The Power of a Hug

Yesterday at work was like one of those crazy/crazy long days that is only suppose to exist in movies about some over worked paper pusher. But let me tell you, those days to exist in real life. (a truly unfortunate fact) And it wasn't one catastrophic event that forced me to franticly run around my little office, just a compilation of small disasters.

As I was sitting at my desk last night, trying to finish up, a friend texted and wanted to know if I was planing to go to FHE. And when I said I wasn't feeling up to it, (I was not in a Caroling mood) he asked if I just wanted to chill. He was an answer to an unspoken prayer, I had not yet reached the break down point, but it was on its way.

I was so relieved that I had an excuse to leave the office it was amazing. I went to his house and we had chinese food and watched Blue Streak (very funny!) As we sat on his couch, I realized that a small thing like a hug and a movie can make such a big difference.

So I have decided that one of my resolutions for the new year is to be that person, the one who is there for her friends, even if all they need is the little things.

Maybe.

Sorry, this post is a little depressed, but I have been thinking a lot about Robbie reciently and today he has been stuck in the back of my mind.

My Friend Robbie died a little over a month ago, and it still doesn't seem real. I was telling my friend at work a story that involved him and jeeping, and without realizing it, spoke of him as if he were still alive, and it wasn't until I was almost done with the story before remembering he is gone.

I wonder when it will finally feel real?

I couldn't make myself go to the graveside service, and maybe thats why it hasn't sunk in yet. I pass his cemetery every couple of days or so and maybe I need to stop and see him. Maybe then it will be real.

Final Score: UNLV 76- Louisville 71

So my love of Rebel Basketball increased (if that was possible) on Saturday afternoon at their game against No. 16 Louisville. Not only did the Rebels play well, but they kept their game tight and clean. This was one of those games were the excitement in the stadium is almost tangible, and during the fourth quarter the entire crowd was on their feet and cheering so loud it was almost impossible to hear my friend standing next to me. And normally I am not a screaming sort of fan, when I am stressed I like to sit there and watch my game without drunken distractions (which is why I usually stay far away from the student section) but on Saturday, it was impossible to stay in my seat. Amazing, absolutely amazing.

As a random side note, our family has had the same season tickets for years now, we sit just a few rows up from the visitors bench, and normally I hate seat hoppers who come down and sit by us. They are usually drunk guys who insist on yelling insults at the visiting team and coaches. (Like they could actually hear them in a packed stadium…stupidheads) But this last game, we had some really nice guys come and sit behind us. They chatted it up like they were SportsCenter commentators and it was great. I was really tempted to turn around and say, "The next time you feel like seat hopping, please come back here, I really enjoyed eavesdropping on your conversations." But, me being me, I was too chicken. Maybe next time.

Happy Birthday to Me

Well… as promised, its my birthday so I am blogging. Happy Birthday to me. I was chatting with one of my friends who still lives in Provo, and she said "If you were in town I would say to you, "Lets go somewhere and pretend to talk while men check us out"" Wow somedays I really miss Provo, not the place but the people.

I feel like so much has changed in the past few months and so much has stayed the same. I still love to spy on people, mostly my unsuspecting neighbors and their visitors, and the people who walk outside my office window. Although this is not as entertaining as spying in Chatamtown, because I don't know all of the drama about these people, it is still enjoyable. Thankfully I have found another source of drama to laugh about… my singles ward. Somehow, just like in Provo, I seem to have acquired more gossip about my fellow ward members than I think anyone realizes. (Which is the way it is suppose to be) And I don't feel bad about the gossip that I collect, because I just gather it, without spreading it. I want to know about these things for my own enjoyment.

One thing that has changed, I am no longer a hermit. This is probably because I have no Dear Sweets to be a hermit with. But the fact still remains… I have (strangely) become somewhat of a socialite. (much to my families dismay) I almost never spend a night at home. Weird, I know.

