Dad's Birthday

Tonight I am going to some Celtic concert. I really don't know a lot about it. When I asked my dad what he wanted for his birthday he told me he would like me to go this concert with him. And I bought my own ticket too. I'm sure it will be just lovely. It's not the first time that I've been to a concert with my dad. It's one thing he really likes to do that my mom hates, so it's usually one of us kids that goes with him. In fact, we often joke that the way to get Dad to love you is to go to concerts with him, thus I am the most loved child my father has. That's right, not only have I been to more concerts with him than anyone else, I've also been to his favorite performers. Kathy Matea, Susi Boggus, Allison Krauss, etc.

Although my dad might love me more than he loves my brothers and sisters, my mom isn't so easy to win over. We (my siblings and I) think that my mom bases her favorite on the number of children we have. Since I have none, it kind of takes me out of the running. For now, Shannon has a firm grip on first place as my mom's favorite child. Don't get me wrong, I know that both my parents love us all a lot. But coming from a family of eight children we are always asking our parents who their favorite is...you think I might have learned my lesson about that question.... It's just a funny subject to talk about with my parents. They never really give us a straight answer, so we just assume and speculate about what they really think. Not quite as often as we used to though. Not since Sandy moved out of state.

Tagged

1. What book have you read recently?

I just finished "If life were Easy it wouldn't be Hard" by Sheri Dew. It was fantastic and made me want to be a better person.

2. Given the chance, what special ability/power would you like to have?

Flying, of course. Is there really any other answer?

3. List two things you have eaten today:

A. A spearmint mint

B. A cheese stick...both of which were free treats during Core testing! Yay for testing treats!

4. What's your favorite color? Why?

Yellow. I guess cause it's happy! I don't know I've just always loved it.

5. Where is the place you want to go the most?

Somewhere warm...no hot. I'm not much of a traveler so maybe California or Portland. Haven't been there in a while. I miss it.

7. Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after the rain?

Literally? Yep.

8. What would you do if you were a billionaire?

Invest my money. Share with my family, fund a national recycling program.

9. Which type of person do you hate the most?

People that are insincere. I really don't like fake niceness. I'd rather not have you be nice to me if you really don't mean it.

10. What are two things on your to do list right now?

Clean my car and talk with an advisor in the math department at UVU.

11. If you have a fault, would you rather the people around you point it out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?

Whatever. I'm sure I'm already aware of it. They can tell me if they want.

12. List two jobs you have had:

Gift Wrapper and Envelope Stuffer.

13. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?

My religion.

14. Is there anything that you have done which you regret?

Sure there is...not that I want to tell you.

15. Name two of your bad habits:

Staying up late and sleeping in til the last minute possible.

16. What are your feelings about the person who tagged you?

She's nice and funny. Really a great person.

17. Who do you Tag? Why?

Suzi: to see what she says.
Tricia Flores: cause her blog is really boring and this might make it more interesting.

Instruction: Copy questions, remove answers and replace with your own answers to the list of questions. Then, tag as many people you want, at least one, and list them out in the end of your post. Notify them that they have been tagged. Enjoy getting to know those you have tagged better, unless they are bitter and decide not to play along!

Fast Food

Sadly I eat more fast food than I really want to admit. My new favorite is a spicy chicken go wrap from Wendy's. If you haven't tried it, don't! I find that I am starting to crave them. They are quite tasty. I've also tried the grilled wrap...not as good. I think that is because it has some sort of honey mustard sauce which I don't care for.

I was first introduced to the wraps by Tracy's boyfriend, Randy. She was telling me that he loves them and then he sent me a picture of one...I'm still not sure why. A couple of days after that Tracy and I were planning to have lunch together. After much deliberation (as is always the case when we are trying to decide where to eat), we settled on an old classic, Wendy's. I thought it would be a great time to try the new spicy chicken wrap. And I did. And I liked it. I ate my second one yesterday. It was delightful.

I went to the Wendy's website to find a picture of one and I also looked at the nutrition information. 320 calories for one. And you know it doesn't fill you up. Yikes! I have got to be better at packing a lunch for work and avoiding the ease of fast food.

