google favourites

so, my google phone flags my contacts as favourites based on frequency and length of phone calls. i'm sure there's some fancy algorithm behind the calculations here so, i mean, this must be scientifically accurate information.

here are my top ten "favourites," according to google:

1. cute guy

2. my sister

3. my mom

4. my manager john
   

5. college boy

6. my manager mark
   

eerch!

hold on. what? what did that say? really?

yes, friends, you read that right: two of my managers in my list of favourites.

in the top ten, no less!

my managers are my favourites?! does that mean work is my favourite?!?

i can't go on with the list. this is just too sad.

...

...

i think i am going to go eat some ice cream ...

it's a sad, sad life i lead ...

lasting impressions

chatting with a co-worker tonight, griping about the same old office complaints ...

... i got an unexpected glimpse of the impression i leave on some people:

"i'm starving and talking to you made me think of jerry's."

[nose wriggle]. funny.

...

what do i make *you* think of??

my greasy lover, bacon

i wonder if you really could travel back in time ...

computer expert

every morning, when pat asks me a computer question, this is actually *precisely* what i do.

p.s.

oh, yeah. this is what else came in the mail ...

well, i mean, *i* didn't come in the mail.

just the ticket did ...

but, you got that.

right?

the emerald city

one of my favorite people followed suit with so many others in my life ... and moved to seattle. i like to think that they are all just making the exodus with the intent to prepare that promised land for me. i'll end up there someday, mind you: just you wait. just you wait, henry higgins. (sorry, that sentence was just asking for it.)

in celebration of his outset to a new life and to to help him make the transition, i joined a team of 2 others in taking on the task of picking up matt's whole life and transplanting it to the emerald city.

aside from the almost unbearable, all-in-one-day, 18-hour car-ride, it was a fabulous trip to my previously-declared favorite-city-in-the-whole-world-that-i-have-never-lived-in. (think that's a long title? just imagine having to fit that on an 8½-x-11 ivory certificate. not an easy thing to do, my friends.) (oh, and please note that the car-ride is herein described as "almost unbearable" simply for its length: sitting in a car for that long should be legally, ethically, morally, and chocolately wrong. the adventure and the company was quite pleasant otherwise.)

(i don't think i have ever used so many hyphenates in one post before. nor so many parentheses. this is quite a monumental post!)

after dragging the dregs of matt's stuff to the cars, we scooted out of santa monica at the butt crack of dawn on friday morning, august 29. being so early in the morning, this meant, of course ... no makeup for me:

mattso didn't wear any, either.

the road trip was filled with adventures and sights such as these:

now, i'd imagine that there aren't a few of you guys out there who are feeling a bit left out at this point, but don't worry: it wasn't anything you can't recreate. all you need is a vw golf crammed full of stuff, a location that is 18 hours away, and a dave. gotta have a dave.

we got to seattle around 2 am and crashed (on our beds).

saturday started too early. but saturday started with a bang. dave showed me the most amazing stuff: debacterol. it's awesome. it cures canker sores. all you do is put the sulfuric acid on your tongue (or wherever the canker sore is) for 10 seconds, it burns like a race horse, and then your canker sore is just a bit of dead skin you wait to fall off. (kinda gross, i know. sorry.) as you can see from the picture, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

after such excitement so early in the morning, i suppose you wouldn't expect much else in the day ... but ... then we rounded up the troops and headed to ... bumbershoot!! oh, my heavens, what an amazing time was had. after waiting in a 4,000-mile-long line, we got into the gates around 11, i think. my old friend brad met up with us for most of the day (hi, brad!). we walked all over the place seeing everything that was there and making plans for what we just had to see before the day was through. after some discussion, we decided on a game plan of (1) eat bratwurst and french fries, (2) wander around for a couple hours, (3) watch modern dancers in the water fountain, (4) watch part of lucinda williams, (5) watch band of horses, (6) get high from second-hand smoke while waiting to watch beck, (7) watch beck, and (8) tucker out and go home.

sunday was a day of rest. as it should be. kinda. church started at 9, where we met many cool people! then we went on a beautiful drive and a bit of a hike up near (in?) issaquah. the weather was a bit damp, of course, which makes everything so green and beautiful so it's okay. here's the group in front of lake sammamish ("yeah, i'd say that lake is pretty sammamish."):

while there, matt taught us about the life cycle of salmon. we learned a lot, and, having been thus educated, we were ready to go to the university. and so we did. we drove out to university of washington to walk around a bit. last year when i was there, the cherry trees were in bloom and it was just absolutely gorgeous. this year, the ducks were in bloom -- this meant more poop than cherry blossoms. not quite *as* gorgeous, but not bad, no. i was able to do about 17 cartwheels in the quad and didn't get any duck poop on my hands.

from the university, we went to a ward-member's house and had all kinds of yummy desserts at a "dessert potluck" in which the hostess prepared all the desserts, (don't really think that qualifies as a "potluck", at least where i'm from, but ... it's seattle -- who knows?), after which we headed to st. mark's cathedral to hear the episcopaleon monks perform gregorian chanting. that was an *amazing* experience.

monday was officially dubbed "moving day": early in the morning, we drove matt's stuffed car to his new place to unload ... 2,374 armloads from car to apartment later ... all of his earthly belongings were safely stashed in his new seattle station.

from there, we had to officially re-seattle-ize mattso with the purchase of ... dun, dun, dun ... a northface fleece from rei! oh, behold the re-seattle-ization (okay, now say that quickly 4 times and note the excitement on mattso's face.):

being now appropriately equipped, we headed out on an even greater adventure! after a deep fried seafood lunch at ivar's, we drove down to the water and to take a ferry over to [ insert name of island here ] island. we didn't have to wait too long before the ferry arrived and we boarded. i love ferries. i love being on the water. i love standing at the front of the boat and getting almost blown away and then standing at the back of the boat and feeling the calm ... ... love it. i think they should put more in l.a. -- ferries, that is -- not fairies. heh.

after arriving on the island, we started driving. and we drove and drove and drove. it was *bea-u-tiful*! we drove up to deception pass and had to take a hike: it was sunset and it was awesome.

after hiking down to the water and back up again. we drove to the top of [ insert name of island here ] island and to another ferry pier to wait for the next ferry. i love ferries. i think they should put more in l.a. -- oh, wait -- we already did that joke ...

umm, tuesday morning found us atop of the space needle. well ... tuesday mid-morning found us there: we were on vacation, afterall. but it was lovely. the city is beautiful from up there. and it's just so cool to be 605 feet up! cell phone reception was surprisingly really good at that height.

after returning to sea level, we checked out some other tourist staples in this fair sea city. such as ...

i love this waterfall tunnel.	there's a pig in pike place market!	look who we found.

we capped off the day with yummy pizza with new friends. pretty good day, i'd say ...

wednesday morning we went to japan:

and then china:

and then we had lunch in seattle's international district (aka, "chinatown") at the uwajimaya village. that was not bad chinese. (while in china, i also found a chinese grocery store that had colored tapioca. little pink, green, and yellow tapioca balls. so cool! and even more fun to eat than the boring white stuff!)

our fearsome foursome split ways shortly after lunch. dave and nastia got back in the golf and started south. mattso and i had a couple more small adventures in seattle before i flew to utah the next morning: we went to gas works park and spent some time in the sunshine, then we went home furnishings shopping at target ... which was sorely needed for his otherwise barren abode.

farewell, seattle! i'll miss you dearly! --

err, uhh --

i mean ...

farewell, mattso! i'll miss you dearly!

thursday

in celebration of today being thursday, i wanted to share a couple memories of thursdays past ...

the epic mr. thursday

in my parents' ward, there lived a very good looking young man. uh huh.

i had met this guy before my mission, so when i returned, we caught up quickly/briefly my first sunday back in the states. after church that day, my little sister's boyfriend suggested that i ask this guy out. for thursday. (please note that the suggested thursday was exactly one week from the time i stepped off the plane.)

i said okay.

so i quickly grabbed the phone and called him up. he was more than obliging and agreed that thursday would be an excellent day for a date. and it was.

thursday came and, for the date, we watched spiderman (the first one -- because the second one would be coming out in just a few weeks -- see? trying to set it up for an automatic second date) and then made churros, brazilian style. (pretty similar to the mexican treat, but just imagine those cinnamon-and-sugar-covered sensations filled with chocolate. mmm. drool, drool. those alone are the reason i gained 10 pounds in one of my mission areas. really.)

that thursday night, mr. thursday and i stayed up talking until 1. which was super late for a girl that just got off her mission a week ago! but so much fun!

mr. thursday and i went out a handful of other times after that. but it wasn't meant to be ... something i noticed when i unfortunately kept burning the kid every time we talked. it was awful. (and fodder for some follow-up don't-do-it-this-way posts.)

sigh.

naked thursday

a couple months ago, a friend and i decided that we would give up on becoming cpa's and instead start a promotional button-making business. y'know, the kind of buttons that we used to wear in high school whenever there were student elections coming up. (don't have any idea if kids still use those. do they? am i dating myself here?)

anyway, after coming up with some pretty snazzy slogans and clever commentaries, we decided that our skills could better be used in the t-shirt making business. that decision pretty much came as a result of this genius:

get it? ha ha ... get it?

there you go. happy thursday, everyone.

a bum

at what point do you have to start introducing yourself as a bum? i slept in my car on saturday night.

"hi, i'm christianna. nice to meet you. i'm a bum."

saturday was a *very* full day. i woke up in a panic at 7:15 -- i was supposed to be at the red cross at 7! dangit! quick pit stop in the bathroom to pull a comb through my hair, then i was out the door. i started the car just as my phone rang: it was the red cross asking if i was okay and if i was coming. "yesss ..."

after getting there, i crossed my fingers through the whole donor intake process -- well, except for the part where they prick my finger -- just hoping that my iron levels would be high enough to donate. (ever since i started this no-beef thing i just can't keep enough iron in my blood! anyone have any suggestions for that? i have recently started taking iron supplements, but those don't always work, either.)

i passed. yippee!

so i spent the next two hours reclined, smothered in blankets and hot rice bags, and enjoying juno. i gave a double-unit of platelets. pat myself on the back: pat, pat, pat.

from the red cross, i drove straight to the church building for ... enrichment super saturday!! where i made this:

on the way back home from enrichment, i called jenn to organize our beach outing, then called my sisters, et al, to pass the word along.

got home. got showered. got back in the car. got drove -- err, i mean -- drove. parked. walked. found jenn. laid out my towel. grabbed my boogie board. got tossed around in the waves. landed really hard on my shoulder on the beach. saw a big bruise on my shoulder. got out of the water.

then my sister, et al, arrived and we set them up and got back in the water. it was fabulous! so much fun. i love going to the beach!!

after a few hours in the sun, we packed up, walked back to the cars, and headed home. where i showered once again, cleaned the boogie boards, and got back in the car to drive up to eden's.

we met up with some friends of hers for pizza and blue grass at vincenzo's pizza esperienza in new hall, ca. a fun blue grass band plays there every saturday night. it really is a pizza esperienza. really.

then we went back to eden's friends' house to play ... dun dun dun ... rock band!! i must say that the several performances of the members of the troupe were quite impressive. but i think the "best of show" prize definitely goes to clint, for his vocal stylings in our home-grown rendition of iron maiden, "the number of the beast".

we finally retired the drum sticks and bass guitar at 1:41am, and, after assuring my bro-in-law that i was "fine" to drive home, i got back in my car and found the freeway.

however, i soon discovered that my eyelids were much heavier than i have ever known them to be -- it must have been the junk food i'd been nibbling on all day -- and so at 2:22am, i found a parking lot, locked me in my car, set the car alarm, and crawled into the back seat. at 3:34am, i woke up (much pleased that i was still in the backseat of my car and not kidnapped) and drove the rest of the way home -- about an 8-minute drive -- where i assume i crawled in my bed because that is where i was when i woke up the next morning.

and so, you see: i am a bum. i don't think i can argue that now. i slept in my car.

p.s. -- yes, i remember *exactly* what time things happened. i'm an accountant. i am good with numbers. apparently.

the sun, moon, and stars

(amy, i stole your blog title. it was just so fitting!!)

to celebrate the birth of our country, i took advantage of every single minute of this day off.

having gotten home from my sister's at around 2:30 am the night before, pulling myself out of bed at 7am was a bit difficult. but i had groceries to buy and eggs to fry. so ... decked out in my pajama shorts and my i-mess-with-texas t, i headed for vons. (i'm still keeping my distance from ralph's, unfortunately. besides that, vons is closer to my house. yeah.)

after the quick outing to the grocery store, i came back home and cooked eggs for our ward fourth-of-july breakfast. dropped those off at the church and came back home to shower and get ready for the day.

unfortunately, i took too long. by the time i got back to the church with my stomach growling, my glass dish was empty and already washed and the only edible thing left was some maple sausage. so ... i grabbed a couple of those and drove home.

the sun

soon my phone rang. it was jenn. she gave me directions to zuma and told me they were by lifguard station 4. half an hour later, so was i.

jenn and her boyfriend had been there for maybe an hour already and were taking a boogie board break. but as soon as i arrived, they were ready to go in again.

the moon

i haven't ever been boogie boarding before, but, oh my goodness, i had such a good time! and i have the bruises all over my ribs to prove it!

oh -- i found out that my swimming suit bottoms are a little too big. which was a bit unfortunate for all the beach-goers at zuma that day. oops. sorry.

the stars

the evening was spent under the stars up in valencia after a delicious barbecue with my sister's friends. the city put on a fabulous fireworks show. my nephew loved it and clapped after each really big one. he's such a fun kid.

wish you were there

okay, so friday night was game night up at my sister eden's. they do it once a month. on the third friday. i know this. i can recite the schedule on command. but ... eden still has to call me every time and say, "hey, it's game night -- are you coming?"

game night is so much fun. it's usually at eden's house. or sometimes we go to other people's houses (don't worry -- eden knows all those people). and the agenda, you ask? well, mostly we play games. and we eat treats. and we play more games. and eat more treats. ... you get it. i'm telling you: so. much. fun.

so yesterday i was at work kinda late (even though busy season is over, whatever), trying to finish some stuff so that next week will not be so hectic, and eden called at about 6:40 to say, "hey, it's game night -- are you coming?" my response: "heck yes i am!" (or something a little less napoleon-esque, but just as excited.)

so i packed things up, drove home to change, and then headed up.

and so i'm driving, right. and i noticed this tube of lotion that i've had in my car since, oh, probably the 29th of november. it's the lotion i got from the pharmacy. my doctor had prescribed it for some really dry skin that i have on one of my fingers. so since i wasn't doing anything else at the moment besides driving, i decided it would be a good opportunity to apply said lotion. (ha ha: when i just typed that word, i actually typed "lotino". that's a fun word to say. say it: "lotino". ha ha. anyway ... )

well, it's been a while since i used the lotion, so the tube was a little clogged with some dried-out lotion. i thought maybe i could squish the lotion out so i squeezed it a little: nope. so i used the pokey end of the cap to poke it a little: still nope. i massaged most of the lotion up to the top of the tube. still couldn't get it out.

but when i stopped at the next stop light, i decided to just give it all i had -- it *had* to come out, right?

and ... umm ... i got it.

yeah.

i reeeally got it: all over my freakin' car!

yeah. i squeezed the tube with my muscles and the dried-up lotion that was clogging the tube shot straight up! followed by about half the tube of lotion! it was everywhere: on the ceiling, on the sun visor, on the window, on the windshield, on the dashboard, on the steering wheel, on the radio, on the gear shifter, on the arm rest, on the other arm rest .. and on me: on my head, on my hair, on my face, on my arms, on my shirt, on my pants ... and on my finger, which was fortunate since that was precisely where i wanted to put the lotion anyway. hmm. so that's good, right?

oh -- and additionally: it had been a hot day, so the lotion was rather melted and runny. so not only was it all over everything, but it was now dripping off of everything and getting on *more* everything. oh my goodness.

it was the funniest thing ever! i laughed and laughed and laughed. and i looked around to see if anyone else was perchance enjoying this spectacle. nope. no one. not a single person. not anyone. which is why i really wish you were there. really.

then i laughed some more, pulled out my handy wet wipes, and started cleaning up my mess. seriously: it was everywhere.

smashing good time

so to celebrate the end of busy season, and really just to enjoy a friday night after a long work week ... my friend alyssa and i planned to go out to duke's in malibu for some yummy food and good company.

so when i got off work around 7, i called her and said i was on my way. a quick stop at home to put my jeans on ... and then back out the door. i got to alyssa's a little early, and by 745 we were getting into alyssa's car to head off.

as we backed out of the garage, though, we heard a fateful metal-on-metal crunch. uh-oh. we spent the next few minutes looking at this:

but -- i'm sorry reggie -- i really didn't want to spend my friday night doing that. so ... we got back in alyssa's car and tried the whole thing again. success! we made it out of the driveway this time -- with no crunching!

the drive out to malibu was fun. we took topanga canyon out to the beach and then up pch to duke's. after dinner alyssa was telling me about the malibu country mart, so we headed over there to check it out. and then we watched leatherheads, which was cute (but long and kinda slow at times).

overall: a fun evening!

yea!

they are finally doing it! march will be a happy month for some very dear friends of mine. they are finally getting sealed and i am *so* very happy for them.

congratulations, amy and ethan. i really wish i could be there ... take pictures. :P

snowy california

okay, so this isn't really what comes to mind when you think of southern california, is it? but ... we got hit by a big snow storm last weekend. ("big" by california standards, but nothing too exciting to all you utahns, i know. and especially not anything even noticeable to you bostonians. but still. i guess the southern california sun has spoiled me.)

erica emailed me on friday afternoon to see if i wanted to celebrate the snow with a sledding trip! of course!! so she got some other people together and made plans.

which plans meant that i had to wake up at 630 on a saturday morning. (yeah, don't even get up that early on work days. oh, well -- this was for a better reason than "work".) whine, whine, whine.

so, i picked up perfect boy at his house just after 8; we got up to erica's around 830, where we met up with the rest of the troupe and headed out. less than an hour later, we found ourselves in this:

where we couldn't wait to start doing this:

err, uhh, i mean, this:

oh, fabulous snow. oh, beautiful snow. oh, freezing snow. and me in my jeans. i neglected to bring snow gear with me when i moved to l.a.: silly me. the southern california sun really has spoiled me.

but it was so much fun! we spent a couple hours sliding down and climbing back up the hills and sled runs. threw snow at each other. threw each other in the snow. fun was had by all.

after a hard day of play in the snow, we stopped at rocio's, a cute little mexican diner on the way out of frazier park, where we ate homemade tortillas and tried to warm ourselves before making the drive back home. it was a fabulous day.

finally

heard from a good friend the other day that i haven't talked to in forever ... and ... they are getting married in may! finally! it's been a long time coming ...

... congratulations, kaylee & joey!

distress call

brrring ... brrring ... (or maybe it's more like, "bzzz ... bzzz ... " since my phone is on vibrate.)

"hi, becky."

"i'm trapped in your backyard."

"what?"

"i'm trapped in your backyard."

" !! what? !! "

"so i went out to the backyard to pick some oranges, and pat poked her head out the back door to say that she was going over to the neighbor's house for a bit. and as she walked away, she pushed the door a little too much and it closed and locked --"

"you're kidding."

"no. and i checked -- both side gates are locked and they are surprisingly difficult to try to climb over. and you two are very good at making sure none of your windows can be opened from the outside."

"you're kidding."

"no."

"you want me to come home and open the door for you?"

"well, does pat have a cell phone?"

"she does, but she never carries it around with her."

"well, which neighbor did she go to? maybe i could hop the fence into their yard."

"umm, probably the one closer to the school, on the side where the trash cans are ... do you want me to come home and open the door to let you in?"

"would that be okay?"

"yeah, i could be there in 10 minutes. i can have lunch while i am there -- just take an early lunch."

"do you mind ... ?"

"i'll be there in 10 minutes."

"okay. thanks."

