naturalized player. A real live multi generational citizen. Now, let that Yankee drop hit a baseball as far as he can, from the tip top of the non existent freedom tower(s), and where that ball lands, is the closest that any Mosque may be built". In my opinion this is the best idea yet.

I also remember another religious controversy involving Catholic nuns praying for Auschwitz victims in a chapel near the historical site. Even though they were nuns, just about the least threatening entities on the planet, Pope John Paul II asked them to leave as it still indicated an expropriation of the memory of the Jews killed there. The place was just too sensitive for families still in the area, and they stopped praying there when they realized it was causing them pain. I'd like to think that if the RLDS church ever was involved in some sort of American tragedy they would not build a pray center right next to the site. It's just insensitive. I think that overall the Muslims don't mean any harm, and that it's time, for us as Americans, to MOVE ON.

I gotta have this bag

2010-08-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

that is all. for now. better updates later, I promise.

shark week

2010-08-01T21:15:00.001-07:00

SHARK WEEK.

this is my favorite week. I would tivo all of the shows if I didn't already know all of the shows are virtually the same and about sharks. and if I had tivo.

don't be fooled--just because my summer has been unbelievably boring and filled with work, this is not why I love shark week.

I LOVED IT BEFORE I BECAME A GROWNUP WORKAHOLIC.

I proudly own this one guys.

friday brain-dump

2010-07-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

This week I have had a lot of jumbled thoughts, but nothing really post-worthy by itself.

Today is payday. I am still working at Pottery Barn, J.Crew and downtown at the PR agency, J.Simms. I have told myself that I was going to put my two-weeks notice in at J.Crew like eight times, but then they just keep scheduling me for four hours a week, which is worth keeping for the discount. I'll be shooting myself in the foot when next week's schedule comes out and I am working 60 hours again.

I finally replaced my Michael Kors watch that went missing at Christmas. Pretty sure it was lost somewhere in Reno. Since then I had gone back to Provo, and then moved out of my apartment and to San Diego. No sign. It took me a while but I was able to let go, and swallow the fact that I wasn't going to find it. I went in to the Michael Kors store this week, and the guy felt sorry for me after my story and gave me 15% off.

It has FINALLY started to warm up down here in San Diego. For the past two weeks it has been overcast and chilly, not really getting above 70. Mid-July, and it's finally HOT. Well, considering. High 70's today, and mid-70's the rest of the week. At least warm enough to go to the beach.

Cami is coming down here the end of July, I could not be more thrilled. I haven't seen that girl in way way too long. Considering we used to be pretty much inseparable and she probably still knows me better than anyone, that's not acceptable. Really wish Megan, Benita and Beth would get on that train.

Really wanting to plan a graduation trip either in December or next summer. I've never been anywhere, and think that'd be the perfect time to go. Any suggestions?

Fish tacos are just as good now as they were two months ago when I got here. They are never getting old.

I should be at Seven Peaks.
Went into Verizon to get a new phone, but instead the guy gave me a new battery for free. Problem temporarily solved, and for free. Committing to a new phone is so stressful, I can't do it. But I will probably go with the Droid.

After WEEKS of playing phone tag with Megan, I finally got a hold of her. Or her of me. Whichever. Immediately after talking to her, I felt better about things. She is seriously amazing. I hope all of you have a friend like her.

I am still on a Facebook fast. I decided that checking it at night, in the morning, at work and inbetween work was a little excessive. I deactivated for a week, and today marks the seventh day. But I just don't miss it that much. I will be back, I just don't know when. I think I am getting more sleep.

Stephen Jones is hilarious. Love him in BYU's rendition of the OldSpice commercial:

so what? I watch reality TV

2010-07-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Truth is, I like watching reality television. I try really hard not to do it unless I'm with my friends, who appreciate my meaningless comments, and on DVR, where we can rewind the most ridiculous parts to watch them over and over again.

This is my favorite time of year as far as television is concerned, airing my two favorites:

So You Think You Can Dance (or SYTYCD for all you followers out there)

and, the lovely Bachelorette.

I realize, without you having to say anything at all, that the second show is just absurd, and each season reaches a new level of ridiculousness. But that's besides the point. It is FUNNY. It is full of crazy people, cheesy comments, love, hate, evil stepmothers. Really, what more could you ask for?

Unfortunately, I've been watching my shows by myself this summer. But I do have some things to say.

The Bachelorette:

I was really sad the "world-tour" was over, because I loved just looking at all of the places they were able to go. Lisbon was absolutely beautiful. I will go there.

Ali goes to Robert's hometown first. He won the hometown dates for sure--he had it all. Even the baseball uni, which if you are unsure how I feel about those, go here. Playing in the park, the amazingly awesome hispanic family (I'm a little bit biased), and best of all, he appears to be one hundred percent normal. Not to mention, one of the best looking. I don't think he'd really propose though in the end. He's way too smart.

Next Ali goes to the Cape to visit Chris M. He is the second most normal, and the second-best looking. But let's be real, Ali why are you wearing those leather boots to the beach? Darling, but not your best judgment. And I thought her hair was bad before. YOU ARE ON NATIONAL TELEVISION. Where is your hairbrush?

Other than that, another normal trip. I was pretty sad about that part. His sisters seemed normal, and his dad could not have been more cute. And I have his sister-in-law's boots. Ali doesn't seem as interested in him as the others though, I can tell this because she is not constantly interrupting what he's saying with her tongue in his mouth.

Kirk's house is where it starts to get good. So so glad that Kirk is gone. His blonde eyebrows were always throwing me off, and the taxodermy Dad? That would have sealed the deal for me too. At this point I think that Chris and Kirk probably have the most genuine feelings towards Ali, but I don't see her picking Chris in the end either.

Finally, I have never ever liked Frank. Not even at the Hollywood sign on their first date. The glasses, the bad cardigans, his snaggletooth and insecurities, it's just not my thing. Plus he always seems a gust of wind away from a panic attack. Seriously. Calm down Frank. Plus I heard that you have a girlfriend too and break the news in Tahiti. That should be good.

Sidenote: Remember Kiptyn from last year? I do. He is by far the best-looking contestant they have ever had on the show. Too bad Ali didn't have nearly the pool of applicants as Jill did. I heard he's recently off the market and with a Jake cast-off from last season...but seriously.
Kiptyn, if it doesn't work out, I'm 100% available and in San Diego until further notice.

I realize this just very quickly became a Kiptyn shrine, but I don't care.

rebuild, breathe

2010-07-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've been having a pretty rough time this year, magnified by the ample amount of time I've had to spend by myself this summer.

I'm getting ready to finish school this fall, and begin looking for jobs.
(Hopefully doing something I actually like to do.)
My bestest graduated and moved away from me back to Austin, TX, I didn't get to live with my friends last year and dating ups and downs (mostly downs). Training for the marathon earlier this year, I also fractured my tibia, which has really discouraged me in my running, and trying to regain where I was before.

I know my trials this year have been for a reason, and I'm still hopeful to find out the why's.

I went for a run though this past week, and decided to do it without my iPod.
(this is almost a for-sure adrenalin killer)
But this time, it worked out even better than I could have hoped.

I ended up running 7 miles, which is twice what I have normally been doing during the week, and I felt amazing. I had the chance to just be left alone with my thoughts, and a silent prayer that lasted the entire run.

Turns out, I had a lot to say. And even more to listen to. The two words/phrases that kept coming to my mind over and over, were

rebuild. just breathe.

I know how simple it sounds, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. I may have been battling the injury since March, but it has given me the opportunity to rebuild the foundation I had, and to do it better than I had done it before. If I rebuilt better, I can be faster, stronger, and healthier than I was the first time. And not only as it relates to running, but to my everyday life as well. I tend to get caught up in the things that don't matter, and I start to immediately doubt. I doubt things I know for sure, and things I said I would never doubt again. I doubt everything except what I can do myself. But I can rebuild. I can start over, and I can do it better than I did the first time.

And of course, just breathe. Any runner will know what this phrase can do for you, but all of us have had similar experiences where we just need to tell ourselves that everything will be okay, and we need to regain perspective on what's currently happening.

What an incredible opportunity all of us have been presented with, to start over. At any age. At any time of day, no matter our circumstance.

I'm going to continue this summer, with a renewed enthusiasm for my jobs, for the people I've met and have not met yet, and rebuild,so that I can be stronger, and a better friend for my friends, and for the people that need friends. A better sister, and a better daughter.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk in May of 2009, about losing our way, and losing sight of what matters most.

Nehemiah from the Old Testament set to rebuild the city Jerusalem, no small task. As the walls of Jerusalem were being built stronger, his opposition began to intensify, but it never distracted him. Nehemiah's response:

"I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down."

When faced with trial and suffering, we respond, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.”

When faced with ridicule and reproach, we proclaim, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.”

"Our Heavenly Father seeks those who refuse to allow the trivial to hinder them in their pursuit of the eternal. He seeks those who will not allow the attraction of ease or the traps of the adversary to distract them from the work He has given them to perform. He seeks those whose actions conform to their words—those who say with conviction, 'I am doing a great work and cannot come down.'

We have a great work to do. We stand overlooking the horizon of our age. It is my fervent prayer that in spite of temptations, we will never lower our standards; that in spite of distractions, wherever they may come from, we will not lose focus on what matters most; that we will stand resolute and together, shoulder to shoulder, as we valiantly bear the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that we may [keep ourselves worthy] and, to a man, lift our heads and with unwavering voice proclaim to the world, “We are doing a great work, and we will not come down.”

Yup. this is definitely what I needed to hear today.

j.simms internship

2010-07-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

so far this summer, I've had the amazing opportunity to be working in San Diego at a PR/advertising agency. I've been working closely with the City of Imperial Beach, who hosts the U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition every year. The largest sandcastle competition in the U.S., this event attracts over 325,000 people over a three-day weekend, and is probably going to be bigger than I realize even now. I've been working with the local San Diego television and news stations, gaining local and national press attention for the event.

I also was asked to design two advertisements that were approved, and ran in two different publications. I'm pretty excited about them! Like my experience with Vida, seeing something you've designed printed in a magazine is a completely different experience than creating an invitation, or poster. I may or may not be addicted.

post-it

2010-06-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

"Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven;

but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

elder brown

2010-06-29T00:03:00.000-07:00

served his mission in Guayaquil, Ecuador. My grandma did too. Turns out, they both served there, together. At the same time. In the same office. She doesn't remember him.

We discovered this little nugget of information that we bonded over last week. We even called Grandma Eva to confirm it was the same "Nurse Hutchens". Not that it needed confirmation. Little tiny mexican nurse was about enough to cover it. And then, on JKB's birthday, he gifted me these.

[I give him sourpatch kids, he gives me at least three good laughs out of these. oh well.]

and the real reason Jeff was sad to see Nurse Hutchens go:

here was her replacement. bless her heart.

beckham who?

2010-06-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm really disappointed that the World Cup is over for me. For a number of reasons. Mostly because I'm so patriotic. Duh.

I knew that soccer players were muscular...athletic...good looking. But I've always thought that the soccer hotties were euro-centric. Or that no one would ever trump Becks.

Boy was I wrong. While watching the FIFA World Cup, something miraculous happened. My eyes were open to an entire new generation of deliciousness. Miss Shavs Lewis, we think alike.

I know I'm a sucker for a baseball uni, but let's be serious for a minute. Does it get any better than Carlos Bocanegra and Benny Feilhaber?

I ain't no fortune teller, but move on over Becks. We've got new boys in town, and I bet they look really really good in Armani underwear.

I'm an outlaw

2010-06-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

anyone who knows me, knows that I am NOT a troublemaker.
I don't like to be in trouble, I don't like to be around trouble, and I especially make a particular effort never to be causing trouble.

at least that's what I thought.

since moving to San Diego, I have had three encounters with the law.
that is approximately three more than I have EVER had before, minus the ONE speeding ticket I received in Reno the week BEFORE moving to California.

It was probably an omen of things to come. I should have listened.

incident #1. jack in the box.

three weeks ago yesterday, Tawni and I were in Huntington Beach for a birthday party. following the party, everyone decided to go out dancing, except for us, and Richard Miller and Jeff K Brown. We decided to get something to eat, and it just so happens that nothing is open at 11:00pm, and JIB has made a recent comeback in my life.
(High school was also a huge hit. #5 Sourdough Jack with a Dr. Pepper please.)
They've got these amazing grilled cheese sandwiches, and fresh non-fat smoothies. I just wanted to treat myself to something nice.
This particular drive-thru has no place to sit down and eat inside. It is a drive-thru only, with ONE handicap parking spot.

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
photo credit: jeffrey keith brown

Jeff and Richard meet Tawn and I at JIB on their motorcycles, and get into my car so that we can all order together. After driving through and placing our order, I drive back around to drop the boys off. In an effort to NOT block the drive-thru, I pull foward into the handicapped spot, the only place to park in the lot. I never left my car. I never turned off the car. I never turned off my lights. We were there a few minutes when an officer dillweed knocks on my window.

DW: can I see your handicap pass?
me: I don't have one?
DW: driver's license and registration please.

I was thoroughly confused at this point, and pretty certain that I'd be able to leave in a few minutes as I wasn't doing anything "wrong".

DW: whose car is this?
me: mine. well, my parents.
DW: why does it have Nevada plates?
me: because I'm from Nevada.
DW: why is your driver's license from Utah?
me: I go to school there.
DW: why are you here?
me: I'm here doing an internship for the summer.
DW: where.
me: in San Diego.
DW: then why are you in Huntington Beach?

Really? REALLY?

me: I'm visiting friends.
DW: here's your ticket. it's a pretty big fine, I recommend you get out of here before you get towed.

you can't be towed if you're sitting in your car buddy. even the biggest puka shell wearing, overall sporting towing toolbag in Provo knows that.

me: Sir, really? I'm leaving right now. I was only here dropping my friends off.

who were parked underneath a "no parking zone" sign. Good one guys.

DW: sorry, sorry! there's nothing I can do. I've already issued the citation.

[all while putting his hands up in the air like a middle easterner getting robbed at a convenient store.]

upon receiving my citation and officer dillweed leaving, I looked at my ticket, and realized I had given him the wrong registration. I handed him my expired registration, which he failed to point out to me while he was dealing with such rowdy troublemakers.

I COULD HAVE GIVEN HIM THE RIGHT ONE, IF HE HAD TOLD ME.

Parking in a Handicapped Stall Fine: $374.00
Expired Registration: $79.00
Total: $453.00

I wish this post was over.

incident #2.

my car got sideswiped last week. the paint is missing down to the frame, and apparently, also knocked my brake light loose. or something? not really sure what happened here.

I got pulled over for a non-working break light, and then since we were there, he also mentioned the Nevada plates. AGAIN. Apparently, you only have 30 days in the state of California to have them switched. I DO NOT LIVE HERE.

he gave me a warning. I really hope I don't see him again before I leave in August.

warning: $0.00
subtotal: $453.00

incident #3. driving while on speakerphone.

I have been meaning for some time now to get a car GPS system. I have no idea where I'm going. I know how to get to work, and I know how to get home. Anytime I want to get something to eat, or gas up, or get a Diet Coke, I have no idea where I am. Unless I can see it from the freeway.

I KNOW I'm not allowed to talk while driving, and I make a very conscious effort not to do it. and then I got pulled over for talking on my phone.
The unfortunate part about all of this is that I was literally ON MY WAY to Costco to pick up a car GPS system. I GOT LOST. I could not find Costco. I did not know where I was, so heaven forbid I call someone to tell me how to find it.

driver's license and registration please? sure. they're sitting right here on top.
WHERE I LEFT THEM FROM LAST WEEK.

driving while on the phone: $175.00
subtotal: $628.00

Feliz Dia del Padre!

2010-06-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

You know what they say.
Su Papa es no mi papa. Okay. No one probably says that. But I do.

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad out there.

thanks for allowing us to get our hands dirty, and do things ourselves.
thanks for teaching us to rub dirt in our injuries, and not to be such pansies.
thanks for believing in us, and telling us that we can do whatever we set our minds to.
thanks for believing in education, and allowing us all to attend school, and graduate debt free.
thanks for buying me my first pony, and not publicly regretting it ever since.
thanks for putting the gospel first, and teaching us how to do the same.
thanks for being mexican, allowing us to not reapply sunscreen every thirty minutes.
thanks for making the best mango salsa, and teaching my friends the gringos how to do it the right way.
thanks for always having the answers, and if you don't, knowing who does.
thanks for making us watch "aliens", "the shining", and all of the haunted movies before the age of 10, so we can have a better appreciation of the classics. and legit nightmares.
thanks for having the patience to haul all of us every summer in one car for two days down to texas.
thanks for always acting like you're one of us.
thanks for being super competitive in pool basketball, and scaring all of my guy friends to be on your team.
thanks for working so hard, and caring for others.
thanks for the most awkward take your daughter to work day experiences, and scaring me directly out of ever having children.

thanks for letting me be a daddy's girl.

LOVE YOU PAPI!

america hates fathers

2010-06-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

it's true. Americans hate fathers. You always hear about how awful these estranged fathers are, but as often as you hear about these scenarios, some father out there is waving goodbye to his two-year-old as his cracked out ex-wife has the toddler tucked underneath one arm, only to probably use the child as a weapon later to get something she wants.

"Do you want to see your kid this weekend? I need a babysitter."

Sidenote: Calvin's dad was awesome.

It's significantly more accepted among Americans for a child not to have their father in their life, and hundreds of blockbusters have used the same scenario as a story of trial and triumph.

Disney may be the worst perpetrator of this behavior--almost every single movie is a family with some sort of broken and dysfunctional home. Mainly, because dad left it in shambles.

Cinderella left her to the evil stepmother, Bambi's dad probably had a whole other forest family, Andy from Toy Story doesn't talk about his Dad (neither does crazy next door "Sid"), Dumbo, the Aristocats, the Rescuers. None of them have dads. Not to mention the "ultimate single moms": Erin Brockovich, the mom in E.T., Dorothy in Jerry Maguire, Terms of Endearment, Little Women and a slew of others.

And if a Disney character isn't an orphan in the beginning of the movie, they will be by the end.

Nemo. Bambi. The Lion King. The Fox and the Hound. Tarzan lost both father figures after gorilla father was shot. Jungle Book. Aladdin. Snow White, Arthur from Sword in the Stone, Taran from the Black Cauldron, and Peter Pan is really just a litter of orphan boys.

Dads are awarded sole custody of their children less than 10% of the time, and Americans portray them as the villains.

But the point of this post, is that father's day is coming up.

Some of you may be thinking, Father's Day? What the is that? The media makes a huge hype out of Valentine's and Mother's Day, and most of the time, Father's day is never even announced. You see mother's day commercials exploiting diamonds, cars, flowers, and shopping, but I have yet to see a commercial for "Old Spice" on sale, or even a three-pack of Hanes V-Neck tees.

Sure, dads are hard to shop for. But that doesn't mean we should pretend this Sunday doesn't exist. Has anyone else noticed how much emphasis is NOT being put on fathers these days?

Father's day is this Sunday, June 20th. The least I can do is remind you, right?

And in case you needed it, ten more reasons why Americans hate dads. This is a list that came out last week of the top 10 most popular (and awful) father's day gifts of the past 10 years. are you kidding me?

TOP TEN WORST FATHER'S DAY GIFTS

1. A necktie
particularly ones containing any sort of cartoon characters.

2. Nose hair clippers.
this is the sort of thing that should really be brought up ever. if you love your dad, leave his personal hygiene out of the gift giving.

3. any sort of infomercial exercise equipment.
or exercise equipment in general. this item also makes the top ten worst mother's day gifts. gifting exercise equipment clearly implies that you think their body is needing some attention. and that you noticed.

4. chia pet
convincing your dad to grow grass hair on an animal or character shaped pottery piece, in places he no longer can grow hair is not a good idea. unless your dad is already an avid collector of character pottery that grows grass in a window sill, just leave this one on the drugstore shelf.

5. the singing fish
maybe it's the fish. maybe it's the song the fish sings. maybe it's because it's motion activated. we'll never know.

6. cologne
never give your dad any incentive to splash something on instead of taking a shower.

7. opera tickets
some dads may actually enjoy an evening out at the opera. most dads wont. giving your dad tickets to something just so he'll have to take you is just messed up.

8. colored golf balls
just because you got them on discount, don't count on him putting these in his golf bag.

9. Self-help books
"Dad, I just really wish I'd turned out differently. And it's probably your fault."

10. Barbecue Apron
are you trying to humiliate him? Give him his tongs and his worcestshire. He'll be fine.

(List thanks to ezinearticles.com)

ethan preston

2010-06-13T11:19:00.001-07:00

Ethan Preston is my 2nd nephew. He is so darling, and I was there when he was born. My brother-in-law Ben was stuck in ~~Colorado~~ Minnesota or something for work when I got the call from my sister telling me I needed to come meet her at the hospital.

So I did what any logical person would do when knowing it's going to be a long night. I grabbed Seinfeld season 4, and was on my way.

Little E-hee was born June 11th, 2008.
(actually, not so little. he's chubs. he and his Uncle Andre' call each other "chancho" and "chanchito". translation: pig, and little pig)

we fell in love at first sight and all over again the very first time we had carls jr. star nuggets. this little boy and I love our food. he is so funny. He loves music, and loves to wrestle his older brother Aidan. when he begins to lose, he just sits on him. case closed.

He also loves to antagonize his brother, as well as his poor mother.

A little while ago, he ran into Aidan's room screaming, grabbed Aidan's transformer, and then ran out of the room screaming with Aidan chasing him. Boys.

he also loves to shake what his mama gave him. this is how it's done folks.

Ethan's favorite song…Gatorade commercial! from jaclyn on Vimeo.

this kid has got some serious swagger.
HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY ETHAN!

your Aunt Yan loves you!

time to update your resume

2010-06-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

everyone knows the current economy makes it tough, if not virtually impossible
to find a job upon graduation.

