The Forest of Crazy

ABC - 123

2010-09-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

A - Attached or Single: Why is this question always so important? This week the people who asked me this question included the chiropractor, the masseuse (still working to get rid of my headaches), a client, an old friend, a new friend, the work questionnaire, and the airline.
B - Best Friend: How can I only name one? Megan, Lindsey, Jessica, Amy, Shelley, Mom, Kayleen, Genevieve, Becca, Kari
C - Cake or Pie: Pie. My mom's apple pie is amazing.
D - Day of choice: Saturday
E - Essential Item: My phone. I rarely go anywhere without it. It's a little pathetic.
F - Favorite Color: Purple or orange or blue
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: I'm not a big fan of either. But I do love those sour punch straws, those are gummy underneath all that sugar.
H - Hometown: Farmington
I - Indulgence(s): Diet Pepsi w/ Lime (I'm really trying to drink less), cream cheese pretzel at Disneyland
J - January or July: July, it's my birthday!
K - Kids: In my dreams.
L - Life is incomplete without: Family & friends
M - Marriage Date: TBD, but at this rate, in the eternities...last week after church at linger longer there were 15 guys and 50 girls, no joke. The odds are against me.
N - Number of Siblings: Three: 2 sisters, 1 brother, 2 brothers in law
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
P - Phobias or Fears: Snakes, failure
Q - Quotes: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our responses. In those choices lie our growth and happiness." --Steven Covey
R - Reason to smile: Hearing the waves out my window, sleep, friends
S - Season: HB doesn't really have seasons and I miss them. I love Utah in the fall, the crisp air, the changing leaves, corn mazes & haunted houses, apples.
T - Tag Three Friends: Becca, Cheryl, Lindsey
U - Unknown fact about me: I hate the word anyways.
V - Very favorite Store: Target
W - Worst habit: Staying up way too late.
X - X-ray or Ultrasound: Umm...I had an ultrasound not too long ago so ultrasound. (Don't worry I'm not preggo haha).
Y - Your favorite food: Cream cheese fruit dip, chocolate chip cheesecake, string cheese (hmm I'm starting to see a pattern here)
Z - Zodiac: Leo

A little jaunt to San Francisco

2010-09-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

I took a quick little relaxing trip to San Francisco with a few friends. It was just what the doctor ordered to get rid of my headache once and for all. We went and saw Wicked on Saturday night. (my 2nd time seeing it). It was fabulous!

We are good food, wandered all over, met new friends, visited with old friends, and laughed until we cried (multiple times).

Hopefully I'll have more pictures to share later. I couldn't find my camera so we relied on Jess to photograph the trip. This picture came from my phone while Jess and her camera weren't around.

P.S. I found my camera yesterday!

They were just too pretty to pass up

2010-08-21T12:12:00.001-07:00

More headaches

2010-08-10T23:18:00.001-07:00

So remember that headache that I mentioned? It's still here, it won't leave me alone. It's not even doing me any good, aka sympathy from the guy I want to keep flirting with. (Which really is making me rethink wanting to flirt with him).

I'm still taking the pain pills the doctor gave me but I feel like those might as well be sugar pills. Headache is still here. I did get a reprieve on Saturday, but come on a headache for 13 days?!? I'm going nuts. Does anyone have any secret tricks to get rid of headaches? Grandma's old-fashioned tricks? A tranquilizer gun?? I'm willing to try almost anything.

The beach

2010-08-08T21:20:00.001-07:00

There were probably 10 times this many people on Saturday and Sunday. No joke. They said that 120,000 people showed up on Sunday alone.

US Surf Open

2010-08-08T21:18:00.001-07:00

There actually is a surfer out there. You can see him if you look real close. I think it's Jordy Smith, but it could be Brett Simpson. They were the two finalists and Brett ended up winning the $100k prize.

Headaches and cupcakes

2010-08-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

Update: I could only find a box of yellow cake mix under my bed. So I made another batch of cupcakes from scratch. (Which would have been the case anyway since I don't have any eggs. The recipe I used doesn't use eggs.) They turned out pretty darn good this time. Although I think this recipe makes a better cake than cupcakes. Isn't that a little strange?

