Drumroll please...

So, as most of you may know I have been working on moving for the past...oh...8 months or so. I will give you the short...and I mean short...version. In July of last year I decided to move to Arizona with my friend Ashlie in October. Well...I ended up pushing it off till January. Then, quite obviously, I ended up not moving at all. Plans sort of fell through. So, I was trying to figure out where to go from there when my former roommate from school, Alanna, asked if I wanted to be her roommate. Perfect...so we made plans to do that. But, work and other situations came up and so she wasn't looking for a new roommate after all. No problem. I planned on moving to Utah by myself and just making it work. Well, last week a couple of my friends from Arizona called and were telling me how I should move there and it would be fun and they know someone who needed a roommate and on and on...and it just clicked. I really did want to move to Arizona. I figured since I didn't have a job, and apartment or really any commitment to Utah, that I could just as easily switch to Arizona. So, I prayed about it and have been debating it and giving it great thought and I really think that is what I'm going to do. Wait...I know that is what I am going to do. So, Arizona here I come. I am moving either the first or second full week of May. I have no idea how to get all of my stuff down there, so if anyone has any great ideas that I may have missed, I'm open for suggestions.
I know people probably think I am crazy for changing my mind and not being able to stick with something...and I'm sure some probably think I am never actually going to move. But, rest assured, I am. In May. And I am so so so excited!
So, that's my news. I hope it's ok. Also, for those of you who knew Jenny and Drew Wilkerson, they have a blog page now! Finally! I have put the link to their page under my 'friends and such' section.

Just call me Mary Poppins...

I have been tagged by Sarah for the purse game...What you do is take a picture of what's in your purse then list the items for everyone to see what a slob I am...I mean...what fun stuff you have in your purse. Here is my picture...

Here is my list...

• my scriptures
• my wallet
• 2 pens, one from the bank and one with quotes from 'The Office' on it
• my ipod case
• gum with no wrapper
• my savings book from my bank
• a reciept from getting gas at wal-mart
• 2 tubes of lotion, both Bath and Body works; Mango Mandarine and Peony
• vaseline
• Perfume from Bath and Body Works; Pear Blossom
• 3 brush ups
• my car keys
• a green crayon, broken in half
• a tide pen
• a lipstick/perfume duo stick
• 2 sharpies
• my planner
• a piece of paper with job information on it
• my ear phones that go to my ipod (so where is my ipod?)
• my work keys
• 3 ...feminine items...
• a pin that says hug.blarthday.com
• 2 starburst wrappers
• a crystal light packet; strawberry
• a ziplock with buttons in it
• 5 empty gum wrappers
• a 'guest check' from the Adventure Zone
• a hair stick
• a straw wrapper
• 2 bobby pins (I don't even wear bobby pins)
• 2 tylenol pm tablets
• a bottle of excedrine

Wow...that's silly. My purse is HUGE keep in mind.

So I am going to tag...Alanna...

Living Beautifully...Occasionally...

This is an article I found in a Mary Engelbreit magazine and it describes exactly how I feel...so I am sharing it with everyone. It is by June B. Lands.

Every once in a while, I love to read magazine articles that tell me how to live a serene, gracious life. Usually a photograph shows the author of said article lounging amidst creative clutter, pets dozing at her feet. I long to be that person. I want to have a potted orchid sitting on a stack of well-worn books, to prop my elbow on table turned desk that I just painted a delightful shade of eggplant, to toss paper clips in adorable vintage teacups that I discovered in some out-of-the-way little shop.

My sister Glenda is that kind of person. She places baskets of seasonal potpourri at the pulse points of her home, gathers Queen Anne's Lace from a lazy country road and puts it into an old Ball fruit jar near her cookbooks, and greets each new morning in a bright floor-length robe - not baggy sweats and a t-shirt. There's no plastic
margarine container on her table; butter nestles in a cut glass bowl. There are no sticky jelly jars; marmalade is served in a footed dish.

For my recent birthday, Glenda gave me a book about how to live a beautiful life. "You need to spend more time honoring yourself by beautifying your surroundings," she advised. I read and re-read the book, which was like getting a while year's worth of self-improvement articles between two lavishly photographed covers. It inspired me to reach toward my higher self, a self hiding somewhere beneath the baggy gray sweat pants.

