Needed: New(er) Vehicle

I was thinking the other day that it might be time to purchase a new(er) vehicle. The CORROLLA is 12 years old. I have had her for 9 years.

NINE YEARS!

Can you even believe it? I can't.

Corrolla has been a good car with very few problems. She has gotten me where I needed to go and taken all my abuse and lack of keeping her in spic and span condition.

While driving the other day I found a possible replacement for Corrolla.

Features of new vehicle:

1. Bigger than Corrolla. I could have more friends ride with me and WAY more room to haul stuff.
2. It would be easier to keep clean since I could just turn on the hose and wash him down.
3. I would definitely have the "party" vehicle.
4. I would never lose my car in a parking lot or forget where I parked.

What is this new AMAZING vehicle? Well, check this baby out! And is a GREAT deal at $7,995!


So, what do think? Should I purchase?

New Technology

This Christmas Santa gave me a really great fun present...a new iTouch!!! To say that I am obsessed is putting it mildly...I love it.

There is this really fun app called PocketBooth that helps you re-create the awesome experience of cramming all of your friends into the photo booth to take pictures.

I am sharing a few of my favorite "photo sessions" with you...you lucky, lucky, LUCKY people! (By the way all of these pictures were shared WITHOUT the permission of the people in the pictures...I am nice like that.)

Of, COURSE there is a strip of just me taking pictures of myself. Why wouldn't there be?

If you would like to have a PocketBooth session with me...just let me know!

I Believe...

I get the feeling that I will be spending a lot of time in my life serving in the the Primary. I love the Primary. Although, sometimes I wonder why I have this calling and then we have the Primary Program at church and I remember.

Simple truths taught in the Primary speak to my heart.

At the end of the primary program I had tears in my eyes. Children singing and speaking of the Savior is a powerful thing. Very tender...

Over the last couple of weeks I have had these words stuck in my mind playing over and over and over...

I know He Lives!
I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to Him.
I know that my Savior love me.
(I Know My Savior Loves Me by Tami Jeppson Creamer & Derena Bell)

It is a beautiful song especially when sung by children. But the reason I love it is because it is POWERFUL in it's simple truths. These words have become a part of my testimony of my Savior. What joy, comfort, and peace they bring to me.

Should Not

I called David a couple days after he went home to see if he missed me.

His response?

"Como Nellie I miss your iPod."

That dang iPod I should not have ever downloaded the Thomas game and let him and Joseph play it. But oh how they loved playing it!

My Dream House and Yours

My whole life (okay maybe from Jr. High to the present) I have loved looking at house plans. I love dreaming/scheming/thinking about my future home.

I am pretty sure this is mostly a female thing.

I can't help it. I can hardly wait until the day I get to have my very own "dream" home. I know my dream home won't be the first home I buy but hopefully I will own it some day.

What are the components that are "set" must haves for the DH? (Just a short list of the many things I want...)
* Windows. Lots and lots and LOTS of windows. My friend had a birthday party at a house with a billion windows (slash the whole front) and I loved it.
* Built in book shelves. Seems kind of weird/standard but I went to a house that had amazing built in book shelves in her front room and they were super full (artfully arranged) with all the owners favorite books. If you know me I have lots of favorite books and what a better way to keep them!! It was amazing...I was mesmerized.
* Arched doorways. I am not sure what it is about arched doorways...but I love them.

Last night I visited my sister-in-law and saw her new house (AMAZING) and I have a new *must have* for the DH:

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Are you ready?...

Washer/dryer in the master bedroom closet! (There was another laundry room).

You love it...just admit it! I do too!

So...what are the *must haves* of your DH?

CERTS: It's Just What We Do

Remember when I went through CERT training? Cool, right?

Well, what is even cooler than going through CERT training is having a photo shoot with your CERT buddies in preparation for making a CERT calendar. Let's just say 2011 is the year of the CERT.

My cute (extremely talented) friend Kristy took the photo's of Heather, Erin, and myself. Let's just say after you see these you will finally realize that you will pretty much want us around in an emergency.

You can check out some of the pictures (and Kristy's amazing wit) here: Chillygator.

AND

You can check out the full photo shoot here: Green Hills Photography

Ya...I know we are awesome!

What Makes Me Feel Smart?

I am a titch nerdy.