So I've had this headache for well over a week now. I went to the doctor on Friday and she gave me some pain pills, that did help for a day, but the headache is back. They did draw some blood to run some tests, so we'll see what the results say. I received a blessing today from my old and new bishops. (Bishop Miller was released today and Bishop Schaap was sustained).

I've been craving chocolate cupcakes all week long. So today, headache or not, I decided it was time to make some. I whipped up a batch from scratch. They look fabulous, but they don't taste all that great. After looking over the recipe again, I realized that I left out the oil. Now I'm going to dig under my bed (aka my food storage) for a box of cake mix. I'm still craving chocolate cupcakes and the oil-less ones just aren't going to cut it.

On a good note, during the 24 hours yesterday that I was feeling good I went to the beach, went to the Weezer concert on the beach for the US Surf Open, watched some of the best surfers in the world, ate delicious corn boiled over a fire on the beach in Ocean water, rode my bike all over, and soaked in one of the coolest hot tubs I've ever seen.

US Surf Open

2010-07-31T13:29:00.000-07:00

Opening day of the US Surf Open

Happy late birthday to me!

2010-07-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

Happy late birthday to me from my sweet coworker.

We also had ganache torte from Trader Joe's to celebrate the birthdays in the office.

MIA

2010-05-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

I know I've been MIA on here. I've had a lot of fun stuff going on in my life, I just haven't taken the time to blog about it.
Here are some of the highlights of the past few months (maybe one day I'll get some pictures to go with):
- Moved into the most adorable place I've lived yet
- Two new great roommates
- A new bike for $20 (no, it's not anywhere as cute as my orange dreamsicle but it was $20!)
- I rented a piano for my house!!
- I went for a quick visit home to Utah so I could meet Amy's fiance Ryan
- Went to my first MLS soccer game Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy
- Drove up to San Fransciso to spend time with some great old friends. We had so much fun wandering around the park. I wish we lived closer.
- John came to visit and we went to The Original Pancake House for some great pancakes!
- Dave came to visit and we ate some great Thai food, listened to an 80's rock cover band, and meet lots of new people.
- I volunteered for the Ragnar relay race.
- My mom came to visit!! We played a Disneyland & California Adventure. We have so much fun there with just the two of us. My allergies threatened to ruin a fun time at Disneyland, but I drugged up and we had a fun time anyway! We also shopped a lot and found some great buys. She also helped me out with my current quilting project, made yummy banana bread, and pretty much just spoiled me.
- Went on a boat cruise around Dana Point Harbor with a reggae band and some great friends. We had a blast and were the life of the party. All that water and diet coke really gets us crazy!
- Met up with Liz, Blake, & Andrew for a fun evening.
- Played some ultimate frisbee with my coworkers.
- I just finished my 2nd tennis class of the year and I'm about to start another one.
- Finished one secret project and almost finished with a second secret project, which means I'm almost ready to start my exciting project, a new quilt for my bed! I found the cutest colors and I can't wait till it's finished.
- Helped throw my great friend Megan a bridal shower. I'm so excited for her & Gavin. They are such a great couple.

Now I'm off to go celebrate more love with Kayleen's bridal shower & wedding and Tiffanie's bridal shower. I'm excited for my trip to Utah which begins in 28.5 minutes.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

A sign?

2010-01-06T16:31:00.001-08:00

Is it a sign that I need to go home when the hotel staff knows me by name?

Yes, I'm back in Texas. I returned to the awkward moment restuarant for lunch yesterday. It wasn't as crowded and not nearly as awkward. But they really do have amazing burgers.

Awkward

2009-12-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

You know the scene in the movie where the girl from the big city walks into the small town bar/restaurant and EVERYBODY turns and stares and it's so awkward?? That's exactly what happened today when I went to a little diner for lunch in the small town I'm in. It was so strange. I could feel everyone's eyes following us as we walked by. I was with my coworker Megan and she felt it too. I haven't felt that self-conscious in awhile. It was almost as bad as trying to polietly eat spagheti in front of a date. It was a really awkward lunch.

P.S. There a lady bug doing laps around the lampshade in my hotel room and has been for at least two hours. That's quite the workout for a ladybug.

Maybe I should blog again...