One of my newly acquired loves is dancing. When I moved back home, I found that most Thursday nights were spent at Stoney's, a county bar that has a big dance floor. After being dragged out by my cousin, I started to like it, even though my first attempts at line/square dancing and two stepping were laughable. Over the past few months I have gotten enough practice to become fairly good, and now I really like it and go out dancing a couple nights a week, but not just country. We found a place in town that is non-smoking and has a fun hip-hop DJ. I think one of the reasons that I like going to these places so much is the exceptional people watching.

Another part of me that has stayed the same is my deep and abiding love for Rebel Basketball. Since the season started a few weeks ago I have only missed one game and have yelled myself horse at a few (especially our instate rivals UNR…Booo) And so far, my boys are 4 and 0! Oh the joys.

Well, as a Birthday resolution I will try and blog more, I spend most of my day at a desk so I guess I don't really have a good excuse for not posting more often. Sorry. I will be better.

Part 1

The List...eventually this will all be blogged about. Eventually. 

Graduation

Finals

Leaving Provo

SuperCross

Dark Nail polish

Mothers Day

Zumba

Over-zealous parents at sporting events

Glen Beck

Rafting for the cure

 

Sorry. I figure that because I haven’t posted in so long, I might as well start off with an apology. But, (my semi-plausible excuse) a lot has been going on, I graduated (yay me) moved back to Vegas, Unpacked (a major accomplishment) and have been trying to adjust to the all around different not Provo life.

 

So, Finals. I don’t think that I have ever been as happy, or as weirded out as when I finished my last final exam. (English 395…the last time slot: 8-10pm on the last day) I was walking across campus, (glad to get away from “Stupid Head” more than anything else) when it hit me. I was Done. Done. I am pretty sure that I stopped in the middle of a sidewalk on campus at 10:00 Wednesday night trying to wrap my finals-mushed brain around the idea.

 

The next day, Leslie and I made our way with Aubrey to the first part of Graduation at the Marriott Center. In hindsight, I probably should have walked slower and looked around a bit more, because it was the last day that I would walk from Chatamtowne to campus and back. Weird. We went, sat and listened to the speakers  and the whole time, I wondered if I had developed an extreme case of late onset A.D.D., I couldn't’t sit still or focus on what was going on. After it was done, we took pictures (lots of them…thanks dad!) and went to Macaroni Grill for dinner with the De La Vega’s (my brothers soon to be In-laws…sigh) 

Well this is all you get for now. More to come later. 

Funnies for today

My Dress

All right, so I understand that it is now March, and my last post was in January. Sorry. But I am still blaming the Seniorits for my lack of bloging. I thought since my lists are the only things that are keeping my life in (semi) order I would make one of things I need to blog about and then eventually everything should get done. Right?

Okay… my list.

Blaine coming home

Snow

Wendover (maybe, it might still be too soon)

A beautiful dress… and shoes

Zumba

I think this is everything…for right now.

Blaine

I love my brother, and am ridiculously glad that he is home. The end.

Next…

Snow

Again, love the snow. (Sorry for all of those people stuck in Provo who don’t feel the same…My dear sweet roommates) I woke up last week to a beautiful dusting of powder over everything. I think snow just makes the whole world look so clean and pretty. (until the cars come and ruin it) It was killing me though that I couldn’t go enjoy it this weekend especially because my cousin Amanda was up boarding on Friday and Saturday, and one of my good friends invited me up to Deer Valley with him and some friends over the weekend, both of which I had to turn down because of midterm papers. Stupid school.

Wendover…yep, too soon. If you want the jist of what went down, check Leslie or Ashley’s blog. (see the links to the right à)

The worlds most beautiful dress and shoes

I went into the mall the other day, for the first time in what seemed like forever. All I needed to do was run into Gap and pick up some more of their favorite tees. (I have one on almost every day) On my way there, I was drawn into Banana Republic where I found the most beautiful dress ever, and of course it fit like a glove. Amazing. I am hoping that some day soon it will be mine. And on my way out, I found the perfect shoes to go with it. Sigh.

