Random Ramblings of a Wandering Spirit

One Day!

2009-06-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

From a very early age I have been plotting and saving random things that "I will use one day when I have my own house". Well Ladies and Gentlemen that "One day" has arrived!!!
My new house...Me and all my possessions...
The bestest family a girl could ask for...The bestest friends a girl could ask for...
It was all very exciting and I am very thankful to everyone who helped me. But after all is said and done I am now left a lone girl, broke and in West Valley. Please come visit!!!

Adventures in Real Estate

2009-06-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

For the past few months I have been riding the real estate roller-coaster. Which actually turned out to be a pretty smooth ride despite my apprehensions. I'm not sure where I got the notion that I should purchase some property but it just seemed like the thing to do. With my 30th birthday quickly approaching I figured it was time to take on some grown-up responsibilities (lame). I called up my cousin Derek and we compiled a list of houses to look out. I decided that I wanted a 3 bedroom town house (no yard work) and a 2 car garage. Those were my stipulations. Well the first house we looked at was in West Valley right off the 201 (Redwood and 2300 S). As soon as we exited the freeway Derek said "I can tell already this isn't going to be a place you will like.) Well we found the neighborhood (which was gated and about 3 years old) and Derek said "Oh, maybe not". After looking at several other places I found myself liking that first place more and more. Well, I put in several offers on that house but the sellers were not willing to negotiate and it was a bit above my price comfort. After a month or so I decided to give up and postpone house hunting. Well the very next day I got an email notifying me that a different house in that same neighborhood was now for sale. This house was not only bigger and nicer but it was priced at my exact price comfort. I knew I had to move quickly and one month later I moved in!!!
Here is the man who made it possible.... DERRREK!!!Derek is a long time fan of the blog and I promised him his own honorable blog mention.
Derek is the BEST real estate agent I've ever had!!! Honestly, it was so nice to have someone I trust to help me out with such a big purchase. I had way more panic attacks buying a car! It was nice to know that Derek always had my back. Thank Gracias!

Me. Moments before handing over my life savings. Sad day...

"Did I Ever Tell You, You're My Heeerooo!"

2009-05-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

This girl is "everything I want to be..."

Okay, but seriously, I started taking guitar lessons back in September which I know is barely 9 months but THIS is my goal. Now some people may say that it is a "far-fetched" goal but anything can happen... right? I am told that it takes practicing something for 10,000 hours to become an expert. I guess I have some practicing to do!!!

The Boy I Want to Marry...

2009-04-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Recently another class at my school did a writing project called "The Boy/Girl I Want to Marry". My class has throughly enjoyed reading these papers that are hanging in the hall. So today we decided to do a similar writing assignment of our own. It was funny to read some of the qualifications of these second graders.

Like Caelan who said: "The girl I want to marry has to be cute and like puppies. And be nice to me. She should want kids. She should like the names Bella and Christian. She should be rich and she should like cats. She should like birds. She should like my band. She needs to like red, blue, pink, brown and kids."

Please! His band?

Or Tavish who said: "Someone who wants a Ferrari. Someone who can afford college. Someone who wants a big house."

A Ferrari? Where do these kids learn these things?

I think I most relate to Maren who said: "I want a boy who has a gold blonde hair. Who’s strong. Likes music, dancing, shopping and cooking. Who makes it so I don’t have to do a thing. Who likes kids. Who likes animals. Who likes books. Who likes parks. Who likes biking. Who likes hiking. And that’s who I want to marry."

Emphasis on the bolded portion. Now that's smart thinking.

Ukulele Hero

2009-02-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

Clark and I recently stumbled upon the most amazing YouTube find...
Her name is Julia Nunes and she plays a mean Uke (as well as a few other interesting instruments: melodica, pillow, tissue box, etc.) Watch these two videos and you too will be an instant fan.

Here is another fav...

Check out some of her other videos on youtube for an entire evening of entertainment and distraction. Mandy and I did!

"Oh Mandy"

2009-02-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

TODAY IS MANDY'S BIRTHDAY!!!

In honor of the event I would like to pay tribute to Mandy by posting "memorable Mandy quotes through the years". I have known Mandy now for 15-ish years and for those of you who have also had the pleasure know that her humor is one of her best qualities, along with her hair and her....... (well she can tell you the other one).

A couple of weeks ago we were talking about some of the many funny things she has said through the years. Lesli reminded us that "apparently" when she first moved in Mandy and I would always talk about who was funnier, me or her, obviously there is no need for comparison as this is Mandy's special day. So here it is (in no particular order)...

#1
Amber: Who would you want to be your personal slave and why?
Mandy: Britney Spears.
Amber: no. Really?
Mandy: Well, she is a (sings) "slave for me".

#2
Audience: sobbing after viewing the Testaments for the first time.
Mandy: Please. The book was so much better.

#3
“I love alliteration. I’m a slave to it.”

#4
“Do you know why I love the Olympic? One word. Speedos”

#5
“Do you know what would be the best job ever? Princess.”

#6
During a movie in a dark theater Mandy drops some popcorn, it lands on her chest. She turns to Travis (?)...
"Travis, do you want some popcorn?"

#7
After watching Heroes with Tom (last week)
Mandy:"Tom, you can tell me the truth. Wasn't Mohindy especially hot tonight?"
Tom: no comment

Unfortunately this blog post cannot do justice to Mandy's hilarity. Please feel free to add your comments.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANDY!

It's the Master!

2009-01-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

It finally happened. After two long painful years and many tears (intentional rhyme) I finally graduated with my Master's degree. Here are a few fotos of the momentous occasion...
To celebrate we had a killer party at my mom's house. The traditional cutting of the graduation cake got a little out of hand. Mona!
No graduation would be complete without a graduation song. Jordan and Sandor wrote me a special song. It was spectacular.

The Graduation Song

2009-01-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

By popular request I give you the lyrical genius of Norn and the musical stylings of Sandy. I have appropriately named their new band "ZORN". It is a combo of their names and apparently it means "wrath, anger" in German. Ha!

Lyrics:
Her name is Alina she's a very smart girl.
If you compete with her she will throw you in a whirl.
At the age 16 she attend Bingham High.
Her teachers loved her and thought she was fly.

Chorus: She's the coolest in her class with a lot of style.
She makes sure your time is worth while.
She did all her homework and yet she is cool.
She studied really hard and did well in school

She attended Snow College and had tons of fun.
Yet she was still able to get her work done.
She went to BYU and became a cougar.
Nothing could top her or even get through her.

Today was a special day. She walked in a line.
I saw her and she looked so fine.
Now she's a master and well on her way.
She doesn't have to listen to anything you say!

Drama Queen!

2009-01-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

OMG! Can you believe this girl?! She is soooo drama!