2009-11-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a really long time since I've blogged, obviously. The crazy month of travel was so much fun but oh so crazy. I had such a fun time in Utah then New York the Utah again, then Seattle, then Vegas and southern Utah, and then the middle of Texas. I was very ready to come home by the time I was done.

Here are a few pictures from my travels.

Ryan & I boating with Kayleen and her family on Labor Day.

Kayleen & I on the boat with her family.

At Serendipity with my awesome friends Courtnie and Megan. (Yes, my hands are awkwardly there)

In NYC with our friend Mark who was a gracious host who made sure we were well fed and got a great nights sleep. Thanks Mark for letting us stay with you!

The beautiful view from the courtyard at the MOMA.

We squeezed in 3 great shows on our quick weekend trip. West Side Story

A Steady Rain which stared Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. They were amazing. I forgot to breathe for most of the 90 minute show because I was so enthralled by it. We caught a glimpse of Hugh after the show.

Rock of Ages It was a rockin' show staring Constantine from American Idol. We got our picture with him after the show. I know it's blurry, but that's what you get when you give the camera to a stranger.

We got rained on almost the entire weekend, but we had a fun time anyway.

Thanks Mark & Courtnie for showing us such a great time!

Hope you enjoyed these pictures. Hopefully it won't be another couple of months before I post more pictures from my travels.

Let the crazy month of travel begin!

2009-09-04T10:23:00.001-07:00

I flew into Utah last night to start of my crazy month of travel. I miss living so close to the mountains. They are so beautiful!

I love coming home to visit my family. I get so excited to see them that I'm practically giddy. Last night when I got home that turned into very giggly. I love laughing with my family. It's a lot of them laughing at my craziness, but we have oh so much fun.

I was hoping to go for a late night dip in the pool, but a run in with a skunk quickly kaboshed that idea. No, I didn't get sprayed and I wasn't going to take that chance!

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Disneyland

2009-08-22T02:19:00.001-07:00

I love going to Disneyland! I renewed my annual pass tonight, rode Screamin' California twice, met new friends, watched the Summer Nightastic show, made it on the Indiana Jones ride after it got shut down for a bit and Pirates of the Caribbean right before they closed and almost got stuck on the Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a great night!

Starting to catch up

2009-08-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

I figure it's time that I start to share some of the fun pictures from this summer's adventures. In random order, I'll start with the celebration!!

My mom's birthday this year was during Mother's Day weekend, a week after Shelley's wedding, Ryan had a ton going on, and Amy was pretty sick. Before the wedding, I knew mom's birthday was going to get lost in the craziness. So I decided to plan my parents a joint surprise 50th birthday party. Dad's birthday is coming up in September. After getting my siblings in on the party, we decided that the middle of July would be the perfect time to throw the party.

After almost 3 months of planning they still had no clue! We pulled it off brilliantly with help from our great family and friends. We worked it so that Ryan & I were with Mom & Dad and Amy, Shelley, & Zac were at home getting ready for the party. When we pulled up the street, Mom and Dad had no clue why there were so many people there!

These were the signs they saw as they made their way to the backyard.

These were the looks on their faces when they figured out what was going on.

The party was a big hit and we had many family and friends come to celebrate with us.

Ryan and Zac patiently waiting for cake.

Cutting the cake.

The amazing Stringer women.

The grandmas.

My cousin's wife, Angie, was sweet enough to take picutres for us. Here she is with Casey.

This is their adorable little boy with Amy.

Angie told the couples, whose picture she was taking, that they needed to kiss. She only got one couple to really kiss. But she got some great smiles out of everyone else.

The Stringer men (Zac you're one of us now).

Grandma Young and her sister, Varda.

My mom's sister Diane and some of her family.

My Aunt Sara and me.

The reasons for the party.

Some of the decorations.

My fabulous friends who were such a help in getting this party started! (A Red is missing from the picture, but she was a great help too!)

It was a quick weekend trip home for me. But I was so happy that the party turned out so well. Everyone had such a great time and we had so many friends and family there. Thank you everyone who helped to pull it together! My parents are such amazing people and it was great to take some time to celebrate them and make them the center of attention. I sure love and miss them!

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

2009-08-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

I just bought JetBlue's all you can fly pass! And I booked a flight to NYC and I'm getting the details worked out for at least two other weekend trips. I'm so excited!!!

