Family Reunion!

For several years now I had been unable to attend one of our family reunions. As a kid I looked forward to reunions because we got to travel (albeit by crowded car) usually to Utah or Idaho, and we had instant friends to play with. I always remember there being a ton of people around - part of the fun! This summer was the Longhurst reunion to be held near Preston, Idaho. I was SO excited to go! I flew up to Salt Lake City and met up with my mom and niece Samantha (Sami) and stayed the night at my Aunt Connie's house in South Jordan before driving up into Idaho.

We stayed in a place called The Moose Lodge where Sami found a friend just her size that she visited several times a day.

We saw aunts, uncles, grandmas, cousins etc, and spent a lot of time talking and playing games.

My mom and Sami talking to Uncle Glen's girlfriend.

Shaeli with her fiancee Levi.

Uncle David's girlfriend rolling a Yahtzee.

Sami trying her hand at a game that Uncle Paul brought, even though it was taller than her!

We went to Downata Hot Springs one evening and spent nearly all of the next day out at Twin Lakes swimming and playing in the water, coating ourselves in sunscreen and bugspray, and several of us even took a turn water skiing until the bilge pump stopped working (during my turn) and threatened to sink the boat and all aboard it. Shaeli and I swam back to shore to lighten the load while Uncle Glen tried to fix the problem before he was towed back in by a kind neighbor.

Eventually it was time to pack it up and say our goodbyes, although some stayed a little longer than others.

My cousing Angela.

Uncle Glen still working on that boat...

This was by far the smallest reunion I have ever attended and was sad to see that so many people had other places to be. I hope more can make it next time!

What exactly do you do??

I am often asked what I am majoring in, or where I work. My responses: Meetings and Events Management with a Minor in Entertainment Management; or Pacific Event Productions. Having given one of these answers most people follow up by asking - what does that mean? Or, what do you do? Since I still fail to thoroughly explain sometimes, I figured I would show you all what my job entails.

Let's say for example that someone wants to throw a party. Now, I don't mean - "Hey, my (son/daughter/niece/nephew/neighbor's dog/etc.) is turning 6 and we want to invite their friends over for a small gathering" kind of deal, but rather corporate parties, convention parties, awards shows, film festivals, etc. In this case, the Disney corporation was in charge of hosting a reception for the opening night of the symphony at the Hollywood Bowl back in June.

So, what is our company's job? Make it happen! For this event Disney wanted to do an "Under the Sea" theme (appropriate, right? Think Finding Nemo), and gave us ideas of what they wanted as far as decor along with a proposed budget. It was fun! We designed and provided all decorations used for the member's only reception down to the napkins and centerpieces placed on the tables inside the Hollywood Bowl itself.

These are just a couple of the tables (we had about 7 colors used throughout all the front boxed seats), with the seashell centerpieces which I helped make.

Our goal of the reception was to make it feel like you were really under the sea:

This is the entry way to the reception, and the front stage area with large jellyfish lamps. You can see the "bubbles" hanging down from the ceiling, and the clear plexiglass cocktail tables that held...

Goldfish!

We also had bars that were filled with large goldfish (Koi??), and others that were covered in fish netting.

To finish off the look we created floral arrangements for the buffet tables and hung more jellyfish from the ceiling.

I had a blast out in Hollywood getting to work hands-on with this event, and also look forward to doing what I really want to do: managing performing artists!

Story Time!

Memory Lane



I'm copying this (minus the picture... that's really my handiwork) from my sister Stephanie, who copied it from our cousin Daniele.
I hope you'll all play!

MEMORY LANE- This is just too fun to pass up. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! I guess good or bad, but be nice!!!!!!!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

June Already!!

I was looking over some friend's and family's blogs today and was suprised when I flipped back to my own that it's been nearly a month since I posted anything new! Man am I boring! May was a very busy month for me, but also a very good month. I finished up spring semester at UNLV with final projects and tests galore and was able to breathe a sigh of relief once my final grades came in. I GOT THE BEST GPA OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!! Drumroll please... I got 4 A's, and one A-, which equals out to a 3.94! I guess leaving all of my distractions (like my guitar, sewing machine, crochet/knitting stuff, scrapbook things, etc.) at home in Colorado really paid off! Yes, I missed them, but opted to leave them there again when I visited home last weekend in hopes I can keep up the good work in school this fall.

I got to take a trip out to Los Angeles on the 16th to see my brother Diego's graduation from Southwestern Law School, and I really enjoyed the time with my parents, brother and his wife Mariela. We wandered up and down Venice Beach, ate at a wonderful authentic Argentine restaurant (it was just like the food from my mission in Uruguay - and I even found my favorite brand of Alfajores!), and just relaxed! There always seems to be new and fun things to see and do out there... like visit the store that sells hundreds of brands of sodapop, including ones they don't bottle anymore! I broke my self-imposed "no soda" rule for the weekend and had... well, let's say several! I was also pleased to finish off the weekend by dying my hair dark brown, getting a henna tatoo (it's already gone), and giving myself a nice sunburn. What a good trip!

I flew back home on the 19th, and the next day was the date I had chosen to give myself an early birthday present and went to see Cher's show at Caesar's Palace.

I budgeted my money well in preparation for this special event, and was able to get a VERY good seat, and still not feel guilty about spending so much money on the show. I loved it! What better day to see Cher's show than on her birthday?? I have now seen her in concert/show 5 times, and hope to see her again, but probably not for a while. I even found an awesome store next to the theatre inside the casino that sells a plethora of Cher merchandise, and plan to revisit it a few more times this year. Yay for t-shirts!

I once again packed up my bags and headed out of town on Saturday the 24th to go to Colorado. I realized sometime during the 11 hour drive that I had entered the MTC exactly 2 years ago! I couldn't believe it! While in Colorado I got to spend a lot of time with my sister Stephanie and her family; I took care of her three girls while she was still in the hospital after having her baby BOY! We were all so excited to have him come home - he's a cutie!

Yesterday (May 31st) all of the Elders that started the mission with me were scheduled to arrive home. It's kind of a sad but happy day all at the same time! Sad because the numbers of missionaries that I still know out in the field are dwindling, but happy because I know they all served a great mission and finished what they were sent out to do.

Cher-riffic!

So, as all of you know by now, I am a HUGE Cher fan. In fact, you can say I'm a fanatic! I have spent many a Halloween, party, or opportune moment dressing up as her - doing such things as dying my own hair, and constantly looking for clothes that would match her style at Savers and Goodwill. Because this became such a common thing for me to do, I decided to spare the wear and tear on my own hair and finally bought a few black wigs- one cheap straight-haired Halloween wig, and a nice one with curly hair that has locks which fall down to my waist. One of my better purchases.

How did this craze start you ask? When I was a sophomore in highschool I took a dance class. It was during this class that Cher's most current album Believe was making a huge mark on the music scene, and another girl in my class and I selected it to use in our final show for the class. Having enjoyed the song so much, I decided to look in to more music Cher had sung - I mean, I had heard a little about her while growing up, so why not? I started looking anywhere I could (my favorite search location was as Goodwill in the vinyl records section), and was loving everything I found. And now, 10 years, 4 concerts (with a 5th coming up on May 20th) and 20 something albums later, I am still hooked!

Can you tell??