The Homeless World Cup

I'm glad the Homeless are finding a way to keep themselves busy.

Odd Couples

I'm addicted to pop culture and pretty vocal about it. No shame. I'm not surprised by much anymore in Hollywood. But, this little celebrity-double-couple-pairing is a little strange to me.

I'm a Beyonce fan. I believe she's a pretty normal gal who happened on stardom. I'm not such a big Gwyneth fan. She's not one of us! (This is a fabulous article I read awhile back.)

What do you think of Beyonce/Jay-Z/Gwyneth/Chris friendship? They recently celebrated G's 34th birthday together. They share so much (music, acting, age, money, social status, similar height/build etc.) but they're each others visual opposites. Funny huh?

Last Comic Saved By the Bell

Is it me or were Last Comic 4 winner Josh Blue and Screech Samuel Powers cut from the same cloth? (This is not such a nice thing considering Blue has cerebral palsy and is quite comfortable joking about his disability.)


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Who knew Neil Diamond had a third famous son? (The first two being SSP and Mike D. from the Beastie Boys.)

Handel's Hallelujah

When Handel wrote the "Hallelujah" chorus for The Messiah, I'd wager that he didn't have the Salt Lake City Public Library in mind.

Mind you, while I was humming my Hallelujah refrains, I was.

Was there someone looking down from Heaven, smiling at me last week?

Week seven of books overdue, and a $42.53 fine for overdue books.

Books, I enjoyed and held on to much longer than I should have--I never remember to turn them in.

In a panic, I returned my books in last week dreading the fines I'd have to pay.

Pay?! Ha! It was "Amnesty Week" at the library (unbeknownst to me) and all my fines were waived.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Ha-lle-lu-----j--a----h----!

Why I Don't Have Kids

So I'm back in Pleasant Grove tonight. My mom's in town helping with the baby, so naturally Kendall and I had to come play. Adrie, like usual, wouldn't wake up to eat--so we were trying to come up with some rather unconventional ways to perk her attention...




Here I am... her favorite aunt. Practicing really supportive ways to hold a 5-day-old. No hands!

This baby will really sleep anywhere!

A Big Zoltar

So I was distracting myself for a minute at work (had to take a mind-numbing break or my head was going to explode!) and so I was checking out my space. MySpace usually has some freakin crazy banners--my favorite is the race to out-knit Sadaam. (I wonder if he crochets?)

Anyway, I saw this banner today and had a good laugh:

Anyone who has seen the movie Big knows what the Zoltar is. Tom Hanks' big break? One of the only VHS movies we, being a young and poor family, owned? Yes, Big was big in 1988.

Here's my question. I do marketing for a living. I know how expensive it is to advertise on MySpace. So, is this the best place for a Zoltar banner? Is the phantom advertiser behind the Zoltar game banner really getting a good bang for their buck for a site whose core demographic is 12-17 year olds?

If I didn't know what a Zoltar was (a fortune-telling machine from a classic movie), I'd think this was an onlooker from the great Mid-Eastern Knit-Off.

Adrienne Sage

Well, my sister thought for sure her baby was never coming... but like all good things (books on rainy days, tv on dvd, skittles) she finally came. I'm an aunt for the first time!

The first Wms' grandchild (and only one for the long future) Adrienne Sage was born Sunday night at a whopping 8 pounds 10 ounces. Kendall and I went to the hospital on Monday night to meet our new niece, and she's pretty cute...

(Blogger is being a pain and not letting me upload a photo. Yes, a photo. I'm not an over-obsessive aunt yet.)

Don't worry, blogs about babies aren't very entertaining. And neither is this video! Adrie slept 90% of the time we were there as she actually refused to wake up. I think I was in shock about Alaina actually having a baby, so my usually witty commentary is completely gone on this clip:



I've saved this pearl for the end to reward those readers who actually care enough about my niece, or babies in general, to have continued reading. Kendall could not stop giggling when she was holding Adrie. Truly! I'm not quite sure why... (Kenny, you have an excuse?) but like me, her whole body shakes when she's trying not to laugh outright. I finally told her that shaking babies is against the law... and asked her if she'd ever heard of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Cry About it You Big Eater

Anyone who is a frequent reader of my blog is probably starting to see a theme in my posts. I post about:

a) My travels
b) Humorous, yet slightly embarrassing things that happen to me
c) Strange stories or websites I find on the world wide web

This, my blog-reading friends, is a C blog.

