Smart or Stoopid?

Which are you??

And the Winner Is...

A few months ago I started looking for a bridesmaid's dress for my friend Melissa's wedding this coming August. (I've posted about it here and here if you want to check it out.) Well, this morning, I decided that I should start looking again since I bought a plane ticket to Chicago a few days ago and since Melissa told me that I would be the Master of Ceremonies at her wedding reception. Yikes! No pressure, right? She told me a few months ago that I would be the DJ and so I made her and Aaron some CDs with some good tunes on them. Here's what they picked so far from the CDs I made:

At Last - Etta James
Boogie Shoes - KC and the Sunshine Band
Broken Road - Selah
Everything I do I do it for you - Bryan Adams
Feelis like home - Chantal Kreviazuk
Groove me - King Floyd
I'll Be - Edwin McCain
Ice Cream - Sarah McLachlan
Jesse's Girl- Rick Springfield
Making Memories - Keith Urban
My Girl -The Temptations
One and Only - Teitur
Way you look tonight - Tony Bennet
Way you make me Feel - Michael Jackson
To Make you Feel My love - Garth Brooks
When you say nothing at all - Alison Kraus
You are so Beautiful - Joe Cocker
Save the Last Dance - Michael Buble
Let the little Girl's Dance - Billy Bland
L.O.V.E. - Nat King Cole
This will be and everlasting love - Natalie Cole

Any other suggestions? Aaron and Melissa really like "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson if you know of any similar songs that would be wedding reception appropriate.

Ok so getting back to the dress. I FOUND IT! Seriously, finding a cute, modest dress in the right color (even if it is black) for a summer wedding is a nightmare. But fear no more. Drumroll please.......

And right now you're probably thinking: "Ummm...its not black." Well, thanks to the miracle of this stuff, it will be.


Next, I had to find light pink espradilles. I searched Zappos and the only thing that they had were bright pink espradilles and those weren't quite going to work. So with a little love from Payless and for only $9.99, I found these babies.
Perfect. Bring on the wedding.
Oh...and a special thanks to Uzi who is going to pick up the dress for me today on her way home from work so that I don't have to go to the mall tonight. Love you girl.

Running Update

Just in case you've been wondering, I'm still training for the Avenue of the Giants. I found this image on flickr of part of the trail that I'll be running on. Amazing. I can't wait!

Ok, last post about Leslie Hall

I can't promise that this will be my last post ever about Leslie Hall, but it will be at least for this week. Last night when Uzi and I showed up at the Hemlock Tavern at 7 on the dot, my heart sunk. The line to get in was out of control. Lucky for us, Uzi knew one of the guys in line and he loved Uzi enough to let us cut in with him. I found these pictures on flickr a few minutes ago and since the pictures from my camera aren't great, here is some footage from the guy that stood in front of me last night at the concert. In this first picture, Uzi's head is at the bottom. I know that this sounds weird, but the guy that got us into the concert is the one with the A's hat on, so I know that its her. If you live in a city that Leslie's going to in the next few months, pay the money to go see her; you won't be sorry. I saw absolute joy in some people's faces last night...and that is worth way more than $10.

Holy hell

Awesome.

Not for children. . . .

Next time you go on stage, remember to put your pants on.

And in Review

I don't have the pictures off of my own camera yet from this weekend, but be assured that it was full of good times.

On Friday I met up with Uzi, More, LaNae, and Lucinda downtown so that we could go here to see my roommate perform songs from this musical. Fantastic job, Laura!

Saturday morning, Kristy, Laura, and I cleaned our apartment from top to bottom in preparation for Rebecca to move in this weekend. We scrubbed the floors and found a critter that had been living in Kristy's speaker for who knows how long. Luckily it wasn't a mouse or anything; just a HUGE spider.
Kristy and I made a run to our favorite store and then we came home lickity-split to get ready for our "Steaks & the City" group date with our manfriends and Silvia (and her manfriend of course). We ate some delicious steaks prepared by Matt M and then we headed up here to walk around and eat gelato. Everything about Sausalito was SO good!

Jim's cousin? You be the judge.

I realize that I have been posting a lot about this girl recently, but I just think she's hilarious. Since Uzi and I are going to go see her tonight, there will probably be some more on this blog about Leslie Hall in the future, but until then, I saw this on advocate.com and since I figured you probably wouldn't click on the link if I put it there, here is the article:

Leslie Hall and the world of Internet camp
Wearing bedazzled jumpsuits and blue eyeliner, the latest YouTube darling has taken her brand of hip-hop on the road. The next stop for Leslie Hall? World domination.

