Adolescent flashback.

The time when someone tried to sell me drugs.

I was 16 years old living in Indiana and was at Fair Oaks Mall to do some shopping (read: browse American Eage and Bath and Body, as those were the only half decent stores in the mall). I had just received my license a few months before, and was feeling so proud and independent that I could drive myself to and from the mall with no adult assistance.

Anyway, when I had stopped in the middle of the mall, a random teenage guy approached me. I was hoping that he wasn't coming over with some lame attempt at flirting, because I'm fickle like that. Don't flirt with me if I don't want you to. I didn't give myself the nickname of "frigid witch" in college (pre-Ben), it was earned.

Rather than the interaction I was expecting, the guy began a conversation that I didn't really understand.
"Hey, do you want some shrubbery?" he asked.
"Huh?" was my intelligent answer.
"Do you want to buy some grass?" he asked, looking a little irritated.
He really had me lost. Why would he want to sell me grass and shubbery? That's stuff my dad would buy at Lowes or something. My reply was,"What are you talking about?"
I could tell that he was getting confused with my confusion. He leaned a little closer to me and asked, "Do you want to buy some weed?"

HANG ON. Did he seriously think that I was going to buy drugs from him? Did I look like such a pothead that he felt that he needed to ask me, a perfect stranger, to buy from him? That's a negative.

I guess my answer of "Ewww, no" was good enough for him, because he left me alone after that.

It's anniversary time.

I can't believe that it's already been four years!

We didn't really celebrate yesterday because

1. Ben was sick as a dog

2. It was Sunday

3. We just celebrated my birthday

and Christmas- hello, holiday overload.

Despite the lack of celebration, it was a great day. I'm so happy that I married my Benjamin. He's the love of my life and my best friend. Also, he's hot and he cracks me up.

Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a good night.

ps- Ben doesn't hate me, he just hates taking pictures. Lame, I know.

Need something to do?

Go see Bodyworlds in Salt Lake.

It's a little pricey, but is more than a little amazing.

The exhibit ends January 11, so see it soon.

Here kitty, kitty...

Oscarpants always knows how to make me feel better after a rough day.

He jumped up all my himself and didn't even hiss.

I'm not a fan of the snow today.

Why is that?

Let's see... first, I was rear-ended on the way to work. My poor little bumper. Later, I got stuck on a random neighborhood street while attempting a home visit. I was driving a state car and I had my client dig me out of my rut.

On the upside of life, we're past the winter solstice, but the downside is 3 months of winter.

The uglier, the better (in this case)

Last week Ben and I had some friends over for a holiday celebration.

The theme: ugly sweaters

Seems like this is a big trend in Utah Valley, as ugly sweaters were difficult to find. As a result, some sweaters were ugly, and others were just... sweaters.

I especially like Ben's outfit (picked out by me, of course). He's wearing a snowflake turtleneck topped by a sweatshirt with a sleeping cat and dog silk screened on it. Both items from the women's section of DI. He's such a great sport.

The character to the left of Ben is our friend Sam. He doesn't always wear glasses like that, I promise.

Christmas visitors.

That's right, the parentals are coming to town TODAY!
I'm quite excited about this... and have been since October when I invited them to come to Utah for Christmas.
I was very surprised that they took me up on my offer... since Sarah has the power (to be discussed in another post) I figured that she would receive Christmas visitation with Jack and Terr.
Hang on to your boots, this is going to be a great week.

*for some reason, I don't have any pictures of just my parents. I'll have to work on that.

I'm excited for

December 22

Why?

December 21 is the shortest day of the year, which means that starting December 22, the days will finally be getting longer. Thank goodness! I seriously think that I have a touch of seasonal affective disorder.

Hallelujah! Slightly longer days will definitely make me a happier person. Doesn't anyone else get irritated that the sun is down by 5pm?!?

Spotlight!

I have this fabulous friend named Melissa. Many of you Indiana folk probably know her. She and I have been friends for the past13 years or so and I am so happy to have her in my life. She is a sweet, smart, crafty girl who is without a doubt the kindest person I've ever known. Ben agrees. Ben and I actually talked about this (the nicest person award) at length, and we both came to the conclusion that Melissa fit the bill.