I really did try...

2009-08-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

I told Amy that I'd write at least one blog post last night. I tried for two and half hours. Our internet at home is the worst!! I was so frustrated. I tried emailng my mom some long promised pictures. It never worked. I tried uploading some photos for my blog post. It never worked. I tried to buy a plane ticket home to Utah for Labor Day weekend. But the instructions on the website for using a evoucher were confusing and I didn't think it was going to work right. So I decided to chat with the 'friendly agent standing by to help.' He wasn't that friendly, he never really listened to what my problem was, and I was more frustrated than before I started chatting with him. Finally around midnight the internet decided to be nice to me and I figured out how to use the evcoucher (no thanks to whats his name), and I was able to get the plane ticket to go through. So yes I have my plane ticket. By this time I was too ornery to try emailing or blogging again, which is really sad because I've been some really fun things this summer and I had some awesome visitors last weekend. I took a hot shower, jumped into bed, and then had strange dreams all night long. Is it the weekend yet??

I'm so excited!

2009-07-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to see the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow night!!

One of the most beautiful places on Earth!

2009-06-21T23:43:00.001-07:00

My friend Katie invited me to go to Lake Powell again this year with a great group of people.

Megan, my great friend from Huntington Beach, drove up to Powell with me. We had a long, but fun drive up.

I was also able to vacation with two of my favorite friends, Bryan & Jeremy!

Boating is one of my favorite things do. I was able to get out on the water on either a wakeboard or a slalom ski 8 times in 3 days. I was totally beat by the end of the trip but I had so much fun! Lake Powell is such a beautiful place!

The entire group.

Megan is always so happy. It's one of the many great things about her.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been over a month since I've posted. But I definitely wanted to write tonight to wish my dad a happy Father's Day. My dad has always been my biggest fan and my loudest supporter. There's never been anything he thought I couldn't do. He has put his trust in me so many times, never doubting that I could accomplish the task. He's encouraged me in every dream and crazy idea I've had. I'm so grateful for all the hard work and sacrifices he made to provide for my family. I love you dad!

This is one of my favorite shots with my dad taken at Northfork, one of our favorite places to see the beautiful Utah fall leaves.

Commitment

2009-05-19T01:34:00.000-07:00

My friend Katie put this up on her blog. Loved it. That's all I'm going to say about it.

My New Bike

2009-05-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

I finally bought a beach cruiser. I've been waiting one since I moved here and the time was finally right on Saturday and I found the one I wanted.

I went for a nice long ride on Sunday morning along the beach. Even though it was a hazy morning it was so beautiful and so much fun.

I brought my book along and stopped by my favorite park bench along dog beach and enjoyed the morning. I already love my bike. I feel like I'm really a California gal now.

Street Fair

2009-05-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

I love the street fair. It goes on every Tuesday night in Huntington on Main Street. There are a variety of vendors and entertainers. A handful of restaurants around participate in Taco Tuesday, where they sell great tacos for cheap. The fair is about 10 blocks from my house. I love to walk down and pick up some fresh produce. Tonight I bought some asparagus, strawberries, corn on the cob, and fresh flowers. Then I continued down the street and bought my self a strawberry & Nutella crepe. Yummy! After enjoying some of the entertainment I walked back home. A great night!

P.S. I'm watching the end of The Biggest Loser right now, talk about inspiring!

Wedding Week Craziness Part 5

2009-05-11T22:13:00.001-07:00

We took loads of pictures!!

Shelley and Zac had a small ring ceremony at Oakridge Golf Course before the reception.

This is Boston, Zac's cousin. He cried when he realized he can't marry Shelley because she married Zac.

Amy was looking beautiful.

Dad looks so handsome in a tux!

The reception was beautiful and it was so much fun to see so many friends and family!

Shantay and Mallori did a great job with the centerpieces.

The cake was absolutely gorgeous.

Zac's groom cake was pretty sweet too!

It took Zac a minute to get the garter.

The flower toss. (No, I didn't catch the bouquet...again)

The first dance.

The getaway car.

The getaway.