Zumba

I have a deep and residing love for Zumba. For those of you who don’t know what Zumba is, its like a mix between aerobic dance, salsa, and all around goodness. Its like an hour of partying with the added bonus of burning calories… oh the joys. 

Senioritis

Today I realized that I am falling behind in life. I think the major factor for this small(ish) problem is senioritis. I learned in my phycology class, that there are diseases that affect a persons motivation and functionality, because of this, I think that being diagnosed with senioritis should be a reasonable excuse to get me out of work, class etc.  (as well as someone to clean off my desk and do laundry.) Unfortunately this is not exactly possible. (Dang) So due to my "disease" I have been falling behind in important things like cleaning, homework, blogging, going to the gym and other "life forwarding" things.  To help solve this, I have started making lists. Lots of lists. Lists of homework for the week, Grocery lists, Lists of things to do NOW, Lists of things that need to be done sometime soon, Lists of things not to forget, List of things to Blog about... like I said, lots of lists. I ran into a small problem this morning when I lost my list of things to do for the day. Dang. Dang dang dang. 

01.20.2009 The Beginning of an Error

     After just watching the Inauguration of the Obama, I am desperately hoping that he doesn't screw up. Through out the morning, such a big deal was made about the race of our new president, and because of this I am worried that if he does botch his presidency, his status as a minority will be blamed, making it harder for minorities in the future. This might affect the chances of Sarah Palin being elected President (or vp for Mit) So, for her sake (and that of all "minorities") I hope he does well. 

     On a random note I didn't know until I saw him signing the papers for his cabinet that Obama is left handed. Interesting. 

     Design Cuisine took care of the catering of the Inaugural Lunch , which was inspired by president Lincoln. Because I need to know, I found the website of Design Cuisine which is very nicely designed. Kudos to them. 

Pearls

For christmas, I got my first set of "Big Girl" Mikimoto pearls. I am in love. I wore them all day (even though I never got out of my pajamas) and slept with the necklace on my night stand were I could see them... and slept in the earrings. I wore the earrings constantly for the next few days (except in the shower because the lady said that that was bad for them) until we left for Canada were I was too afraid to take them. (finding pearls in the snow would not be a good thing.) In honor of my new love here is a little background on them (courtesy of wikipedia) 

A pearl is a hard, roundish object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of mollusks, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes of pearls (baroque pearls) occur.

The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries, and because of this, the word pearl became a metaphor for something very rare, very fine, very admirable and very valuable.

Almost any shelled mollusk can, by natural processes, produce some kind of "pearl" when an irritating microscopic object becomes trapped within the mollusk's mantle folds, but virtually none of these pearls are valued as gemstones.

Nacreous pearls, the best-known and most commercially-significant pearls, are produced by two groups of molluscan bivalves or clams. One family lives in the sea: the pearl oysters. The other, very different group of bivalves live in freshwater, and these are the river mussels.

Fine gem-quality saltwater and freshwater pearls can and do sometimes occur completely naturally in the wild state, but this is rare. Many hundreds of pearl oysters or pearl mussels have to be gathered and opened, and thus killed, in order to find even one wild pearl, and for many centuries that was the only way pearls were obtained. This was the main reason why pearls fetched such extraordinary prices in the past. In modern times however, almost all the pearls for sale were formed with a good deal of expert intervention from human pearl farmers.

A nacreous pearl is made from layers of nacre, by the same living process as is used in the secretion of the mother of pearl which lines the shell. A "natural pearl" is one that formed without any human intervention at all, in the wild, and is very rare. A "cultured pearl", on the other hand, is one that has been formed on a pearl farm. The great majority of pearls on the market are cultured pearls.

Imitation or fake pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of the iridescence is usually very poor, and generally speaking, fake pearls are usually quite easy to distinguish from the real thing.

Pearls have been harvested, or more recently cultivated, primarily for use in jewelry, but in the past they were also stitched onto lavish clothing, as worn, for example, by royalty. Pearls have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines, or in paint formulations.