*gasp*

Can you believe I just admitted to being nerdy? Well I am.

I love learning and doing things that keeps my mind working. Everyone knows I am in school, but did you know that I do things OUTSIDE of school to still learn?

*gasp*

I know, NERDY.

Okay friends, here is the deal. I am a "cheater" learner. I have ADD...non diagnosed admittedly...but self diagnosed. I love Love LOVE listening to NPR. LOVE IT. I am pretty sure I get this trait from Dean who also loved listening to news programs. Besides just listening to the news, I especially love two programs. I love them so much that I podcast them so I don't miss one single broadcast.

This American Life and Stuff You Should Know

This American Life doesn't always teach you something academic, but it does often teach you about human behavior. So interesting. I have listened to stories about people getting switched at birth and finding out in their twenties, the health care/insurance industry, snitching, what it is like to be at the biggest party school in the nation, the debacle that was freezing bodies after the dies in hopes of bringing them back to life one day, and MANY many more interesting stories. I love this program. LOVE IT. I could say that I heart Ira Glass (he's the host). This is where I first heard David Sedaris, who I also love. I have now read several of his books and am going to see him speak when he comes to my city. What an interesting person and HILARIOUS!

Stuff You Should Know is not only informative but usually FUNNY. This is truly academic...in an interesting way. This is a nice program when I have 10 - 30 minutes and I need something to listen too. I have learned about how long the human body can go without food or water, what is a mortgage backed security, why robots can't get married, how do credit default swaps work, why do humans have body hair, how can a lake explode, etc. Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant present the information in a fun interesting way...it kind of feels like I am goofing off instead of learning something. You all know how much I like goofing off...in case you don't...I love it!

I recommend you check these programs out...you too will be sucked into them and become NERDY like me.

*gasp*

Did I just call you a nerd?

Yep.

P.S. I am also hooked on this new game called kenken...it pretty much revolves around math. Yay for MATH!

How To: Birthday Budget

Happy Birthday to ME!

Okay, a quick lesson on how to figure out how much you can spend on yourself for your birthday:

Your age times a X = Birthday Budget!
example: IF you will be say 32, and X for you is $10, then 32 * $10 = $320 to spend for your birthday!

What is a birthday budget? It's the amount of money you can spend on yourself for your birthday with out feeling guilty.

Of course, there are lots of things that can influence X.

I love the birthday budget!

(**this does not imply I am spending $10 * my age on myself this year...it was just an example.)

I Covet...

I covet this ring. I hope one day very soon it is on my finger!

You can find it here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35941331

BUT I CALL DIBS!

I Covet

I want this car, Audi Q5 2009 (or 2010). I want this car in gray, black, or red. I want it fully loaded. A woman I work with just got this car and I had the privilege of riding from Burley to Salt Lake with her. I WANT THIS CAR.

(hint hint: if you have lots of spare money laying around and don't know what to do with it...this would make a FABULOUS Christmas gift for me!)

This I Believe: Stand Up and Be Counted

I believe I am surrounded by exceptional people.
I believe that they aren't in my life by chance.
I believe I have much to learn.
I believe that I am strengthened by how often those people I hold dear stand strong and are vocal about what they hold true.
I believe that the above mentioned people will be great leaders.
I believe that there can no longer be any "gray" areas. That the time is gone for "fence sitters".
I believe that one of the hardest trials we face will come from learning how to have "charity" while still standing up for what we believe.
I believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it's POWER to help me overcome all doubts, sins, fears, and trials.
I believe that I am afraid of offending when I don't mean too and it curbs my true thoughts too often.
I believe that you should act, live, and speak what you believe all the time.
I believe I am surrounded by extraordinary people.

*I have been so impressed with one person in particular who writes on her blog exactly what she believes. She stands up and is counted. Her passion is inspiring. We need more passion like hers and less fence sitting. Although, I don't always agree with her points I like to read and bounce her opinions off mine (all in my head of course). Here is to more ffff (fight for freedom fridays) and other posts she writes with such passion.

Pepper Perch on Etsy

My cute friend Ashley started an Etsy shop and I LOVE it. Check these adorable earrings and bobby pin. Best part...the price.

If you want to check this and the other things at her shop go to www.pepperperch.etsy.com.



One last thing, need a cute quilt for you or your children? She will have them on her site soon. She will also do custom orders.

