My Kitchen Walls

Brando, Chadder, and Jason - Thank you ever so much for the gift certificate to Walls that you gave to me for my birthday eight months ago. I finally used it.

Brittney - Thank you for opening such a cute store, and for knowing just what color I wanted when I came in.

Friends - You should visit Walls at 1465 South 700 East in The SLC.

Before:

After:

First Day of SUMMER!!!!!!!

photo courtesy my awesome brother

How Did Someone Decide to Try This?

Whenever I hear about a new recipe at Weight Watchers, I wonder to myself, "Who on earth was the first person to decide that combination was going to work well??? Are they Mormon, or a stoner?" I certainly don't mean any offense to Mormons or stoners - I'm mostly fascinated.

Admit it, Mormons, you have some interesting food combos. Like the produce in a jello mold idea...that was you guys, right? Yesterday, we had a substitute leader at The W.W. who suggested that we mix a packet of butterscotch pudding into a can of crushed pineapple, then fold in diced apples and fat free cool whip. She promised that it would taste like a caramel apple, but without the bad stuff. And she's right, but really! Who's idea was it to put butterscotch pudding mix into a can of crushed pineapple?

And then there's the diet coke cake. I can only imagine a stoner with mad munchies riffling through their kitchen, coming up with a can of diet coke and a box of chocolate cake mix, and wondering...just wondering...what would happen if they baked it together. As it turns out, it makes a delicious, fluffy, low-point chocolate cake, but really! Who's idea was it to put a can of diet coke into a chocolate cake mix?

Somebody fess up. Please.

Kids These Days

Yesterday I spotted two teenaged girls on one bicycle. The girl driving the bike was wearing this flowery tunic that was billowing in the wind in a way I found amusing, although I can't remember why. Even better, though, was her passenger who was standing on pegs on the back of the bike, with one hand on the bicycle driver's shoulder, and the other hand text messaging. Classic.

Visitors From Another World

How rad is The SLC? Rad enough to have a UFO sighting this morning!! Dayna and Rana actually saw it on their way home from the gym. Lucky!

If I was smarter at the internet, I would embed the video for you, and then advise you to skip the first 3 minutes. If you know how to embed a video, you should tell me, just in case something rad happens in the future and I feel like people should watch a video about it.

202 Attorneys

I was given a list of 202 attorneys, all of whom had been invited to an event we are hosting next week, and was asked to call them to confirm their attendance.

27 said yes
42 said no
1 said he doesn't take these kinds of calls at work
2 asked me to call back later in the week
6 are no longer with the firm we thought they were with
3 I simply can't find
and 121 got the exact same voicemail from me

If you've never left 121 of the same voicemail...well, it makes you tired. It hurts your neck. It makes you mumble under your breath from time to time, "kill me now." Basically, it turns you into a whiney baby. Just ask my new office-mate, Marissa. She was fortunate enough to hear it all.

Let the Bicycling Begin!

Thanks for rescuing this beaut from the dump for me, Bradley!

Heart of Holladay 5K

Maybe I'm not so crazy after all. Running alone is hard. And boring. And hard. I'll admit it. But when you're running, surrounded by other runners, and the sun is rising over Mount Olympus, and there's a great album on your iPod (this morning it was ALO's Fly Between Falls), its not so hard.

I can do this times 4. I just to need to find three or four more albums where every time a track changes, I get a huge grin on my face, imagine I'm on Jam Cruise, and think to myself, "God, I love this song!" I can imagine that the view along the 13.1 miles in Moab is going to be just as, if not more, spectacular than the view of the sun coming up over Mount Olympus. I can do this. I will do this. I'm running a half marathon. Go me!

I Must Be Crazy

I just got talked into registering for the Moab Other Half.

Half = Half Marathon = 13.1 miles of running = I must be crazy.

If nothing else, I'll get a cool pint glass.

Paris Hilton Was Released From Jail!

GASP! ...seriously. Who f-ing cares? Did anyone really, honestly think she was going to serve 45 days? Or even 20? Is it really so shocking that a rich Hollywood princess got let out 43 days early that you have to cut to a press conference right in the middle of Damon Yauney's weather report? I couldn't care less about Paris's jail term. I want to know when its going to stop raining!

Happy Anniversary, Brad & Maeve!

If I find someone who treats me even half as well as my brother treats Maeve, I will consider myself very lucky.

An example for you: I was over at their house the other night working on my bike with Brad. Since the ride home was going to be my first bike ride since high school, Brad decided to ride with me, just in case. On our way out the door, Brad asked Maeve if she wanted a drink before he left. Who thinks to offer that? Only the greatest husband ever.

Brad & Maeve, congratulations on two years. I hope you have an excellent time celebrating in Australia. I love you both very much!

Seeking Tennis Player, BYO Racket

I've been looking out of my kitchen window at the tennis court in the middle of my complex for two years now. This week I finally found someone to play with. Jenn came over last night and we played a rousing match of anything goes tennis. It was so much fun to just get out there, run around, and hit the ball back and forth, off the fence, whatever. I know Jenn will be back when she can, but I had such a blast, I could play everyday! It is hard to play alone, though (hint, hint). Friends? Do I have any takers?

Technological Breakthrough

Oh my gosh I'm so excited right now - I just had a breakthrough!

My phone service is with nextel because I know a guy who knows a guy, so its cheap. But a pain in my ass. For some reason that I don't understand, due to the fact that the text messaging goes through the internet instead of the network or however a normal phone works, I can't text right from my phone book. I have to memorize a number, go to this other spot in my phone, enter the number, and write the text. I can chose a number from a "previously sent" list, but it only saves the last 9 numbers I sent a text to. And I'm much more popular than that.

So today, I'm sending a text to Chelsey about how the sun we were sitting in at lunch time made me itchy, and I noticed that one of the options at the bottom of the "previously sent" list is "save?". HANG ON! I can save the numbers??? I swear to god this is a new feature, because in the year or two I've been using this phone, I would have noticed, right? OK, so maybe I have to enter all of my numbers twice into my phone, but at least I can text without having to memorize now! I see this as a poolside project for the weekend.

I know, right? Texting a work? What are you, Jessica? A highschooler? So what if I am.