By A. Ashley Hoff

An Advocate.com exclusive posted March 19, 2007


Leslie Hall and the world of Internet camp

At first glance, the deadpan, dorky-looking Leslie Hall seems an unlikely Internet starlet. Yet the 24-year-old Iowa native conjured a tidal wave of online popularity thanks to her music videos posted on Youtube and Myspace. And now, Hall's hip-hop band "Leslie and the Lys" has begun a cross-country tour to attract publicity, sell T-shirts and CDs, and bring her passion for gem sweaterology--bedazzled with rhinestones and beads, popular in the 80s--to the unenlightened,

Decked out in blue eye shadow and a gold sequined jumpsuit (Hall's mother designs all the costumes), she recently played to a packed house at Safari Sam's in Los Angeles. With the camp sensibility of Julie Brown, she warbles her ditties on her new CD, Doorman's Daughter. Songs like "Zombie Killers" and "Shazam I'm Glamorous" are surprisingly catchy, infectious little numbers. They're the kinds of songs the B-52's livened up college parties with decades ago.

Out of the makeup and garish outfits that give her that Ziggy Stardust meets Tammy Faye look, Hall is attractive, bright, totally in on the joke, and having a ball with newfound fame.

1. How did Leslie and the Lys come about? Did you spring fully grown from the head of Zeus, or did you rise from the sea like Venus?
Oh, we arose like Venus, absolutely. My career in ceWebrity stardom happened with the help of no one. I began to form the music, the look, and the dreams. The Lys just jumped on to look pretty and smile if asked. They're eye candy, really. But the sweat and triumph is something I earned.

2. How do you feel after your triumphant conquest of Los Angeles?
I feel like a very shiny object put on display at Christie's auction house with 500 people bidding their life savings on me. Get what I'm saying? Trust me, love and open arms is all I felt. I absolutely had the most amazing time ever. I can never come back. I've reached the top.

3. What has been your mission with this tour?
Singing songs and dancing to the thunder of glamorousness is great, but my mission is the education and spreading of knowledge about the lost and forgotten art of gem sweaters. Do you know they cost $1 at thrift stores? Do you know males and females look lovely in them? I'm just telling people, "Rescue, preserve—and don't give up on the fashion of yesteryear."

4. How did you get into bejeweled sweaters—are you Joan Collins's secret granddaughter?
Oh, wouldn't that be awesome? I bought my first one for a high school dance, and I never looked back. It was cheap, I looked great, and a protégé was born.

5. I noticed you have a sizeable gay and lesbian following. Are you poised to become the Cher or Madonna of the Internet Age?
Oh, yes. That is truly my destiny. I've been reading their biographies, trying to duplicate the same career paths. Trust me, my dreams are to fulfill your desires in the form of fame and glory. Let the beat take, take you; let my vision hold you and my quivering body tease you.

6. What's next for Leslie Hall?
Big shows. The next L.A. one is at the Hammer Museum. I'm not sure of the dates yet, but I will soon. Check the Web site. Other than that, I did pick up a manager in Los Angeles, so who the heck knows what they have planned for a little girl from Iowa with plus-size dreams of Internet conquests?

Check out www.lesliehall.com and www.leslieandthelys.com for tour dates, fan club information, and to feast your eyes on Leslie's gem sweater gallery.





A. Ashley Hoff is currently writing a book about the classic TV game show Match Game.

Happy Friday

Have a great weekend everybody!

Leslie & the Lys

Ok seriously....I have the best luck ever. I check out this girl's myspace page tonight and what do I find? She's going to be in San Francisco this Sunday and Monday. Am I going to see her? Will I be wearing spandex? Check back to find out.

Thank you Nathan

So I got this idea from Nathan's blog the other day. If it weren't for a lot of other things going on in my life, I would have posted this sooner. Basically, I put my ipod on shuffle and here are some of the lyrics to the first 15 songs. Take a guess on what they are. No cheating!
1. "Don't know why Tori came by. But I could see by the look in her eyes, Tori'd been driving round the town for a while, playing with the thought of leaving."
2. "I heard he was going to marry some girl from Denver. Then my sister came over, had the Sunday paper with her. There was the girl on the social page, looking in love and all engaged. We decided she don't take a very good picture."
3. "I'm calling, hear me calling, hear me calling. In the winter time, when all the leaves are brown and the wind blows, and the birds have all flown for the summer."
4. "When she woke up late in the morning light and the day had just begun, she opened up her eyes and thought 'Oh what a morning.'"
5. "No I can't forget this evening or your face as you were leaving, but I guess that's just the way the story goes. You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows, yes it shows."
6. "Got a fever of 103. Come on baby do you do more than dance?"
7. "Well my heart knows me better than I know myself so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin."
8. "Can't explain all the feelings that you're making me feel. My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel."
9. "Sometimes I give into to sadness, sometimes I don't. At times I'm part of the madness sometimes I won't give into you. You see the way I have been drifting down a river to nowhere and you're giving me nothing. But if you're ready to be my everything, if you're ready to see me through this time."
10. "She stopped off a bus out into the city streets; just a small town girl with a whole lot packed in a suitcase by her feet But somehow the lights didn't shine as bright as they did on her mama's tv screen."
11. "It's good to be in love it really does suit you, just like everything. I'm happy you're in love 'cause every color goes where you do."
12. "If I fell in love with you, would you promise to be true and help me understand. cause I've been in love before and i've found that love is more than just holding hands."
13. "My loneliness is killing me. I must confess, I still believe. When I'm not with you I lose my mind; give me a sign. Hit me baby one more time."
14. Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never coming around. Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears."
15. "Question: Tell me what you think about me. I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings. Only ring your cell-y when I'm feelin lonely. When it's all over please get up and leave."