Seriously, go check out her shop!

Truth or Dare?

Did you play "Truth or Dare?" when you were younger...or maybe still play it today?

I will be honest I really hated this game for a long time. I was to nervous to ever pick dare and to embarassed to want to pick truth.

Truth or Dare always gave me anxiety, that is until I played the Chinese version "Truce or Dare". (The Chinese have a hard time saying the "th" sound, it comes out as an "s" sound.)

My friend Jill that I met in China reminded me recently of our adventures playing "Truce or Dare". Wow, we had some really fun times! But let's just be honest...I think I like Chinese "Truce or Dare" so much was because Jill and Terusha generally always picked dare and I LOVED thinking up dares.

In case you haven't EVER met me...I have a slight mischevious side and love to get people to do things. LOVE IT. Some call it manipulation ("Terusha would do it"), I would say it is a gentle push into an adventure.

Thanks for the memories Jill. I am pretty sure you should blog about them.

Inspiration

April is great (see her at the top of the blog list). Her blog is about real life, her real life. I like it. Last week she posted a quote that I quickly fell in love with:

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to still be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. " - Alfred D. Souza

Don't you just love it? Doesn't it resonate with you?

Hilarious

My friend Josh has sent me to very funny e-cards. Above is the one I received today. Don't be offendend...but this card may be talking about you and I. In case you may wonder...I am the slightly funnier person.

(the cards are from www.someecards.com)

Book Report

A couple of months ago while I wandered into the young adult section at the bookstore and picked up "The Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale. I loved it! It is a fun, light, and interesting fairy tale. Just adorable.

In preparing for my trip to AZ I downloaded "Book of a Thousand Days" by Shannon Hale from Audible.com. I wondered if I would like this book as much as I did the last. I wasn't disappointed. I listened to it in the car on the trip down and back as much as I could and I listened to it every night before bed. I finally finished it today at work (after 5pm lest you think I ignored employees). This book is also a fairy tale, c'mon who doesn't like fairy tales.

If you read these (or listen to them) let me know if you like them. I plan on reading all of her fairy tale books. I just love them!

(p.s. I also read "The Princess Academy...and loved it too!)
(p.p.s. Audible.com is great for downloading audio books. The library is cheaper...but Audible has a better selection and takes less time!).

The Right To Vote

I voted today.
Left work early.
Waited in line at the Bountiful Library for an hour.
Gave my name.
Verified my address (okay my parents address).
Handed my picture ID.
Then proceed to the electronic voting machine.
Inserted card.
The moment I have been waiting for was finally here: Casting my vote for President.

John McCain or Barack Obama or John McCain or Barack Obama or John McCain or Barack Obama...wait...what about Ralph Nader? Hmmmm....

Decision made and vote cast.
Click
Click
Click
Judges? Do I really have to vote for JUDGES? Who are these Judges anyway? What have they done for ME lately?
Amendments to the constitution....hmmm....should have read a little more about them....
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click

Cast Ballot?
YES

And then I got my "I Voted" sticker.

I love being able to vote. I seriously love it. I would have stood in line for a lot longer than an hour for this right.

And now, I am glad I am done.
This is an interesting election.
I have a lot of mixed feelings.
It will definitely be an interesting 2, if not 4 years.

Soundtrack of My Movie

Awhile ago I told a friend I would send him a CD of my current favorite songs. I have dubbed these songs "The Soundtrack of My Movie". I of course would have to make my acting debut is the movie. I am unable to send the CD because I can't figure out how to burn them to a disc.

So, with most things in my life, they don't become favorites for no reason. Some of the songs I just like because they just make me smile, but some remind me of situations that were one of the following:

1. So happy I could scream.
2. Remind me of my goals and dreams.
3. Were painful, but a great learning experience.
4. Remind me of days gone by.

