August happenings.

Last night Ben and I had some of our oldest and best friends over. Many people have commented that it's really unusual that I'm so close with the people from my hometown that live in Utah Valley. I try to explain the Columbus 1st ward family to people, but they don't really get it. I've been very privileged to grow up with some wonderful people and feel seriously so blessed that many now live in Utah.

I love these girls (Columbus-raised or not).

And I love this boy, even though he wears golf shirts to parties.

Typical.

Last night Ben and I came home from work tired and hungry. Our conversation went as follows:

Ben: I'm so hungry, I need to get some food now.

Me: Do you want me to make you something? I can make you a chicken and cheese quesadilla really quick.

Ben: No, I don't want that. Quesadillas are fattening and don't fill me up. I'm going to go out and pick up some dinner.

*10 minutes later*

Ben walks into the house with a bag in his hands.

Me: What is that? Taco Bell?

Ben: (sheepishly) Yeah...

Me: (looking closer at the see-through bag) Ohmigosh, you just got a quesadilla, didn't you?!?

Ben: No.... maybe.... yes...

Way to be cool, husband.

Feeling the love.

Ben and I have a lot of strange nicknames for eachother. I rarely call him Ben- usually it's Bean, Beanie, or Beanis if he's in trouble. Ben never calls me Christine, Chrissi, Chris or the like. Sometimes it's something sweet like baby or honey, but usually it's Stink, Stinky, or Stink-pot. Such love, right? Anyway, we've added two new names to the mix. I've begun calling Ben "Mongoloid" and he has begun calling me "Tyrant."

We really do love each other, I swear.

My kind of date night.

Last night Ben and I finally went to see Mamma Mia. I absolutely loved the movie- we saw the play on Broadway during our honeymoon, so I have a soft spot in my heart for it. Ben didn't share my love- he said that it was the worst movie he had ever seen. Whatev, I was happy- singing, dancing, and Colin Firth? Sounds great to me.

What to do.

At the beginning of August, the Governor decided that State employees would be switching to a 4-day workweek. I'm still deciding if I'm a fan of this, because getting through four 10-hour days is a beast, but having a 3-day weekend every week is kind of wonderful. The only problem is I can't figure out what to do with my time. I just feel so unproductive. Any ideas on how to make my solo-Fridays more fun?

My love/hate relationship.

Along with most 17 year old girls in the US (as well as the rest of the 18-40 age group who doesn't like to admit that they watch), I watched the season 4 premire of The Hills last night. Seriously, I don't know why I like this show. Half each episode is the cast just looking at each other. After every episode I think to myself, "I stayed up until 11:30 for this?" Even so, I find myself watching every week, with Ben making fun of me all the while...

Here are my most recent conclusions about the show:

-it is only about 5% reality. The girls know each other and may or may not be friends.

-Heidi is a dingbat who is also only about 5% real.

-Spencer is a d-bag. Can't stand him and his freaky blonde facial hair.

-there is no way Lauren can work at People's Revolution, design her own clothing line, do all her endorsements, attend LA events like there's no tomorrow, and still have time to breathe. Same with Heidi. Girlfriend does not work at Bolthouse... if she does, it's only like 10 hours each week.

Favorite Snack.

For the past 3 days, this has been my favorite snack. Love that strawberries have been on sale, love that it's a healthy treat. Cut up peaches with whipped cream are a close second.

PS- don't google images of strawberries and whipped cream- I learned the hard way that some non-strawberries and whipped cream pictures come up. Ewwww....

Geez...

Oh my gosh- I'm about to lose it. This morning at work, I've been doing a lot of paperwork at my desk. I've also been drinking my trusty DDP (Diet Dr. Pepper). Anyway, whadayaknow, I end spilling my DDP all down my blue and white striped top, leaving a huge streak down my front. I have meetings today, so I figure that I shouldn't go through my day with a stained shirt. I teetered between A: going home and changing my top. It's only 7-10 minutes each way, or B: driving a few minutes to Kohls and picking up a new top. I decided on Kohls, as I've been wanting a new shirt for a while now (read: wanting another new shirt from the moment I bought my last new shirt).

