this is halloween.

have a spoooooky day! ♥ ariel

{image}

too early?

I am really really excited about Christmas this year. Maybe it's the fact that we'll be home for the holiday unlike the past 3 years (Hawaii, Washington DC, Florida). We had so much fun on those trips, but for me it doesn't feel like Christmas unless I'm home with my family. I've been listening to Christmas music at work for the past 2 weeks or so and I can't WAIT for it to start playing on the radio! Probably I'll be tired of it by the end of December, but I'm loving it right now :) I've never been one to put up the Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving but it just might happen this year. And this year I'll actually be home to hit up the after Christmas sales and hopefully find a good deal on a PRE-LIT tree.

{I'm just waiting for Sean's rebuttal. Technically we were home on Christmas morning last year, but we opened presents and rushed out the door to the airport... and then had the worst nightmare of a traveling experience EVER... which is funny to think about now, but at the time I was not a happy camper.}

weekend highlights.

1. having the ariel special at el matador with sean (guacamole taco + cheese enchilada).
2. going to the warren miller movie with stephanie & brett
3. sleeping in on saturday... well i did anyway. sean got up early to work.
4. making these yummy treats.
5. having a dress fitting and feeling MUCH better about our lovely red sequined choir costumes.
6. going to the ward party with shannon, kelty & teagan. their costumes were adorable!
7. watching an awesome episode of dateline with sean.
8. sean received a new calling as a nursery worker. i'm jealous!
9. yuuuummy dinner at my parents house.
10. playing balderdash with the family... my dad always keeps it interesting.

peter peter.

Rad

So on my way to work this morning I heard the song "Send me an Angel", everytime I hear that song I think of one of my favorite movies growing up...RAD! Its not often that a movie fits its title so well. Anyhow, I remember watching this movie and then going outside to pretend I was "Cru" Jones riding down Hells Wall! This movie also taught me one of my first swear words that I didn't even know was a swear word and my older sister Stephanie told my mom on me and got me in trouble. (For all of you who have seen rad it is when he goes off the jump and yells a word as he is falling, I told my grandma who was watching it with me that this part coming up was cool and thought I would yell the word at the same time...and that is when Stephanie went and ratted me out!) This movie also taught me that if I wanted to impress chicks I needed to learn how to do some serious bike tricks to the song "Send me an Angel"...never learned the tricks but still love the song. For those of you have had not had the pleasure I will post the video here. Why there is a gymnastic beam in the middle of dance I will never know. Oh and Aunt Becky is in this.

a miracle!

While dining at The Olive Garden last night, Sean {a.k.a. the pickiest, most set-in-his-ways eater in the greater Davis county region} tried something other than the fettucini alfredo AND liked it!!!!!!!!!! Let it be known that he LIKES the cheese ravioli. He even says he will eat the leftovers for lunch today! One more item to add to his very short list of acceptable foods.

madame butterfly.

I went to the Utah Opera's performance of Madame Butterfly last night and it was amazing. For those who don't know the story, here's a brief summary:

Pinkerton, a U.S. Navy officer in Japan marries Cio-Cio San, who he calls Butterfly. For Pinkerton, this is a "temporary" marriage and he plans to leave her in a month, never to return. He is young and selfish and considers his new bride a "toy". At the wedding he tells his friend, Sharpless, that he can't wait to marry a real American Bride. Butterfly, however, is deeply in love. She renounces her family and religion to be his wife and worship the same God that he does. When Pinkerton leaves for America, he promises to return "when the robins nest again". 3 years go by and Pinkerton has not returned, but Butterfly is waiting faithfully. She refuses all other offers of marriage, even though in Japan, desertion is the same as divorce. Pinkerton finally returns, but sends Sharpless to "deal" with Butterfly if she is still waiting for him. I won't spoil the whole ending in case anyone wants to see it someday :) but it's tragic {of course... it's an opera!} and beautiful and I loved it!

The set and costumes were gorgeous and the cast was SOOO good! Seriously, you should go see it :) Even some of you opera-haters might like it! The music is really melodic and not all crazy like Mozart. If you feel iffy about the whole idea in general, read this first-timers guide to the opera :)

depressing blog statistics.

my blog posts have been few in numbers lately. take a look at this year's numbers and you'll see what i mean:

January- 20 posts
February- 40 posts
March- 39 posts
April- 36 posts
May- 33 posts
June- 29 posts
July- 29 posts
August- 19 posts
September- 15 posts
October- 8 posts {so far}

there has been a steady decline since February. what has become of me? i used to blog like twice a day! i'm losing creativity or something. i'm in a serious slump and i can't get out!

loves.

1. blasting my music on the way home from choir.
2. johnny & june by heidi newfield {i hated this song when i first heard it, but it's grown on me}.
3. spongebob macaroni & cheese. it just tastes better when it's shaped like spongebob.
4. snow in october.
5. re-reading frankenstein.
6. taking over sean's precious dvr and recording random movies like van helsing, raise your voice and urban legand :)
7. doing laundry on a saturday night.
8. finally getting to use the fireplace again.
9. huge pineapple spears from costco.
10. having columbus day off.
11. pumpkin spice candles.
12. getting tickets to madame butterfly! i'm so excited!
13. good mail {anything besides coupons & credit card offers}.
14. ricky gervais in ghost town.
15. sean playing the keyboard. ha!

must see t.v.

SPOILER ALERT -- don't read if you watch CSI:Las Vegas, The Office or Survivor and you are not up to date on the episodes.

So Thursday night is horrible because 3 shows that Ariel and I like to watch are on. DVR has become my best friend. I really don't remember ever being addicted to a show until 24 came out(Maybe Felicity....but that was just because I had a crush on Keri Russell and it was J.J. Abrams). Ariel and I loved buying box sets of shows and staying up all night watching them. Because of the box sets, we are now addicted to Lost, 24 (more me than her), Heroes (which I'm losing interest in fast), CSI: Las Vegas (none of this Miami, NY crap), and the Office. For some reason we decided to watch Survivor this year and we both enjoy it (Marcus needs to be careful or he may be hitting for the other team shortly). As for CSI, I'm very disappointed that Warrick Brown was killed off. I guess the show will have to come to end here soon, but come on....why Warrick? The Office has "always left me satisfied and smiling" and still is but deep down I'm still hoping Toby will be brought back. I just don't know what I'm going to do with myself when Lost, 24 and The Jazz start up! As for tonight, I'm excited to cuddle up with my wife around 9 pm and start watching our shows.

monarch of the glen.

Several years ago I became addicted to this show, Monarch of the Glen. I would always watch it on Sunday nights when I was in high school, but I never really knew the name of the show. I think they stopped showing it for a while and I could never figure out what it was called or when it was on. Finally I saw it on tv last Sunday and I was SOOOO excited! Now that I know the name of it, I can make Sean buy me the whole series for Christmas! Anyway, it was originally broadcasted on BBC. It's about this guy, Archie {who happens to be a total cutie... see above} who is restoring the old castle that he grew up in. There's drama, mystery, romance, comedy. And it's SUPER cheesy :) I looooove it. Has anyone else seen it? Please tell me I'm not alone!

If you want to tune in, it's on KUED at 10pm on Sundays right now.

this makes me happy.

really exciting updates.

1. we have been playing a lot of boggle lately. i seriously love that game. it's probably not that fun to play with me, though. i'm the one who looks up everyone's words in the dictionary, refuses a re-shake when there are no vowels, and plays strictly according to the rules {NO proper nouns, people!}.

2. i chopped my hair off and i'm loving it. maybe you'll actually see me without a pony tail now.

3. we went to see into the woods at hale centre theatre last night with our mothers. i really enjoyed it, but it was too long in my opinion. and we couldn't really figure out the moral of the story. i could have done without the entire 2nd act. the costumes & set were great, though. and the princes were hilarious. sean sat behind us between 2 old ladies.

4. i am mad at mcdonalds! so remember last year when i was obsessively collecting all of the madame alexander wizard of oz toys from their happy meals? yeah, so i have them all and i love them {ok, they just sit in a drawer at home}. so NOW they came out with a whole new set of them! what??!!! now my set is outdated and incomplete. i'm going to have to buy the whole set on ebay again. even though my set is cuter.

5. i finally got out some fall decorations. i'm getting REALLLLLY excited for halloween. i don't know why i love it so much. i don't even usually dress up or anything. i just really like jack-o-lanterns or something.

6. i have noticed that i start most every sentance with "I". is that a bad sign?

7. and also... i have been listening to Lucky, by Jason Mraz {featuring Colbie Caillat} on repeat and i love it.

conference weekend.

This has to have been the most amazing general conference ever! I think mostly it has to do with the fact that we were up at the cabin with very few distractions. So I actually sat down and watched every minute of the Saturday sessions {which I'm sorry to say I hardly ever do} in addition to the Sunday sessions. I loved everything I heard this weekend. Especially Elder Perry's talk about simplifying our lives and all of the other talks in the Saturday morning session. And the announcement about the new temples! I can't wait for the Ensign to come out next month. It was such a relaxing {and lazy} weekend. The weather up at the cabin was PERFECT: rainy & snowy! And the leaves up there are gorgeous. I love Fall. Too bad it only lasts for a few short weeks here in Utah :(

sunday nap.

this is sean's idea of tucking me in. it was actually really comfortable :)

useless information friday.

Due to popular demand {not really}, I'm posting more useless information. Really it's because I haven't had anything interesting or fun to post about lately. So here you go.

In the Middle Ages, Japanese women painted their teeth black to look more beautiful.

Between the years 1992 and 1994, the town of Avon, Colorado, held an annual Bobfest for people named Bob. In 1995, however, the series ended. It's founder and organizer, Tom Britz, announced that he was tired of running it. "I met one bad Bob," he said, "and it spoiled the bunch."

Kangaroos and Emus cannot walk backwards, which is why they were selected to appear on the Australian coat of arms.

On May 6, 1996, gondoliers in Venice stopped serenading passengers following a ruling that singing would turn them into freelance musicians and therefore liable to contribute to a state pension fund.

In 1999 in the United States, 907 people took out insurance against turning into vampires or werewolves.

In Turkey, the turkey is called the "American bird".

A day on Mars lasts twenty-four hours and thirty-seven minutes, almost the same as an Earth day, but a year is 686.7 Earth days.

A poll in the United States in 1997 revealed that 92 percent of respondents believed that space aliens are already living among us.

February is the only month that can pass without a full moon. This last happened in 1999 and will next happen in 2018.

Walt Disney originally called Mickey, Mortimer Mouse, but his wife Lillian thought Mortimer sounded pompous and suggested Mickey instead.