love.

i love when friends leave comments that are not appropriate to actually post on the blog....as in funny to me but not anyone else....as in no one else needs to read it...it makes me laugh. thanks, A.

ha. ha. ha.

cat's outta the bag....i think, anyways.

that's right folks. i know you've been dying to know the "secret" i mentioned on the blog a while back. let's be serious...you probably skimmed over it, or completely forgot. i forgive you.

i'm transfering over to the tax department at work. okay, so you don't think that's a big deal. at this point, i really don't care what you think. it's a big deal to me, and i'm excited about it. it's a larger department than where i am now, so will allow for alot more social interaction. i get to share a workspace with my friend (major plus) and it will be nice to be doing something a little different from the usual. best part of this little transfer is that it happens a week after the tax deadline. i will have the summer to train and become familiar with things before we hit another deadline...which will be nice.

i repeat. this transfer is a big deal. and just to clarify, this is not a promotion....only a transfer, but i'm still excited about the new things i will learn and the new people i get to work with. let the good times roll....after april 15th anyways..... :)

chippy dippy

i get to spend this weekend with my cousin/bff. do i have words for this? try "perfection". don't be confused. i have two cousin/bffs (how lucky am i?!?!?) one in utah. one in nevada. this weekend with utah cousin/bff is long overdue. chippy dippy, doris day, guitar hero, conference...could the weekend get better? i think not.
lately i've had a weird craving. and now, i want to make these. but why would i do that when i could buy this? but when you get down to the nitty-gritty, i'll probably be getting a few of these red velvet babies (sweet shots) ....yeah, like 3 to be exact.

now that i've got that out of the way. it's time for me to drink my water and eat my fiber one bar. livin' the dream.....

have you ever had to learn the same lesson twice, the hard way? duh.

ps....i'm considering turning this hot spot into a private blog....any thoughts?

ian's hips.

at about 4 o'clock i got a text telling me i had special tickets to see the byu luau tonight. ryan and i had wanted to go ever since we found out cousin ian was dancing in it. we started out the night with a trip to j dawgs.

and what a show it was. we saw alot of brown skin (including ian, that little stinker)

and even got the boys to show me a little leg...good thing ryan cut the picture off where he did. nothin to see here folks...nothin to see. thanks for a fun night night E! thanks for tickets and front row seats, A. and ryan, thanks for the jungle fever. do you know a jungle war cry?? i do.

raise your right hand....now slap yourself.

i think most of you know that i live with roommates. ali from hoodbridge, patty from portugal, and nathalie from the netherlands. we are so cultural. it's been interesting to live with people from different cultures, but it's been great. (nothing like jule) I really am lucky to have normal roommates.
The other night i was sewing my little heart out, and my two foreign roommates sat down at the table for dinner. the following was our conversation:

N: oh yeah, we were talking about something in class today and i didn't know what they were talking about. my teacher told me to come home and ask my roommate. B, what's a twee---a twin-kie??
B: WHAT?!?!?! What's a twinkie?!?!? it's this little yellow cake with this filling inside. you get it in your lunch in elementary school....
N: Oh, like the cake is rolled around filling?
B: no no no. it's squirted in from the bottom....kind of like a ding-dong. (bad idea)
N: a .....ding-----dong?
B: a little chocolate cake hockey puck wrapped in foil???

That's when i found out that Patty didn't know what a slurpee was....and actually asked what one was IN 7-11. oh the horror.

That's when i told them to both raise their right hands....and then slap themselves. okay, so i really didn't make them to that. but i did tell them that next time i went to the grocery store, i would buy them twinkies and ding dongs....just so they could experience them.

The next day, cute Nathalie said, "i remember the twinkie. don't make me slap myself, but what was the other thing???"

