Weekend in a nutshell

This photo was taken last night, so it is my proof that I'm alive and kickin'.

I had a great weekend of being productive and enjoying time with friends. Rachael and I painted the bathroom pink on Saturday, but you'll have to wait until we get a second coat of paint up until you get to see photos. I LOVE it though so far. After my episodes of cleaning the ceiling, it is nice to have a nice fresh look in there.

The rest of the weekend was spent with friends over lunch, dinner, and at a fabulous birthday party on Sunday night. And of course this week is going to be busy with more dinners and more parties.

Times are good.

ouch

remember the time that i ended up in urgent care on wednesday night because of an abscess?

sick.

i've had a long couple of days. have a great weekend

Call me Cinderella

Dear Shelley,

Your post last week about your cleaning spree has made me mental. Please see the below photo of my room on Saturday afternoon. I must admit that cleaning out underneath my bed was inspired by Kim, but since she was inspired by you and I would like to blame someone, there you go.

Do you see the leaves that had gathered under my bed from my porch door being open all the time? I'm not sure that my room is quite up to Badger standards, but I am working on it and will send you some photos when it is complete. I should have taken before/after photos.

All in all, here is a summary of what I want to say to you:
1. You are my cleaning idol.
2. When can you move in?

Love,
Steph

Happy Friday! OR The Time I Decided I Love Myself

I think that I'm going to make this for my room this weekend. As if all of you aren't reminding me enough.

Today I was going through some old emails, searching for something specific, when I stumbled upon the ONLY email I have saved from a relationship from a few years ago. Of course years after the fact, I have built it up in my head to have been a relationship where all we did was fight in the parking lot, have drama, and definitely not have very much fun. In light of the phone call I received yesterday, it has put some things into perspective. For example, it is easy to remember yourself in a relationship and think "We didn't have very much fun, so I'm glad we broke up..." or whatever the reason. I just think that sometimes, relationships just don't work out and there isn't always a clear reason. You don't have to lie to yourself to make the reason that you broke up OK. After reading the previously mentioned email, I laughed and thought about how shocking it is that he and I didn't get married. Heck - it is shocking that I didn't marry a few of the guys that I have dated. Don't you think? After all my trips to meet up with boys in New York, in Cabo San Lucas, in London. I guess I just need to find the guy who is willing to make that crazy trip to San Francisco.

Of course this prompted me to look up some saved emails I have from other relationships that have ended and they all included phrases such as: I miss you so much; we used to have so much fun together, I still love you, etc.

I'm not sure what I said to them at the time, but here is my response from today:


Yeah you do, I am awesome.

Thursday Thoughts

When your cell phone rings at 5:30am, it is rarely the best news you've ever heard. This morning I had a call from Afghanistan and while the person on the other line (and the person you are all thinking of right now) is very much alive and has all limbs still in tact, I obviously wasn't expecting it. Twice last week I dreamed that I saw him or received communication from him. I'm learning that sometimes having your dreams come true isn't really that awesome. He is scheduled to call again tomorrow and so all day long I've been racking my brain, trying to think of anything that I've been wanting to say for the past 2.5 months. I don't think that three little words are going to cut it. I wish that were true, but boy howdy and so help me.

I'm really starting to feel like my life from August through December was a bad dream. Was it? Can anyone verify that for me?

I saw this today on someone's blog and it seemed highly appropriate. OK Go has done it again.

Contest Time

In the mood for a contest?

Check out Uzi's blog.

xo

entries here and here so far.

San Franidazzle - 2009

San Franidazzle 2009 was a smashing success. I know that I am biased, but it was the party of the year. In case you don't know what San Franidazzle is, here's the low-down:

• Mirrored after Mauri Earl's infamous Holidazzle party in D.C.
• The party in D.C. is a roommate only invite - last year we had our current roommates and invited some close friends. Due to the small size of our house, the invite list stays the same from year to year with only new roommates added to the guest list.
• Dates are required
• Cocktail attire
  
• Musical number is a must
• Reverse charades
• Christmas bingo
• Amazing meal

This year we added some fun twists - but we'll get to that in a second. I don't want to have complete photo overload, so here are the highlights:

The welcome activity was to decorate a gingerbread house.

