Random weekend thoughts

I got a new calling on Sunday. Turns out that my teaching the CTR 6 last week was some sort of trial run. I'm on to them. So I will now be teaching in the Primary, the CTR 6 class. I am TOTALLY open to any suggestions. I must admit, I am a little overwhelmed at the prospect. But it sounds like a lot of fun too. Jill, I see you teach Primary - please feel free to expound wisdom at any time. ;)

I went in to work for a bit this morning. Things are going to be NUTS there for the next few weeks. At this point, I can't even fathom. Let's just hope it all goes smoothly.

Mark and I went up to Salt Lake this afternoon, to walk around the Gateway. We had lunch at the DoDo, which is one of my favorite places to go. They have these delicious soups (today, it was mushroom, onion, and cheddar), and they have this sausage sandwich that is SO GOOD. I'm normally not the type to see something like a sausage sandwich on a menu, and think "Oh man, that looks good!" But this one is yummy. We walked around for a little while, got some frozen yogurt, and Mark bought this bizarro, intriguing book book called the House of Leaves. I'm definitely interested in reading it, and I will have to post pictures of it sometime. Because the layout of the text is so cool. Really, bizarre is the best word I can think of. We also went to the Virgin store, which only made me want a ton of CDs RIGHT NOW. Like another Zero 7 cd, Groove Armada, This way cool goth electro tribute to Depeche Mode, and so many more. It's ridiculous, how much I want more music. That's my purchasing weakness.

I also gave in and bought DDR MAX 2 online. I couldn't find it anywhere around here! So I am excited for it to arrive. At least I bought something that will encourage me to get off my butt.

I made a card for someone yesterday, hooray! I bought some adhesive and envelopes today at Robert's, so I hope to be a little more on the ball with making things to send out. You all inspire me.

We have diving class this Wednesday. I'm excited, but I admit, a bit nervous too. Hopefully after this next pool session I will feel much more confident in myself.

Ok, that is all my brain can expel right now. I'm off to read for Scuba!

Now Playing: All This Time Still Falling Out of Love - Erasure 

brief, brief update

Seriously...I am lame with updates. But I do at least try to squeeze something in as often as I can, so that is at least redeeming...right? Right??? OK, maybe not.

Tonight Mark and I went to the pool to do our first "in the water" session for Scuba. I admit, I was pretty nervous. It definitely took a little bit to get used to breathing 'canned' air. And I was definitely a scuba retard when it came to mask clears - wow. I think I subconsciously, am always breathing even the *tiniest* bit through my nose. I definitely need to work on those, but I am trying to feel confident I will get it. It was pretty clear - it will be interesting to see what next time holds. (: I was feeling more comfortable with it by the end of the night, and I hope to continue that trend. Otherwise, I might explode. Seriously.

Ok, I'm done, See? Brief. It's 2AM. I need sleep. Damn laundry.

Brief words

Cause I need to get to bed. I'm afeared I may be getting back into old habits of "midnight or later is perfectly normal."

Mark started to feel a bit better today, thankfully. He tried to go in to work for about 2 hours, but ended up coming home because his stomach was still upset, and he just felt crappy still. But he managed to eat a bit, and seemed in overall better spirits when I got home. He was also able to venture out on a small journey with me, to try and find DDRMAX2. But alas! It was nowhere to be found! I guess I will have to order it online and wait for it *sigh*. I was so looking forward to playing it too.

Speaking of which, I have been rather happy with myself, as I have been much more faithful in playing DDR most nights. I'll usually play 3-4 sets of 5 songs, which easily burns 150-250 calories. I hope I can keep up with exercising, as I have been a little down on myself as of late. I am so quick to pull myself down, and compare all of my faults to others strengths. I really hate when I get into these kinds of ruts, as it is really difficult for me to pull myself out of it. It's like swimming against a strong current.

/end late night word purge

Ack! So excited.

So I decided to check Billy Corgan's website to see if anything had been updated, and lo, this is what I see. "It's official, The Smashing Pumpkins are currently writing songs for their upcoming album, their first since 2000. no release date has yet been set, but the band plans to begin recording this summer." I am SO EXCITED! I figured the Smashing Pumpkins were another of those bands I unfortunately came to know and love AFTER they were no longer a band. But! Now they are putting together new material! YAY! I am so excited to see what they do.

