My-Lissa!

The Velveeta Follow Up

2012-01-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

I had a dream last night (after my experience with the Velveeta mac and cheese)...

I was eating what appeared to be ice cream or yogurt, but it was not normal. It was too thick, and make my mouth stick closed. By the end of my dream I was using my fingers to unsuccessfully try and scrape the crud out of my mouth. When I woke up I felt incredibly nauseous and couldn't shake the feeling until sometime after lunch.

I believe I have learned my lesson!!

Velveeta - One VERY Good Reason Not to Shop When You're Hungry

2012-01-12T23:11:00.001-08:00

The box says "Reduced fat pasteurized prepared cheese product." I think it should be changed to say "Edible glue."

When I was a nanny one summer in high school I was taught how to make macaroni and cheese for the kids I watched using Velveeta. I remember liking it and convincing my mother to buy the stuff once so I could make it for the family. She was not impressed with the results.

Many many moons have passed since I had last eaten Velveeta, and I had nearly forgotten of its existence when I spied it in the grocery store last week. I was on my way home from work and decided it would be most convenient if I did my grocery shopping before I had eaten dinner. This shopping-while-hungry thing typically results in a few impulse buys in addition to my needed grocery items; on this particular outing my impulse buy was the 2lb brick of Velveeta.

Never again.

Tonight I cooked up a batch of macaroni and cheese and dished up a large bowl to enjoy. The first spoonful told me I had made a poor choice (as if the box hadn't already warned me - what other food product can you keep refrigerated for up to 8 weeks after opening??). The "cheese" stuck to my lips and was so thick it couldn't even be licked off of my spoon. Each bite I took was harder and harder to get through, especially since it thickens as it cools. It was also starting to make me super thirsty. I only made it about a third of the way through my dinner before my body made it clear that if I tried to eat any more I would be re-acquainted with everything I had already put down.

I hate wasting food - or in this case "food." Bad news is that I still have more than half of the brick left, and no desire to use it. Takers??

Another Trapeze Video

2011-12-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

I'm sure we've all figured out that I'm in love with aerial acrobatics, and that I have plans to run away and join the circus someday (seriously!), so here is yet another video of me flying. The trick is called a pullover shoot, and catching this trick was a big deal for me. I had only seen one person at my studio catch this trick, although I watched a lot of failed attempts. I had some extra motivation for making this catch though - my friend Alyson lost a bet and now has to fly in a prom dress! You better believe I'll be posting video of that once it happens. =)

Lyra (Hoop) Performance

2011-12-12T00:46:00.001-08:00

I finally let the owner of the aerial studio talk me in to performing at the studio's Winter show. I performed with 3 of my friends who take classes with me, and I don't think it turned out too bad!

Neurofibroma

2011-11-14T22:40:00.000-08:00

Remember when I mentioned the bump on my nose, and how badly I wanted to get rid of it? A few months ago a friend of mine gave me the name and number of a dermatologist that her boss had highly recommended. I copied the information on to a sticky note, folded it in half, and tucked it behind the cover of my cell phone. For months I could see the yellow piece of paper through the cover each time I looked at the back of my phone, but I hesitated to make the call - assuming that my lack of health insurance would ensure a large chunk of cash would have to exit my bank account to make the removal possible.

As time went on I got more impatient. This bump has not been on my face my whole life; I first remember it making an appearance somewhere around 2004, and it continued to grow slowly each year. I didn't worry about it too much at first, I thought it may be a wart, and warts can supposedly go away on their own once the virus has run its course. I hoped this would be the case for me when I left for South America in 2006. When I returned to the USA in late 2007 the bump was bigger, and I decided it was time to try a home wart remover. It didn't work, so I left it alone again.

Children found the bump on my nose fascinating. I mean, how could they not notice it? Kids would often ask what was on my nose, and some would even reach out to touch it. I didn't mind- it was just their curiosity. What I did mind was when of my friends' kids - who is old enough to have manners - started being mean about it. He would be sure to point it out every time he saw me, and just be a little brat about it. Worse? His mom seemed to purposefully ignore him when he started teasing, and one time his dad overheard the kid call me a witch, and he laughed. Really?? What happened to teaching your kids to be kind and polite? Annoying.

Last month I finally decided to call the dermatologists and set up a free consultation. I figured I could at least find out how much money I needed to start saving to make my nose look normal again. So, one week before Halloween I skipped out of work for a couple hours and went to my appointment. The doctor looked at my nose, said she didn't think it was anything to be worried about (as in, it looked non-cancerous), and told me how much it would cost for the procedure and lab work. Surprisingly, it really wasn't that expensive, and she said she could do it right then! 15 minutes later I was bump-free and had a band-aid stuck over my half-numb nose. I love it.

Fly Away!

2011-10-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

I noticed I haven't been dedicating much time to my blogs lately. I was wondering why I haven't sat down and written anything, and I think I'm afraid of posting something boring. Right now my life consists of work and aerial acrobatics, and that's about it. I LOVE talking about aerial stuff and telling people about the progress I've made and the fun things I do with my friends that I've made while training, but I quickly noticed that when I talk to people who don't have any experience with aerial acrobatics they almost instantly tune out. I also think that my online audience has dwindled a lot over the last year, which is fine, but it's hard to find the motivation to write when I feel like no one's going to read it anyway.

Maybe I'll think of something interesting or witty to say one of these days, but for now I'm going to get ready for bed, dream about flying, and let the stress of my week go as I soar through the air tomorrow morning!

Just for kicks, I leave you with the wonderful words of Aerosmith in "Fly Away From Here":

Gotta find a way
Yeah, I can't wait another day
And nothin' gonna change
If we stay around here
Gotta do what it takes
Cause all in our hands,
We all make mistakes, yeah
But it's never too late to start again
Take another breath
And say another prayer

Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Yeah, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly

If this life
Gets any harder now
It ain't no nevermind
You got me by your side
And anytime you want
Yeah, we can catch a train and find a better place
Yeah, cause we won't let nothin' or no one keep gettin' us down
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and hit the sky

Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Yeah, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly

Do you see a bluer sky now
You can have a better life now
Open your eyes
Cause no one here can ever stop us
They can try but we won't let them
No way

Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and say goodbye

Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Honey, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Fly away from here
Yeah, anywhere
Honey, I don't, I don't, I don't care

We'll just fly away

Don't Mind Our Dust...

2011-09-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

The parking lot of the office complex where I work is getting a makeover. I don't mind having to park farther away in the neighboring restaurant's parking lot for the week, and I can handle the Latin-born workers' intense stares as I walk in and out of the building (thank you, Uruguay for all your training), but the random rumbling and shaking of the building as they scrape off the old layer of asphalt is going to kill me! No matter how consistently I feel it I still get the urge to duck and cover beneath my desk as I try to remind myself that it is NOT an earthquake...

Pulled Over

2011-09-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a good driver. I have only been in one accident (which wasn't my fault), and I have never gotten a speeding ticket. But that doesn't mean I've never been pulled over; I have been pulled over 5 times - all within the last 4 years. You may be thinking that I am a mastermind of escaping speeding tickets but that would be wrong... I have never been pulled over for speeding, it's always something crazy!

First Time - Burnt out brake light. Not a big deal, but I was on my way to a meeting and would have been on time if there wasn't a new cop in training who took FORTY-FIVE minutes to write up a fix-it ticket... I ended up being 30 minutes late. I think they could only spare that much time to let the newbie practice because it was a Sunday. They must have been bored.

Second Time - Obstruction of view. I had a small Uruguayan flag hanging below my rear view mirror. Again, this was on a Sunday when the cops were bored. I pulled it down and he let me go.

Third Time - Registration not quite expired. I had Colorado plates while going to school in Vegas, and a motorcycle cop pulled me over to remind me that my tags were expiring at the end of the month. I was honestly able to tell him that I had spoken with my dad about my tags the day before and was waiting for the new ones to be mailed to me.

Fourth Time - Burnt out licence plate light (I REALLY think cops love to target me when they're bored). I was driving a friend home from a church dance at 1am. The cop asked me where I'd been, where I was going, and if I had been drinking....as I was thinking "I'm 25, don't have a curfew, and made a complete stop at the last stop sign..." It's like he was trying (unsuccessfully) to find a reason to keep me pulled over. Three years later and I still haven't fixed this light. No one else seems to have a problem with it.

Fifth Time - Missing registration stickers. I was VERY confused as to why the highway patrolman started tailing me before flipping on his lights. Of course this would happen the ONE day I was trying to get to work early. Turned out someone stole my registration stickers off of my licence plate! I had proof of registration, etc. So I got a fix it ticket and paid $18 at the DMV for a replacement sticker. The cop told me how to prevent this in the future by taking a razor blade to the sticker once it's on my license plate so that it can't come off in one piece for a thief. Go, go, ghetto cop!!

I swear - it's always the strangest things.

So This One Time When I Was 28...

2011-08-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

I dyed my hair pink.

Indecision

2011-08-04T00:09:00.000-07:00

There are some things/choices that have been on my mind lately, and I'm not quite sure what to do about them. It seems like no choice is exactly right; either because I won't be happy with one outcome or another, or people close to me won't be happy with one outcome or another, and I don't want to let them down (I don't know if that makes much sense, but I feel like explaining more would be divulging a little too much personal information in a public setting). I know I can't make all my decisions based on what other people think - and trust me, I don't, but these are the types of decisions that would affect others enough that I should consider them in this decision making process.

I'm in the middle of reading a book right now that caught me by surprise when it described almost exactly how I'm feeling in regards to my indecision. While the examples of choices laid out for the protagonist of the book are not the same as the choices I'm facing, the general idea is the same:

"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story.

"From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out.

"I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."

I feel stuck, very unsure of what to do, and frustrated because my usual sources of input/advice don't seem to be working. I just don't know what to do!

Front End Split

2011-07-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

I solved my phone problem last week, and can finally upload videos from my phone! Even though they aren't the clearest things, I'm still glad I can do something with them. So, for those of you who haven't already seen my YouTube page... enjoy!

My World Will Never Be The Same

2011-06-15T22:59:00.000-07:00

I am in love.

I had heard stories; other people's experiences. Butterflies in the stomach, the feeling of letting go and trusting in someone else completely. I knew I had to experience it for myself, it was just a matter of when I was ready to jump feet first off the deep end... or, in this case, the 24 foot platform.

My new love - is flying trapeze.

Preemptive Blogging

2011-05-27T23:12:00.000-07:00

We all know that with Spring and Summer come the countless numbers of wedding invitations in the mailbox. There is nothing wrong with these announcements - it's great that these friends have asked me to celebrate their big day with them. I do try to attend as many of these events as time and money allow.

Becoming ever more common these days though is the post-nuptual creation of a blog. The blog background gets decorated, the first post includes some form of the explanation "since we're married now, we thought we should have a blog," and three pictures appear down the side bar - an individual shot of each of the newlyweds, and one of them together with captions like "Him, Her, Us!" to ensure that you, the reader, didn't miss the fact that they are perfectly blending their two lives into a single entity.

Cool.

Now, if you know me at all you know that I have nothing against blogs. I have three of my own, one I contribute to with my family, and one that I set up for my friends and I to collaborate on. Blogs are fun! What I don't understand however, is the urge one suddenly feels to join the blogging world solely because they tied the knot. Is marriage considered a pre-requisite for starting a blog? It is almost as if one doesn't gain the knowledge of blogging until they have a ring on their finger. Or maybe they didn't think their life was interesting enough to blog about beforehand. It's kind of like the Christmas card club... you don't see single people sending out a picture of themselves accompanied by a letter of what they did during the year.

I pondered on these thoughts for a while, looked around, and have found that "saving blogging for marriage" does seem to be the trend. Take a gander at some of your favorite blogs and look at their friends list; I'd be willing to bet that the majority of those people are married bloggers. I understand that some of these people may once have posted companionless, but my guess is that the majority did not. One list in particular that I found on a friend's blog backed my thinking. I am the ONLY single blogger listed:

So since I blogged before marriage I have come to the conclusion that I must either be ahead of the curve, or committing some sort of sin. To hell with it. I need your addresses - I think I'll send out Christmas cards this year.

Staring Me In The Face

2011-05-19T00:28:00.000-07:00

For many years now I've had a bump on the right side of my nose that has slowly grown bigger. I'm not 100% sure what it is exactly, but I've ruled out the possibility that it's a wart. Anyhow, it's at the point now where it's super annoying, I can see it when I look down my nose, and I've given up hope that it will decide to go away on its own.

This is a problem, because without insurance it's way too expensive of a cosmetic procedure. Tack on the fact that any dermatologist will want to biopsy it and send it to a lab, and yeah... I don't have that kind of money right now.

So tonight I had an idea that I wanted to try. (Word to the queasy - this may be disturbing to some of you...) When I was finishing my nightly bathroom routine I pulled out a short piece of floss and simply tied it around the bump to cut off the circulation. It didn't hurt at all; there's really no feeling in the bump, and I instantly saw a color change.

After getting it secure I walked into my bedroom to excitingly share my plan with my roommate. She. Freaked. Out. She proceeded to tell me that I couldn't do that, that my nose would bleed a ton (I figured...since there's a ton of blood vessels in the nose, and I had previously tried wart removal stuff which made it bleed profusely - the bleeding wouldn't phase me), that it could get infected, etc. and that she had a friend who had things lasered off before and would have good advise/input about how to take care of it in a more professional way.

She made me take the floss off.

Sigh... I guess I'm going to keep staring this bump in the face for a while longer.

Dominating 6 Continents

2011-05-08T02:03:00.000-07:00

Celebration time!! I checked my map loco gadget at the bottom of my blog just a moment ago, and was extatic to see someone had visited my blog from AFRICA! I now officially have had visitors from 6 of the 7 continents (I totally don't expect visitors from Antarctica, so basically, I've had visitors from every continent that matters)!

Listed below are some of the most recent visitors (I did not include all of them). What I want to know is, who is visiting me from these locations? Post a comment so I can see who you are!!

Location of Visitor
Time of last visit to blog
Total number of visits from that location

Tanzania, United Republic of
Yesterday @ 2:38 pm
1

San Francisco, CA, United States
Yesterday @ 7:14 am
2

Bethel, OH, United States
Yesterday @ 4:58 am
1

Baden, Germany
Yesterday @ 3:58 am
1

West Palm Beach, FL, United States
6 May 2011
12

Oak Lawn, IL, United States
6 May 2011
5

Las Vegas, NV, United States
6 May 2011
16

Henderson, NV, United States
6 May 2011
4

Mendota, IL, United States
6 May 2011
2

Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
6 May 2011
2

Gary, IN, United States
6 May 2011
1

Chicago, IL, United States
6 May 2011
2

Bell, CA, United States
5 May 2011
1

Orléans, France
2 May 2011
1

Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States
2 May 2011
2

Kingston Upon Hull, United Kingdom
2 May 2011
1

Nellis Afb, NV, United States
2 May 2011
15

Penfield, NY, United States
27 Apr 2011
3

Mount Pleasant, SC, United States
25 Apr 2011
1

Mountain View, CA, United States
22 Apr 2011
3

Calgary, AB, Canada
22 Apr 2011
1

Bountiful, UT, United States
20 Apr 2011
3

Cincinnati, OH, United States
20 Apr 2011
6

Arvada, CO, United States
19 Apr 2011
4

Fort Mill, SC, United States
19 Apr 2011
6

Saint George, UT, United States
19 Apr 2011
9

Montreal, QC, Canada
19 Apr 2011
1

Phoenix, AZ, United States
19 Apr 2011
6

Brisbane, Australia
18 Apr 2011
2

Springfield, MO, United States
18 Apr 2011
5

Liverpool, Australia
18 Apr 2011
1

Seattle, WA, United States
18 Apr 2011
10

Bronx, NY, United States
18 Apr 2011
3

Little Rock, AR, United States
17 Apr 2011
3

Australia
16 Apr 2011
2

Logan, UT, United States
15 Apr 2011
2

Parker, CO, United States
11 Apr 2011
2

Provo, UT, United States
5 Apr 2011
1

Huntington Beach, CA, United States
3 Apr 2011
1

Pleasant Grove, UT, United States
3 Apr 2011
1

Layton, UT, United States
3 Apr 2011
1

Pacoima, CA, United States
3 Apr 2011
1

Hamilton, ON, Canada
2 Apr 2011
1

Houston, TX, United States
2 Apr 2011
2

Scranton, PA, United States
1 Apr 2011
1

Birthday Bucket List

2011-05-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I have witnessed several of my friends doing wonderfully grand things to celebrate their birthday. One friend even went to the effort of creating a calendar of events leading up to his birthday that lasted as many days as the number of years he was turning. Seeing as I previously decided that this is "The Year of Me," I want to celebrate big too! Therefore, I am creating a themed list of things I want to do to honor my birth!

