help!

Friends, I need your help. My phone had an unfortunate accident during lunch today and is no longer functioning. It still makes sounds and lights up, but the screen is completely white. Pretty, however not very functional for my purposes.

Does anyone have an extra Verizon phone lying around that I could temporarily borrow? I promise to be good to it and not drop it on the sidewalk like I did this one.

I'm going through withdrawals already...

**UPDATE**
Please cancel this urgent cell phone request. The kind fellows at the Verizon store simply replaced my phone with one exactly like it. Gracias, Verizon.

tgif ... part II.

So it's Friday. Happy Friday, everyone. Know what I like with my Fridays? Something to laugh at. These worked for me - hopefully they will do the same for you.

Flight of the Conchords. I've been hearing about them for awhile now, but haven't taken the time to check them out. My friend Matt has a fantastic sense of humor so when he jumped on board, I knew it was time to see for myself. They're a comedic duo from New Zealand and I'm told they now have a show on HBO. Give this video a shot. My favorite part: "You're so beautiful ... you could be a part-time model..."




And of course, something from The Onion News Network.

In The Know: Is The Government Spying On Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough?

Now get back to work, slackers.

exhibit a.

Why I adore Hilda Henriquez - Exhibit A.

We go to the store for something dumb like fingernail polish and one hour later, this is all we have to show for it.

not dead.

As you can imagine, the update requests have just been pouring in and since I live to please, here you go. May I present to you my not dead Cactus Succulent:


By not dead I mean still alive which means three cheers for me - I haven't killed my plant yet! Notice how full she's gotten. I did find her a new white bookshelf to sit on and I have to wonder if that has played a part in her growth.

However, I must admit--I have yet to see this "prickliness" that was advertised. Not a deal breaker, though--I'll still water her sparingly either way. But I do look forward to great things...

what are the chances?

Marme brought this to my attention yesterday. I'll be honest with you -- I feel a bit robbed.

http://www.myspace.com/chineapplepunksonline

ode to marme

I feel that where there's a birthday, there needs to be an ode. And today's ode is a very special one: an ode to Marme. For anyone who is confused, let me bring you up to speed: Marme is my mother. I've called her that ever since I read Little Women. I found it to be a cute little nickname/term of endearment and thought I'd give it a go. It stuck and now seems strange to call her anything but Marme. Anyway--back to the ode. Marme's oh so special day was October 14th and in honor of this, I find it necessarily to inform the world of how great Marme is. Below I've listed some of the highlights. I'll be adding things as I think of them, so who knows how long the list will get....

• We both enjoy watching Friends. Despite the negative reviews it receives in the 4th Ward Relief Society.
• Sully likes both of us equally; although I think she tries to pawn him off onto me anytime I spend the night.
• Despite not being real, she sees Scooter as a part of the family. As he should be.
• She continually humors me anytime I tell her I am going to legally give myself a middle name. I'll never do it; she knows it.
• She hides my medicine in fruit snack boxes. Half eaten Carebear fruit snack boxes.
• She makes fun of me. Which awards me full rights in returning the favor.
• She drives an SUV. Cause cool moms drive SUV's.
• I'm her favorite child. Or at least I like to think so.
• She has a deep love in her heart for conjoined twins.
• One might consider her the queen of text messaging. Believe me - this woman is good.
• She takes "19" pictures for me. She knows the way straight to my heart...
• Even with a full shopping list, she can make it in and out of Walmart in 20 minutes flat. On a Saturday.
• She manages to close her eyes in nearly every picture taken of her. She has pretty much perfected it.
• She made it through my Buffy phase like a real trooper.
• No one does bed head quite like her. It's quite amazing, actually.
• She humors me. More than she probably should.
• She knows more about computers than the average person.
• She enjoys certain dragon jokes just as much as I do. If not a little bit more ;)
• Through continued hand slapping, she has reduced my horrible hair picking habit by 25%. This has also been accomplished through her threats of me going bald.

Basically all I'm saying is that hands down, my Marme is better than your mom. Don't challenge me on this cause you're bound to lose.

