Happy Happy Birthday Children Dear

Erin and I had a double birthday party as we do every year. I think it makes us feel like we have more friends than we actually do, because we pool our resources. It was really fun. There was singing and poetry readings and harmonica playing and story telling and even some impersonations.








My favorite birthday moments in no particular order:

1.The "special guest" Joe. He was invited because he has my old phone number and someone trying to get a hold of me thought he deserved to be invited and he came!!! What a good sport.

2.Jake singing Heaven by Bryan Adams.

3.Getting to show everyone that I really did know all the words to Ice Ice Baby.


and number 4.

The after party.

I learned what "chopping" was and I wish I hadn't. We laughed, we cried, we swore a lot. I loved it.

I love Nessie!!!

Breaking Nessie News

Apparently I have been "tagged"

I normally hate these things, but I LOVE Alyssa so I am willing to do it.

Move 'em all up, take off the first, add yours to the bottom.

1) 4 B's In A Pod, 2) Life According to the PRP, 3) Life at the Chicken Coop, 4) J*A*M*S* 5)Life and times of Angela Corinne

I'm officially tagging:

Sunny (You're on bedrest, I think you can do it!)
Maren
KaRyn
Alissa

What were you doing ten years ago?

I had just finished my first year of Ricks College and went home to Florida. I was working for a summer day camp as a counselor.

What were you doing one year ago?

One year ago I just decided that I was not moving to London and had started working for Valley Mental Health. I was STILL living in Salt Lake. Nothing really exciting.

Five Snacks You Enjoy:

1. chips and salsa
2. Wheat Thins (sun dried tomato)
3. vegetable cheese and crackers
4. mini carrots
5. Salsa verde Dorritos

Five Songs You Know All The Words To:

1. Ice Ice Baby
2. Gangsta's Paradise
3. Blaze of Glory by Bon Jovi
4. Most of Alanis Morissette's first album
5. Most Coldplay songs

Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire:

1. pay off all debt
2. Travel, Travel, Travel.
3. Own a home, many different places.
4. Lazer hair romoval of EVERYTHING (except head hair and eyebrows).
5. Hire a personal trainer.(I stole that from Alyssa)

Five Bad Habits:

1. Staying up all night.
2. Kissing too many boys at once.
3. swearing
4. Eating fast food
5. dancing like a crazy woman

Five Things You Like Doing:

1. Kissing too many boys at once
2. Traveling
3. Listening to live music
4. Going to the movies
5. Singing

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again

1. A thong, at least not for myself.
2. fake nails
3. a blonde wig
4. turtle neck sweater dress
5. string bikini (I am too old and too modest for that)

Five Favorite Toys:
(not in any particular order...)

1. Ipod
2. Laptop
3. Boy of the moment (jk . . . kinda)
4. My Car
5. Nintendo NES

Sometimes I watch the spanish channel

This is my new favorite band/video. ENJOY!!

ARRR!!

Last night at 11:30pm, I took my little sister
to see "Pirates of the Caribbean". It was 2 hours and 45 minutes (too long), but I liked it. It could have been the delirium, but I thought it was pretty good.

Or it could have been the eye patch, foam sword and bandanna. We were all pumped to be pirates until we got to the movie. People were not so welcome. The ticket guy saw us and asked if we had lit the bathroom on fire, I thought he was kidding- he wasn't. I had to assure him that we were the most respectable pirates that helped, not hurt the public. I also bought blue and red bandannas and we saw the movie in West Valley. I am sure we don't fit the normal "gangsta" stereotype, but I should have thought a little before I bought. Good thing not many Bloods or Crips carry swords, well at least not foam ones.

I was so tired that I forgot my camera, but here are a few shots on my camera phone, prior to us giving up on the whole idea altogether.







I am so tired today.

Commando

Ever need to wash clothes so badly that you don't even have clean underwear? Guilty. I totally went commando today. I liked it.

Oh and if you ever need an eye patch, bandanna or foam pirate sword, look no further than your local Walgreen's.