I've heard from more than a few recent graduates that they are struggling to get hired, and
are unsure what to do about it.

during the P.R. trip to New York this March, I asked one of the hiring directors at MKG Productions what they looked for in new hires, and in hiring interns.

He said, "Be creative with your resume."

Be honest everyone--how many of you think that by taking the time to create a resume and cover letter in a Microsoft Word document template is going to get you hired?

I know we've all been guilty of this, and most of us still are. But in an economy that is making it less than comfortable to graduate, you need to be doing more.

"A template resume can be spotted a million miles away," said Bonnie Vieira, Director of Client Services at j. simms agency. "You may as well tell them you don't care, and aren't creative."

Harsh. But true.

Especially in the fields of advertising or public relations, your competitive counterparts that are looking to get hired are doing more than you. Although it may not seem like much, the content of a resume is just as important, if not more so, than its design.

Elizabeth Jenkins, fellow P.R. grad from BYU, recently updated her personal blog (which you should all have) with a link to her "professional portfolio" blog.

She has taken it upon herself to upload her working portfolio to a blog she keeps online.

Generally speaking, all resumes should be kept to one page. Especially if you are recently graduated, there is no reason to have a lengthy resume.
(no matter how talented you think you are)

The resume should present all of your information clearly, concisely, and in a way that makes your experience relevant to the position you're applying for.
(this goes for cover letters too. do NOT use templates, and tailor the letter to the company you're applying to.)

All resumes should include:

Contact Information: Full name, address, phone, (a Twitter account is always a good idea, especially for PR)
Education (start with your highest education first, gpa is optional)
Skills (include all skills that are job-related, try to use action verbs)
Experience (always list most recent experience first, and make sure the verbs are correct in their past/present tense)
Activities (campus activities, memberships)
Personal (honors/awards, certificates, etc.)

And most of all, be creative, and appropriate to your job field.
These resumes would not work for someone applying for an accountant position.

I'm definitely not the bees-knees here, but I did update mine awhile ago following the advice from Peter St. John at MKG. Now we'll see if I get hired.

I need these

2010-06-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

ASAP.

aren't they so darling? I would wear them with everything.

things that really chap my hide

2010-06-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

1. huntington beach law enforcement
what a douche.
2. people who read out loud while they're typing
3. couples who sit on the same side of a booth in a restaurant
4. the mercy rule in baseball and soccer, now also instituted in the baseball for wii
(why would you ever teach your children to stop playing when they're ahead, or to stop trying when they're behind? this is not the way the world works.)
5. Fat people told they are too big to use the gym
it never hurt any of the Biggest Loser equipment.
6. media trying to convince everyone that Sara Jessica Parker is "sexy" or any kind of attractive
also, Maggie Gyllenhaal. nothing personal Mags.
7. LA students being taught that the new Arizona immigration laws are "un-American"
(this coming from a Mexican)
8. Couples that find out they are siblings, and decide to still procreate
9. Lakers fans
*especially Lakers fans not from California
10. Students who ask inane questions to make themselves look smart, and end up prolonging the class period. You're not impressing anyone
Pre-law is not a major.
11. the use of "yer" in text messages.
Maybe worse than lol'ing.
12. talking ten minutes to a tele-prompter before you get to an actual employee
13. identity theft
14. old asian women texting while driving in their mercedes-benz
15. people you've met at least three times who refuse to remember not only your name, but having met you at all
16. robbery that is now considered to be ok, as long as it's perpetrated by a well-known umpire and the victim's last name is galarraga

As long as it ends up smoothed over with a new Corvette.

make-a-wish

2010-06-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

so I mean, it's not that big of a deal...

but it is.

I wrote a press release last week for a j. simms client, the City of Imperial Beach, who was partnering with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant a five-year-old boy from Nebraska's very special wish.

Braden Van Eperen was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in December of 2007. Duchenne's is a progressive and life-threatening disease, characterized by a decrease in muscle mass, and loss of muscle function in male children.

Although Braden is still able to walk, he will be confined to a wheelchair most likely before the age of 12, and may not make it past his teen years.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation asked Braden what his wishes were, and he replied:

1. Go the beach.
2. Go to Saturn.

He learned about the beach in his kindergarten class, and wanted to build a sandcastle.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation flew him, his sister, parents and grandpa to San Diego, the sandcastle capital of the world.

Braden arrived in style Friday morning, chauffeured by a limo to the beach. This was his first time to California, first time to the beach, and first time building a sandcastle.

Volunteers from teams that compete in the U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition were already there to help make sure everything went smoothly, and to help build any kind of castle Braden might want to during his time at the beach.

While here, the family attended Seaworld, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Legoland and Disneyland.

This was such a neat opportunity for me, and a little bit outside of the clients I'll continue to be working with this summer. I arrived at the beach on Friday morning, ready to direct media where they needed to be and to make sure they knew who to talk to.

The story was picked up by the San Diego Union Tribune, and featured on the 6p.m. and 11p.m. news on Channels 6 and 9 in San Diego as well as h ere.

I was able to talk to Braden's mom, who has tried to stay optimistic about future treatments for Braden, and does not take moments like the ones we shared Friday for granted.

How often we all get caught up in our everyday, and forget things like being grateful for normal days. I've been living in San Diego for a month now, and have already forgotten how beautiful I thought everything was, or just stopping to take the time to feel warm sand between my toes.

Coming from a five-year-old who may only live 1/8 of his life normally, going to the beach is a simple wish.

Tomorrow, I may have to do just that.

hire me

2010-06-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

I am now officially published. NBD.

And Mom, just because I'm designing for tequila doesn't mean I'm drinking it.

Lisa Barlow, owner of Vida Tequila hired me to do some freelance design for her last month, and it just happened to turn up in this month's issue of Aspen Magazine. Maybe this is the beginning of the end of working for free. It is just another 2k10 miracle.

addicted

2010-06-02T00:37:00.001-07:00

I used to think I was a pretty well-rounded person.

Until I realized that I have addictions. It's not okay.

I am addicted to having a routine, addicted to Diet Cokes, a bebis bit addicted to shopping...

(the first step in breaking an addiction is admitting you have a problem. I take back what I said about the Diet Cokes.)

But the worst one of them all is that I am addicted to staying up late, for no good reason at all.

I will literally be struggling to keep my eyes open by 9pm, and instead of getting ready for bed I have a Diet Coke. Or frozen yogurt. Or both.

Every night, I brush my teeth first. And then I will check Facebook. Nothing good. Then I will put on my pajama top. And then I will be so tired I will sit back down and look at blogs. And then next is the pj pants. And then I lay across the bed and start watching Hulu. Parenthood..Modern Family...And then I'll get the stupid commercial about cat food, and then I get up and floss. Twitter...email...design projects. The possibilities really are endless.

This process literally takes me no less than two hours.

TWO HOURS.

My eyes will be burning, and I will finally go to sleep around 2am.
I am always exhausted the next morning, never not exhausted.
And then I will do it again tomorrow.

benita marie and all of her fiastos

2010-05-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

"So many fiastos. Not a fiasco- it's more like a party disaster." - Benita Bates

in the past four years, I have been lucky enough to meet 5 of my soul mates.
We are kindred spirits, we just are.

Actually, I probably shouldn't count because I have more than that.

Camilla Dye (now Wells), Megan Smith, Benita Bates, Bethany McCullough, and of course Shauna Lewis.

Since I moved to San Diego, I've had an awful lot of time to reflect on our past experiences together-- trips we've taken, jokes we've made, dance moves that for sure would get us kicked out of the stake dance.

(I also just realized I've been using a lot of these "--", not too many of ! or . Weird.)

They all deserve their own post. And maybe they will come. Maybe on their birthdays.

But then I found some forgotten about pictures, and the opportunity is just too good to pass up.

Benita is one of my favorite people for a number of reasons:

She loves country music more than I do. We can watch movies we've seen before and she acts like she doesn't know the ending. We enjoy sneaking treats into our bellies so that Megan doesn't know. We justify shopping on good days, bad days, and regular days. She is a college graduate. She is the only person I know that can get burnt in the shade, and she listens to me when I tell her it's time to reapply the sunscreen. She sings really loud in the car and doesn't know any of the words, but is quite good at ad-libbing. When dancing: when all else fails just start backing it up. Sometimes she talks with an accent, not on purpose. She is always down to eat chips and salsa with me. Anytime, anyplace. But mostly on Sunday afternoons.

And she is really one of the most thoughtful and genuine people I know.

Now to the good stuff.
Megan and I always say that Benita is nothing but a one hundred percent guaranteed good time, all the time. No one makes us laugh as hard. Intentionally, and accidentally.

One time when cutting the tomatoes, she cut off two of the rounded edges (not the top and bottom. and mind you, tomatoes are round) and pushed them to the edge of the cutting board. Megan watched as she did this a few more times, pushing perfectly good tomato away from her.

Megan: What are you doing?
Benita: Cutting off the ends.
Megan: There are no ends. It is a circle.
Benita: Yes there are. They are right there. (pointing to the "discarded" pieces.)

Or our favorite Wal-Mart joke:

Benita came home with a bag of grapes she had purchased for some minimal price she was very excited about, and told Megan and I that she believed they were on sale because they were "on their way out", and we'd better hurry and get some.

"Where do you think most pirates are from?" "Somalia."

"Do you think Gary Coleman had home teachers?"

She can't watch movies in 3D because the glasses make her ears "tired".
We should probably build those muscles back up little bear- incorporate some strength training in our workout routines.

But the best (and worst) part of Benita is when she is sick.
Last year, she had to be taken to the ER for eating a bag of Fun-Yuns.
She's not allowed to eat those anymore, but sometimes she still does and tries to hide the evidence.

This year, we were at the Gateway when it all started.

We were standing in line at Anthropologie, and had been shopping for a few hours.

Benita's right arm sticks straight out towards me, and says "I can't feel my arm."

Me: What are you doing with your arm?
Benita: I can't feel it.
Me: Well why are you sticking it out like that?
Benita: I just can't feel it, it's numb.
Me: Are you okay? (I finally felt it appropriate to ask this question. I am not a monster.)
Benita: I don't know. It's going numb. And I'm kind of blacking out.
(At this point I am of course very concerned, but in the back of my head I am thinking about the ER trip for the funyuns)
Me: Okay, well let's go grab something to eat and we'll go okay?
Benita: mmmhmmm. bumymouthsoinnumb.
(but my mouth is going numb)
Me: why are you talking like that?
Benita: Ianeelmyips.
(I can't feel my lips.)

By this time, we are rapidly losing Benita. First her arm, then her eyesight, and now her ability to speak. I am watching her deteriorate before my very eyes.

Me: Do you want to go grab something at Rumbi's? I think you may just need to eat.
Benita: Iantsee.
(I can't see.)
Me: Okay, well let's go over to Rumbi's and maybe you'll feel better after you eat something?
Benita: Oay. Iinkisamigraine.
(Okay I think it's a migraine.)
(Megan, where are you when I need you?)