“THE WORLD IN MY BACKYARD”

I love to travel, but since taking big trips to all sorts of foreign places takes all sorts of time (and money), I thought it would be fun to explore the world – locally. Here’s the travel itinerary so far:

Saturday, June 11th – THE MEDITERRANEAN (Greece, Italy, etc.)

The Getty Villa in Malibu
· 11:30am – Architecture Tour
· Wander and see exhibits
· Free, but we need to book timed tickets in advance
· $15 parking = carpool!
· http://www.getty.edu/visit/

Late lunch at either Stop’n Café (1237 Third Street Promenade) or Sham Restaurant (716 Santa Monica Blvd.)

Saturday the 18th – FRANCE

Les Miserables at Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center downtown Los Angeles
· 8pm
· $42-$65 for the cheapest seats
· http://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/productiondetail.aspx?id=13736

Tuesday the 21st (My Actual Birthday) – CANADA

Attend my regular hoop and aerial fit classes with a handful* of close (and adventurous) friends. Okay, you’re probably thinking “how the heck is this Canada?” I’ll sum up: the owner of my studio was in Cirque du Soleil. Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian based entertainment company (Quebec), therefore Canada.
· 6:45pm – Hoop
· 7:45pm – Aerial Fit
· *You MUST contact me if you plan to do this. I have to let the studio know how many are coming beforehand (we can’t overcrowd the class), there are liability waivers to be filled out, etc. Just contact me.

Thursday, June 23rd – MEXICO

Mana in concert at the Staples Center!
· 8pm
· Cheapest tickets - $59.00.
· http://centerboxoffice.org/ResultsVenue.aspx?venid=100&vname=Staples+Center&event=Mana&nid=1&sortcol=retail&sortord=asc&showall=true&dist=GS&uq=mana%20staples&cid=7170563555&ppcsrc=1-HY-Staples+-Mana&gclid=CMqkxaTi0qgCFQYGbAod6EY__w

So far this is just a framework of ideas; none of it is set in stone…yet. But I do hope to make a majority of these events happen! I’d also like to add some more activities to include the Asian, African, and Australian continents if possible; maybe I’ll toss in a visit to the LA Zoo to cover all three of those!

And please, if you would like to join me on one (or more) of these adventures, let me know!!

Strange Happenings

2011-04-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to blog about when I don't have pictures. But really, that's not true! So, I decided that I'm going to try and do some shorter posts more often, and throw in a regular full-pictured post once or twice a month as usual. I have had a couple of strange experiences within the last couple of weeks; they are unrelated to each other, but they aren't so big that they require their own post either... It seemed like every morning for about a week I would wake up with a song in my head. This isn't an unusual occurance, really - I often wake up with a song in my head. It's just that this particular week it was suddenly the song "Yeah 3X" by Chris Brown. Every. Single. Morning. (If you need help figuring out what song I'm talking about, please refer to the first song on my playlist above). I do think the song is catchy even if it's not my most favorite, it's popular right now on the radio, and since I work in the music industry I listen to the radio a LOT to keep up on current hits. Still, this didn't justify the reason I woke up singing it every day. I finally figured it out. My phone alarm is what wakes me up every morning, and the sound that it makes is three notes that are oddly similar to the chorus of the song - at about minute 1:13. I'm now considering changing my alarm ring. The second strange thing happened just before I left my house for work one morning. I had already finished my makeup, and since my hair was still wet, I grabbed a hair tie that I put on my wrist so I could put my hair up later at work. I went about gathering my belongings and some automobile-friendly breakfast items and started heading for my shoes when I realized that the hair tie I had placed on my wrist was missing. I went back to my bathroom drawer to make sure I wasn't hallucenating and confirmed the fact that I had taken my hair tie. I re-traced my steps, looked on my bed, in my purse, etc. with no luck. Then, remembering I had done this once before... I hiked up my pant leg, and pulled down my sock to find my hair tie happily sitting around my ankle. Yep. I have a magic hair tie that likes to disappear, and reappear on my ankle! I can only assume you're thinking "what the... how did that happen?!?" Trust me, I thought the same thing the first time it happened. I will tell you. It only happens when I wear my long socks that come up just below my knees. In order to put these socks on, I reach my right hand/arm into the bottom of the sock, and then slide my left thumb down my arm to bunch up the sock and put on my foot. Maybe that doesn't make sense....go put on a sock and pay attention to how you do it. Then you might get it! Anyhow, sometime during that thumb sliding/sock bunching maneuver I manage to situate the hair tie in my sock, which then gets pulled on to my ankle. Talented - I know!

Learning to Fly

2011-03-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

Remember all those bruises I showed you? They are all by-products of the talents and skills I'm trying to develop as part of my New Years resolutions. I have taken up Aerial Acrobatics! This is me - sitting in a hoop, and on the silks doing a move called Straddleback: There is this wonderful gym/studio/whatever-you-want-to-call-it/building that I drive by every morning on the way to work, and one day while waiting to turn at a stoplight it caught my eye. So after I finished work that week I dropped in to check it out and instantly fell in love! The first time I remember seeing aerial acrobatics like this was at a concert (thank you, Cher!), and I was amazed. I never thought it was something I'd seek out to do. I first signed up for the silks (fabric) class and started attending weekly. A few weeks in however, without my knowledge, the studio switched up their schedule and added a few more classes, including hoop. When I showed up for what I thought was my silks class that week I discovered they were really setting up for hoop. I wasn't so sure about it, but one of the employees encouraged me to try it out (you can try one class of each type for free), and then attend my normal class the hour afterward. I stayed...and have never been able to give it up! I take back to back classes every Tuesday night - hoop followed by silks - and while it can be exhausting I see myself improving every week, and have really come a long way in the few months I've been taking classes. I got a couple of the studio assistants to take pictures for me during hoop, but they take the silks class with me, so I don't have any more pictures of that class for now. Here are some things I was working on this week in hoop (excuse the blurriness - it's not the type of activity where one holds still very long!); I actuallly do more moves than these few, there's just not time to do everything in one class! Single knee hangs

Splits and Bananas (these need work...)

Straddle-ups (yay pointy toes!!)

Mermaids

Amazons

These next two were from a new move I was learning this week but couldn't quite get the hang of (no pun intended)... the bruise on my right hip is a lovely shade of eggplant because of it though!

Okay. Now that you've suffered through the blurriness I'll leave you with one photo that actually turned out well - it's a bonus that it was on a move that actually requires some skill, and just looks stinkin' awesome!!

Feelings.

2011-03-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

I have felt pretty invisible this week. That is all.

Battle Wounds - Or In Other Words - I'm Not Being Abused

2011-03-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

Feet:

Arms/Elbows:

Hands:

Hips:

Legs/Knees:

This is just a taste of the marks and bruises I come home with on Tuesday nights. There are other bruises that are on other areas of my body too, but those would be incredibly inappropriate to show on a blog.

Some of you already know how I'm receiving all of these colorful additions to my body, and no matter how much you may want to spoil the surprise for others, PLEASE don't reveal the secret by posting a comment that lets the cat out of the bag!! For those of you who are still in the dark... don't worry. I'm planning a full post with pictures to explain. I promise you'll like it!

I'll give you one clue: it has to do with all the New Year's resolutions I made. =)

Januarian, Vegetarian.

2011-02-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

I have officially completed one of my New Year's resolutions! I mentioned this one a couple posts ago, but didn't give any details other than the fact that I started on January 4th, and since it was a month-long goal I successfully finished on February 4th. Did you gather what the goal was from the title of this post? I went vegetarian. Why? Well, for many reasons: I had never tried it before, I wanted to learn how to cook more vegetable-based dishes/experiment with cooking, I only cooked 1 to 2 meat dishes a week anyway (who wants to wait that long to cook a meal when you get home from work and you're starving?), I have a roommate who is vegetarian, and I was just curious.

Let me make sure I clarify the definition of a vegetarian here (thanks to merriam-webster.com):

Definition of VEGETARIAN
1
: of or relating to vegetarians
2
: consisting wholly of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and sometimes eggs or dairy products

So, no meat. Of any kind. Now if you're still tempted to ask "did you eat fish?" I urge you to look at the definition again and ask yourself if fish is a vegetable, fruit, grain, nut, egg or some type of dairy product.

My results? I felt slightly healthier in some ways (nothing dramatic in my case), I had to plan ahead to have a balanced meal, I enjoyed feeling full on produce, and I never once cheated or slipped up on my goal! It really wasn't a difficult talk for me either since I was used to not having meat every day. The only time I wanted to break my goal was when I was down to the last 8 or 9 days and my boss took everyone out to dinner - at a sushi restaurant. My coworkers seated close to me all gave me a ton of grief (I am the only female employee of the company), and tried to convince me to throw in the towel early and just order the sushi. I resisted anyway, and I had some sympathetic waiters who took pity and brought me some excellent vegetarian dishes, some that were on the menu, and some that weren't.

Grilled vegetables (over a live coal) and edamame (of course)

Seaweed salad wrapped in avocado and topped with other greens, served on a slab of stone (cool!)

I think my favorite was the dessert platters they brought out for everyone to share.

It was an interesting experience - one I'm not likely to repeat, but I do know that I'll continue to eat little meat (1-2 times a week), and I plan on adding more vegetables to each meal. I like veggies, so this shouldn't be hard. I also got better at controlling how much I eat; noticing when I'm actually full and not feeling like it's necessary to always have seconds. Goal 1 - Check.

A Change of Hue.

2011-01-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

Before:

During:

Waiting:

Loving:

Just because.

New Year, New Goals

2011-01-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

I feel like the Grinch at the end of his story where things just clicked and his heart grew three sizes.

For years I didn't think of Christmas as my favorite time of year - not because I don't like Christmas itself (because I do!), but I noticed that a lot of people seemed to exit my life near Christmas. Friends would move away, I would move away, I even finished my mission in mid-November of '07, so I left an entire country full of people I will most likely never see again in the Christmas-ish season. I really don't like the feeling of people leaving my life.

I also have been a Grinch when it comes to New Year's Resolutions. I would argue - "Why make one or two huge goals only once a year that you'll forget about by March? Then what do you do, wait another 9 months to do it all again?" I was more in the mind set of having smaller goals throughout the year that I made based on need/desire, etc, so, I avoided New Year's Resolutions for the most part.

And then this year something clicked. I was excited for Christmas because I realized that, like it or not, people will come in and out of my life, yet my family will always be a part of my life. And I always get to see my family at Christmas. Cheesy realization, maybe, but it felt personal, and healing.

As for New Year's Resolutions, I still don't think that's the only time you can set goals, but I made a cool connection while attending my parent's ward in Colorado:

The holidays in the Fall and Winter are lined up extremely well. Thanksgiving reminds you of all the great blessings you have, then Christmas follows reminding you of Christ and all He has done for you, and then there's New Year's, where you can re-commit yourself to being more Christlike and following His example. Our goal on this earth is to become like Christ; what a wonderful reminder these holidays are, right?

As for this new year I am starting to make new goals. I started a month-long goal on January 4th and can say I've been successful for an entire week! I really think this one is going to be easy. I'll probably post something about this goal upon completion, so I won't go into details now. I've also decided I want to try some new things; it doesn't matter if I'm 27 - I can go learn a new skill or talent and be successful at it. You know how some people put their kids in all sorts of classes and sports that are incredibly demanding because they think that's the only way they can be successful doing it? Yeah, I don't think that's true. So I'm going to go try something I've never done before - and I'm excited!

So Happy New Year, everyone, and go set some goals!

I Like My New...

2010-12-14T00:08:00.000-08:00

Layout!

It's the first time I've decorated my blog to match the season, I think. I even switched up the music for a change.

Enjoy!

(Haha, like my lame post that I did just so people would look at my page?? Pathetic, I know.)

"You Have Really Beautiful Hair..."

2010-12-05T23:30:00.000-08:00

There are many nice looking men in California. Because of this it is easy to have little crushes on several men at once, which can lead to potentially embarrassing situations.

Today one of these beautiful men that I've noticed a little more within the past month or so sat down on the bench in front of me at church. Seeing as his head was almost directly in front of mine it was hard not to notice how great his hair is. By that I don't mean that it was styled well (which it was), I mean that it's just a really good head of hair! Thick, dark, pretty much perfect. I won't lie, I was a little jealous; my hair being thin and fragile.

At the end of the meeting I got his attention and asked how his week had been - you know, small talk. After all, we are still new friends and need the small talk as a buffer until we get to know each other better. I started fumbling for my keys in my purse - as I still get nervous when I talk to attractive men. I'm not sure what possessed me in the next moment, but before I had time to change my mind I told him:

"Don't take this the wrong way... but you have really beautiful hair."

I wasn't sure how a guy would take a compliment about their looks that included the word beautiful, but suprisingly he said thank you - and looked sincere about it! Starting to feel myself get even more nervous I tried to play it cool and said something to the effect of "I'm not one of those weird psycho girls... sometimes I just call it like I see it." This was my feeble attempt to appear as un-stalker-ish as possible. His response? He said thank you again, and said that he was flattered.

Standing now, I told him to have a good week and tried to make a quick exit out of my row before my face flushed red.

Yes - I still get nervous and run away after talking to a cute boy.

Superman Calls My Office.

2010-11-30T13:43:00.000-08:00

And his area code says he's from L.A.

One Reason Not To Wear Flip-Flops While Grocery Shopping

2010-10-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday. My free day.

This particular Saturday, October 30th, I rolled out of bed late in the morning (okay, okay, it was early afternoon!) after a late night at a HUGE Halloween party. I did the lazy thing, lounged in my pajamas for a while, started some laundry, and then decided I should get things rolling before heading out with some friends for more Halloween adventures. One thing I needed to accomplish was a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for my ward's once a month diner's club. I quickly grabbed a pair of flip flops and rushed out the door so I'd be back in time to pull my laundrey out of the dryer.

Once at the store I nabbed a handheld basket from one of the checkout lines and bee-lined towards the baking goods isle. Walking at quite the brisk pace I dodged between a lady shopping by herself, and a mother pushing her son in a shopping cart when WHAM!! I was full out sprawled on the ground in the middle of the isle thanks to an unseen puddle of what I hope was water. Both ladies looked at me like I was stupid, or just had some kind of fainting spell. It was that much of a show. Righting myself to the vertical position again I annoyingly shared what I had discovered on the floor, and the lady shopping by herself quickly started off to find an employee. I think the lady with the kid asked if I was okay, and then continued on her way.

I stood above the puddle to deter potential accidents for about a minute until the first lady returned with what looked like a bag boy who asked: "Um, do you want to fill out some paperwork or something?" Oh, I was annoyed, but I wasn't about to spend 30 minutes filling out an accident report. Instead I shortly answered no, and that they should just clean it up because someone else would seize the opportunity to sue the store if they could. I really just wanted to get my canned pumkin and cake mix and go home.

My knee hurts.

The Man of My Dream

2010-10-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

Ha. I know many of you probably want to add an "s" to the end of that title, but read on and it will all make sense.

In recent weeks I have been having all sorts of dreams. It's kind of a pattern for me to have a period of time where I dream almost every night, and then I go through a longer period of time where I don't dream at all. The dreams are usually random and not connected to anything in my real life, but lately there has been a difference: I've known one to two people in each dream. In the past I've had dreams where I seem to know the person/people in my dreams, but they are not real people in my life. I've written a few of these recent dreams down in my notebook because (1) they are unusual for me, (2) all the people that show up in my dreams are guys that I currently know and associate with, and (3) they're just funny sometimes, like the one where my friend bought me frog leg soup (random). You should make note that none of these dreams have been of the romantic sort.

Anyway, I had another dream last night that involved someone I know, but this dream broke the pattern again. This time the person I knew was in fact not a guy - it was my mom. And I can't really remember what was going on at the beginning, but for some reason my mom and I were in this amazingly awesome building/house that you could tell cost millions of dollars. There were columns, and shades of emerald throughout the decor. My mom walked out of the room just as this beautiful, handsome, dashing, basically-perfect-in-every-way guy in a nice car slides the vehicle to a stop there on the green streaked marble-floored indoor balcony that overlooked the front entryway below. How the car even got up to the second floor was obviously not a concern, nor out of place in my dream.

He was there for me, this man of my dream; I knew it. He got out of the car with purpose and I started toward him in amazement. He looked really good in that tux, too. He then turned and started jogging away from me, and my heart fell. How could I get my hopes up again? I stopped in my place unsure of what to do, and then he turned around - it was a trick; he wanted to see just how excited I'd be when he came back for me.

Enter the cheesy movie-like part of my dream: we ran for each other and he wrapped me up in the best hug possible and dipped me low to the ground. I guess you can compare the dip to the final scene of "The Cutting Edge" when they're out on the ice and you know they just won the gold medal, and Kate tells Doug that she's in love with him. It was that kind of dip.

The man of my dream kissed me.

...and it was the most awkward and uncomfortable kiss I have ever had - EVER! Including real life! It was like he had never kissed anyone, ever. I looked up into his eyes and with concern asked, "We are going to get better at this, right??"

My Spider Friend

2010-10-15T00:41:00.000-07:00

Not long after moving to Los Angeles a spider befriended my car. Well, the passenger-side mirror of my car to be exact. I parked on the street of the cute neighborhood in front of my first apartment every day, next to little stretches of grass and beneath the shade of trees that lined the sidewalks. Since Los Angeles is mostly made of concrete, I assume that there are a plethora of living critters dwelling in the green and growing patches that do exist in the city. This is where my friend the spider met Babe, my car.

I never actually saw the spider but for months there was daily evidence that this eight-legged critter was dwelling in the cavity behind my passenger side mirror, as there was a web craftily spun all over the front of the mirror, sometimes even connecting to the window. When the web would get too big I would roll down the passenger window, and wipe it off with a tissue. I'll admit I was surprised the first time it reappeared. Soon however, it was a normal thing - the spider built its web while my car was parked, and I destroyed it with tissue or by flying down a highway. This was one resilient spider; it even kept up its antics when I moved to my new apartment in August to a parking space far from grass and trees. I figured that critter would be living in the space abaft of my mirror until I decided to wash my car and flush it out with a hose - which if you know me at all you know that I'm doing good if I wash my car even once a year.

Then, late in September I drove my car to Vegas. The web got messed up while on the highway, and I just figured I'd see a new one strung across the mirror the next morning. But, there never was a new web. I think the spider finally decided it couldn't handle the competition and died; or bailed out somewhere along the road to Vegas. Funny, I don't like spiders but I felt kind of sorry for the little bugger. We had such a nice routine going.

I CAN Change The World!

2010-10-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

Surveys. We've all been asked to complete/fill out a survey, give feedback, etc. at one point or another. Most often I ignore them, but on the rare occasion I do take the time to comply with a survey request I promptly forget about them once they are completed. That was obviously something that happened to me this summer when I was traveling a bunch. I filled out a survey about one of my flights, and then forgot about it. I can't remember actually filling out a survey, let alone if I filled it out online or by physically checking off boxes on a sheet of paper. Actually, I think the last one is correct. I vaguely remember handing something to a flight attendant once while at cruising altitude. But maybe that was my trash.

Anyway, I remembered today that I have an email account (meaning, I checked my email for the first time in a week), and this is what I found in my inbox from American Airlines:

Dear Ms. Hellewell:

We appreciate your participation with our survey dated July 19.

Your comments regarding the cleanliness of the windows have been forwarded to the appropriate management personnel who will use them constructively as we continue to search for ways to improve all aspects of our service.

Ms. Hellewell, again, thank you. We will do all possible to make your experiences pleasant and trouble-free on American Airlines.

Sincerely,
Sara Holmes
Customer Relations
American Airlines

I'm not sure why I found this so funny, but it sent me into a small fit of laughter. Maybe it was the way they made it sound all formal with their phrasing of: "cleanliness of the windows." Or, maybe it's just because we've ALL been there - you manage to score a window seat on the plane, you get all your stuff shoved under the seat in front of you, you wiggle into a semi-comfortable position and fasten your seat belt, turn to look out the window, and BAM! Someone's greasy forehead print is smudged perfectly across the middle of the window fogging up your view of the tarmac.

But maybe, just maybe, the funniest part is that the airline actually read my comment, deemed it important enough to not be tossed in the recycle bin, and have decided to do something about it.

That's one small step for man, folks.

Random Stuff. And Fish.

2010-09-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

I miss blogging! I have plenty of time to, but it's just not nearly as fun as when I have pictures to add. I'm hesitant to write too many blogs without pictures for fear of boring anyone who may read my blog... because, really, I don't enjoy reading lengthy blogs that are all words, all the time. I like seeing what's going on in other's lives as well as reading about them, so I assume that's the general consensus (yes - that was me putting myself and my ideas at the center of the universe. You're welcome).

Work is going well. I'm getting better at what I'm doing, which means I get more projects dropped on my desk each week. I don't mind really, but kind of want time to get ahead on my main projects now and then. On the bright side, more projects mean my boss trusts me even more, right? Heck - why am I asking you? There's only three of us in the office including the boss; I can tell he trusts me just fine (hmmm... I'm a little sassy tonight). We've started conducting a DJ workshop once a week which allows me to get several hours of overtime on a regular basis, which my bank account is grateful for. I think I'll specifically set aside the money that comes from overtime so I can pay off my student loan quicker. Or maybe I'll save it for something else... like the Mediterranean. We shall see. Either way, there's a lot of saving to be done.

I'm still looking for another roommate to share the master bedroom with me in my apartment; I've even moved all of my stuff away from that side of the room so it's ready for instant move-in. Now pray I can find someone soon so I can pay lower rent!

I bought a new pet fish (a betta)... I finally missed Lloyd enough that I had to do something about it. I still had all the fish stuff I needed, but I did spring for new rocks to put in the bottom of the bowl. My new fish is named Duberdicus (the Lusitanian god of water). He has a very fringy tail that is super awesome looking. The end of the tail is mainly red, then has a small white stripe before the blue fades in to the back end of his body; his head and face are kind of white. He's quite patriotic. And I love him! You should see him beg for treats when I get home from work - it's cute! The day I bought him I ate sushi for dinner... it seemed appropriately perverse.

....aaaand that's my life as of late. Happy Wednesday!

Chronically-ill Camera

2010-09-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

For about a year my camera had a hard time taking pictures. Funny, right? Since that's all a camera is supposed to do... Anyway, the shutter button (you may have to excuse my lack of camera vocabulary) was extremely tempermental - sometimes to the point where I'd give up and go without whatever picture I had just spent 5 minutes trying to capture.

Then, magically, it got better!

My camera was working perfect for several months and I was happy to share the miraculous story with whoever would listen. Then I went to my family reunion, saw cousins I hadn't seen in 10+ years, met all their cute kids, went to pull out my camera to take pictures of all of them.... and the lens cover-thing wouldn't open! The camera turns on fine, the zoom adjusts when I mess with it and I can access the menu and pictures on the memory card that already exist, but the darn thing wont open the cover of the lens. At all. Not for a charged battery or for my fingernails trying to pry it open manually.

I sure hope my camera gets better again.

Full-Time-Ness

2010-08-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

Just before I went to New York this summer I had an interview for a full-time job. It went VERY well. Turned out I was a perfect fit for the job and, according to some, the most qualified person that had ever been in the position at the company. It also turned out that it was a great fit for me as the job almost perfectly blends both what I majored and minored in in college; giving me practical event/coordination experience in the world of entertainment. I think I was given this job through divine power solely because I needed something in my life to be going right - I had made the decision to move to California even though I hadn't received answers to my prayers, and was REALLY struggling there for a while. No friends, no place to live, no job... no matter how much job searching and socializing I attempted I still just felt like an unwanted lump of - something. This move is definitely in my top 2 most difficult moves of my life - not sure which was more of a challenge.

Anyway, that's not what this post is really about. The point is, I now have a full-time job. Big deal, right? I should've experienced several of those by now. Yet... I haven't. This is my first. Of course, I'm not counting my 18 month mission (it was service, not a job), or school (even when I was taking 18 credits a semester I wasn't putting 40 hours a week in to it - including class time). I don't even count doing a combination of activities that totalled more than 40 hours a week as if I was working full time- like my last semester of school where I was taking 15 credits and 1 institute class, had 1 part-time job and 2 internships, was on the college's scholarship board, was in the Relief Society presidency of my ward and served as a temple worker, and considered myself lucky if I had enough time to go grocery shopping or do my my laundry that week. Why don't I count it? Because they are DIFFERENT things!

Now, look at my job. Or any full-time job. What was this week's schedule like? Is it comparable to last week's schedule? Or next weeks? Probably. Granted, you may not do exactly the same thing every week, but the tasks are generally the same. This is weird for me. I show up to work at the same time Monday-Friday. I have Saturdays and Sundays off. I check in equipment, follow up with employees and clients, prepare upcoming event folders, coordinate meetings, read emails, prepare invoices, update calendars, create playlists, check out equipment... Rinse, repeat.

Spontaneous vacations? Nope.
A day to sleep in? Not if I want to do something with my Saturdays.

I like my job and the other employees in my office; I'm really grateful for a regular paycheck. Yet I miss being able to do whatever I want when I want. It's just the transition to full-time-ness that's the hard part. It's going to take some getting used to.

Manhattan Beach

2010-08-02T22:44:00.001-07:00

Meet the Carilli family.

These are wonderful people who have become like a second family to me. The first year and a half I lived in Las Vegas I had relatives only a few miles away who would take care of me if ever/whenever I needed help. During my last two years in Las Vegas I didn't have any close family within a couple of hours drive. Then I met Penny. We quickly became friends, and not long after that I was invited to Sunday dinner with her family. It felt like home. Pretty soon the Sunday dinners were a regular occurance, and I was considered one of the family. When I moved away from Las Vegas I was sad that I wouldn't be able to see them very often.

Lucky for me the Carilli's decided to take a week-long vacation to Disneyland, and knowing that I now have a full time job and no play money (yet), offered to come visit me. We met up in the parking lot of my office just as I got off work, and had a fun evening exploring Manhattan Beach.

Although the sun was hiding behind the haze we spread out some blankets and things to create a picnic spot and ate our dinner before walking along the ocean for a bit, watching Suzi chase the gulls, and John trying to run circles around his dad (can you tell everyone was freezing?).

We then headed down to the pier for some hot chocolate, and a gander at their miniature aquarium...

Where Suzi was attacked by a shark. Don't worry - if you mess with Italians, they'll mess you up!

While small, the aquarium had a good critter collection - and there was even a touch pool! You couldn't touch these critters though:

Even if they wanted to say "Hi."

I'm grateful that the Carilli's came to spend their Monday night of vacation with their 'daughter.' Happy Family Home Evening!

Hollywood Forever Cemetary

2010-08-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

"Founded in 1899, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the resting place of hundreds of Hollywood’s greatest stars. Recently refurbished to its original splendor, the cemetery attracts visitors from all over the world. Yet it is also an active cemetery and funeral home." (hollywoodforever.com)

This cemetary is very cool. If anyone knows me very well they know that I actually enjoy cemetaries; they are incredibly peaceful. Now, I'd never sneak into one by myself at midnight when the fog's rolling in... because, again, if you know me very well you know I can't handle scary things. AT ALL. I cut scary movies out of my life more than five years ago and have never once reconsidered that decision. Anyhow, going to a cemetary at night with a group of friends to watch an old Gary Cooper black and white western flick - that's another story!

Before the movie started I wandered around to get some pictures of the AWESOME tombstones, etc. I'm pretty much convinced that every person buried here came from a family that's loaded. See for yourself:

Hill Cumorah Pageant 2010

2010-07-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

I love upstate New York in July! Never mind the flying bugs, scortching heat, random deluges, etc... July in Palmyra is Pageant time!! (Can you find me??)

The first time I participated in the Hill Cumorah Pageant was with my entire family back in 1996 when I was 13 years old. I think my parents got the idea of signing up from my mom's sister Karen, who had been in the HCP with her husband Earl and their kids in 1994. Their family were cast members again in 1996 too - which was great fun!

I loved being in the Hill Cumorah Pageant so much I always knew I wanted to go back; and finally last year, after another 13 years, I applied and went back.

I couldn't resist. Waiting another 13 years wasn't an option, so I applied in August of 2009 yet again, and headed out east at the end of June. I really like that I've been able to participate in different roles each time I have been in the Hill Cumorah Pageant; and I love that I get to dance! You're not allowed to audition for a dancing role until you're 14, so in 1996 I was in a group scene as a convert at the Waters of Mormon (don't know what I'm talking about? Email me - I'll fill you in!). Last year I was a Ceremonial Dancer, and this year I was a Nephite Dancer and a Destruction Stunt Victim. I got to die in an incredibly dramatic way that included a giant fireball and leaping down a short flight of stairs and tumbling to the ground. It was great!

Finally - Some Jane Austin I'm Interested In!

2010-07-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

What makes this video even better is that I know a handful of the people who participated in its making...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2PM0om2El8

Along The Way

2010-07-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! This last month flew! I've actually missed having the time to post anything, but I was definitely enjoying my time! I don't think I ever got around to posting about this last year since I was playing catch-up from my New Zealand trip, but this year I once again participated in the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, New York! It is always a very fun experience, and I can't wait to get pictures up from the show. I had to report to the Hill on July 2nd, but was fortunate enough to be able to spend the last weekend in June in Ohio with my friend Ashley, who got married in December and moved out to Columbus in January. She and her husband Dak were great hosts - we had a great weekend filled with garage sale shopping, a frog jump festival and game playing!

I flew on my first prop-plane ever from Columbus to Cleveland... I actually didn't like it much, I was more sensitive to all the bumps and movement in the air. I was grateful that it was only a 30 minute flight - I may have had to use the air-sick bag had we gone much longer!

While in New York I was also blessed to stay with the same family I'd stayed with last year during Pageant - they take such good care of me! We had fun picking raspberries and going hiking together before all the business of the show kept me at the hill from approx. 8am-11pm every day.

The Old And The New

2010-06-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

I've officially made the decision to stay in California. I know I've already been living here for three months, but don't doubt that I had thoughts weekly about packing it all up and going home to Colorado.

Part of the moving process, of course, is making new friends. I really don't have a hard time meeting people, so I do already have a few handfuls of friends I can call up and plan to spend time with any given week. I don't however have any friends within walking distance like I had for the past two years in Las Vegas; where I had lived as close as two apartments away from one of my closest friends. Then of course, I also had wonderful roommates for a year and a half that I would see on a daily basis. My roommates were great girls, and great friends!

One thing I miss is that established relationship and knowledge about my friends and their lives. The friends that could sit in a room without talking and not be uncomfortabe, friends who would randomly run errands with you - even if it meant walking to Walmart in the middle of the night for toiletpaper or the next morning's breakfast, or friends that you could just show up at their front door unexpected and they'd invite you in and let you to stay for hours. Friends who'd come find you when life was getting you down and do something nice for you like buying your favorite smoothie or replenishing the stack of tissues while you'd bawl your eyes out, or friends that would go along with your crazy ideas/adventures and come up with some of their own.