My trip to Portland by Angie Robson

Thursday, Aliah and I left our lives in Salt Lake City and headed for Portland. I wanted to go to Portland for a number of reasons. Those reasons being that I needed a break from everything in Salt Lake,I really like Portland and I may be going to school there in the fall and wanted to see what it was all about. We drove about 6 hours on Thursday and stayed in a really small town called Baker City, OR. Nothing was open at about 9pm except for the Pizza Hut, but the hotel had a pool and that was all we cared about.

The next day we arrived in Portland and stayed with my friend Ashley and her adorable family. Macie, Marley and Trenton were so much fun and it was great to see Ashley and Justin. We were roommates almost ten years ago and it had been about 4 years since I had seen her last. Her children are beautiful, their house is beautiful and they are just a wonderful family. Sometimes I get discouraged about my life and the things that I want (i.e. Temple marriage, kids, husband) but then I see families like Ashley's and they make me want what they have more than ever and it's easier to try for some reason. Aliah and I both had a few "pantry moments" but it was all worth it.

Here are just a few pictures of the cuties.

Marley really liked my sunglasses and this face is priceless.

Macie lost a tooth while we were there and she was so brave. The other one is going to fall out at any minute.

I had my birthday while I was there and the thelin family really made it special. After an exhausting day of shopping, Aliah and I got back to their house and they had decorated for my birthday. They had ordered Thai food, had a pie for me and cards and a present. Here are some of the pictures.

It's really hard to know what to wish for at age 29. 29? Geesh.

Aliah and I also had fun just running around Portland. We went to a concert at the Roseland Theater on my birthday to see Ben Gibbard play. He was amazing. Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley) sang a couple of songs with him as well. It was a great concert.



We saw Portland State, we went to Powell's Humungo bookstore, we hit a lot of consignment shops and we ate and ate and ate and ate. It was glorious.

We went to some of the waterfalls outside of Portland too.







See the face?

I like pigs and Portland. Will it be my new home?

Birthday Party

I will post later all about my fabulous trip to Oregon, but first here is my birthday party invite. My talented friend Marianne wrote it up, it should be fun so try to make it if you can.


Open Mic Birthday Extravaganza

Dying for an excuse to wear tights and recite Shakespeare?

Need an audience for that new "three Mormons happen upon a can of Coke" joke?

Ready to share that Van Halen air guitar routine with someone other than your bedroom mirror?

Have you always wanted to propose to Angie, but you haven't had the balls? (…or eggs, or whatever…)

WELL HERE'S YOUR CHANCE!

It is Angie and Erin's annual birthday celebration, and this year it's OPEN MIC NIGHT. That's right: All Open. All Mic. All Night. Which means it's all about you! Come share your talents, bear your soul, or just wish the birthday girls the best. They aren't mourning the death of their twenties - they're celebrating the right to rock n' roll!

THIS FRIDAY (May 25th), the fun starts at 7:30 in Erin's backyard.





Email me or call me if you want to come and I will give you directions!

Roadtrip!

Well, I am in Baker City, OR (wherever the hell that is) and we are at the El Dar ado Inn. The pool was 8 feet deep.

Portland tomorrow for a good ol' time.

I have a date with Ben Gibbard on my birthday, but I am not putting out no matter how great he sings to me.




More to come on the roadtrip to Portland.

Hilarious

My friend Ryan is in this commercial. Check it out.

Last Comic Standing

New Boyfriend

I am convinced that technology has ruined dating. Seriously. Before we all had cell phones or the internet, it wasn't unusual to call and leave someone a message on an answering machine and then wait a day or two to hear back from them. We would just think they were busy or didn't get the message or whatever. But now, it's totally different. We all know that they have their cell phones on them and can see that we are calling and if they don't call back or text back or whatever than there is obviously something wrong. So we jump to all sorts of conclusions. And now with myspace and LDSlink up you can tell if someone is online, which just adds insult to injury, because they also can see that you are online and are just choosing not to correspond with you. So whether there is something wrong with your relationship or not, you just assume that something is because they aren't making contact when they have so many opportunities to do so.