I laughed. "The ding dong, girl. the ding dong."

love. those. girls.

to blog, or not to blog...that is the question.

i've felt like i have nothing to write about...but seeing those fiber one bars every time i log on is not helping anything, so here we go.
This past weekend was a busy one for me. Heather loved her gift, and it was fun to be able to spend time with family at the shower. I was able to go out to dinner with a good friend. It still suprises me a little bit how much peoples lives and priorities can change (or appear to change) when you don't see them as often...me included. It was a fun time to catch up and giggle about things. Went on a run. held a cute baby. and went to bed.
Sunday's church schedule was a little different with the Draper Temple Dedication. We only had our sacrament meeting, and then we headed over to the Marriott Center at BYU to get seats. I was lucky enough to sit with my two brothers, sister-in-law and cousin. It was a cool thing to attend in such a large crowd. I loved it.
And now the weather has turned cold. Where did the 70's go?? I'm trying to not let my running schedule go out the window without losing a finger (or more) to frostbite. wish me luck.

the seven things i hate about you...

right now i am having a love/hate relationship with these babies:

need i say more?? but dang, they're good.

sew nice.

remember when i said i was making a gift for someone...and i was excited about it? well, the giftee is in slc with her mother and has no access to the internet before the shower tomorrow morning...so booya. you get to open her gift tonight via the internet. sorry, heather.

for those of you that can't tell, it's a temple bag. i am beyond proud of it. #1, the fabric is darn cute, especially for a temple bag...wouldn't cha' say?

#2. that is a cute ribbon detail. spare no detail for the lovely heather.

yes. this is a cute flap....

that covers this pocket. dang i'm good. yes, those are cute antique buttons to keep your things safe inside....

and yes, those are incredible pouches inside the pocket. shoes anyone? that's what i thought.

okay, sorry for the bajillion pictures. i'm sure no one else will be impressed. and let's be serious, i'm just praying that my cute and super trendy cousin doesn't think i'm an old fuddy duddy for such a gift at her shower tomorrow.

but let's be serious. i sewed my first zipper, and she might just love me more for learning how to do it for her.

thanks to ali for letting me use her incredible sewing machine...that literally sews buttons holes for you on it's own. thanks to mom for talking me through this over the phone. thanks to heather for giving me the excuse for a project....let's hope she likes it!!!

alley katz

today i went bowling for work. that's right, you heard me. i got paid to go bowl with my work friends. i didn't do very well...i think a mid 80's was my high score. there was also an ugly shirt contest, and we suprised everyone with these babies. we were "biglerz alley katz", and yes...that is an dated picture of one of the accountants on our pink shirts.

okay, maybe we had too much fun bowling. one of these cute girls is actually pregnant....can you guess who?? (hint: it's not me....just clarifying.)

thanks, squire for a little 992. you gotta love firm parties!!

oh, please no.

yesterday morning i woke up and felt a little itch on my leg. mosquito bite...or some kind of itchy bite. please no. i don't even have my supply of this yet:let me take you back. sugar shack. there was a swamp cooler in our room that was not functioning. my lovely landlord...who claims to be my friend and best landlord in the world (i won't use names) didn't cover the swamp cooler properly. basically, bugs were flying in and out of there like it was their job. and their mission was to bite me in my sleep. i swear, we would wake up in the morning and count our new bug bites. sick, huh?
i am an itcher. if i have an itch, i have to scratch it in a bad way...which makes bug bites a bad thing. this is the reason i keep my fingernails short, or else i would scratch my bod raw. lovely image, right?
enter "saving grace" :cortizone cream. relieves itch fast? sure does. i used to wake myself up in the night because i was scratching itches in my sleep. my roommates can attest to the fact that i used to sleep with this tube in my hand, and learned to apply it in my sleep. there was a tube in the bathroom, the car, and my purse.
and every year i forget that the glorious season of spring also brings back the bugs. time to re-stock.

goody goody gum drops.

i love projects. last night i went to the store and purchased things for a project...and it's killing me that it's sitting at home and that i'm at work. i will work on it like a mad man tonight...and it will be cute. i would love to tell you what it is, but it's for someone who reads this blog on occasion. we can't spoil the suprise. (and now you're wondering if i'm making it for you. hmmm.)don't worry, i will post proud pictures next week.

