first and foremost, rolling out of bed this morning wasn’t as difficult as it usually is. i just had this feeling that today was going to be a good day.
i took my shower, put on a skirt (not typical for me during the week), and headed to work looking cute. not that that is relevant, i just wanted to point it out.
on my way to work, i got a text message from lara requesting a rendezvous in vegas in june. okay, not quite like that, but it turns out we will both be in vegas for work at the same time.
um. hello. awesome. girls weekend in vegas?! so we’ll both be working, i’m sure it will still be awesome.
the day was off to a great start.
i got to work, and people keep commenting on how cute i look. not that it’s relevant. i just wanted to point it out.
and then…more awesome. got an email from deb saying she is coming in thursday and will be in la for about a week. her partner told her she could go home for the weekend and her response was ‘no thanks.’
now, keeping in mind, i spent a few hours with deb at xmas-time, but before that hadn’t seen her since our paris trip in may, you can only imagine how excited i am. i might actually possibly explode.
I’m trying to keep my excitement in check, as there is always the possibility of last minute change with her job, but it’s looking ‘fairly certain’, and i am most definitely certain we are going to have a blast!
in other news, three friends had babies this weekend. three! i clearly missed the ‘all aboard the baby boat’ memo, but i am thrilled for them.
angela and kristina both gave birth on friday. angela to gavin, 8 pounds, 7 ounces, 20.5 inches, and kristina to benjamin (via emergency c-section) 5 lbs, 10 ounces, 20 inches. arika decided to wait a day (she was actually early), and gave birth to annabeth on saturday, 6 lbs 6 oz and is 19.5 inches. unfortch, her husband bryan is still a week out from returning from the middle east, but her mother arrived the day before, so thank heavens, she wasn’t alone.
clearly, it was a very busy weekend for everyone else, but i hope that the upcoming one will be very busy for me! maybe it’s finally time to do all the touristy la stuff i haven’t gotten around to doing!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
my favorite oscar moment
glen hansard and marketa irglova winning best song for 'falling slowly' (song no. 4 on the current playlist). then having jon stewart bring marketa back out after the commercial break in order to say the thank you's she got timed out of.
total class.
a great movie (once) with a greater soundtrack that i've been listening to non-stop since november.
i love it when the academy gets it right. ironically, i haven't seen most of this year's noms (i just can't stomach the idea of violence as art anymore), and one of the couple i did see (away from her) was in a little theater in paris with english subtitles.
if it weren't for that, maybe there would have been more highlights for me, but as it stands, glen and marketa take the cake.
total class.
a great movie (once) with a greater soundtrack that i've been listening to non-stop since november.
i love it when the academy gets it right. ironically, i haven't seen most of this year's noms (i just can't stomach the idea of violence as art anymore), and one of the couple i did see (away from her) was in a little theater in paris with english subtitles.
if it weren't for that, maybe there would have been more highlights for me, but as it stands, glen and marketa take the cake.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
the house
as promised, here is the low down on the house.
i forgot to turn the sound on during the vid, so you'll have to make do with titles...
i forgot to turn the sound on during the vid, so you'll have to make do with titles...
Thursday, February 21, 2008
happy birthday ariane!
last night was my roommate ariane’s 23rd birthday and a group of us headed downtown—downtown huntington of course, for dinner.
if you had told me that i would be spending the most ‘roommate time’ with the youngest roomie in the house, i would have laughed. but despite all my raving generalizations and stereotyping, she’s become my lil’ buddy, and i genuinely enjoy hanging out with her.
i had been dreading the dinner all day, only because, after arriving quite late on tuesday, and having my luggage arrive even later, i was exhausted. i was hoping that there would be a large group going and ariane wouldn’t mind if i flaked out, but the minute i got home from work, she made it clear that it was really important to her that i be there.
me and a kick things off
in the end, it was probably a good thing that i did. though she and i were fashionably late, everyone else was fashionably later. and the group itself was fairly random. some of them were invited by other guests and didn’t know the birthday girl, but that didn’t stop everyone from having a good time. the food was delicious, and i met several new people, which, i guess, is never a bad thing.
becky (left), told me my skin was gorgeous (bare essentials 'fairly light'), and brooke (right) told me i smell delicious (ralph lauren 'wild')--needless to say, these are my current two favorite people!
and, as always seems to happen when you meet new people, the ‘small mormon world’ got even smaller. after learning that my roommate knows my friend rob, i also met a girl who knows my brother.
michelle knows dylan from his byu days
lately i wonder if it keeps happening just because my office-mate will be so amused. she is convinced all of us mormons know each other. not so, but i can certainly understand why she thinks that way!
so there you have it. despite my best efforts to be anti-social, i am failing miserably!
if you had told me that i would be spending the most ‘roommate time’ with the youngest roomie in the house, i would have laughed. but despite all my raving generalizations and stereotyping, she’s become my lil’ buddy, and i genuinely enjoy hanging out with her.
i had been dreading the dinner all day, only because, after arriving quite late on tuesday, and having my luggage arrive even later, i was exhausted. i was hoping that there would be a large group going and ariane wouldn’t mind if i flaked out, but the minute i got home from work, she made it clear that it was really important to her that i be there.
me and a kick things offin the end, it was probably a good thing that i did. though she and i were fashionably late, everyone else was fashionably later. and the group itself was fairly random. some of them were invited by other guests and didn’t know the birthday girl, but that didn’t stop everyone from having a good time. the food was delicious, and i met several new people, which, i guess, is never a bad thing.
becky (left), told me my skin was gorgeous (bare essentials 'fairly light'), and brooke (right) told me i smell delicious (ralph lauren 'wild')--needless to say, these are my current two favorite people!and, as always seems to happen when you meet new people, the ‘small mormon world’ got even smaller. after learning that my roommate knows my friend rob, i also met a girl who knows my brother.
michelle knows dylan from his byu dayslately i wonder if it keeps happening just because my office-mate will be so amused. she is convinced all of us mormons know each other. not so, but i can certainly understand why she thinks that way!
so there you have it. despite my best efforts to be anti-social, i am failing miserably!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
surprise!
yay for the phoenix airport and their free wireless internet:) now, onto the meat...
the interesting thing about having no expectations is that you never cease to be surprised. sometimes it's fabulous, sometimes it's not, sometimes, it's just surprising.
my weekend in utah began with one of the more unexpected surprises i could have imagined…or rather, never in a million years would have imagined.
though almost missing my 2nd flight from phoenix to salt lake, thanks to a layover-nap that went a little too long, i made it on board as one of the last passengers. as i boarded, i heard my name, and though still a bit groggy, it seemed to be my former friend jesse standing up in his seat, on my plane. apparently it was not my grogginess or the sleepy dirt in my eyes. he was the real mccoy.
many of you will know what a shock this was, but for those who don’t quite understand, let me just say that the last time there was any communication between us, was the day my dog died. november 21st to be exact.
and seriously. what are the odds. never in my life have i 'bumped into' someone i knew on a plane. of all the airlines, all the days, all the times, and all the connecting flights, he had to be on mine...and though i never expected (nor had any desire) to see or speak to him again, here we were, on the same flight, and a conversation was unavoidable.
i didn’t quite know which conversation i wanted to have, the 'hey, let's pretend what happened didn't happen and just get through this' conversation, or the 'dude! what is your flippin' problem!?' conversation.
but when the seatbelt light went off, and he came back to talk, my emotions won the battle, and i said things that were hard to say, and i hope, harder to hear. unfortunately, the conversation didn’t yield much by way of closure, yet, at the same time, it was easy to remember what had been so good about our friendship. we talked through our...hmm...i don't know what to call it...issue? as best we could, but standing in the galley while drink service took place, wasn't exactly the most conducive place for resolution, so we moved on, and for the remainder of the flight, we got caught up on one another's lives. it’s been three months, and much has changed.
upon arriving in salt lake, we claimed our bags and headed our separate ways, but not before learning that we would be on the same flight back to phoenix on tuesday. surprise!
the rest of the weekend was no less interesting. i put the encounter out of my mind, picked up my rental car and headed to shannon’s, where we spent some time talking before i had to hop in the shower to meet corey and jill.
corey and jill had selected salt lake pizza and pasta…or pasta and pizza…i can’t remember. the food was tasty and the company excellent. being with corey and jill made me feel, in a way, like being home.
after dinner, i dragged corey and jill to my favorite bar on the planet. yes, you read that read that right.
back in my olympic days, there was this brand new bar i used to frequent with colleagues and friends. it was a dueling piano bar called the 'tavernacle'. it was a tiny space, yet tables were easy to come by. the beauty of discovering something ‘first’ i guess☺
a lot has changed in the last 6 years. they have expanded, tables were nowhere to be had, and the crowd consisted of a lot more 21 year olds than before (though there were some oldies too). but what remained the same were the three rotating piano players playing requests all night long. one, two, three, four dollars or more to request a song, but you could just as easily stop it with $1 more over the request amount.
as we stood, we sang along and enjoyed the antics of the pianists, and i was grateful that jill and corey were willing to indulge me! truth be told, jill was singing all the way back to the car.
sunday was my down day..slept in late, went to sacrament meeting, and spent the evening sunday with shannon. i had to be well rested for my monday after all!
monday was one doozy of a day. i met two new friends and spent time with two old ones.
lowell is as sweet in person as he is in cyberspace
i leave all my dates blithering shells of their former selves.
but don't worry, jill will return to normal after a good night's rest.
a late breakfast with lowell (who after two years of reading my blog deserves a shout out), then to rob’s for an afternoon of talking, movie watching, and… on to dinner with russ—a new friend i met online, followed by a movie (juno) with my hottest date of all...jill. course she was a little less hot after crying through the end of the movie, but only a little;)
we both loved the movie, and since i've heard nothing but good things, that was a pleasant surprise. typically rave reviews from family and friends = high expectations, resulting in absolute let down. not so in this case!
after the movie, i followed jill back to casa burk, where i spent a little time with her and corey before calling it a night.
today was a mostly glorious sleep-filled day, though my cousin pam stopped by on her lunch break to give me all the deets on her new man.
then it was time to pack and go. i arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and was shortly joined by jesse, who entertained me while we waited for our flight.
when we arrived in phoenix, he treated me to dinner and dessert, while we killed our two hour layovers. if someone had told me that one day jesse and i would be having dinner together in phoenix, i might have suspected they were off their rocker. such is life!
all and all, i'd describe the trip as quite successful and FULL of surprises:)
the interesting thing about having no expectations is that you never cease to be surprised. sometimes it's fabulous, sometimes it's not, sometimes, it's just surprising.
my weekend in utah began with one of the more unexpected surprises i could have imagined…or rather, never in a million years would have imagined.
though almost missing my 2nd flight from phoenix to salt lake, thanks to a layover-nap that went a little too long, i made it on board as one of the last passengers. as i boarded, i heard my name, and though still a bit groggy, it seemed to be my former friend jesse standing up in his seat, on my plane. apparently it was not my grogginess or the sleepy dirt in my eyes. he was the real mccoy.
many of you will know what a shock this was, but for those who don’t quite understand, let me just say that the last time there was any communication between us, was the day my dog died. november 21st to be exact.
and seriously. what are the odds. never in my life have i 'bumped into' someone i knew on a plane. of all the airlines, all the days, all the times, and all the connecting flights, he had to be on mine...and though i never expected (nor had any desire) to see or speak to him again, here we were, on the same flight, and a conversation was unavoidable.
i didn’t quite know which conversation i wanted to have, the 'hey, let's pretend what happened didn't happen and just get through this' conversation, or the 'dude! what is your flippin' problem!?' conversation.
but when the seatbelt light went off, and he came back to talk, my emotions won the battle, and i said things that were hard to say, and i hope, harder to hear. unfortunately, the conversation didn’t yield much by way of closure, yet, at the same time, it was easy to remember what had been so good about our friendship. we talked through our...hmm...i don't know what to call it...issue? as best we could, but standing in the galley while drink service took place, wasn't exactly the most conducive place for resolution, so we moved on, and for the remainder of the flight, we got caught up on one another's lives. it’s been three months, and much has changed.
upon arriving in salt lake, we claimed our bags and headed our separate ways, but not before learning that we would be on the same flight back to phoenix on tuesday. surprise!
the rest of the weekend was no less interesting. i put the encounter out of my mind, picked up my rental car and headed to shannon’s, where we spent some time talking before i had to hop in the shower to meet corey and jill.
corey and jill had selected salt lake pizza and pasta…or pasta and pizza…i can’t remember. the food was tasty and the company excellent. being with corey and jill made me feel, in a way, like being home.
after dinner, i dragged corey and jill to my favorite bar on the planet. yes, you read that read that right.
back in my olympic days, there was this brand new bar i used to frequent with colleagues and friends. it was a dueling piano bar called the 'tavernacle'. it was a tiny space, yet tables were easy to come by. the beauty of discovering something ‘first’ i guess☺a lot has changed in the last 6 years. they have expanded, tables were nowhere to be had, and the crowd consisted of a lot more 21 year olds than before (though there were some oldies too). but what remained the same were the three rotating piano players playing requests all night long. one, two, three, four dollars or more to request a song, but you could just as easily stop it with $1 more over the request amount.
as we stood, we sang along and enjoyed the antics of the pianists, and i was grateful that jill and corey were willing to indulge me! truth be told, jill was singing all the way back to the car.sunday was my down day..slept in late, went to sacrament meeting, and spent the evening sunday with shannon. i had to be well rested for my monday after all!
monday was one doozy of a day. i met two new friends and spent time with two old ones.
lowell is as sweet in person as he is in cyberspace
i'm always a sucker for rob's hugs and kisses
i leave all my dates blithering shells of their former selves.but don't worry, jill will return to normal after a good night's rest.
a late breakfast with lowell (who after two years of reading my blog deserves a shout out), then to rob’s for an afternoon of talking, movie watching, and… on to dinner with russ—a new friend i met online, followed by a movie (juno) with my hottest date of all...jill. course she was a little less hot after crying through the end of the movie, but only a little;)
we both loved the movie, and since i've heard nothing but good things, that was a pleasant surprise. typically rave reviews from family and friends = high expectations, resulting in absolute let down. not so in this case!
after the movie, i followed jill back to casa burk, where i spent a little time with her and corey before calling it a night.
today was a mostly glorious sleep-filled day, though my cousin pam stopped by on her lunch break to give me all the deets on her new man.
then it was time to pack and go. i arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and was shortly joined by jesse, who entertained me while we waited for our flight.
when we arrived in phoenix, he treated me to dinner and dessert, while we killed our two hour layovers. if someone had told me that one day jesse and i would be having dinner together in phoenix, i might have suspected they were off their rocker. such is life!
all and all, i'd describe the trip as quite successful and FULL of surprises:)
Friday, February 15, 2008
sast (expanded version) presents: friday
i’m not sure why friday calls for randomness, but that is the emerging pattern.
*****
i find it fascinating that different places subscribe to different beauty trends. for example, when i lived in utah, the trend was to airbrush the white tip on a french manicure. you couldn’t get it painted if you tried. and when i visited portland, i could not for the life of me find what i refer to as an ‘asian nail place’…you know, the nail salons that exist in every strip mall in the state of virginia and are always run by asians.
well, california is no different. earlier this week, i left a note on the message board at the house asking if anyone had a good eyebrow waxer. one of the roommates wrote back saying she has her eyebrows ‘threaded’, and left the business card for a salon. i have seen many places with signs proclaiming their ‘threading’ services, but i had no idea what that meant.
i was up for an adventure however, and my other roommate wanted to join me. we were awed at what we learned, and the outcome it yielded.
apparently threading is an ancient asian technique, although most of the salons that do it are middle eastern, and i’m told the indians have been using it for a long time to take care of those nasty unibrows. basically, the ‘technician’ takes some string, twists it this way, pulls it that, and voila, perfectly arched eyebrows. sounds very technical doesn’t it?! :) it is slightly more painful than waxing, but no more painful than plucking, and the results are far better. for one, no burn marks (which, when you have sensitive skin is almost a certainty) and supposedly, it lasts longer. not to mention that it put me out a whopping 6 bucks.
i won’t post the video here, but if you ladies are interested (and it’s pretty interesting), i found this clip on youtube.
*****
last night i headed to lezlie’s (previously referred to as lw) with my roommate ariane (pronounciation=arrian…as in ‘nation’)
me and my roomie (ariane was also my 'threading' buddy)for a girls only valentine’s day party. co-hosts were holly (hb) and charity (ck), and these three are quite a team. there were plenty of delicious treats (i made a pretty kick-butt salad), but the highlight was the stripper. yes. i said stripper. only, it’s a bunch of mormon girls, and the 'stripper' is apparently quite the funny man. there were plenty of ones, however. and the fact that they had madonna’s face and hearts on them was on par for the function. (don't worry family and other jaw droppers, it was a completely innocent and entertaining joke)
valentine's day fun*****
i finally finally found the nightstand i want for my room.
*****
the high in utah for the weekend is supposed to be 43. the high in socal, 73. why did i think this trip was such a good idea?
*****
tonight i head north to hang out with brandon and michelle. brandon is doing well, and is nearly finished with his chemotherapy. they'll start running tests in two weeks to check the results.
it's been far too long since i've seen he and michelle and i'm excited to resume our 'angel' marathon! only half of that has to do with my obsession of david boreanaz...
it's been far too long since i've seen he and michelle and i'm excited to resume our 'angel' marathon! only half of that has to do with my obsession of david boreanaz...
*****
have a wonderful holiday weekend!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
just add water
last night i arrived home to find this little goody on my bed:
in my experience, frogs stay frogs, or princes turn into them, not the other way around. maybe that's because i keep kissing them? apparently, it's actually water that does the trick.
if only i had known sooner!
a valentine's day gift from my roommate.
in my experience, frogs stay frogs, or princes turn into them, not the other way around. maybe that's because i keep kissing them? apparently, it's actually water that does the trick.
if only i had known sooner!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
spontaneous me
i think it’s safe to say that i don’t consider myself a spontaneous person, though i can be extremely flexible. the bones of an event, outing, or activity are best laid in advance; carefully planned and considered, contingencies coordinated. i find that thoughtful preparation allows me to be more flexible when the time comes to execute. a perfect example would be my travel style.