So, I'm just chillin' here with Tom's sexy ladies and this dude shows up like, what is he doin' here! Like OMG! Who do you think you are? I mean...who is this chinkeeyes among white people and 1/2 mexican girl. Gosh, he is sooo cute. I love the way he dresses and love seeing him in those Jeans! And his jacket with the fur! Makes me weak in the knees...I mean, even my toes are hurting.

Not to mention my foot almost got ran over tonight...who IS this driver...I mean who taught her how to drive? I'm never riding with her again. And these girls totally cheated at spoons tonight...who keeps scooting their tushies closer to those spoons? And this one girl..OMG...she kept grabbing all the spoons in one reach...I mean there are other players, PLEASE! Then she thought she was WAY kool and did Michael Jackson's toe pose with converse on. C'mon, get the real shoes, WOMAN!

I totally pigged out at Winger's tonight. Ohhh, those chicken wiiiinnggs....mmmm....so delicious. I'm drooling just thinking about 'em. Can you see me drooling...I mean I thought I'm a sophisticated woman with class, right? I mean, just look at me!

So, do you think I'm a drama queen or what? I don't think I am at all. So don't answer that question.

"Hello! It was his 50th birthday!"

2008-11-13T14:14:00.000-08:00

(Name that movie.)

So a couple weeks ago I awoke to the startling sound of my cellular. I answered the phone and heard an unfamiliar voice say "Alina?" me- "yes?" unfamiliar voice- "This is your Aunt Lupe." me- "Oh hi." (meanwhile my brain is thinking "My Aunt Lupe? Why is she calling me? She hates me. Someone must have died.") Aunt Lupe- "Sylvia wants to know if you are coming to your dad's 50th birthday party and why haven't you answered her emails." me- "Sure! What party? What emails?"
Here is Aunt Lupe...Doesn't she look pleasant? Actually this trip wasn't that bad and she did take a keen interest in me, meaning that she insisted multiple times that my hair is too dark and I should dye it blonde, BLONDE! This means she cares! Ahhh.

To make a long story short... Sylvia (my dad's wife) decided to throw my dad a surprise party for his 50th birthday and to add to the surprise she had me fly down to California. The party was at Sylvia's parents house so on Saturday we all gathered there to wait for the birthday boy. Then Sylvia called him with some story about her mother's toilet breaking and that she needed him to come fix it asap. As soon as he showed up she had me open the door. It took him a few seconds to register (he is 50 after all) then boy was he surprised to see me. Overall it was a kickin' good party.

Me and my grandma with the Birthday Boy...
Me enjoying some birthday cake (my dad's left eye)...
Tones and Mateos enjoying themselves as always...At least Matt was enjoying himself until I announced that I would be sleeping in his bed. Then he was mad. What are sisters for?

Mid-life Crisis!

2008-10-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

So recently have been experiencing a mid-life crisis and for all you math whizzes out there, Yes apparently I am assuming a life expectancy of 58. I have all the symptoms of a mid-life crisis:

1. Buying a fancy, yet sportier car...2. Fulfilling my childhood fantasy by taking a flamenco dance class...3. Fulfilling my rockstar destiny by taking guitar lessons...

(future me)

4. Finding my inner chi by taking Tai Chi...
5. New hot young boyfriend... (ok not really but I think that is naturally next on my list;)

All of these things I decided to do in anticipation of being bored once I finished my Master's Degree. So have I finished said Master's Degree? Oops. Not yet and now I can't find the time to do it (wink, wink). Ok really I just have one chapter left on my capstone project and I have until the end of November to do it. But in the words of Rihanna "So live your life, ay ay ay. Instead of chasing that paper." Because really... what paper?
F.Y.I.~In hip-hop lingo "paper" means money.

The Real San Francisco Treat

2008-08-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

Fact: There is no Rice-a-Roni in San Francisco.
Last weekend I went to San Fran with some friends as a random romantic getaway. Ok so it wasn't really that romantic considering I slept on the floor. By myself.
Anyways. It was a lot of fun even though there was no rice-a-roni to be had. Here are some pics from the trip:
Riding the cable car...Here we are at the Japanese Tea Gardens...Here we are eating a plout at the farmer's market. A plout is a cross between a plum and an apricot. Very tasty...
Sunday was Ukrainian Independence Day. Privit! We stumbled upon a celebration happening in Golden Gate Park. Did you know that the Ukraine has only had independence for 17 years? Fascinating.
Some people were not so enthusiastic about the event...I don't know why not. What's not to love? Singing, dancing all kinds of merriment. This lady with the red hair was apparently in charge and she was very entertaining. She would give a little intro before each number. The best was when she was introducing the choir (her choir) she called them on to the stage. "Now we will hear from the choir...Choir please get on the stage...Choir?!... CHOIR!!!" I couldn't control the giggles. Too bad we were on the second row.Red also introduced the dancing by describing their high steps and intricate stomping...Since we are such good girls... on Sunday we decided to go to church only too bad for us because street numbers aren't so organized so what looked like a one block walk from the cable car stop turned out to be an 11 block walk. This is my favorite pic of Tara because she was wearing pants under her dress and was going to change right outside the church...

I heard you shred the cello, and I'm jello Baby!

2008-08-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday night my brother Jordan planned an event he advertised as "A Night of Mayhem". He and his friend Alyssa performed cello duets in the middle of the cul-de-sac. He passed out flyers around the neighborhood and provided refreshments. Our neighbor put up this sign...Jordan asked me to help him make a grand entrance. Here is what we came up with...

I had to explain to Sandor that this is NOT typical American behavior but it IS typical Ripplinger behavior!

Who's our German Bruder comes from Germany...

2008-08-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

He's here!!!
This year my family is hosting a foreign exchange student from Germany. Sandor is his name. Pronounced "Zandohr". He is one cool kid. He speaks English very well, plays the electric guitar and he is super friendly and outgoing.
Here we are making our final preparations. We were running a little late. Clark and I were working on the welcome poster so Jordan was working on my hair.
Here is Sandor's American room. Very festive.
And here we are at the airport.
When Sandor got to our house he said "Wow it's just like being in an American movie". So far Sandor has been introduced to 3 liter soda (fan), squishy bread (not a fan), rootbeer (not a fan, you should have seen his face. I wish I would have captured it on film) and peanut butter (fan). He thinks that we are hilarious. He loved his room, our welcome song and he said I had good German pronunciation when I asked him if he wanted some gum (in German).

Big Winners!!