And the finished product:

And here is the best glimpse of the kitchen decor. This year we went with a snowflake theme so we hung paper chains and store bought/homemade snowflakes from the ceiling. Kirsten brought the table decor and plates from her mom's house. Everything looked amazing. I wish that the photos did it justice.

And then there was the food. Oh my. The food. In case you didn't know, Andrea Pimentel is the best chef that I have ever met in real life. I am not kidding. Here are her descriptions of each course:

stacked pear salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, and poppy seed dressing

braised globe artichoke with balsamic reduction

wild mushroom and prosciutto tortelloni
{sidenote that I don't like mushrooms and this may be the best thing I have ever put in my mouth}

lobster vol au vent - lobster in cream sauce in a homemade puff pastry shell

And for dessert, which we don't have a photo of, it was an eggnog cheesecake with gingersnap crust and pomegranate sauce.

In the middle of dinner, we had a surprise visit from Santa. I have to say that this addition to the party was my favorite thing ever. I had a friend who knew most of the party guests come in through our laundry room door and then up into the kitchen through Rita's bedroom.

And of course everyone wanted a photo with Santa.

Andrea & Marshall

Rachael & Dave

Tim & Me

Clay & Kirsten

Ryan & Kristine

Paul & Rita

What I didn't mention before is that Santa came bearing gifts. Kristine and I went to Goodwill and found the best 12 things we could find for under $30. Then Santa handed them out and then over dinner we had a white elephant gift exchange. Just looking at the photos of that cracks me up. We had such a good time laughing at the gifts that everyone got. Here are photos of some of my favorites:

It took some begging and pleading to get Dave & Rachael to do the musical number, but it was great. They played "We Three Kings" and everyone tried to sing along. I personally think they should go on tour.

Bingo!

The only photo I have from reverse charades is of Tim. Can you guess what he is acting out?

And of course our group photo at the end of the night.

And of the girls. Apparently I'm the only one who got the memo to shimmy in the photo.

Towards the end of the night, most of us girls were laying on the couch talking. It was so great having Kirsten back with us for a night and I couldn't help but think what wonderful friends I have. I could say more, but you girls should all know that I love you lots. Seriously. Here's to many more San Franidazzles to come - and to more permanent dates. :)
If you want to see the rest of the photos, click here.

Almost 5 on a Friday

I have been home for 5.5 full days and I haven't been home enough time to even unpack my suitcase from my trip to Utah. I haven't blogged a single thing about Christmas and so I'll just have to get to that when I have a minute and you'll have to deal with it.

One of the things I am striving to do this year is to get myself involved in enough things that I forget about myself and my stupid problems. One of the other things I'm trying to do is to play more pranks on my coworkers. I put this poster on my coworker's file cabinet over an hour ago, and she hasn't noticed yet. Good times.

Oh - and Happy Red Pants Friday! I am wearing red pants today. Huzzah!

Checking things off my list already...

Looks like I will be meeting at least one of my resolutions. I just booked a ticket to Bismarck, North Dakota to ensure that I will make it to North & South Dakota over the 4th of July weekend.

WHO IS GOING WITH ME?????

2010 Resolutions

I like resolutions. I like having an official fresh start and reason to make good goals. So here are my goals in no particular order:

1. Read the Book of Mormon
2. Ski more than I have the last few years.
3. Visit North & South Dakota and Michigan by the end of the year so that I can say that I've been to every state in the US!
4. No marathons
5. 100% visiting teaching every month. Are you reading this, Andrea P?
6. Read at least 12 books.
7. Be more involved in church activities - like, go to FHE, participate in ward choir, go to ward temple night, study the Sunday school lesson, etc. I want to have less time to focus on myself and my stupid concerns.

Last night I went to FHE for the first time in a while and I learned a valuable lesson: my roommate will take me out if she has the opportunity. I have been warned. ha.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

You should know that I went skiing again today, which was not planned at the time of my last post. Jill, I think The Secret is working.

What should I ask the universe for next?

First resolution of 2010: ski more.