oh heather

Heather & I like to be silly.

She emailed me this poem today at work:

Dear sister, dear friend,
My broken heart you mend.
Your lips are like cherries.
You're as light as a fairy.
Your voice feeds my soul-
A love for which there is no toll.
Dear sister, my sister,
You heal all my blisters.

And I replied with:

Heather.
Most beautiful Heather.
Sister to me no matter the weather.
Heather.
Cupcake of sunshine.
Your friendship will always be mine.
Heather.

Sisters are so fun (:

happy leap day!

{loved frog & toad as a kid!}

UMC concert dates

For anyone interested, the Utah Master Chorale has set some dates for Spring concerts. I know it's early, but I'm sure I'll post more details later (: These are our upcoming concerts:

Friday April 25, 2008 - 7:30pm
University of Utah School of Music
Libby Gardner Hall
1375 E Presidents Circle
Salt Lake City

Sunday May 11, 2008 - 7:00pm*

First Presbyterian Church

12 C Street

Salt Lake City

*I'm not sure why they planned this concert on Mothers Day... I'm sure we'll have a GREAT turnout (;

i love this kid!

one down

I finally watched Funny Girl for the first time... I don't know how I made it this far in life without seeing it! I was totally sold after the roller-skating number. Oh, Fanny (: Some thoughts:

1. I had no idea that Fanny Brice was a real person.

2. I cried my eyes out over stupid Nicky Arnstein. I was deeply unsatisfied with the ending.

3. I have a new-found appreciation for Barbra Streisand.

4. Love the hair & costumes... I wish had been born in the 60's {late 50's-early 60's would have been ideal}.

5. I had heard the song People dozens of times before today, but now I love it! That was my favorite part of the movie.

5. I finally watched one from the list. hooray!

100 Things

I have seen lots of people do this and thought I would give it a whirl. It's not as hard as it sounds to write 100 things about yourself! If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged! I would love to read about anyone who has the time to do this!

1. I used to be extremely shy… but I’m starting to get over it.
2. I have 3 beautiful and wonderful sisters that I love.
3. I love eating out.
4. I love projects.
5. I collect magnets.
6. I love listening to all kinds of music.
7. I love to sing.
8. I had a scholarship to Weber State for vocal performance.
9. I sometimes wish I had been determined enough to graduate as a music major.
10. I would like to go back to college someday.
11. I love to learn.
12. I love it when my husband goes to school so I can stay home and watch my guilty pleasure: Gossip Girl.
13. It absolutely terrifies me to sing in public.
14. I don’t think I will ever get over my stage fright.
15. I love to go to choir.
16. I have no idea where I would be today if I hadn’t met Sean.
17. I really love my in-laws.
18. I love wearing jewelry… especially earrings.
19. I love moving things around in my house & redecorating.
20. I want to live in Kaysville… really badly!
21. I wish I could play the piano like Heather.
22. I love winter clothes.
23. I do not love summer clothes.
24. Except for flip flops.
25. I love taking pictures.
26. Sean has tried to teach me to play chess several times. It doesn’t stick.
27. I love watching America’s Funniest Home videos with Sean.
28. Sean & I played battleship a lot when we were dating.
29. We also ate a lot of E.L.Fudge cookies.
30. I love the 4th of July.
31. I hate eating blue candy. I can't stand how it turns your whole mouth blue... yuck.
32. I miss my grandma Dorius.
33. I miss President Hinckley.
34. I love cooking on the grill {by this I mean: I love it when Sean cooks on the grill}.
35. I never thought I would get married when I was 20.
36. I really should exercise more often…
37. I had a fun and funny childhood!
38. I want to have all daughters.
39. I am setting myself up to look stupid when I have all sons.
40. I love escaping to the cabin for the weekend.
41. I have a dream of one day owning a boutique.
42. I buy way too much lotion, body spray, perfume, shower gel, lip gloss, etc.
43. I use a lot of hairspray. My hair is so thin and fine… if I don’t use hairspray I look like a drowned rat.
44. I love to read.
45. I don’t like to check out library books… I buy my own (:
46. I am very grateful that my parents taught us to love reading.
47. I think I am a loud neighbor.
48. I hate going to bed after Sean when he is already asleep.
49. I really like to get my way. My family & friends will agree with this, I'm sure (:
50. I am kind of a freak about order at my house.
51. Except for in our bedroom… it never ceases to be a disaster area in there.
52. I am terrible with money.
53. I used to be a nanny for the cutest triplets in the world and I miss them. I have been bad at keeping touch with them.
54. I love my friend Erika Paget like a sister.
55. I hate how our mailbox is around the block.
56. I love our tiny little back yard!
57. I love watching General Conference.
58. I love going to the temple with Sean.
59. I love classical music.
60. I am really bad at keeping my pantry organized.
61. We never have any good food in our fridge.
62. I am freakishly sensitive to salty food. My hands swell up like balloons if I eat any amount of salt.
63. Sean is my best friend.
64. I have known most of my close friends since elementary school.
65. I never listen to the radio.
66. I miss being an Activity Days leader.
67. I also miss my Sunbeams.
68. I have nightmares pretty much every night.
69. I love to read the Arts & Travel sections in the newspaper.
70. I had kidney stones and passing them was not painful… I don’t know what all the drama is about. The painful part was when they were lodged in my friggin kidney and were causing it to be infected.
71. I am very much a girly girl.
72. I love going to new places. But I hate the traveling part.
73. If I could go anywhere in the world it would be London.
74. When I was a kid I really loved the Pogo Stick.
75. I love reading young adult fiction.
76. I saw the musical Wicked in Denver and it was the best birthday present EVER.
77. I do not leave the house without my make up on.
78. I love eating dinner at my parents house. My mom is a wonderful cook.
79. I am not a great cook.
80. I am a freak about modesty. And I’m probably way too critical of others in that regard.
81. I really hate it when people spell or say my name wrong.
82. I probably hate it more when old people tell me that Ariel is a man’s name.
83. I don’t like Mike Huckabee at all.
84. I may leave the country if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency.
85. I love getting packages in the mail!
86. I pretty much have no sense of smell.
87. I am impatient.
88. I can’t stand Charlotte Church’s voice… but I find myself listening to her albums anyway.
89. I am absolutely amazed by Dawn Upshaw’s voice. I would give anything to sing like that.
90. I seriously love the song My Sharona by The Knack.
91. I eat chocolate on a daily basis.
92. I love getting a bargain.
93. #93 HAS BEEN REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR :)
94. I have a huge crush on Cary Grant.
95. I kept a very detailed journal from childhood up until I got engaged. Then I got busy & out of the habit.
96. This blog is now my journal.
97. The people at Joy Luck probably know my name by now.
98. I love my hairdresser. She’s the cutest. I always have so much fun getting my hair done.
99. I stalk all of your blogs (:
100. I have an obsession with lamps. I LOVE them. I could buy hundreds.