In other depressing news, poor Mark has been sick, Sick, SICK today. He woke up this morning feeling really nauseous and extremely sick to his stomach, so he called in sick to work. I talked to him at about 1 while I was at work, and he just sounded terrible. So I came home, as he actually wanted me to take him to the doctor. At that, I knew he must have really been feeling crappy, as he is usually the kind of person to "tough it out." I took him to the InstaCare in Orem, where they proceeded to inject him with drugs and rule out the possibility of flu, citing possible food poisoning, some sort of gastro-intestinal virus, or the worst case scenario - appendicitis. Coming out of the hallway in the doctor's office, Mark looked extremely pale. I went out to pull the car around, and out comes Mark being pushed along in a wheelchair with his head in his hand by a nice male worker. He could barely stand on his own two feet. :( So I took him home, went and bought him some gatorade, and he literally spent the rest of the day resting on the sofa, until I was able to persuade him up the stairs to bed around 10 PM. I sure hope he is feeling better tomorrow :(

Couple of random thoughts

This is going to be a quick, random post. Because I feel the need to post something, but haven't had a chance 'til now. And it is time for me to go to bed.

• Went to my nieces' dance recital yesterday. It was so good. They both are growing up so much, and every year I see how much they have improved. They are both quite the dancers. Anna is really starting to become a graceful little girl. She looked so grown up on the stage.
• I forgot to mention that on our way home from game night at Hannah and Linc's on Friday, Mark and I had a little adventure. They had a "sheriff's checkpoint(?)" set up on Geneva Road. It was kinda creepy going into it, as we started seeing these cones saying things like, "prepare to stop, checkpoint ahead," "have your driver's license ready" as well as an increasing amount of cars along the side of the road, and flashing lights. I felt slightly Twilight Zone-ish. It was kind of funny, as Mark and I were stopped, waiting for someone to come check us out, we overheard a conversation similar to the following:
• Cop: I'm going to have to ticket you unless you tell me where that tequila came from.
• Girl: (whiny, slightly desperate) I don't know where it came from!!! Why are you going to ticket me??
• Cop: Because it is an open container.

• Needless to say, Mark and I got through just fine.
• Yesterday was Bella's birthday (Jessie's little girl). For the whole 10 minutes of the party Mark and I were able to be there for, it was lots of fun. What a cutie. I was bummed that we missed Linc and Hannah (sorry guys, we ended up having to leave a little earlier than planned for the dance recital), but I did get to meet Jessie's sister Michelle briefly, which was nice (:
• Talked to my cousin Becky for a little bit today. She has a new boyfriend, and I am excited for her. It sounds like he is a good guy, and this is probably her longest standing 'exclusive' relationship thus far. I hope things work out for the two of them.
• I have been eating WAY too much crap lately. I really wish I had better self control when it comes to food. It doesn't help that I have this obsessive-compulsive habit of weighing myself at least twice a day. And I make the mistake of also doing it at night. I really need to consider taking Jessie's advice and only doing it once a week and stop being a freak about it. Because...the scale has been an enemy recently.

Alright, I'm sure there is more stored up in my brain, but I've got to end the stream for now. As I need to get to sleep, so I am not a complete zombie at work tomorrow. Ah, how I sometimes miss the days of functioning on <5 hours of sleep a night.

Campout

It has been a busy week. First, a random recap of what I can remember:

- My work is currently acquiring another company, which, hopefully when it is all a finished deal, will be a huge boost to our Representative base. It also means that things around the office are getting increasingly crazy, so that should be fun to look forward to.
- Book Club was on Wednesday, and it was so much fun! I felt like I hadn't been in forever, and I remembered that I had to miss April's, which definitely added to that feeling of "forever-ness." It was at my place, so I was in charge of dinner as well. For those of you who don't know this about me, I am incredibly domestically UNinclined. It is something I am rather embarrassed about, and I really do want to be better. I just get really frustrated. So cooking a meal for all of my wonderful, extremely talented Book Club friends was I'll admit, pretty intimidating for me. The hardest part for me is timing, and when Jessie and Hannah showed up, I was uh, fairly frazzled because the timing wasn't going well. Thankfully, they were both willing to help me out, which I really appreciated (: It was so much fun seeing the girls again, and having a good chat, and talk about the book. Afterwards, we hooked up DDR for a while because Rachelle had never seen it. It's always fun to play DDR.