We began walking to Rumbi's, shopping bags and Benita in hand, and she turns to me and says:

Benita: "I'malkingliahanica"
(I'm talking like a handicap.)

Me: You look like a handicap.

She makes jokes, even when she thinks she's on her death bed.

We walk into Rumbi's, begin to order, and Benita throws herself on the chair directly behind us while mumbling "Iinimoinaowup."
(I think I'm going to throw up.)

Rumbi's man: Is she okay?
Me: She's okay. I think she just needs to eat something.

After ordering, we walk over to the table to wait for our food, and Benita buries her head into her arms on top of the table.

Things are not looking good.

Me: Benita are you okay?
Benita: No.
Me: Do you want diet coke?
Benita: mmmhmmm.

Obviously.

I walked back up to the counter, and explained that my friend was not feeling well, and asked for a piece of pita bread for her to eat while we're waiting for our food.

I brought it back to Benita, who sat up and started to nibble at it.

90 seconds later:
Benita: "I really like this. I didn't think it would work, but I feel better already."
Me: It's miracle pita.

She was able to stop talking like a handicap, but continued to have episodes of numbness throughout dinner.

We made it back to the car, where she promptly feel asleep, mouth open in the front seat, which I was nice enough to document.

I came home and reenacted the entire thing for Megan. I'm pretty sure we laughed for the next hour, just because we love this girl so much and Megan understood pretty clearly the picture I was painting her in the play by play.

On Gchat the next day:

Benita to Megan: I'm about 90% sure I had a stroke last night.

Oh I love this girl.

wedding festivus

2010-05-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

every time somebody gets married, two single people die.

at least, that's the way I normally feel. not too many of those feelings at my cousin Brooke's
wedding this past weekend.

isn't she darling?

also brookie remember the time we were playing truth or dare and we dared you to pee your pants (like any good cousin would) and you said you would, but that you needed to do it in private? and then you DID?

so glad you grew out of that phase.

Jake and Brooke got married in the Los Angeles temple last Saturday, and then had their reception in Thousand Oaks. I loved the whole thing.

My parents flew into town Friday night, and my older sister Jaclyn drove down from Utah via a mini trip to Las Vegas.

It was so fun to have them here visiting for the weekend--plus hotels are fun. They just are.

Brooke and Michele are almost the only cousins we have our age--and are both such amazing girls! Brookie just got home off of her mission last year (maybe the year before) after serving in Chile. She's also been living up in Logan, UT for the past few years, so not too close.

Her and Michele have always been such amazing examples to me though, and it was fun to be able to spend that day with them!

The reception was in this especially magical restored barn--somewhere in Simi Valley.

here is where they held the reception--everyone just take a very good look at my sweet madre. I would just like to tell you I have asked her many a questions on life, said some promiscuous things at the dinner table (I even got excused last year at the tender age of 22)
--and some of those questions/statements may or may not have embarrassed her to the point of being speechless.

Well this weekend was her turn. (She is not going to be thrilled about this post.)

After leaving the continental breakfast with an apple in my hand and a banana in my skirt pocket, she turns to me and says,

"is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

and then started laughing. hysterically. probably more at the face I made.

Jaclyn and my jaws dropped open, and she just lost it. She was laughing so hard she had to cover her mouth, and then tried damage control. "I'm sorry! I heard that in a movie once!"
Oh geez mother. I love her to pieces. But we can't take her anywhere.

a very fantastic wedding.

my dad is definitely wearing a neck cord for his sunglasses. no need to squint.
he is also sporting the matrix sunglasses.
Dad, why couldn't you wear your aviators NOW instead of 15 years ago when they were so not cool? Ever since they came back into style he gets to tell us he's a trendsetter.
Thanks for nothing Ray Ban.

side note: my Dad has to google everything on his phone now.
I tried recommending a few places to eat after they flew into LAX, and he just said he wanted to google it, and then put it into the GPS. He's also a huge fan of the texting these days, although he doesn't get my text humor. They grow up so fast.

Aidan and Treyton made friends. Even though Trey kept calling him "Adam" all weekend.
He's a boy, you're a boy-- he likes dirt, you like dirt. You make barfing noises, he makes barfing noises. Life was so much simpler back then.

these are not the best pictures. I know we can't all be Mike Cunninghams, but I wasn't exactly working with geniuses either. 4/5 pictures taken when handing my camera to someone else turned out like these:

Awesome. What the freak is happening here people? My mom loves the zoom feature by the way. We erased those.

I love this little boy.
Except he has been holding a double standard. Every time we got into the elevator, he would grab onto the steel railing and tell us "hold to the iron rod!"
and then I caught him drinking. Twice.

You can't tell, but she's got a baby bump. You also might not be able to tell, but we are related.

I miss all of them already. They're crazy.

ever since I moved to San Diego

2010-05-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

last week, I have changed.

I think it's the humidity. I try to flat iron my hair, and by 2pm I look like Hermione Granger in the first Harry Potters.

100% natural frizz. I really am trying people. It's not that I don't care. I just don't know what else to do for myself.

Also, I woke up and it's like I'm in Benjamin Button. My face is breaking out in baby acne. It's awesome.

I would post pictures, but I'm too embarrassed. Obviously.

I also can't stop eating burritos. These Mexican stands are everywhere. So good.

we are FUNNY

2010-05-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

I stole this post from Megan's blog.
Which she stole from my email, which she had originally forwarded to me from Facebook.
Who deleted it, probably because it was too funny.

It all started one day in summer school...and ended about eight hours later...following a night where we decided to play games in the park--we both had a lapse in judgment and wore sandals to a park with no sand. Just bark.

Not that that has anything to do with anything. But neither does anything else.

The great thing is, is that this is ordinary conversation between two very ordinary friends on everyday life. This time, it was recorded.

Reason #4,764 why I love Megan no middle name Smith.

Megan Smith:

night games

Roxanne Hutchens:

I love night games. We should wear smarter shoes next time and maybe the bark won't get the best of us. Marco?

Megan Smith:

POLO! not to be confused with Pollo...spanish for chicken. Let's be clear I'm NOT calling you a chicken. Although I feel like chicken is all i hear about these days with Oprah basically throwing KFC in everyone's faces. I don't even like KFC. I think the fact that an old man named the colonel is frying lots of chicken is a little sad. Maybe there are labor laws against things such as this. But him teaming up with A&W...now that was a good idea. Rootbeer float ice
cream cones, to die for. Not as good as our frozen yogurt though...yummm...frozen yogurt. And this is proof that I can tie anything back to frozen yogurt. ANYTHING. Marco?

Roxanne Hutchens:

Hmmmm. Impressive. Very impressive. Not as impressive as the time that Benita and I decided to create the greatest fast food meal ever. True or False: we called in pizza to Papa John's. Better Ingredients, Better Pizza. As we were picking up the pizza, we cruised right on over to Little Caesar's. For the crazy bread, obviously. Pizza! Pizza! By then we assumed our cinnamon sticks were probably ready at 5 Buck Pizza. How can you beat great pizza? Great price? Now if someone other than Ben and I would realize the potential available here, we would really be on to something.

Megan Smith:

I do recall this evening. I came home to find garbage from not one, not two, but three different pizza establishments. I don't know if you call this impressive or indecisive. Still up for debate. HOWEVER. I completely commend your diligence and drive. If it's worth doing, it's
worth doing right and that was clearly your motto as you accomplished this feat of the tri-pizza meal. I feel like your game might have been stepped up a little had you ordered from a 4th
establishment and had it timed to arrive right as you pulled in from your pickups. At this point I'd feel like you were really pulling from all of the pizza fronts. All this pizza talk is making me wish i had a frozen totino's to throw in the oven. That is good pizza.

Roxanne Hutchens:

Instead I will settle, only once, for pizza flavored wheat thins. Now for sale at an on campus vending machine near you. Also, Diet Cokes and peanut M&M's will probably be the main food group for me for the next 7 weeks. Since this is my 5th hour of class so far today, I have eaten/drank everything in my suitcase purse. Gatorade. Water bottle. Peanut M&M's. Wheat Thins. Fiber One Bar. and Two pieces of Sugar Free Gum (Thanks Jillian and Bob).

Megan Smith:

mmm...diet coke and peanut M&M's. That sounds like a meal fit for a king. I'm going with DDP and carrots dipped in ranch as we speak. The carrots don't quite hit the spot the way those peanut M&M's do. There is such a thing as pizza flavored wheat thins? what will they come up
with next? Are crackers supposed to taste like a full fledged meal? That is a trick. It reminds me of the gum violet chews in willy wonka and the chocolate factory...."By gum it's gum...Wrong. It's
the most amazing, fabulous, sensational gum in the whole world....What's so fab about it?...This little piece of gum is a three-course dinner. Tomato soup. I can actually feel it running down my throat..." True or False: I have seen that movie way too many times for my own good.

Roxanne Hutchens:

True. But to counter your over-viewing I have never actually seen that movie in its entirety. Something strange about a man in a purple velvet suit that takes children into his alternate world. Not to mention some don't even make it back out and no one even really seems that concerned. This to me is far more perplexing than a wooden puppet just trying to make friends.

Megan Smith:

I think the whole Idea for the movie was a government funded scare tactic for children. Good little children get entire chocolate factories for themselves with little people who do all their work for them, all the candy they want, and they actually speak to each other in song. Bad little children disappear...where they go, nobody knows. A wooden puppet trying to make friends scares me. Puppets shouldn't be venturing into the social world if you ask me. It's like animals talking...you know how i feel about that.

Roxanne Hutchens:

these government funded movies have really got me confused. Like Wall-E. Opened up a whole new world for me. At first I just watched the movie like a four year old. Completely entertained, and no idea what's going on. Like Benita. Talking animals, puppets wanting to be real boys, extremely good looking men who age backwards, or spiders instilling values into little pigs. Just to name a few. These things are purely fictional, no politicking, and a few good morals. which is more than I can say for Gene Wilder. Who is just scary. You just have to question the intentions and integrity of people like him and Johnny Depp. Dr. Frankenstein? Pirates? Willy Wonka?

Megan Smith:

oooh the backwards aging man. I had that happen to me one time. I woke
up in the morning and ran a marathon and then by the end of the night
i couldn't walk, resorted to crawling, needed assistance being fed,
and only wanted to curl up in my jammies and watch disney films. If
only brad pitt had been there to experience it with me...

Roxanne Hutchens:

Ohhh...like Benjamin Button. But in reverse.

magical L.A. weekend

2010-05-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

this weekend was FANTASTIC.

I was making fun of Shauna for her verbage this weekend--but it really was nothing short of magical.
I loved the whole thing. Hard to do when I'm missing my besties this much.

Friday, I went to the Padres game at Petco Park with my friend Nick. For those of you who don't know me that well,

(A. I'm not sure why you're reading this, but glad to have you 2. I just want to get to D, and D. please tell me who you are, I don't hate comments.)

I LOVE BASEBALL.

something verrrrrry all-American about this sport. I may be a jersey chaser. But maybe I'm a jersey chaser because that's how much I love the sport. We will never ever know. I am very supportive. Somebody can be very attractive, but put them in a uniform and it's really quite pathetic. My heart melts.