misfortunes

Ok these fortunes cracked me up. We got these at Charlie Chiang's in Crystal City. "Handsome is that handsome dose"??? What does that even mean? I'm sure they meant to say "does" but the sentance wouldn't make sense anyway! And I love the smiley faces on both ends :) And what kind of a ridiculous statement is "You will be successful in everything"? I guess I could take up professional basketball, rocket science, figure skating, photography or poker and just be successful?? Someone at the fortune cookie factory needs to come up with some better ideas. And possibly take English lessons.

ABCs

Erika... you have just fulfilled a dream of mine... I've never been tagged before! I feel so cool! Thanks :)
A-Attached or Single: attached
B-Best Friends: yikes I have a lot; my sisters, Jamie, Kess, Erika, Kim, Morgan, Erin, Tiff, Alicia.
C-Cake or pie: neither of those sound good right now... but i really love fruit pies.
D-Day of choice: saturday. i love it when i actually have time/energy to clean my house and that is usually only on saturdays. and this is usually date night.
E-Essential item(s): diet dr. pepper. hairspray. earrings. my purse. my computer.
F-Favorite color: green. turquoise. brown. gray.
G-Gummy worms or bears: worms! they are more fun to eat.
H-Hometown: North Salt Lake
I-Indulgence(s): eating out. american idol. blogging.
J-January or July: definately July. I love the 4th! that's when we got engaged.
K-Kids: none... but definately someday!
L-Life is incomplete without: sean. the gospel. my family & friends.
M-Marriage date: December 22, 2005
N-Number of Siblings: 3 cute sisters. 5 brothers-in-law. 4 sisters-in-law.
O-Oranges or Apples: i have to be honest, i don't love either. but i do like caramel apples :)
P-Phobias or fears: knives. freak accidents involving my family. the dark {seriously, ask sean}
Q-Quotes: um I quote a lot from The Office and Home Alone... i can't think of any inspirational quotes right now!
R-Reason to smile: a call from sean at work. playing with my cute nieces. being with my friends.
S-Season: i can never pick. i always love a season at the beginning and then get anxious for the next by the end.
T-Tag Friends: let's see here... Jamie, Rachael, Kandice, Tiffany, Jen, Heather, Adrienne.
U-Unknown fact about me: i used to pride myself on never having dyed my hair. no more.
V-Very Favorite Store: don't laugh... smith's marketplace. i go there ALL the time.
W-Worst Habit: leaving all of the lights on in our house all the time {fear of the dark... hello!}
X-X-ray, ultrasound or mammogram: i had an ultrasound on my heart one time and it was awkward to say the least... i'm going to go with x-ray.
Y-Your favorite food: can't pick. sorry. i LOVE all kinds of food. one of my favorites is the egglpant parmesan from Macaroni Grill
Z-Zodiac: gemini!

loooove these

My grandma was pretty much the coolest ever. She LOVED music and had TONS of books & sheet music. The other day I was at my parents house and thought I would look through some of the old sheet music. I seriously am in love with all of these awesome covers! I plan to use them somehow... Probably when I have a house with a piano, I'll have some of them blown up and framed to hang on the walls. Here are a few:

why do i bother?