That is all my brain is recollecting for now. See, another reason I need to blog on a regular basis - I record things before they are lost to the labryinth in my head. Yesterday, Mark and I went to a few more Parade of Homes homes. "House #18" was absolutely GORGEOUS. Mark and I both fell in love with it, and rue the fact that such a house is only in our dreams. Afterwards, we drove up to Hannah and Linc's house for Game night. It was just myself, Mark, Timm, and Linc as Jessie was busy with Bella birthday preparations, and Hannah unfortunately had to work. But it was fun nonetheless, and I got to play a lot of DDR. They recently got DDRMAX2, and I really liked that mix a lot. Mark and I want to get it. We stayed there until around 11, then headed home for our living room "campout." Do not be deceived by Mark's sleepy appearance in the picture - we had only just begun when I took the picture. Mark played Kingdom Hearts 2 for a little while, until he got frustrated with it. We then watched a few episodes of the simpsons, and fell asleep. I love when we have these little campouts - it's a simple, fun way to do something out of the ordinary together (:

Ok, I've probably bored you all to tears with this everyday minutiae post. Hopefully I will be better about blogging this upcoming week. 

Time flies

Wow, have I been a bad blogger this week. For that, I apologize. This is just a quick note to let you all know that I am not dead. I have just had a busy week, and will do a better post later. I am so bummed I didn't take pictures at Book Club on Wednesday - I always think of these things afterwards! So I will have to make due later with some other random photos.

Anyways, bigger update coming later! I'm at work , so I can't exactly put a lot of thought into an entry right now...

Now Playing: Reign - U.N.K.L.E.

Garden State

Mark and I finally watched Garden State, which we had had since earlier on in April from Netflix. With all the graduation stuff and family being over and such, we just didn't have time to watch movies. But I must say, I loved this movie. A rather quirky story, but so fun and sincere in a lot of ways. Natalie Portman was so cute in this show. Loved it, loved it, loved it. We also watched Willow last night. Talk about a blast back to childhood - I hadn't seen it in YEARS. Also enjoyed watching that one again - in all of its cheesy, but lovable glory.

This weekend was so nice, because I got to relax. A lot. It felt so good to not have any pressing responsibilities. I talked to my mom on Mother's Day (she liked the card (: ) - I wish I could have been there with her. Mark's mom is actually in Las Vegas, so I hope she is having lots of fun (:

This evening I went grocery shopping Book Club dinner. I'm excited! I hope everything turns out alright - everything I am making I haven't made before. Which doesn't say much, because my culinary expertise is slim to none. But it will be so much fun, it feels like it has been such a long time since I have been at Book Club!

Good Mail (:

Yay! Thanks so much to Jessie for this cute card and letter 'R' as a "beginning to a scrap stash." She wrote me the nicest note, and I think the 'R' is so cute! Good mail definitely is a great thing - it's amazing how a little something like this lifts your spirits. I'm excited to get started (:

Mark and I also get to spend some quality time with Jessie and Timm's cats the next few days. Whenever they go out of town, Mark and I "catsit", and stop by there to make sure they have everything they need and check in on them. Seriously - we really enjoy doing it, as we both adore the cats. So no worries there Jessie ;)

Today has been a pretty lazy Saturday so far. My sister Chrissy took off for home this morning - it's always nice to have her here for a visit. It seems like everyone is on their way to Colorado - Jessie and Timm, my sister, Mark's friend Jason. I'm jealous! I hope we get to go for a visit sometime soon. Colorado still feels like a home to me.

My brothers-in-law have also been over here getting things up and running with our swamp cooler. My sister is our landlord, which is why they would be up to the task ;) I really appreciate them doing it though. I wouldn't have the slightest idea as to what to do - that must be one of those things you learn when you have your own property.

Alright, I suppose that is it for now. Off to laze for a little while longer!

Now Playing: Lonely Soul - U.N.K.L.E. 

Opinions needed

Alright, so while my sister and I were looking for Mother's Day cards today, I thought to myself, "why don't I just make one with the fun stuff I got from Jessie today?" And that is what I did.

Now, please keep in mind I am very much an amateur when it comes to the creative dept. I would really appreciate some constructive feedback - please feel free to criticize, or point out good things - I am in need of both. (By the way, I apologize for the bottom of the card looking crappy - it was a weird angle, bad lighting, and the card wasn't completely "flush" in it's closure.) I really had fun making the card, and I hope my mom likes it a lot too (: But I know I definitely have room to approve, and would appreciate any comments, tips, ideas, etc. for future projects. I'll be making another card soon for my first "good mail"ing.