"see you in a bit."

what happens in vegas

a few months ago, my friend becky won a romantic weekend for two in the exciting sin city of las vegas on the radio. we were originally gonna go back in november, but had to reschedule a couple of times and finally got it set up for january 4-7.

so after taking my cpa test on friday, i came home, did laundry, and packed to be out of the house by 5 so i could pick up becky from the airport at 6 (she was flying in from her Christmas vacation with family back in virginia). well, because of traffic, i didn't get to the airport until about 645 ... argh ... but then we were on our way up to vegas!

the drive was long because of the insane rain storm but it wasn't too bad since we both had vacation stories and other stories to catch up on ... and we finally got to the stratosphere around 2am, checked in, and went to sleep.

the only catch to this romantic weekend for two in the exciting sin city of las vegas was that we had to sit through a "no-pressure" time-share presentation given by the company that sponsored the weekend. which was torturous. seriously. first of all, we thought that the meeting was at 10 on saturday morning. but when we checked into the hotel , they told us that we had to check in with the time-share company in the morning -- they open at 6. so ... at 730 the next morning, i finally wrestled myself out of bed, brushed my hair and groggily made my way to the check-in desk. where i found out that our meeting was at 8 -- not 10 -- at 8. !! so ... i called becky to wake her up and then i ran up to the room to change clothes and run back down to get to the meeting. :S

and despite their reassurances that this meeting was "no-pressure" ... it was seriously the worst saturday morning i have ever spent. ever. even worse than the saturday morning i spent ... hmm ... i was just trying to think of a really bad saturday morning experience that i had one time and i can't think of anything ... so either i've never had a bad saturday morning or i have blocked all of them from my memory ... interesting. but what i can say is that *this* saturday morning was awful. when becky and i told them "no", we don't want to buy into their time-share ... wow ... i don't think i've ever been through a worse breakup. i've seriously never seen a grown man pout so much.

when they finally let us go and took us back to our hotel, becky and i crashed back into our beds for some much-needed napping. the only problem was that i was tormented the whole time by "no-pressure" sales dreams and didn't get much rest at all. :P ugh. seriously.

the rest of saturday was pretty fun. we finally woke up and got ready to be out of the hotel room by 230 and went over to the hilton to meet up with becky's dad at the star trek experience for lunch and some rides. so much fun!! and i met a borg drone named 3 of 6. he seemed a bit taken with me ... though he adamantly refused to help me be assimilated to the collective -- evidently he is now part of a de-assimilation initiative and was posted on the station in order to observe human behavior in an attempt to regain his humanity. (oh! also, the actress that played alexander's mom was there, too. she wouldn't let me take her picture, though, unless i bought something. oh, well.)

and *that*, my friends, is my star trek geekiness. i think that's all i'll subject you to. for now.

after yummy dinner and some star trek adventures with becky's dad, we three went to see menopause the musical. it was an interesting show. funny. but i won't go see it again. and i probably won't recommend it to anyone either. dunno. just not my kind of humor.

after that show, becky and i hightailed it over to the mgm grand to see ká, a fabulous cirque du soleil show about a village named ká and the plight of the young prince and princess who seek to return home after being separated and "must embark on a perilous journey". i *loved* it! really. it was seriously amazing. i'd go see it again any time, anywhere. you wanna go with me?

sunday morning, becky and i went to the gilcrease bird preserve in the neighborhood where becky grew up. we had a great time seeing the birds and visiting the petting zoo, too. this one bird was hilarious: i have never seen a bird enjoy being petted so much in my whole life. can you see the sheer bliss on his face?! i swear he would have crawled right into my lap and died of ecstasy right then had that pesky cage not been in the way. (oh, i don't think we were supposed to pet the birds, though -- so, if anyone asks, you didn't see this picture.)

we then went to visit becky's grandma and had lunch with her. she was very sweet and made yummy homemade chili for us. mmm.

after a couple hours at grandma's, we left to meet up with becky's dad. first we went to the mandalay bay shark reef. i *looved* that. i can't even express how much i love looking at sharks. i don't know why. don't ask. (we tried to take a cool picture, but it didn't quite turn out.)

then we went to the forum shops in caesar's palace. that is an amazing place. it's hard to believe that all that is indoors and that you aren't really walking the streets of ancient rome. i wished that i had brought my toga.