deb will attest to the fact that virtually every possible detail has been researched in advance of one of our trips. train schedules and hours of operation, costs and ‘little known’ tips, metro maps, weather, electricity, currency, etc. etc. i’ll put together an itinerary of sorts, which will allow us to meet our objectives in the most efficient manner. sights and activities are usually categorized by ‘must see’, ‘would like to see’, ‘might see’, i do all this so that when i arrive, i can feel safe in the knowledge i have, and safer in deviating from it. after all, the details of life cannot be counted on to meet expectations. who knows when the most divine creperie might pop up in your path, or when a cemetery will be unexpectedly closed for renovations (i’m still not quite sure what that means), or how severely getting a flat on your rental car will impact the drive time between cork and dublin.
in the moment itself, i am flexible and cool. changes are acceptable, and often yield a better outcome than planning could have. but the planning is still important for my sanity.
every once in a blue moon, however, an opportunity arises that is immediate (or nearly so). and every once in awhile i manage not to talk myself out of it with logic (ie “i have so much to do”, or “i don’t know what to wear”). i have found that in all of these cases, i have been rewarded for setting aside my nature, with a fun and worthwhile experience.
last weekend is no exception.
scott, jennifer, florin, me, and cliff at magic mountain
on friday night i got an email invitation for magic mountain on saturday. the invite came from a guy i had initially met online, and then met in person about a month ago. though he was based in idaho when we began talking, he has since moved to arizona and was in my neck of the woods with his friend scott, visiting his (scott's) sister.
normally, the late notice would have been enough reason to decline, but the weekend weather forecast called for being outdoors, and i do love roller coasters. i was hesitant since i’d not spent much time with cliff or scott in person, and didn’t know anyone else in the group. but i decided that worst case scenario, if i wasn’t having any fun, i could leave. so i accepted the invitation and met the group at the amusement park the next morning. the ‘group’ consisted of cliff, scott, scott’s sister jennifer, and jennifer’s co-worker/”friend” florin.
i could not have begun to predict how much fun we would have. first and foremost, the group dynamic was about as perfect as it gets. on top of that, this particular six flags has some flippin’ awesome rides (more on this in a moment). the park wasn’t remotely crowded and the weather was amazing. all those ingredients made for an absolutely delicious day.
the best ride at the park, hands down, is a ride called ‘tatsu’. tatsu (for those familiar with kings dominion) looks, at first glance, like ‘the volcano’. four chairs to a row, harness, dangling feet. but what makes it different is that before the ride begins, the rows/seats are hydraulically lifted upwards leaving the rider parallel to the ground. the entire ride is spent in this position (with the exception of one flippy point), and is most certainly the closest thing to superman type flying i’ve ever experienced. as you can imagine, this is by far the most popular ride. we went on it three times (as well as visiting other big coasters more than once), which just gives you an idea of the short lines. it’s safe to say that this is the best coaster i’ve ever been on. i stole the vid below from youtube...should give you a pretty good idea.
aside from tatsu, there were several others that were nearly as good. the riddler—the stand-up coaster—didn’t bang my head like shockwave, and was, as a result, extremely enjoyable! batman, goliath, viper, etc. were all a blast as well.
given how ‘unplanned’ this adventure was, and how many unknown factors were in play, i’m still a bit shocked that it was sooo much fun! i enjoyed spending more time with cliff and scott, and getting to know jennifer and florin (who looks eerily like sean penn)as evidenced by the photos. of which, there are many (thanks to the compilation of mine, jennifer's, scott's, and cliff's).
we finished off the day with a delicious dinner at pf chang's and i headed home to my air mattress.
having had such a good time on saturday, i got a message from cliff on sunday morning asking if i wanted to come spend the day with the group (sans florin) in long beach. i couldn’t refuse and made my way north.
i met up with cliff, scott, and jennifer at her place, and we headed down to the beach. once there, we rented a surrey, which is basically a four person buggy bicycle thing. we thought this would be a leisurely way to enjoy the company and the weather. though we did both, it became clear very early on that we should have gone another route. peddling the thing was the best workout i’ve had in a very very long time. it didn’t help that we started the journey with the brake on, or finished it with a broken peddle. 6 miles on a bicycle wouldn’t normally be too taxing, but in this case, we were spent.
the doom buggy
there were a couple of near off-road adventures, a couple of footraces (as in, we tried to beat a jogger—unsuccessfully!!), and a couple of photo and pedal-fixing stops along the way, and all in all, i’d consider it quite the bonding experience:)
after returning our doom-buggy, we decided it was time to eat, and enjoyed some bbq (some enjoyed it more than others):
before heading back to jennifer’s to hang out.