Here are a few facts about my friend Melissa (or Major Melissa as I sometimes call her):
- she founded her high school's art club
-she graduated from BYU, however she spent her freshman year attending Ball State in Indiana on a supersweet Lily Scholarship. I missed Melissa so much during this time. To stay in touch, we wrote each other letters. Acutal letters people.
-she met her husband while working at a dude ranch one summer
-she's the mommy to the adorable Macey, also known as Mace-face
- she bakes me the best bread in the world every year for my birthday. It's a gift that I treasure... and then eat.

-she's amazingly crafty. This year, she made me these Christmas tree ornaments:I almost cried when she gave me these ornaments, seeing as they are of my cats Moo and Oscar, and I'm obsessed with my cats. How thoughtful is she?

Bottom line, Melissa is one of my dearest friends and I'm so happy that I know her.

Thanks for being such a great friend Melissa!

Hrmph.

I'm officially bugged. For weeks I have been waiting to purchase tickets to see Wicked. Tickets went on sale today. At 10 am I began trying to buy the tickets online and over the phone. No dice. The server was to busy and the phone was always busy.

Tried this method over and over again.

I drove to SLC around noon to go to the box office. Guess what. The show was completely sold out. The whole month. All. Sold. Out. By 1 pm.

I am now pouting at home.

Drumroll please...

The surprise was DVR! Hooray! My husband knows how to take a hint, for which I am grateful.

The Comcast man was a little afraid of my extreme excitement when he came over to install... I was just really excited, ok?

After zooming through The Biggest Loser in about 80 minutes, my life is forever changed. I'll never go back to regular tv.

Weekend glimpse.

More photos and details to come at a later date... tomorrow if you're lucky (or cursed if you really hate my blog).

Am I right or am I right?

Jobs I would love:
1. party/wedding planner
2. makeup artist
3. cake maker
4. personal shopper
5. movie critic

Jobs I would hate:
1. person who takes the boots off cars
2. postal worker
3. pre-school teacher
4. telemarketer (wait, I did that)
5. personal assistant (more like slave)

Going to the circus.

Ok, I'm not really going to the circus, but I am going to the Britney concert in April with some of my best girls. Hooray!

What really tipped the scales on my Britney interest was last week's documentary... how can you not feel sorry for the girl?

I so wanted to see a Britney concert when I was a teenager, so now I'll finally get my wish at the ripe age of 24. She did open for the 1998 N Sync concert I attended, but since I didn't really know who she was, I didn't care.

This had better be cooler than the time that I saw "Crossroads" in the theater with some friends and had to sit next to a creepy 50-something man who came to the movie alone and kept rocking back and forth during the movie.... nasty.

I do love surprises.

Next Monday is my 24th birthday- wow! As exciting as birthdays are, I really have mixed feelings about this one... let's break it down:

Pros:
- starting to be taken seriously at work. Around this time last year I was hearing a client scream at me, "You're young! You're incompetent! You're young...." Yeah, fun times.
-Non-Utah people don't look at me like I'm crazy for being married

Cons:
-24 is definitely considered "mid-twenties"
- I'm starting to get mini-wrinkles

Anyway, on to the surprise. Ben has instructed me to be home from 1-3 pm on my birthday... he also said that the surprise can't be delivered to me at my office. What could it be? I figure flowers would be easy to send to an office, so it probably isn't that. Maybe a kitten? Ben knows that I'm kinda obsessed with cats... MAYBE IT'S THE COMCAST MAN COMING OVER TO GIVE ME DVR! Oh, I hope that's the surprise... I want DVR more than anything...

Stay tuned, I'll definitly report on the surprise.

All I need for Christmas...

Are cooking lessons.

It's true, I definitely have some difficulties in the kitchen. Seems like every meal I make has some type of mistake or mixup, thus limiting the deliciousness of my meals.

Case in point: The day before Thanksgiving I decided that I wanted to soak my 1 1/2 pound turkey breast (it was just going to be me and Ben at Thanksgiving dinner, mind you) in Martha Stewart's turkey brine. The recipe was for a full-sized turkey, however I cut the ingredients to 1/4 to better suit my turkey. Except for the salt. Forgot to reduce that one. Definitely used 1 1/2 cups salt. The result was an insanely salty turkey. Ben and I both took a bite and then threw it out. The upside: all other food was great.

Now that I think about it, maybe I don't need cooking lessons. Maybe I need direction-following lessons. Send me back to 2nd grade please!