becky's dad treated us to dinner at the palm restaurant. oh, it was fabulous. i ate a 12 oz. new york steak *and* flirted with a very cute waiter. ha. he wasn't even "our waiter" -- but he kept coming out to the patio area to check on us. maybe he was "my waiter". :P yeah, whenever i caught him looking our direction, he gave me a wink or stuck his tongue out or blew me a kiss or even mouthed an "i love you" ... heh. i'd go back there again, too, any time. you wanna go with me there??

that evening we returned to the stratosphere to watch the american superstars impersonators show, which was entertaining. then we went up to the top of the stratosphere to look at all of las vegas from high above it. if it hadn't been so durned cold i would have loved to ride the roller coasters up at the top of that thing.

after we descended back to street level, we met up with becky's dad again to go to fremont street in downtown las vegas. we hung out there for a while, saw some sights, watched some guys make art with spray paint, and enjoyed the light show. it was fun. and freezing. vegas in winter is cold. just for the record.

monday we slept in until we really couldn't sleep in any longer. because we had to check out of the hotel by 11. (i've never stayed at a hotel where check-out is at 11. it's supposed to be at 12. what's up with the 11? must be a typo. must be.) anyway. and then we went over to the venetian grand canal shoppes and wandered around for a while. again, that's an amazing place. and it's hard to believe that you are indoors the whole time. we also went back over to the forum shops to see some more of what was there. as we passed the palm on our way out i spotted my waiter ... he was still very cute.

umm, monday evening we saw stomp out loud at planet hollywood, which was thoroughly entertaining. really. i was interested in seeing it mostly because i am a science nerd to some degree (ha ha -- okay, stop laughing) and i thought it would be cool to see what they could do ... but i was completely taken aback with all the humor in the show. i had no idea i would laugh so much! and that i would be taken aback! really. i love being taken aback! and laughing!

after the show, becky and i went to see the fountains at the bellagio -- beautiful. it was so much fun to stand there on the strip and listen to music, dance, and watch the fountains. i loved it.

we watched the fountains until about 10:15, and then becky and i got on the road to head back to l.a.

shortly after we left las vegas, becky fell asleep. and i called cute guy. he was such a sport and talked to me for the *whole* drive back to l.a. ... which, thankfully, kept me awake ... so we could arrive safely home ... at 3 in the morning.

the weather outside is frightful

13 hours in the car. google says that the drive from l.a. to ogden, ut, should take 11 hours. but google doesn't know that we had a 1½-year-old in the car. so it took longer. but he is a really cute 1½-year-old. see?

who wouldn't want to be stuck in a car for 13 hours with this cute kid? really.

so, eden, clint, and i packed the boy into the car at 7am on december 22. the drive wasn't too bad -- one person drove, one person kept the driver awake, and the third person entertained the boy. and we rotated responsibilities. it worked out great.

we arrived at my parents' house at 7pm. after a long day, all we had energy for was a birthday dinner and then headed off to bed. (my dad gave me a box *full* of dark chocolate -- now, that's love!)

the next morning was church. it was so much fun to go to church with almost my whole family -- it's been a while. we took up two pews! well, the short side pews, but still. haven't done that in a while.

monday was Christmas eve (as you know), so we set out in the mid-morning to finish up some last-minute shopping. and then the afternoon and evening were spent wrapping, making other preparations, and playing games.

oh my goodness, we played so many games during the whole week. it was *fab*-u-lous. i loved it. these are most of the games we played (i think):

mystery of the abbey
shadows over camelot
ticket to ride: märklin
bang! (with dodge city and high noon expansions)
citadels
incan gold
monopoly express
speed scrabble
mario & sonic olympics
raving rabbids 1 and 2
cars
mater-national

after opening presents on Christmas, we played more games. then the next day we played more games. and more games the next day. it was perfect. (which, by the way, if anyone out there wants an opinion on any games, let me know. if i can't answer myself, i know my sister or brother-in-law could certainly help you out. they are game gurus.)

friday i finally broke free from the house and went to see my friend amy in bountiful. i love visiting her! we went to a park up near her apartment and took some pictures in the snow (so that all my so-cal friends can really see what a white Christmas was all about). then we went back to her apartment for hot chocolate and chit-chatting. she is so much fun and i just love seeing her whenever i get to utah.

