Ketchup, Mullets, Teeth, Skunks, Gags, and More.

Here are just few things that you may or may not know about me. . . . just because you're dying to know (not)! 

(Something not on the list---I LOVE Elvis!)

In no particular order. . .

1. I have a thing for old stuff. Anything 1920'-1950's. Love it. I think I'm secretly an 89 year old lady inside because I'm old fashioned in more ways other than the things I like!
2. My two front teeth are fake. Three words, running+pole=ouch.
3. I've never gotten a ticket of any sort (knock on wood) but I have had plenty of experience with police.
4. I have a natural blonde streak in the back of my head. Like a skunk, except red and blonde.
5. I love laser tagging. Absolutely LOVE it! I think it is SO dang fun. Same with my nerf guns, I just love taking out some pent up energy with my nerf gun! Never been paint balling, can't wait to try someday. Something about shooting people (without actually hurting them, no doubt) is really good for my mood. {I realize that sentence made me sound like serial killer. . . I'm not! I don't like hurting things, I can't even go hunting because I wouldn't be able to shoot an animal (nothing against hunting though)! Fake shooting though? Great stress reliever.}
6. If we're going to get technical and biological and all that stuff then I am technically an only child.
7. I gag when I get nervous or really excited. Flattering ain't it?
8. I curse like a sailor in my head and try to filter it before it reaches my mouth.
9. I have a thing for mullets. I find them so attractive! I heart the 80's!
10. I love ketchup. LOVE it! I eat it on A LOT of things. French fries? Ketchup. Hamburger? Extra ketchup. Chicken nuggets? Ketchup. Eggs? Ketchup. Steak? Ketchup. I could go on forever about ketchup. I love it so much.

 Although there are many more strange facts about myself, I will leave you with these 10 and keep you guessing about the rest!  ;)

Women of Hope

This Saturday I had the great opportunity to go to my stake Women's conference. I'm so glad I went (thanks to El Presidente' for saving me a seat;) it was such a great experience! I've never laughed so hard at a 'fireside' before, and it was so so so spiritual.

Hilary Weeks, who is a famous LDS singer, spoke and performed a few times. She has a great voice and has some serious piano skills. She gave an absolutely hilarious and inspiring talk. She talked about the power of positive thinking. I could go into much more detail and try to explain but I wouldn't do her justice. All I have to say it was great! Close to the heart and very powerful!

Kris Belcher, who has written two books mostly about trials and how we can learn and grow through them "Hard Times and Holy Places". She talked about her struggles with going blind and how she has dealt with that being a mother, wife, and a normal person. So inspiring and listening to her sure makes my trials seem so small. She was also absolutely hilarious.

All in all, it was such a great experience and I wasn't going to go but I am SO SO SO happy that I did. It was so fun to laugh a lot and at the same time, have such a spiritual experience. I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to hear these amazing women speak! There were sooooooo many wonderful things said that it's hard to pick a "favorite" line, but one thing in particular that hit me harder than normal is this;

"He will not leave you comfortless".

Here's to the power of hope! Cheers!

Full Moon

Remember how in yesterday's post I was threatening to take away the rambling nonsense that I provide on this blog? Well never fear, here is some rambling nonsense just for you! Actually, I think this is very useful information. Enjoy!

When I got hired as a psych tech, the emergency department manager (my boss) was telling me about how I would notice that the E.R. gets very busy with psych patients the week of the full moon and the week after. Yeah. . . I totally thought he was joking. Nope, not at all. Now working in the E.R. with psych patients for over a year, I completely understand! Things are always a little more 'crazy' during the full moon. I've always wondered why exactly? So I did some research. Of course, I could research this in much more detail but here's the gist of it that I understand (don't quote me on any of this)!

The earth has an ionosphere which is the space between the earth's surface and the earth's atmosphere which is filled with a high concentration of ions and free electrons and is able to reflect radio waves. Okay, so apparently the ionosphere puts off a signal-like a ringing that we can't hear with our ears because of the high frequency. But of course the ringing affects our brain.
Still with me?

When there is a full moon it means that the sun and the moon are at the opposite sides of the earth which has a gravitational effect. Because the moon and the sun are on opposite sides they sort of pull at each other which slightly changes the ionosphere. Thus, slightly changes the "ringing" that we don't hear, but our brains hear. So subconsciously during the full moon, our brains are slightly agitated because of the different frequency of ringing.
Get it?

The full moon affects every one's brain, but maybe not enough that we ever notice it. Some people it causes slight agitation, some hyper, some people's speech gets slightly affected. But imagine if you are someone with a mental illness. . . The full moon would probably affect your brain much more than someone without a mental illness. Interesting right? I think it's fascinating!!

Oh, and I also learned that the best time to get your hair cut is during the first quarter moon. No idea why, just is. :)

The Fork in the Road

I would like to say that pretty much always, the right path is never the easiest one.

I think there becomes a point in one's life where one finds the gap between who they are becoming and who they want to become and it stops being easy to ignore. For some, this point is small and maybe only takes a few minor changes and for others it has to be life changing, painful, long, but worth it. I think that evaluating our life is necessary. I also think that there is a fine line between wanting to change but at the same time, being comfortable with who you are.

Maybe because it's January, 'tis the season to make 'new year resolutions', or maybe it's because I've reached a fork in my life and instead of standing in the middle of the intersection wondering which way to go, it's time to pick the path and not look back.

So I will be periodically be blogging about deep, awkward, life changing matters throughout 2012. I could get really specific and blog on and on about my life and the challenges that I face. But let's be real here, who really would want to read that? I wouldn't. But I also want to blog about something that matters instead of the complete nonsense I usually ramble on about (there will still be plenty of rambling nonsense, no worries). So I'm not going to completely bare my heart and soul to the world wide web and I'm not going to say EVERYTHING that I'm thinking and feeling (heaven forbid), but I will be blogging about a new journey that I may or may not be actually experiencing! ;)

I hope this doesn't chase you away from my blog! Don't be afraid lil' muffins!

Prematurely offensive

{I may or may not have thought about posting a picture of an old lady flipping the bird and then I may or may not have decided that just might be a little over the top just to prove a point.}   ;)

I've discovered something more so in the past week than I ever have before. . . You get older and you just stop caring if you offend people. Not a good thing. I think I'm prematurely becoming this way. Isn't that what old ladies do? You know, you turn 80 and you can say whatever you want because you're old and who is really going to get offended by an 80 year old?
 I like to think that I have a hippie spirit. You know, happy-go-lucky, just want everyone to get along, don't sweat the small stuff, peace in everything. . . HAHA I'm so NOT any of those things. Except, I really don't like contention. I would like it if everyone got along. On the flip side- I'm a total fighter and I do find myself purposely picking fights (working on it!). {I'm going to blame it on being a redhead}.
Anyway, back on topic- do you ever find yourself listening to a conversation and tyring soooo hard not to say how you feel about the subject because you know it will offend those engaging in the conversation? Yeah, story of my life and I'm sick of biting my tongue! Of course, I think you should have social etiquette and obviously not say e v e r y t h i n g  that you are thinking. But wouldn't the world be a little different and perhaps less offense would happen if we said how we felt WHILE understanding that others may have opposing opinions. I don't ever want to purposely hurt someones feelings and offend them, but I also want to be able to voice my opinions. Happy medium? Maybe, agree to disagree instead of going with the flow in fear of offending?
Nah, forget it. I'm right and that's just the end of it. ;)
Here's to prematurely becoming offensive! Cheers!

{Just so I don't start false rumors, I do NOT flip the bird. I'm not that far gone. . . yet.}

Computer Tech Savvy?