Not to be a Debbie Downer, here's something I'm thankful for:

I definitely filled up my tank for $21.44... God Bless America and our unstable economy.

Another exciting event took place on Tuesday... I ventured out for my first athletic(ish) activity since the surg: Bowling at Fat Cats. I definitely felt like a nerd for clomping around in my boot while trying to bowl, but I amazingly achieved my all-time, bumper free high score of 134. Here's a picuture of me and my boyfriend at Fat Cats:

We love each other.

Happy Thanksgiving (belated) everyone!

All I want for Christmas...

Is DVR.

Please, my dear husband? If you don't want to make it a Christmas present, make it a birthday present. Or better yet, and anniversary present. Luckily all three of these holidays fall within 20 days of each other.

This December holiday arrangement is usually frustrating, because I'm usually too holiday-d out from Thanksgiving, birthday, and Christmas to care about my anniversary. No, this year I'm excited, because that means that my likelihood of getting DVR drastically increases than say, getting one in the month of February.

I'm tired of staying up until 11 to watch The Hills. I'm tired of all the stinking commercials during The Biggest Loser. I don't want to plan my evenings around tv shows. Just give me DVR!


ps- I realize it's been like 50 years since I last posted pictures of myself, other than my nasty foot. I'll get to working on face pictures.

Twilight's newest fan...

That's right, Ben is now a fan. Last night we saw Twilight together, and I was surprised to see him actually paying attention to the movie at not looking bored. Halfway through the movie he leaned over to me and whispered, "I want to me a vampire" with a big smile on his face. While he maintains that the movie was "kinda good" and he's still not interested in reading the books, this is a huge step for Ben and I know he secretly loved it.

I really liked the movie too. I knew it wouldn't be able to live up to my imagination, but all things considered I thought that it was great. I think the trick was to go into it with low expectations, which left me pleasantly surprised. The only thing that creeped me out were Edward's scary eyes when he was sucking the venom out of Bella.

Now that my Twilight anticipation is over, I am now shifting to Harry Potter 6 anticipation.

Trying to be an early bird.

I've decided to start my Christmas shopping today, rather than waiting until the last minute. The main thing I want to avoid is getting caught in this:Christmas crowds and lines seriously make me want to throw up. Slow people, stupid people, indecisive people.... geez, get out of my way! That's some Christmas spirit for you, right? All things Christmas I love, except for the Christmas shopping crowds... that doesn't make me a Scrooge, does it?

Onto foot news, here are some pictures... if you don't want to see them, don't look.







Here are my feet 1 week after surgery. My surged foot went from looking green, brown, purple, and blue following the surg. Also, my toes were soooo swollen.
Here's my foot today. I still have to have it all wrapped and booted, but this is what it looks like without all that. Still some bruising and swelling, but the stitches are gone.
Also, it appears that Ashlee Simpson had her baby... and named him Bronx Mowgli. My guess that he was conceived in the Bronx while Ashlee and Pete were watching "The Jungle Book." Any other guesses?

This makes me laugh everytime I watch it.

This is from "Love Actually." I think that these really are Huge Grant's moves, since he dances the same in "Music and Lyrics."

Can you say psycho?

*Disclaimer: If you don't watch Desperate Housewives this post will not be very interesting.

This guy plays Edie's husband on Desperate Housewives and his character is creeeepy. Seriously, the character is criminally insane, killed his psychiatrist, and has it out for one of the male Desperate Housewives characters.

The only thing is, no one knows about any of his past and present craziness, except Mrs. McClusky (my personal favorite character), who did some digging about him.

After watching tonight's episode I think that creepy man has it out for Mike Delfino, although I sometimes wish he would ax Susan because she kinda drives me crazy.

Blah, blah, blah

That's how I feel right now. A little tired, a little achy, a little out of place.

I don't know why I'm tired- I slept in until 11 am today (I justify this by saying that it was only 9 am Utah time), but I'm still way sluggish. Thank goodness for my parent's amazing sectional in the family room- it is my 2nd best friend (handicap permit is still #1).

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why I'm achy- I had my surg a week ago. Things are going well- I'm off my painkillers, but still feeling a little pain, and my foot and toes are purple and green with bruises. I took some pictures, which I'll have to post later when I have my camera cord.

I'm feeling out of place, because I'm at my parent's house, which used to be my house as well. It's home, but it doesn't feel like home at the same time. All you married people who are out of the house know what I mean.