that night we watched stardust with my whole family. it was so much fun to share that with them! i still am absolutely in love with that movie.

the next morning we got up, packed the car, and headed back to l.a. yes, another 13 hours. we got to l.a. pretty late that evening. overall, it was a fun trip. i'm glad we got to go and that eden & clint could come for Christmas this year.

fajita night

at byu my roommates and i decided we were cool. as such, we started pronouncing f.h.e. as if it were a word: "fa-hee".

one monday afternoon, as i was heading up to campus to drop something off, i called out to one of my roommates, "oh hey, are you going to 'fa-hee' tonight?" just then, one of our neighbors was passing by: "wait, what are you doing? what's 'fajita night'?" needless to say, we thought it was hilarious *and* we thought we were even more cool. so it's been fajita night ever since.

tonight i went to fajita night with my friend becky at the singles ward in my stake. the night's activities were (1) white elephant gift exchange and (2) sharing favorite Christmas treats.

while i was driving home from work kinda late tonight, i remembered that i, umm, i'm not a fan of white elephant gift exchanges. i already have too much junk and i am certain that no one wants the junk that i don't want -- pretty sure no one really wants the junk that i *do* want, either. plus, i didn't have time to worry about that: i had to make a favorite Christmas treat!

i stopped at the grocery store and then skeedaddled home to make ...

easy peppermint bark
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips
10 - 12 peppermint candy canes

place candy canes in plastic bag and seal. crush candy canes to small pieces.

prepare a large plate by covering with waxed paper.

starting with the semi-sweet chocolate chips in a small dish, melt in the microwave by heating on medium power for 2 minutes. stir. continue heating for 30-second periods on medium-heat, stirring between each, until chocolate chips are fully melted. watch carefully and do not overheat as chocolate burns easily.

spread melted chocolate on waxed paper to a thickness of about ¼-inch. sprinkle crushed candy canes over melted semi-sweet chocolate. place in freezer to harden.

melt bittersweet chocolate chips in the same manner. once the bittersweet chocolate is melted, pour over previously prepared semi-sweet chocolate, creating a new layer. sprinkle the bittersweet chocolate layer with crushed candy canes.

once completely cooled/hardened, break into pieces. enjoy.

mmm. it was so good! it's super easy to make, *and* *it's* *chocolate*!! (no, i'm not drooling on my keyboard.)

an amusing weekend

this was a while ago, but i haven't taken the time to write about it yet ... so here we go!

southern california's amusement parks really celebrate halloween. i got an email from a friend a while ago who was trying to put together a group of at least 25 people to go to knott's scary farm (so we could get discount tickets). well, i forwarded the message on to a handful of people, as did many other people ... turned out we got about 130 people to commit to go! it was so much fun.

i already mentioned that i spent about 5 hours screaming that night. and i loved every moment of it. it was completely hilarious to me: i was with a group of people the whole, entire night (did you catch that: not by myself, at all, ever) and somehow the "more than 1,000 fully costumed, very-alive creatures wandering the park" zeroed in on me and chased me down all night long. and i, of course, screamed like a very small child while running frantically in a zig-zag pattern (yes, i thought that would help) until the monsters had had their fun. it was absolutely fabulous! i loved every moment of it.

(my companions kept lecturing me and trying to give me tips about how to "not show them your fear -- they can smell it, y'know, like dogs." but i was having too much fun to pay any attention to that. i paid $28 to get scurred, dangit, and scurred is precisely what i was gonna get!)

two days later, my friend becky celebrated her birthday. at disneyland. now, whereas knott's scary farm aimed to "continue to set new standards in adult scare entertainment," disneyland is still the happiest place on earth. every halloween they transform the haunted mansion into a "the nightmare before Christmas" theme, they make a big mickey face out of white and orange pumpkins on the welcome lawn (instead of the usual flowers), and they "grow" candy corn in the main plaza in disney's california adventure. but disneyland is in no way as scary as knott's scary farm. which is *fine* -- we still had a great time. it's been too long since i've been to disney. loved it.