2008-08-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my sister Mona and I went to Smiths to do a little grocery shopping. Little did we know it was "Founders Day" at Smiths. OK so we really don't know what that means except that when we walked in they offered us some cake and gave us some tickets for a drawing they were having. We bypassed the cake (it was white with lots of colorful frosting ..ew..),took the tickets and sauntered on to the produce department. Whilst in the produce department they called two winning ticket numbers over the loud speaker and the winner was.... Me!Can you believe it? I couldn't and I was by far the most enthusiastic person there (except for the 16 year old bagger boy. He seemed to be the only one who noticed that I was jumping up and down with excitement.) Anyway, I spun the wheel and won... a pie? Oh well, still a prize and I like prizes!We continued shopping and we were just about to check out when the oh so enthusiastic store manager got back on the pa system to call out two more lucky numbers. I stood in front of him trying to catch his eye and motion the number 166 to him (that was Mona's number) He called "1-6" and glanced at me while I motioned another 6, "6?". Yay!! We started jumping up and down again. He looked at us and said " You guys won again? You must have cheated." Us cheat? (no comments please) So he checked her ticket and Mona spun the wheel... She won... a brand new DVD of $9.99 value or less!
Overall it was a very successful shopping trip!

We Re-mem...

2008-07-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

So many, many moons ago I was an Oakcrest Girl's Camp counselor. Oakcrest is a church camp for girls 12 or 13 years old. Anyways, at this time I had just finished my first year at Snow College and it seemed like a fun thing to do for the summer so my roommate Tasha and I both applied to be counselors. At the time there was a lot of people who applied. The competition was tough and I thought there was no way both of us would be accepted if at all one of us. But after an intimidating interview where we had to bare our testimonies to a room full of people we both made it. It was a great experience and I made lots of good lifetime friends, sang lots of camp songs and did LOTS of ridiculous things. Well this summer was the 50th reunion for the Oakcrest camp. I went and was able to meet up with some of my favorite people.
Tasha and I went up together (or should I call her Roxy. Did I mention we also had fake camp names...)...
Here I am with my "freaky friend Citrus". We were cabin mates and had lots of ridiculous fun together. Now she is Mrs. Utah (in case you thought her face was familiar (jk))...
Here I am with G.D. (Gumdrop) and Roxy...
This is one of my besst friends Lafter the Crafter. (Isn't that presh? I think she was excited to see her old home...ha, ha)...
Here is a bunch of people we knew...Dis, Scuttle, Lafter, Citrus, Sonrisa, G.D., Kodak, Peaches, Splash, Roxy
"We re-mem, re-mem, remember of Camp Oakcrest, good times together..."

When in Mexico...

2008-07-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

As most people know every year I like to make the pilgrimage back to the mother country (or is it "father country") anyways... this year I decided to post pictures to depict things I love about Messico:
Paying to use the bathroom...Fresh tortillas daily...
Diving off the pier. Also very entertaining to the locals...
Local friends. This is Pancho with his rooster that he trains for cock fights. No lie...
Ridiculous purchases. This Tara molesting Tanner with the scary looking dog puppets we bought in Hermosillo...
Excuse me I'd like the EXTRA large bag of cheetos...
I am thinking about quiting my job and moving here...
Wouldn't you?

Pedro and Ming

2008-06-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest loves of my life, Pedro and Ming...I got them from an illegal turtle vendor in downtown L.A. somewhere in between Olvera St. and Chinatown. Hence the ethnic names. My intent was to take them to school as class pets but I like them so much I want them to live with me. The first night we spent apart I was missing them and mentioned to Mandy that "they were my heart" and she said "No they're not". But now you can see for yourselves how cute they are.

Give me a "M"!

2008-06-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

She's Back!!!

In the spirit of "being green" we decided to recycle the Welcome Home Banner...

Good Times California!

2008-06-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

After being off-track for a week I realized that this was going to be my last good break until September and I really should do something (besides watching tv). So I booked myself a one-way ticket to California. It turned out to be a really good time.
Me and my bros, Tony and Matt after getting yet another family picture taken. This time they were professionally done so hopefully we won't have to do it again any time soon...
My cousin Emily lent me her beach cruiser to do some beach cruising. Riding a one-speed was quite an interesting experience, especially when I didn't know how to brake...
What would be a California trip without some Grandma hopping. Here I am ditching church to visit my Grandma Diaz. She lives a couple of blocks away from the church so I like to walk up there after sacrament mtg. Yes, I was a little sunburned in this pic and Yes, my eyes are closed but my Grandma looks so cute...
I also got to spend some time with my cousin Andrew who recently returned home from his mission. This is his mission bobble head they had displayed in the church instead of a plaque. Genius...
I went with my cousin Emily and her two daughters Kaiah and Marley to spend a day in downtown L.A. Here we are eating churros on Olvera Street. Emily told the girls we were eating churros for lunch and if they were good we could have tacos for dessert. Sounded good to me...
Here is Marley and Kaiah with their new friend on Olvera Street. Notice Kaiah's new mexi-dress she bought with her allowance and notice what she is holding (that will be in a post to come)...

Inspiring Hispafrics

2008-05-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening I went with some friends to the Living Traditions Festival downtown. This is one of my favorite events of the year that is hosted by the city. They set up two stages in the park for song and dance performances from different cultural groups. They also invite food vendors to sell different kinds of ethnic foods. This year however, I stumbled upon something new... Hispafric dancing (hispanic africans). It was so impressive I had to take a video...
Did you notice the lead singer with her sun-g's, tiara and leg warmers. Apparently dance moves such as the tootsie roll and booty shake are traditional hispafric dance moves. Who knew?

Salt Lake Century

2008-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Team T.O.W. (Teachers On Wheels) tackled the Salt Lake Century. It was a pretty nice ride. Good weather and semi-flat roads. Here is our official team photo...At first we thought we might be able to ride the full 100 miles but as the day wore on we opted for the 72 mile route. Good thing too, by mile 70 I was pretty much dead. Luckily I survived with only a few mishaps. First being attacked by a bunch on balloons from an open house sign on the road and Second losing half of my lips on a celebratory popsicle at the end of the ride.

Fiesta!

2008-05-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Friday night Jord and I went to the Mexican Heritage Fiesta in West Valley. Last year my friend Stephanie and I stumbled upon it and were so impressed that we planned to attend the next year. So here we are. This was Jordy's first fiesta experience and he loved it. According to him the music was quite "catchy". This next picture I like to call "Save some corn for me" (in the voice of Nacho Libre)...Esmeralda and I decided that next year we are going to try out for the Latin Heritage Dancers. They were fantastic...
The highlight of course was the Mariachi. My favorite part of the fiesta is when they do what I call "Mexican Idol". People from the audience can come on stage and sing a song with the Mariachi band and then we vote for the best singer. It is fantastic. People are so passionate while singing but the best was when they asked for a gringo participant. It was something else. Here we are with "the band"...
Leslie, mariachi, Esmeralda, Stephanie, mariachi, me, mariachi & mariachi

Culture Fair

2008-05-19T15:20:00.001-07:00

This year we decided to do a Second Grade Culture Fair at school. Part of the second grade curriculum is to learn about culture and also to learn a dance. So... I give you... Culture Fair.
It was tons of fun. The students each did an individual project on their family culture/heritage and each class learned a dance. Of course we did the Mexican Hat dance and yes it is the only dance I know that is why I teach it every year. At least this year I was able to make a slight upgrade (notice the ribbons on the skirts).