Enjoy! (song title, artist, album)

1. Modern Nature, Sondre Lerche, Dan in Real Life
2. The Way I am, Ingrid Michaelson, Girls and Boys
3. Falling In Love At a Coffee Shop, Landon Pigg, Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop
4. Not Ready To Make Nice, Dixie Chicks, Taking The Long Way,
5. Vindicated, Dashboard Confessional, Spider-Man 2
6. Viva la Vida, Coldplay, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,
7. We Are Going To Be Friends, The White Stripes, White Blood Cells
8. We're Going To Be Friends, Jack Johnson, Curious George
9. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself, The White Stripes, Elephant
10. Does That Make Me Crazy, Gnarls Barkley
11. Fake It, Seether, Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces
12. Look What You've Done, Jet, Get Born
13. Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall, Eye to the Telescope
14. Little Wonders, Rob Thomas, Meet The Robinsons
15. Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol, Eyes Open
16. Best of Me, Chrisette Michele, I Am
17. Cold December, Matt Costa, Songs We Sing
18. Vulnerable, Secondhand Serenade, Awake
19. Realize, Colbie Caillat, Coco
20. Everything, Michael Buble, Everything
21. Blinded, Third Eye Blind, Third Eye Blind: A Collection
22. Everything Changes, Staind, Chapter V
23. Hey There Delilah, Plain White T's, All That We Needed
24. Lost, Michael Buble, Call Me Irresponsible

All About Me!

I found these questions on Jill's blog and since I want to be like her, I am copying!

Last Movie I Saw In A Movie Theater? Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (LAME!)
What Book Are You Reading? The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (but I just finished Eragon last night)
Favorite Board Game? Settlers of Catan or Scrabble (I always kick Joe's trash at Scrabble!)
Favorite Magazine? Anything that gives me ideas for my current home, future home, or just creative stuff.
Favorite Smells? Red Delicious by DKNY and Lauren Style by Ralph Lauren
Favorite Sounds? Crickets at night (they remind me of Grandma and Grandpa Swasey)
Worst Feeling In The World? Loneliness and guilt
First Thing You Think of When You Wake? Wow! I really have to go to the bathroom
Favorite Fast Food Place? Paradise Bakery
Future Child’s Name? Girl: Maude, Myra, Phoebe Boy: Benjamin David
Finish This Statement—“If I Had a Lot of Money,” I would help family, go to the school I really want to get my MBA, travel, and do lots and lots of volunteer work.
Do You Drive Fast? Yes.
Favorite place you have visited? Paris, Xiahu, Cinque Terra, New York
Storms—cool or scary? Cool as long as I don't have to drive in them.
What Was Your First Car? 1978 Ford Fairmont. I had to have pillows behind me so I could sit up straight. I hated this car....
Favorite Drink? Water, and after that I would say Fresca (any flavor)
Finish This Statement—“If I Had the Time, I Would…” take all the art classes I could, sew sew sew, Travel for months at a time, spend time studying the Gospel, Work out for hours each day, and spend more time with family
Do You Eat the Stems on Broccoli? Yes
If You could Dye your Hair Any Other Color, What Would It Be? dark brown
Name All the Different Cities In Which You Have Lived. North Salt Lake, UT, Ephraim, UT, Urumuqi, China, Logan, UT, Holladay, UT. (Wow, I need to expand my horizon's a bit more...)
Favorite Sport to Watch? Hockey, Soccer, Football...really, pretty much anything as long as I am there in person. I do not like watching sports on TV.
What’s Under Your Bed? 2 boxes of crafty type stuff, dust bunnies, and a sock and shoe.
Would You Like to Be Born As Yourself Again? Yes, of course.
Morning Person or Night Owl? Morning Person
Over Easy or Sunny Side Up? I don't really like eggs to much. If I am cooking them scrambled, if I order them at a restaurant then sunny side up with toast.
Favorite Place to Relax? Top 3: Anywhere I can shop but that also inspires my creative side, chatting with family or friends, and I like being outside in nature with a book.
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor? Rocky Road

Read Read Read

So, if you know me you know I love to read. Apparently, I just like to read books that aren't listed below. I only italicized the ones that I know right now I wanted to read. I will have to read descriptions of the other books to see if I would be interested.

Take a look at the list and see how you do and if all of your favorite books are considered in the Top 100 The National Endowment for the arts estimates that the average adult has read only 6 of the top 100 books..How about you?

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Star the books you LOVE.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen*
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee*
6 The Bible*
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy*
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (I will not be reading this. I did NOT like Lord of the Rings.)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald*
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy*
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis*
34 Emma - Jane Austen*
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen*
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis*
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini*
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden*
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (Angels and Demons is much better)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery*
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon*
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck*
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett*
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White*
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo