yes, I do love raymond. just like everyone else.

Am I going crazy? Is it a Monday? It feels like a crazy Monday. Not a Wednesday.

I realize it's only noon, but I'm tempted to just call it a day; which I would do in a heartbeat if we did not have board meeting tonight. And the only thing keeping me interested in that is I get to sit next to Elder Bateman from the Quorum of the Seventy. I'm anxious to see what ideas he has for our agency. But even so, I can still think of nothing better than a nice soft blanket and a late afternoon nap. And a little bit of Everybody Loves Raymond. Please cross your fingers that I make it there unscathed.

Thanks for listening, friends.

i guess i'm a witness?

So a couple of nights ago, some of us decided to go to a movie. We met at the theater on 33rd South and State and chose to see Hairspray, which I thought was pretty cute. The John Travolta as a woman thing kind of weirded me out, but started to feel normal by the end. Anyway. Movie gets out and we start walking to our car, walk around the corner, and what do we see in the parking lot but this:


Some random car completely engulfed in flames - airbags popping, things melting, etc. The fire department hadn't shown up yet and everyone was just standing there staring at it which seemed quite eerie if you ask me. No one was inside, no one was standing around screaming "my car, my car!" Just everyone silently staring at it. Ricky jokingly said that he thought it was a promotion. On fire. In the middle of a parking lot. By lots and lots of others cars. Right :) Anyway, the fire department and police then showed up and proceeded to quickly put out the fire.





After that, the flames were out and the show was over so we then took off. Although, I must say we were a little bit sheepish about starting the car. Who knows what is going to blow up and what isn't. We still have no idea what happened. If anyone heard anything, you should let me know cause I'm dying to find out. But until then, it sure made for some cool pictures. And I have to admit, I feel the world just might be a better place with one less Dodge Neon in it.

tonight!

I just felt the need to post a little something to get all you Prison Break fans excited for the premiere tonight. Here's to another season of suspicious glances, unrealistic plot lines, and Linc's chest revealing button down shirts. But most of all, here's to having a regular Monday night date with my Wentworth again. It's been a long summer.

introducing...

I'd like to take this time during my too-short break from work to introduce my latest endeavor. Everyone please give a warm welcome to my new plant!

Ikea calls her Cactus/Succulent and I can't resist a name like that. She is to avoid direct sunlight and only needs to be watered sparingly; pretty low maintenance and therefore my kind of plant. Her label warns she will become prickly, which increases my desire to keep her alive. I have no doubt it'll be wild.

Until then, she sits at my work on the tiny bookshelf behind my chair. Stay posted for further updates. I know -- exciting, right? Right :)

a 'lil ink. or henna.

My most recent California trip was filled with a whole grundle of exciting things, one of those being my very first henna tattoo. Fantastic design, only stays for about 2 weeks - definitely a good souvenir. When we got home, I was excited about it and decided to order a kit online so I could create my own henna. The kit came, I got busy, and it was set aside. To be honest, I forgot about it.

Cut to a couple weeks ago. I'm cleaning my room and what do I discover? My henna kit. Very exciting, yes? Certainly. So I started the search for an interesting pattern to use, and can I just say that I am even more fascinated than before? The examples I saw were incredible. People create these amazingly intricate designs all over their entire bodies. If you have time, do a Google search and take a look. It's pretty interesting. But anyway--that got me excited and also made me realize I needed to start small. I can only imagine the disaster I would encounter by trying to do an incredibly detailed design my very first time. After more web searching, I decided to just create my own. A sort of simplified compilation of some of the designs I looked at.

Well Ladies and Gents, today's the day. Without further adieu, I'd like to introduce everyone to my very first attempt at a henna tattoo! Right now the color is pretty dark, but after about 6 hours the layer of henna will flake off and an orange color will appear. Give that a day or two and it will turn into a nice shade of golden brown. Needless to say, I'm very excited to see the finished product. And believe it or not, I really enjoyed drawing it. In school I sometimes struggled to make it through my 3 hour drawing classes, but this was a tad more intriguing to me. Probably because I'm not being graded on it. And because essentially it's just a bunch of squiggly lines that a five year old could draw. But that's besides the point :)

Anyway. Just wanted to share my excitement with everyone. Thank you for humoring me. G'day.

TGIF

Today is Friday. And that makes me smile. Here are some other random things that have made me smile today:

• Singing to "The Race is On" by Sawyer Brown as I drove to work. And then having it my mind all morning.
• The crazy-haired man on the pay phone at the 7-11 on 3rd East who told me my shirt was "pretty."
• Email
• This little kid that came into my work with his mom. She was busy getting training information and he was obviously pretty bored. He came wandering over to my desk and told me "Nice place ya got here." Glad to see it impresses someone, cause we all hate it. Ahh, kids.
• My long lunch spent wandering around Target. Love you, Target.
• Hilda Henriquez.
• The really pleasant man who cut me off on I-15 and then proceeded to flip me off as if it were MY doing. Thanks for making my drive a tad more entertaining, sir.
• Listening to my newly downloaded Timbaland song 7 times in a row. And I wonder why I get sick of songs so quickly. But you'd better believe I had a smile on my face the entire time.
• This picture. Although technically it makes me smile every single morning, so I suppose this one isn't so Friday specific. But I can't help but hope that it's a product of Photoshop or this poor girl will be mocked her entire life for her unfortunate resemblance to Chris Farley.

• The UPS man who brings me a flower when he delivers packages to my office. He's older, so it's cute opposed to creepy.
• Stars
  

really?