So Happy

Here I go getting personal again. From gold spandex pants to somethin' a little heart felt. I just wanted to say that I am so happy that Matt is back home. He is the best. Yay. The end.

Who is Leslie Hall?

And why have I never heard of her before. Anyone know where I can get some gold spandex pants?

Ha!

Uzi, who does this remind you of? Make sure to watch until the end as the funniest part is the news anchors.

Have Problems Getting Out of Bed?

For anyone who has ever had the privilege of living with me...you know that I can snooze indefinitely in the morning. There have been points of my life when I had two alarms. One for the initial shock and then the one that goes off 10 minutes later across the room so that I have to get out of bed to turn it off. Does this stop me? Heck no; I can fall back asleep like I had never woken up in the first place. I think that I may have found the solution to my problem. Meet Clocky. He can be yours for only $49.99.

The Grand Finale

I was going to wake up early this morning to run the Emerald 12K race with my uncle, but I was out so late getting lucky at a party that I chickened out and didn't go. Lame of me, I know. Luckily it was a last-minute decision to even run the race, so I hadn't registered or paid any fees yet. I semi slept in, went to church, and hung out with Uzi and More all afternoon/evening. Seriously, it was a great end to the week. Super chill and we laughed a lot...like usual. Kristy got this Nintendo-esque game thing for her birthday a few months ago, so she and More pulled it out tonight and we played some old-school video games. Good news is that girls' week is over. yay! But the bad news is that sadly, the princess is still in another castle.

I found a lepruchan

To further proove that Andrea is famous because he is on my blog, I have proof that he turned into a lepruchan tonight. He must have gotten lucky.

Lucky girl, hanging out with these two...

After chillin' in Santa Cruz for most of the day with Silvia & Tommy, I played tour guide for my friend Phillip & his friend George who is visiting from Scotland. He's been hanging out with Phil in San Diego for the past few weeks and wanted to get a taste of San Francisco before he goes back to the UK. So up to San Francisco they came. This morning they hit up Alcatraz and Pier 39 and then when I took over, we went to the Palace of Fine Arts, Chinatown, Alamo Square, and to Tasty Curry for dinner(of course). After dinner, George played a little ditty for me on the guitar. Awesome.

Lucky in Santa Cruz

Day 6 and loving it.

UPDATE: I just want to say that I really am one incredibly lucky girl to have friends like Sil & T-bone.

Especially on a day like St. Patty's day at the end of a really awesome girls' week.

Disappearing Bees

I learned about this on Sunny's blog this morning. Did you know that honeybees are dying off at an alarming rate? Man...should have bought stock in honey while I had the chance.

Seriously though; honeybees. Are you worried about this like I am?

PZ & SZ

Day 4: Tonight we ate oreos and milk and went visiting teaching. Awesome.

Why Girls Week?

Not that there should ever have to be a reason to have a "Girls Only Week", but Silvia and I have been making the most of the week that we have to spend together. Every night we've been so excited to hang out again so we have some great pictures of this for your enjoyment. Silvia has had a boyfriend since about September of last year and so the time that we've been able to spend together has been limited to say the least. Well, this week, both of our manfriends are out of town for various reasons. We've worked out almost every day, eaten lots of oreos & milk and chocolate, and even watched an interesting "workout" video last night after American Idol. Sunday will be our Grand Finale (stay posted for details on that) but on Saturday, we're heading to Santa Cruz with Tommy for the better part of the day. Awesome.

Come Home Soon

night 3 of girls week.