New Links

I've decided to expand my link list (ahhh...that's a good alliteration). My sister asked me to link some of my cousins to my blog, so here you go. I don't know if I recommend them, since I've never read them myself. Hopefully that will change since I did take the time to find their blogs, and then copy the addresses and then add them to my list. I guess I love my family to do all that for one sister. :)

Spring Break

I realize that it has been a while since I have favored you with a post. I was out of town and then home for a few days and then out of town again. It was fabulous!! The worst thing about a vacation is coming back to work...yuck.

So, I went to Colorado first to visit my sister and her new baby and the rest of her family. I also have a sister living in Fort Collins that was down for the occasion. My sister's newest baby, Aubrey, was being blessed. I just want to let you know that my sisters have super cute kids! Thus, my fear of living up to those family expectations. All of my nieces and nephews are really cute. I fear I may have to adopt children, therefore having the ability to hand-pick my children and their cuteness. Anyway, it was fantastic to see those members of my family. Also, kids are funny. My seven-year-old nephew described himself as a "total weird-o." I was asking him some questions for a homework assignment. The Colorado trip was really fast. Especially considering the eight hours to get there. But it was worth it.

After being home for a few days I went to Las Vegas (this trip has actually been planned for a while). I have another sister that lives there and went to visit her during spring break. It was a fun and warm trip. That's the second worst thing about going on vacation: coming back to cold Utah. While in Vegas I ate a $7 fried cheese triangle, went to see Phantom of the Opera, played with my nieces, bought some summer clothes, watched the Belagio Fountains, went to Madam Tussuad's wax museum, watched Sam waste $20 dollars in a slot machine (so boring), and celebrated my niece's third birthday (I bought her a black baby doll...she named him baby boy). That niece turned three today and she is super funny! My favorite quote from the week is, "Kallie and Whitney and they have hair and THEY HAVE MY CABBAGE PATCH DOLL!!!" Good times!

Updates

I just thought that I would give a few updates to those that read my blog regularly...not that there are too many of you.

I am feeling much better now, thankfully. Although, I still have an unusually large amount of mucus. I'm not sure how it is possible for one to blow their nose so many times and still have stuff left to blow.

After talking with a return missionary that served in Thailand, Sam and I found the secret to good sticky rice. It's sweetened-condensed milk. I know, who would have thunk? Yummy. Still not quite perfected though.

The Counting Crows CD was good, there are some strange songs on it though. Like 1492...not a big fan of that one. It kind of scared me too, considering it is the first song on the CD. I listen to it often though.

And my computer has been behaving much better recently. It maybe loves me a little bit.

Monday Funk

So, as you may or may not know, I really don't like Mondays. They are always the worst! I hate trying to get up in the morning and I am usually EXTRA retarded on Mondays. I know...that is saying a lot, considering my normal level of retardedness.

Today I woke up feeling good, for a Monday. I was getting into my car and noticed that the sky was particularly dark. (I had decided to dress springy and wore capris and flip-flops.) I was thinking I might have chosen the wrong thing to wear, but was optimistic that the dark clouds would be blown away soon enough. Well, as I drove to work it just got worse and worse. It started raining and then it turned to hail...yuck! During the first class and a half that I interpret the hail had turned to snow. Why is it snowing on April 7th?!? That is so not cool.

Sick

I consider myself to be pretty lucky. I work in public schools and I rarely get sick. When I do get sick, I am a complete baby about it. Really, I am only talking about colds, sore throats, etc. I can't remember the last time I threw-up (knock on wood). At the first sign that I may be getting sick I run to the store and stock up on anything and everything that will help. It's interesting how when I am sick it drives all other things from my mind. I mean today is the day of the new Counting Crows album and the only reason I remembered was because I looked at my blog. Isn't that pathetic?!?

When I do get sick, there are some things that I must have. First and foremost is Puffs tissues with lotion. I am a tissue snob. It's true. I carry my own box with me wherever I go. As a little side note: What's with those cheap tissues that schools have anyway? Where do they even buy that junk? Those things are awful! I know that my nose is going to get all red and irritated anyway, so I try to help it as much as possible. I also start taking decongestants as soon as possible. I think it helps. I ensure I get my daily dose of vitamin C (although I should probably do this all the time). Last time I had a cold I did the whole zycam thing. I think it helps but I bought the kind you let dissolve in your mouth...YUCK!!! They are sick. I've also done the aribourne thing. I also thought that it helped to keep my cold to a minimal duration. All I have to say is that it nice having a real job, so when you feel like your head is going to explode you can stay home and still get paid for it.

