Halloween Observation

Most of my students at American Fork got totally decked out for Halloween today. I asked one student what he was and he said, "I'm a paranoid schizophrenic. No I'm not SHUT UP!". Pretty clever for a high school student!At UVU today there were a lot of people dressed up and I noticed one commonality...nerds. They were all kind of that band geek, choir loving, Twilight fan club president type. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I love geeks, especially because they gave me a lot to look at today.

Re-Do

A month ago I went to a funeral and I blogged about what I wanted for mine.  Today was the funeral for my student and I decided to amend my plans for my funeral.  They will be as follows:

-No sad songs

-It will solely consist of everyone sharing funny stories of me

That's it.  I'll see you there.

Over it!

Only one more week left!  I need this election to be over with, I cannot handle anymore inundation of political garbage.  It started way too early this go round and it seems they have been much more vocal and in our faces.  I'm over it!  I started college as a political science major, with a zeal and passion for politics but now, with all the garbage that is thrown at us, I'm feeling slightly less than apathetic.   

Puerto Rico Highlights

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my recent excursion to Puerto Rico.  I wish I was a better photographer and could capture all the gorgeous scenery and vibrant color.  But I'm not good, so you'll have to deal with these amateur attempts at creativity.  Enjoy!There was an awesome rock wall outside the hotel and I got some great shots in the afternoons at high tide

Another one....obviously

Isn't this lovely?  

The city blocks there didn't have individual buildings, they were one big building only differentiated by the colors they painted

They have some of the coolest doors there.  I bought my mom a poster of the doors of Old San Juan, apparently they are world famous, just like me  

The road in Old San Juan

I loved this spiral staircase!  It's inside an old fort

I just liked this shot

I'm quite obsessed with the changing colors of the buildings

A series of large open rooms inside a fort, I think it's a pretty cool shot

This drawing is on the inside wall of a fort and there were about 2 other visible ships drawn close to it.  What they would do is if they saw a ship approaching they would quickly compare it to the wall drawings and if it matched, it was a friendly ship.  If it didn't they all got on alert for possible enemy fire.  Pretty cool, huh?!?  I heart history

The hotel where the conference was

No, this is not a postcard

I just liked the shot

Worst Nightmare

This will be short and not so sweet.  One of my students at the high school passed away over the weekend.  Since I have been working there 2 other students have died and it has never been one that I have known, but it has still been hard.  Both times I have thought about how scared I would be if it was one of mine.

She was a wonderful and sweet girl.  She was supposed to be in my class this morning and it was hard to not have her there.  The principal and a counselor came in and talked to everyone and we all kept it together pretty well.  When they left I broke down and talked to them about how I felt about the whole situation.  It provided me the opportunity to tell them that even though they can get on my nerves and talk too much sometimes, I still love them all individually and they are the joy of my life.  We all had a big cry fest after that and normally it helps to get your tears out, but I am still heartbroken.  

Lindsay, thank you for being such a wonderful addition to our class.  I appreciate your participation, your great attitude, your HUGE smile and enthusiasm that you brought to class.  I miss you and I will miss you every A-1 class period.  We all love you very much but I understand that Heavenly Father needs you too.  

Name Drop

In the Dallas-Fort Worth airport today, Dale and I were in line at Fuddruckers for lunch. I was looking around and I saw a girl that I thought looked familiar. I was right. It was January Jones, an actress from a show I love, called "Mad Men". I know that Dale also watches it so I said (very quietly), "Look! It's January Jones from Mad Men!" He looked, he confirmed, we were excited. She is lovely in person.
The most exciting part is that she was wearing this sweater in black and white and guess what....Kat and I own the exact one too! Mine is navy blue, white and red and I believe Kat's is the one from the picture. I guess that's all the proof anyone needs, Kat and I are absolutely fabulous. Hooray!

Latin Men...Yum?

Rat tails...hmmmm.  What is the point of a rat tail?  On the mammal it is to maintain balance.  On a boy it is to......um.....to.....yeah.  If someone can give me a truly logical explanation for man/boy rat tails, I will give them a kiss on the mouth.  (It's a highly desirable prize, I promise).

Walking around the San Juan mall last night I realized that my attraction for Latin men lies more in the "romance novel cover boy" sector, rather than the ones we encountered last night. This is what we saw over and over again.
Oh yeah, and most of them had beautifully groomed eyebrows.  Definitely better than mine.  I think the metro sexual revolution is alive and well in Puerto Rico, which is unfortunate for many reasons which I will not go into.  My point though?  I hated rat tails when I was in elementary school and I hate them now, on Puerto Rican men.

Es No Bueno

I'm loving Puerto Rico, except for one thing. They have absolutely no concept of customer service! Here's a taste of what has happened so far, mind you, we've been here for less than 24 hours at this point:

-With one person ahead of Dale in the Budget rental car line, it still took about an hour to get our car. She moved a little slow.

-At Dale's hotel we asked the Concierge for directions to the street my hotel was on. She gave us a map, drew out the route and of we went. Wrong. She gave us completely wrong directions. She told us to turn the wrong way on a one way street and to go under the freeway when it is totally impossible to do so.