Now I am not talking about my life currently. I have experienced this in the past and I have just been thinking about it. Currently I am dating No One and he's great. I haven't dated No One in a long time and I have to say that I have really missed him. I normally have Someone waiting in the wings even if I have a guy I am dating, but not now. I am starting to think that No One is the perfect companion for me. I never have to worry about him not returning my calls or not emailing me, he never says mean things or hurts my feelings and I never have to tell him to go home. No One takes me to the movies, No One buys me dinner, No One sends me flowers and I'm ok with that. I think No One and I have a real chance of making a long term go at it. At least I am going to try for a little while with No One. It just feels right.

Time Suckage

As if we don't spend too much time on the Internet already, but I have a cool thing for you to check out. It's called stumble upon. You set up a profile of all the things you are interested in (like crafts or movies or music, whatever) and then you get a "stumble button" on your tool bar and you stumble to different sites that you like.

www.stumbleupon.com

You should try it.

Pukey Day

What are the odds that I would see two different people, in two different parts of town, throwing up outside their cars? One was on the way to work and one was on the way to an appointment in the afternoon. Unbelievable. I could have taken a picture with my camera phone, but that would have just been disgusting.

Heartbreak

This month I will be 29 and I think I have been around long enough to know a thing or two about heartbreak. The problem is, I may know about it, but I still haven't figured out how to avoid it. The truth is, you can't. It is inevitable- your heart will be broken, my heart will be broken.

Not only will it be broken, but it will be broken again and again for many different reasons, by many different people and sometimes by the same people over and over.

I feel like I am in a constant state of heartbreak, that at every corner there is another thing weighing me down. I know part of it is attitude and how you deal with the situation, but sometimes to deal isn't an option- you feel how you feel. And I feel deflated.

Whether it's romance or career or life or friends, I am heartbroken.

Yesterday at church the main topic seemed to be the light of Christ and faith in Christ. The atonement is an integral part of that. I always think about my sin when I think about the atonement and I try to "apply" the atonement into my life when I feel I need to repent, but it is so much more than that. The atonement can help with our heartbreak and our disappointments, whatever they may be. I need to remember that and try to apply that in my life.

It's hard to do when you are feeling sorry for yourself.

Pg-13

Hazardous driver Part II

(Hazardous Driver Part I)

I didn't actually take this picture while I was driving (obviously), but I am sure it distracted many drivers going down south temple. I don't know who changed the sign, but it made for a good laugh.



As we were taking pictures these guys pulled over to ask for directions to gravity hill. They didn't even notice the penis inspection sign in the background. When I brought it to their attention, rather than being funny and clever like we were, they were crude and disgusting. Can't a penis joke just be funny, like a booger joke or a fart joke? Come on people.

Tea, voicemail and movies

I know, not a very clever title, but this is what I am going to talk about right now. First, tea.

I don't like it. I never have and starting about a year or two ago, it seemed that is the only thing people wanted to do. "Lets go get tea" was a common thing to hear among my group of friends. It seemed like every date I went on, they wanted to take me for tea. At first I really tried to do it. I tried all kinds, a lot of different ways, but I just didn't like it. So, I quit trying. I would just order hot chocolate instead. But ordering hot chocolate made me feel like I wasn't an adult like the rest of them. Anyway, once I decided that I didn't care and tea just wasn't my thing- it happened. I tried a tea on a whim and I like it. No, dare I say, I love it!!!! It's a Snapple brand, and it's very fruity, with a little honey it's delicious. I found the Adult in me that I was looking for and apparently it's fruit flavored.

OK, on to voicemail. A funny thing happened this morning. Maybe I will be the only one who thinks this is funny.I had to call someone this morning and I really didn't want to (it was necessary though) and just hearing their voice on the voicemail made me a little sick. After their message the voicemail computer voice came on and said "if you STILL want to leave this person a message, press 3." Still??? Does it say this on all voice mails? It's like the computer voice knew how I felt and was telling me that it was OK if I had changed my mind. And I swear I heard her put emphasis on still. I still left a message. I had to. But I think that the empathy the computer voice had showed me with just one little word gave me the courage to do it.

Now on to movies, well . . . just one movie really. I think Spiderman 3 sucked.

Going global

Well, I made this huge deal on myspace about how I would not conform and join the blogger revolution. I am now joining. I am making this blog open to the public. It was getting too hard to get people I wanted to read it, to read it. So here it is. All my dirty laundry and ridiculous rants. You may be on this blog and I may have said unkind things, but I have tried to go back and make it so that names have been changed for the protection of the innocent (or not so innocent).

