New Blog

I decided to switch to WordPress. Blogger bugs and Wordpress is better.
Here's my new address:

www.brianneolsen.wordpress.com

"Harry Reacts"

I kind of agree. Kind of.

Why The Office is so bad this season.

Let's be honest. The hour-long episodes aren't doing it any favors. And Ryan is annoying.

Some guy once tried to explain to me that what makes a kiss a great kiss isn't necessarily the act. It's the anticipation. That's how I feel about this season with The Office. The anticipation of PB&J has peaked and now it's kind of like, "well, now what?" Not to say I don't love seeing them together. How cute was Jim last night when after he talked to Dwight about why he left Scranton last year and walked right into the office and kissed Pam.

So cute.

And best line of the night:

Darrell to Kelly: "I need you to access your uncrazy side."

God Bless England.

I've walked around with the most pathetic looking calves my entire life. They are sad, really. I have zero muscle in my calves. I can remember my volleyball coaches making fun of my legs and making me do extra jumping exercises than everyone else because they were so small. Jerks. Besides, it didn't help. I could work out my calves for years and they'd still be these definition-less toothpicks. Because of my twig-like misfortune, I've never been able to wear tall boots. You know, knee-high, cute, pointy-toe ones. Well, why browsing the net for some boots made for stick calves like mine, I stumbled upon DUO, a British boot company that offers not only foot sizes, but calve sizes as well! I could not belive my good fortune.
The only problems are, due to the crappy exchange rate, they are pricey and you have to pay for international shipping. But I mean, at least they'll fit my toothpick legs right? Totally worth it. But I will be saving up for these. I can't afford to buy boots right now. Even if I don't have to safety pin them.

YES...

Are you ready for this?

Two of the coolest people I know happen to be married to each other and I've convinced them to start their own blog.

If you know what's good for you, you'll check out Eliza and Chuck.

When I think about the people I want to associate myself with, I think of Eliza and Chuck. They are funny, smart and cool...basically your top of line kind of people. You can read how I know them here.

You've got the moneymaker...

This weekend I got to see Rilo Kiley at The Joint inside Hard Rock Cafe. Great, great show. They are so awesome. I love their lyrics, especially. Way clever and honest. My favorite song is "Moneymaker." I put up a playlist on the sidebar so you can hear it.

AND, did anyone ever watch that show on Nickelodeon way back when called Salute Your Shorts? You know, the one about the kids at summer camp? Well, I found out that the guitarist of Rilo Kiley used to be on that show! He played Ronnie, or "Pinsky", as all the camp kids nicnamed him. Anyway, I thought that was funny. He looks exactly the same.

(He played a song on his ukulele. So rad)

I also burned my fingers real bad making Grandmother Paul's Fried Chicken, courtesy of Paula Dean. The chicken was really good, but I now no longer have finger prints on my right hand.

Added to the list of, 'Things I Wish I Could Afford to Hire People To Do For Me"

Last night I decided I was so sick of eating out I forced myself to go to the grcoery store.

I hate grocery shopping, for several reasons;

1. I never know what I want to make. I read somewhere that if you plan meals out in advance it will be more easy to eat healthier and save money since you aren't eating out as much. This is great advice, except that I am the type of person that never knows what I want to eat until I'm practically starving and the hunger pangs are stabbing me in the gut.

2. I'm totally impatient. Grocery stores require a very tedious, organizational route, or else you're left going back and forth between the dairy aisles, back over to the veggies, and then back over to dairy because, oh yeah, you need cheese to make those enchiladas.. Which brings me to my next point...

3. It's inevitable, I will always forget something. And when I do, I hate that I have to go all the way back to the store to get the missing, and often required, ingredient.

Which is why I've decided to make a meal plan for next week and create a very detailed list, organized by section in the grocery store. And then actually stick to it. There, that's my goal. And goals are not goals until you write them down, so there you have it. Additionally, I will be trying out 2 new recipes that I've never tried before. I find my self browsing AllRecipes.com or the Food Network's recipes all the time but have yet to freaking print out the cards and make something.