I'm so freakin excited to see my sister and nephews tomorrow- my mom and I are driving up to Hobart for the weekend. Let's just hope that my nephews don't stomp on my foot.

I'll be in Indiana until the 18th and I'll be back at work on the 19th, ready or not.

My new friend.

I guess there are perks to being a hop-a-long. Ben's just happy that I got two of these, because that means one for him and now he can get a great spot in the UVU lot. For the next 3 months, this little permit will be my new bff.

Quick update

My foot surgery went well and I am now recovering at home on my couch. For the first 4 days I have to spend as much time as possible laying down with my foot propped up and iced. I'm not feeling too much pain, but then again I am very medicated.

Apparently I said some interesting things following my surgery while I was still waking up, but I'll blog about that another day.

I just took my medicine, so things are starting to get a little fuzzy. Bottom line: Surgery went well. My mom is taking excellent care of me, and Ben keeps calling me peg-leg and saying "Arrr matey!"

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers friends!

One last thing.

I leave for the hospital in about 30 minutes- luckily it's only 4 blocks away from my house. So here's to me being a hop-a-long for the next 8 weeks- yaaaaay.

Thanks foot, you've been great. It's just that fugly bunion that I hate so much. Please don't take offense, foot.



And just for fun, here are my crazy cats, Oscar and Moo. They were sleeping like this before I came in with the camera. Moo loves having my mom here, but Oscar is still hissing like mad.

Weekend roundup & upcoming events

The weekend was really, really fun. Pumpkins turned out fabulous- Ben actually carved one this year, rather than refusing like last year.

Halloween itself was a great day. Started things with kickboxing class at 24 hour fitness- we kicked to "Thriller" and the Ghostbusters theme song. Then I voted for the first time EVER. Yay for me! I'm being a responsible citizen!

The rest of the weekend continued to be great- dinner and bowling with Evan and Jamie Kleinhenz, Day of the Dead party with the Anderson's... it was a really fun time.

I wish the coming weekend could be as fun as last weekend, but I don't think that's going to happen... which leads to the "upcoming events" portion of my post.

In 3 days... actually like 2 days and 23 hours... I will have my dreaded foot surgery. Actually, I shouldn't gripe, since this surgery is 100% elective. Anyway, I'm having a bunionectomy (not sure if that's the real word for it) to get rid of the nasty bun on my right foot. I'm taking almost 2 weeks off work for recovery and my mom is coming to Utah to take care of me! Thanks momma! Also, I'll be spending 6 days in Indiana during my recovery, so I can be drugged up and whatnot on my parent's couch.

Wish me luck on my surg...hopefully I don't die. Not like I would, but I had to make my hope known. Feel free to visit me post-surg, since I do love visitors (as long as my house is clean).

Also, here's a little gem from Benjamin. When describing a specific person he doesn't like, Ben said, "He has the emotional maturity of a rhinocerous. " Ahhh Benjamin, you keep me young.

Not a hermit this weekend.

Last weekend was crazy due to the wedding and whatnot.

This weekend (starting today, mind you. I work Monday-Thursday. Boo-yah.) will be equally as exciting and fun. Here's the weekend rundown:

Thursday: date night with Ben- Watching The Office and carving pumpkins

Friday: Halloween! Also, double date with Evan and Jamie- dinner at Bombay House and bowling. Prior to that, I'll be handing out candy to trick or treaters. I'm in charge of candy this year, since last year Ben gave our whole bowl of candy to the first trick or treater and then turned off our porch light. Hello, how lame is that?

Saturday: going to a Dead of the Dead party

I know it's real lame that I'm blogging about my upcoming weekend, but I'm very excited about the activities and social-ness of it all. Seriously, sometimes Ben and I get into hermit-mode and go weeks without seeing our friends. We've been married for almost 4 years, so we should be past the hermit stage. That's for newlyweds only.

PS- Watch out Columbus folk, I'm already planning a Columbus Christmas party. Get excited.

The wedding.

Ben and I spent the weekend in Denver and were able to attend the wedding of his younger brother Ryan to his girlfriend of 5 (!) years, Amy. Ironically enough, they met in a high school class called Marriage and Family.

