Happy 22nd little mommy!

Yesterday was my friend Taylor's birthday. I was really excited, so I made her a cake. She's pregnant with twins and was recently put on bed rest, so I figured that she could use some cake and fun. Ben and I went over to celebrate and eat up. Here's a picture of the cake I made. Quite lovely if I do say so myself :)

Pretty enough for the Queen of England

Here is a picture of my lovely hair pin. Most beautiful thing I have purchased in quite some time I think. I will definitely wear this baby whenever I want to dress to impress.

Hanson: The Review

On November 8th, Ben and I made the trek to Las Vegas to attend the Hanson concert. This was a milestone moment for me, as I have been a Hanson fan for a decade, yet never attended one of their concerts. We got to Mandalay Bay, where the concert was held. After shopping around a bit and eating a yummy dinner at the House of Blues Restaurant, we headed into the concert. When we got in, the opening band Fletch was still playing. They were actually pretty good- a little Emo for me, but very entertaining. Then, around 8pm, Hanson came out. I was so excited to see them- and our seats were so close! Unfortunately, that was the high point of the night. They sounded good and it was fun to hear them play, but those Hanson brothers were seriously not into it that night. I realize that Las Vegas was stop #35 or something of their tour, so they were probably sick and tired of life on the road, but they really did not seem that into it. AND they didn't even play my favorite 2 songs from their new cd- 'Georgia' and 'Running Man." They did, however, play a ton (possibly too many) of their old songs. Mmmbop included. And Taylor Hanson, whom I loooved as a 13 year old, was wearing some truly ugly pants. And I don't think he was wearing any underwear. Overall, while they sounded great, I will think twice before driving 6 hours to see them again. Step it up, Hanson.

ps- Where are the pictures of this occasion? Funny you ask. I didn't realize that my camera batteries were dead until we were in Mandalay Bay. Booo.

Nordstrom = Happiness

A few weeks ago at work, we had a group relaxation activity. See my job as a caseworker for the Division of Child and Family Services can get pretty stressful at time, thus causing possible burnout. To learn about avoiding said burnout, we did a relaxation/meditation exercise where we closed our eyes, and listened to a soothing, directive tape. At the beginning of the tape, the voice said to picture yourself in a calm, relaxing environment, yada yada yada... and so I did. 15 minutes later, everyone opened their eyes. We went around the room describing our perfect place. Some pictured a forest, some a beach..... me? I was at Nordstrom, not gonna lie. It's true- Nordstrom is my place of happiness. I just like to go and look at the beautiful things. Such color, such variety. I am a Nordstrom girl, through and through. And to illustrate, here are my favorite fall buys from my Mecca:

My pashmina! 100% Cashmere... I love this thing. I immediately feel a little Jennifer Aniston-like when I wear it. Mine is sky blue, and it's seriously a little piece of heaven for me.






Bare Minerals makeup! I am forever in love. Who would've thought that just powder could do so much? Makes my skin look fab and keeps it healthy at the same time. I just got the 'starter kit,' and I looove it. I plan to get eyeshadows, lipsticks, and whole shebang.... eventually. Let my Nordstrom credit card rest, right?






My Uggs! Thank you mommy for my early birthday present. I love these things. Even though all the magazines say Uggs are so out, I seriously love mine. Such comfort! I have the shin-length ones. I thought about getting the full-length ones, but then I'd feel like I should tuck my jeans into them, and I'm just not a tucker. I see other girls do it and think that it looks cute, but I just can't do it. It probably doesn't help that all my jeans are flare, which makes tucking all the more difficult.



My lovely hair pin. Mind you, this is not a picture of the actual pin, which I will try to get soon. It looks a bit like this one, but the pin I am in love with is seriously sooo lovely. There are no words for this one. I just love it. I tried and tried to find something comparable in beauty at other places, like Target, Kohls, and the like, but nothing I found came close to it. I just love it.

Happy Halloween, yo

Hooray for the Holidays! Most people consider Thanksgiving through New Year's the "Holiday Season," but I beg to differ. I say it is Halloween through New Years. As soon as the leaves start to change, the holidays have officially started. Unless you live in Hawaii and the leaves never change. Then it sucks to be you. Actually, no..... cause you live in Hawaii. Anyway, no arguing, changing leaves = holidays. Love it! So in honor of Halloween, here's a picture of me and Ben's first pumpkin! We carved it yesterday, which means I had to scoop out all the guts and he did the face. As a further tribute to Halloween, I'd like to mention my all-time favorite Halloween movie....
And some quotage....
Ernest: How about a little Miak!
Trantor the Troll: Miak?
Ernest:Yeah, Miak. I bet you thought I couldn't find any at this time of the year, well a little resourceful for ya, a little to light on my feet. Eat Miak and die!

Well...