I finished Twilight yesterday. Sure, cheesy at parts, but I'm not complaining. At the end of the book, the author kindly offers you a sampling of the sequel, New Moon. So basically, I read the first chapter of New Moon, get all jazzed about it, run to my laptop to check availability at the library, and guess what I find? 85 holds on the next returned copy.

EIGHTY-FIVE.

Anyone else feel as if that is a ridiculously large number? Is this some kind of cruel joke? By the time I get my hands on this book, I probably won't even remember much about Twilight. And I only allow myself to buy books I already love, so that option is out. I fear I am, as they say, stuck between a rock and a hard place. It's the pits here.

Point being: anyone know someone who knows someone? C'mon friends. Hook me up.

vamps.

Some of you may know about my strange fascination with the subject of vampires. It all began when Spike fell in love with Buffy. The vast amounts of mystery and angst were too much to resist, and it unexpectedly snowballed from there. Now, clearly I am not so overzealous as to dye my hair dark, wear all black, pierce who knows what, and invest in a ten year supply of black eye/lipliner. I’m blonde, unpierced, and only wear black because of its slimming capabilities. However, I must admit I perk up at the mere mention of the word “vamp.” Which leads me to my next thought.

Shanna has been reading a book called Twilight. I’d heard bits and pieces about it, but never paid too much attention. My “books to read (but rarely have the time to)” list is already hefty enough. However, that all changed when Shanna informed me one of the main characters in Twilight is a vampire; a smooth, well dressed, mysterious, wickedly handsome vampire. Yes, please.

At that point, I had no choice but to patiently wait until she finished. It has since been passed along and I am now about 150 pages in. I can wholeheartedly say it was well worth the wait. Nearly everything that attracts me to my vampires can be found in this book. And then to find out there are sequels. Steal my heart. I can only hope there is a movie or two in the works. I already have several actors in mind.

On a side note, I must say I’ve forgotten how much reading relaxes me. I’ve always been one that enjoys it, but things get crazy and suddenly you realize it’s been weeks or even months since you’ve sat down with a good book. It’s been so relieving to slow down and block everything else out for the time being. And what better way than with my beloved vampires.

Thanks, Shann.

And now for my random question. When I lived in Logan, someone told me I needed to read this certain book about Dracula. The title was one word, and it was a best seller at Barnes and Noble for awhile. I cannot remember the name of this book and countless Google searches have turned up unsuccessful. Help? Anyone?

urgent blog recall.

I just discovered something very troubling. The world's #1 Erasure fan (me) just discovered her favorite song is in fact not sung by Erasure. "Send Me An Angel" is actually the creation of a band named Real Life. My world is turning upside down and I'm now questioning everything.

i like erasure. so sue me.

So I was driving to my parent's house for dinner this last Sunday and had the sudden urge to hear "Send Me An Angel" by Erasure. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the drive than singing along to such a fantastic song. Thankfully, I had it handy right there on my iPod. After a couple good rounds of it, I realized I wanted more. Fast. When I arrived at mom and dad's, I furiously began downloading anything and everything "Erasure." The result is an amazing cd filled with Erasure goodness. I listened to it the entire way home that night.

Naturally, I wanted to share this goodness with my friends. Imagine my horror when Kathleen and I are in my car and she informs me she "doesn't listen to Erasure" and asks to turn it to the radio *gasp* The very next day, my dear Erasure received the same cold shoulder from Hilda. And I call these people my friends? I suppose true colors are now shining through.

Anyway. Point of my post is this: Erasure fans unite. And come for a ride in my car.

all together now: PINK?!?

What is the world coming to? This morning I was listening to the radio and heard this really fantastic song. Seeing as how Google is my best friend, I immediately jumped online and searched for the name of the song and artist. To my dismay, Google informed me that the song was by none other than PINK. Now please keep in mind I've always been a little frightened by Pink. I feel that she wouldn't hesitate to beat a girl like me up for no apparent reason other than the thrill of a good punch. However I'd like to formally announce that as of today I am officially altering my opinion. I no longer feel threatened - in fact this song makes me want to give her a warm hug accompanied by a swift pat pat on the back.

Anyway. Without further adieu, I present to you my new BFF - Pink. http://music.aol.com/video/who-knew/pink/1652242

grand schemes and small calves.

In a feeble attempt to become a "blog of note" in Natalie world, I present a great memory of mine. It was the unforgettable time in which we met our dear Wentworth Miller.

Now, Nat and I were a captive audience when Went chose to tattoo his entire being and recklessly throw himself into prison. We stood by his side while he executed his seemingly impossible prison break plan. We fought back tears and fretted endlessly as wrench after wrench was thrown into his grand scheme. But in the end, he was successful. He fought the law and HE won. So it was our great pleasure to finally meet this heartthrob in person.

As you can see from this undoctored photograph, Natalie was extremely nervous and I apparently was unusually thirsty. But as per usual, our dear Went was cool, calm and collected. And missing a few buttons on his shirt. Long story short, it really was a fantastic meeting. He proposed, however we declined citing various reasons including his small calves, womanizing and inability to display any facial expression besides suspicion. Bottom line is this: The story I just shared was most certainly noteworthy. Therefore I feel it necessary that I become a "blog of note". Thank you for your time.

Shower shorts, newbie?

Hey Folks. Guess what? I'm starting a blog. Believe it. My main reason is so that I can type on my laptop at night just like Doogie Howser. It's been a dream that's finally coming true. This is my first post in all its glory. Thanks for tuning in. More exciting things to come in my life of dirty laundry and split ends.

Here's a little something for good luck for the time being.

Oh and PS - Seeing as how I'm new to this, please bear with me. This newfangled internet is sometimes tricksy. I'm sure the "www." craze will pass, right? Right.