me...i want a hoolihoop

ok, so this trip has actually been really, really hard for me. i know that there were a number of contributors to this, and probably mostly that some of my own expectations weren't met, but there have also been a few things that came out of nowhere which have suddenly put me in a position to make some serious, life altering decisions...

nevertheless, today is Christmas. it was amazing to me how my concerns melted away this morning as i watched my darling nephews dig into their presents and have them turn around and give hugs and kisses of gratitude to their parents and to us. as a family this year we decided not to give presents to each other, but just to get them for the little ones. i'll be honest, it was a little hard to put away all expectations and desires, since we've always had a huge Christmas, but such a good experience to truly be able to focus on the real reason for the holiday, and the importance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. i know that this experience, as well as other life circumstances, truly humbled me this year and gave me a better perspective than i've ever had.

this morning i couldn't help but relate to the Ammon when he said, "Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you , there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began..." (Alma 26:35- read it, it's awesome)

truly, i have so many reasons to rejoice which i hold close to my heart. i am so lucky to have been able to be with my wonderful family during this time, and i'm so grateful to be part of an eternal family, for which gift i know there has never been more reason to rejoice.

to all who spent the time alone, including my beloved gefeeee, know that my heart goes out to you and that you were in my prayers. i love you all.

Merry Christmas.

i heart jet blue

could anything have been harder for me than waiting for this day? probably yes, but in particular would have been waiting for this day, waiting all day for my flight, then having it delayed enough to make me miss my connecting flight to slc.

i arrived at the airport this evening right at 5:00 pm. one hour and 20 mins before my flight was to depart. when i approached the curbside check in i was told that i had to go to the desk inside because all the flights to jfk were delayed. i went in, preparing myself mentally that i may not arrive in salt lake until the next day, since i was taking the 2nd to last flight out of jfk, and the last one was a red-eye. when i got to the ticket counter, the woman was so incredibly nice! since my flight was late, she rebooked me on the flight that was supposed to leave at 4:20 today, but was also delayed. so in the end i was able to leave at the same time! i'm now sitting at the jfk airport- with free wireless thanks to jet blue- and waiting for my on time departure. hooray jet blue!

lead in to the ode

i feel like c-rap.

i have no motivation for anything right now. my roommates are downstairs decorating our house and i have no desire to help. i suck.

today has been really hard for me. church was long and filled with responsibility that i don't feel capable of handling. i experienced some frustration when i didn't get something i really wanted today. all in all, i'm just really down.

the highlight of my day, however, was when i sent my dad a text saying, "hi dad. i love ya." and he texted back almost immediately with, "love you too hack!" (hack being the nickname he uses for all his children). thank goodness for a loving father. and thank goodness for having an old man who embraces technology *the dude even g-chats!*. anyway, it was this experience which inspires my latest ode entry.

this brief moment with my own father gives me an overwhelming sense of love that comes from our Heavenly Father. he may not always reply instantly to our proverbial text messages, but i know he is there, he knows each one of us, and always comes through.

my new latin love...

la mexicana salsa.

available at market basket in the produce section.

get some. you won't regret it.

alright already. time for a new post.

guess what i'm listening to? only one of the best christmas albums ever...

christmas with the chipmunks!!!

i love it!

ok, anyway, i wrote out a whole "to do" list for this past weekend. things that i really wanted to accomplish and knew that the days off would afford the opportunity. instead... i spent the entire weekend in my pj's, eating leftover turkey and pie, and watching movies. not just any movies, all jane austen classics! if that doesn't give a person some over-inflated ideas of love, i don't know what does. still, it has been one of the best weekends ever!

how wonderful it was to be able to sit home this weekend. it is the first time in a number of years that i haven't travelled for thanksgiving. as a child i spent every thanksgiving in kanab, ut with my whole extended family (read: at least 65 people). we held our dinner in the gym at the church. my grandma always made the driest turkey around, and this weird 3 bean salad that no one ever ate, but it was good times. the day after thanksgiving we would go to the north rim of the grand canyon and cut down our christmas tree, and my grandpa would have it shipped to us in salt lake. it was one of my most favorite traditions. about 10 years ago we decided to have a family reunion in the summer instead, and the thanksgiving tradition somewhat died out. then my parents moved to columbus 5 years ago and since then i've been pretty much on my own for thanksgiving. in the past 5 years (not including this year) i've spent 2 turkey days in las vegas, one in boston, one in southern utah, and one with a bucket of kfc in my cubicle at my old job. this year was a definite improvement.