What strange site could she have found today?, you may be asking yourself. Well, try this on for size: Crying, while eating. HIlarious.

Each video (yes! videos of people crying while they're eating!) has a small explanation for each video. What said eater/crier is eating, and why he/she is crying.

Oh man, you've got to go watch some of these videos. So what do you think... are these people for real? (I understand they are in fact real people, thanks Tiff, but are they really crying while they're eating?) Or is it for show?

Either way, some people are nutcases. Mostly I'm just mad I didn't come up with this idea first.

Spill-n-Go

So last night Krista and I did a bad thing and started watching Season II of Grey's Anatomy. We were hooked and once the first disc was completed went on a frenzied RedBox hunt for any of the other discs... to no avail. In an effort to console myself, we stopped at the Chevron on our corner for a drink.

I filled up and went to pay. (Believe me, this is very routine. I frequent this Chev often and am actually chummy with a few of the morning workers.) My "favorite" evening worker was there--and when I say "favorite", let me explain--this guy is a freak. A super freak. He makes the most awkward conversation... Mel can attest. (Random conversation about how his buddy borrowed $7 grand in gambling debts, etc.) I count out my change, hand it over, and as he's handing back my nickel time freezes. I reach for the nickel, but my sweatshirt cuff catches on the lid of my drink and the motion propels it forward.... the lid comes off and splashes all over.

32 ounces of Diet-caffeine-free-Pepsi all over.

Here's how the conversation drew-out.

ChevMan: Oh no... it got all over my... sweatshirt. Just where I knew it would.

::standing there, not knowing what to do, the line behind me growing::
Me: I'm so sorry.

ChevMan: And it's all over the floor... and the ground... and the computer...

Me: I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?

Meanwhile, the ChevMan has found some very white teatowels to mop up the mess. The fluid and the ice... it's just everywhere. I find the whole thing off-the-wall hilarious and am just standing there with my shoulders shaking, trying not to giggle outloud.

::thinking that I'm crying::
ChevMan: Just breathe, everything's going to be okay.

::shoulders shake harder as I realize he thinks I'm crying::
Me: It's just been a long day, you know?

ChevMan: Well my night just got a little longer.

::Krista put her hood on::

BeerManInLine: What's going on up there?

ChevMan: Well go ahead and get a refill.

So that's where it ended. ChevMan mopped up the little remaining fluid I'd spilled all over his station. Me sheepishly refilling my drink. Us beating a hasty effort to the comfort of outside and my car. I busted out laughing the second we got home.

The silver lining in this whole cloud? There was one episode left on the Grey's DVD we weren't aware of. It's true... every story does have a good ending.

"Crossed Legs" Strike

This might be the coolest thing I've heard in awhile.

Columbian women call a sex strike in an effort to curtail violent crime.

Talk about power of the people! Really, what a genius idea. I wonder if it'll prove effective.

Hello Anorexia!

I swear it all, what is with Hollywood lately?

Kate Bosworth + Nicole Richie = one Olsen twin (the skinny one).

Movie Mania

My life has been pretty well caught up the last week and without much to do, I've been watching quite a few movies. An eclectic mix, but all were worth seeing (on one level or another).

Wednesday: Quiz Show

An idealistic young lawyer (Rob Morrow) working for a Congressional subcommittee in the late 1950s discovers that TV quiz shows are being fixed. His investigation focusses on two contestants on the show "Twenty-One": Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), a brash working-class Jew from Queens, and Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), the patrician scion of one of America's leading literary families. Based on a true story.

Tuesday: Little Miss Sunshine

Olive is a little girl with a dream: winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Her family wants her dream to come true, but they are so burdened with their own quirks, neuroses, and problems that they can barely make it through a day without some disaster befalling them. Circumstances conspire to put the entire family on the road together with the goal of getting Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in far off California.

Monday: Gattaca

Gattaca Corp. is an aerospace firm in the future. During this time society analyzes your DNA and determines where you belong in life. Ethan Hawke's character was born with a congenital heart condition which would cast him out of getting a chance to travel in space. So in turn he assumes the identity of an athlete who has genes that would allow him to achieve his dream of space travel.


Saturday: John Tucker Must Die

Three ex-girlfriends of a serial cheater set up their former lover to fall for the new girl in town so they can watch him get his heart broken.





And yes, I'm still a sucker for high school movies (see Saturday).