last night i went to costco and got fiber one bars. and beef jerky. and popsicles. i love costco.

and i got to play with megan and greg last night. translation: caught eachother up on our lives, held the babe, changed a dirty diaper, held the babe, watched some alias, held the babe. it was a night of nights, and i loved every second of it.

and i finally got work off for heathers wedding. do you know what that means? a weekend in california with my family. we've been talking about it for a while, but's it's nice to officially have work off and know we can officially plan. bring it on. party hard.

fixed.

i love people in my life.
#1. email from my sister. just what i needed to hear. just when i needed it. perfect.
#2. phone call from a best friend. she didn't even listen to my whole 7 minute message i left her. she knew after the first sentence that we needed to talk...and she called. and it was perfect.
#3. phone call from my mom. she just talked to me like nothing was wrong. made me laugh. and told me she loved me. perfect.
#4. good friends at my house for fried bread. i love me a good scone extravaganza.
#5. the family that stayed long afterwards talking about the good old days and laughing about who knows what. nothing better.

i love when things in your life make you realize that the things that were bothering you were actually silly things that have no importance. so thank you for the reminder.

we had stake conference yesterday and we sustained a new stake presidency. it was suprisingly emotional for me. i've lived in the stake bounderies for a total of 2 1/2 years and was always impressed with the way our stake presidency had a presence. we knew who they were. they visited our ward often. we were invted to their home for family home evening. they had several firesides that allowed us to get to know them. looking back i can see their influence in my life and i'm grateful for their selfless service. i'm really excited for a new stake presidency. new leadership is always exciting.

this week is going to be crazy. i am going to sit down today and make out a calendar for the week, or i might miss something. this weekend? crazy. and i couldn't be more thrilled about it.

frustrated.

i am frustrated with alot of things right this very second. don't get me wrong, i had a fabulous saturday...but it's funny how it can all hit you at once. i've been easily frustrated as of late. i hate this. my solution? avoid. avoid confrontation. avoid pretending i think you're funny when you're not. avoid awkward run-ins. avoid having to smile at you when i don't want to. okay, that was rude.
is this healthy? no. do i know how to change it? i think so. is it working? slowly but surely. very slowly. so if i've avoided you...don't take it personally.
this might be the reason why i spent 4 out of the five evenings this week with family members. this might be why i ran away to my sisters house for a fun filled saturday full of cleaning and organizing. i love my family, and i don't have to pretend. well, honesty this issues aren't with them, so they are the perfect escape.
i got home tonight and did the few things i had to before heading to bed...and then i saw the little slip saying i'd failed my cleaning check. icing on my cake. and that's when i came to my room and cried myself to sleep. okay, not to sleep. just cried.
i know what you're thinking. waah waah. suck it up. and you're right. this is not a pity post, and i'm not looking for comments to boost my self esteem and have you tell me everythings gonna be alright. i just needed to get this off my chest.
and now that it's 12:30 and for some strange reason i can't fall asleep (even though i'm insanely tired), i'm going to soak in a hot bath.
so there.

bottoms up.

Utah Tap :: Here's to Doing from Mike Morris on Vimeo.

Utah Tap TV Spot from Mike Morris on Vimeo.

my pal mike made these fancy things. pay a dollar. save a life.

just saying...

= HEAVEN.

nine?

yes. nine. i got 9 hours of sleep last night, and i feel fabulous. today i'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic (takes you back to girls camp, doesn't it)
tonight i have cleaning checks, and secretly i'm kind of looking forward to it. weird, i know. sometimes i get in these cleaning kicks...and i think i'm head deep in one now. it also helps that i have no plans tonight and i don't feel like i'm missing out on anything. so i get to finish off season 4 of LOST in between loads of laundry and tub scrubbin.
yes, i am living the dream.

ps...i have exciting news. probably not exciting for anyone else, but it's a big deal for me. i will share it when i'm allowed to do so. :)

"Set your goals- without goals you can't measure your progress. But don't become frustrated if the victories don't come quickly or easily. Remind yourself that striving can be more important than arriving. If you are striving for excellence- if you are trying your best day by day with the wiset use of your time and energy to reach realistic goals - you are a success, and you can feel proud of your accomplishments."