Home at Last

2008-05-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today my brother Jordan finally returned home from his mission. It seems like it has been an extra long time since I have seen him because I was in New Mexico for the two years prior to his mission.
This is Jordan when he left on his mission...
And here he is now all grown up wearing the tie I got him in Spain...
Waiting at the airport was loads of fun. Here we are with the welcome banner Clark made...
Us and our new sign-holder friend (this is my favorite because our new friend thought we were hilarious, which we are)...
And now for the arrival video...

Mexican Word of the Day

2008-05-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

In honor of Cinco de Mayo I decided to post some of my favorite Mexican Words of the Day. These have come from text messages that I receive daily from my friend Esmeralda. We always laugh about them at work so here they are for your reading pleasure:

Mushroom- When all my family gets in the car there’s not mushroom.

Jewish- I know you don’t like me, pero deep down, jewish you were me huh!

Cheese- Maria likes me pero cheese ugly!

Chair- I was eating a bag of candy and my mom said, “Mira you better chair with your brothers and sisters!"

Wafer- I wanted to go to the park pero she didn’t wafer me!

... and now for my ultimate favorite mexi-word...

July- Ju told me ju were going to the store and July to me! Julyer.

Domo Arrigato

2008-04-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday, our Weppin cousins who were in town for Jana's sealing, cooked us a delicious Japanese dinner... Okonomiyakis!
Here are the chefs Todd and Brady...
It was some type of egg omelet with cheese, cabbage, shrimp, crab and bacon...
Then it was topped with Japanese mayo and some special sauce. My favorite part of the Japanese mayo is the label that says "Food for ages: 0-100"...
Enjoyment was had by all..

Pretty Cool!

2008-04-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

So today my sister Mona sent us her camera's memory card from her mission so that we could download the pictures from it and send it back to her. While doing so I found an interesting video that they made before she left (approx. a year and a half ago). Apparently this video was inspired by a Pepsi commerical. I will first show you the orginal:

I now give you Monica and John:

Now for a really good time start the bottom video first and wait for tiny Tee's intro then start the top video to watch the synchronization. It is hee-larious! I am still crying.

The Big Five-Oh!!

2008-04-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my mother turned 50. For such a monumental occasion one can not help but celebrate. We made her all her favorite mom foods (that means lots of vegetables) Thai chicken curry (combo effort: me, grandma, a. Pat), crab won-tons (by Clark) and special bubbly (by Taylor). Then we entered phase 2 which was desserts (because we wanted more than one). Clark managed to fit all 50 candles into the pie.
Now check out this flame...
Cousin Brady and my mom share the same birthday so they shared this special moment together.
It was a good time and well worth the effort to celebrate the life of the woman who gave me life. I love my mom!!

Culinary Geniuses

2008-04-21T13:28:00.002-07:00

Contrary to some people's opinions I have been known to be quite the genius in the kitchen. This weekend was no exception. My grandma and Aunt Pat came to visit from California which meant that on Sunday we had what my grandma terms a "Grandma Party". That means that any relative in the area is welcome to visit her at my mom's house and eat lots of food. So my mom suggested that I make some homemade oreos (you know the kind with the devil's food cake mix and cream cheese frosting). So I did and my Aunt who IS an official culinary genius was assisting me and we started talking about the variety of cake mixes my mom had in the basement (apparently they were on sale 2 for a dollar). I mentioned that lemon cake mix makes a good cookie as well so we decided to try it.
I give you... LEMY-O's

This is the picture of the official Lemy-o's unveiling ceremony.

Please note that it is pronounced "Lemy-o" not "Lem-o" (mom) or "Lame-o" (Clark). Ok that wasn't the official unveiling. That was a posed picture that my mom thought would be better for marketing purposes. This is the original picture...
I love it because my aunt is laughing so hard probably because of everyone's faces looking at us. I don't think they were expecting such a formal presentation. But once they tried one... they understood.

Nice day for a flat tire!

2008-04-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

So this morning as I was pulling out of the driveway I felt oddly unbalanced and sure enough... flat tire.

Between Taylor's muscles, mom's umbrella holding skills and my reading the manual skills we did a stellar job removing the flat tire.

Turns out there was a nail in the tire but thanks to the guys at Discount Tire and $0 later... all fixed and ready to roll!

"Like this White People"

2008-03-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

Recently, whilst again not working on my capstone project, I stumbled upon a blog dedicated to "Stuff White People Like". They had an official list of 92 things that "White People Like". While reading through this list I found myself saying, "yes, yes again, yes also" to several items. I thought it would be funny to post some of those items here in no particular order:
-Dinner parties
-San Francisco
-Bottles of Water
-Juno
-Sushi
-Multilingual Children
-Apple products
-Arrested Development
-Breakfast places
-80's night
-Traveling
-Being an expert on YOUR culture
-Farmer's Markets
-The Colbert Report

Then again there were things I DO NOT like from said list:
-GRADUATE SCHOOL!!! (That is my number 1)
-Toyotas
-Co-ed sports
-Snowboarding
-Yoga
-Not having a T.V.

Some things I thought were just funny and reminded me of other people (you know who you are):
-Standing still at concerts
-Oscar parties
-Knowing what is best for poor people
-Marathons
-Musical comedies

Now if you want to see how "white" you are you can check out this list for yourself!

P.S. As a side note I wanted to add this quote from the SWPL blog in reference to Arrested Development:
Even though most white people prefer to say that they don’t watch television, one thing they agree on is that Arrested Development was the best show on TV. They love it so much! If you are ever at a white person’s house, and you see an orange box in their DVD collection, you should say “oh, you have Arrested Development, I love that show!” To which you will be offered a glass of wine, and perhaps an invitation to 80s night.

AGREE!

Easters!

2008-03-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

My mother is convinced that holidays would be a lot more fun if she had grandkids. Clark and I, on the other hand, are not convinced and we spent most of this weekend proving otherwise. First we dug up our old easter baskets that were made for us when we were little kids. Then we had to make a few repairs because Clark's bunny was losing it's nose and my bunny had a deformed leg (which you can still see). Then we dyed easter eggs and watched Nacho Libre (an easter appropriate movie).