as is generally the case with most people this time of year, we take some time to reflect on those thing for which we are thanksful. i'm always grateful for so many things, and far be it from me to pass up the opportunity to list them, so to name a few from among the top of the list:

• my family. i love them more than life itself.
• my friends, whom i also love dearly.
• my job and all the opportunities it lends.
• my home, which keeps me safe, dry, and warm.
• my car, despite the drain on my wallet, it gets me from here to there.
• my functioning body: legs and feet that carry me daily, arms, hands, and fingers that make so many things possible, all parts of my head that let me see, hear, and taste, and my mind which generally helps me solve the complex problems of every day.
• my voice. it seems to bring joy to some.
• my freedom, and this country.

and the number one thing for which i am grateful is for my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ which gives me the right perspective to be grateful for all that i have and for the blessing i receive every day. this truly is a wonderful life!

blessed!

this morning i awoke to find myself surrounded on all sides by the most cozy bedding in the entire world. happiness! i rolled out of bed and put on a pair of warm-ups and my red sox hoodie, the most comfortable clothes i own. joy! as i walked out of my room i saw the cold, wet, outdoor world and immediately realized the warmth and comfort of my own home. heaven! walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge and found it full of food. grateful! then went upstairs to my office, sat in my chair, and felt the need to share.

i love my life.

more, you say?

since it takes 976.3 years to upload pictures to blogger, i figured this would be a better way to share...

more halloween.

carri's birthday celebration.

geoff's weekend visit to boston.

and yes, yes, i know that flickr is all the rage. i'm working on it.

godly sorrow

last night for maybe the 3rd or 4th time in my life i cried myself to sleep. or rather, i cried so hard that there was no energy left in me to do anything but sleep. i'm not writing this so that anyone will respond and ask if i'm okay, or whats going on, i'm writing because i want to always remember why i felt the way i felt last night.

on a positive side note, i slept 10 hours last night. yay sleep.

all hallows eve

ok, ok, more pictures from the actual night of halloween...
















scary, scary, scary... yet, so fitting















we are the hottest chicks at the party. i guess marie is a...chick?















my twin















dorothy, scary spice, iceman, and clinton. yeah, we partied.

party, party, party, party

as promised in previous entry, here are the pictures from our wonderful, fabulous, fantastic halloween party...




















mary and crystal, comparing recipes no doubt




















come on people, her real legs count as 2!















uh...















jared is cameron and kylee is dorothy




















hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, and oh yeah... hot















your gracioius hostesses (where's the cream filling?)

and if you'd like to see more, click here. (link to be activated shortly... be patient)

1! best day of the year!

happy halloween!

for those of you interested in the origin of halloween, click here.

i truly love this day. not only is it one of the most fun holidays of the year, it is also the starting point of the best season of the year. things only get better from here on out...at least until january 2nd.

here are a few pictures from halloween's past, and of course, the comic of the day:

halloween 1986. that's me on the left as the cat, then carri, geoff, robb, and our dog romeo

halloween circa 1990. this costume is perfect for geoff.

halloween 1998. carri's looking hot in those green pants and gold boots, and me in leg warmers!

halloween 2001. erin and i both wore what i would call "cop-out costumes"

halloween 2004. michael jackson, cruella devil, a perfect match.

halloween 2005. this costume just needs to be preserved in print.

halloween 2005 as well. if only i could reach his neck.

and last but not least, the comic of the day:

this is what my house is going to look like.

ok. that's all for now. stay tuned for a post with pictures from this years halloween!!

5, 4, 3, 2...

i know, i know, i fell behind. here are 4 to make up for it...

6 days to sugar overload

7 days and counting

in honor of the greatest holiday of the year i'm going to post a new comic every day until the blessed day occurs.

happy halloween!

childlike

"The Savior has given us a model for developing humility. When his disciples approached Him and inquired, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' He responded by placing a little child in their midst. Becoming like a child is a gradual process of spiritual development in which we are aided by the Holy Ghost and our reliance on Christ's atonement. Through this process we will eventually acquire the childlike attributes of meekness, humility, patience, love, and spiritual submissiveness. True humility will inevitable lead us to say to God, 'Thy will be done.' And because what we are does affect what we do, our submissiveness will be reflected in our reverence, gratitude, and willingness to accept callings, counsel, and correction."
- Elder Marlin K. Jensen

i came across this passage written in one of my journal type things today, which i'm sure was no accident seeing as i was in a generally cranky mood while trying to deal with my new, seemingly all consuming calling. whoa!