(Last night I made my Mom's chicken and broccoli casserole and I must say, I did a very good job with it)

"Worst Example of Media Relations Ever."

Things I Have Observed and Have Strict Opinions About, Vol. 2

1. Coke in a can is the best beverage ever. EVER.

2. My roommate is crazy and needs to not do her Carmen Electra Spriptease Workout when I am in the house.

3. Said roommate also needs to get her vibrator out of my living room.

4. My brother needs to stop calling me at midnight to tell me Arturo will be coming over in an hour to get his couch. Tell Arturo to come back tomorrow.

5. Dolce and Gabbana makes some darn fine perfume.

6. My visiting teachers are really nice. Especially the one who recently got engaged and doesn't talk about her dress the entire time she's over.

7. Baja Fresh is like, really good.

8. Hate paying for a Gold's Gym membership when I don't go to Gold's Gym....or any gym for that matter.

9. I can't stop watching THIS

10. Jim and Pam!!!!!!!

Buh-Bye

Cleveland totally sent the Yankees packing last night. So awesome.

Better clean out the office, Joe.

Also, the Cowboys-Bills game was amazing. Tony Romo is hot. Even when he throws 5 interceptions.

Conference Wknd


This weekend I went up to Utah to go to conference with Shannon and to hang out in Logan for a night. The weather was cold and rainy, but it was still way fun. Shannon and I went to Saturday afternoon's session of conference. After driving around for an hour looking for a place to park, we finally found a spot literally right outside the south gate of temple square. It was a miracle we found a spot that close. It made walking in the freezing cold rain to and from the conference center a lot more convenient.

After conference, we drove up to Logan to hang out for the night. I love Logan in the fall and was so excited to see the canyon and all it's bright fall colors. Even though it was a little blustery up there, it was still so pretty. It made me miss Logan a lot. We didn't do anything too exciting, but it was good to hang out and relax with my peeps.

Uhhh.....Bingo?....

I took my Mom, Aunt and brother out last night to play Bingo.

My aunt won $10,000 on the first game.

Read the story HERE.

Thursday...

...it opens in Las Vegas! Noon, to be precise. It's going in the Miracle Mile shops inside Planet Hollywood. I walked past it last night and peaked through the barrier closing it off. Cannot wait. It's so big! I think I might have to stop by after work....

I like me a sale...

Everyone in my office is gone today. Most of the people I work for are in New York. I wish I could have gone. Instead, I bought a couple items on BananaRepublic.com. They are having a sale....

I like Banana Republic, if only for the reason that they have everything they sell available for tall, lurpy bodies like mine. I've never bought their jeans before. I'm usually really picky with jeans and would never buy before trying on, but it's not very often you find jeans with a 36" inseam so they are definitely worth a shot.

Ok, The Office last night???? SO GOOD. The world is right again now that Pam and Jim are really together. Although, they had me fooled in the beginning with the whole "deny, deny, deny" thing. They were so cute when they got caught. But seriously, beyond that, it was hiliarious. I don't know how I feel about the hour long episodes. I kind of thought it was too much time to fill for this show. I'm glad they're going back to 1/2 hour episodes.

Because The Office and Grey's Anatomy are on at the same time and because I don't have TiVo, I have to go home and watch the premiere of Grey's online. I felt a little bad for choosing The Office over Grey's but I really HAD to find out about Jim and Pam. I had to. It could not wait. Plus, NBC doesn't replay full episodes online and ABC does so there's that too.

NBC, seriously? Who do you think you are?

My blackberry has been shipped. I should get it on Monday or Tuesday.

I feel like my blogging skills are a little lackluster. I need to find more interesting and profound things to write about than online shopping and television.

Soon to be CrackBerry user

I just bought a blackberry pearl on ebay. For a steal too.