EXHIBIT A:

Chase happens to be a very attractive 2nd baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Here he is in his uniform.

Here he is without it.
(still attractive, but not nearly as appealing. no offense Chase. I would still take you.)

It's not science people.

So Nick and I went to the game, and it was amazing. I loved it. We did everything you're supposed to do at a baseball game.

We ate peanuts. We drank cokes. We ordered hot dogs. We yelled "BEAT LA" to all of the drunks sitting around us. We provoked Dodger fans. We stood up and sang in the seventh inning stretch. So so fun. And in case you didn't realize from my last post how close I work, I will show you again.

this will not be my last baseball game.

Saturday I was a little unsure about how my weekend would unfold, so I talked to my very good friend Shauna, who is hilarious, living in L.A., and who you should be friends with here.

She convinced me the 122 mile trek was not too far to see her
(even after driving 600 miles LAST Sunday, and commuting everyday to work), and that I would not be sorry. I must really love this kitty.

So I drove to L.A. Saturday afternoon to find kitty in her sweatpants moving all of her stuff from her apartment. She failed to tell me she was using me for my car and my Mexican arms that have been lifting 20 lb weights with my very own personal trainer.
(read her good stuff here)

I wasn't even mad though. I love this little lady dearly and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Plus she called me a tender mercy.

We moved all of her stuff into a very difficult to reach storage unit (it really was like PacMan), only to find that we had to Tetris-ize her stuff to make it fit in the 4 x nothing unit that costs more than some Provo rent.
It's Los Angeles.

Ate some Chipotle, as every hard-working Mexican should, and then went and met up with Shauna's and my now friend (I Facebook confirmed) Peter.

We had the most amazing dinner at this place called "Gjelina"--a Mediterranean style restaurant on Abbott Kinney Blvd., a super trendy area of Venice Beach. We ordered some kind of pasta (mini), a margherita pizza, and fries.

Thank goodness our very odd waiter who refused to speak reminded us that they're called "Frites".
Peter: And an order of french fries.
Waiter: oh you mean frites.
Sure.

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart even ate here together in December. Tender.

We put our names in around 9 p.m., and didn't even get seated until around 10:30 p.m, which was okay because we got to see the BEST PART OF LA. The Venice Beach canals. It was so cute all lit up at night, which made it difficult to take good pictures. And it made it into the movie Valentines Day, and Because I Said So (according to Shauna, I've never seen either.)

We went back to Peter's house, watched SNL, and laughed really REALLY hard at this SNL short--

REALLY late Saturday night I was able to visit with my friend Justin Morgan from high school. He's living down in L.A., and just finished up his second year of law school at USC. Love him. He is darling.

Sunday, Shauna and I went to church, and then sipped Diet Cokes while driving around the bendy roads of Beverly Hills and sang to old country songs. Like "I Want A Man That Stands Beside Me" by Jo Dee Messina, and "That Summer" by Garth Brooks. Man, those are good.

Favorite part:

Shauna: Kitty, I am so so glad you are here.
Me: I was part of your past life, but now I am here!
Shauna: I know! Now you're in my present life too! That makes you relevant.

Finally, we went to get dinner at the Coral Tree Cafe, where it just so happens The Hills cast thought would be the perfect place to eat in the premiere. NBD.

And then I drove home.

It was MAGICAL.

just a little kitty in the big city

2010-05-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

last Sunday, I moved to San Diego. all by myself.
I drove 11 hours, by myself, which was okay, because my Dad said he would pray for me.
Thanks Dad.

and just like he said I would be, I was fine. I detached myself from my mother's apron strings, got myself some 32oz Diet Cokes along the way, some peanut m&m's, Megan's mixed CD she made just for me, and I was on my way.

I'm living in San Diego with my darling friend Brittany Pierce's family until she gets here in June, and then we will be roomies.

I'm interning at a public relations/advertising agency called j. simms agency in downtown--about a 25 minute commute.

This is my view. I LOVE it.I will only be working part-time, so I also have applied at my favorites.

J. Crizzle, Anthropologie, and Pottery Barn. I will let you know how it goes, mainly for the discount I'll be helping you out with.

just since being here, I've already settled into a little bebis routine.
I love routines.

I located the closest 7-11's to work and to home-- check.
mapped out 4 and 5 mile run routes from the house -- check.
grocery shopped for my favorite things

diet cokes
kashi cereal
lean wraps
bananas
and peanut butter)

and settled into bed by 10:30 watching all good things on hulu.

parenthood, modern family, friday night lights, the marriage ref, LOST--
it's going to be a very busy summer.

so who is going to come visit?

(Mike- I don't care what you say I am a sophisticated kitty who happens to like bunny food. but I will try a fish burrito if it makes you happy. only because kitties are supposed to like fish.)

miss leslie ann

2010-05-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

A little bit late of a post.
Whatever.

I love Mama Hutch. She is seriously amazing. Who else could raise 8 kids, who haven't killed each other, made it to college (Manta and Marmet don't screw up!), and all have strong testimonies of the church?

She has been through so much, in her own life, and in supporting her kids through their difficult trials. I have never met anyone as tender-hearted, caring, patient, and loving as her. All of my friends remind me how lucky I am to have her.
I sometimes hate that she has such a deep and caring heart, for she truly feels more than others feel sometimes, but I also know that her joy is also greater.
Happy is the heart that still feels pain Mama!

Our home has always been a place of refuge and comfort, for myself and for others--in no small part because of her. She always has a hug when I need it, she says the right things, and is a true testament of what it is to unconditionally love, and to have faith in all things.

This past week I had the opportunity to be home with family before moving to San Diego--and even though I haven't kept in great contact with high school friends, I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather hang out with than her.

Every time I go home I revert back to being 5 years old.

"Mom, what are you doing? Can I do that?"
"Mom, where are you going? Can I come?"
"Mom, what are you eating? Can I have some?"
"Mom, what are you watching? Can I watch that?"

Thanks for letting me help you, spending time talking on our lunch dates, shopping dates, sharing your food, getting me hooked on ridiculous television shows,
(If you haven't watched Ghost Whisperer yet, it's the only thing I've ever liked Jennifer Love Hewitt in. Watch it. It's ridiculous.)

and for letting me cuddle in your bed with you until it's way past any normal parent's bedtime.

Coming home to spend time with you is my favorite part about coming home. I miss you already.

I LOVE YOU MAMA HUTCH.

Happy Mother's Day.

NOTE: also I realized after this post where I get my no-picture-taking-rule from.
Sibs: We need pictures of us, with mom, minus matching outfits ASAP. okay?

cookie monsters

2010-04-21T23:08:00.001-07:00

I love my nephews more than any other nephews in the whole entire world. This is a very bold statement. But it's true.

I didn't realize how much I missed these little faces while they were out of town for two weeks until Andre' and I went up to Jaclyn's for dinner on Sunday.

Since Andre' and I are trying to get rid of every single crumb in our cabinets before we both leave for the summer (seriously, where did I pick up some of this food? I will never ever eat that box of pasta roni. let's be honest.), Andre' brought up his baking remnants to make chocolate chip cookies with the boys. So many things wrong with this scenario.

(don't worry, Ethan's actually not angry. this is his "cheese" face.)

1. Andre' in the kitchen--not cooking, but baking.
2. two little boys under the age of 3, cooking with their cookie illiterate uncle.

There was flour everywhere. Andre' had the white powdery stuff all over his shirt. Aidan wanted to do everything, Ethan wouldn't stop eating the cookie dough, although he was very willing to share.

these cookies are way too big. a few casualties, and then Andre' gave up all together and made pizookies. (is that what they're called?)

we love each other.

currently...

2010-04-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

my life is crazy. I think I like it that way. TBD.

I got hired at J. Simms Agency in San Diego for a summer internship.
I leave soon. Like really soon. And then I don't come back until August.

I was voted Vice President of Digital Communications for PRSSA at UVU...holleratchya.
Anything for a resume.

Started running again. This was very short lived. Maybe this had to do with running 5 miles
when they told me to do 2. Whatever.
They are making me wear a Kobe Bryant calf sleeve.

Started packing up my stuff...my new address is Slate Canyon Storage Units.

Since beginning to pack up said stuff, I no longer have television. Trying to not get distracted during finals...instead I stay up til 2am watching The Marriage Ref on Hulu. GOOD STUFF.

If not on Hulu, I am playing Words With Friends. Never not playing Words With Friends.
Maybe I shouldn't play this game--some of said friends only play four letter words.
I don't think any less of you, promise. Kind of.
Other friends, that will remain unnamed probably cheat at WWF.
Raj is a word? No. He is the guy at 7/11.

Did NOT run in the Salt Lake marathon, and neither did Megan.
My leg is still a bum, and she missed the sign up date.
The universe obviously did not want Megan to compete without me.
Our friend Janae however, did run it. In 3:20. First in her age group.
We did the math...that's a 7 1/2 min/mile folks.
She's insane, and my new idol. (just kidding, I still think the church is true.)

Went and got my hair cut with Megan and Benita in Pleasant Grove at our friend Hilary's...and simultaneously learned that PG smells because there is a poop plant there.
When they stir it, it smells. Go figure.

Facebook in fact, makes terrible suggestions. It suggested I become a friend with my ex boyfriend's fiancee.
Facebook, get real.

Riding on beach cruisers with no gear shifts uphill is probably the equivalent of an hour long spin class.

Megan and I learned that our favorite Pizza Factory meal is approximately .50 cheaper on the lunch menu...now we go at lunch.

Arizona soft drinks are only .78cents. Crest is $1.38.
If we lived in Arizona, we'd be approximately 50% richer.

I still love teeny bopper music. JoBros, Miley Cyrus, and Justin Bieber have dominated my summer playlists three years in a row. Who cares?

My bestest Beth comes into town to graduate this week. I love her. One day, we will own houses in the same cul de sac.

I somehow managed to escape doing laundry for the past four weeks. The last time I did it was right before New York, and then the consecutive weekend trips didn't help.
(My life is really really hard.)

the best thing I've ever read six times is featured here.
Subscribe to his blog, and then get him a job. You won't be sorry.

Finals are coming up. Again.

easter bunnies wear stretch pants

2010-04-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was so fun.

Since I haven't been in town one weekend in March, why would I start now? It has been crazy.
New York. Check. San Diego. Check. Arizona. Check.

I got back from San Diego with Brittany realllly late Monday night, and then left after class on Thursday for Gilbert, AZ. We all piled into Benita's car
(Benita driving, Megs in the front seat, and Court, Lola and I in the back).
All snuggled in.

We left around 5:30pm and arrived in Paige, AZ just around 11pm I think.
We stopped other places, but Paige gets an honorable mention because Maverik provided us with the most delicious ice cream cones EVER.
That's right Benita. EVER.

(Benita insisted on wearing a snuggie the whole time. It was really weird.)

I may or may not have purchased Hot Rod for $7.99 too. That's a steal.
We pulled into Gilbert around 2am and I don't remember much after that...
until we ate lunch on Friday at Oregano's.