i love how he says that becoming like a child is a gradual process of spiritual development. we spend so much of our lives trying to be adults, avoiding childlike behavior, when what we should really be doing is focusing on how to regain our childlike innocence. it's a shame that we ever grew out of it in the first place. this was a good lesson for me today.

i miss you.

and that's the last time i'll say it.

especially for marie...

feet smarts

how smart is your right foot?

while sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it. now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. your foot will change direction and there is nothing you can do about it!

i dare you to keep trying...

keep trying....

come on, keep going....

churchy stuff

i thought i missed this place, but then i went to church yesterday.

okay, just kidding. sort of. let me explain...

i decided to go to my old ward, turns out it was stake conference yesterday. so there i sat, in the back of the dark gym of the enormous stake center, looking around at the thousands of single young adults and the beauty contest taking place before my eyes, and i remembered the sick feeling that i would get after leaving church sometimes. it's a feeling i can't explain any other way than feeling like the mentality surrounding my experience at church was more about looking good and getting asked out than on what church is really supposed to be about. i'm not saying that it was always this way, but definitely a lot of the time. i longed for my ward in boston...

once i was able to focus i found the meeting to be very valuable. all of the speakers were very good, especially the last two which were Elder Bednar and President Faust. Elder Bednar related a story of a friend he knew that wanted to buy a 4x4 truck. his wife didn't want him to purchase the truck, but he did anyway. then, wanting to prove its usefulness, he drove it up into the mountains to cut wood. he drove deeper and deeper into the forest and subsequently got stuck in the snow. as he sat there wondering if he would freeze to death he decided to get to work. he cut wood and piled it in the back of his truck. when he had filled the bed of the truck with as much wood as he could he decided to try once more to get out of the snow. he started up his truck and put it into gear, and began to go. the weight of the wood had provided the traction he needed to move ahead. after finishing the story Elder Bednar said, "Most people think that happiness is the absence of a load. But happiness is not the absence of a load, but rather, having the right load to help you move ahead." he went on to talk about the importance of making our load in life in accordance with the gospel and to make sure that we are continually filling our lives with the things necessary to get through this life. even though he didn't mention this, another thing that i found interesting is that the man didn't wait there to be saved, or to die, or anything. he got to work. even though he didn't necessarily know the outcome, he got out there and did what he had set out to do. i don't want to be the type of person to sit around and wait for things to happen for me...i want to get out there and do what i came to do.

i love when President Faust speaks because it always seems like it is coming straight from his heart. he really believes what he is saying and he speaks plainly and straight forward. his talk was about "believing blood and black sheep". believing blood referring to where the faith in the gospel came from in our lives, whether we are the first to believe or whether we come from a long line of believers it is the same and equally important to our heavenly father. then he spoke about the black sheep of our families. the ones who have lost their way. he posed the question, "what can we do about these black sheep?" then he answered by saying that all we can do is continue to be faithful, take advantage of the blessings and ordinances we have in our lives, and that we can also depend upon the sealing ordinance which guarantees that the family will be preserved for eternity. i am very grateful to be in a family with faithful parents who did the right thing and were married and sealed in the temple and to know that i will be with my family, who i love more than anything else in the world, forever.

this has been a good trip for me.

i miss my friends.

goodnight.

snow

hooray! it snowed last night for the first time and i was here to witness!

















there will be snow angels, oh yes... there will be snow angels.

confession #1: passwords, pins, and secrets

okay, confession time...

don't ever give me your password or pin to anything unless you intend for me to remember it. forever. honestly, for some reason i can remember passwords and pins even easier than names.

and furthermore...i'm nosy. so let me just be upfront about the fact that if you give me your email password, it will be a serious struggle for me to refrain from snooping around in your account. (i have to say, however, for those family members who may read this- of whom i can't help but know their password *wonder why?*- i absolutely never, ever snoop around in your accounts. i respect y'all way too much, except maybe you geoff *kidding!*)

perhaps this is too much information for some. it's not like i was always this way. certain events of which i won't go into detail led me to be this way, and i'm sorry. but be ye warned.

on the other hand, i'm terrific at keeping secrets. if there is something burning up inside you that must be released and you need a vault, i'm your lady.

double standard? hmmm.

i love lucy too

the conference was exactly what i had anticipated. same thing every year...hug/love fest...food, alcohol, boring meetings, blah blah blah. fun? maybe.

it all kicked off on tuesday night with the opening reception. delicious hour devours, free booze, and reconnecting with business associates. i had a relatively good time talking to old friends and meeting some new, but it is always a little awkward. think munch 'n' mingle conversation, but this time it’s your job on the line, not your marital status.

