Things I Have Observed and Have Strict Opinions About...

1. Never buy that dress one size too small thinking you will lose weight to fit in it because you totally have a trainer now and are totally committed to maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. You won't. Get the 8, not the 6.

2. I will never like drinking Diet Coke. Never.

3. Eating the hostess cupcakes while driving up to Logan is not cool, especially if you think it's ok because it's a "tradition".

4. My definition of cool is The Killers....or Barack Obama. Either way.

5. Ashley's perfume smells better than Mary-Kate's.

6. Suri Cruise is THE most beautiful child I have ever seen, even though I think her parents are crazies.

7. Who is Justin Timberlake to bring Sexy Back? I don't know about you, but I don't recall Sexy ever leaving.

8. One of the fastest ways to annoy me is to use the acronym LOL. Seriously, I don't need you to make sure I know I am making you laugh, out loud or in any other manner.

9. Izzy is starting to piss me off.

10. Fine. You all win. Whatever, I'm over it.

In celebration of Election Day being just 13 days away and because my sister's husband is chin-deep in his own political agenda (so much so that he is hopping a plane to Africa on Nov. 8th...yeah, not kidding here) I wanted to comment on my recent issue with the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office.

A littled PO'ed at them, not going to lie.

It began when I printed off my voter registration, signed it and sent it on its way.

That was 60 days ago.

However, when I picked up my mail on this past Monday, I received a letter from the SL County Clerk's Office claiming my registration could not be processed. Something about my place of birth was insufficient - it's Redding, CA nothing insufficient about it. Look it up.

The letter stated that I needed to call the office and speak to an Elections Official. Usually, I would have huffed and puffed, put the letter on the table and sat back down to watch Laguna Beach or something, but I went against my usual procrastinating instincts and called the place right away. And let me just say, IT'S A GOOD THING I DID.

You see the deadline for voter registration was Monday. THE DAY I GOT THAT STUPID LETTER. I couldn't believe it. I get on the phone and ask the dude to fix my registration and he says,

"you made it just in time."

What? I sent that thing in weeks ago.

"The deadline is today"

Oh ok, so you waited 60 days, 2 MONTHS to tell me I am ineligible to do the one thing that will validate all my opinions and ideas about Utah and it's screwed up ways because you think Redding, CA is what, how did you put it?? INSUFFICIENT?

Whatever, they can't stop me. The Salt Lake County Clerk can't stop me.

Hands Down




Last night me, Michelle, Eliza and Chuck went to the well-anticipated Dashboard Confessional concert in Orem. We bought these tickets a month or so ago as a birthday gift to Eliza, who LOVES Dahsboard and has been a fan for years and years. Brand New Opened for them which I was initially really excited about, but actually quite disappointed after their set. It was a little too head-banging for me. They sound much better on their albums than they do live, which is sad.

Dashboard was unreal. I wasn't expecting Chris Carraba to be as good an entertainer as he was but dude, go see Dashboard Confessional if you can. He sounded amazing and not all all off pitch or whiney, which I was afaid he might. The guy has this awesome way of getting everyone involved with the show. You can't help but follow him wherever he goes, back and forth, up and down the stage, which was amazing by the way. Such a creative set design. The backdrop was this cool windowed wall thing with huge red velvet curtains drapped along it. These huge paper lanterns hung from the ceiling, changing colors throughout each song. It was so cool. Dashboard played a great variety of new and old stuff, which was nice. After they ended their set, they came back out and encored Vindicated and Hand Down which are two of my favorite Dashboard songs. The encore was so fun. They just kept going and going - he even said he didn't want to leave. It was a great show, one the best I have ever been to. There's just something about going to a live concert. Nothing beats it.

We had a blast.

Take your time, figure it out...

I have this one song in my head and it's been there all freaking day. Me and Michelle discovered The Fold this weekend. They are rad and happen to be playing in SL tomorrow and I am totally going. Listen to "The Title Track." There's really nothing better than discovering a new band, one that you know is "all about the music" and still unknown by the lame MTV world that's waiting to pounce, throw them on TRL and put them on stupid 98.3 VFX. Really, it's the best. I'll take some pics at the show tomorrow.

Dooce is a blog I read pretty regularly. I think she is a fantastic writer and she takes really cool pictures wth her really cool camera. Dooce can be a little extreme in some of her topics but still, her writing is so great. Anyways, this past Saturday there was this huge story about her in the SL Trib. It's pretty good. I had no idea about some of the things she talks about, like her depression and thoughts of suicide, but I'm glad the article was so honest. You should read it.