Happy Birthday, Marme!

i heart mormons

Thanks to Hilda, I had the opportunity of attending the Sunday morning session of general conference last weekend. In my opinion, this session was the best one to go to. Before conference started, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed in Music and the Spoken Word, which was fantastic. Those who know me are aware that besides Christmas tunes and a few other select songs, I’m not generally a fan of choral music. However, this seemed different and has caused me to rethink my opinion on the subject. Conference itself was excellent and it was nice to be there in person when President Hinckley spoke. How lucky are we to have such an incredible person leading us?

Saddened to find ourselves camera-less at the Relief Society session, this time we came prepared. Seeing as how we do not possess any qualities commonly seen in the chosen conference Ensign photographs, it was necessary to document the morning ourselves. This is what we concluded—in order to get a photo in the Ensign, you must have one of the following attributes: be foreign or at least foreign looking, gently cradling a baby, appropriately snuggling/holding hands with a member of the opposite sex, a member of five generations of women or men (all present of course), pondering the scriptures whilst writing in your journal, etc. The list goes on and on. Yet, even with this knowledge, Kathleen and I have thus far been unsuccessful in making the conference issue. Maybe someday. Until then, these’ll have to do.

one night.

Our friend Jim had a wonderful idea that I’d like to participate in and as well as pass along. Here is the email he sent out to everyone:

Now that softball is coming to a close and depression will soon set in, I've been looking for something to fill the void. And as of late, I’ve been thinking I should do more service.. you know.. that charity thing that makes one feel good inside and more importantly, makes others feel good. I've been thinking of dedicating one night a week to doing something good for someone somewhere. The who, what, where and whys will come from our huge network of friends. Everybody knows someone, somewhere who needs something... so I was thinking that each week we could do something different. Have one day every week set aside. It could change as needed but at least there would be one day a week people could count on to get their feel good on. Ideas could be submitted via email. Winter is setting in and it’s a tough time for the elderly. So most definitely clearing of driveways, walkways, sidewalks etc will be in order. And, I imagine, there will be so many more opportunities out there.

I will be starting this next Thursday the 11th of October and am planning on doing something every week. If there are two of us we are good to go.. but the more the better. So for starters I have set up an email. If you are interested in getting the mass email as to what that weeks service project will be or if you want to submit ideas please return a response to thegoodworks@gmail.com. Also, after the projects, the meeting home can be the place of gathering and mingling. Some herbal tea and crumpets, maybe. So in summary, if you wanna do some feel good good works, return a response to thegoodworks@gmail.com with your name. Or if you have ideas or people you know that need our help also send that info to thegoodworks@gmail.com. Someone said repetition helps one remember something. So again.. thegoodworks@gmail.com will be our cyber place for info. Feel free to pass this on to friends.

I was impressed by his motivation to get this all going for everyone. And let’s be honest – we all need to do a little service every now and again. So why not set aside a night for it?

I’m basically saying this: everyone and anyone feel free to join in! Life gets hectic and we all know it might be difficult to participate every single week, but what a great habit to try and take on. As Jim said, ideas can be sent to thegoodworks@gmail.com and a blog has recently been set up at http://www.ourgoodworks.blogspot.com/. It is also listed in my ‘blogs I ♥’ section so check it out.

ode to k-rad

So we just celebrated a birthday at the House of Blonde. Kathleen turned the big 24 this last week. Hilda and I wanted to give her a very special present that only she would appreciate, so naturally we decided to go with a "dragon" theme. The gift included the following: a cape (to wear while reading her fantasy novels), very wild looking dragon poster, magical sword, 2008 dragon themed calendar (the gift of dragons all year round!), shiny dragon keychain, and cute 'lil stuffed dragon promptly named Twinkles. Oh, and her real present - a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble so she can buy more fantasty novels to read while wearing her cape. Overall, I think she was pleased.


She chose Happy Sumo for dinner, a definite fan favorite in the past. Personally, I'd rather slam my fingers in the door than eat sushi. However, out of necessity, I've discovered some very pleasing chicken options that make me a very happy girl.

Dinner was great - Kathleen opened some more presents, I practiced my use of the chopsticks, Hilda collected rice all over her shirt, and everyone really enjoyed their food. A good time was had by all. Needless to say, we called the night complete after a quiet cuddle with our superstar, Karl.

To be quite honest, I'm not sure how we ended up cuddling with Karl. At that point in the night, pretty well everything was funny, so please go ahead and humor us. Point of my entire post is this:

Many thanks for tuning in. Have yourself a great day.

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