it was a completely unexpected and absolutely phenomenal weekend spent in the company of some really fun, really great people.
who said i wasn’t spontaneous?! ;)
to check out the rest of the pics, click here and here.
deb will attest to the fact that virtually every possible detail has been researched in advance of one of our trips. train schedules and hours of operation, costs and ‘little known’ tips, metro maps, weather, electricity, currency, etc. etc. i’ll put together an itinerary of sorts, which will allow us to meet our objectives in the most efficient manner. sights and activities are usually categorized by ‘must see’, ‘would like to see’, ‘might see’, i do all this so that when i arrive, i can feel safe in the knowledge i have, and safer in deviating from it. after all, the details of life cannot be counted on to meet expectations. who knows when the most divine creperie might pop up in your path, or when a cemetery will be unexpectedly closed for renovations (i’m still not quite sure what that means), or how severely getting a flat on your rental car will impact the drive time between cork and dublin.
in the moment itself, i am flexible and cool. changes are acceptable, and often yield a better outcome than planning could have. but the planning is still important for my sanity.
every once in a blue moon, however, an opportunity arises that is immediate (or nearly so). and every once in awhile i manage not to talk myself out of it with logic (ie “i have so much to do”, or “i don’t know what to wear”). i have found that in all of these cases, i have been rewarded for setting aside my nature, with a fun and worthwhile experience.
last weekend is no exception.
scott, jennifer, florin, me, and cliff at magic mountainon friday night i got an email invitation for magic mountain on saturday. the invite came from a guy i had initially met online, and then met in person about a month ago. though he was based in idaho when we began talking, he has since moved to arizona and was in my neck of the woods with his friend scott, visiting his (scott's) sister.
normally, the late notice would have been enough reason to decline, but the weekend weather forecast called for being outdoors, and i do love roller coasters. i was hesitant since i’d not spent much time with cliff or scott in person, and didn’t know anyone else in the group. but i decided that worst case scenario, if i wasn’t having any fun, i could leave. so i accepted the invitation and met the group at the amusement park the next morning. the ‘group’ consisted of cliff, scott, scott’s sister jennifer, and jennifer’s co-worker/”friend” florin.
i could not have begun to predict how much fun we would have. first and foremost, the group dynamic was about as perfect as it gets. on top of that, this particular six flags has some flippin’ awesome rides (more on this in a moment). the park wasn’t remotely crowded and the weather was amazing. all those ingredients made for an absolutely delicious day.
the best ride at the park, hands down, is a ride called ‘tatsu’. tatsu (for those familiar with kings dominion) looks, at first glance, like ‘the volcano’. four chairs to a row, harness, dangling feet. but what makes it different is that before the ride begins, the rows/seats are hydraulically lifted upwards leaving the rider parallel to the ground. the entire ride is spent in this position (with the exception of one flippy point), and is most certainly the closest thing to superman type flying i’ve ever experienced. as you can imagine, this is by far the most popular ride. we went on it three times (as well as visiting other big coasters more than once), which just gives you an idea of the short lines. it’s safe to say that this is the best coaster i’ve ever been on. i stole the vid below from youtube...should give you a pretty good idea.aside from tatsu, there were several others that were nearly as good. the riddler—the stand-up coaster—didn’t bang my head like shockwave, and was, as a result, extremely enjoyable! batman, goliath, viper, etc. were all a blast as well.
given how ‘unplanned’ this adventure was, and how many unknown factors were in play, i’m still a bit shocked that it was sooo much fun! i enjoyed spending more time with cliff and scott, and getting to know jennifer and florin (who looks eerily like sean penn)as evidenced by the photos. of which, there are many (thanks to the compilation of mine, jennifer's, scott's, and cliff's).
we finished off the day with a delicious dinner at pf chang's and i headed home to my air mattress.
having had such a good time on saturday, i got a message from cliff on sunday morning asking if i wanted to come spend the day with the group (sans florin) in long beach. i couldn’t refuse and made my way north.i met up with cliff, scott, and jennifer at her place, and we headed down to the beach. once there, we rented a surrey, which is basically a four person buggy bicycle thing. we thought this would be a leisurely way to enjoy the company and the weather. though we did both, it became clear very early on that we should have gone another route. peddling the thing was the best workout i’ve had in a very very long time. it didn’t help that we started the journey with the brake on, or finished it with a broken peddle. 6 miles on a bicycle wouldn’t normally be too taxing, but in this case, we were spent.
the doom buggythere were a couple of near off-road adventures, a couple of footraces (as in, we tried to beat a jogger—unsuccessfully!!), and a couple of photo and pedal-fixing stops along the way, and all in all, i’d consider it quite the bonding experience:)
after returning our doom-buggy, we decided it was time to eat, and enjoyed some bbq (some enjoyed it more than others):
before heading back to jennifer’s to hang out.
it was a completely unexpected and absolutely phenomenal weekend spent in the company of some really fun, really great people.
who said i wasn’t spontaneous?! ;)
to check out the rest of the pics, click here and here.
