Costumes

I believe in dressing appropriately for the occasion. If there is a color associated with a holiday, I believe in wearing it. That means green on St. Patrick's Day. Harvest colors for Thanksgiving. Red and/or green for Christmas. I believe in wearing something nice to a wedding. I believe in dressing up for the symphony or the opera. I don't think sweat pants are suitable for the Thanksgiving table.

I believe in costumes.

Happy Birthday, America!

I spent the majority of the Fourth in bed. I woke up and was ready for the day by 7:30 a.m., headed to the Kiwanis Pancake breakfast with Megan and Eddie, and then went home and basically went back to sleep until much, much later.

After my marathon nap, I went over to the Nunez's house, and enjoyed some delicious food, company, and all-around happiness while we waited for the Stadium of Fire to start. We could hear the whole program, and so we jammed to the Beach Boys, got soaked by the untimely sprinklers, and enjoyed the terrific firework display.

Tonight, I ended Freedom week with a little visit with my dear friend, Colin. He hasn't made an appearance on this blog for a while, so I'm happy to post a few pictures:

We went up to City Creek in Salt Lake. He treated me to some Kneader's for dinner and then we walked over to Temple Square where we discovered that the Utah National Guard Orchestra was doing a Patriot Concert, and we decided at the last minute to go.

I'm so glad that we did.

The program was really great, with songs composed from different wartimes, soldiers, along with classics from the "American songbook", movie scores, and a medley of all the songs from the Armed Forces. It was really cool to sing the national anthem in the Tabernacle, and to add our gratitude to the men and women who have served.

I think it was the perfect way to finish the week.

I really do love this guy.

Administrative Professional's Day

I read a webpage somewhere that recommended a boss celebrate Administrative Professional's Day because his admin/secretary/assistant looks forward to it as much as an anniversary or birthday.

I kind of laughed at that, because the majority of us know that as an admin, the day probably wouldn't be celebrated without a little bit of probing and subtle (or not-so-subtle) reminders. Or maybe it is just like that in my office where I am mostly the only girl at work.

Regardless, I was surprised when Peggy waltzed in with a little gift. She got me something last year, too, but this year I wasn't as pushy about the reminders and the office is almost empty today. So I didn't expect anything.

The vase is beautiful! And I love tulips (there are a few in the arrangement). I hate having to draw attention to this day and say "GIVE ME PRESENTS!" But... I love presents! And it is nice to feel like an appreciated member of the team. I am really grateful for my job and where I have been working for the last year and a half.

Cardiac Partiac - Valentine's Day Celebration

Some people think that if you are single, you should probably be doing a lot of this:

But some of us didn't like that idea... so we decided to throw a party. For future reference, I should not be allowed to plan parties. They get expensive and about five cake mixes too many, and suddenly your house is overrun with cupcakes and frosting and melted chocolate chips. And some white chocolate chips that didn't melt. In my head, I see extravagant get togethers. And even though, rationally, I know that I won't be able to pull it off, and not everyone that I invited is going to show up... I still have this desire to over-prepare.

Still, Cardiac Partiac was born, and we were on a mission to bring it to fruition. It took more money, planning and time than we probably anticipated, but in the end - even though it in no way resembled a posh NYC cocktail party, something that you would see in a swanky loft with twinkle lights and non-alcoholic beverages and really, really good music - it was rather successful.

Melissa, Megan and Me

We did manage to have a room with the Wii and food in it. And by food, I mean anything chock full of sugar: M&Ms, lemon cheesecake, Cowtails, Conversation Hearts, Fire Balls, Oreos and chocolate-dipped Oreos, and mini candy bars, and... CUPCAKES. Lots and lots and lots of cupcakes.

Maybe... half of all the sweets and treats we had!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Next time, we'll have to make Melissa come shopping with us to make sure I do not buy six boxes of cake mix. Regardless, Single Awareness Day did not drive any of us to actually burying our "sorrows" in booze or anything like that. We danced the night away and celebrated our freedom.

Bronwyn and Thanksgiving

So with all my Thanksgiving traveling plans not panning out, I got to spend extra, extra time with my good friend Bronwyn who left me for Texas many months ago.

I don't know how Bronwyn and I became friends... it was at the Omni. She visit taught me...once? Maybe. And then one day we went to a party together and it blossomed from there! She is hilarious and fun, and I miss her terribly. (Why did she ever leave? No one knows.)

Anyway, when I got back from New York, Bronwyn and I have tried to make plans nearly every night she's been here, which has been so great. We've seen movies: Unstoppable and Tangled. And eaten at Cafe Rio and Iggy's. And walked around the mall - where she helped my friend James get commission on her sister's Christmas present - and then we played Rock Band. We celebrated my birthday and mourned her last night at Nickel City last night; got hopped up on sugar and then headed to Comedy Sportz (an improv comedy team that specializes in Provo/LDS/Utah culture).