Counting Crows

Probably my favorite band ever is the Counting Crows. It's true. Their music is just classic. They have been around forever and they are still making albums. Their newest one comes out tomorrow! I'm pretty excited about that. I think it's amazing that they have been around so long and are still going strong. Unfortunately, I have only had the opportunity to see them in concert once. It was fantastic! I thought that since they are releasing a new album they might also go on tour...and they are...with Maroon 5...but not coming to Utah. Just my luck, right?!?

I think it would be a great reason to go on a road trip. They won't be to the West until later in the year, but I am going to start planning it now!

I also love Matchbox 20 and have been to most of their concerts here in Utah, and the Rob Thomas show as well. Those were some good times. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the most recent of their shows. When I went to the Rob Thomas concert I had amazing seats! (Just because my friend and I had joined the fan-club and got to buy tickets early through that.) I think it made me a concert-snob though. If I have to sit further away than the 7th row on the floor, I don't want to go. Once you see Rob Thomas that close up, there's just no going back.

Music is good. What are your favorite groups/artists?

My Computer Hates Me...

So, my sweet new car has an auxiliary plug in it. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I thought that it would be a good time to transfer all of my CDs to my computer so I could put them on my ipod. Genius, right? Well, not really. I should have done it a long time ago, but I was lazy.

In the midst of this transfer, my itunes decides to stop working. Yeah, it's very strange, and super frustrating. I was working on it this afternoon, when it freaked out on me. I think I am going to have to restart my whole computer to get it to work again. I just don't know why my computer decided to hate me now. I've been good to it, really I have. I think it must be due to the fact that I started blogging. First Amber, then Tracy (although her computer has had issues for a while), and now me. I just hope the curse doesn't continue. Good Luck.

Sweet Thai Sticky Rice with Mango

This is my new love. Saturday night Sam and I went to Thai Chili Gardens for dinner. When we got there they sat us and then no one came to serve us. We sat there for a while...trying to decide if we just wanted to leave or complain or what. A waiter walked by, Sam stopped him, and the waiter asked, "Have you been helped yet?" We told him we hadn't and he said he would go see who our waiter was supposed to be.



He came back and said he didn't know who our waiter was supposed to be, but he would just go ahead and help us. (Yeah, we think he was supposed to be our waiter the whole time too.) They did give us a free appetizer for our trouble though. Anyway...on to the point. We ordered our food and it was good, but the best part was the dessert! We ordered some sticky rice with mango and oh-my-gosh! It was soooo good! If I wasn't so full I would have eaten another order of it by myself as well, instead I decided to get one to go.



After that delicious dessert I was determined to figure out how to make the sitcky rice dessert. Sam and I got online and found a recipe. It seemed simple enough, although we knew we would have to find an Asian market to get the right type of rice, etc. Yesterday we went to this sweet Asian market (1st Oriental Market in Orem) and found a 5 pound bag of rice for only $4 (that's as much as the dessert was at the restaurant). Yeah, we were pretty excited to try and make our own sticky rice. We tried it last night...it was our first attempt. It tasted fine, but turned out more like a rice pudding than the rice that we had at the restaurant. So, if you want to try a really good dessert, I would recommend that you go to Thai Chili Gardens on 800 North in Orem just west of State Street.

Pore Sucker

I have developed a new hobby...I guess you could call it that. A few days ago Sam and I were out shopping. We were looking for something specific and the store I thought would have it, didn't. They suggested we try Dollar Tree. So, we rushed over to Dollar Tree (it was almost nine and we assumed they would be closing soon). Although, they didn't have what we were looking for, it was an entertaining shopping trip. If you haven't been to a dollar store lately, and you have absolutely nothing better to do, you should go walk around one. It had been a while since I had been to the great edifice that is Dollar Tree.

We decided that since we were there we would walk around the store. We found a few interesting things to buy...sour nerds (a big box), these delicious sweet tart licorice rope things (they were cheaper here than other places we had bought them before), and there were other entertaining things. For example, did you know that Dollar Tree has a refrigerator section? Me neither. If you wanted you could buy some fish from the dollar store. The best thing that we bought was a pore cleaner. That's right, for only one dollar we were going to have the cleanest pores on the block!