Whew...that was a lot of pictures. All in all it was a lot of work but a beautiful day and the bride and groom are so happy. The two days after the wedding we all crashed. It was nice to be able to spend some chill time with my family. I was also able to get together with a great group of friends from the 32nd ward. Unfortunately, I didn't get out my camera. It was a great week at home. I miss family, so it was so nice to get to spend some good time with them.

Wedding Week Craziness Part 4

2009-05-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

The actual wedding day turned out to be a beautiful day!
Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Thomas!

Shelley was absolutely gorgeous in her dress and Zac was very handsome in a tux!

Ryan is so excited to finally have a brother!

Both Grandma Stringer and Grandma Young were able to be at the temple to celebrate with Shelley and Zac.

My parents were all smiles.

The whole family now.

Sisters!

Me with two of my favorite ladies.

Happy Birthday/Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T23:18:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I'll get to the day of the wedding photos tomorrow. But I wanted to give a shout out to my amazing mother today. Yesterday she turned twice as old as me. We've been able to say that twice now.

Here is my mom, with her mom, and the bride at the temple. We were so happy that Grandma was able to make it that day.

My mom is one of the most amazing people I know. My mom is the most caring, thoughtful, talented, hard-working, faithful person I know. She is a great example of a wife, mother, homemaker, and woman. I am continually learning so much from her. We always have so much fun together!

One of my favorite memories with my mom is when we took a trip to Disneyland, just the two of us after I graduated from BYU. We had so much fun playing and just being best friends.

Here is a picture from the last time we were at Disneyland together.

We had such a great time together with Amy in France!

We found the perfect spot for our very own statue in the Louvre.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you Mom!!

Wedding Week Craziness Part 3

2009-05-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night was the wedding dinner at Zac's parents house. It was a great evening with good food and fun people. It was fun to get to know some of Zac's family.

Here I am with my Aunt Sara, who was looking fabulous!

Here are Shelley & Zac with Zac's parents, my Dad, and Aunt Sara, and Zac's grandpa in the very front.

A classic Shelley face.

Wedding Week Craziness Part 2

2009-05-10T23:00:00.001-07:00

On Monday night I was able to get together with some of my best friends and old roommates from college. I love these girls! And now their husbands and kids. We have had so many fun times together and it's always so much fun when we get together. It's so fun to reminisce about all the great times we've had together. The babies, aren't so little any more. Ben & Abby let me read a couple of stories to them and we had a great time playing with the trains and other fun toys.

Here we are a few years ago at Becca & TJ's wedding.

And this pictures I stole from Sunny's blog. Sunny was taking the picture. Sunny, did we get a picture of all the girls?? Ben, who is trying to crawl out of my lap, was my buddy all night long. Even though I only see him a couple of times a year, we're always buds.

Thanks again Sunny & Will for letting us get together at your beautiful new house!

Wedding Week Craziness Part 1

2009-05-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

I am way behind on my blogs. So we'll see how many I get done tonight. First off I had so much fun volunteering for the LA Ragnar Relay Race. There is such a fun energy around that race. The day was beautiful and I had a good time. Sorry I didn't get any pictures.

Right after the race I flew home to Utah for the wedding festivities. Although I was able to also spend some time with some great friends. On Sunday night, Amy put on FHE. We started out by posing for some family pictures in my parents beautiful backyard. This one was my favorite of the night.

Meet Buffy, my dad's chicken and Bunz, the rabbit. They both adore my dad. We let Buffy run around the backyard while we're around. She'll come up to the back door and cry to be let in, fed, or just to be given attention. Her favorite things are raw cookie dough (with no chocolate chips), string cheese, and cooked spaghetti. Bunz, doesn't come when called like Buffy does, but Bunz will follow dad around the yard. Bunz is a big strawberry fan as you can see here, on Amy's blog.

Meet Snuggles with Mom, Amy, and Buffy. Of all our animal family members, Snugs has been around the longest. She is also my favorite. Snugs will eat anything and everything you give her or that she can find. But I swear she can smell cheese from anywhere in the house or yard. She loves to beg for food.

Now the only members of the family missing are Lucy, the cat and a few fish. If you can't tell already, my family loves animals. Here is a nice shot of everyone.

After the photo shoot. We watch a slide show of all the family pictures that Amy has been working so hard to upload. You can see some of them here here.

We also celebrated Zac's 21st birthday. Happy birthday Zac!