On Sunday, after more lamenting about having no grandkids, we had our traditional easter basket hunt. Every year my dad would hide our easter baskets and we would spend hours looking for them. My dad is the master of hiding easter baskets and he prides himself on his creativity. (His best being taping John's basket above the door frame.) Even though we are in our later twenties and dad was limited to one level of the house it still took about an hour and a half and several hints to find our baskets. Overall, pretty good Easters...who needs grandkids when you have immature children! That's what I say!

SUCKERS!!

2008-03-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

We are at the movies...and yes it is 1:15 pm on a Tuesday afternoon.
The best part about going to the movies on a Tuesday... 50 cent Popcorn!!
BTW- Last week we saw Vantage Point which was a much better movie... but as Mike says, "watching a crappy movie is better than working!"

Off-Track, Hangin' wit... Mom

2008-03-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well it has been exactly one week that I have been off-track (translation: no work). Since I am in the process of building up the old bank account, after the India extravaganza, I have been keeping it low key which means I have been spending a lot of time with my mom.

Here we are after an intense 15 mile bike ride.
The intense part was the cold bitter wind.

She even talked me into purchasing some killer boots with her.
Twin Stuff!!!!

Extreme Merriment!

2008-03-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

Last weekend our ward went on a Winter Retreat up Milcreek Canyon at Camp Tracy, which is in fact a scout camp. This camp offered little log cabins for our sleeping pleasure, a rather large and fancy lodge for hanging out and a killer hill for tubing. Mandy, Lesli, Larissa and I drove up together. Apparently we were a little "early" (it was 6:30 and they said to be there by 6:00, you know how it is!) so a few of us went to check out this killer hill. It didn't look too bad but there were swarms of 8-10 year old boys (scout camp remember). We didn't (at this time) have our own tubes so I asked one of the boys if we could ride on one of theirs and he said he didn't know while all the others started screaming, "Noo, they are girls!" So needless to say we had to wait for Matt, keeper of the tubes, to accompany us. It was extreme merriment in every sense of the word. Even if it gave me heart palpitations every time!

Larissa and I found out that if we rode together, going face first, we were a lot faster. YIKES!

Here we are roasting peeps over an open fire!

Shout out: This is a shout out to Matt and his killer Team Building activities. Even though harsh words were said (from both sides) I still think your games were the best. I loved every minute of them!

Nice day for a white wedding!

2008-02-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday one of my bestest friends Celeste decided to take the plunge and strap on a ball and chain, I mean she got married. It was a fantastic wedding. I loved every minute of it. While we were waiting in the sealing room, for the happy couple to enter, one of the temple ladies came in and suggested that we start passing around the tissue box because "this promises to be a great sealing". And let me tell you, they didn't disappoint. It was one of the best weddings I have been to in a long time.

"Awhh" (in the words of Cele)

Tara came up for the festivies. Always a good time!

My favorite part of any wedding is always the money dance. Personally, I've always wanted to have a money dance assuming that it would even be a possibility. My mother refuses to let me. I don't know why. What's not to love... you're getting paid to dance... on your special day!

What the Folk!

2008-02-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

I would like to take a moment to put in a shameless plug for one of the funniest things I have seen this week, in my house, on a dvd. Recently my bro, Clark, introduced me to Flight of the Conchords. They used to be "New Zealand's 4th most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". Now they are "the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand." I became an instant fan. But really, what is not to love. Basically it is a show about two guys from NZ, Bret (pronounced "Brit") and Jermaine, who come to New York and are trying to make it big with their band F of the C (that is street slang for Flight of the Conchords). Each episode takes you through a week of their lives with them occasionally breaking out into song. You can see for yourself in this clip from a F of the C episode. It is definitely in my top three!

So did his dance moves "seal the deal" for you?

Ding Dong John is Gone!

2008-02-02T20:46:00.001-08:00

After much anticipation the day finally arrived and my brother John entered the MTC to prepare for his missionary service in Japan. While many (mostly my mother) have been greatly anticipating this day I, on the other hand, have not. Though I did my best to suppress my emotions through the use of lame jokes and laughter, inside I was crying my heart out. John is one of my favs. I know he is doing a good thing and I am proud of him but the selfish part of me is sad that I won't get to see my bro no mo' (at least for 2 years).This is John eating his last bean burrito at Betos. No more beans for 2 years. Poor John he'll probably starve.

The Token White Girl

2008-01-17T19:42:00.001-08:00

Over the holiday break I stopped by my dad's house in Cali for literally a day. Since I was in town my dad decided it was a prime opportunity to get family pictures taken. Apparently this is "the family picture he always wanted" or so he kept saying during the photo shoot. As much as I love getting my picture taken I especially love family pictures where I stand out like a sore thumb. Luckily with the white background it isn't so obvious.His, hers and oh yeah that one child from his young, wild, mormon days (that would be me)!

Me and my Dad (precious)

Me and my bros Tones and Mateos

My favorite thing about this day was that no one had anything "matching" to wear so Matt suggested wearing a white t-shirt and jeans (because that is what he wanted to wear) but Tony vetoed it by saying that we would look like cholos. That would have been awesome!

An Elephant Blessing!

2008-01-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

As previously mentioned, my most favorite experience in India was receiving an elephant blessing in the Meenakshi Hindu Temple. Well we weren't allowed to take in cameras without paying a fee so Rafiq offered to get us a few snaps of the occasion and he sent me these today!!! Imagine my surprise when we rounded a corner and there stood this real live elephant.... ...decked out for the occasion, of course! The Hindu reverence for the elephant intrigued me as it might for others. Here is a little background: One of the Hindu Gods, Ganesh, the son of Shiva and Parvati, has an elephantine countenance with a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshiped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. Receiving an elephant blessing is a sign of good luck and fortune. I think I have had pretty good luck since I am just waiting for the "fortune" part to kick in.
Here I am patiently waiting my turn while Rochelle gets slobbered on (I mean blessed)!

India- Kondu Vanga!

2008-01-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

Over the Christmas break I went on a mini-vacay to India. Rochelle, Tara, David and I flew together from L.A. to meet our Indian friend Rafiq (whom we are pretty sure is in the Russian Mafia. He was always on his phone and he often spoke Russian ironically enough). I had the time of my life. India was a fascinating place. I loved learning about the people, customs, language. Not so much the food except the naan, "You can't go wrong with naan". That was my motto.
I also learned a little Tamil from Rafiq while I was there. I
learned a few useful phrases like "I like your mustache" but my favorite was "Kondu Vanga" which means "bring it on". That is exactly what we did. Here is a brief synopsis of the trip...

December 23rd: Layover in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur was a surprisingly nice and clean city. They even had public sinks such as this one.

But for some strange reason we kept having this reoccurring urge to "kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia".

December 24th: Day trip to see the 5 Rathas in Chennai followed by an evening of...

Midnight Mass at the Santhome (St. Thomas) Basilica.