-I called my hotel for directions....they didn't know how to get us there. They used terms like, "take the small road", "look up, do you see it?", "oh, you're by Sizzler? I can't get you here, let me see if someone else can". That's a very small sampling

-The cashier at Radio Shack called Dale "loco" under her breath

-The cashier at Subway talked on his cell phone the entire time he was ringing up my order. It was not a business call, I assure you

My Heart's Devotion

This is Miss Puerto Rico. 

This is how I feel about going to Puerto Rico tomorrow morning. 

We could be twins.

You Want Fries with That?

On our way to Las Vegas, Kat and I stopped at McDonalds for a little dinner. We are total nerds so we decided to turn off our voices and only sign. I love it because I always assign this sort of activity to my students and I haven't played "deaf" for a while.

I got up to order and signaled that I wanted a #1 (Big Mac meal, yum) and the lady froze for half a second and then asked if that was all, through exaggerated mouthing and gesturing. Then Kat ordered and it was a bit trickier. She ordered nuggets or something and instead of the lady writing out "what sauce would you like?", she pulled out 7 buckets of the different sauces from underneath the counter and had Kat choose. Another worker wandered over during this time and picked up one of the sauces and gestured that it was hot but fanning his mouth. Hilarious.



As we were getting our drinks we heard them all talking and they were SO excited to have had that encounter. We had gestured to the lady worker that she had pretty eyes and I think it made her day.

We made our way to our seats and started chatting when about 5 minutes later the hot sauce guy came up to me with 4 dinner mints and a piece of paper. The paper said "You two are sweethearts. Have a good night" (or something like that). Kat and I thought it was cute! And he signed his name (Travis) which made Kat extra happy. About 10 minutes later he came back and gave me 2 pieces of paper and a pen. I can't remember verbatim, but:

Paper #1: You are pretty. I don't know if you are with someone but you have a nice smile. Travis.

Paper #2: My name is Cody, I'm the one in the hat. Can you teach me to say you have a cute smile in sign language? I want to tell you you have a nice smile.

Sweet. Two guys that hang around McDonalds think I'm cute. Awesome. So Kat and I wrote a note that said, "Thank you for the nice compliments! We are both married and headed home from a camping trip in California. Thanks again, have a good night!" We walked it over to them, they read it and Travis wrote, "I hope you don't take offense". Here's the cool part. He didn't know how to spell offense and neither did his buddy (Cody) so he asked a girl who was mopping and she said, "a f-e-n-c-e". I love it.

Thanks for the fun memory McDonalds!

12:34

Every single day for the past few years I see the time 12:34. Either at midnight or noon, I see it. I saw it twice today because it was on my car clock and a few minutes later I saw it on a car dealership marquee (obviously the time was wrong). I don't actively seek out the time, it always happens when I don't expect it. Happy Monday!

Hmmm, I Don't Know

Kat and I just got back from a quick working/shopping trip to Vegas. I left my car at her house and when we got back to her house I had to turn away as Travis came running to greet her. It just made me feel a little sad. I am so happy that Kat has such a great guy that LOVES her so much, I'm just wondering when someone is going to miss me.It gets a little weird when you have roughly 3 single friends and all your married girlfriends are getting pregnant and such. I don't need marriage and babies right now, I think I just want someone to miss me when I go on a quick trip. Yeah, that sounds good.

STALKER!!!

I want to talk to you about as serious issue. Blog stalking. Yes, I'll even say it again, blog stalking. Eliza likes to call it lurking and while I feel that that is a perfect description, it makes me feel a bit yucky every time I say it.

You know what I'm talking about. You read someones blog and you peruse their friends, you read their comments, you STALK! I'm super guilty. I always feel a bit (incredibly) lame doing this, but come one! We all do it. It's odd seeing that your friends actually have other friends and that those friends actually have somewhat interesting lives. Very odd.

Confession time - I have an odd quirk about friendships and relationships in general. I like all my relationships to be 50-50, so if feel like any relationship is less than equal, I feel awkward. Let me now bring this to the blogging world. I don't want to add you to my blog until you have added me. I feel like I am putting flashing lights, screaming "I'm a stalker" if you're on my blog friends list and I'm not on yours. I follow a bunch of blogs from people I used to go to church with in San Diego, but when I say follow, I really mean stalk. But I refuse to put them on my blog because they don't have me on theirs! I'm so lame.

So, thank you for reading my blog....don't tell your friends I stalk them.

You do what?

Whenever I hear radio or TV commercial jingles I always wonder about the person who sings them. Are they super depressed because they aren't real singers or are they ecstatic to be working? Seek out the Campbells soup TV ads and you'll wonder about the lady, I promise. I just hope she's happy.

So Much Stuff!