Craziness

2009-04-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the beginning of a really crazy 10 days and I'm so excited!

First off tomorrow is Friday, yeah! How is it that last week flew by and this week crawled on and on? Tomorrow night I get to meet up, at least for a little while, with my friend Katie who I haven't seen in at least 10 months. It's going to be fun to play and catch up with her.

Then around 3 am on Saturday I begin my volunteer shift for the LA Ragnar Relay Race. It's going to make for a super long Saturday but I'm excited to volunteer for another race. (I volunteered for the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay race last year) I love the race environment, everyone has so much energy and excitement, even if it is the middle of the night. My job this year is a little more complex than it was last year and I'm excited to work the other volunteers. After I get done with Ragnar stuff (around 3pm), I catch a flight home to Utah, where I don't land until 9pm, for Shelley's wedding. I told you it was going to be a long day. But I'm really excited that it's going to work out for me to work from Utah for part of the week so I don't have to take the entire week off from work, but I can still be around for all of the wedding festivities.

I'm so excited to Shelley's wedding. I think and hope that it's going to come together nicely. I'm also really excited to get together with some of my old roommates from college and get together with a whole bunch of my great friends from the 32nd ward. Yeah! It's going to be a very busy 10 days but I'm so excited!!

Hmm...maybe I should try getting some sleep tonight...

Papa

2009-04-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

My sister Amy has been working on getting our family photo albums scanned into the computer so we can all have copies of these pictures. As I was browsing through some of them tonight, I was reminded of how much I miss Papa. Papa is my dad's dad who passed away 5 1/2 years ago.

There was always an open spot for me on his lap. A hug from him could fix anything. He would light up anytime he saw us. I love the playground he created for us in his backyard. He built us our own park out on the back of his property for the family to enjoy. One of our favorite things to do growing up was to sit on Papa's lap while he drove his riding lawn mower all over the yard. Papa, Grandma, & Aunt Sara are standing in The Park in the photo below, a few weeks before he passed away.

Papa and Grandma definitely helped to give me the travel bug. They used to go to Europe every summer. They would always bring us back something neat from wherever they visited. Below is a picture of Papa and Ryan at the airport. We surprised them and were waiting at the airport gate for them when they got off the plane from one of their Europe trips (back when you could do that).

This next photo is of the Stringer men. On the left is my dad, then Papa's Uncle George, Papa, and then the last two, I know one of them is Uncle Myron. Dad or Grandma will have to help me remember.

This photo is one of my favorites of Papa and Amy. You can see Papa's mom in the background.

One of my favorite memories of him was when were out to lunch one day at The Tiffin Room in the Nordstrom that used to be in downtown Ogden. It was that day that Papa taught us how to blow our straw wrappers off the straw at the ceiling. Of course he was the only one who could get his straw wrapper to actually stick to the ceiling. I love and miss you Papa!!

Messed up

2009-03-27T01:06:00.000-07:00

I love daylight savings. I love having light in the evenings. But my sleep schedule is still so messed up. I don't think going to Iowa helped any. Once again I'm wide awake when I should have been asleep awhile ago. The good news of the day though is that I passed my certification test today for work! Yeah for me. It makes my boss happy and I get a little more money.

I got upgraded to first class for free!

2009-03-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

This Iowa trip almost made up for the last one. It was a super busy stressful trip but I survived. On Friday I stayed as late as I could trying to finish up a few things. Well this campus shuts down at 5pm on Fridays and we didn't get finished until 5:40. I had left my stuff in another building and when I went to retrieve it, I found the building to be locked. I started panicking a little because I was still a 30 minute drive from the airport and I needed to put gas in the rental car & return the rental car before I could make it to my flight that was scheduled to leave in 80 minutes. Luckily we were able to track down security fairly quickly and I busted out of there! I made it to through security and to the gate with 3 minutes to spare before they started boarding the plane. (This is not where I got upgraded...that part is still coming.)