December 25th: Meenakshi Hindu Temple in Madurai. The highlight of this temple was receiving a blessing from a real live elephant. It only cost 2 rps. Totally worth it!
Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the elephant blessing room.

We met some people who were doing their end of the year pilgrimage. They walk over 400 miles to visit different temples all while "fasting" which means just eating vegetarian.

December 26th: Another Hindu temple in Madurai. Worshipers were washing themselves in the water that came down from the mountain.

We were feeding bananas to the monkeys.

December 27th: After a 6 hour car ride up a windy mountain we arrive at Coir Village Lake Resort.

Sippin' on coconuts!

December 28th: We stayed on this posh
houseboat on the Kerala backwaters.
We even had man-servants on the boat with us to cook and clean. Need I say more.

They even let me steer for a while.

December 29th: A hot and sticky ride on the Indian Railways from Alappuzha to Calicut. Total time on the train... 6 hours.

December 30th: We stayed at the Vythiri Resort in the mountains of Calicut.

It was a health resort so we enjoyed Ayurvedic massages and mehandi body art aka henna tattoos.

December 31st: New Year's Eve BBQ on the beach in Goa... indi-style!

January 1st: On the beach in Goa...

plus some on-beach entertainment.

January 2nd: The Taj Mahal...

via camel cart.

January 3rd: City tour of Delhi. Main highlights were homeless people camped out on the side of the road...

and men holding hands (that is common and very normal, also not gay).

January 4th: Stranded in Singapore!
I had a 10 hour layover but for some reason the airlines didn't have a confirmed seat for me on the flight out so I had to wait it out in their luxury suite. Poor me!

Singing Praises...Hallelujah...

2007-12-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

To help bring a little Christmas Spirit into my life I decided to join the ward choir... just in time for the River Hills Ward's production of "The Prince of Peace" a live nativity. It was quite the spectacular event. I especially enjoyed the fact that we had to wear matching scarfs and the most incredibly itchy hats imaginable.
What you can not see is the amount of clothes I am wearing. Since we were singing outside I had to triple layer it with thermals, spandex and then jeans. Ahh the joys of winter in Utah!

"Let's go shake their hawnds"

2007-11-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite movies has always been Cool Runnings. The best part of that movie is at the very end when the Germans win the bobsled race and they see the Jamaicans who have just lost (sorry if I just spoiled the ending) and they say "Let's go shake their hands" with their thick German accents. I don't know why I think it is so funny but yesterday we had the perfect opportunity to use that phrase. My family and I went to a Thanksgiving program in Millcreek. We played in their community orchestra and then they had special guest speaker Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. After the program Elder Uchtdorf hung around to greet people and Clark suggested we "go shake his hawnd". As we were waiting Clark, John and I were double and triple dog daring each other to say something in German to him but since the phrases we know are pretty ridiculous none of us really did except John who threw in a couple of "ja"s into the conversation. Anyway after he shook our hands we walked to the back of the room to pack up and leave but before we did we ran into Elder Uchtdorf again and he said "hi again" and shook my hand again. I know what you are thinking... twice!!!I took this picture right after the incident so everyone can see the hand that touched Elder Uchtdorf's hand twice! It really was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day. Elder Uchtdorf is a spectacular man.The rest of Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We ate dinner at my mom's house. Clark, John and I made pilgrim hat cookies for table decorations and since we had left over frosting we decided to use it to write our names on our plates.
I think my mom was a little bugged by our immaturity but it sure was fun!

Giving Thanks!

2007-11-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

This year I have been feeling extra festive so we have been celebrating Thanksgiving all week long at school. Last Wednesday the school cafeteria was serving a turkey dinner so we decided to push the desks together to make a few long tables and eat lunch in our room. My students weaved some paper together to make festive place mats and they made themselves Indian and Pilgrim headbands. It really was hilarious how much they were getting into it. They even started calling each other "Chief Mose" and writing "Nicole the Pilgrim" on their papers.Since my students were becoming such Thanksgiving aficionados I decided to teach them how to weave with yarn. Our looms were pretty small so the finished product turned out to be more like a weaved coaster. It became a great fast finisher. When they finished their classwork they chose if they wanted to silent read or silent weave. It was great!!

Excitement on Legs

2007-11-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I went to watch Clark shake his thing at BYU Dance Sport. This was a dance competition for kids from about 6 or 7 years old to college age. Clark won a sixth place prize in the novice standard ballroom competition which was impressive considering how many people were dancing in his category. The highlight however was the little kids doing the latin dances. Classic!

Halloween! Halloween!!

2007-10-31T20:50:00.001-07:00

One of the reasons I love being an Elementary School Teacher is holidays, especially Halloween! Some of the highlights of today were: the Halloween parade at school, making Witches Brew with my class, eating Irene's English soup and watching the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. And as always the thing I love most about Halloween is dressing up. Here are my picks for best costumes this year:
"Off with his heeaad!" This was one of my most favorite costumes (worn by Brittany) mostly I am jealous of her flamingo.
This is our fearless leader (aka Principal) complete with his walkie talkie (in case he needs to call for back-up)!
My class boogie-ing their way through the school parade!
As an added bonus to Halloween festivities here is the gang at our ward Halloween party. (I just wanted to use the phrase "the gang". I don't know why.)

This is Halloween!

2007-10-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween! I mean really what's not to love...dressing up, candy, pumpkin treats... yes, yes and yes! Over the years I have taken a fashion to dressing up as someone famous. There has been Steven Tyler, Paula Abdul, Punky Brewster and this year I was Ugly Betty. In the past my costumes have been...good, but this year it was...awesome! I mean, I thought I looked pretty good at our ward Halloween party but then Mandy found this picture and the similarities are uncanny.

Can you tell who is who?

And yes, those are my real eyebrows!!!

Calling all Johns!

2007-10-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

After three long torture-ous days my brother John finally opened his mission call. And the winner was......not me (I couldn't be more angry!) anyway I made a video of it so we can re-live the moment over and over and over again. So without much further ado here is John...

In case you missed it, he is going to Hiroshima, Japan!!!
Konichiwa!

"I Like You Because You're Not Right in the Head"

2007-10-16T12:52:00.001-07:00

Last night Mandy and I went to the concert of a lifetime...
Morrissey live in a barn!
It was fantastic... the intimate setting... the lyrical genius-ness... and Morrissey took his shirt off twice. Apparently that is his signature move to remove his shirt during the song "Let Me Kiss You". The shirt removal was also appropriately staged because does it while singing:

Close your eyes
and think of someone
you physically admire
and let me kiss you
let me kiss you
But then you open your eyes
and you see someone
that you physically despise (remove shirt)

The best is that his shirt is all sweaty and then he kisses it and throws it to the audience. A fight almost broke out because of it. It was sweeet!