It's been so much fun to have her around to do things with and I'm really hating the idea of her going back to Houston. Hopefully, I can convince her to move back to Utah in April...or maybe I'll just join her in Texas. Ah! I love her!

Side note: Picasa (Google's photo storage/editing system) launched a new thing called Picknik, that has more advanced photo editing capabilities - hence the picture posted above - and I'm really excited about it. I might have stayed up EXTRA late playing with it. I've always edited my pictures before posting, but now... Don't trust any picture I post to actually be me. I have blemish remover, teeth whitener, eye enhancement capabilities and I'm not afraid to use them!

But also... Bronwyn is really this pretty. I didn't have to use any of my tools on this picture , except add the turkey! (Ok, ok... I brightened up our eyes, because I can! But that's it, I swear!)

Oh, and for those of you wondering: 

I thoroughly enjoyed my four day weekend. I think that every week should have Thursday and Friday off... it's the best idea ever! You can get so much accomplished! I didn't... but I COULD have. And that's what is important. I did do a lot of writing, actually. Which I'm happy about, because I've had a bit of writer's block lately.

I spent my Thanksgiving at my Uncle Dennis'. My grandparents got super lost, and were even later than I was. My grandma brought me a sewing machine for my birthday, and I'm itching to get to work on it... but I haven't yet because I've been writing and playing! 

The food was good - though, really Mom, I'm going to have to start shipping your rolls out to me. Or maybe just stop being so lazy and attempt to make them myself - and plentiful. I saw my cousin DJ and his wife Jenny, and that was great! The last time I saw DJ, he was sitting in a booth at IHOP, and it has been several years ago. 

The only bad thing about crashing somebody's Thanksgiving is that on Friday, there are no leftovers! Worst plan ever. Next year, I'm going to either be in Ohio, or I'm bringing a big enough purse to stuff extra servings in it for later.

Also, I did not get enough pumpkin pie... or pecan pie! Or Cherry Cardinal Dessert!.... just kidding. I don't care about the Cherry Cardinal.  

I Love Halloween

The idea came to me out of the blue.

"I want to be a drag queen for Halloween."

Drag queens get to wear crazy make up, crazy clothes, crazy accessories. Really, anything goes and I wanted a part of it. I didn't know how I was going to go about it, and I didn't know who I was going to be going out with - my Halloween cohort from the past two years has been out of the country - but I was going to do it. So I suggested to my roommate Matti... and she ran with the idea.

We spent a couple of weekends watching movies like Victor Victoria and Connie and Carla. Matti watched youtube.com videos demonstrating how to do the make up and we carefully planned out our outfits.

The week of Halloween is usually filled with parties. Everyone wants to throw a party, and they want people to attend their parties and so they throw them on different nights. Our stake combined with a few others and we had a dance at the institute building.

Matti was the resident make-up artist, and since she didn't get off work until 8 p.m., and it takes about an hour to do a full on drag face (at least), we were running a bit late. But that's OK. As I've mentioned before, stake dances aren't really my thing.

Making your eyebrows disappear is not an easy task.

I should have practiced my drag facial expressions. Amy and Matti had it down.

We looked fabulous.

 

Savannah, Matti, Amy and me.

I'm pretty sure Savannah was going crazy. Fajita was not amused.

We got home late, stayed up later... and Saturday, it was hard to get out of bed at all. We were seriously considering bagging the whole party hopping thing for a second night, but in the end, we decided that we better just go.

We had more time to get ready on Saturday, so more thoughts about outfits, and some laziness had us changing up our costumes. Amy had to work.

We met up with my friend Brooke and hit up three parties (and stayed for about 20 minutes at each).

Brooke getting in some Risky Business (she got more comments on her costume than anyone).

Dance party at Lori, Leica and Em's.

Cleopatra and Fajita

Probably the manliest face I managed to pull off.

Margaret, Brooke and Matti. We got to this party just after it had been broken up by the cops!

Probably the best costumes - or the funniest - was this guy and his "companion" who were dressed like sister missionaries. They looked better in drag than we did... then again, it was probably because they looked still so manly.

At the end of the night, Margaret showed her true heroism and tried to stop University Parking from towing away this car. Everyone around Provo hates University Parking, and we were all dying at Margaret's antics and sheer determination. She went as far as sitting on the trunk of the car, but the guy was relentless. He was either going to tow the car with her on the back or call the cops. She finally gave up. But it was the funniest, most awesome part of the evening.

Another trip to Ihop, and this weekend was complete!