Okay. New favorite restaurant. Megan and I have our staples...but if Oregano's was here I'm sure it'd be one of them.

Soups, pizzas, salads, wraps, BBQ wings, garlic bread, and the largest Diet Cokes I've ever seen in a glass. With free refills and to go cups.
Oregano's: Where Sizes Matters. Seriously.

And here is where we picked up our friend Dustin. So nice to have you.
I know Court was grateful.

Later we went and did some verrry light shopping at the mall, picked up a few things. Matching boyfriend sweats from Victoria's Secret...not a big deal.

then to Swirl It...not sure why but I'm never going to be sick of frozen yogurt or new yogurt places. There are so many. Red Velvet and Pistachio really hit the spot.

Following frozen yogurt, we went to go see Miley Cyrus star in "The Last Song".
Oh my Nicholas Sparks. What would we do without you?
Except...Miley is terrible. She couldn't stop making this stupid face.

(I googled "Miley's stupid face in Last Song". So glad I found this)

Otherwise good though. Predictable, sappy, slightly depressing with a happy ending.
All of my favorite things. Not to mention, Liam Hensworth is DARLING.
I could look at him all day.
Too bad he's a 90's baby. Otherwise we might have a legitimate chance.

Following the most amazing day ever, and all of my favorite things, we played games at Megan's sister's, Lindsay's house. I laughed. Really hard.

"Benita has sagged into last place..."
"Ballerina. Why didn't you pick mine? I put that down, and you DID."
"When I think of Roxanne I think of stretch pants..." Nice Court.
"I don't trust Asian women."
"Red Rover? I would have picked that."
And Run Ruck Run is sweeping the nation...

Saturday we watched the first session of conference. Or at least tried.
TV fail. The channel wouldn't work so we watched it on Megan's bebis Mac screen.

No better way to cheer ourselves up than poolside tanning while it's snowing in Provo.
85 degrees in April. I WILL move somewhere warmer after I graduate.

After a few hours of soaking up some much needed sun, we went back to get ready and met up with the boys after priesthood session for dinner at Brio. Again, so good.

They played more games...I studied for a Free Expression test.
I don't really want to talk about it.

I don't think I can recall a time where I have been so excited about Easters.
I love the candy, love the decorations, love conference...but actually getting excited about Easter has been a while for me.

Megan's family has a tradition for Easter where they attach kite string, A LOT of kite string to your easter basket, and hide it somewhere in or out of the house.
We all have the same starting point, and it was a little bit like Mission Impossible for the first 20 minutes.

Benita went up the slide. Court went across the counter.
I fought with Patches the cat outside for my string.

It was seriously as exciting as Christmas. I hope the Smiths and Barneys don't mind when I steal this for my own kids. Actually, Megan's and my kids will probably be doing it together.

Love them. And I will miss my besties so much this summer.

you deserve to be ultimate punched

2010-04-01T00:03:00.001-07:00

1. ward prayers turned firesides without us knowing
(seriously, tell us to bring the diet coke and popcorn, I would not have been as mad)

2. yozone taking away our frozen yogurt sampling agency
(they really do come around the counter and ask you which one you'd like to sample. were they really losing that much money in yogurt shots?)

3. airport buddies - the kind who think just because you sit next to them means you must be interested.

4. waking up at 5am to train clients. (that's for megan. I would never)

5. airport food.
dear delta and southwest airlines, peanuts and half a diet coke does not a meal make.
why must you take the honey out of honey roasted? the salted are just not that good.
times are tough you guys. we're in a recession.

6. cats

7. walking around a soggy campus, and approximately three classes in feel as if you've actually waded through a medium sized pond.

8. tapping

9. heavy breathing dorito eaters in the testing center

10. road bikers

11. standardized tests

iPhotoshop...letterpress effect

2010-03-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try and post Photoshop "how-to's"...

how about... on Wednesdays?

I have my reasons, but mostly because iPhotoshop, and you should too.
most of it has been learned on my own, with a few painful classes along the way.
It is the epitome of a love-hate relationship for me.

EXAMPLE:
me & in n out.
me & snow.

You get the idea.

So please enjoy this post, tell your friends, and try it next time you want to make
your invitation just a little bit more fancy.

1. Create a new document in Photoshop.

File > New

Any sized document will work, but for this example I've chosen to just work
on a 5 x 5 in canvas.

2. Change the foreground color of your canvas to an off-white or other light color. For this example, I'm using #cfccc.

Choose background color, and then apply by hitting
Option/Alt + Delete

3. Add Texture.

We want the invitation (or whatever it is you crazy people are doing) to have a softer, more realistic texture. You can find your own here at one of my favorite websites and apply it as a filter, or use a Photoshop texture, which is what I'm doing.

Choose Filter > Texture > Texturizer

I'm going to keep the Canvas texture, but I've changed the scaling down to 87%,
and the relief scale down to 3.

Play around with the options until you're happy with the texture.
Burlap works well too.

Press OKAY.

4. Add type to your canvas.

Bold, thicker fonts work well for letter press, but as fonts are VERY expensive,
websites like these offer free fonts for downloading.

In fact, I'll use the font RiotSquad from dafont.com, but any other Retro type fonts
tend to work well too.

Choose a bright font color, so you'll be able to see the letter press.

I've used blue #396dcc.

5. Add an "inner-shadow" to your text.

On the layers menu at the bottom:

fx > inner-shadow

Change the color of the shadow from the default black (black is much too harsh for this the effect you're going for), to a color a few shades darker than your original color. The effect should be subtle.

Change the opacity to 70%.

Hit Okay.

6. Add texture.

Since the last filter you applied was the same for the paper, you can hit
(on a MAC) Command + F

or

Filter > Texturizer

(You may receive a warning message asking you to rasterize the image, hit OK)

7. Finish.

For finishing touches, I ran the dodge tool over the center of each letter, with a highlight effect.
Feel free to try other finishes, until you get the look you want.

Let me know if you want a specific tutorial, we'll try to get it on here!
And if I don't know it, I'll learn it. For you.

Merry Easter!

Dear San Diego,

2010-03-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

thank you for being 75 degrees every time I come.

thank you for allowing me to take naps on the beach in both February and March
while it is snowing in Provo.
thanks for feeding me fish tacos, frozen yogurts, and the best Diet Cokes I've ever had.

if it's not too much to ask, please let me intern here this summer. right next to here.

I've been in Provo for THREE summers in a row, and I am tired of seven peaks.

it's pretty clear I'm meant to be here.

so please. before I sound like I'm begging.

Love, me.

an affair to remember

2010-03-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

Wow. So many things happening lately.

I spent March 17-20 of last week in New York City, on UVU's dime. Holler.
The Communications department picked 7 students with stellar resumes, obviously, to go to NEW YORK and meet with public relations professionals at the top of their game.

We flew into Newark, NJ via a nonstop flight with no food. Peanuts only. Really Delta? And half a Diet Coke. Apparently we're in a recession. It's a good thing I'm always packing protein bars.

We checked into the hotel, none other than the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. NBD.

I met up with my good friends Ed Felix and Casey Lewis that night to go to dinner, so fun! It's possible that Thai food tastes better in SoHo...but not as good as Siamese Hut.

Thursday was ridiculously busy, but went a little something like this:

Starbucks. Nonfat Chai Tea Latte. Check.

Meeting with Rachel Cohen, Director of Multi-Media at SVP Worldwide.
She was darling.

Subway. Check.

Meeting with Maneesh Goyal, President of MKG Productions.

My dream job. Enough said.

Meeting with Kathleen Huddy, Textiles Director at Good Housekeeping.
She was so on point. So sharp and exactly what an editor should be.

Ate dinner at SushiSamba in Union Square.

Went that night to go see In the Heights on Broadway with Ed..featuring Corbin Blue. Aaamaaaazing.

Dessert at Amy's Breads. Eat the monkey cake. Seriously.

Friday.
Meeting with Randy Herbertson, co-owner of SeeSaw.
Again, another one of my favorite appointments. Nothing quite compares with talking to people who are doing what you want to do, who also happen to be the leaders in the industry. Such a thrill to be able to pick his creative brain.

also spent a lot of time with this talented young lady. she is such a hard worker and I'm sure she will succeed wherever she goes! But Kaiti, as much as I love you I'm not much of a cuddler at 4am. Stay on your side of the bed!

Meeting with Mark Newman of Hunter Public Relations.
Super informative and he was so down to earth.

And finally, we met with Ahmad Corbitt, the Director of International Affairs in New York for the church. And we got to speak with four UN Ambassadors. I asked a question. In the microphone.

Dinner at Carnegie's Deli...dessert crepes at the Creperie..and a poetry slam in the Lower East Side. Thanks Ed. I'm pretty sure I was one of three white people there. I did learn that "purchasement" is a word in Brooklyn, courtesy of Mahogany Brown.

Saturday we checked out of the hotel, did some shopping, some Central Park, and Ed and I stood in line at the ShakeShac k for an hour.
But it was sooooo worth it.

It went by so fast, and was an absolute blast. I loved every minute of it, and was so grateful for the experience and the connections made there!

I came back even more excited to graduate this year, and even more senioritis. Am I allowed to have that already?

Get me graduated and back in Manhattan.

ultimate punch

2010-03-14T00:05:00.000-08:00

1. people that read out loud to themselves.
2. people who clap in movie theatres.
3. people who bring toddlers into said movie theatres after 11pm.
4. heavy breathing dorito eaters.
5. leprechauns.
6. UNLV fans
7. people that don't know how to drive and take it out on you by flipping you off.
maybe in the sunflower market parking lot.
8. double negatives.
9. washing your hair in the kitchen sink.
flour...vanilla...cereal...suave...bread...
10. pedestrians
11. $1 blockbuster rentals that say they're free but actually still charge you a dollar. plus tax.
12. people who write "noone" instead of "no one" and "should of" instead of "should have".
you know who you are.
13. being seated in a party room at a restaurant when you're not there with the party.

things I do appreciate:

HANDICAP PARKING.

adds 10 minutes to my sleeping time and allows me to be on time to class.
this month anyway.

really useful when it is a blizzard outside, which brings me to fourteen.

14. 55 degree weather and then being kiboshed by a blizzard.

jack's birthday

2010-03-09T12:18:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we went to my aunt's house for dinner. She always has us over for birthdays, and cooks the most amazing food! Plus we can always count on having Texas Sheet Cake for dessert. Sooooo GOOD. This time it was Jaclyn's birthday.

Jaclyn is my oldest sister, and has been such an amazing example to me.
Not to mention she's built like a supermodel with legs for days and a perma-tan.
The girl is a straightup Cindy Crawford Lamanite.

She is the most incredible mom, sister, friend, wife, and everything I'd ever hope to be.
She never stops thinking of others, and is constantly concerned over others well-being.
Not to mention the most protective older sister ever. Which is awesome.
I love how capable she is of loving people, and being the first to be empathetic towards them.
Even though we haven't lived together in over ten years, I love how close we still are! I feel like
I could always call her for anything, and she'd put down anything to be there for me.