Friendships like that take time, and work! And while I'm working at developing friendships like that here, I sometimes just wish that it was already done. I wish someone here already knew me; about my life, about my past experiences, and that I already knew everything about them. It's kind of lonely without that kind of friend readily on hand for life's daily adventures.

Now - who wants to go to the store with me?

Kids!

2010-06-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

I recently got to spend two and a half weeks in Colorado visiting most of my family - and I loved it! My older sister was having a baby, so I was asked to come keep her house running while she was in the hospital. While my sister and my mom said I was a big help to them, I feel like I really got a good deal: free rent, free food, and plenty of playtime with my nieces and nephew!! Here are a few things that we did:

Field day! Man, I hadn't been to one of these in ages! My oldest niece Sami was just finishing up 1st grade, and did VERY well at field day... just look at that form in landing the long jump! She came home with mostly blue and red ribbons (1st and 2nd place), with only a couple white and yellow (3rd and 4th place).

Only a day or two after field day my sister had her baby! Cute little Janessa joined their family early on May 21st. It was very fun to wake up the girls in the morning by showing them a picture of their new sister - instant smiles! I got Sami off to school, and spent the day listening to Cassidy and Shelby asking when Sami was getting home so we could go see their mom and the baby at the hospital. It turned out Shelby wasn't so thrilled to meet her sister, but she did let her hold her finger once.

One of the kids' favorite things to do was to play in Aunt Melissa's room. Most of the time they were interested in playing Plants vs. Zombies with me on my computer - which they were getting pretty good at! I even taught Jackson to say "zombies"... and then he cracked me up by copying the game by saying "zombies...coming!" When they weren't playing the game they would find other ways to entertain themselves by playing in the closet, swinging like monkeys from the underside of the bunk bed, or in Jackson's case pretending to be a pirate... but most often he would be a lion.

Every time we would load up in the car I would turn on some music for the kids. At the beginning of my time with them I selected a country CD for them to listen to, and soon enough Cassidy was hooked on the first track - and subsequently requested to listen to that song over and over! Eventually, all three girls got pretty good at singing along to the chorus (okay - I tried for hours and couldn't get this video to load... if you want to see what I'm talking about you'll have to look HERE at my sister's blog - it's the last video on the post).

I also spent some time one evening helping Sami and Cassi practice their cartwheels. They really were trying hard, but couldn't quite pull off the moves. I helped show them where their legs and arms were supposed to be by flipping them in slow motion while talking them through it, and soon enough it was starting to catch on! Sami was getting pretty good by bedtime:

I had so much fun with these kids!!

Niece On The Way!

2010-05-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

The waiting is soon to be over! My sister, her husband and my mom are off at the hospital waiting for things to get exciting! There should be a brand new baby here VERY soon! Happy Day!

Have You Seen...

2010-05-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

...my new blog yet?

Read,

Follow,

Comment,

Participate,

Enjoy!

http://theindepthgilmore.blogspot.com/

The Miracle of the Never Ending Gas

2010-05-03T18:54:00.001-07:00

Three weekends ago I went to Vegas (as I mentioned here on my blog). I filled up my gas tank on April 13th before I started my drive back to Cali, and have done plenty of driving since then. I went to Magic Mountain, drove to church 3 times, FHE, grocery shopping, and various places inbetween. Now, my car has always gotten pretty great gas mileage, but I started worrying that I was going to run out. You see, most cars have a gas light; mine doesn't. I learned that once about 5 years ago when trying to rush from work to an accounting test in college. Every time I've driven my car during the last week I would look at my gas gauge and worry, but without a job it's not so easy to spend $30+ on gas. Finally after counting the change in my piggy bank and some shifting of funds I decided I could afford to fill up my tank today. Twenty days since I left Las Vegas! Even more surprising was that I still had nearly a gallon and a half of gas left in my 15 gallon tank. Talk about blessings.

Spring Break?

2010-04-30T01:08:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm not in school I don't really qualify for a Spring Break, but this last weekend when a couple friends of mine traveled down from Las Vegas for a visit I felt like that's what I was enjoying. After meeting up at the hotel in Sylmar (North of LA) we did what anyone who visits Cali should do at least once: we went to the walk of fame to find some favorites!

The King,

The Mouse,

Several hand/foot prints in front of the Chinese Theater,

And Erik Estrada.

Of course, I also paid tribute to my favorite star on the walk of fame: Sonny and Cher.

The next morning after scoring free muffins at reception we headed a little farther North to Valencia and spent the day at Magic Mountain! We conquered rollercoasters, some swings, and even a carousel. Yes... they enforced the seatbelt rule on the carousel.

Overall it was a fun weekend, and the first time in a long time I rode multiple rollercoasters and never once ended up feeling dizzy from them! So, if you're ever out here in Cali and you're headed for Magic Mountain, make sure you don't miss the coaster X2. By FAR the best ride there, and I promise you've never experienced anything quite like it.

New Blog!

2010-04-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I was feeling ambitious today and decided to start a new blog. I'm still keeping this blog that you're reading focused on me, but my new blog was brought about by something I enjoy: Gilmore Girls. Don't scoff yet... take a moment to check it out - especially if you like Gilmore Girls, literature, music, movies, or pop-culture in general.

http://theindepthgilmore.blogspot.com/

I think it's going to be fun!

Do You Ever Have Those Moments Where You Just Need To Feel Loved?

2010-04-22T01:44:00.001-07:00

I'm having one of those moments.

Hiatus to Vegas

2010-04-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love vacations! Some people I know will argue that I'm currently on a long-term vacation, seeing that I am unemployed but in reality I don't feel like I'm on vacation. When I go on vacation I wake up at the crack of dawn and look for new things to do or see, new food/restaurants to try, and generally jam-pack every minute with something diverting. That's what a vacation is to me. My life currently differs greatly from this definition: I generally get up in the (late) morning and do the basic get-ready-for-the-day things; occasionally throwing in a work out session. I eat brunch, job hunt, do laundry, load some dishes in the dishwasher, eat a late lunch/early dinner while watching about an hour of television (which is about the total time I would watch tv in a 2 to 3 week time period while during school), check emails, facebook, blogs, etc, occasionally attend a ward activity of sorts, and sometimes have a snack before watching a show on hulu or converting some of my vinyl records into mp3 format. Sleep. Repeat.

Trust me - this cycle gets old quick, and is definitely NOT a vacation. Not having a job or anything I need to leave the house for makes me feel quite useless and unwanted. So, after about a month of boredom my former roommate's wedding in Vegas was a good excuse to take a real vacation!

The moment I crossed the Nevada border late Thursday afternoon I was on the phone with friends (it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving in Cali if you don't have a hands-free way of doing so...) planning the evening's activities. First, Indian food at one of my favorite restaurants and then a late night movie at a friend's house. Friday morning was a 3 hour pretzel-making adventure followed by lunch with another friend at an AWESOME Spanish tapas restaurant called Firefly. I'm so ashamed I didn't try this place before I moved away; I'd love to eat there on a more regular basis. It's that good. After lunch I got to visit my couch that's being babysat by two of my former roommates (and by "visit", I mean "got to take a 20 minute nap on"). The evening was filled with the good company of yet another friend while attending the wedding reception for which I had made the journey, and that good company continued on to the movie theater to use the free ticket I had won at the "famous couples" dance I attended back in February.

On Sunday I was able to attend my old ward and I LOVED being able to sit by people I know and participate in classes without anyone wondering who I was. As was the tradition before my move, I was invited to dinner with a friend's family who I love dearly. The evening there was cut shorter than normal however because a school friend had contacted me earlier in the day with an offer I could absolutely not turn down, and if you know me at all you'll understand why: it was a FREE ticket to see CHER at Caesar's Palace!!! Yeah baby! I had seen Cher on tour 4 times before, and once previously at Caesar's Palace, but this was the best deal yet. Trust me - when I have the money I'm not afraid to lay down some dollars for a good seat to her show, but I sure am grateful I could see her for free too.

My original plan was to head home Monday morning, but when Sunday night was coming to a close I just didn't feel like packing up my things and heading back "home." So I didn't. It's not like I had a job to come back to or anything. The best part about staying an extra day was getting to spend time at the institute with friends I wouldn't have seen at all had I left earlier. It was my most laid back day (since I hadn't previously planned on being there), and ended my evening with board games and frozen yogurt at a friend's house, and a quick trip to give a hug goodbye to my good company from Saturday night.

Man, I love Vegas.

Hmmmm...

2010-04-04T21:47:00.001-07:00

So, I'm going to have to get used to this earthquake thing. Yep, you guessed it - I experienced another one. This one however, didn't originate in LA or California for that matter, and it happened during daylight hours. This one actually felt different too. So, the culprit was a 7.2 magnitude quake coming from Baja California (that's Mexico, people). There's reports of people feeling it all the way in Phoenix, and I even had a friend in Vegas notice her house's hanging lamps and ceiling fans start to sway; although she didn't actually feel it. I was attending an Easter dinner with my sister-in-law's family, and had just sat down in the backyard on a patio chair. We all got quiet and attentive to our surroundings once someone pointed out that they could feel an earthquake. Unlike my first CA quake experience, the movement was more of a swaying or rocking motion, and I felt dizzy even sitting in my chair. My guess is that we could feel it for a good 30-45 seconds... much longer than the first earthquake.

So, I thought it would be fun to put up some kind of counter on my blog to keep track of how many earthquakes I experience while here... does anyone out there know of a good one? I'm not extremely blog-savvy, and am not sure how to look for one, or what exactly I'm looking for. Just something that can go in my sidebar for everyone to see; but easy for me to update. Help??

California Rocks My World - Literally

2010-03-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

So obviously, yesterday was a rough day. I was so bothered with everything that I didn't even feel tired enough to attempt sleep until 2am. Once I did lay down I actually fell asleep quickly. However, a peaceful night's rest was not meant to be. Not long later I woke up to the sound of lamps and miscellaneous desk items rattling, and the floor and my bed shaking up and down. I'll admit, I was confused. I tried to think of the reasons why such motion would be happening while I rolled over and looked at the clock on my phone. 4:04am. The neighbors couldn't make the apartment floor jump like that and there is no highway close enough to be disturbed by semi-trucks trying to gain mileage while the roads are clear. Wait a minute (the light bulb above my head clicked on), I live in California now - land of earthquakes.

REALLY?? I wasn't sure if I was thinking straight, but it freaked me out anyway - I mean, with all the publicity on the news about earthquakes lately I immediately decided that the fastest and probably the safest way out of the apartment was through the sliding glass door on to the back porch. But I did hesitate; there's no exit off of the porch (by the way - the shaking had stopped by now). I was proud of my next move. Without hardly a thought I was on my knees on my bed and praying for safety and calmness, and for the ability to follow the Lord's guidance in case I needed to get out of the building. But still, I needed to know for sure what I had felt.

On went my bedside lamp and I bee-lined for my laptop. Yep. A quick search confirmed that LA had experienced a 4.4 earthquake at 4:04am. So, since my heart wouldn't stop pounding for the next 40 minutes I browsed the USGS website looking at maps and forecasts, earthquake records and definitions of terms.

Welcome to California.

When The Going Gets Tough - I Break Down

2010-03-16T00:21:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I had dreams of grandeur. As I entered my last year of college I talked about moving to California one day to be a successful band manager or talent scout...basically someone important to the entertainment world. However as I got involved in a few internships I managed to line up a pretty great job for myself upon graduation, and I left for Christmas break feeling pretty great about my future. I even got used to the idea of staying in Vegas for a few more years; it would give me a good foothold of experience before heading out to a larger market in California - which would happen eventually, just not then. Then the company downsized. And took back my offer of employment (I'm pretty sure I've talked about this before). Anyway, with the way things worked out California now seemed to be the best place to find a full-time job and I never felt like I shouldn't move. So, I moved.

I've been in LA for just over 48 hours now, and for the most part I am NOT enjoying it.

I don't like that most of my belongings are still in boxes because I have no where to put them even if I did unpack them. It's hard not having any friends to call upon when I'm bored and want to do something. I hate having to remember which side of the street gets cleaned on what day between what times, and waking up early to move my car before it gets towed out of the sweeper's way. I hate that there's heavy traffic nearly ALL day; it makes me want to stay inside all the time so I don't have to deal with it. It bothers me each time my brother and his wife comment that they no longer have space to do their P90X exercizes in the second bedroom, or say "I didn't know we were losing the WHOLE bedroom." YOU try moving an entire house into one room; it's not easy! The whole reason I moved in here was because it was offered to me; I hate, hate, HATE feeling like I'm a bother to someone else. I don't feel qualified for any position that I've heard about, and hesitate to send in my resume for fear of rejection (stupid, right?). I hate that I haven't memorized my new address yet; it's really not complicated. I want to go home, but when I think about going home I don't know if I mean Colorado or Las Vegas.

I hate that I hate California right now. This was supposed to be a good thing.

Not What You'd Expect...

2010-02-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

I took a quick trip to Colorado this weekend, and was able to stop and stay in Hurricane, Utah at my Aunt and Uncle's house both on my way up and on my way back home. On the way home however, I took a few extra hours to relax at their house in the morning before I got in my car and finished up the drive. While there my Aunt had a repair man come over to fix their dishwasher. She left him in the kitchen while she got ready for the day, and I wandered into the living room to use their computer. That was when the repair man's cell phone rang. Really loud. And definitely not with a ring tone I'd expect to hear coming from a 25-35 year old single (at least, no ring on the finger) man. I was glad I was in the other room, because, how could I have resisted laughing when I heard Miley Cyrus singing "The Climb" blaring from the kitchen??

Shelby!

2010-02-11T01:15:00.001-08:00

I recently introduced you to a niece of mine. Tonight, I'd like to introduce another. This is Shelby:

While I realize this isn't the most *ahem, flattering picture of the little cutie, I absolutely adore it! You ask this two year old to smile for the camera, and you typically get a cheese-ball expression such as the one you just witnessed. I LOVE it.

Anyway, a few days ago Shelby celebrated her third birthday. You might believe she's only three because of how tiny she is, but if you listened to her speak you might think she's, well, thirteen. It's pretty amusing. Here's the latest conversation I had with her when I called to wish her a Happy Birthday:

Me: Hi Shelby! Happy Birthday! How old are you now?
Shel: I'm three. I'm not two anymore. I'm three.

(skipping the part where I sing Happy Birthday in Spanish...)

Me: What are you doing today?
Shel: I'm getting a fairy cake; we're going to eat it at night.
Me: After dinner?
Shel: Yep.

(She then proceded to tell me that some of her friends were coming. They weren't. But this is where it gets good...)

Me: Well that sounds like fun!
Shel: Uh-huh! And on your birthday I'll give you a Strawberry Shortcake cake and a party for your friends. Except, you don't have any friends.
Me: ... (laughing and changing the subject), Guess what? I'm going to see you in 3 days!
Shel: No. Four days.
Me: No, I'll be there in three days.
Shel: No! Four days!
Me: Well, can I see you in three days instead because it's sooner?
Shel: Bye.

Funniest part is I only today realized that it really was going to be four days until I saw her. She obviously didn't want to waste her time arguing with me when she knew she was right!

I want to be like that couple...

2010-02-04T02:37:00.000-08:00

It seems like wherever I look these days I see couples. I like to observe couples who have been together for various amounts of time, and oftentimes I feel like I want to emulate them:

I want to be like that couple I saw standing on a corner of downtown Salt Lake City when I was driving out of town - fairly young, no kids (at least, not yet), with backpacking backpacks strapped on their backs and a map in their hands. They were setting out on an adventure to wherever they desired with only the most basic necessities and each other to rely on.

I want to be like that couple I saw somewhere on the stretch of higway between Provo and St. George driving a classic car with the top down. Sporting a bit of salt and pepper gray in his hair, the husband donned shades and easily maneuvered the car around the gentle curves of the road while his wife leaned back in her seat with a soft smile on her lips and kept one hand lightly on her sun hat while enjoying the warm Autumn breeze caressing her face. They had already traveled so many roads together, some probably rougher than others, but now were at a calm point in their lives where their children were probably grown and raising families of their own. They fully enjoyed each other's company.

I want to be like that couple that lives downstairs and across the walkway from me. Old, white haired and slightly bent, the husband always leaves the driver's seat of their automobile quickly to open his wife's door and help situate her walker. He sends her ahead of him down the narrow path while he locks up the car, and then quickly shuffles past her to ensure that he has the front door of their home open and waiting for her to cross the threshold. He anticipates her every move, and would never miss an opportunity to serve the one he loves.

I want to be like those couples.

Cassidy!

2010-01-30T16:28:00.000-08:00

Now, I know I shouldn't brag, but I think it's great that my four year old niece Cassidy loves me as much as she does. I'll call to chat with my sister and am often told a story of how Cassidy brought me up in recent conversation.

Right now my sister's family is awaiting a new baby due approximately at the end of May, and they just found out it's another girl! I did laugh when I read my sister's blog entry about it... Cassidy once again proved that she's constantly thinking of me:

http://pollockpatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/pretty-in-pink.html

I just love this girl!

August 2009

2010-01-30T01:14:00.001-08:00

It's easy for me to tell by looking through my pictures when life gets busy... in August there is a steep drop in the number of pictures I took! Granted, August of 2009 marked the beginning of my last semester of college and I was really busy. I was taking 15 credits including my capstone class (meant to bring everything I learned in school to use), working shifts at the Mandalay Bay convention center when I could, juggling two internships, attending institute, selecting who to give money to on UNLV's scholarship board, and got called as the first counsellor in my singles ward's Relief Society. I sometimes ended up with no time to shop for food or do my laundry during the week. I still don't know how I managed, honestly.

Anyway, back to the fun August stuff... 2009 will always be stuck in my brain as "the year that EVERYONE got married." One fun thing a couple of my engaged friends did before they finished tying the knot was to have a little messy party at the park... and I mean MESSY! This is Chris and Katy:

Why do they look disgusting? Because they just finished wrestling in a kiddie pool of pudding. It was hilarious. At the party was also a jello slip-n-slide. Gross.

This totally would have been an activity I would have jumped in to (literally), but I had some other activity planned for later in the afternoon (I don't remember what) and had already showered and gotten dressed for it. Bummer.

Do you love Papa Johns? My roommate Rashida does! Well, I do too, but Rashida takes it to a whole new level, and the rest of the house often benefits from her addiction (geez, here we go about strange addictions again... remember FE-A?) Any-who... the delivery guy one day obviously liked taking his job to a whole new level too. His name tag did not display his name, but rather, said "Delivery Perfectionist." I laughed. And then ran for my camera.

The best part about August however was that my great friend Emily got to officially move in! She had been living on my living room floor for a couple of weeks (convenient... living in the LIVING room) while looking for an apartment, and moved in to the room I shared with Cynthia when Cynthia and I moved in to the master bedroom when Jen bought her own condo and moved out. We knew we'd miss Jen, but she decided to buy a conder a little further in the same complex, so it's not like we'd never see her. I think Emily was happy that she could finally un-pack her car before it made her crazy.

Maybe I Have A Bad Employment History...

2010-01-28T23:37:00.000-08:00

Funny. Kind of. For some reason lately I have been running in to or have been reminded of some of my former employers. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

At the end of last semester I was on a site visit for my nightclub management class at the HardRock Hotel and Casino. We'd finished our tour and were standing with our professor in the hallway near their meeting rooms. I had noticed as we had passed by that there was equipment/decor being loaded in for some event, and I mentioned to a classmate that I had helped set up an event in the same room once before with (we'll change the names here) Former Employer A (FE-A).

I had worked for FE-A during 2008 for about 5-6 months. I had begun my internship requirement with them hoping to learn about creating/desining special events, etc, and got a few opportunities to work semi-closely with some events; I even was allowed to write out a proposal for a potential client for a very VERY small event. THEN, things changed. Receptionist went on planned maternity leave and I was expected to do her job. And that's it. Hmmmm... so much for event experience. FE-A and I had a mutual parting of ways. I didn't quit, she didn't fire me, we just stopped calling each other to schedule work times.

Skipping back to the hallway... while discussing the results of the class' nightclub event - lo and behold - who do I see pacing the hallway monitoring the load-in process while probably wishing she was eating a McDonald's cheeseburger and smoking a cigarette (I'll save the topic of addictions for another post... maybe)? FE-A. Boo. I even had to share an elevator with her on the way to the parking garage. We were civil, but the conversation was oh so short.

Time for FE-B. Before my mission I nannied and worked at the home office/business of Former Employer B. I gave up 2 other jobs (I had 3 at one time) for a great raise and more hours with FE-B and was promised the chance to learn the field of live entertainment. Haha! Kidding - they really just wanted me to watch their four year old in a hotel room for 3 weeks. Yes, nannying was PART of my job, but nothing they had promised on the entertainment side happened. So, I explained my feelings, and among another misunderstanding I was let go (saw it coming a mile away).

Last semester the company I was interning for (see FE-C) entered into a contract with FE-B to open a live entertainment production in a local venue. I feared every day that I would come face to face with the folks that make up FE-B, but somehow lucked out when they only came in to the office on days I was in school. So, this last Saturday I was running about Las Vegas attending a couple of wedding receptions. The first was hosted at a church building, but the second was at the bride's home. I got directions off the internet, saw the map and had driven up to the very gate of the community before I realized that I was waiting to be allowed access to the same neighborhood in which I had worked for FE-B. The bride's house was two doors down. Geez. Talk about bad memories.

FE-C was where I actually completed the requirements for my internship credit. I worked with them last year for seven months. SEVEN! I could have finished my hours quicker yes, but I wanted to really learn about entertainment and get my foot in the door. My coworkers were awesome, I liked being at work and did learn a lot, but then had no job when FE-C (who HAD hired me) passed on the word that the company was downsizing and could no longer give me a position. Rude. He had to wait until halfway through my first day as a f/t employee...

FE-D was a small part-time job I had many many moons ago here in Vegas. It was great for school - it required a telephone and a computer (which did most of the work for you), and it was suggested that employees brought something to do while waiting for the computer to dial someone who was home. I think that was the only semester I read an entire textbook for school. Long story short, company cutbacks required the department to be cut in half, and the newest employees were let go first. Game Over.

Now tomorrow I'm being a live mannequin at a bridal fair (think convention). One of the main sponsors for the bridal fair is FE-D, I know FE-C has a booth at the fair, and I would be shocked if FE-A didn't have a booth for her company too (I doubt FE-B has anything to do with it). But goodness... isn't just wierd how often they're all showing up in my life lately?

Post Grad

2010-01-19T00:06:00.001-08:00

So, while I am still working on catching my blog up on the happenings of 2009, I have decided to try and add more of my personal thoughts about current happenings in my life throughout the year. So far my blog has mostly been a storybook of my life's activities (complete with pictures!), but thanks to some examples from friend's blogs, I have wanted to add a little more to my blog this year. Sorry if it gets boring, y'all.

Tonight was a night of movies... first with my ward for FHE, and then at a married friend's house. At this friend's house we watched Post Grad. Haven't heard of it? Don't worry - you'll learn everything you need to know from the movie in this post. In other words, it's not that great. In fact, it's really strange and random and our little group of friends pondered on why so many great actors such as Michael Keaton, Carol Burnett, Alexis Bledel and Bobby Coleman would waste their time on such a flick. Anyway, I digress.

The main part of the movie centers on recent college grad Rydan Malby who always seemed to have her life planned out. Not long after turning her tassel things start falling out of place. Her car gets knocked out of comission from a hit and run accident, she doesn't get the job she had her sights set on because of her "arch nemesis" and is unable to move in to her new apartment because the lack of a paycheck. She then ends up moving back home with mom, dad, little brother and grandma, and looses her best friend Adam Davies when he realizes that she has nothing more that platonic feelings for him. The majority of scenes focus on Rydan either looking for a job, coping with family, avoiding the nemesis, and crushing Adam's dreams (Hm. Like I said, not very good). Eventually, the family learns how to function together, Rydan is offered the job that the nemesis gets fired from, and she realizes that she does in fact love Adam - after he's moved across the country for law school. So, what does she do? Quits her new job, flies across the country and lives happily ever after with Adam.

Okay, so you've now been long asking yourself, "why has Melissa dedicated an entire post to this sub-par phenomenon?" Only because I feel some of her pain - minus the whole "everything just works itself out" part at the end. For now.

I graduated from college just over a month ago, with a full-time job offered to me. I had my plan! I was never the type of kid who had their career decided on since kindergarten; I didn't even pick a major until after I had my Associate's Degree. Anyhow, I had finally settled on something, and busted my butt for 7 months doing intern work for the company to ensure my spot. And it had worked! For a while.

The first day I went in to work as a paid professional was the day that my plan fell apart. The company was suddenly downsizing, laying people off, and unable to give me the promised job. So, my business cards met the trash can, and like Rydan I found myself frantically searching out job leads and picking up a random job on the side to try and hold me over.

I'm now losing my condo. Well, technically I'm not losing it... but I'm letting it go. I will not be renewing my lease after the end of February without having an income. I'm hoping to relocate to anywhere that has a job in my field for me, but in all honesty I'll most likely be moving in with family either in California or Colorado; I have a room offered to me in 3 different houses. While I love my family, I would definitely feel as if I was regressing a little in regards to my independence. And no, there is no best guy friend/potential love of my life out there waiting for me to discover my feelings for him, although I did have a guy recently tell me that I'm almost (if not everything) he's looking for in a spouce, and then he proceded to tell me that he was interested in persuing a relationship with another girl. While I had decided that I wasn't interested in persuing a relationship with said guy and encouraged him to develop the relationship he is currently in, it still hurts the pride a little bit when you hear "you're great, but she's better" ...you know? Don't get me wrong, I have no ill feelings toward the guy; he's incredibly honest with people and it would be totally unfair of me to want or expect him to pine after me just because I like attention from guys. I'm happy for him!

Anyway, I digressed again. To sum up the movie analogy I felt like I understood the frustrating part of being finished with college and not having it be of any help in moving on to the next part of my life. I guess I could have said that a lot quicker and a lot better than I just did. Oh well.

Blame It On The Pop - Top 25 Billboard Hits of 2009

2010-01-16T19:57:00.001-08:00

This is the most amazing mash up I have ever seen! Thanks to my friend Shelli who introduced me. Enjoy!!

Hill Cumorah Pageant

2010-01-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

Here's some video that Geminee took of our scene... it's kinda far away and she missed the beginning, but maybe you can still see what we did.

July 2009 Sum Up

2010-01-16T00:32:00.001-08:00

After getting settled in Fairport, New York, it was time to head to the Hill Cumorah and head to registration for the pageant. Emily, Dianna and I talked to a few people in line, and even checked out some cute boys. After receiving our name badges and lanyards and ensuring our medical info was correct we walked up to the top of the hill to get a view of where we'd be spending most of our time for the next two weeks.

We still had several hours until the opening devotional, so we also visited the Sacred Grove only three miles away from the hill. It was beautiful to see the Palmyra temple just across the street from the Smith property!

The opening devotional was pretty short and was immediately followed by auditions for women's "movement" roles. I ran down to the "bowl" (as was nicknamed the grassy audiency area) and started to get my groove on! There were several dance instructors present who taught us a short dance that incorporated parts of different dances for the show so they could see how each person (of the 200+ audionees) moved, and which role(s) they would be best suited for. I made sure I was in the first batch of dancers that auditioned after learning the dance, and was the first girl handed a number card - which means you went on to round two. Quickly other girls with number cards joined me in waiting for round two and we continued practicing the dance to make sure we didn't forget it. Round two was quicker than the first, and I was once again the first girl handed a permanent role tag! I was excited; I ended up being cast as a dancer in the opening scene of the pageant, and there were only 8 girls assigned to this group - some other groups had 30-40 people in it.

Rehearsals began the next day, and were held every day after that with the exception of Sundays. Because of the large cast size (more than 700 people) there were two "cyber stages" painted in the grassy area where scenes could work on blocking, and often times there were 2-4 different scenes being rehearsed on the stage at a time!

It was also during rehearsal week that the cast was allowed one night to sit in the audience area and watch the run through - as long as we paid attention to what was happening and didn't miss our cues to be on stage. Several scenes were skipped during the run through however; they hadn't been blocked yet. These are pictures of my scene; the first during rehearsal on media day, and the second during our first run through (without costumes).

I happened to have done my hair a little crazy this day... another cast member one day had been looking at my long hair and was inspired to give me a small bottle of purple Hannah Montana Hair Mascara, so I did my hair in a style I thought would be appropriate to show off the glittery stuff.

During rehearsal week our group of ceremonial dancers sadly dropped from 8 to 7 people... poor Geminee turned wrong during a practice and sprained her ankle - everyone heard it pop; it was pretty gross. We also started getting our costumes in order, and learned that it was IMPOSSIBLE to put the entire thing on without help! They were a little hard to get used to too; having a belt cinched as tight as possible across your ribs doesn't allow for much breathing. But we sure looked good when we had it all on! You'll notice there's 8 girls in the fully costumed picture... we got our dance instructor to wear the extra costume and perform with us on one of the show nights!

The prop shop looked cool, and they even spray painted my shoes black so I could wear them on stage!

Because Geminee could no longer dance she was the only cast member that could sit in the audience area on the night of our dress rehearsal, so of course we made her take pictures of the performance. Nephi and his family aboard the ship followed by the Lamanite/Nephite pre-battle dance scene:

And the highlight of the entire show: Christ's visit to the Nephites in ancient America after his crucifixion and resurrection.

Whenever we weren't in rehearsals or devotionals, etc. we would spend time with our cast team - a group of single people about the same age as you. My cast team (R2) had a tent close to the 10 year old boy's tent, and were playing games in the open field next to our tent when we were bombarded by air missles from the boys. While they hadn't intentionally fired at us we did threaten to get even... and heart attacked their tent when no one was around. Watching the 10 year old boys scream and gag upon finding their tent covered in lots of pink hearts was priceless!

We also took turns doing service which included serving meals. My salad smiled at me the day that Emily played mashed potato lady.

Rob Moffat was the production manager at pageant, and most people were suprised to learn that I had known him since before my mission; he had been my brother's roommate, I had spent Thanksgiving at his Aunt's house in California, and he is currently my brother's writing partner for a Christmas oratorio about the nativity. Talented guy - but always busy!!

Once performances started our schedule for rehearsals was incredibly less demanding, and we were even granted a "free day" to spend with our cast team and others at Hobart and William Smith College. I enjoyed decorating the dorm sidewalks with my version of Colorado, and was pleased to see others join in with their own versions of the states they came from. There were cactuses for AZ, the Declaration of Independence for PA (it was written there), the delicate arch for UT, and many others. Later in the day several people from my cast team took a bus to visit the Martin Harris farm (I think that was the farm...) and we toured the home and then climbed trees in the orchard.

I laughed when I saw that the golf cart that collected trash from the study shelter (where we had devotionals and meals) had an Air Force One sign on the front.

There was a morning once that we didn't have to be at the Hill Cumorah very early, so Emily, Dianna and I went to the temple grounds. Pretty!

These are some of my favorite people from Pageant!! Nikita and I would sit together during the burning of Abinidi scene and quote it word for word. She's such a sweet girl! Gabby is our dance instructor's daughter, and she has the cutest smile!

Lauren was my buddy and hung out with me after she and her mom had been in the Waters of Mormon scene (that was the scene I was in when I was 13!); her mom had to take one of her brothers to another part of the stage for another scene, but her dad and other brother didn't finish the destruction scene quick enough to allow her mother to be in place. So Lauren would be dropped off with me and we'd watch the bursts of fire and water coming from all over the stage, and watch how high the rock cannons would blast their rubble into the air before the stage would go dark and allow her dad to run off and pick her up. There was one unfortunate evening where a storm blew in during the performance and opened up a downpour on us which resulted in cancelling the rest of the show for the evening just as Lauren and I were waiting for the destruction scene. It was hectic trying to find her family amongst the 700+ people making their way to the cover of the study shelter and dressing rooms, but Lauren stayed calm and wasn't worried a bit that I'd find her family.

This great guy was my scene director: John Huntington. If you've ever been introduced to Feature Films for Families, go back and watch Rigoletto again... you'll see a much younger John in the role of Hans. Great guy!

While most days seemed long at the Hill Cumorah Pageant, the weeks were short, and soon enough we'd packed up all the audience chairs and were saying goodbye to the great people we'd met. Here's a view of the stage and "bowl" from the top of the hill, and my most favorite street sign that I've EVER seen that we passed on the way home to Fairport every night.

And of course, one last trip to the Sacred Grove was necessary.

Before flying back to Las Vegas, Emily's kind sister Kim (who let us live in her house and use their truck, and eat her family's food) drove us out to Kirtland Ohio and Niagra Falls to let us have some fun. The Kirtland Temple (not owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now):

The Newell K. Whitney store:

Our stop in Kirtland was cut shorter than we'd planned so that we'd have time to do some fun stuff in Niagra... when I got out of the truck I happened to look straight at a diamond ring that someone had dropped in the parking lot. And so the fun began! We decided to turn it in after we went to the maid of the mist - since we had to run to barely make the last boat of the day.

Someone mentioned that it would be funny to get men to pretend to propose to us with the ring, so I scouted out a cutie and asked him to. He willingly agreed! Isn't he great?

It turned out that Markus Niemela is a Finnish racecar driver, and was traveling around the US for some races, but was also with his cameraman who was getting footage for the pilot of a Finnish reality show about Markus' life. Markus was about halfway through the mock-proposal when I noticed that the guy was filming us! I have yet to discover if they used any of the proposal in their show, but there's a possibility I'm famous in Finland now. Haha...

Niagra was super fun! We even went in to Buffalo after turning in the ring and ate at the home of the original Buffalo wings. I still hold that Buffalo Wild Wings is better.

I finally got back to Las Vegas to finish out the month and was given the opportunity to see Barbara Self - the last companion I had on my mission - when she came to UNLV to work as an EFY councelor for two weeks. Such a fun girl!

Best of June

2009-11-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

After flying back to the United States and clearing customs I had a few days to relax in Los Angeles and let my vacation wear off slowly rather than jumping back into real life. Although... June ended up being a pretty fun month anyway - real life and all! As always, I had to participate in some great outdoor activities with my brother Diego and his wife Mariela. This time we went to Devil's head and did some rock climbing on the beach. We parked above the rock, set up a rope, and rappelled to the bottom to begin the fun. It was pretty challenging for my out-of-practice skills, and I fell once just trying to start the climb. Good thing I was top-roping instead of leading!

If nothing else, the location was great for pictures!

My brother likes to surprise me. He told us all to get dressed up, and he drove us downtown. This was a pretty cool surprise - I got to see my brother be sworn in as a lawyer. I'm so proud of him!

I got back to Vegas eventually and was able to see my mission trainer Haley Flake when she came in to town for a teacher's conference around the 9th. I picked her up from her hotel and we got to spend an evening together. Good times!

On the 12th my Polynesian dance group - called the Ofa Angas (sweethearts) danced in a Luau that was hosted in the backyard of one of the group members. We did the Luau as a fund raiser for new costumes and earned a good chunk of change! I only danced in one number, but it was fun! Here are a few members of our group...

Bubs and Rachel:

Jessica:

Me:

Our instructor and good friend Siva, her middle child Leo, me and Jessica. By the way, it is quite possible that I am the whitest girl in the group! Rachel might give me a run for my money, but I'm even tan in this picture!!!

The next day I accompanied my friend Ashlyn to her friend's wedding and reception. The location was pretty cool - an old famous mansion with an indoor pool in the middle of the reception hall (no, we weren't allowed to even dip a toe in it!). We enjoyed good food, and then were ushered on to the dance floor for the boquet toss. I won.

Little did I know however, that in non-lds culture the guy who catches the garter then wins the priveledge of putting said garter on the leg of the girl who caught the boquet. I was suddenly really grateful that I had chosen to wear slacks instead of a skirt that night!!!

'Twas now nearing the season of my birthday, and I was pleasantly surprised to get a birthday package from my parents. Can you say hooray for cute flip-flops?!?!?! Love them!!

On the 18th some friends of mine threw me a birthday party. With the help of my roommate Rashida I did my hair all cute and had a fun night. Julie Koch hosted the party at her home and made me a beautiful (and delicious!) cake. It was fun to be surrounded by friends and play fun games... like Chutes and Ladders!!

The next night was filled with more friends at a dance party. I saw my old roommate Airline and her husband Eric and said hello to baby-to-be Kaleb. And of course, there was dancing!!

Well folks, it took me only 26 years, but I finally did it. On the 21st (my BIRTHDAY!) my friend Pamela and I got up dark and early and drove to DISNEYLAND!!! Can I just say I was excited??

If you know me well at all - you know I love moose.

I was also to see part of the Small World ride pay tribute to New Zealand. I had to take a picture to share with Ashley!

I had a great day filled with all sorts of adventures... finding treasure, capturing Pamela, running (and riding) around in circles and becoming characters from great movies.

I even thought I found my frog prince... turns out he was really just a toad.

It was a short trip and we wore ourselves out - so much so that we had to pull off at a rest stop somewhere near the Nevada boarder on our way back home that night so we could sleep a little instead of driving off the road.

On the 25th I drove to the institute to meet up with members of my ward's Relief Society to go see the Wizard of Oz. I hadn't been to the institute at all during the summer but was excited to discover that this one random day I had chosen to be there was the same day that one of my MTC teachers Nicole Harr was randomly passing through Vegas and had made a stop at the institute too. I hadn't seen her since I left the MTC! She had her husband with her - who happened to be another teacher we'd seen at the MTC; he had even taught us a couple of lessons toward the end of our training. I didn't get a good look at their baby though - she was sleeping in a dark room.

The Wizard of Oz was GREAT! My friend Jessica played Dorothy, and I swear at times you couldn't tell that she wasn't Judy Garland! Even her voice sounded the same. Talk about skills! I also enjoyed the opportunity to wear my own ruby slippers for the first time!

Back to Los Angeles! On the 27th my ward took a temple/beach trip to LA. It was fun to spend another few hours with my brother at Santa Monica Beach.

On the 29th I got a new battery put in my car and I headed out of town to Chandler, Arizona where my very kind cousin Eric and his wife Stacy let me stay the night, and then abandon my car for three weeks while I went to New York. I was dropped off at the Phoenix airport the morning of the 30th, and surprised my friend Dianna with my presence - she had no idea I had booked my flight the same as hers... I'm a good secret keeper! We had fun playing in the Atlanta airport during our loooong layover, but eventually we got tired of waiting around and started getting a little nutty. We even had to take a picture of a wall that looked like it had an image of a brain on it. I know. We're weird.

And that does it for June!!! I can't talk about our arrival in New York state yet... because technically we landed in July. So that will be saved for the next "best of" post. Goodnight!!

Goodbye New Zealand!

2009-10-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Also known as Day Eight - May 31, 2009

I woke up not believing that our trip was already coming to a close! We got ready for the day (wearing very tourist-y matching shirts) and packed up our things, checked out of the hostel and loaded our luggage in the car. It was time to explore Auckland by day. We walked a couple of blocks to the base of the space needle-type tower that we had seen lit up the night before. Ashley explained how a co-worker of hers had paid to jump off the tower once - if you look at the left side of the tower you might notice a couple of wires stretching from the ground up to the balcony of the tower - somehow you can get harnessed up and slide down these wires to the ground. Too scary for us. We just took pictures and walked on.

Remember Ashley's fear of eels? Well, we finally found one next to a playground that she wasn't afraid of. Way to conquer your fears!!

We wandered our way down to the Victoria Park Market - a semi-outdoor shopping place that is great for tourists. Being the goofballs we are, we bought matching tote bags whose logo just happened to match our shirts...

We strolled by the yacht docks and dreamed of sailing the world in one of these awesome vessels. Oh the things I'd do if I were rich!! (See the matching shirts now??)

After picking up the car Ashley and I drove around the city a bit trying to find a park, and crossed a really cool bridge in the process. I snapped a picture of the flags on top of the centermost part of the bridge, only to notice later that there were people standing up there! I had no idea! The view of the city on the way back across the bridge was excellent too.

From off in the distance we could see a hill that we assumed would offer a good view of the city, so we drove off to find it. It was a short walk up to the top, and it was beautiful! The hillside was covered in flowers - planted there as a memorial to members of New Zealand's military that had fallen during their service to the country.

The plants in New Zealand never ceased to amaze me - this tree looked as if it's roots were growing down from its branches.

It was relaxing to sit on the benches and gaze at the city. As was typical in New Zealand there was livestock (cows this time) sharing the space; I loved how all the pasture gates were designed to let visitors pass through easily - it seemed very unselfish that anyone would allow people to spend time on their land whenever they wanted.

While on the hill we talked to a very nice couple who pointed out a better hill another few kilometers away (named One Tree Hill) that was taller, and home to a national monument. We chatted for quite a while about their son's business, what we did for a living, etc, and exchanged contact info before getting directions to One Tree Hill. The park area surrounding this much bigger hill was beautiful - trees everywhere!

The monument was to honor the first Maori in New Zealand. The hill had been named for a single tree that had been planted at the top of the hill (and survived) even though it was not originally from New Zealand. Unfortunately, the tree is no longer there... someone was upset that it wasn't a native tree and tried to cut it down. The stopped the guy in the process, but he had already done too much damage, so the tree got infected and ended up dying. There's a plaque next to the stump.

We were running out of time. So, we had a countdown. Or, I mean, we went to a countdown. This was one of the major grocery store chains we saw during our entire trip, and one of our favorite places at which to find our meals. This time we went with one intention: JUNK FOOD! We had to bring some New Zealand treats home with us.

The entrances to grocery stores were interesting... these poles allowed you to walk in, you could even push a cart through them, but it was impolssible to walk the other direction. No stealing here! We loaded up on giant chocolate bars, unique flavors of Mentos and suckers, and of course - Tim Tams!

Sadly, we left the city and headed to the airport. Our exit said what I felt - that we were coming to the rainbow's end.

But, we did find a pot of gold... right at the turn off the exit there was one of our church buildings under construction! We had only seen a church building in Hamilton, and NO WHERE else during our entire trip! I'm sure they were around, we just hadn't noticed.

We topped off the gas tank, and returned our car and camping gear before being shuttled off to the airport. The sign at the rental office explains what Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand) stands for.

Ashley and I got through check in and made our way to the concourse and found some things to occupy our time as we watched the stormy weather roll in. By the way, kiwi filled chocolate is really good!

As the rain came in, so did the delays in departing flights. At first our flight said it was delayed an hour... and then two... and three... We tried to keep in good spirits by playing card games. It became increasingly difficult however as people around us took over table space to feed their families, etc. I REALLY wasn't in the mood to be cleaning ketchup off of my new deck of cards, so we balanced everything on the armrests of the chairs we occupied. There was an adorable 6 year old girl waiting with her family for a flight to India; she was so SMART! Some of the questions she asked surprised us:

girl: "How can pilots fly when it's cloudy? They can't see out the windows!"

dad: "They have instruments to fly the plane."

girl: "How do drums and instruments fly a plane?"

dad: "Not musical instruments; they're tools that tell a pilot where they are - they can even steer the plane with them."

girl: "Then why do they need windows?"

She also talked and asked questions about governments and ruling bodies - she was trying to understand the difference (or similarity) between a king, prime minister, a president etc. It was fun to explain things to her.

When it was finally time to head to the gate we were a little worn out. We had been delayed nearly four hours. Ashley had recently experienced delay after delay while flying around on business trips, and was not happy by this point. She really needed to catch her flight from LA to Utah so she could be back to work the next day. So, to make her laugh I pulled out my camera and took a picture:

And another...

And yet another...

But then even I was getting tired of waiting.

We were tired!

At last we boarded the plane and got ourselves situated with our blanket and pillow, and a fresh "goodie bag" of socks and eyemasks like we had on our way down. We waved goodbye to New Zealand, stuffed our faces with the dinner they brought around, popped a Tylenol PM started watching a movie or two before happily passing out.

It was an excellent vacation!

New Zealand Day Seven - May 30, 2009

2009-10-09T00:30:00.001-07:00

It was time to say goodbye to Rotorua! We had thoroughly enjoyed all three days we spent there; it was the place we had stayed in the longest. We cleaned up our things and headed to the kitchen for breakfast. We tried a very strange fruit neither one of us had heard of - it was called feijoa. We had bought them earlier in the week at a roadside fruit and veggie shed because we were curious. I didn't like it much. After some research I learned that it's related to guava, and be over-ripe if not eaten the day it falls off the tree (yes - falls. That's when it's ripe). Could explain why I didn't like it. Our fruit was old.

I opted for some kiwis on the way out of town.

We headed West and drove through scattered showers to Hamilton; home of the first LDS temple in the Pacific Islands. It was dedicated in 1958. We attended a session there, and then looked around the grounds and visitor's center. From the hill you can see a church school that is still in operation farther away on the property.

We had to take a picture of these crasy trees that to me looked like they grew upside down. At the same time the picture encompases typical New Zealand: in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture you can see a random herd of cows.

We had already stopped once to see the Tasman sea earlier on our trip, but this time we stopped to see a beach that was different: it was made of black sand! It was still pouring so we left our cameras in the car, but we changed into our flip-flops and made our way down to the water. We stood under the protection of a lifeguard tower while watching the die-hard surfers brave the water in their wetsuits. After venturing out from our cover and strolling on the beach a bit we scooped up some black sand in a water bottle to take home with us.

It was time to head back to Auckland. We appreciated the break in the rain, and took some great sunset pictures while driving on the highway (pardon the telephone lines!).

By the time Ashley and I checked in to the hostel it was dark, and we were starving! We had managed to get an awesome parking spot just in front of the hostel, so we decided to leave the car there and find our way around on foot. We were surprised to find that even in Auckland everything shut down super early. We expected a larger city to have later hours. Then, Ashley got hit by a bus. At least it said "sorry!"

We finally did manage to find a couple of small restaurants that were still open, and decided to eat at the one offering food from Turkey. Talk about good! We stuffed our faces with kebobs, french fries, and falafel...it was really good food, there was just a lot of it!

This Base hostel was the busiest we had stayed in yet; we were in a small room with five bunkbeds, all of which were filled by the time we went to bed! We loved the lockers they had underneath the lower bunks to store your things though, and I had even packed a padlock which we used to secure all of our stuff.

Since it was our last night in New Zealand we decided to stick with tradition and play Phase 10. This time however, we made friends with a couple of German girls and convinced them to play with us. It was fun explaining the rules to them; they had never seen anything like it before. We're pretty sure they thought we were crazy by the end of the night.

One of the Most Entertaining Days EVER!

2009-09-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

Also known as New Zealand Day Six - May 29th, 2009

I failed to mention in my last post that in the evening we went swimming at our hostel. This is important because this is where we met Pete. Pete is a Rotorua local who occasionally sneaks into the different hostels to use their swimming pool and hot tub after rugby practice. He asked us about what we had already seen on our trip, and asked what our plans for our last few days on the island were. When we mentioned that we were going Zorbing the next day (I'll explain what that is in a bit) Pete told us that he worked there! We jokingly asked if we could get a special discount, and he said if we remembered his name the next day he'd see what he could do.

Thus dawned a slightly cool Friday morning. We drove to the edge of Rotorua and pulled up to the Zorbing tracks. We were so excited! Almost immediately we saw Pete running around outside the office and called our hellos. We registered on their computers inside the office and went to pay for our ride. Pete let us in for free! Better yet, he let us go twice! We walked to the edge of the porch and waited for Pete to bring the jeep around to drive us to the top of the hill.

Now, this is what Zorbing is all about: climbing into a huge inflated ball and rolling down a hill. There are two ways of doing this. Number one: strapping yourself into a seat and somersaulting all the way down (dizzy=barf!), or number two: pumping some water inside the ball with you and sliding down the hill as if you were on a waterslide. This was definitely our choice! Ashley and I jumped in the ball together after Pete added some warm water (they use warm water in the winter, and cold water in the summer), and we headed down the hill!

We laughed SO hard the entire way down, partly because you're given an instant wedgie that you can't fully fix until the ride is over. You can't really see where you're going very well due to the water that's flying all over the place, but it didn't matter. The ball rolls pretty much straight. We hit a big bump at the bottom and thought we had just reached the end of the ride, but come to find out later we had run over one of the workers! It was on purpose though... the employees there were a riot!

I loved that they had a photographer constantly snapping pictures for you; no need to take your camera in the ball and worry about ruining it.

Getting out of the Zorb ball was more difficult than just jumping in head first...

Hooray! We made it! Now let's go again!

To try something different on our second run, Ashley and I took separate Zorb balls, and by doing so we were allowed to go down the zig-zag track. This one made me dizzy! I'd be flying down the hill when the sudden change of direction would send me spinning around the inside and send me down the next chunk of hill backward or sideways; any direction I wasn't anticipating.

I had left my camera at the front desk while we slid down the hill - only later to discover that the employees had a little fun with it when we weren't looking.

Ashley and I with our man Pete. He made it all possible!

After getting dried off and packed up again we drove across the street (literally) to the Agrodome. As you might be able to guess, it's all about sheep!

Several times a day they put on a little performance that shows you every type of sheep that lives in New Zealand (there are 17)...

They explain how to shear a sheep - and then show you...

And command sheepdogs to herd ducks and then run across the backs of the sheep on stage. Of course, there's a meet and greet afterward.

Once outside again they actually let the dogs herd sheep into a pen (think "Babe").

Next we stopped at Rainbow Springs because I was obsessed with seeing a real Kiwi (the bird) while I was in New Zealand. It was Ashley's turn to play tour guide.

We saw lots of animals, including this eel (see the squiggly thing in the water?) that was more than 6 feet long and estimated to be more than 50 years old! Turns out eels really creep Ashley out.

When you pay for admission to the preserve you recieve an empty water bottle that you can fill up at the Rainbow Springs.

Wallabies! Not native to New Zealand, but still cute. And yes, I did see a couple of kiwis, but it was in a very dark room where they were sleeping behing glass... not prime opportunity for picture taking. They were bigger than I thought though.

We had a few hours to kill around town, so we walked around looking for souvenir shops and other interesting things. Here's Ashley and her mangos, our hostel, and the croquet fields out in front of the museum.

One of the highlights of our trip was going to the Mitai Maori Village. For those who are less culturally inclined than others, the Maori are the native inhabitants of New Zealand. The Mitai tribe (among others) still lives on a piece of their original land, and follow their traditions as much as is reasonable in today's modern society. One way the Mitai tribe brings in money is by allowing visitors to experience their old traditions. We were picked up at the hostel by a shuttle and were seated at a table after having our reservations confirmed.

While we were waiting we listened to an older man from the tribe sing karaoke in the background - he was cute! After everyone was settled our host welcomed us and then had us follow him to the Hangi pit where our food had been cooking in the ground. There was lamb, chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes and stuffing. My mouth was watering.

The food still needed to be sliced up, so while we waited our host took us on a walk down a dark trail to the river where warriors rowed by on a Waka - a war canoe. They chanted as they rowed, made faces at us (they made faces to intimidate their enemies), and followed the commands of their chief who sits in the back of the Waka.

They all jumped out of the Waka and headed to the performance area, while the chief was responsible for tying up the canoe. The poor guy had to jump at least waist deep into the freezing water (it was soooo cold), but as he did Ashley noticed something a little peculiar about his attire... what we thought were dark colored shorts were actually tribal tatoos. And while he had the front of his body covered by some sort of loin cloth, his behind was left quite bare!

The chief greeted us as we were seated in the performance area, and welcomed us to the land of his tribe. One guest had been selected earlier to be the chief of the "Tribe of Many Nations" - aka, all the visitors, and participated in the welcoming ceremony before the men and women danced and sang for us.

The food was awesome! We shared our table with a cute family that was originally from France but now live in New Caledonia. We could only communicate with the mother - she was the only one in her family who spoke any English.

After the meal was over our host once again led us out and down the dark paths to the river where we looked at the lights from glowworms that lived along the bank. The Mitai village is immediately next door to the Rainbow Springs Preserve, and is the home of the enchanted Fairy Springs. The Mitai Village's website explains: "In Maori mythology, some springs were regarded as 'places where the Gods sprung out of the water'. A priest (Tohunga) would visit the Spring and ask the Gods whether this was an appropriate time to plant crops or make war. If it was the right time, as legend has it, a column of light like a clear Rainbow would arise from the water. This is how this sacred place got the name Rainbow Springs. It is also the location where the Fairy People (Patupaiarehe) would descend the slopes of Mt Ngongotaha at night to visit the springs and drink from the waters of life." We stood and watched the water bubble up into the large, clear pool when our focus drifted to what appeared to be a large tree branch covered with some sand on the bottom of the springs start to move slowly. Tree branch?? Ha, no... that's another gigantic eel. Sorry Ash...

We left feeling very full and very tired. It was a great day!

New Zealand Day Five - May 28th, 2009

2009-09-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today was meant to be an outdoors day! Planning on enjoying the sun and sand, I finally decided to wear the capris I had packed. We wanted to get an early start, so we headed out and ate our breakfast in the car in the parking lot of a hike we had picked out.

It was freezing outside! I had my hoodie pulled up over my head nearly the whole time and I jogged in place a lot to get my blood flowing again. The hike was only about 7 minutes each way but, like all of New Zealand's sights, it was worth it! There was a cool waterfall, some crazy vines hanging down from the trees, and a tree that grew sideways at its base.

After loading back up in the car we made our way North up to the Bay of Plenty. We passed through Bethlehem on the way... who knew that Bethlehem was really in New Zealand?? There were also pretty Fall colors along the way.

We got lost along the shore for a little bit and ended up at one of the sea ports.

Welcome to Mt. Manganui - volcano. Perfect for more hiking, and filled with spectacular views!! Hiking up...

Nearing the top.

Up on top!

Looking down at the town where we started our hike. We could see surfers hanging out in the water waiting to catch good waves; they're barely visible in the full-size version of this picture.

There were multiple paths up the volcano, so Ash and I explored a different route on the way back down. This path led us through more trees. These are the stairs on the back side of the volcano and an ocean view.

Once we got back to the bottom the path passed right through several large pastures of sheep; each pasture was fenced off, but all the gates didn't have latches - nobody minded that tourists walked through their private property every day.

The beginning of the path we ended on, and looking back at the volcano. It doesn't look so big from this side.

Beach time! Although the air was still fairly cool Ashley and I layed out on the beach for two hours working on our tans. I love the sun in New Zealand! I never once put on sunscreen and I didn't burn at all! That's quite impressive for a white girl like me!

The sand was so beautiful!

Although, it wasn't the kind of sand that would be great for castle making, but it worked great for other things!

We stuck our feet in to discover that the water was FREEZING - and noticed that all of the surfers were wearing wet suits. Ashley and I were probably the only ones wearing a bathing suit on the beach that day.

And of course, we took jumping pictures!

Because of the temperature of the water we started thinking twice about the decision we had made earlier about jumping in the ocean no matter what... but being the crazy Americans we are we had to represent, and so we went screaming (literally) into the ocean. You may not be able to tell, but we were dripping wet here. People were looking at us like we were insane.

Once back in Rotorua for the evening we decided to explore the park across the street from our hostel and found a wonderful thermal pool meant to soak your feet in - a good way to warm up after a cold dip in the ocean! We're eating apples...

The view from my seat at the thermal foot pool.

The whole time I was in New Zealand I had been waiting for the opportunity to go geocaching. My friend Ryan had picked up a geocoin in Las Vegas and asked if I would deposit it in a cache while on my trip. It took FOREVER to fin the cache, but once Ashley found it (smart girl) we were able to examine the contents, sign our names and trade the coin for another.

The coin I left.

Back at the hostel we headed to the kichen and made ourselves a hodge-podge dinner of butter chicken, mashed potatoes, and rolls. Soooo good...

As per our pre-bedtime ritual we played Phase 10. Still playing two hands each to make it more interesting, I won again. Ashley wasn't happy. But it had been a fun day!

My Last First Day of School!

2009-08-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

So, I'm still not caught up on all my summer adventures, but we're going to ignore that right now because....

TODAY IS MY LAST FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

I had been trying to live in the "school-isn't-really-starting" denial bubble (you know, pretending that the 24th of August was just going to be another late summer day...) for the past couple of weeks, but as my 2:30pm class time nears I realized that I should be celebrating this moment! I already know I don't want to do grad school, law school, or anything-else-school after I graduate this December, so this is it! The last time I'll dread heading off to my first class of the semester. I feel like I've reached a huge milestone (and it's about time, don't you think??).

How much sight-seeing can YOU do in a day??

2009-08-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Also known as New Zealand Day Four - May 27th, 2009!

I decided to make just one post for this day, so therefore this is going to be the longest post I have ever done! Get ready for loads of pictures (and you won't believe how many I cut out)!

Ashley and I had enjoyed our quiet room and slept very well. We were a little sad to leave it, but had great hopes for the other hostels we were planning on staying at.

The Base hostels offered "Sanctuary" rooms - for girls only.

We drove down the block to the Northern part of Lake Taupo to take pictures of the Mt. Dooms (covered in snow), and the cool Maori carving before we started the real sight seeing.

The first stop was at Huka Falls. Ashley and I had read in a book about the falls and discovered that there were hiking trails along the river. Having been in a car for multiple hours a day we decided that an hour hike to the falls would be well enjoyed! We drove to the starting point indicated on our map and walked across a bridge over the river to begin our adventure. We immediately found a little sign that pointed to the two trail options we had. The first option was off to the right; an hour-long hike along the river (what we thought we were going to do). Then we saw the other option that said: Huka Falls - 1 minute. And it pointed to the left. We had parked at the wrong parking lot, but loved the scenery anyway.

Having some extra time to kill due to the unexpected shortness of our hike, Ash and I decided to drive off on some random roads on our way to sight seeing place number two. Along one road we crossed a thermally active area that was full of steam, and further along we ended up at a small farm house. Ashley was excited to see a row of ducks waddling down the hill...

I was excited to see a llama!

I jumped out of the car to stand near the fence so Ashley could take a picture of me with the llama. As she was preparing to press the button Ashley happily announced that there was a second llama! Then, she panicked and went running back to the car when she realized that this new llama was on OUR side of the fence. She even freaked me out to the point that I didn't get near enough the llama to be in the picture with it.

Sight seeing location number two was a small dam. It really wouldn't have been much to see, but three times every morning the dam lets out enough water to fill the little canyon below the dam.

This was the view of the lake/mini-canyon area just before the water was let out:

And this was the canyon after it was full. You can see the color change in the water where it's entering the lake from under our feet (we were on a bridge).

We discovered a 5 minute trail to a lookout point that gave us a view back toward the bridge where we first stood, and spent about 30 minutes just relaxing in the sun and listening to the water rush by until the dam shut off the flow again.

Along the road to our next destination we stopped at some interesting places. Puzzle World looked highly entertaining but when we walked in we were slightly disappointed. It was a little store that sold games and, of course, puzzles. Then we saw a sign for lava glass blowing, and paid the $5 NZ Dollars to watch the guys at work in the workshop.

The first guy was making colored glass threads by heating up the colored glass, pinching it with some large tweezers, and pulling out a long string of glass that cooled almost instantly. He would stretch each thread all the way across the room before he returned to re-heat the blob of glass he was working from. The second guy would dip the end of his pole/tube thing into the clear melted glass, roll it in some of the crushed up colored threads the first guy had made (this made a funky pattern on the finished product), and then go to work spinning and twirling the glass after he had blown some air into the blob. We watched him make 3 or 4 glasses (cups) before we went back into the main store and browsed around the other creative things they had made.

Sight seeing destination number three was Wai-O-Tapu - Thermal Wonderland. Think mini-yellowstone in reagards to hot pots and stinky boiling mud. That kind of thing. We had plenty of time, so I grabbed a map/guide of the place, and played tour guide throughout the park; reading each discription aloud as we passed each viewpoint.

It smelled SO bad! I gagged multiple times upon entering the park; it was that gross. The worst was when the trail was lined by bushes and we were sneak-attacted by a sudden breeze that came from across a few smelly potholes. Eventually however, we got used to it enough to not loose the lunch we hadn't eaten yet.

Some random tree in the middle of the path.

Still not used to the smell here... and some geography of the region.

There were signs all over the park that reminded guests to stay on the designated walking trails... I wonder what happened to the last person who didn't follow the rules...

We turned a corner at one point and saw this random ball of foliage up in the trees... but couldn't figure out which tree it was attached to. Talk about random.

Some of New Zealand's wildlife...

This particular viewpoint was funny. We saw the sign for Bridal Veil Falls (also a place in Utah), and then laughed where there was absolutely NO water running over the "falls."

The colors were so vivid sometimes... I liked this pool because the neon-yellow bubbling sulfer stuff was emptying into a blue-green lake and there was quite a distinction in colors. The next picture is Ashley wondering why there were established trails when the trails were just as wet and soggy as the rest of the ground on the other side of the trailmarkers.

I liked the way this staircase looked, so I told Ashley to dance - it just looks like she's running up.

Lunchtime! We finished driving up to Rotorua and decided to go see a few more lakes (there seems to be a lot of those in New Zealand); these ones were right next to each other and cleverly named Blue and Green Lake. We ate our lunch on a picnic table and were quickly befriended by a little flock of sparrows - some of which would land within an arms' length of us.

We saw a tour bus drive up, and we watched it drive right into the lake! We were startled at first, but quickly realized it was a duck - it was a bus on land, and a boat on the water! It even quacked at us as it exited back onto dry land. No joke.

Of course, we took some time to play on the playground before getting back in the car.

This piece of equipment was my favorite... it's called the Rocktopus, and has four arms that reach down and has a small tire attached to the end that you sit on. You can then rock up and down and spin the thing around, and it's basically a four-way see-saw that spins. I think they should make these in the States... I've never seen them here!

There was however one of these at a park nearby my parent's house when I was a kid that had been taken down because kids kept falling off and getting hurt... so it was fun to re live some memories.

Sight seeing stop number four was the Buried Village. Back in the 1930's this village was buried in mud, fireballs, ash and rubble after a nearby volcano erupted. Quite a few people died. The volcano is still active, but now they closely monitor it with special equipment so they can evacuate the surrounding area whenever it decides to rear it's ugly head. We stopped in the museum first, and then headed outside to see the remains (most roofs had been reconstructed).

There was an optional trail that branched off and went down in a canyon for a nature walk, which we of course wanted to do. We thought the warning sign was hilarious. How dangerous could a trail be? We quickly discovered steep staircases and dense forest and understood a little better why the warning was needed. After a few steps down the staircases we had our first "oh my gosh, we're in a foreign country" moment. The jungle-like forest was beautiful - complete with waterfall!

One of the staircases we descended, and a view from the bottom of the waterfall.

Once we got back to the top we thought it was strange how there was a huge canyon and forest next to the flat area where the village stood. The landscape changes so dramatically!

We then checked in to our hostel, jumped into the swimming pool for a bit (it was a thermal pool), changed into our pajamas and headed to the kitchen to make our dinner. Halfway down the stairs Ashley realized she had put her pants on backwards... it was funny.

And of course, we had to play a couple rounds of phase 10 before going to bed.

Such a great day!

2009-08-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

Okay - all inhibitions of everyone thinking I'm psycho set aside here... I found out a great piece of information today:

Cher is going to record another album!!!!!!

Yes, I have been hoping for this for a very long time. But don't expect it to appear until after she finishes her residency at Caesar's Palace in 2011.

New Zealand Day Three - May 26th, 2009 (Part Three)

2009-08-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

The drive North from Gravity Canyon took us along the Desert Highway, through an area known to LOTR fans as Mordor. A large chunk of this highway sported signs warning drivers to stay on the highway and to never stray off on the fun adventurous looking dirt tracks that branched out into the desert now and then - a lot of the desert was reserved for military training and explosives testing. I kept hoping we'd see something blow up, but we weren't so lucky. Off in the distance to the West of the highway we could see the three active volcanos that stand in one of New Zealand's national parks; together these three volcanos made up Mt. Doom.

Just North of the national park Ashley and I found a small lake to stop and take pictures at. We didn't know what to expect to see, but we did find swings!

And of course, the lake was beautiful - but cold. Not a pleasant temperature to consider dipping your feet into.

Upon hearing of Ashley's plans to travel to New Zealand, a couple of her co-workers became a bit of a nuisance to her. One in particular acted as if she knew everything there was to know about New Zealand (I think she had made the trip once), and had immediately jumped online to check out the weather forecast and who knows what else (I mentioned her in Day Two's blog... you might want to reference the post). We were delighted to see trees all around this area that were still happily changing colors in the spirit of Autumn! We also saw tree farm after tree farm (logging is big in NZ), and stopped to get pictures with some of the really big ones (Ashley even had me run across a three-lane highway to get the picture).

The next stop we made was at the National Trout Centre - a free little attraction right in the middle of nowhere. Half of it was undergoing improvements/construction, etc. since the busiest tourist season had just ended, but we were still able to see most of the centre. Even though it seemed like the construction workers were constantly watching us.

We learned about their hatchery and how the fish were originally brought to New Zealand from North America (they're rainbow trout - go figure), and of course, we saw lots of fish.

If you ever look at a map of the North Island you'll notice a large lake in the very center. This is Lake Taupo (pronounced toe-po), and was our next destination.

As always, we got out to play and take pictures.

The shore of the lake was very rocky; we didn't see very much sand. I enjoyed discovering that a good portion of the rocks were pumice (a volcanic rock - many people have used such a stone to scrape dead skin off their feet), and proceeded to throw several out into the lake to watch them float.

We were so excited to be getting back into civilization that Ashley started waving at everyone we saw.

Welcome to Taupo! May we introduce you to our pet fish?

After reserving a spot at the Base hostel we decided to do a little souvenir shopping and find a restaurant to do the cooking for the evening. There were souvenir shops on every corner of our street (and a few inbetween!), and plenty of restaurants - unfortunately most of them closed at 5 or 6pm. Why? I don't know, it seemed as though entire cities shut down by 5. We did find one nearly next door to the hostel, and we feasted on some great Indian food. My favorite part of this town however was this building across the street in the park (sorry it's sideways - I tried uploading it twice, and it refuses to flip):

In the spirit of the Loo... Ashley and I were excited to haul our luggage upstairs to our room - that was meant for four people but luckily only was home to us two for the evening, and find a CLEAN restroom all to ourselves. We were grateful that this hostel had the option to avoid unisex restrooms and showers! Even better - the water was HOT and there was a hairdryer. Who could ask for more??

Blog Intimidation

2009-08-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

Througout a typical week I am on my computer quite often. At my internship I am rarely away from it, and I can't help but jump on the internet at least once a day at home to catch up on the too-many-to-name social networking sites (like this one). I love to see and read about what my friends all over the world are up to, and I like updating them on what I do. Blogs are perfect for this purpose. But again, I have let more than a month pass without posting anything.

I believe it all boils down to blog intimidation.

Let me explain. I have PLENTY of adventures, stories, thoughts, and pictures that I have planned out to put on my blog - goodness, I haven't even finished posting day 3 of my 8 day adventure in New Zealand back in May. And that's the problem. I start blogging, then get busy and get so far behind on my posts that I feel a little overwhelmed at the prospect of catching up! Add to that the blog intimidation created by the hilarious, witty, interesting and creative blogs of my friends and family who are so good at regularly posting - it makes me slightly more reluctant to work on my own blog.

I don't know if there's anyone who ever gets online asking themselves "I wonder what's happening in Melissa's life today," but I like to think that it happens occasionally. So I will once again resolve to take a stab at updating my adventures, but by all means, don't let it create blog intimidation in your life - because I still want to know what's happening in your life too.

New Zealand Day Three - May 26th, 2009 (Part Two)

2009-06-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

There were signs leading off the main highway to our destination and, as we had noticed a few times before, the signs didn't say how many kilometers away we were, but rather, how many minutes away we were. We were excited, and a little nervous all at once!

We just had to stop and take pictures at nearly every sign - I think deep down we really just needed a few more minutes to try and stomach what we were about to do.

We pulled into the parking lot and couldn't believe our eyes. On the opposite side of the road from where we parked was the same landscape we'd seen ever since pulling off the highway - pastures and livestock. Yet, on our side of the road next to the parking lot was a HUGE canyon named Gravity Canyon.

Maybe it doesn't seem so huge to you, and no, it's not the grand canyon, but it was still quite impressive. There were three options of extreme rides we could choose to participate in at the canyon - bungee jumping above the river, swinging out from the bridge after a 50m freefall, or the option we had chosen before arriving: riding the Flying Fox. If you look real close at the next picture you'll see a tiny speck on the right edge of the river... that's two people on the ride we were about to embark on!

We walked across the bridge and had to hike up the hill on the other side of the canyon; first along a dirt path, and then up several flights of stairs. We had to be reminded to not only look at our feet, but also at the branches that were growing above us.

We waited at the top for a while and watched a few other people take their turns before we were allowed to jump to the front of the line and go before the other 15 or so people from some travel group went. This is where we watched people get strapped into this contraption...

And then plummet face first down this drop at over 100 miles per hour!! Talk about exciting!

We had to put on a harness first, which hooked into a body length blue vest thing, which then was clipped on to the contraption that sped you down the wire. It was quite the process. Eye protection was required - you never know what bugs might unfortunately come across your path.

At the beginning and end of the ride you're positioned at such a steep angle that the blood tends to rush to your face to the point it nearly looks purple, which allowed Ashley and I to have a good laugh at each other on our way back to the top after our ride. Here we are ready to go!

Even though we had both anticipated having our stomachs hit our knees during the drop, the ride was super fun! It never felt like we were falling; it was a smooth - yet fast! - slide to the bottom part of the canyon. I would recommend it to anybody! We happily made our way back down the stairs and dirt path afterward, and watched a few people bungee jump and swing off the bridge before pulling back out on the road. There was still a lot of day left in which to explore!

New Zealand Day Three - May 26th, 2009 (Part One)

2009-06-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

Having gone to bed much earlier than our first night in New Zealand, Ashley and I both woke up way early - in fact, it was still dark outside. I leaned over my bunk to see Ash check the time, and when we learned it was not long after 5am we attempted to fall asleep again. This however, did not work. After a few minutes of laying in silence I announced "Well, I'm awake now," and laughing, we both rolled out of bed and got moving. We made breakfast in the hostel kitchen, packed up, and got rolling out of town as the sun was coming up.

Since we had extra time on our hands by not going to the South Island, we decided to turn off on whatever road looked interesting and do some exploring. The landscape is beautiful, and it changes so quickly!

We became big fans of the panoramic shots. The first dirt road we wandered off on took us up some rolling hills past hundreds of sheep (very common) where we could see the light fog move across the area we had just driven through.

Another road took us off into a forest and then out to a small camping area next to a river and a ribbon-like waterfall. This was one of my favorite areas.

After our forest adventure we were once again in pasture-land, and even pulled over to take some close ups of the sheep, but they were all afraid of us and ran away. FAST. Nearly the entire day I was constantly saying that New Zealand seemed to remind me of somewhere else - no matter where that somewhere else was. On top of the hills in one pasture area I could have sworn I was in Ireland.

Having heard much about these cookies when people discovered I was going to New Zealand, Ashley and I broke out the package of Tim Tams and thought they would go great with the laid back feel of the day. Our first impressions of the cookies weren't anything amazing... we thought they were good, but didn't quite understand what the fuss was about. I thought it was comparable to E.L. Fudge. However, over the next day or two we quickly became addicted!

Ash and I got really good at reading the not-so-thorough maps that we had collected, and made our way to our next extreme adventure.

New Zealand Day Two - May 25th, 2009

2009-06-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Ash and I woke up to the sound of birds twittering outside and the newley risen sun beginning to peak through our camper-van curtains. Being the girls we are we headed to the bathroom first to get our faces ready for the day. Surprisingly enough, we had energy!

We packed up and made ourselves sandwitches ahead of time to allow for maximum playtime and then decided to take a picture of our camper-van old-school style.

Peter One (the campground dude) saw us up and bustling about and invited us in to eat breakfast with him before we headed out on the road. We had already helped ourselves to cereal we had bought with our groceries, but thought it would be rude not to accept the invitation. We went into his home/trailer/office/building thing and ate some toast (I even tried vegimite on a corner of mine - yuck!) while Peter showed us a few maps and brochures he had picked out for us of things we could do on our drive to Wellington. We finished up, cleared our dishes and bid the man farewell.

One of the brochures Peter had given us was of an authentic Dutch windmill that was built in some small town, and seeing that it was only a block or so off the main road we decided to pull over. The windmill was cute, but we were more surprised about the signs we found nearby...

We wondered why New Zealand (or any country for that matter) would glorify such a profession as stripping, but none the less we laughed and took pictures.

Of all people I know, Ashley is the queen of jumping pictures. Everywhere she goes - she jumps! So of course, we needed to get one by the windmill... but after multiple failed timing attemps, this is the best we got:

Heading farther South we ended up right along the Tasman Sea and stopped to walk out on the VERY soggy beach - where water would pool under your feet if you stayed in one place too long - for pictures of the sunshine. Ashley had a work companion who was quite the wet blanket the week before our trip and constantly told Ashley that it would be rainy and cold throughout our entire trip, and that we would have already missed the leaves changing colors (since it was Fall going into Winter). This put Ashley on a determined mission to take lots of pictures of sunshine and Fall colors. We conquered.

We entered Wellington in a downpour. I'm from Colorado and am familiar with bi-polar weather patterns where one goes from using their heater to their air conditioner in their car within the course of one day, but MAN! New Zealand can go from sunny to pouring in about 0.5 seconds sometimes! Wellington was one of our worst rainy experiences however, and we really didn't mind too much.

The original plan of our trip included a ferry ride from Wellington to the South Island for more adventures, but since we had decided while in LA that it would be impossible to get as far South as we wanted to go we began to reconsider once in Wellington. We had been informed of big storms that had been happening in and around Wellington by Peter, and heard more stories once in the city. The water had been so choppy between the islands that cars aboard the ferry had been turning on their sides. We decided that it wouldn't be worth the risk and felt good about our decision to stay on the North Island. At least now we have an excuse for a future excursion to New Zealand's South Island!

We wandered around part of Wellington for a while in the rain, checking out some docks and finding a strange orb suspended above a tourist/arts complex on our way to the information building. We wanted something fun to do!

The information building did not disappoint! We signed up for a tour and were informed that we would be the only two with the guide - no one else had signed up because of the weather. We were also put with "the best" tour guide, who picked us up in a van and took us up some nearby hills to begin. What kind of tour would one take in New Zealand? Take a look!

There are spots all over both islands where Lord of the Rings was filmed, and we're not huge LOTR buffs or anything, but we had to do something - we would have shocked many people if we had come back and said we didn't go to any of the film locations. Our guide took us to a public park and led us alond the path where Ashley mysteriously turned into a hobbit.

He also showed us a spot that was used in a couple of scenes from Fellowship of the Ring. I was grateful he had a book with still frames from the movie to help us recognize the locations. The picture with the hobbits hiding is easy to see the trees in the background match up, but it's harder to see in the scene where Frodo says he thinks they should get off the road... the branches come from the tree on the left in my picture.

In the same park we saw an area where the hobbits were running through the trees, and hobbit Ashley felt the need to do the same.

After spending more than an hour in the cold and drizzle with our tour guide, he drove us back down the hills and took us to another area of Wellington close to where Peter Jackson resides and showed us Weta Cave. Weta is the company who did a lot of the graphics in all three LOTR movies, so they had a few interesting characters from the movie lurking around.

The tour ended there and we were dropped off back at the information building. Ash and I didn't see any more draw to linger in Wellington after that and headed back to the car to drive North up a different highway. Our tour guide had marked a couple of places on one of our maps of other nearby film locations, so we took a few side roads and were lucky enough to find one of the sites - Rivendell.

The weather didn't let up much as we drove on into the darkness, and found ourselves winding up and down a few mountains at the edge of a sheer cliff as some thick fog rolled in. After an hour or so of praying for our lives as cars still managed to whizz past us we decided that our nerves had taken enough and we stopped in Masterton and found a hostel for the night. We were very grateful to have our own room, but had to build up a bit of courage to conquer the unisex bathrooms/showers. We were blessed however to find that two of the four shower stalls were behind one locking door, which we took advantage of! After we had enjoyed our long and very hot showers Ashley and I headed to the kitchen and chatted with a couple of German guys while preparing our soup and hot chocolate. We decided to have a proper meal inside of our room and obviously engaged ourselves in some very formal conversation.

Day two was over and we were happy to hit the sack. We were so tired that not even the child singing through the walls of the neighboring room could stop us from falling asleep faster than normal!

New Zealand Day One - May 24th 2009 (Part Two)

2009-06-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

Once we had showered, changed and warmed ourselves up on toasted bagels and tomato soup in the Waitomo Caves lodge it was time to get on the road again. This time we let Ashley learn how to drive on the wrong side of everything.

We got to see more beautiful scenery along the way that changes rapidly! We also encountered a little bit of construction; which I have to say is way better managed than it is in the USA. I thought it was cute that they had portable stoplights to control traffic in construction zones rather than using people to hold signs and direct traffic.

We drove for several more hours and stopped in Wanganui for the night. We were lucky enough to find a grocery store that was open 24 hours - it was only 7pm but nearly everything in the city/town was already closed for the night! We were also REALLY tired since it was 1am for me (Pacific Daylight Savings Time) and 2am for Ashley (Mountain DST). We bought food for our dinner and bought supplies for sandwiches to last throughout the week. It may have been because we were tired, but we thought it was funny that we bought "crusty rolls."

Our next task was to procure a place to sleep (after stuffing our faces in the car of course!), and decided that we would conquer the task of pitching our rented tent the first night so we would get over any qualms we had about doing so and try to get our money's worth out of it. We located a campground on one of our hundred or so maps (we had sooooooooo many and picked up more everywhere we went!), drove along the river, past the train tracks and next to a wildlife/wetland preserve to the Bignell Street Motel.

By now it was very dark outside, cold and quite windy, but we were met by the warm face of campground owner/operator Peter One. We asked if he had space we could pitch a tent; we had only seen little stationary campers when we pulled up. He said he did, but sensing how incredibly foreign we were he offered to rent us a camper-van for the same price as just pitching a tent. We caved and rented camper-van number 38. So much for conquering the tent!

We unlocked the door and climbed up into a space that was several decades behind modern times. It was tiny, and didn't keep the cold out, but at least we had a locking door and didn't have the wind blowing on us all night. Ashley and I couldn't stop laughing about where we were sleeping and about bailing out of tent camping.

After hauling our luggage inside we changed into our pajamas, and sporting a maglite and a headlamp we walked across the compound to the community restrooms to clean up and brush our teeth.

Even though I called us a couple of old fogies for climbing in bed at 10pm (remember - that's the same as 4am for me!), we were happy to read some scriptures, an article in the Spanish Liahona (trying to relive the mission days...), and get some sleep!!