I've been trying to change my blog template. I don't like how narrow the text is on this template. After an hour and a half of frustrations and feeling like throwing the computer through the window, I decided to stop and return it to it's old template. Any suggestions? I tried using a new template and it totally messed up my background and put "the cutest blog on the block" logos all over the place. Has anyone had the same problems? Help!!!

The New Year and Christmas.

Christmas was delightful. I received a new record player of which I have no pictures off hand, but it's rad. It plays cds, cassettes, radio, and records. I'm sure I'll blog all about it one day. I also received my gift to myself, which is SugarLand on vinyl. Other gifts were Joan Jett & The Blackhearts greatest hits on vinyl, a nerf gun, and many more great gifts from friends and family! Gifts aside, Christmas was great. I ate A LOT of delicious foods and did mostly nothing! Sorry there aren't many pictures of me doing nothing.

I heard that a fabulous country band 'Little Big Town' were going to be performing on New Years Eve at a small venue in Park City. I've seen Little Big Town once, opening for Keith Urban. But I've always wanted to see them again! They usually tour with SugarLand but always on the East coast, never on the West. So a handful of friends and I decided to go. Best New Years Eve ever! Sometimes I feel like New Years Eve gets a lot of hype and I never really understood why, I guess I never had an "epic" New Years Eve. Well I did this year! The concert was so fun! Very intimate and small, which I loved! Although the crowd was LAME and we were the only ones standing, it was still great. I'm sure the whole audience thought we had been drinking by our actions, but we weren't! The strongest thing I had to drink on New Years Eve was root beer. Such a great concert!

We heard that Little Big Town did this thing called The Vinyl Record club that they do at smaller venues, which is-you buy their vinyl record which also gets you backstage. We decided to look into it, so at intermission we went to the merch counter and realized it was more expensive than we thought. Not all of my friends went backstage, but since we only paid $25 for concert tickets Caecee, Zach, and I decided it would be worth it! And it was! After the concert was over we got to go backstage, which I have never done before but always wanted to! It was so fun! We chatted with all of the members of the band, they signed our vinyl records and took pictures with us. It was so relaxed and fun. I was surprised at how 'normal' the band members were. They actually took the time to look you in the eye, shake your hand, ask your name, and have a conversation with you. We were probably backstage for at least a half hour. It was so strange at how relaxed it was, that we were all pretty star struck!! Just a side note. . . famous people look different up close! It's weird!

 It was such a GREAT night!! I will always remember how I rung in 2012-backstage with Little Big Town!

I was so star struck that my brain didn't click to take more pictures WITH the band members until the very end, duh! Enjoy the pictures I did manage to get. . .

 My vinyl record that later got autographed by all of the band members.

 A blurry picture of Little Big Town performing.

This is my favorite picture of the night. First of all, her hair is AWESOME! I probably talked to Kimberly the longest and we talked about curly hair and what a pain it is but at the same time how we love our curls. Funny my hair happened to be straight that night-she told me to wear it curly! If she only knew. . . ;)

 Kimberly and Phillip from Little Big Town

 Phillip and I chatted about how we hate not being told when someone is taking your picture. So I told him I was taking his picture and as you can see, he posed!

 I didn't chat with Jimi very much, but Caecee did talk to him about SugarLand and he talked about how close they are with SugarLand and what good friends they have become!

 Karen talked to us about being "gingers" (redheads) and how her sisters have red hair and that we all look related-haha!

 This is a photo of the group of people that got to go backstage, the band is scattered throughout the picture.

What a fun night! Hope you all had fantastic holidays. I hope 2012 is treating you well thus far! :)

Best weekend!!!!!!

This has been the best weekend! I have spent a lot of time with Jodi and the kiddos which has been SO great! Went to the Little Big Town concert and got to go backstage on New Years Eve. It's just been the best! Haven't had such a great weekend spent with my favorite people in a long time. More to come. . . hope everybody had a safe and fun celebration to ring in the new year. I sure did!