This past weekend Michelle came up to hang out a bit. Our good friend Chris lost his mother to cancer last week so we went with some of our friends from Logan down to Tooele for her funeral. It was the largest funeral I have ever been to. The entire church chapel and overflow room was packed. As I awed at how many people were there to pay their respects, I couldn't help but wonder if I could fill a room like that at my own funeral. Probably not. But it was so great to see how many people were touched by this one woman.
So Saturday was a little bit of a downer, but it was good to have all our friends there supporting Chris through this difficult time.

I am STOKED for Oprah tomorrow.



Barack Obama is supposed to be on and I think he is great. He is so cool and so put together. I am a fan, definitely. He's so handsome too! I wonder if he will run for President. Maybe he'll say something on Oprah tomorrow.

I want to make some salmon SO BAD but it's just too stinky to cook when you have roommates! I made it like a month ago and it definitely reeked up our house. Maybe I will just go get takeout from somewhere so I can eat some without having to cook it. Hmm...

Welcome Alumni!


This weekend I got talked into going up to Logan with a couple friends of mine. I know, I know I broke up with Logan, but it was Homecoming and technically Homecoming is for alumni and since I am totally an alum, I was practically required to attend. It was a a pretty fun Homecoming too. We actually WON our football game which is some sort of miracle seeing as how we are the worst Div. 1 football team in the nation (we really are, look it up). The game was pretty exciting, we came from behind and beat Fresno State 13-12. Afterwords a big group of us went to dinner and then went to this Homecoming party on campus. I thought I would get really depressed and sad about being back on campus, but it was actually nice to know that I didn't have to worry about going to class or taking any tests ever again. Plus, the crowd at this party seemed so young to me. Everyone looked like they were 16 years old so even though I did feel a little out of place, for the first time in a long time, I felt much better about being a post-grad adult.

Sunday, I didn't make it to church. However I did make it to lunch with Chuck and Eliza, who also didn't make it to church. It was really good to see them. They just bought a house so they showed me around and everything they've done to it. They painted one of the bathrooms and were so proud to show it off. It was really cute. They were so funny because they kept talking about their "cool" neighbors who are about their the same age but they have a baby too. Chuck and Eliza couldn't stop talking about how cool these people were and how much they wanted to be friends with them. I asked them why they didn't just ask this cool couple to come over for dinner one night.

"Oh my gosh, no. They are way too cool for us"

"I think you two are pretty cool, though. Maybe your neighbors think you are the cool ones."

"No. Not possible."

So despite that fact that Chuck and Eliza have a serious "Couple Crush" on their neighbors next door, they are really two of my favorite people in the world.

I wish my sister would find out the sex of her baby already. Jeez. Everyone seems to think it's a girl all of a sudden. I thinks it's a boy, but whatever. Hopefully she finds out soon.

Has anyone ever seen the show "Deal or No Deal"? OMG. So dumb. Maybe it's just the episode I sat down and watched tonight but this lady was insane. Way dramatic, pacing all around the studio, lying on the ground, trying to make the ultimate decision...DEAL OR NO DEAL??? Lame. Howie Mandel, you are so lame.

I hope the A's win it all this year. How sweet would that be....

I am watching Sportscenter right now and they just asked viewers the following question: Who would you rather have as a teammate? Alex Rodriguez or Terrell Owens. I say A-Rod for sure. Who would want T.O on your team??!?! He is out of his wide receiving mind. Did you even see him during the Philly game this weekend?? Please. The dude has serious issues.

Does anyone who watches college football know who Eric Weddle is? He plays like every position at the University of Utah. He is a pretty big deal around here. Heather is obsessed with him. I totally know him. He married Chanel, one of the girls that lived in the dorms with me. They are from L.A. He was baptized about 2 years ago and they got married 6 months ago. Eric is an awesome football player. Look him up. I bring him up because he is on the news...again.

I took a total of 3 pictures this weekend. The first is the selfie at the top. I hate selfies. I am embarassed that I even took this one, but I think it's kinda cool. Whatever, I've got nothing on Jen or Shannon. They invented the selfie.

These are the other two I took. I need to take some pics of the trees around my neighborhood. It's definitely fall in Salt Lake City.






We pulled off a miracle of a win and then peeps rushed the field. Kinda lame. But whatever, that was probably the one time Aggie fans will get the chance to rush the field so we'll take it.

Smiley Riley

Last night my good friend Sara called me to see if I could babysit at the last second for her 18 month-old daughter Riley. Riley is the funniest child ever so I had no hesitations with saying yes.