PINEAPPLE

Tommy's grill

Chris Richardson

my favorite idol. Vote for him. 1-866-IDOLS-11

Girls week part 2

Buck is a self proclaimed part 13 year old female, so he's included. I haven't hung out this much with Silvia in months. I'm loving it. My little PZ is back in my life...at least for this week.

Brandi Carlile

In January of 2006, I went to see Brandi Carlile in concert. In fact, one of my very first posts was about that concert. I went with Susan and LaNae and we all just fell in love with her music. She has more passion than a lot of artists about the songs they sing. In fact, I would hope that I would have that same amount of enthusiasm in anything that I put my heart into, but she's great at what she does. Seeing her sing makes me want to rock out and yell/sing at the top of my lungs. Well, a few weeks ago I saw that she would be making her way back to San Francisco on April 2. She was here last year the same night as KFOG Kaboom, so I didn't make it to the Great American Music Hall due to my patriotic obligation to see fireworks. Anyway...this time, LaNae and I are going for sure. I just bought tickets and I'm sooo excited! If you'd like to check her myspace page out, click here. For her main website, click here. If you want to see her in concert, you may want to buy your ticket right now because they're already sold out on one ticket website that I tried. Matt, that may be a hint.

Grooming Tips by Matt: Part 1

Don't forget to brush your eyebrows!

This includes lots of chocolate and working out.

Starting our girl's only week!

Awwww

I realize that I've been posting a lot about my little niece, but this is my blog and I'll post what I want to. So there. I couldn't get enough of her this weekend. I was all ready to paint nails and go shopping with her, but turns out, all she really wanted to do was sleep. Drat! Here are some of my favorite pics from my trip.


From left to right: Riley, age 6; Sam, age 2; Stephanie, age 25; Hannah, age 10 days; Will, age 4.

So i'm cleaning out some of the things from my old room in utah and i came across some old friends. I wanted to introduce you.

EFY, I know why...

So tonight was mother/daughter bonding night. After spending the better part of the day watching my three nephews and most awesome niece ever, we needed some girl time. We went to get our nails done and then made the tough decision about where to go eat dinner. While here in Utah County, there are many places that I enjoy going since I can't eat there very often. After a bit of debating, my mom and I ventured to go to Cafe Rio on a Saturday night in Provo. What's not to love? The line is long so if you're on a first date, you have plenty of time to get to know each other, the food is always good, and if you're me, you can bet that you'll run into at least one person that you know. Then again, if you're me, you probably don't even have to go to Cafe Rio for this to happen to you.
But I digress.
We're standing in line when I see a girl waaaayyy up in the front of the line and she looks oddly familiar to me. I think about it for half a second and then I know where I know her from. When I was an EFY counselor at age 19 here at the BYU, she was a girl in my group. I couldn't quite recall her name, but I knew that it started with an "H" and strangeley, she was one of the girls that I had always wondered about and still thought very fondly of. Mind you...I was a counselor for 4 summers in a row. Every week I was personally over at least 10 girls. Multiply that by about 9 weeks, thats 90 girls a summer, and multiply that by 4, thats 360 girls that I was in charge of during those 4 years. This isn't even including the boys or other girls that were in my group during those weeks. Needless to say, I've spent a lot of quality time with teenagers in my day. I could go on and on and on about my time as an EFY counselor, but I'll spare you for now. Suddenly I was right next to this girl that I had known 6 years ago, but I didn't want to say anything for fear that she would have NO idea who I was and then I'd feel really dumb. Well, she grabbed my arm and said "Ummm...is your name Stephanie?" She remembered me! AND...her name is Hillary. She's 21 now and going to UVSC and wants to be an EFY counselor this summer. She even updated me on all of her friends from that week of EFY and told me how they're all married as she glanced at my left hand. ...ahem.

So this is my shout out today for EFY and how grateful I am that I was a counselor at it. Seriously. Changed my life. EFY...I DO know why!

I'm in love.

This is matt pretending to have a grill like mine.

Duck Beach Here I Come

So last year I went on the most amazing vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I made great friends and don't take it lightly when I say that that weekend in Duck Beach changed my life. It was so relaxing and it was awesome to get away from some of the things that were on my mind at the time. Just picture in your mind 35 people staying in one amazingly beautiful house right on the beach and then partying with about 500 people every night for like 4 nights in a row. Yeah, it sounds like my kind of vacation. Did I mention that I made amazing friends? Heather, Kim, Rustin, Brent, Mauri, Alicia, and Aaron were all people that I became friends with out on the beach during that beloved weekend and have played with since then. Well, I bought a ticket last night to go back for another round of relaxation and good company this memorial day. I can't wait. I could use a vacation!

No more stitches!

Getting Caught at the Pork Store with your Ex-Boyfriend is the New Awesome

What else can I say? Busted.