Needless to say, the pore cleaner didn't work. But it did provide some fun for the night. When we got to my house, I opened the pore cleaner. There were some short instructions, most of which warned against over use saying the pore cleaner could cause "purple scars or spots" on your face. Let me explain. The pore cleaner was basically a handheld vacuum for your face. We did have a concern that we might get pore cleaner hickeys on our faces. To safe guard against that, Sam offered to try it on his stomach first. Once we got the pore cleaner turned on we gave it a go. It really didn't have enough suction to do anything. Mostly it just vibrated our skin. We had a few laughs over it, and then Sam tried to attack me with it. Later, when my brother came home, he also tried the pore cleaner. We were hoping he would get a face-hickey so we could tease his girlfriend, but it didn't turn out that way. All in all it was a great find. The shopping trip caused us to visit more dollar stores, and we did eventually find what we were originally looking for (thank you Honk's). And some other fun things along the way, none of which are as great as the pore sucker.

Spring Ahead!

I am so excited for the time change coming up...this weekend! I am ready for the warm weather and for the night to be light when I leave work. Everyday I work I look outside and say to my co-worker, "This is what it is going to be like at 6:00 next week." It's so great! I can't really say that I have a favorite season, but winter may be my least favorite. Although, I think it is important to have the cold to appreciate the warm. There are some good things about winter. I know that Tracy made a short list a while back...I was going to add to it, but wasn't in the blogging club at that time. So, I am going to say my favorite things about winter:

1. I LOVE coats/jackets...you have no idea unless you really know me. I have quite a collection. One down side...getting them all dry cleaned at the end of the season. I made two fabulous coat purchases this year. LOVE!!!

2. Your car is like a refrigerator...I keep a case of water bottles in my car and it's icy cold when I drink them during the winter. Sometimes they are a little too icy...

3. I like my winter shoes better than my summer shoes. Boots baby.

4. Snow is really pretty, just so long as it stays off the roads. That first snowfall really is spectacular. The world looks so white and clean. It's just nice.

5. There are long breaks from school during the winter (that means time off of work for me). I know summer vacation is longer, but the breaks during the year are really nice and refreshing.

I suppose those are my top 5 resons for liking the winter. I guess it would be nice if it could just be shorter. We've had a really harsh winter this year, something none of us are used to anymore. I am so ready for the spring!

This blog is dedicated to Tracy for telling me how to add pictures.

I am blog retarded...

Well, I've never really claimed to be tech savvy. In fact I've often said that I am computer illiterate. That fact was recently renewed as I tried to put a picture with my last post. I hear it's easy. But, I tried...and failed. It was going to be sweet too! I was going to have a picture of some pixie stixs. Since that didn't work out so well, you'll just have to imagine the picture. Awesome, right?!?

I might try again to add some pictures to my posts, after I have received some instruction from those who are more wise than me (yeah, that's basically anyone). I hope the content of my posts are enough for your entertainment.

Sugar...

For those of you that don't know, I LOVE sugar! Seriously, it is my addiction. Seriously. I tried living without it once and it was not good. I was grumpier than I usually am and it just created inner turmoil. Let me explain. It was a bet that I had going with my family, to see who could go the longest without eating sugar. Well, I have this stubborn streak in me, that is unyielding. So, there was the part of me that wanted to eat sugar and then there was the other side of me that was refusing to give in to the bet.

I lasted for about two months before the addiction took control and beat the stubborn half down. I vowed that I would never do that again. It was just not worth it. It's better to eat some sugar everyday in moderation than to go without for a couple months and then gorge on it later. So, here's my personal philosophy about sugar. The more pure it is, the better. I am not the biggest lover of chocolate. It's just not that good to me. I mean I do eat it, just not that often. I hardly ever choose to buy it either. I think a pixie stick is as close to pure sugar as you can get. Mmm...good stuff. It's not like I want to go eat sugar from the pantry or anything (although the occasional spoonful of brown sugar is delightful). I just like my candy to be super sugary, but also have a flavor.

I also love sour candy. I eat so much of it at a time that it makes my teeth hurt. Ever had that experience? It wears the enamel off your teeth and then it hurts to chew regular food, and sour candy too. It's not that fun. So, I try not to let it get to that point. Although, I've been bored at work lately and so I've eaten a lot of sugary-sour candy there. I am currently taking a break from the sour stuff. Ahh, the one true love of my life! Sugar!