Friday, February 08, 2008
sast presents: friday
me and cal ripkeni'm mostly settled in to the new place, though we (me and the fam) were all too sick to move the bed last weekend, so it's mattress city for the moment.
the conference team (or a good chunk of them anyway)my commute to work is short. my commute to church, shorter. my commute to the beach, even shorter.
hard at workon a total whim, and as a result of having an extra 'holiday' and an airline ticket that must be used, i'm going to utah next weekend. for no good reason other than the travel time is decent, and i know people:)
shocking evidence that it is actually possible to take a decent photo without holdingthe camera a foot above one's head to eliminate the double-chin factor
it's a very small mormon world. between the co-workers, the roommates, and the random others, the connections never end.
that cute lw (see above) is co-hosting a valentine's day party with ck and hb.they totally rocked the invite (see below)
here ends our presentation of short attention span theater. in the upcoming days, i hope for more installments (with house photos!)
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Friday, February 01, 2008
one of those weeks...
...that you need a month to recover from.
first, let me say that the world got knocked off it's kilter. in the span of 7 days the following deaths have occurred (in no particular order): president hinckley, brad renfro, heath ledger, a friends mother (early 50s), a former co-workers husband (mid-30s), a family friends brother (not positive of the age, but relatively young). not to mention the other family friend, who, late sunday morning fell and broke her ankle, only to return from the hospital, and a short time later, fall again, and break her wrist, and the other family friend who had to have emergency surgery related to a suspected cyst (i believe). world=off kilter.
and before i go on, i should say that my heart goes out to those who have recently been victims of the off kilterness.
as far as the other craziness of the last week, it started with my first event for the new company. and also the biggest event they do. i recognize that i am my own worst critic, but to say that i was disappointed would be an understatement. lots of things i could have and should have done better, and i was more exhausted than i ever remember being. of course, this could have been due to the fact that i was coming down with a mystery illness that would put me in bed for the majority of the week. i'm convinced it's a serious case of bronchitis (i'm overly prone), but 7 year old drew has had identical symptoms and was diagnosed as having a virus. i've been self-medicating with leftover amoxicillin anyway...just in case.
fortunately, my self-criticism of event performance was not mirrored my superiors, and i have been rewarded generously and unexpectedly for a 'job well-done.' yay for my company! my employment there has already been a blessing in so many ways.
and of course, i got to meet cal ripken. those who know how paranoid i am about my height will appreciate this little story...
having had exposure to celebrities before, and more specifically having had photos taken with them, i am very self-conscious about my stature (which in heels, becomes 6'0). in one case i even ducked down for the photo, and the singer was a good sport and stood on his tiptoes.
imagine how happy i was to learn that cal stood at 6'4" and that my concerns would be of no consequence. now...imagine my surprise to find that when i approached him, he paused, looked me in the eye, and then downwards, and commented, 'oh! heels!'
it was not a derogatory comment, yet the fact that he consciously noted my height does not go far in helping me alleviate my issues.
that being said, the photo turned out quite nicely, and i'd be happy to share it...as soon as i get the digital version. for the moment, i have only a 4X6 print, and taking photos of photos just doesn't quite work. however, i have included a shot of most of the onsite staff cheesing it up at registration.
day 3... in heels for 14-18 hour days, and less than 5 hours sleep per night. yeah. that's how we roll.
after completing the event and packing up the materials on sunday morning, i made it home around 11am. i did not leave my bed until the following morning, and i think i was awake for a total of two hours during that time.
i arrived at work on monday morning, planning only to stay for an hour or so to take care of a couple of things, and as i walked in, my boss said simply, 'you look awful. don't log in. go home.'
so i did. i made a more successful attempt at work on tuesday, though only lasted about half a day, which put me out of commission on wednesday. yesterday and today were also short days.
i must admit that i haven't been really sick in some time, so i don't feel that i can complain too much. what i am annoyed with, is the timing....during/after the 'big event', and in the midst of moving preparation. my mind is completely foggy and my body sore and tired, yet, the moving man cometh. or rather...mick is leaving town on sunday, and i need his help, and his truck to move the mattress the fam has so generously bequeathed to me.