Last weekend I watched a show on TLC called "Help!  I'm a Hoarder!".  It was disgusting and I loved it!  One woman they featured has been on medication and going to therapy every week for her hoarding addiction...since the mid 1980's.  Her house was floor to ceiling piles of crap.  She slept on the floor in the middle of all of it, I'm pretty sure someday one of the stacks will fall and crush her.  It showed her walking down the street looking in garbage cans, in one she found 7 walking canes.  She had a verbal discussion with herself where she listed the pros and cons of taking them or leaving them.  I highly recommend checking it out.

I am a bit concerned that I have the potential to become a hoarder.  I have backups of everything and I have a really hard time getting rid of anything.  At least now I am aware and can do my very best to not end up like what's-her-face.  Honestly, who needs 7 canes?  I would only need 2, the one I use and it's backup.  :)

i stole liza's tag

8 TV shows I watch:

1. The Office

2. America's Next Top Model

3. Project Runway

4. Desperate Housewives

5. So You Think You Can Dance

6. Arrested Development (reruns only now)

7. LA Ink

8. My Big Redneck Wedding


8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. I taught at American Fork HS

2. I graded a mountain of papers

3. I taught at UVU

4. I went shopping and bought some really cute stuff

5. I took my momma and Maria to dinner at Zupas

6. I watched The Office with my mom, Maria and Eliza

7. I had an epiphany

8. I questioned my judgment

8 of my favorite places to eat:
1. Cheesecake Factory

2. Tucano's

3. California Pizza Kitchen

4. Almost any mall food court

5. JCW's

6. The Melting Pot

7. Costco

8. Cinnabon

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Graduating at some point

2. Going on a super fab vacation next summer

3. Eating a Snickers bar about 47 seconds from now

4. Meeting my own version of Jim Halpert

5. Fall Break in Vegas with Kat (!!!!!!!)

6. Any time I get to hang out with friends and family

7. High School Musical 3 in theaters October 24th! (if you take this seriously, we're not friends)

8. Getting a backbone and taking care of some business I've been putting off.  Can't wait!


8 things on my wish list:

1. For my parents to win the lottery, quit working and do everything they ever wanted

2. Happiness for my friends and family

3. For Neil Patrick Harris to not be gay and to come sweep me off my feet

4. A 24 hour massage therapist at my beck and call, free of charge of course

5. For someone else to decide for me - grad school in DC or Boston OR stay in UT and start a business with some of my favorite peeps

6. For boys to stop being so confusing 

7. For the snow to stay in the mountains and not come down to where we live and work

8. The ability to eat all the chocolate treats I want and never gain an ounce

This is an open tag, take it and run with it!

Rachel 911

I want to be the type of person that you want with you in an emergency.  I have been in two situations that leave me conflicted...am I good in these situations or a chicken who gets queasy?  You decide.

1. A few years ago Kristy Kincaid and I went to Cedar City where we met my family to watch my sister and brother play soccer.  We were in Wal-Mart for some unknown reason and as we stood in the women's clothing section we watched as a man fainted right in front if us.  Like, we could have caught him.  Which we probably should have, but um...... right.  I stood there completely paralyzed as he lay on the ground and Kristy yelled for help.  I was totally worthless.  Lame!

2.  About three years ago I was dating someone but I decided to have a Friday night sleepover with girlfriends and told him to make other plans.  As us girls were watching "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" the power went out and then we heard the chainsaw.  For a split second I was freaked out (as were my friends, specifically one who started screaming obscenities loudly) but then I realized that I knew where a flashlight was and that we were going to die anyway so I might as well try to save a friend or two.  When the lights came back on, I was standing in the middle of the room, trying to feel my way to the flashlight and in walked my boyfriend and his roommate with a plate of cookies.  They had cut the power and started a chainsaw, don't worry, they left the blade at home, there was no danger.  When I looked at my friends they were all cowering in their sleeping bags and I was the only one in action.  It felt awesome.

So, I'm on the fence.  Would you want me with you in an emergency?

Oh My Stars

Check out this link and let me know your thoughts....

http://www.bighappyhair.com/

Can you believe this company is based out of California???? And NOT Utah Valley?!?!

Sob

And so is my life

TONIGHT

Every Fall while I was a wee lass I remember my dad being parked in front of the TV watching college football. I eventually started joining him and it turned me into the football fan I am today and it made us better friends all around. Tonight BYU will be playing USU, and while USU definitely brings a lot of heart and that uber-sweet underdog spirit to the table, they haven't had a winning season since 1996. They won their first game of the season just recently and we are all so proud of them. But, my prediction for tonight?

No Excuse!

I watched the new 90210 while grading papers last night.  I have no idea why, maybe because it was on, maybe because I needed background noise, maybe subconsciously I was rebelling against my parents for not letting me watch the original when I was in Jr. High.  The why is not important; well yes, it actually is but whatev, mind your own.  I was expecting Saved By The Bell: The College Years 2.0 sort of thing.  Yeah, right.  How about girls that don't eat, promiscuous teenagers, drug use and extramarital affairs.  Awesome.  A round of applause to the CW network for such a morally driven show focused at teenagers.  Unfortunately now I'm hooked and I have to watch next week to see their clothes and find out if Silver trashes Kelly's house while she's gone.  Kidding.  Maybe.