So I go to Kohls, find a cute tank and light light cardigan to layer it with. Bought them. Feeling pretty happy. Went back to work, changed out of the stained shirt and into the new ones. Sit down at my desk, ready to resume my tasks. Take a drink out of my DDP. SPILL MY DRINK ALL OVER MYSELF AGAIN.

Today is not looking very promising.

Ready for a change...again.

Ok, so I've had brown hair for about 4 months now. I like it, it's fine, whatever. I think I'm ready for a change again. What I really want to do is have hair like this girl from We are Marshall:

Ben says that I can't, because he thinks that we'd end up looking like this family:

Whatev, I guess my options are limited to blonde and brown. Fine. I mean, it's not like I've ever let Ben make my decisions before, so part of me says,"Just do it." Even so, a little part of me understands what he means about not wanting to look like the Weasley's. I've heard too many times already that me and Ben look like brother and sister... I don't think that us both having orange hair would help that compairison any.

Yeah gymnastics.

After watching the Olympics for a million+ hours I think that I have a crush on Raj from the US men's gymnastics team. Not sure why, just one of those random's I guess.

Also, my heart goes out to Alicia Sacramone from the US women's gymnastics team. Girlfriend just didn't have a good meet. I feel bad for her, because everyone else hit their routines and she fell on both floor and beam. I'm guessing she's feeling pretty low. I even so, there's no reason to complain about getting a silver medal in the olympics, right? Chin up Alicia- it's not like you fell on super-easy stuff. I think I'd fall too (actually no... I think die is a better word) if I had to do your routines.

I. Survived. Camp.

Since I'm in the YW Presidency in my ward, guess where I was able to go last week? Girl's Camp! That's right naysayers, the girl's camp dropout (I refused to go after 3rd year) went to camp. Due to lack of vacation time I was only able to go from Thursday morning-Saturday afternoon, but it was still enough time for me to really experience Camp Mia Shalom.

Here are some highlights of my 52 hour stay at camp:
- I came packed for August weather, however temps ranged from about 40-70 degrees. Brrrr.
- It rained SO much. 10 minutes from the end of the hike it began pouring and hailing. I had never been so wet- thank goodness I brought extra pants and shoes!
- When sharing a cabin, it is smart to have earplugs for bedtime. You never know who might snore and the decibels their snores can reach :)
-Large quantities of chocolate are a must
-The leaders almost gave our girls a heart attack when doing our "Hot, hot desert" skit. I wish there were pictures!
- This was the longest I've gone without a shower. The showers were literally ice cold and since it was so cold outside anyway, I felt that filth was more desirable than freezing in the shower.
- In lieu of a real shower, baby wipe showers and a bandanna on my head were lifesavers.

Me and my girls getting ready to canoe around the lake. My hot outfit of workout pants and hoodie, layered with a poncho and a life jacket earned me the nickname of Miss Puffy. I was very attractive.

That's what I call one-stop shopping.

Who knew I'd be able to purchase my casket at Costco, as well as any regular urns or pet urns that I may need. Does it seem a little odd that I can purchase my casket, home theatre equipment, and bulk food items all in the same store? Wait, upon further examinination of costco.com, it seems that you cannot buy the caskets in the store, but you can order them online and have them delivered to you. Still, in the list of product categories, the order is "food and wine, funeral, furniture..." Which one of these don't look like the other?

Pet peeve.

Ok, I know that this is totally random and nit-picky, but I cannot stand it when a couple goes to a restaurant and sits on the same side of the booth with no one across from them. Am I crazy for thinking this is ridiculous?

Brief update. Breaking Dawn related, of course.

I just wanted to give a (relatively)spoiler-free blurb on my take of Breaking Dawn. All things considered, I loved the book. I was very very pleased with the events that took place. However, some things happened that made me think, "Really? Hmmm." And the big revalation at the end of part one seriously took me by surprise. Seriously. Call me slow, but I was shocked. Still makes me think ,"How did that happen?" Whatev, I guess- Edward's a stud.

Getting the book was super fun as well- Erna, Stacey, Jessica and I met in Murray to attend the release party and get our books together. It was a fun party and the time passed very quickly. It was great to hang out with the girls- I don't see them nearly enough and we always have fun together. Sorry to the unfortunate man standing behind us in line- he probably had to hear way too much info from us.