Marvin J. Ashton

hick-up.

have you ever had the hiccups while you were trying to fall asleep? gross. i usually get the hiccups if i eat too much, but this afternoon at work, i randomly got them. try to make a business call when you have the hiccups. luckily, the man was nice and only kind of laughed at me and my problem. i tried a few little tricks at work to try to get them to go away...and finally this drinking water thing worked. but i sat there still feeling like i needed to hiccup, but couldn't. i don't know what feeling is worse.
tonight i climbed into bed and after laying there for a second started up with round two of the hiccups. what? i couldn't stand it, so i googled. ready for what worked???


The 30 Seconds Cure
(Taken from: http://www.cognitial.com/hiccups.asp )
Start by inhaling through your mouth until your lungs feel full (when it feels like you cannot inhale any more). For overall best results, try to do this as quickly as you can. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
Swallow. You are not really swallowing anything but it seems thatwithout this act, it doesn’t work. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
Now inhale some more. You don’t need to inhale a lot, but do get some more air in. It will start to get difficult to do this as you go, but keep trying. You obviously can’t suck in as much air as you did initially, but just a little will do (think of it as taking a “sip” of air). DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
Swallow again. This too will start to get difficult as you go. DO NOT LET ANY AIR OUT.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you cannot swallow again. While it seems you can almost always suck in just a little more air, it is the swallowing that gets to be impossible. When you feel like you cannot swallow again, swallow again anyway. It will be hard to do, your face will probably turn red, and you may make squeaking sounds. But you CAN swallow one last time. By this time, your lungs should also be quite full and it should be difficult to get much more air in as well. While you should try not to let any air out, if you have really repeated steps 3 and 4 as many times as you can, you probably will end up letting a little out before you can take that last swallow. If you find that air keeps escaping out of your nose even early in the process, try squeezing it shut with your fingers.
Exhale.

sounds intense, right? it was.

i wish i would have seen this one first. i love prescribed sugar:

Sugar Method
Take a spoon and fill it with sugar, hold in your mouth for five seconds. Swallow. Take a sip of water. This is the simplest of all methods.
You can substitute straight sugar with extremely sweet candy like Skittles. You can also try a small bag of Chocolate M&Ms, chew a whole handful at one time and swallow them all together. Be careful to avoid choking. You can also try honey. It tastes better to some people, and some say it's healthier since it's more natural.

and let's be serious. this was posted as a tip on this site. i would have never thought of pressing on my eyeballs to relieve hiccups...but obviously someone has, hence the warning. poor unfortunate soul... (please start singing the rest of that song from little mermaid. thank you.)

Do not press on your eyeballs to relieve hiccups. You could damage your eye by pressing too hard and/or cause yourself to pass out through stimulation of your vagus nerve.

what's most important is that i've been healed. hiccup free.

and this is why i love blogging...

because you stumble upon random blogs, with random tips that you wonder how you survived without them in your life.
the other day, my brother and i saw this and ran straight to the store to get our own oreos and milk.

duh. this is genius. no more milky fingers. say goodbye to that one little piece of crunch where your fingers were holding on for dear life. say hello to a better dunking life.

go green

i ate my weight in meat tonight. i love garlic sirloin and grilled pineapple. i will never eat again.

i dun love that cage.

i really wish i could explain this. i love lost. and i love the cage.

chilly dogs.

nope. not chilli dogs (like sonic the hedge-hog) but chilly as is cold chilly dogs. last night when i went to bed it was raining. ahhhh. i opened my window and fell asleep to the sound and smell, and it was fantastic. this morning i woke up to snow. how did that happen? the other day i felt silly for wearing a coat because it was so nice outside. hmmmm. stumped.
remember how everyone is making plans for summer? a trip here, a weekend there. wait. times out. i don't have a summer. i have a job that sticks with this same 8-5 schedule year round. and so people talk about just taking a week long trip up the coast of california, or a long weekend in st. george and i get a little sick to my stomach. this is when i kick myself and think i should have stuck with the original elementary education major. shoot.