Not to mention she is the mother of the two most darling nephews in the whole entire world.
I'm not being bias. Look at them.
I credit her for actually making me want to (and think I might be able to!) be a good mother.

Jackie, you make crafts, I buy them.
I'm a shopaholic, but you wear the clothes like I never could.
(5'11" and 135 pounds after two kids? are you kidding me?)
you cook. I find good places to eat.
we probably couldn't be any more different, but I love that.

I feel like you make me a better person. I'm so glad you live so close, and that neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon. Your example and Christlike love mean everything to me.
I love you!

Happy 27th Jaclyn!

best part about being handicap, is being handicap

2010-03-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

It is official. I am a handicap. following my doctor's appointment yesterday, I got booted.
yesterday, I went and got a 'bone scan'. I heard this, and I thought to myself,
"I don't like the sound of that. "Bone scan".
turns out, I was right. I went into the American Fork Hospital at noon for an injection,
and was sent home to drink "a few quarts of water". for those of you trying to do the math,
that is a lot of water. 4 cups in a quart.
I WASN'T EVEN THAT THIRSTY.
I went back at 3:30, and got my scan. it was dark. it was lonely. it took a long time.
I didn't like it at all.

But I do get better parking.

baby's got bieber fever

2010-03-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

this is hilarious. and darling.

and I stole it from shauna's blog. {meow kitty}

things I want to ultimate punch in the face

2010-03-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

this has been building up in me for some time now.
there are more than a few things I cannot stand, and that I have more than once felt
an urge to ultimate punch in the face.
and so should you.

here are the things I would like to ultimate punch in the face.

1. obamacare
2. people that describe themselves as fun..but spell it out "F-U-N"
3. people that say "knock-knock" after they've already opened the door.
4. provo parking police
5. testing center fees
6. people who think it's funny to text you from a number you don't have saved and then refuse to tell you who it is.
7. the person who thinks they've been "chosen" just because they got called before you in the doctor's office.
8. "wowzers"
9. at home tai-bo
10. guys who lift together and yell, "you've got one more in you boss!" at the gym
11. professors and students who preach anti-byu propaganda at school. get over it.
12. 50 degree weather turned snow
13. dishes in the sink, and clean dishes being taken from the dishwasher without unloading it
14. people that eat tuna. and then leave the can out.
15. people who don't think Seinfeld is funny

16 miles to the promised land...or to the orthopaedic clinic

2010-03-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

so I have been training since January for a marathon.
this marathon.
Megs and I have been putting in about 30 or so miles every week, and
it apparently was a little too much for my little body.
this is what a stress fracture looks like on film.

there you have it people. this is what hard work looks like.
not much to look at it, but it hurts. a lot. we had our long run last week, 16 miles.
I felt completely fine afterwards! in fact, I felt great! don't get me wrong, I was tired. but no shin splints, no bruising, nothing but normal fatigue. I was fine Sunday, then Monday woke up
with some serious pain in my right ankle. I went ahead and ran as usual (outside, it was finally 50 degrees!) but the pain didn't go away. after expressing my concern to my mom and Megan (my two go to's), and my mom encouraged me to make an appointment, just to make sure I was okay to continue training.
I was hesitant to make the appointment, because I think I kind of already knew something wasn't quite right.

sure enough, Dr. McLane at the Sports Orthopaedic Clinic confirmed my worst fears.
A stress fracture and bone thickening of the right lower tibia.
I get to wear a very attractive brace, which means no skinny jeans for the next month. my logic may be a little flawed, but who cares?
I think I can still go to spin class, so I might try that, and lifting is still okay'd.

I go in for a bone scan on Friday...updates later.
I best be taking my painkillers and heading to bed.

my goals for 2010

2010-02-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

1. run a marathon.
not sure how Megs talked me into this one either. she does that...
last year I was training for a half. basically, I was trained but never got around to doing one with school. in January, we were sitting around talking about her doing the Salt Lake City marathon, which she did last year. next thing you know, she'd convinced me that I was also marathon material, and we should train together. hal higdon training guide let us know exactly how many miles we would need to run to be ready. right now, we're in week 13. only 5 weeks left. ever since I've started training, my appetite, which has always been a very large factor in how I plan my days, has been out of control. always eating, never not eating.

2. graduate.
I will actually graduate this year. december 2010 can't come soon enough. I will graduate with my BA in communications and an emphasis in public relations.

3. take the GRE.
since I'll be graduating this year, I can't think of what my life would be without school. so this summer I'll study for and take the GRE, which leads me into my next goal...

4. apply to grad school.
I would like to apply to different grad programs in advertising...University of Texas, Austin obviously is at the top of the list. there are other notable programs in Georgia, Chicago, and Southern California which I'll be looking into. applications due in December of this year...yikes.

5. start the book of mormon over again.
I just barely finished the BOM in December, and I have started it again. I can honestly feel a difference in the days I decide not to read, and I'd much rather prefer at least reading a chapter, although my goal is 20-30 minutes everyday. it is so important, and the more I read it, the more it becomes evident to me the truths it holds.

6. expand my reading library.
these are the three books on my desk right now.

the book thief was a gift from my dear friend Megan. whom I talk a lot about on this blog. and will continue to do so. get over it.
a really amazing fiction read that takes place in WWII. haven't finished it yet, but will soon! really wish I didn't accidentally leave it in san diego. I will keep you posted.

the second book is so so good. if you don't have it, go get it right now.
it was a gift from my dad, and has really changed how I am reading the old testament. I love it, and it has helped me so much in my new teaching calling, and has really testified to me how every single book of scripture truly testifies of Christ.

the last is awesome so far. coincidentally, the only reason I picked this little number up is because I had forgotten my book in san diego and picked up something else to read in the airport. if you are studying communications or public relations, you HAVE to have this book. talks all about different cases where companies are embracing and integrating social media and communication to clients. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book as well!

7. put happy moments into everyday.
not always so easy to do, especially when we get caught up in our own routines. especially me, as that is exactly what I am. I tend to do the same things everyday, around the same time, eat the same things, etc. I run the same time everyday, I like to lift Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday with Megan, always Diet Cokes, Carrabas or Pizza Factory, always Seinfeld, cereal for dinner. you get the picture.
this year, I'd like to remember to not try so hard. a perfect example of this was last week, when I had every single assignment ever due the next day, I hadn't run my 8 miles for marathon training, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to see Megan. so I put down my book, and called Megan. at 2 o'clock in the afternoon we decided to get ourselves some diet cokes and mcdonald's ice cream cones. just because. they are moments like these that make my days happy.

it's going to be a good year.

math may keep me from graduating

2010-02-24T08:41:00.001-08:00

I left my heart in San Diego.

2010-02-21T23:19:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is never my favorite. Not sure why, I have a pretty good track record of having a boyfriend. Maybe I plan it that way. Maybe not. But I have happened to spend the last 2 of 3 Valentine's days with this boy, which I'm not mad about.

Day 1: Flew in to San Diego around 11:30am, he picked me up from the airport with a huge hug and a cheesy bagel from work. Had to go all the way to the 7th floor to pick it up. So thoughtful. We went to his apartment, met the roommate, and he made me lunch. Tofu steak and broccoli. Healthy, but spongy. Maybe not my first choice again. We decided to go on a run, and did 4.5 miles along Torrey Pines, which looked a little something like this:

It was amazing. Soooo pretty, about 70 degrees, and a whole lot warmer than Provo has been treating me these days. We finished our run, walked along the ocean for a bit, and decided to call it a day. Grocery shopping, he made a quite fabulous red curry, and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

Day 2: was even better. Got up, put our running clothes on, and ventured out to start our 10 mile run. I'm training for a marathon, however, Mike is not. Very brave. We went to Balboa park, and did some very intense trails for a few hours before deciding 8.5 miles on that terrain probably equaled about 15 distance running. We laid down on the grass in the park, basking in the 75 degrees of deliciousness, when he informed me he had made Valentine's reservations. I was not even a little bit mad about this. We wrapped up the afternoon at Mission beach, changed, and went to this amazing Italian restaurant. I have no idea what it's called. We sat outside, ate our carb-loaded dinner, and watched Casablanca in black and white on a huge screen. We took a short walk after, and decided frozen yogurt was our best option, always. Pajamas and sleep made this day a complete success.

Day 3: Sunday, but had to be outside. I'm obsessed with Southern California weather, so sue me. We went for a long walk outside, Mike happens to live literally across the street from the San Diego temple. Very cliche and very darling at the same time. His roommate, Anthony's girlfriend, Maelyn, was starring in a very intriguing play called "Postmortem" in Oceanside, so we decided to attend the matinee final performance. She was hilarious. We changed into hoodies and jeans, and made it just in time to watch the sunset down at the beach. We had purchased ingredients for sugar cookies, and decided to repeat what we had done two years ago for our Sabbath Valentine's Day. Cheesy. But I loved it.

Day 4: Walking on the beach, hole in the wall Mexican burritos on the boardwalk, frozen yogurt, and back to Provo. I promise to myself to get better at taking pictures. Not nearly enough from this trip. Dang it.

this is why I suck at blogging. brain dump.

2010-02-21T22:14:00.000-08:00

I really do want to be better at keeping my blog. I have some good things to say.
I turned 23 in January. Dinner at Carrabas with my besties, and otherwise uneventful. I don't think I'm as mad about 23 as I thought I was going to be.
I'd love to let everyone know exactly what I think about the Biggest Loser, but my roommates are too cheap to let us have DVR. I swear this will be resolved next year.
Still training for the Salt Lake Marathon. Not sure how I let Megan talk me into this one, but it worries me. She may have some sort of Jedi mind-trick abilities I'm not yet aware of.
My life has been taken over the 2010 U.S. Census. I should be happy. I was chosen as team leader for UVU's Bateman team to compete in the PRSSA 2010 National Bateman Competition. I've also acted as the creative director of the campaign, from logo, to branding, to ensuring the visual messages were always clear. Sort of fun and exciting, but more than a little bit stressful and demanding on my Tuesday/Thursday schedule.
The most significant thing that happened to me this week: I ate free JDawg's, at Wolverine Wednesday on campus. This turned out to be a very costly mistake. I thought free meant it was a good idea. Free = the hardest most disgusting 4 mile run of my life. It was supposed to be my easy day. Instead, at .84 miles I felt like throwing up, and was sweating profusely. I will never eat JDawg's again.
Midterms has already come and gone, not sure how I feel about that.
Six days left of the Census campaign.
I got picked to be one of seven PR students to go on a school-sponsored trip to Manhattan in March...just found out we'll be staying in the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, NBD. We leave March 17th...
Still working on finding an internship, I really hope to find something in San Diego. We'll see how that goes.
I love watching the Olympic games. Very mesmerizing. Picture a small child watching Disney cartoons. That's me.
Apolo Anton Ohno is amazing. But still a tool. That small hairy distraction on your face needs to go. Look at him.