So I bought fresh flowers for the dining table. I rearranged the linen closet and tucked lavender between cool cotton sheets. My husband and I used festive cloth napkins at
each meal. I wrote letters on pretty note cards instead of recycled computer paper, and used cologne every day even if I was only going to the library. I even polished my silver.

My wake-up call came when I was on a deadline for an article while trying to nurse my husband and myself through a nasty bout with the flu. Cologne soon gave way to Vick's Vaporub; scones on good china were replaced by a dried-out turkey sandwich on a plain paper plate, scarfed down as I stared at the computer screen and tried to find a place to set my plastic water bottle but couldn't because my coffee mug and crumb-littered napkin from breakfast were in the way.

It wasn't beautiful, but it was me.

A couple of days later when the worst was over (and the article turned in), I emailed Glenda to tell her how much I was enjoying the 'living beautifully' book. "I'm soaking in a lavender-scented bubble bath and after that I am going to buy myself an orchid in a pot," I wrote. "It will look divine atop that pile of books artfully stacked on the floor." It will, too...if I ever get around to vacuuming up all the dog hair.

I'm surprised it took this long...

As most of you out there know...I am a dedicated dreamer. I have very vivid dreams every night and they have included people from my old gym teacher to the freaky squirell I named Dom (short for domestic) who used to run into our apartment back at school. Well, last night I finally had a dream with David Bowie in it. I can't believe it took me this long to have one with him, but it was nice. It also included my Uncle Cliff...and that is a first too! Here it goes...

I was at Caseys (the local gas station) and I was getting food from a buffet (there is not really a buffet at Casey's , just pizza) and I am scooping tons of strawberry shortcake onto a flimsy paper plate. I am trying to balance all these plates of cake when I turn around and who is standing behind me? David Bowie. I am absolutely in love and so I am trying to get Tacy's and Jessie's attention out in the car to bring in my camera. They were less than excited and so they wouldn't bring it it. Well, David was just as happy to see me as I was him so we are talking and he says "Hey, I have a camera" so he whips his camera out and proceeds to show me pictures of my cousins Max and Sesha (his kids) and I look up and all of the sudden it was my Uncle Cliff...but I was still super excited. The weird thing was, the pictures were pictures that I remember looking at a long time ago...when they were like 7 or 8 and I was just 3 or 4. So we are looking at these pictures and then Cliff 'turn's back into David Bowie...and of course...since this is a dream...that isn't weird to me. I kept trying to get Tacy and Jessie to bring in my camera, but they wouldn't. So, I just stood there with David/Cliff and looked at pictures until I woke up.

A little of this, a little of that...

Today I don't have very much to say, but I feel the need to keep my blog current (unlike some other blogger friends of mine...i.e. Candace and her 'Pre-Christmas Wishes' and Jake with 'Obama 08' - but do go to his page and look at that 'Yes We Can' video. I like it a lot) So, I am just writing for the pure joy for writing.

I have discovered a new favorite thing. Indexing. It sounds boring and old ladyish, but I truly love it. I am not very good at explaining what it is and why we do it, so if you are truly intrigued (and I don't know why you would be by this blog because it is anything but intriguing unless you know you love the same things I do ...(Sarah)... and then you might be intrigued.) you can check out www.familysearchindexing.org and it will explain it all. Basically you are helping to digitize tons and tons of written records. So, you download this application thing (as seen on the left) and then it uploads 'batches' which are I think 50 names. Each batch looks different and are from different eras and places. You basically just type down what is written on the scanned in photo. I think of it as a big word puzzle. The writing is usually really hard to read so I like to have my mom close by (she can verify that I'm sure since it annoys her to no end) so she can confirm if what I think is an 'e' really is an 'e' or if it is more like an 'o' or possibly an 'a'. It's tricky, but I love it. It is so so so easy to get started. Just check out that website.

Highlights from my latest traveling adventures...