So sad story, the lovely Nikes I mentioned in my last post ended up being terribly uncomfortable. When I first tried them on I liked them, but thought that they would break in. Nope, not so. Luckily, I bought them at Nordstrom, which means that I could've worn them 500 times, rubbed them in dirt, and still returned them. Not that I did that- I think that I wore them 2 or 3 times- but it was nice that I could return them with no problem. So, cute but uncomfortable shoes are out. You know what is in? My new looooovely cashmere pashmina. Love it so much. Pictures to come soon.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Sooo a few weeks ago, I was walking through Nordstrom. My favorite place in the world other than my home and Color Me Mine. Walking past the shoe section I spied with cute pair of Nikes. I've been thinking about them every few days, wanting to purchase them. They'd be so cute to wear around. Comfy as a tennis shoe, but a little dressed up. Anyway, I finally bought them today. I was absolutely elated that I would no longer be pining after these things. I proudly brought them home, whipped them out of the Nordstrom bag and Nike box to show my Benjamin and expected him to be supportive of my buy. Was not so. He said that they were hideous and could not believe that I'd spend money on them. Rude! I know they're probably a little different and don't appeal to everyone, but geez, he acted like I bought a pile of vomit or something. I've decided I don't care. I love them and I'm going to wear them, with or without the support of my husband.

Here are the offending shoes:

My firsts

First Friend: The first friend that I really remember is Courtney Yun. She was about my age in lived in my cul-de-sac in Pennsylvania. We still keep in touch even though it's been over 10 years since we've seen each other.
First Time to Disneyland: Never been to Disneyland, however I've been to Disneyworld about 10 times at least. Growing up in the midwest, we were Florida vacation people, not California.
First Memorable Gift: This is hard! Probably my Teddy Ruxbin I got when I was like 3. I loved it! You'd stick a tape in his back and he'd start talking to me. A little creepy maybe.
First Time Wearing Makeup: Costume makeup- probably when I was 3 or 4 and was a clown for Halloween. I let my mom put lipstick on my cheeks. My first real makeup experience was probably in the 5th grade or something when I was allowed to wear clear mascara. I was so excited about it, but now that I look back on it, clear mascara really didn't do anything. Except sting a lot when it got in my eye.
First Birthday Party: The first one that I actually remember was my 5th- we were living in Missouri and I had all my pre-school friends over. I don't remember much, but I know that I had little pointy hats for everyone to wear. They were pink.
First Car: Oh geez, that's the 1990 Mazda 626. More like the Mazda 666. It would stall and rev its engine without me doing a thing. Luckily I got an upgrade a year later :)
First Job: Custard girl at Ritters Frozed Custard. Loved it, only because I got free custard and worked with all my friends.
First Car Accident: I've never been the driver in a real accident (I've had like 3 teeny fender-benders, but those don't count), but I was a passenger in one. Senior year in high school, right after bridge jumping in the middle of the night into a lake, right after a big storm... real smart, I know.... anyway the driver was going real fast on slick roads and we skidded into a highway guardrail thing, spun around and hit a tree. Scariest moments of my life. Luckily, no one was hurt. We just felt like idiots calling my friend's dad to help us at 2 am when we weren't supposed to be out anyway.
First Concert: N Sync when I was in 8th grade. This was before they got really big and Britney Spears was their opening act.

First College Roommate: Hello, Lindsay Romans-Adamson. I feel so lucky, because I could've gotten any nutcase off the street and I got a girl who became one of the best friends I've ever had.

First Airplane Ride Alone: I was 6 years old and my parents flew me to Orlando for a week to visit my Aunt Kathy. I think that's illegal now, right? Kids have to be like 8 or something I think.
First Time I Met Ben: Sadly I don't remember our first ever meeting. His family moved to my town when I was a freshman in high school. We went to the same high school and ward, so I saw him around a lot. I remember seeing him with some people in the halls on one of his first days at school and thinking "Wow, he's hanging out with the partiers. I wonder if he knows."

First Kiss with Ben: It was on our 4th date, and I think that we got some food and then went back to his place to watch a movie. We were watching Kate and Leopold, and after a close call or 2, we kissed during the movie. I know, I know, kind of a boring story. But it was fab!
First Home with Ben: Stonecrest Apartments in Provo. Living next door to Megan and Dave, which was great!
First Real Job: My current job, working for DCFS in American Fork. So far I love it- it's just starting to get really busy and making me feel like I'm actually doing something.
First Time I Realized I Wasn't a Kid Any More: Geez, I don't know... I think that one time when I realized that I wasn't a kid was 2 summers ago when I visited home for a week and hung out with my high school girlfriends at their college. I felt like my life was so far from what theirs was- I was living on my own, paying my bills, married... and their lives were about their sororities, friends, and parties... not that their lives are less than mine or anything... I just realized that I was now different... I was a grown up with a grown up life and responsibilities.

Loving fall decor

Fall decor is so great, right? I've been wanting to go to Roberts Crafts for weeks now to get my house all decked out in the fall stuff, and I finally went. Here is a picture of my fireplace and mantle. Easy, fun, cheap decorating :)

Happy days are here again!

Moo is home! I was so worried about him- still am- but I'm just happy to have him back. Apparently his kidneys just don't work very well. He was at the vet for 6 days and was hooked up to an iv the whole time- poor guy! Now that he's home, he has to eat special food for the rest of his life, and has to receive sub-q shots weekly. Those shots are administered by me, and they give him extra hydrating liquid. Things are looking good for Moo for awhile, and he is expected to live for at least a few years- whew! Anyway friends, thanks for your thoughts and prayers during this stressful time for me :) Here's a picture of Moo with his poor shaved paws where he had his iv.