Weekend Summary

This weekend was a good one. The first good one in Vegas I've had in a while. The first time in a long time that I turned off my t.v. and ventured outside. My Mom was in town for work stuff. It was nice to have her here. We went to a few good restuarants, played some Wheel of Fortune (well she did, I refuse to play slots), and did some shopping on Saturday ( I forgot how much I love Nordstrom) before I dropped her off at the airport for her flight back to Sacramento. Thanks Mom for hanging out with me.

Saturday I received a phone call from a newly acquired friend of mine who wanted to see if I wanted to go to a Nascar race with some of his friends. He wasn't actually going, which I thought was strange, but I was feeling slightly outgoing so I decided "Why not."

Luckily I had met his friends once before so I wasn't going in totally blind. And fortunately these people are really funny and smart and normal, which makes things so much better. We headed out to the LV Motor Speedway and the drive that usually takes half an hour took 2 hours with what seemed like half of Vegas trying to get out of the city. This particular race was the truck series which brought out just as many crazy people as regular Nascar. That speedway though is unreal. The place is huge, seating like 300,000 people and it was packed full. I'd never been to a race before but I totally see why Nascar is the most popular "sport" in the country. The noise was deafening and I would have bought some earplugs had they not been $10 a pop. Actually, 15 minutes into the race, you sort of get used to it and it's not so bad. We had really good seats, right along the final stretch and were witnesses to a pretty cool wreck right along pit-row. After seeing this wreck, and a couple other spin-outs/close calls I'm convinced that is why people love Nascar. The crashes. People actually cheer when a car, or truck in this case, slams into another going 200 mph. Nascar is crazy.

After leaving early to try and beat the traffic out (mildly successful), we ate some dinner and then went over to some party. I had a bad feeling I was going to run into Seth when I walked in and low and behold, there he was in the backyard. I hadn't seen him since we broke up so the pit in my stomache was definitely there. Since I knew he hadn't seen me yet, I tried my best to avoid eye contact. If he wanted to come say hi to me, that was fine, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to talk to him. I know, totally mature. I was having a good time with the group I came with and I just didn't feel like dealing with it. We left after about 45 minutes and he never said anything to me, so that was that. Conflict diverted.

Sunday I made it to church, opting to go with some of the guys I hung out with on Saturday. We left early and went over to one of their houses to eat lunch and also play some Wii. Now, I won't get into it here, but the Wii is TRIPPY. Let's just say Nintendo has come a long way since the days of Duck Hunt.

Good weekend. And the weather was beautiful. I hope this lasts a while.

4 Days!!!!

Until The Office and Grey's!

Freaking cannot wait.

BINGO


This past weekend I went along with my roommate (the normal one) and some of her friends to play BINGO down at a locals casino. I've never played real casino BINGO before and thought it would be a pretty fun way to spend $15 on a Friday night. Well, I soon learned that legit BINGO is quite the experience. Let me paint the scene for you:


First of all, the group I am going with make BINGO a regular activity. Mind you, these are twenty-something adults I'm with, not senior citizens, who the majority of the crowd was. We get there early, around 8:30 to "Reserve" our table for our group. We sit and I'm immediately pointed in the direction of the "Blotter" machine.


"A what?" I ask.


"A Blotter. You need a blotter. To mark your numbers. They're a dollar, or more if you want a good one"

First thing I think, I didn't know the blotter market was so competitive as to offer so many options. Also, the "Blotter" machine is definitely a vending machine, with literally 50 different types of blotters. I kept it simple with green.


As it gets closer to 9 p.m. (our game time) a line begins to form next to the cashier. My group instictively head over and stand at the end of the line. The following conversation takes place:


Me: "So how much is a card?"


Them: "Well, they don't have cards. They have sheets. We get the Small Rainbow."


Me: "What is a Small Rainbow?"


Them: "It's a stack of about 6 sheets with 12 BINGO squares on each page"


Me: "12? That's a lot."