If you are my friend and have a blog and would like to connect me to yours, go ahead. I give you permission now. I have nothing to hide. My life is an open book and if you are a part of my life, someone just might get to read about you.

Happy Birthday to Me

So my birthday isn't until the 19th of this month, but as a birthday present to me (and to my best friend Erin) I bought tickets to see Damien Rice. It was good. It was SO good. I loved every minute and as pathetic as it sounds, I was totally weepy through part of it. It was amazing.

There was a point where a drunk guy was dancing and Erin asked him to buy her a churro, but other than that, it was perfect. (full story)

Damien told a lot of really interesting stories that went along with his songs. Like I had no idea that "Me, My Yoke and Me" was about masturbation or that "I remember" was about the bagger at the grocery store. His stories were very human and honest and I appreciated that.

He told a great story about cows too.

He did an amazing rendition of "Accidental Babies" that was just heart wrenching.

The true highlight was that we just so happened to park our car right next to an old friend. We hung out before the concert and went to dinner afterward. It was so much fun. I love being around people that make you feel like you can be yourself. There were no apologies and no fronts, it was just easy.

Couldn't have had a better birthday present.

My crappy camera phone captured this unrecognizable image:







Here I am, just 15 rows back and very white:

I thought this applied to my life. . . so I am sharing it with you.

How to Beat "Dating Déjà Vu"

5 tips for avoiding another hurtful relationshipBy Karen Sherman, Ph.D.

So you've finally gotten past the old relationship, licked your wounds, and sworn you've learned your lessons. You've starting dating again and you're even taking it slowly. Though you've healed, the hurt from the past is still vivid in your memory.

And then, suddenly, there he or she is! There's just something about this person that feels right. For all the people you've been going out with, this person seems different -- there's a comfort level you don't experience with the others. And so, you start to shun the others and make a more definitive commitment to this person.

And you're happy. Yes, this could be "the one"!

But then, a few months into the relationship, you start to realize that though your new partner seemed different from your last one, he/she really isn't different at all. The more you get to know the person, the more you recognize the same underlying traits. Maybe he/she isn't generous with money or not emotionally expressive or makes unilateral decisions.

And you ask yourself, "How could this happen again?"

Patterns from the past
The truth is, we tend to be drawn to the same types over and over again. That's because they remind us of someone in our family of origin, which accounts for the initial feeling of comfort. Generally, there's an unresolved issue you're hoping to resolve in the relationship. Please note that all of this is happening at a sub-awareness level.

Here are some examples: Let's say you had a very strict upbringing. You might be attracted to someone who's controlling, so you can replay this earlier issue and no longer feel restricted. Or, if you had a parent who was emotionally shut down, you might be drawn to someone who gets upset when you're emotional, so you can rework feeling comfortable when you do express your feelings.

I believe that part of the reason this happens is because we have learned certain patterns in our childhood to help us adapt to our family of origin -- these are our survival tools. If they work -- that is, we feel we are loved by our parents -- we continue to use them. Using the examples above, we become compliant to a controlling father or try to hide our feelings from a non-expressive mother. And, we continue to do them, without thinking. We start to function mindlessly, as if we are on "automatic pilot."

How to avoid "dating déjà vu"

So, how can you stop this pattern? The key is awareness. Here are five tips to help you steer clear of another hurtful relationship:

1. Be self-observant. Ask yourself, after you've gotten to know someone, what are the traits in them that you were initially drawn to? It's likely that these are the very aspects of the person that bother you -- ones that you say you don't want in another relationship.
2. Be analytical. What issues from your childhood does this person reflect?
3. Consider doing some personal work. By working on whatever the unresolved issue is for you, it will no longer need as much attention through someone else.
4. Be aware. Everything you want to know about someone is there right in the beginning. You just have to pay close attention and not be blinded by your emotions. That's why your friends can see a trait that you might not.
5. Work it through. Is the overall relationship a good one? Remember that everyone has issues. If each of you learns to accept and respect the issues of the other person, the relationship can be quite healing for both of you.