I watched a few minutes of the Academy Awards last night and realized very quickly that it was a huge waste of my time. I hadn't seen a SINGLE movie that was nominated in ANY of the main catagories {best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor & actress, etc.}. The only film I had even considered seeing was Juno... but I have heard mixed reviews. Seems like everyone loved it, but my little sisters were offended and left the theater. I think I'll go with their review. I'm trying not to see so many movies that are "good... except for that one part". Plus, we have pretty similar taste in movies. Anyway, just thought I would vent my frustration! I guess I don't share my taste in movies with the rest of the world. If it were up to me, Dan in Real Life, Lars & The Real Girl & Enchanted would have won everything :) Those were my favorites this past year.

dc

We had so much fun on our trip! WARNING: This may be a very long post, so be prepared.

Our flight on Wednesday was so nice. It was a direct flight to the Washington Reagan Airport. This felt like heaven after our last flying experience in December! The flight was 4 hours long but it flew by because we played the in-flight trivia game against the other passengers the whole time! For those who don't know what this is... on the seat in front of you, there is a touch screen that you play the game on and it's interactive with anyone on the plane who wants to play the game. We pretty much dominated the game until some smarty pants decided to play :) It was snowing in DC when we landed, but not enough to delay our landing. We took the shuttle to the hotel in Crystal City, VA and relaxed for a bit and then crossed the street and ate dinner at Chili's. We watched American Idol in our room and then went to bed.

Thursday was Day 1 of the seminar for me, and Day 1 of lounging around and sleeping for Sean. He has been sick and he was finally able to get some good resting in. The seminar went well and it was a really fun group of people that attended. After the seminar, Sean and I walked around Crystal City and made sure we knew how to get to the Metro. Because we couldn't find anything else to eat... we ended up eating at Chili's again {not our favorite, but whatever}. We were exhausted from the long day {being lazy can really wear you out}, so we went back to the room, watched some tv & went to bed.

I got up early on Friday because the seminar started at 8 instead of 9. Day 2 of the seminar was also very good. I always really enjoy it when Chris facilitates. He tells the most amazing stories. We ended early (4pm) so Sean and I headed out into the city. We took the Metro {hooray!} and got off at the Smithsonian. I really wanted to see the monuments at night, so we headed straight for Washington monument and then walked over to Lincoln memorial. It was raining, unfortunately, and we got excited to see everything and left the dang umbrella on the metro. So we got very wet and cold {and a tad big cranky} but the monuments were so beautiful at night and I'm glad that we ventured out in the rain. After I took a sufficent amount of pictures {Sean LOVES it when I take tons of pictures} we got back on the Metro and headed to Union Station. We walked around and looked at the shops for a while and then decided on a restaurant called "America" for dinner. We concluded after this meal that "America" sucks. The food was not so good and over priced. I did like the hush puppies though. Yummmm. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. We rented Enchanted on our TV and went to bed. I had forgotten how much I liked that show! It's so funny!

Saturday we slept in a bit, ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel & headed out to the city again! We stopped at the Museum of Natural History first. We didn't look around there much last time because it was so dang crowded. We got tickets to see "Sea Monsters" at the IMAX for later and then walked over to the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art. I enjoyed it... Sean didn't. We went through a new exhibit called "Dreams" which was a series of cinematic shorts by a number of different artists. I would have called the exhibit "Nightmares". It was seriously pretty bizarre and creepy. After we had our fill of modern art, we went back to the Natural History museum to watch the movie about sea monsters. It was actually about prehistoric sea reptiles and it was super fun. We were too cold on Friday night to stop by the WWII Memorial, so we went there next. This is a relatively new memorial (finished in 2004) and it is really amazing. We were disappointed that the fountains weren't on though :( After this, we walked back to the Archives building and saw a lot of amazing buildings on our way. I LOVE all of the buildings {and I took way too many pictures of them}. We HAD to go back to the Manhattan Deli for old times sake and eat a slice of pizza. This is the restaurant we ate at every day {sometimes mulitiple times a day} last time we were in DC. We also needed to pose with the statue at the Navy memorial :) By then we were pooped, and decided to get on the Metro and go back to the hotel. After resting up a bit, we got BACK on the Metro and rode to Pentagon City. There is a big shopping mall there. We were hoping to catch a movie, but soon found out that the theater had been turned into a Forever 21. After we had some ice cream, we headed back to the hotel, EXHAUSTED.

Sunday morning we relaxed in the hotel room and then forced ourselves to re-pack. Why is it that our hotel rooms are always a huge disaster by the last day? I mean really... we keep our house clean... it's just sad that we can't do the same with our hotel rooms! And while I'm asking rhetorical questions... Why is it that I can never seem to make everything fit in my suitcase when I pack to go home?? We didn't even buy any suveniers. Ok... we did buy sweatshirts. We checked out and then ate at Charlie Chiang's for lunch. We wanted to go visit the newly opened Lincoln Cottage {it opened on President's Day after a 7 year, 15 million dollar restoration}, but all of the tours were booked. So we ended up hanging around the airport for a few hours waiting for our flight. The flight home was fun {more in-flight trivia} and not crowded so we had room to spread out. And then home again, home again! It's nice to be back. I"m excited to sleep in my own bed tonight :)