Them: "Yeah it is. You might want to buy just a sheet of 6 to start out. It can get a little crazy."


Right. Well, not one to be outdone, especially when it comes to things like BINGO, I say,


"No. I'll get the rainbow thing. Go big or go home, right?"


So here we all are, with our blotters, our "Small Rainbows" and our complimentary Diet Pepsi's, awaiting the start of the game. To be quite honest, I'm a little nervous. And I had good reason to be. The numbers are read over the crappiest PA system I've ever heard. I can barely make out what the woman whose reading the numbers is saying. The whole time I'm going, "What? B-29?" "No, G-35" Luckily there's a couple huge boards that keep track of the numbers that have been read. Pausing to check the number throws me off and as I'm strugglings to scan my 12 BINGO squares before the next number is called, it's again practically coughed through the mic. It's rather intense. So much actually that no one talks. No one. It's silent, with the only sound coming from the inky blotters squishing the paper. Finally, after 10 minutes or so, a BINGO is hollered and much like the pressue being released from a tire, the entire room is filled with disappointed"Oh's" and "Ah's" and the immediate clatter of the elderly elbowing the person next to them exclaiming, "Look, I only need one more"

No one from our group won, but it was definitely really funny to experience anyway. I actually got really close a couple times and I found myself getting extremely nervous at the prospect of having to declare my BINGO. The anxiety was awful.

Missing My #1.

Jack's Mannequin, my favorite band ever, is playing at the U tonight in Salt Lake and all my friends are going. I'm so bummed I couldn't go up for it. Seriously. That would have been so rad. It helps that I've already seen their show but still. I mean, Andrew is my number 1 after all...

(Andy Roddick had been demoted to number 2 due to failure to beat Roger Federer this year. Or ever, actually.)

I don't really feel like blogging right now but I do need to address a couple things regarding the VMA's that were so wrongfully hyped..

Britney Spears opening performance was a joke. I'll be first to admit I miss the old days of Britney when she would dance around with pythons and whatnot, and had abs that inspired me to do an extra set of crunches. Which is why I was so excited to see this performance. The world is thirsy for the old Britney and we all just want her to come back to us. Well, her much anticiapted "comeback" performance last night was the most disappointed I've been in a while. Not only was it dull and boring, Britney herself looked less than excited to be there. What was worse was the camera pans across the audience. They looked pained. It was truly sad to watch, especially since this was such a hyped performance that was supposed to ignite her career again. R.I.P. Britney.

I didn't watch any of the rest of the "Music" awards (can MTV even be called "Music Television" anymore?) Except I did happen to catch Rhianna and Chris Brown's performance online this morning. I'm not really a fan of either but Chris Brown can MOVE.

Lars and the Real Girl

I can't wait to see this movie. I could watch Ryan Gosling read the back of a cereal box and be totally enthralled.

OMG

Chrissy and Clay kissed last night on Newport Harbor. They are so cute. I'm so happy for them.
Love that show. I'm not even going to pretend that I don't.

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend I decided to take advantage of my flight voucher from Southwest (this is the first time I have EVER actually reaped the rewards of "Frequent Flying") and head up to Utah. Eliza, Chuck, Liz, Michelle, Anna and Josh all come down to go to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Salt Lake, Trio. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up with what everyone's doing. And the Pomodoro was amazing, as usual.

My best married friends, Eliza and Chuck

Michelle and Liza

Josh, Me and Michelle. I look gross. Ignore it.

Josh is cute.

The rest of the weekend I spent up in Logan which was a little weird. I thought I'd be way depressed about not being up there anymore, but I was actually ok. I do really miss my friends up there, but there really isn't anything for me to do up there anymore. Oh besides, "Get really good at tennis" which was one reason to move back someone threw out there. I did hit up Old Grist which was AWESOME. I miss that too. Real bad. We also hit up Logan Lanes for some seriously bowling competition. So fun.