Sara was going to Park City with her boyfriend to listen to some famous house techno DJ she loves. Sara is way into techno, like she could be a total raver is she didn't have a small child to raise. I didn't even know DJ's had fans, let alone techno Dj's. I'm sorry, I don't mean to hate on techno DJ's but techno music is THE WORST music ever created. I don't get how anyone can actually enjoy listening to the same exact beat over and over and over again, until the wee hours in the morning. We went to a club in Paris and that's what they played all night. We went with it for about an hour and then couldn't take it anymore. By the end of the night I wanted to scream, "It's the same song, people! Don't you see, it's the EXACT SAME SONG! I feel like I am taking crazy pills!" (shout out to Zoolander)

Anyways, Sara and her rave.

So Sara wouldn't be back until around 2 am.m so I just brought stuff to stay the night. Since she lives right by my office, I could just head to work without having to go home.

I haven't babysat since I was like 15 or something and haven't been around little kids a lot, but Riley and I had a good time. She is hilarious. We watched Laguna Beach together and a couple times I would let something like "Oh my gosh" or "She is so mean" slip, and then Riley would immitate me. Probably not the best show to be watching with a baby, but still, she liked it I think. Riley ended up falling asleep after 20 minutes so after I put her in her bed, I flipped through the channels until I could no longer keep my eyes open.

Sara came home from techno party at 2. Sara is probably my oldest friend. We were BFF from kindergarden till about 9th grade. when we got to high school, she began cheerleading and I was into sports and student council so we kinda lost each other among our other friends. However, our senior year she joined Student Council and we had some history class together so we got to talk more. But I hadn't really seen or heard from Sara until about 2 years ago when she called me up out of the blue. She had got my number from my mom. She said she still remembered my house number after all these years. Weird, I still remember hers too. Anyways, Sara had gotten married right after high school and moved to Layton, Utah with her husband who was in the military stationed on Hill Air Force Base. She had Riley pretty soon after and that's when she decided to call me up. She remembered I had gone to Utah for college and she didn't really know anyone out here. I am so glad she called me. Sara and I were like peas and carrots when we were little. We were always together and my best childhood memories definitely include her. I am so happy we are friends again. It's weird when you remember someone as a skinny 11 year-old with bangs and a side pony tail and then have to get to know them again as a divorced adult, with a baby, nonetheless. Crazy.

It's rainy today. Chilly and rainy. Makes me want to go home and take a nap. I have to go to the gym today though, I mean I really HAVE to go. I am meeting with a trainer to go over my fitness goals and to start a workout plan. Should be interesting. I hope he doesn't laugh at me...

How is this happening??

I can't even believe what is going on in this world. There was another school shooting this morning, this time in a little Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. You can read about it HERE.

This was been the third school shooting in the last seven days. Last week, there was one in Colorado, near Columbine, where a man took 6 girls hostage, molested them and killed one before he turned his gun on himself. I don't know why these stories have affected me so much but they have. Maybe it's because it wasn't that long ago that I was in high school, I don't know. I can't believe how something so horrible can happen in this country. How can we be so preoccupied with the condition of other countries that we are allowing lunatics to wander onto high school campuses and shoot our kids? This doesn't make sense to me. People talk about terrorism but they never talk about like this. When a parent sends their child to school and can't help but feel afraid for their safety, how is that not terrorism? I am not a mother but it's teriffying to think about one day bringing a child into a world like this. Something has to change.

I remember in high school, right after the Columbine shootings, I was a sophomore and there was so much paranoia circulating my school. Everyday there was another rumor of someone getting caught with a gun in their locker or a teacher finding a threatening note in her class. It was chaos. It got worse when one morning, the fire alarm went off and our teachers were instructed to take us out onto the football field. No one really knew what was going on, but our shaken minds were immediately filled with potential scenarios of guns and violence. After an hour on the field, with questions still unanswered, I went over to Mr. Schwerdt, my student council advisor (and good friend to this day). If anyone knew what was going on, he would. After his inital reluctance to tell me, I finally got it out of him that there had been a bomb threat and that the police were checking the school for explosives. I remember feeling sad that day, if anything. I was sad for my school, sad that instead of being excited for the next football game or dance, we were talking about bombs in our classrooms. Instead of laughing with my friends at lunch, we were sitting together on the football field, while police raided our school. We stayed on the field for 4 hours before being let back inside. Nothing had been found and the police declared the threat a hoax. But I remember how that felt. The fear, panic. It isn't right. I pray that one day this country will figure out it's priorities so kids aren't more concerned with someone walking into their classroom with a gun than with what they got on a calculus test.