wednesday was non-stop presentations from various divisions within oracle, all designed to make us feel like part of the "team" and unite us toward the common goal: make money for the man. whatever, whatever. thankfully the last presenter never showed so we got out of those a little early, just in time to run up to my room, change, respond to urgent emails, and head back out the door for the secret activity they had planned for us that evening.

i have to say that i have been pleasantly surprised the past few years with the activity they've done. this year i was a little more skeptical when i found out that we would be going to a vineyard in sonoma to do some wine tasting. not only was it an activity in which i wouldn't participate, it also gave my associates an excuse to get drunk even earlier on in the night and start acting obnoxious and unprofessional even before dinner. as we toured the vineyard i took pleasure in the beautiful scenery. it was everything you imagine when you think of a vineyard (picture to be posted): rows and rows of grapevines, rolling hills, beautiful sunset, and amazingly beautiful architecture. as our guide said, "look around. this is tuscany. now i've just saved you $3000, buy some wine." aside from sampling the wine, we also got to try their fresh olive oil (faaabulous!) and stomp some grapes with our bare feet. that was an experience. i guess if i had needed a reason not to drink, the fact that people's feet had been in my wine would have been enough. all in all the activity was...well...interesting and memorable. it's kind of funny for me to realize that i am old enough to be at a vineyard tasting (or abstaining from tasting) wine. weird!



this morning i had my final meeting, which is a one on one with our company and oracle. i wish i could say this was a hug/love fest like the rest of the week, but this is where we really get down to business. sparing the boring details, there is a lot of pressure on us to meet their sales quotas for us, something for which i am solely responsible. frustration.

after the meeting i said goodbye to everyone and after enjoying a delicious sourdough bread bowl full of clam chowder (new england clam chowder, ironically), i hopped in a cab back to andy and emily's place where i dumped my stuff off and headed back out on the town. i made my way to little italy where, upon seth's recommendation, i enjoyed coconut and milo gelato (2 flavors, not combined). i have now returned to the apartment, which by the way is freaking awesome (or fawesome, if you will) and am waiting to leave for floating sushi which will very deliberately be charged to the corporate card.

tomorrow- sacramento and salt lake ahoy!

san to the francisco

i'm planning to update, but tell me... could you resist being outdoor on a day like this!?!

wow!

asldkfjasoigoivnwoerig'weoivvpodf

this is the part in the day where i have sofreakingmuchtodo but my brain can't handle one more intelligent thought so i pull out my...ahem...pen and paper (?) and begin to write...

annual events are strange because they force me to look back on my life and evaluate what i've done, where i've gone, my progression (or digression), and then ask "why, why, why?" as is the case on this particular day. not that my brain needs to be clouded by unnecessary and unanswerable questions, but i can't help it so then i just get mad at myself for being so dumb as to allow myself to ask those unnecessary and unanswerable questions. the truth is that i'm just plan mad at myself for a lot of things.

self, you suck. shape up.

okay, good enough i guess. plus, the pretzels i just ate seem to have been halted by the ever-present lump in my throat and i just might be choking to death. better go.

Evolution of dance

a good one...

"the path of least resistance makes all rivers, and some men, crooked."

-napolean hill

i'll arrest your development...

yet another super successful weekend. read about, see pics, comment here. only sunday was left out, and sunday was definitely worth a word or two. so here's two... or set's of two...

grilled. pineapple.
salmon. mmmm.
sweet. ass. (pronounced "sweedas")
hate. cats.
whipped. cream.
sink. sprayer.
banana. stand.

so the short of the story is that on sunday afternoon i, along with mashed potatoes specialist christy, scrumptious salad superior sylvia, and master grill commander seth, prepared an absolutely fabulous dinner for the elders and some friends which included salmon and grilled pineapple (for which elder curtis did the fruit dance not once, but twice!). it was a huge success with much laughter and enjoyment, especially when christy spelled out the words s.w.e.e.t a.s.s when referencing our ice-cream scoop, which is most definitely a sweet-ass scoop. a mere two hours later i found myself at yet another masterfully prepared meal at kylee and marie's house (what is this, a stovetop commercial?) where i proceeded to tell marie of my hatred for cats and found my mouth full of spray can whipped cream. seth received the same punishment for the same remark. however, arguably the best part of the whole night, was when marie tied a rubber band around the sink sprayer in hopes of soaking some unsuspecting guest and it just so happened that she and i were talking in the stairwell with a perfect hidden view when someone was sprayed not once, not twice, but three times before realizing what was going on. ahh the joy of childhood pranks!