Sure Morrissey is old and a little chubby but his voice and songs are timeless. This was my first time seeing him live and I was glad to do so with the original, ultimate fan Mandy (I know there have been a lot of recent converts but Mandy is still the original and a s she puts it "I know I am not a significant part of his l ife but he is a significant part of mine. I have loved him for 2 decades.") I think that is pretty hard core. I only wish I had seen him 20 years earlier then I would have seen this...

Other concert highlights included the backup boy band or "Boy's club" as Morrissey most likely refers to them. And of course my Morrissey belt buckle which was given to me by Tara... Thank you Tara!

Party on Wheels!

2007-10-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

"Mucho gusto!!!" This was my favorite picture because it took several tries to get it right. Luckily we had time while we were waiting at the Mexican border... Me, Kyla, Laura and Ramzy

Nice bikes!

T.O.W. on the ride again!! This time we rode 50 miles from Rosarito to Ensenada in sunny Mexico. This ride was awesome and just as the registration promised it was definitely a "Party on Wheels".

There was a lot of craziness going on. Many of the riders dress up in costumes or just interesting clothes. We saw a group of 4 Dorothys and a scarecrow. Raimee's favorite was the guys dressed in only ladies underwear and wrestling masks. (two words: ew and ow) And my favorite... people with donkey heads on their bikes wearing panchos and sombreros... very festive! Local kids line the streets to cheer for the bikers and the bikers throw them candy. Again very festive.

Luckily they had roadside assistance... I had a small incidence climbing up the 4 mile mountain. I was unable to downshift and had to tough the hill by riding in my second gear the whole way up. I'm a champ, I know!

The rest stops were also awesome because unlike the Heber ride where they had water, gatorade and fruit the Rosarito ride had stops at various cantinas where they served ice cold beer and tamales. Hmm... drunk people on bikes...and just in time for the 4 miles downhill.

At the finish line they had a fiesta for all the participants and the locals of course! Overall, good times were had by all!

"A Rude Awakening"

2007-09-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

So recently some fellow teachers (Kyla, Raimee) and I decided to form a bike club. Every Wednesday we bring our bikes to school and ride up towards the copper mines after school. We decided that we should train for a specific event so we signed up to do a 50 mile bike ride in Rosarito, Mexico. We even have a team name... T.O.W. "Teachers on Wheels".

Well as the date approaches we have been getting more and more nervous. To help ease our nerves we thought we could do a trial bike ride and ride the Heber Century. Now for all of you who don't know, century = 100 miles but there was also a 25 mile option, which was our initial plan. Well for some suicidal reason we thought 25 miles sounded wimpy so instead we took the 50 mile option.

This event went down last Saturday and I have lived to tell the tale so that is good news. It was rather intense I won't downplay it. Raimee's husband took us up to Heber and was our unofficial pit crew. He tried to prep us for the ride up there but I think he thought we were crazy and said we were in for a rude awakening and rude awakening it was. This was in no way a "warm up" ride. If anything this ride was the great achievement and Mexico will seem like a joy ride. Here is my evidence:
*Exhibit one: the elevation... Heber 5500-6500 ft., Rosarito 700 ft.
*Exhibit two: weather... Heber- rainy and windy, Rosarito- sunny.
*Exhibit three: setting... Heber- mountains, Rosarito- beaches.

Well after a week of recovery we are off to Mexico so... stay tuned... and pictures will follow.

Ms. Ideaz!

2007-09-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Since I am currently off-track from school I decided to help out some fellow teachers and do some "trade days". Trade days means that I substitute for them while I am off-track and then they substitute for me when they are off track. In this manner we can save our sick days and we get more days off for free! Anyway, on Monday I substituted for a Kindergarten teacher. It was quite the entertaining experience. My favorite was a little Mexican boy (or "Messican" as he kept saying). He kept asking me what my name was and when I would tell him he would say "Ms. Ideaz?" It was pretty funny.
Anyway the purpose of this post was to share what wonderful things the students of Ms. Ideaz have learned during their unit on safety. We talked about different safety topics during our last few weeks of school and on the last day I put them in groups, assigned a director, and let them create their own "Second Grade Public Service Announcement". We watched a few examples from YouTube but the scripting and acting is purely their own. I would also like to add that I did assign all students a job in their group and one of the jobs was Costume Design. This cracked me up because they took it very seriously and tried to coordinate their outfits. The best comment I heard was from one group who wanted their "bully" to wear red because "bullies wear red".

Special Thanks to Raimee who did the editing and added the special effects!
p.s. The video is a little fuzzy to protect the identity of the students. Just kidding. I will try to get a better version of the video later. Sorry.

Bringing "Feelings" Back

2007-09-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hangin' with my homegirls T-licious and Foxy A (otherwise known as Tara and Celeste) chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool at the End of Summer Jamboree at Thanksgiving Point. Despite the fact that entering Thanksgiving Point is like entering Prison we had a pretty good time. Points of interest were: The Aquabats (fun for kids and spectating from a distance), The Format (AZ locals), Some girl who sang songs about feelings, Toad the Wet Sprocket (surprisingly excellent) and the main reason for attending and lets face it the main reason for my existence... Dashboard Confessional (two words- tight pants and hightops, need I say more). Here is the magnificence himself, Chris Carrabba...
I am sorry but I don't care if he does spend most of his time screaming infidelities it was definately worth the wait of a 12 hour concert just for this piece of eye candy. I especially liked how Glen Phillips from Toad the Wet Sprocket, talking about Chris, said he was "bringing feelings back".

As a sidenote: on the way to the concert we stumbled upon a fantastic little restaurant. And for all my gueros out there who love juice it is a must try.

It's the Aquabats! High Five!

P.S. If anyone knows what a "Sprocket" is please let me know.

I Like To Party!

2007-09-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

This year I had the best birthday ever!! Mandy, Lesli and I had a surprise party for myself which included margaritas, cake and karaoke. All of my favorite things!
Mandy, Lesli and I went out to dinner first and while we were away Katrina broke in and decorated in a Luau fashion. It was fantastic! I also received great gifts...

Jared's mustache

My bike (a gift to myself)

Cards from my many friends! Thank you!!

It's My Birthday and I'll Cry if I Want To...

2007-08-26T16:05:00.001-07:00

Once again it's my birthday! I am another year older and wiser too. According to my mother, this year is significant because my birthday falls on a Monday and I was actually born on a Monday. In recognition of the blessed event I decided to post some pictures of birthdays past.

Presents!!! Yes please.

I like to party!

P.S. Since it is my birthday now would be an appropriate time to leave a comment especially if you never do!

Rockin' the Library!