We had a blast while we were there- highlights include the following:
-winning $45 at poker (the boys always underestimate me and I usually win)
-Ben doing a roundoff backhandspring at the reception on the dance floor
-Tom doing Arnold Shwartzenegger/Christina Aguilera karaoke
-dancing up a storm
-eating lots of Qdoba
-decorating Ryan and Amy's hotel suite **seriously, it pays to have an identical twin. Joel swiped Ryan's driver's license and a few of us were able to check into their room a few hours before they arrived at the hotel. Mayhem ensued.

Here are some photos from the weekend:

Aaaand I'm off.

Ben and I are off to Denver for the weekend for his little brother's wedding. Posting will resume on Monday!

A letter of grievance.

To: American Red Cross
From: Mrs. Harris

Subject: Stop Calling Me.

Dear American Red Cross,

I've noticed that your organization has taken to calling me at least twice each week to urge me to donate blood. I grew tired of politely saying "no" and have begun to screen my Red Cross calls. I've received the frequent, lengthy voice messages left. I'm happy to know that you care.

Unfortunately, I have grown tired of the persisting phone calls I continue to receive from your organization despite my numerous declines. You say that my blood is rare and special and can be used on newborn babies? Thanks for the info, but do not guilt me into giving blood. I get very angry when people try to guilt me into things.

If you do not take the hint of me saying "no thanks" and screening my calls, I will be forced to lie and say that I have hepatitis. Or AIDS. Or both. Don't make me do that.

When I feel so inclined, I will definitely give blood again. It is not something I enjoy doing on the regular, due to the sting of the needle and the feeling of weakness for the next 24 hours. When I want to give blood, I will call you.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Harris

Curse you, Halloween candy.

I seriously wish that I could stop eating this stuff, but I just can't. Please help.

A wedding and a dilemma.

Next weekend Ben and I are jetting off to Denver for his little brother's wedding. I'm so excited to be inheriting a new sister-in-law! Aren't they adorable?


Alas, I do have a slight dilemma. A very important one. I ordered this dress from Shabby Apple just last week specifically to wear to the wedding. The shipping said that it would arrive in 6-10 business days and I ordered the dress 7 business days before we leave for the wedding. I'm hoping that since the warehouse is in SLC that it will arrive before we leave.
Everyone cross your fingers for quick shipping. Seriously, it's only traveling like 35 miles. AND I still had to pay the $8.95 shipping fee. If worst comes to worst, I do have a back-up outfit, however it is not quite as cute. Stay tuned!

Neato.

Made this fabulousness on wordle.net using 'Phenomenal Woman' by Maya Angelou

Fall-time movies.

Now that it is officially fall (although this weekend's weather screamed winter), there are a few fall-time, lazy-day movies that are just so great to watch. Just wrap up in a blanket (or snuggle up with your significant other- or both), grab some kettle corn and cider, and watch a great movie.

Here are some of my favorite fall-time flicks:

You've Got Mail. I don't know what it is about this movie, but it just feels right to watch it when it's getting chilly outside and the leaves are falling. Meg Ryan says, "I love New York in the fall" or something like that.






Ernest Scared Stupid. Seriously, I've loved this movie for years and I definitely blogged about it last Halloween. This movie does a great job of helping you find your inner-child and get excited for Halloween.






The Illusionist. Interesting movie with a great twist at the ending. I only cringe when the young Sophie (Jessica Biel) shouts "Edvard! Edvard!" like a million times. Hello, it's EdWard.






Something's Gotta Give. Not sure how this relates to fall, but for some reason I love to watch this movie when it's a little chilly outside. Maybe it's because Keanu Reeves's acting gives me the chills- not in a good way.

Corn, animals, and COLD.

Last night Ben and I went on a triple date to Hee Haw farm in Pleasant Grove. Aside from the freezing cold temps and the biting wind, we had a really fun time with our pals.

Here we are in front of the most monstrous pig I've ever seen:

It was almost as big as a cow!
Sliding down the haystack slide. Quite painful actually.

The group! Getting the guys (especially Ben) to do this was a task.

I do like these girls.

We also went though a corn maze, which actually took awhile. It was just so dark and there were no signs to tell us whether we were going the right way or the wrong way. Too bad we weren't like the kids in the storybook story who left a trail of crumbs or something so we'd know where we already went. What story is that from? Or am I just making things up?

Anyway,The night finished up by going back to Evan and Jamie's for a movie. Poor Ben was falling asleep in the middle of the movie, so we had to cut out early. Thanks for the great night friends!