I tweeted this early this week, but I restate it because of its importance. If anyone ever finds me in aisle six of WalMart, 17 months prego, hoarding yet to be paid for powdered doughnuts, whilst wearing an oversized BYU sweatshirt and making my acne-prone husband carry our other dirty-faced infant, shoot me.

ode to megs and benits : 2009 style

2009-12-29T19:27:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, Megan Smith and Benita Marie Bates are two of my bestest. But I am very blessed to have many. 2009 has been a very crazy year, and has brought about a lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of in-betweens, and an awful lot of kiboshings. I am so so grateful to have them in my life, and the wonderful examples they are to me! They have no idea how much I've needed them this year.

Many times, Megs and I have joked 2009 just sort of happened at us. Out of our control. And left us more than one time with no words, and an awful lot of laughs.

I took a total of 51 credits, starting in January, ending in December. Megan ran her first full marathon in Salt Lake City, which is where Benita ran off to after becoming a college graduate in August. Cami got married, Megan, Benita, and I, didn't. We took a road trip to Reno/Tahoe in May, and my sister Holly and I took another one to Pasadena in July, followed by a beach house vacation in August. Thanks to Facebook, Megan's picture taking, and texts, we have a lot of this documented. Here is our Year In Review.

Dax flame...Sunday Denny’s with Les and Elaine...

19 feet of snow at Highland Park, and not being able to leave the complex.

Ants on your face. And in your room. (Thank you for trading me!)

Test. Test. Project. Bachelor. Test.

Ox. Hoops. Dr. Quinn. Rox in the mire.

Pistachio salmonella...Monday date nights....Highland Park Air Force Base.

Swindled by John Can’t Stand Ya into 4 hours of Reaganomics.

Sunday afternoon naps in the sprinklers...Mule kicks at kickboxing...

Enrique Iglesias and Monday night grocery shopping...Get over here You sassy little minx.

All those chassis at Tahoe...I’ve been waiting for nonfat yogurt my whole life, and it’s finally here!

Are you drinking today?...I hate this part right here....FML.

Fisher price dishes and Finding Nemo fruit snacks. Do I live with a child?

"Is it on the wagon, or off the wagon? You've been off the wagon for two years. "Off the wagon"? I think it's off the wagon. I think it's "on the wagon". One small slip and you could fall right off the wagon. See? Told you."

Smart cars...Kiboshed.

"You’re going to be a gymnast. A journalist? That’s what I said."

FiberOne bars and Diet Cokes...Walkie Talkies...Seven peaks.

TLHAPFM. (The Lord has a Plan For Me)

Honeymoon pillows...Dungeon dwelling...Shoe carnival? Freak show of shoes.

Awooooo!!

This workout brought to you…by Diet Coke...Fraggle and Scraggle.

Charla Nash. Charla Nash. Charla Nash...Google "chimp ate my face".

Boyz II Men.

And finally…NOT getting blindsided.

2010 is going to be an amazing year...because we said so.

christmas miracles.

2009-12-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

I have so many things to be grateful for all of the time, but most particularly this season. My life has been so blessed this year, and continue to be astounded by the Lord's tender mercies. Andre', Holly, and I drove from Provo to Reno right after finals (Andre' basically left from the testing center, barf.) We didn't leave for Reno until about 8:30pm, meaning we arrived around 4:30MST. Long. And awful. And heavy fog the whole way. The only ones missing for Christmas are Jaclyn & Ben.We typically have weather similar to Utah, but it has been super cold here recently! We arrived in Reno to about 2 feet of snow on the ground, and hasn't melted yet. It wasn't exactly a white Christmas by the time Christmas finally got here, more like a grayish-blue.

Since being home, we've done nothing but eat, sleep, shop, and watch movies. Even the 'rents stay up until 2am visiting and chatting with us. I love being at home with siblings. Carmen has gotten verrrry savvy with that DVR, and has taken the opportunity to DVR all of her favorite shows, including 6 episodes of TLC's Cake Boss recorded for us when we got home. Thank goodness. We watched those with her in a hurry.

A LOT OF SHOPPING.

We also went to go see the new movie Avatar (Andre', Holly, Hunter, Samantha, Carmen, and myself). Sort of like Fern Gully meets Dancing with Wolves meets Surrogates. So weird. And about 2 1/2 hours too long.

Robbie: this movie was NOT "epic".

But fun to watch anyway. I splurged on large popcorn and Diet Coke. Always tastes better at the movies. Tuesday night was Blindside, round 2. I loved it just as much the second time. And on a second note, Andre' thought it would be fun to have a "Harry Potter" marathon every night since we've been home. I'm not sure why everything turns into a marathon, but at least we know he can't do anything halfheartedly.

Christmas Eve dinner was supposed to be Thai, but they happened to be closed. We've postponed until New Year's. Instead, we had lobster, crab cakes, green beans, lion house rolls, and baked potatoes. So good.

On a last note, I LOVE being at home with family during the holidays. We are so blessed to have the home and room to have all of our family stay, as well as tacking on two more families of 4 and the missionaries this year. That brought the Christmas Joy total = 24. It wouldn't feel like Christmas unless it was a full house.

Back to Provo on the 5th...

semester in review.

2009-12-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

this semester was awful. it's over now. as of 5:00pm.

I can't believe it's christmastime. christmas always sorts of sneaks up on me with finals and everything, summed up by the sign on the library door:

"god rest ye merry gentlemen...after finals. until then, we're open until 2 a.m."

freak. they do not mess around. last night was my last night of studying for finals. holly met me at the library with a $5 pizza from little caesar's. food is not allowed in the library, so we decided to stick it to the byu security man. we wrapped the entire pizza in paper towels, put it in my backpack, and brought it inside. it was delicious. the bad part was when I drowned my phone in pink strawberry gatorade. it was phone number genocide. nothing could be saved. that's my second phone this year. we're leaving to go home tomorrow, finally!
here is the list of things I am grateful for, and that got me through this heinous semester:

1. best find: hanes v-neck teesthese little gems really saved my life. 8.99 for a back of 5 at Target or WalMart, and fit just like the American Apparel regular v's. I wear them to bed. I wear them to school. I wear them to the gym. (not all the same shirt guys. I change in between) These have been such a huge part of my life, my blog title was inspired by them. And also a little bit by Megan, who greeted me "oooooh haaaanes" when approaching her at the gym. the best/worst moment of my life when I realized I should probably stop wearing them so much.

2. cheapest pick-me-up: crest diet cokes

okay everyone. I need to have a diet coke everyday, and I am okay with that. there are worse things, they kept me awake, and comforted my soul.

3. most convenient breakfast: Fiber One Bars / Zone Perfect Mint Chocolate Bars

I ate these for breakfast, it'd be very safe to say everyday. they are delicious. and 9g of fiber.

4. quickest fix: shampowder dry shampoo

this dry shampoo can be picked up at target for a measly $15. it works wonders. and I guess what I'm trying to say is: I didn't have a lot of time this semester. including always washing my hair. so sue me.

5. best laughs: seinfeld dvds

I own seasons 1-9. for those who don't know, that's all of them. I don't really watch them anymore, but like to listen to them while I'm studying. and by listen, I mean quote them to myself and laugh like I made the joke.

6. always good, never not good: subway 6" veggie on wheat

let me just say first, that there are a lot of things wrong with this picture. I HATE meat sandwiches. there is something very strange about meat on bread. texture or something. so this is not an exact depiction of what my lunches every tuesday-thursday look like. (the other pictures looked disgusting, you should be thanking me for searching for this gem.) I probably spent a lot of money there this semester, but it was worth it. plus I went with my gorgeous sister Holly right before our crazy reporting class started. by the end of the semester they knew our orders. not my brightest moment.

7. best read: the hiding place

I read this book for the first time in highschool, but it's so good. I started reading it again about a month ago, after my Dad decided to gift all of his kids a copy. so good. I promise, if you haven't read it, READ IT. you will not be sorry.

8. best jams: semester in a playlist

1. Meet Me Halfway (Black Eyed Peas) good job Ferg.
2. 3 (Britney Spears) catchy. especially when my 3 year old nephew sings it.
3. I Can Transform Ya (Chris Brown) I think he's pist about Rihanna.
4. Down (Jay Sean)
not my fave, but inevitably became the theme of the semester with a 1/4 chance it was going to be on the radio.
5. Body Language (Jesse McCartney)
6. I Look So Good (Without You) (Jessie James) totally girl power. it was a phase.
7. Who Says (John Mayer)
8. I Got You (Leona Lewis)
9. Lollipop (Lil Wayne) guilty pleasure. creepy voice. never gets old. thanks meg.
10. Blame It On The Girls (Mika)
11. 1901 (Phoenix) whole album is amazing.
12. She Wolf (Shakira) awooooooo
13. Marching On (Timbaland & One Republic)
14. (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To (Weezer)
15. Motownphilly (Boyz II Men) throwback to my first cd I ever owned.
16. Lean On Me Remix (Swisha Cutz)
17. Bang! Bang! (The Knux) best running song ever.
18. Haven't Met You Yet (Michael Buble) okay I might still be in the phase. plus this song is darling.
19. You and I (Ingrid Michaelson)

my happenings as of late,

2009-12-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not a blogger. I'm convinced I have nothing interesting happening, and if it does happen it happens with this lady, and gets written on her blog. But I don't keep a journal. So I'm trying this as an alternative.

Today, I'm studying for finals. As I have been for the past week. For those wondering, I'm alive. For those who didn't notice, good riddance. I took 18 credit hours this semester. I probably won't do it again. I don't know much about numbers, but don't think that it's been a good ROI.

Today, I went to In-N-Out with James Sukhan. As if that weren't fun enough, there was nowhere to sit. (Utahns have taken this In-N-Out thing a little too seriously, and the line has been out the door since it opened last month). We decided to take up seats next to a lovely couple named Don & MaryAnne. They assumed James and I were dating...so we decided not to argue. A short excerpt from the conversation went as follows:

Don: "So how did you cute guys meet?"
James: "Well, that's an interesting story. Roxy?"
Me: "Funny you should ask. About three years ago, in the same ward, he was dating my good friend."
MaryAnne: "Oh, how is your friend?"
Me: "Oh, just lovely. She's fine."
Don: "How long have you two been in love?"
James: "She actually doesn't know we are yet...I was going to tell her at Christmas."
Don: "Ohhh..I'll make sure not to mention it."
MaryAnne: "Are you guys dating?"
James: "Not yet."
Don: "Look at how darling she is. Why aren't you dating her? You'd better snatch it up before someone in your ward does."
James: "I know, right? Look at how the sun is hitting her hair. She looks like a Christmas miracle."

It was amazing. I love having the opportunity to meet new people and find out their stories. Right now, my sister Holly and I are in the library on campus. Story of our lives...with an extreme case of giggles. It's probably not that funny. I hope she knows how much I love her, and it's been so fun to have her on the same campus as me all year!

And to sign off, here is an amazing way to sum up how I feel. Good work Danielle.

{my prayer}

Now I lay me down to study,
I pray the Lord I won't go nutty.
If I should fail to learn this junk,
I pray the Lord I will not flunk.
And when I lay me down to rest,
I pray I'll pass tomorrow's test.
If I should die before I wake,
that's one less test I'll have to take.
Amen.