So remember that thing called Spring Break?? I kind of forgot about it since I haven't had a 'Spring Break' since my freshman year of college when the Olympics came to Salt Lake. Well, I arrived in Denver to find that there were about a dozen people (mostly college kids) trying to get on my overbooked flight to Orange County. The gate attendant started asking for volunteers to wait until Saturday. The were offering a free plane ticket and a hotel for the night to any volunteers who were wiling to give up their seat. I thought about it and said why not? I like Denver, I don't have to be home for anything, and who doesn't want a free flight? So I volunteered. The problem was that they couldn't get me to John Wayne Airport, where my car was, until late Saturday night. So instead, they put me on the flight to LAX and then gave me $150 credit on top of the free flight. (This was to make up for me having to pay to take a shuttle to take me from LAX to John Wayne to get my car). Sweet, $150 is almost a plane ticket home so really I'm up two free flights now.
After a little problem that took 1 hour to figure out, I finally got to stay at the Red Lion hotel (not too shabby). Saturday morning as I made my way on to the plane to LAX, I quickly realized that my seat was in 1st Class! This was the first time I've ever flown in 1st and man, I wish I had the money to always fly 1st. Remember that Senfield eppisode where Jerry gets to sit in 1st and Elaine gets stuck in coach?? (I only remember because this very episode was on TV the night before). Well I didn't flirt and drink champagne with the cute blonde like Jerry did, but I sure felt a little wined and dined. Those seats are so big and so comfy! I could actually lean my seat far enough back to sleep. I had a decent breakfast (it was still airplane food) brought to me on a tray.
When I got to LAX I found my shuttle quickly ans was on my way to John Wayne. I got my car with no problems and headed home. After dropping off my luggage, I decided to go out and grab some lunch...this is where the good day turned a little sour. When I went walked out the door to go get lunch, I locked the door behind me, like I always do. Then when I got to my car I realized that my keys were still in the house. :( Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but this weekend all my roommates were out of town execpt one, the one who is almost impossible to get a hold of. So I had to call and pay a locksmith to get me into my house. That was a headache all of it's own. But 3 hours, $140, and two locksmiths later I finally got some lunch. That was pretty much my entire Saturday.

All in all, when it add it up I think I came out ahead.

On the road again...

2009-03-17T01:22:00.000-07:00

I'm headed back to Iowa in the morning for 3.5 days. Yipee...
I am not staying at that bed and breakfast and there will no Subway for me.

Night Owl

2009-03-08T03:16:00.000-07:00

I'm such a night owl. I was so tired while I was driving home tonight after a fun night with some friends, but after I finished getting ready for bed, wide awake. And now it's daylight savings so I just lost an hour of sleep. i've always been a night owl. I try to train myself to go to bed earlier and during the week I'm pretty good about it. But on the weekends when I'm out later than weeknights, it's so easy to stay up and 30 minutes go by and then another. Most of the time time I don't accomplish a lot while I'm up till the wee hours of the morning but occasionally I will get some great stuff done.

I like the quiet of the night. It give me time to think and reflect. Tonight's thoughts left me feeling a little sad. I love living in HB, but there are definitely a number of people I miss in Utah. It makes me sad to think how easy it is not keep in touch with friends as often as I would like. There are some of my dearest friends that I haven't communicated with in a couple months, and not all of them are for a lack of trying. You'd think with all this technology that we have at our fingertips it would be so much easier. But life is so busy that we find it hard to do it. So friends of mine, if I haven't talked to you in awhile, I'm sorry. Call me, email me, or something. I'd love to hear from you. I'm going to try to be better about contacting you, so hold me to it. Alright, I really ought to go to bed now.

One last note...I love sunsets over the ocean!!

Family & Disneyland = A Great Weekend!

2009-03-02T17:10:00.000-08:00

My family came down to visit last weekend because my dad had a work conference in Anaheim. We spent a couple of days in Disneyland having great fun!

California Screamin' is one of our favorite roller coasters.

On our second day there my mom, Amy, and I wore matching shirts. We love Disneyland.

This is about the only picture I could get my dad to 'pose' for.

We headed up the coast to Santa Monica. This is as close as Amy has got to swimming with dolphins.

I decided to ride on the dog instead of the dolphin.

Amy brought her balloon out for a picture at the pier.

We had a great time and I was so glad to see my family. We were sad that Shelley & Zac couldn't come too!