*Being on a train...it was basically a first and it was so much fun. The best part was when the conductor guy was helping us get our stuff on the train and he looked at Jessie and said "Mom's go first!" and helped her before me!
*Picking up MY NEW CAR!!! (it's fun if you say it in the voice of that announcer from The Price is Right) I love it! It is cute and basically perfect.
*The homemade sign and entourage of friends waiting at the train station for me and Jessie in the middle of the night in a very scary part of town!
*Eating at Johnny Corinos with Alanna and getting a glimpse at Eric!
*Sitting around with Angelique and Sophie and Tuna and Tacy that one night and just laughing a lot.
*Learning how to play guitar hero and being grateful I don't have it at home because I would never stop playing it.
*Meeting Stephen, Rodney's roommate. It was nice to find a fellow American Idol lover. He also put up with us taking over his house every night.
*Bowling- no matter how much I suck at it!
*Oh, my Grandma's brownies! She made a huge pan of them and sent them all home with us...I am pretty sure I ate most of the batch on that 3 hour drive up to Idaho.
*Hanging out with Rodney again...just like old times.
*Seeing Lisa in her cute little married apartment.
*Playing Hand and Foot....I love that game! Also playing Scum and Quip It.
*It was over 35 degrees every day in Rexburg while I was there. The snow was melting and it was always sunny. I didn't see many of those days while I lived there.
*It was just great to spend time with my sisters and friends all week long! Unfortunately, in 8 hours I have to return to the real world of working and all that. Such is life I suppose.

Head Sex and Snogging...

I have spent this week in Rexburg visiting my sister Tacy and some other friends here. It's been a lot of fun...eating out...playing games...same old Rexburg stuff. On Tuesday I was persuaded to go to Devotional again. We sat in the back row of the Taylor Chapel and sitting directly in front of me...and behind me...and pretty much all around me was a boy and a girl obviously in lust. So we are sitting there and no sooner does the speaker begin to speak, and these two kids begin the most annoying game of what I like to call 'head sex'. No kissing or anything, but they were incessantly rubbing their faces all over each other. He would rub his nose on her cheek, then she would rub her forehead in his neck...and so on and so on....you get the picture. And they were right in front of me...it was so distracting.
But, here is the cream of the crop.
We went bowling on Wednesday (I got a 45) and afterwards we went to Wingers. It was me, Jessie, Tacy, Rodney and Sophie. We were seated at a table and directly across from us were three windows and on the other side of those windows were little booths. So we placed our orders and were just sitting and chatting when all of the sudden I spy with my little eye this couple (not the same head sex couple) snogging the crap out of each other in the middle booth! (Snogging is the Harry Potter word for making out). This wasn't some cute little kisses amidst giggles and loving glances....this was full on tongue in mouth groping and grabbing making out! It was repulsive. We were all gawking and commenting and then I said "I'll give $10 to whoever goes over there and shuts the blinds on that window. Well, a few of the people in our party got up, but Tacy is the only one who made it to the window before chickening out. She gets over there and reaches up to pull the cord to shut the blinds, and of course, she grabbed the wrong cord and ended up opening the blinds even fuller. By now we are all hysterical with our faces in the table desperately trying not to make eye contact with the couple that was probably more than a little confused. Well, to make a long and pretty funny story short...she finally got the blinds shut and safely arrived back in her seat. We were laughing pretty hard, but eventually we got our food and we had kind of gotten over it. Well, about 10 minutes later, this guy comes walking around the corner and comes over to our table and says "Do you have a problem with us? Cause if you do you can just talk to us about it." I said, "Oh, no, that was just a personal joke with all of us, sorry if you thought it had to do with you". He said "Oh, well you could just talk to us," and then he returned to his booth. I am so sure....like we were actually going to walk around to his table and ask him politely to keep it in his pants for the next half hour or so. That would have been even more embarrassing for them. I have been wondering what they were going to tell their friends (if they have managed to keep any)..."So, there we were minding our own business and having a lovely conversation and enjoying a Crispy Chicken Sandwich from Wingers when all of the sudden....." I don't think so...I believe we were completely justified in shutting the blinds. I think we all had the right to a little supper with out having to be subject to some up close and personal porno in the process.