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.