ring out wild bells!!!

today i found out the most wonderful news. i am runner 7. lucky number seven. the most beginner runner on the team. 12.1 total miles on flat paved ground. i couldn't be happier.

okay, better news than that. the crew went up to see megan and greg and babe tonight at the hospital. loved it. baby is adorable. megan looks great. and when greg doesn't have the babe in his arms, he stands and sways back and forth holding a pillow. they are going to be amazing parents, and hopefully i can be of help to them with things with them living so close.

icing on the cake. after the trip to slc, lindsey and i stopped at an old friends house...boys from our old ward...for a little catch up session. it was long overdue. i laughed about things i hadn't thought about in a long time, and then they spilled the beans about every girl they kissed or almost kissed in the ward. and i laughed or gasped at every single one. i love those boys, and i'm kicking myself that i haven't seen them sooner. linds and i made a pact when we left that we would not go that long without another visit. i don't see that happening, because now the boys know were i live. shoot.

now it's past my bed time. tomorrow morning will come alot sooner than i want it to. dang. but it's okay, because tomorrow is wednesday=lost=mark and debras=sibling party time. gotta love that.

ps....does anyone even like the hymn ring out wild bells?? in my home ward our organist is PHENOMENAL, and she makes me like this song because she's plays the bells on the organ in church and makes it sound cool. but honestly, i never thought a song about wild bells would be in a minor key...until the last note. i don't really like this song. but it's a fun phrase to use sometimes!
pss...yes, i have pictures from the hospital tonight and the cute babe, but i'm not posting them. #1...it's not my place to post pictures of someone else's baby on my blog. #2, meg's in her housecoat. i know, i have a picture of me in my housecoat on the blog. but i'm not really in my housecoat (meaning, i was fully clothed underneath). i would never post a picture on the blog with me "using" my housecoast. understood? good. so, if you want to see pictures of the babe, you'll have to find them elsewhere. sorry charlie.

nostalgia

tonight i was flipping through pictures on my computer, and couldn't help but have a feeling of nostalgia. it's interesting to look at pictures from years ago... and knowing at the time of the picture things would actually turn out completely different than i had imagined at the time. not in a bad way, just a very different way.
it was funny to see who i was hanging out with years ago and how we are all now in different phases of life. it made me realized how much i don't talk to people anymore...old friends i mean...and that makes me sad. this will sound silly, but it's times like this that i wish i could find my old phone with all my numbers in it. it was one of my favorite things to randomly text people i hadn't talked to in a long time...you know--keep the friendship flame burnin'. but now, they don't call. i can't text. dust in the wind.
i was going to post a few pictures, but then it would give you direction to where my thoughts had wandered, and that wouldn't do anyone any good. but it was nice to see happy familiar faces. a nice walk down memory lane.
speaking of nice walks...the weather today was wonderful, don't you agree?? cousin lindsey and i went on a walk tonight. i look forward to walks on a more regular basis. i know i say it just about every post now, but summer could come any day and i won't complain.

well, i'm off to bed. ps...i washed my bedding yesterday, and it's beyond wonderful to climb into nice clean sheets.
and for those of you that care, here's a few quick random updates:

• the housing hunt for next year continues. barf. i hate the thought of moving. love the idea of new surroundings.
• i love running into random friends while out on your sunday night stroll....especially when they are strolling with a boy. lucky duck.
• i get to drive to slc this week and hold a brand new baby. neener neener.
• i am on episode 16 or season 3 in LOST. my goodness, did people just get buried alive? yes, yes they did.
• i usually have my outfit for the next day picked out in my head while i lay in bed and try to fall asleep at night. right now, i have no clue what i'll wear tomorrow. with winter leaving and spring coming, it's warm enough to wear more skirts and dresses. i never thought i would look forward to that, but my goodness it sounds divine.
• i know i haven't posted pictures in a while. i'm workin on it. sorry...
• it's past my bedtime