30 Second Update

1. Forty minutes on the treadmill followed by an hour "Butts and Guts" class is too much for one outing at the gym.

2. Chili's with my very preggers sister and brother-in-law is one of my favorite dining out activities.

3. I hate my job. Today at least.

Holla in the Big Apple

We've been home from New York four full days now, and I've been crazy busy trying to get work and my general life back in order. I recognize this post is late in coming, but I'll try to give the shortened recap here.

We flew on the red-eye to NYC and arrived at the M's apartment Friday morning about 7:15. We changed into some real people clothes and took the subway down to Rockefeller Center to see Jessica Simpson perform on the Today show. The picture above has her in it--she's the one that looks a little bit like an angel. After the show we were waiting by what we're pretty sure was her limo and noticed we were standing next to honest-to-goodness paparazzi man. Conversation ensued, and we got to hear all about how "photos of women are always worth more than men, etc." I could not stop giggling because Mel kept asking the funniest questions! We taught them the lingo of celebrity names--J.Simp, A. Simp, etc... and a funny mustached man countered with Hil Duff and Hay Duff. Oh the wonderful world of stars.

Remember how I said it rained and rained and rained the whole time we were there? (See post three below.) After we got out of Wicked it was pouring cats and dogs. Luckily, a little street vendor passed by selling umbrellas--it may have been the best $5 cash money spent on the trip.

Saturday night we all saw Hairspray! together. Oh man, it was a rocking good time. (Especially with the emotional connection we have to the closing song and Benji from "So You Think You Can Dance." We had to stand outside in the rain for 15-minutes before they let us into the theater. My entire shoes and socks and pant bottoms were soaked through the whole show. But a funny, funny time nevertheless. We're excited for the movie to come out next summer!

The M's go to church in the Manhattan temple, so it was really cool to get over there and check it out. The ward certainly had a different blend than our Sugarhouse ward. After church we rode the Subway to Soho to catch up with Mel and Nici for some lunch.

Monday was our "the tourists do New York" day. Luckily, the sun came out and it was a PERFECT day. While riding the subway downtown to hit the Staten Island ferry, Ground Zero, Wall St, etc. our subway station seemed to have lost power. We sat in our subway car for 45 minutes praying we wouldn't have to get out of the car and climb through the cold, wet, dark, rat-king infested tunnels to get out. Long story short (because I may blog about this later), we got out. We were being pretty melodramatic once we got out--and thanked this fireman by promptly asking if we could be in a photo with him.

We rode the Staten Island ferry... you guessed it... to Staten Island and back. It was pretty fun and we almost had a rendevous with some Brits... Our own little Euro Adventure.

The formatting on all these pictures is about driving me crazy. Blogger isn't so good about letting you organize them and I can't figure it our for the life of me! Grrrrr.

Regardless, we shopped, we subwayed, we ate, we ended up in Times Square 4 of our 5 nights there. We just had the most wonderful time.

The morning we flew out of NYC, Krista and I wandered over, in, around, and through Central Park. I've been to NYC at least six times now, but I've never explored the depths of the park. It was really awesome!

All in all, we just had a wonderful time. Special thanks to our wonderful hosts, the Subway Administration for sending us perfect subways and trains on our stressful day of departure from Long Island, the pizza shop one block from the M's apartment, the rat king for leaving us mostly alone, TKTS for letting us buy cheaper tickets, and the shady man on Canal Street who sold me by boosted Citizen jeans.

Isn't there a song that says, "New York, New York, it's a hell of a town?" One way or the other, I definitely agree.

Speculation at an End

The Vanity Fair article on the infamous Suri Cruise finally hit newstands this morning.

Tom may be a bit of a nut job, but I think all the talk and speculation regarding this 'lil baby was pretty absurd. If TomKat didn't want to take the baby out of the house for a few months, that's their perogative.

I have to admit, this is one pretty freaking cute baby. That hair is just adorable.

It's Raining, it's Pouring..

So, it's raining in New York City. Of the cats and dogs variety. Do I still love it here? Emphatically yes.

We flew on the red eye from SLC to NYC Thursday night and arrived into the city yesterday morning about 6:00. We rode in a town car to the M's apartment and have been running ever since then. We saw Jessica Simpson yesterday at the Today show, the girl from Little Miss Sunshine going into the NBC studios, and walked right behind Maria Munos on her way to do a commentary.

I have lots of stories to tell, but they need pictures to accompany them so you'll have to wait! Be excited! And feel bad for me since my shoes, my pants, my socks, and just about everything I own is soaking wet...!