and of course, how can one refrain from mentioning that this wonderful weekend led to the union (for which i will take credit!) of one very deserving young woman, and one lucky s.o.b.

there's always money in the banana stand!

h'improv

details of the improv everywhere new york experience here.

a weekend worth mentioning

warning: my commentary in this entry is not even 1/2 as interesting as the pictures, so feel free to just look and not read...

new york!



of course the weekend deserves an update. seth, marie, and i set out on the fung-wah after a lovely lunch at ruth's chris steakhouse (marie ordered her steak medium! well done marie- pun intended) to visit new york for the weekend. i slept most of the way there while seth and marie unintentionally annoyed the passenger in front of them the whole way. we played a game called (for lack of a better name) "two words and a song" which went something like this:

words-
marie: "synagog"
seth: "bonsai tree"

song-
julie: "hey jude"

it was fun.

we arrived in new york around 8 pm on friday. seth went to his sister's house and marie and i continued on to jareds apartment. after hanging out there for a bit we went to a karaoke bar where marie delighted us with a little patsy cline, jared and his friend john rocked out to bon jovi, and marie and i sang a little alanis morisette.

the next day seth and i met up for breakfast then went to chelsea market, an old biscut factory turned into a shopping center of sorts. the cool thing is that they have kept a lot of the original industrial parts of the factory and turned them into decor like so...


as you can see, i almost fell in!


more comfortable than you would expect.

marie and jared met up with us here and we set out for about 15 hours of walking around new york. on the way we found the following... pictures are self explanitory...







on to more fun... we stopped by a contemporary furniture store for some interior design education. okay, actually we were just tired and hot.


what the jetson's?


everyone liked this chair except marie- she has such old school taste!


it seemed like a good idea...

the rest of the day was spent seeing various sites then participating in an improv everywhere experiment. the details haven't been updated on their website, but it will be worth the wait. click here to see what it's all about and watch for further information to come.

saturday night we went to the metropolitan museum of art, which was awesome. my favorite was the exhibit on british fashion- especially the crow lady (the one thing i've ever known to scare marie)- and the frank lloyd wright room.

the next day after church marie, jared and i went to ground zero, which was a harrowing experience. about 10 years ago i stood at the very top of the world trade center, and it was incredible to be in the same place, but have the buildings completely gone. seeing the site actually fulfilled a need i've had for for a number of years, so it was good.

from there we returned to china town where we ate from a famous icecream place. maybe it's not famous, but it was mentioned in a tour book so we figured it was. marie had sesame ice cream (??? no, it's actually really good if you like your icecream to taste like dinner) which was the most exotic and only flavor worth mentioning. then we met up with seth, who, by the way carried all 4 of our bags from harlem, and got on the fung-wah back home. here are some pics of the ride...


what? it's a good place to store them...keeps you cool...convenient...


marie couldn't handle the smell of the bathroom next to us (the price you pay to sit in the back all together) so she made a nose cover using gum wrappers

all in all it was an incredibly fun weekend. i don't know the last time i've laughed so much. love you guys.

current music: living forest- owen plant
current mood: reflective

okay, i guess it is for real

so i've decided that 8 hours of sleep is damaging to me. as a friend pointed out, it's not that my body doesn't like it, it's that it messes with my sleep cycle. true. if i sleep 8 hours one night, i lie awake all night the next. its like my body thinks it has already slept for 2 nights. this was the case last night, so instead of sleeping, i lay awake thinking the following random thoughts:

1. why do we grocery shop on friday night instead of monday... i wonder how to get that changed
2. where will my little brothers next tattoo be, and what will it be?!
3. how would mustard taste on steak?
4. how much is a peck, and how can peter piper pick pickled peppers? isn't pickling something that is one after the picking process?
5. "I'm a pheasant plucker. I am a mother pheasant plucker..."
6. mmmmmmm slurpees
7. ir: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van (yeah, like english is the hard language)

and the list goes on. this doesn't happen to me too often, mostly because i rarely sleep more than 4 hours per night, but every once in a great while i have my nights and if i ever do get to sleep i wake up feeling like c-rap the next morning and...

(if i were marie i'd be making the donkey noise right now)

anyway, gatorade rules

music: theme to last of the mohicans
mood: bored of myself- hence the "donkey" noise

crying

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Not for real...

Okay, so I got tired of not being able to comment on people's blogs, hence the creation of this bloggedy blog blog.

However, I refuse to forsake my real blog which can be found at the following:

www.livejournal.com/users/ju_bee

Perhaps one day I'll convert, but until then...