by tomorrow night, i hope to be snuggly tucked in in my new home, watching netflix on my new tv (which, as it turns out, has become one more example of how 'frugal' i've become since moving here). frugal is the nice word for cheap. but i digress. to what i'm not sure. but i'm tired, and probably rambling, and when i have my wits about me, may be so disgusted with this post that i just delete it.
yesterday i used the completely wrong word in an email..and it was an embarrassing slip. it took me well over two hours to come up with the right word. i really hate that. and today, when i went to ikea, i'm not exactly sure if i got the right color of the thing i got, because it didn't occur to me to check. and now it's in the new house, and i'm in the old house, and i won't know until tomorrow. and the boxes are so heavy that even if i got the wrong color, i don't know if i can bear to take them back.
but i paid less than 3.00/gal for gas. did i mention that?
first, let me say that the world got knocked off it's kilter. in the span of 7 days the following deaths have occurred (in no particular order): president hinckley, brad renfro, heath ledger, a friends mother (early 50s), a former co-workers husband (mid-30s), a family friends brother (not positive of the age, but relatively young). not to mention the other family friend, who, late sunday morning fell and broke her ankle, only to return from the hospital, and a short time later, fall again, and break her wrist, and the other family friend who had to have emergency surgery related to a suspected cyst (i believe). world=off kilter.
and before i go on, i should say that my heart goes out to those who have recently been victims of the off kilterness.
as far as the other craziness of the last week, it started with my first event for the new company. and also the biggest event they do. i recognize that i am my own worst critic, but to say that i was disappointed would be an understatement. lots of things i could have and should have done better, and i was more exhausted than i ever remember being. of course, this could have been due to the fact that i was coming down with a mystery illness that would put me in bed for the majority of the week. i'm convinced it's a serious case of bronchitis (i'm overly prone), but 7 year old drew has had identical symptoms and was diagnosed as having a virus. i've been self-medicating with leftover amoxicillin anyway...just in case.
fortunately, my self-criticism of event performance was not mirrored my superiors, and i have been rewarded generously and unexpectedly for a 'job well-done.' yay for my company! my employment there has already been a blessing in so many ways.
and of course, i got to meet cal ripken. those who know how paranoid i am about my height will appreciate this little story...
having had exposure to celebrities before, and more specifically having had photos taken with them, i am very self-conscious about my stature (which in heels, becomes 6'0). in one case i even ducked down for the photo, and the singer was a good sport and stood on his tiptoes.
imagine how happy i was to learn that cal stood at 6'4" and that my concerns would be of no consequence. now...imagine my surprise to find that when i approached him, he paused, looked me in the eye, and then downwards, and commented, 'oh! heels!'
it was not a derogatory comment, yet the fact that he consciously noted my height does not go far in helping me alleviate my issues.
that being said, the photo turned out quite nicely, and i'd be happy to share it...as soon as i get the digital version. for the moment, i have only a 4X6 print, and taking photos of photos just doesn't quite work. however, i have included a shot of most of the onsite staff cheesing it up at registration.
day 3... in heels for 14-18 hour days, and less than 5 hours sleep per night. yeah. that's how we roll.after completing the event and packing up the materials on sunday morning, i made it home around 11am. i did not leave my bed until the following morning, and i think i was awake for a total of two hours during that time.
i arrived at work on monday morning, planning only to stay for an hour or so to take care of a couple of things, and as i walked in, my boss said simply, 'you look awful. don't log in. go home.'
so i did. i made a more successful attempt at work on tuesday, though only lasted about half a day, which put me out of commission on wednesday. yesterday and today were also short days.
i must admit that i haven't been really sick in some time, so i don't feel that i can complain too much. what i am annoyed with, is the timing....during/after the 'big event', and in the midst of moving preparation. my mind is completely foggy and my body sore and tired, yet, the moving man cometh. or rather...mick is leaving town on sunday, and i need his help, and his truck to move the mattress the fam has so generously bequeathed to me.
by tomorrow night, i hope to be snuggly tucked in in my new home, watching netflix on my new tv (which, as it turns out, has become one more example of how 'frugal' i've become since moving here). frugal is the nice word for cheap. but i digress. to what i'm not sure. but i'm tired, and probably rambling, and when i have my wits about me, may be so disgusted with this post that i just delete it.
yesterday i used the completely wrong word in an email..and it was an embarrassing slip. it took me well over two hours to come up with the right word. i really hate that. and today, when i went to ikea, i'm not exactly sure if i got the right color of the thing i got, because it didn't occur to me to check. and now it's in the new house, and i'm in the old house, and i won't know until tomorrow. and the boxes are so heavy that even if i got the wrong color, i don't know if i can bear to take them back.
but i paid less than 3.00/gal for gas. did i mention that?
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