Cristos, me and Trevor

Me and Trevor, who I used to work with at Hamilton's.

Trev and Michelle

The better part of the weekend was spent watching my friend Joe tile his kitchen. I say use "watching" because there wasn't much I could do to help. I did sand down the linoleum though, and pull some nails out of the floor. But my tiling experience is unfortunately minimal so I wisely superivsed from the living room. It turned out really nice though. The guys did a great job. I didn't take an "after" picture, but you get the idea

After "Project Tile Joe's Kitchen" we went over to our friend Trevor's house to have a BBQ. It was so fun just hanging out in the backyard, laughing with my best friends. I miss them all so much and it was great to see them. We even squeezed in a tennis tournament which was definitely a good time.

It was such a great weekend. I had a blast and it really made me wish we all lived closer again. Maybe someday. Until then, thank goodness for the Rapid Rewards program.

Gear up...

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/articles/2007-09-05/200709051188982463187.html

Is it Worth it?

Typing that headline made me remember the episode of The Office where Ryan the Temp accidently starts a fire with the toaster oven and after the fire crew comes to put it out, Dwight's all, "Tell me this one thing, Temp. Was is worth it? Was it worth it, Temp?" He then proceeds to break into a sweet modified rendition of "We Didin't Start the Fire" Billy Joel would be proud of. So funny.

Anyway...

I REALLY want to go see Maroon 5 at the Pearl but tickets are SO expensive. I think they start at like $100 each. First of all, lame that Maroon 5 thinks they are that great to charge $100-$175 a ticket for their show and second of all, lame that all ticket prices in Vegas are like twice as expensive than anywhere else. So beat. I would love to see them, but I mean, I can't think of any band that would be worth spending that much money.

Going up Logan this weekend. I'm stoked. I need Old Grist Mill NOW.

This is the new tennis racquet I purchased today. It's the same one Maria Sharapova uses. I'm not a huge fan of Sharapova, but I'm no dummy. If it's good enough for her to play with, it definitely good enough for the likes of me. It's at the pro shop getting strung and should be good to pick up tomorrow night. I can't wait.

Speaking of tennis, Andy Roddick looked good last night. I mean, he played ok, but he literally looked so good in his all black get-up. H-O-T.

I'm also really into Spoon's latest album "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga."

I've never listened to Spoon before but I love this record.

I'm also really tempted to buy a MacBook Pro. I need a new computer and I'm not even going to pretend that the marketing geniuses over at Apple haven't sucked me in to all the hype. Those Apple stores are so hypnotic. It's like another world in there. I keep telling myself that buying one would be a great investment if I really want to start my own business. Sounds like a plan to me.

Team USA

Last night my friend Manti and I went to the Team USA vs. Virgin Islands game at the Thomas & Mack. Manti lived next door to me in the dorms my freshman year at Utah State and we've been good friends ever since. After his mission, he transferred to BYU (which I still give him crap for). Anyway, I was stoked he called to go to the game. IT was so rad. The Virgin Islands were very sad to watch, but it was cool to see all these All-Stars putting on a clinic for the surprisingly small crowd. Lots of alleyoops, crazy passes and a lot of goofing around on the bench. The best part of the night was when Kobe Bryant was getting ready to shoot 2 free throws when all of a sudden the crowd starts singing "Happy Birthday" to him (he turned 29 yesterday) He tried to compose himself, but started laughing in between shots. It was hilarious. All the players were laughing at him. It's cool to see all these guys forget about their egos for a while and have a good time playing with each other.

Me and Manti

Go Team.

Coach K.

Lebron. Kind of good.

I have a crush on Tayshaun Prince. Not going to lie.

Tayshaun!!!

Kobe. Blah.

Lebron's powder ritual is great. Up there with Garnett's

Kobe. Blah.

Kidd and Melo.

Mike Miller. Who new??

J-Kidd

Amare!!

Kobe. Blah.

Lebron and Melo were hilarious on the bench.