2007-08-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

Disclamer: Nerd Alert! I know but I am ok with that.
Fact: This weekend I was introduced to the wide world of wizarding rock. I had no idea that there was such a thing but apparently there is and it is huge. Don't believe me? Check this out.
Event: Saturday night "Harry and the Potters" performed live at the SLC Library with special guest "Draco and the Malfoys". It was seriously the awesomest concert I have ever witnessed. I don't know which band I liked better they were both so excellent. My favorite things about "Draco and the Malfoys" were that their opening song was "Party like your evil" and before every song they said "our next song is about this kid at Hogwarts who gets too much attention for his own good". For samples of their songs check out Draco and the Malfoys' myspace. I highly recommend the song "Potions Yesterday". My favorite thing about "Harry and the Potters" was the ridiculous amount of energy and enthusiasm they put into their music. They also had excellent songs especially "Save Ginny Weasley".
Evidence: This is a video of me and Clark at the concert to prove that we were there, we rocked and we bought the T-shirt!
Added Bonus: If you enjoyed this segment on Wizard Rock then here is another link you will enjoy. This is by far my favorite wizard rock song of all time (time being the last 2 days)... The Whomping Willows and their hit song "House called Awesome". It is a song about how the whomping willow wants to be sorted but he can't because he is a tree so he starts his own house and it's called "Awesome".

Well-Mannered Frivolity!

2007-07-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

In recognition of the long awaited release of the seventh and final Harry Potter book I decided to pay tribute through blog. Last Saturday night, at 11:00 pm, my brother Clark and I joined the many Harry Potter fans at the U of U bookstore to receive our copy of the long anticipated book. We decided to take advantage of this opportunity to wear our Harry Potter outfits for what may possibly be the last time. Me in my Professor Trewlany glasses and Clark in his wizarding robes (he was crushed that he couldn't find his "Magical Me" book as a tribute to Professor Lockhart).

The Harry Potter Party at the bookstore was fantastic!! As soon as we walked in the door we were all sorted. I was sorted into the Ravenclaw house which we all know are known for their intellect (rightly sorted I believe). Then we received 5 galleons to spend on various activities such as wand making, butterbeer and Bertie Botts every flavor beans at the Hogshead Tavern, quidditch, face painting, Weasly's Wizard Wheezes, ect.

Brett, Aaron, Me, Clark and Steve.. all proud owners of the last Harry Potter book!

Some people couldn't wait to get home before they started reading. Steve read as he was driving us back to his apartment. I even read the entire first chapter out loud to Clark as he drove us home.

What you cannot see here is Brett because he is under the invisibility cloak!

Now I would like to take a moment to share some personal thoughts on the last and final Harry Potter book. I have to be honest here and say that I was a little disappointed. Not only because she killed off one of my

favorite characters but because the epilogue was incredibly chessy. Some may disagree but it kind of ruined the book for me. After giving it some more thought I have concluded that probably the main reason I was disappointed was because now the mystery and intrigue is over. There is nothing left to look forward to, nothing to try and figure out. This last book was bittersweet. I have enjoyed the fantasy that was Harry Potter. I guess I will just have to get on with my own life but what fun is reality?

We've Only Just Begun...

2007-07-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I traveled back in time (or so it seemed) and went to Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was great to see some of my favorite friends of all times... Chacha, Sean E. Boy, Esmer, Lisa, Erika, Corby, James ect.
It was much like old times with the daily trip to Walmart and of course lots of movie watching. Thanks to Corby, we saw three movies in the theater over the course of two days and only paid for one of them: 1408- Freaky! Ratatouille- Lame! Harry Potter- Awesome!

During this trip I had the pleasure of going to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. I had never been before and it was quite spectacular. I have always felt that I was a Cliff Dwelling Indian in one of my past lives. That kind of stuff fascinates me.

Overall, pretty good trip. I think that James Davis said it best when he said, "Alina, I haven't thought about you once in 2 years and now that I see you I totally miss you!" The feeling is mutual with the exception that I actually do think about my New Mexican friends all the time.

A Jew? Here?

2007-06-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

OK so I know this is totally random but it is seriously one of the most awesomest things I have seen in a while. To preface this wonderful discovery I would like to thank my fantastic home teacher Matt who not only concerns himself with my spiritual well being but also inspires me to branch out into discovering new musical genres which has truly enriched my life in more ways than one. It is like two of my most favorite things together... Hasidic Jews + Reggae music = the wonder that is Matisyahu.

And for all of those instant fans out there you are in luck... Matisyahu is coming to Salt Lake, August 16 on tour with 311! Does it get any better than that?

I Like To Cruise It, Cruise It...

2007-06-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month we took a mini-cruise as a family for our yearly family vacation. And when I say "family" I mean what is left of it.... me, Clark, John, Taylor and of course mom and dad (someone's gotta pay). Since we have downsized in the family department, we invited our neighbors the Brincks. This mini-cruise included stops in San Diego, Catalina and Ensenada.

"And if a double-decker bus kills the both of us, to die by your side, the pleasure, the privilege is mine."

So before leaving for said mini-cruise we stopped at our Grandma Clark's house in Santa Monica for a pre-cruise "weigh-in". John's goal was to achieve a 10 lbs. weight gain during our one week cruise. Grandma thought this would be feasible thanks to the constant cruise buffet. After the cruise we went back to Grandma's to report. The result is evident in this picture...

... OK fine. Apparently Grandma's solar powered scale broke while we were on the mini-cruise due to water damage. But when we got there she said, "Don't tell John the scale is broken just have your camera ready". Well if that wasn't enough you should have seen my mom's face when she stepped on the scale. Priceless!

I Spent Last Night...in LOUISIANA!

2007-06-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

The great thing about working in a year-round school is that I have a break about every nine weeks. During my last break I went to visit some of my favorite former roommates Erika, Mark and Brandino in New Orleans.
This is us on a swamp tour. The great thing about a swamp tour is that one is able to learn the definitions of many words such as: "camp"- a temporary living place, "residency"- a permanent living place, and "hollow"- empty inside. A very educational experience overall and yes we saw several alligators!

Since this was my first visit to the South we decided to do it right and we had a crawfish boil thanks to the "cuisenairey" expertise of Mark. First we played with the live crawfish, then we threw the little guys into a pot of boiling water and then we ate them.
It was fantastic!

To enhance my New Orleans experience Erika and I decided to take a ghost tour through the French Quarter. Much to our disappointment the ghost tour was... well let's just say that half way through Erika asks our tour guide..."Do you know where Brad and Angelina live?" Of course he did and it ended up being the highlight of everyone's tour. Unfortunately they were not home!

Welcome to My Blog

2007-06-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

After months of thinking... "I am way too cool to not have a blog"... I decided to make one. So here it is. I appropriately named this blog "Random Ramblings" because according to my roommates I am random and I tell great stories. I don't want to get your hopes up too high.....but stay tuned!