Iowa + Subway = Food Poisoning

2009-03-01T02:39:00.000-08:00

My business trip this last week was possibly the worst trip of my life. After eating dinner by myself, at Subway in Iowa on Wednesday night I became violently ill with food poisoning, in a pretty crappy B&B where the hostess left town while I was the only guest (creepy), and I barely felt good enough to make my flight back to CA on Friday night. It was a miserable trip and I'm not looking forward to going back any time soon. (Sorry Sunny & Will I know how much you loved it there). I am feeling much better. Tonight I had my first full meal in 4 days and I only wanted to throw it up for an hour or so after.

Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of my fabulous weekend with my family that I had before the awful trip very soon. Goodnight.

A great weekend!

2009-02-19T19:25:00.000-08:00

My good friends Amanda and Alicia came down to visit for President's Day weekend and we had a great time!

The Buzz Lightyear ride was a great hit. And I tried not to be too disappointed in my low score since I was shooting both guns and taking pictures all at once.

On Sunday we drove down PCH and stopped at this great little lookout point Sara showed me last week. It was a great day (once again)! We spent Sunday and most of Monday with Alicia's cousins. We had a great Sunday pot roast thanks to Alicia's Aunt Ann. It was fun to get to know Alicia's family.

It poured buckets of rain all morning on Monday. So we enjoyed a lazy morning. We went to Red Robin for Liz's (Alicia's cousin) birthday lunch and was thoroughly entertained by her daughter Elise. After we went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. I'm sorry, but I didn't just love it. She was so awkward I felt like was cringing the entire movie, always hoping that she would just stop. I've heard that the books are much better, but they always are. So maybe one day I'll see if I can get into them, but for not I'm not interested.

On the way back to my house we stopped and picked up some cupcakes from Spinkles and we there just happened to be a great little gelatto place next door. So we had some really good gelatto. Over all it was such a great weekend! I loved being able to spend some time with friends.

And now I'm so excited for tomorrow. My family (minus Shelley & Zac) are coming down for the weekend!

Visitors!

2009-02-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited! These fabulous girls are coming tomorrow for the weekend! It's going to be such a great weekend.

Beautiful Day!

2009-02-08T19:32:00.001-08:00

Today was such a beautiful day. These are a few pictures from my walk along the beach this morning. It wasn't very long because these ominous clouds were looming overhead. Later in the day the sun came back out. I hope I'll shortly have some pictures from my new friend Courtney to post. We took some gorgeous photos this afternoon.

Ruby's Dinner on the pier in Huntington. Always a good choice!

Best of 2008

2009-02-03T23:09:00.000-08:00

I know it's February of 2009 but I wanted to post and share some of my favorite pictures of 2008. I had a hard time narrowing it down to these. There are a handful more that my sister Amy has that I'd love to add to this (hint, hint). 2008 was a great year full of fun trips and an exciting move. I had three major trips this year, one on a Caribbean cruise with a great group of friends, a trip to Lake Powell with awesome people that soon became great friends, and one to NYC with two great friends. I also made a great little trip to St. George and Zion's National Park with some good friends. It was a crazy year full of lots of change but I sure had fun!

Classic Arcade Tournament

2009-01-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

My office has been looking forward to today all week long. Today was the day for our Classic Arcade Tournament. Our tournament was inspired by this video.

In preparation for the tournament we put the games in our conference room for some lunch time prep. It's so funny to me to see all these grown-ups get so excited over some arcade games that none of us have played in years.

I didn't do too bad throughout the night. I didn't make any of the high scores, but we had a great time. I used to love playing PacMan & Galaga all the time. Who wouldn't? They are games of pure skill. :)

2009-01-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to The Forest of Crazy! I've been debating for awhile now whether or not to start a blog. I love looking at blogs. I love getting a glimpse into the lives of the author, seeing what inspires them, what makes them happy, feeling like I haven't lost touch with dear friends, old friends, new friends, friends to be, and total strangers. I've hesitated to create a blog because I don't think that my life is all that exciting and thrilling. Then again life isn't that exciting all the time, it's mostly mundane and routine. It's the way we look at it, the little things that make us smile, the big things that we remember, the new things we get so excited about, and the people that we love that make life thrilling and exciting amidst the craziness of the world. So here is my attempt to share a glimpse of me with you, to share the little & big things I find exciting, thrilling, and make me happy. Feel free to post your comments. :)