Today has been a pretty good day. Work went well, my sister and I got to spend some time together this evening, and met up with our friend Kathy at "Pudding on the Rice." Delicious, by the way - if you like rice pudding at all, give it a try. They have lots of flavors! Jessie, Bella, and Timm stopped by to bring me the supplies I bought, and I got to make a card. I found myself having fun coming up with an idea and working it out with the card - that must be how all of you creative people feel (: The only downside is that Mark is sick with a nasty cold, and was feeling pretty out of it all night. I hope he gets feeling better soon! 

New Skills

The title is actually not in reference to the picture. Though I do hope my skills at DDR continue to improve. I need to play it more often...

At work the past 2 days, I have been working on some Powerpoint presentations for our Reps, doing step by step guides teaching them basic things, like signing up a new customer, or placing an order. It's been fun, and I appreciate the chance to play around with Powerpoint a little more. It's fun to be working on something a little more productive and useful, and I hope more of these kinds of projects continue my way.

Tonight Mark and I watched our nieces and nephews for a little while. We played PayDay with the girls, which was fun. It's a simple enough game so they can understand it, while still being fun for us "big" kids.

My "Now Playing" has been suffering as of late, as I haven't had music on the past several times I have made a post. I need to get that going again. If nothing else, turn on iTunes and post the first random song to come up. Sharing music is one of those things I love to do.

Alright, I'm off to DDR it up. I am in serious need of exercise. The huge pan of brownies one of our Reps brought by today that I kept snacking on definitely doesn't help.

/end random post 

Old Friends

So I have just been perusing the website of an old high school friend of mine, Annaleigh Ashford. She is currently in the touring production of Wicked!, as part of the ensemble, and as the understudy for Glinda.

I'm really excited for her, and for how far she has already come. In high school, we all knew that she would succeed, and I am sure she will only continue to do so as she is seen more and more.

Annaleigh has always been such a nice, genuine, hilarious person. I loved to be around her, and am grateful for the chance I had to perform with her both in a choir setting, and on 'stage' in 2 of my high school musicals. She was a good friend, and I wish I had kept in better touch with her these past years - though it is doubtless she has kept extremely busy (: Best of luck to her on her road to success! 

Not a whole lot to say

I need to get back into taking pictures on a more regular basis. Cause...I feel like I am using the recent Thanksgiving Point trip as a back up a little too much. ;)

Not a whole lot going on...one of those "inconsequential" posts, as Jessie would call it. Last night, Mark, Chrissy and I watched The Bourne Supremacy. Those movies are a whole lot of fun. I really enjoyed it, and I want to pick both of them up sometime.

Today, back to work. It was a decent day, kind of slow. I had fun creating a powerpoint for some "step by step" guides we are going to put out for the Reps, to help them with the basics. Other than that, it's been...well, a pretty average day. Went to Quizno's with Chrissy, and I played Sonic Mega Collection. Mark joined me for a little while. I really like how both he and I are kinda huge nerds - we have a lot of fun just playing a video game together.

I am thinking I want to start in with good mail here in the near future - I have a couple of ideas, really basic ones. I'll have to go assess my meager on hand things I can send, and see where I can go from there (:

Bizarre

So uh...apparently my blog was somewhat broken. So I had to delete and republish my most recent post. It was really, truly strange - it showed like, 1/3 of that post, and that was it. The rest of the blog, not showing up. Thankfully though, all the entries were still there in edit mode. Hopefully I fixed it.

In other news, it was really fun tonight, going out for Bridget's birthday to P.F. Chang's. Yummy food, fun girl time. And Scategories was quite hilarious too. I love that I can play the graduate card, mwahahaha.

Ok, I am pretty tired. Really, I should be going to bed.

Reaching Out

So today I took a small step towards becoming a more giving, kind person...though not in a tangible way today. But I still feel good about it. Not in the conceited, "look at me go" kind of way, but in the way that I feel like I stepped out of my comfort zone to be there for someone...if that makes sense. Just, the feel good of doing good.

I was assigned to visit teach a woman and her daughter in March, and they live just a just a few yards down the street. The daughter sadly suffers from various physical and mental difficulties, such as anxiety. They are both really kind, and I am really looking forward to visiting with them. Well tonight, I saw the ambulance and fire truck pull up in front of their place. Occassionally they will have to call them to come get the daughter when something is going wrong. I was really concerned for them as I watched from my door, hoping that everything was alright and they wouldn't need to take her to the hospital. Thankfully she didn't leave with the ambulance.

Ordinarily in this sort of situation, I would have only prayed for her, and debated whether I should go down and check in on them, ultimately deciding not to as to not "bother" them.However, tonight I really felt strongly that I should just run down there and see how they were doing, and ask if there was anything I could do to help. So I did. And I'm really glad that I did - her mother seemed to really appreciate it, and I know that the daughter did too. She had had an allergic reaction to one of her medications, and seemed to be a bit out of it. But I heard her say 'thank you,' and that meant so much to me.

This probably doesn't sound like an extraordinary experience, but it made me feel so good to go out of my way to let them know I am thinking of them, and that I care for their well being. I hope that I can be not only a good visiting teacher to them, but a good friend as well. The daughter is about my age, and I can't imagine how difficult it would be dealing with so many hard things. It definitely puts life into perspective for me, and helps me be more grateful for my health.  

Frontier Psychiatrist

I really can't think of anything to blog as of late. I have a difficult time with thinking of fun, creative things to blog about - even the mundane everyday things. But I really want to try and be consistent, so you may just have to wade through the boring sludge every so often ;)

This evening I went to help my friend and former roommate Kathy out with a fun filming project she is working on. I got to be the "psychologist" in this group session of people with bad relationship problems. Two of the characters are sock puppets, and everyone else just had fun, ridiculous stories. I was glad to be able to go to support her and help her out. It was a lot of fun too. I hope she is able to pursue filming - I can tell she is really passionate about it, and she has some creative ideas.

Lately as I have been reading many of your blogs, I have been intrigued and inspired by all of the generous giving, and kind gestures going on. I have always thought of myself as a fairly kind, giving person. However, I have rarely ventured into doing "good mail," or similar such things. For some reason I think I am intimidated. I just feel like I am such an uncreative person in many regards. But it is so refreshing to see all of these good deeds going on, and I hope that I can work towards being kind and thoughtful in a more tangible way like that. So thanks to many of you for inspiring me! I'm going to start brainstorming ways I too, can show my appreciation and concern for others in such fun ways.

Tagged...and very delayed

Sorry this took me forever to do Jessie ;)

Tagged by Jessie!

5 Things in my fridge:

milk
sodas
cheese
leftovers from Ottavios
some bread that probably needs to be thrown out...

5 Things in my closet:

a quilt
shoes
dresses
clothes that I wear
clothes that I need to give away

5 Things in my purse:

too many receipts
iPod Shuffle
pens
lip balm
keys

5 Things in my car:

CDs
a jacket
umbrella
straw wrappers
change

5 Things on my Tivo/DVR:
(Don't have it- but if I did...)
So many of the shows I like are canceled...so this is if they were still around...

Firefly
Wonderfalls
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast
Invader Zim
Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Tagging:
Mark
Chrissy

**if you don't have a blog, leave a comment with your answers!**

More weekend stuff

On Saturday, Mark and I kinda spent the day with his mom, and took some time out to go to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens, which were gorgeous as usual. We strolled around there for a while, had dinner at Ottavios (Yum), played some games that evening with my mom and Chrissy, and just kinda took it easy after all the busy-ness the day before. Friday night, Mark, Mom, Dad, Chrissy, Jo, and myself all went out to dinner at Magelby's. Again, yum. I had Creme Brulee 2 nights in a row...bad Robin. But it was so tasty...

Today was my dad and Chrissy's birthdays. This morning I went to sacrament meeting with the family, then came back to spend a few more hours with Mark and his mom before taking her to the airport mid-afternoon. After dropping her off, we headed to my sister Liz's house for the birthdays celebration. We had a yummy dinner, opened presents, and had this delicious banana dessert that Liz makes. Holy crap, it is so good. Then Mark and I went to play Rummikub with my Mom and Chrissy/Chad for a little while, which is always good fun, and always good for a laugh...especially when playing with my brother in law Chad.

Tomorrow morning my family takes off for home...and things go back to "normal" for a little while. I'll miss having my family here...I love when they come into town. It was also so nice having Jo (Mark's mom) here for a few days. I wish we could see her more often. I enjoy spending time with her, and getting to know her better. But I am grateful for the time we got to spend with everyone. (: