it's all coming back to me now

living room makeover

2012-01-30T08:45:00.000-08:00

i decided my living room was looking a little drab and in need of a bit of a makeover. so today while doug was at work, i decided to spice things up.

before:

after:

looks great, huh? i've put together a tutorial on how to achieve this look:

1. open the blinds.

2. answer the door when the delivery guys arrive with your new couch.

water

2012-01-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

i've always had a hard time drinking the recommended amount of water. i've tried to consciously drink more of it in the past. like when i worked at campus craft & floral and we all got those little camelback water bottles. but then i didn't want to drink very much because i didn't like the taste of utah water. i eventually started filling it with kiwi strawberry propel. but then it would get warm and also not taste so good. even after doug and i go running, i'm never really in the mood for water. he has to remind me to drink it.

finally, a few weeks ago, i was watching the biggest loser and they did one of their dumb product-placement-type advertisements for the brita water bottle. so naturally i went right out and bought the thing.

i mean, what's not to love? it's purple. it's got a filter. and all i have to do is drink 3 bottles a day to get the recommended amount of water. of course i also entered the brita challenge in hopes of winning another contest. (i think biggest loser prizes will go perfect with my year supply of kettle chips.) surprisingly enough, i've drank more than 3 bottles a day for the past 2 weeks and i've never felt so alive! i wonder if they're hiring spokespeople...

kettle chips, anyone?

2012-01-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

in the hustle and bustle of moving to ohio and christmas in idaho and painting my fingernails i forgot to mention... i won a year's supply of kettle chips!

i kind of thought they'd maybe give me coupons or something. but instead, they're sending me a huge box of 15 full-sized bags every month for the next year. that's a LOT of chips. doesn't really help out any new year's resolutions i've got goin' on, but at least they're kind of healthy as far as chips go. right?

don't worry, i gave a majority of the bags away to friends this month. i mean, who could say no to a kind chip gesture?

here is my rating of january's selection for future reference:

fully loaded baked potato: 8.5/10
it really does taste like a baked potato. and i'm from idaho. so i know these things. i get it.

organic country style bbq: 9/10
i've always really liked bbq flavor chips but this tastes even better. like i'm out in the country strumming on a banjo.

organic salt and fresh ground pepper: 7/10
not bad but not the best. i witnessed someone dipping them in ketchup though. that might be good. must be a midwest thing.

new york cheddar: 4/10
has a weird aftertaste. which i guess is ok if you really like the cheese flavoring. which i don't.

sour cream and onion: 8/10
can't really go wrong here. typical sour cream & onion flavor. although i just got a visual of spreading sour cream on an onion and eating it. i wonder if people do that. must be a midwest thing.

and while i'm reviewing things, i'm happy to report my yankee candle is still thriving. i've found that trimming the wick regularly is key. who knew?

in memoriam: shipp 112, 1953-2012

2012-01-21T19:59:00.000-08:00

on my 18th birthday, i moved into heritage halls. shipp hall, to be exact. i was saddened to hear that just this week my former home was torn down to make way for new dorms. the building may be gone, but the memories remain. (imagine this song playing in the background for the rest of the post.)

i mean, sure there was only 1 bathroom for 6 girls.

but our apartment was so cool, it doubled as a night club.

none of us had a car, though, so we had to get creative.

it's a wonder none of us had dates on valentine's day.

we dressed up a lot for some reason.

but we had an excuse for being weird since we were freshmen and all.

best friends forever!

those were the days

2012-01-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

here's the sun setting on our last day in san diego

and here's the sun rising on our first day in ohio:

just kidding. as if i would wake up that early! plus i'm still a little disoriented about which way is north, south, east, and west since there are no major topographic landmarks to use as a reference point.

but, apparently west is that way, according to this picture i just took from my back porch.

as much as i love the west coast, ohio's really starting to grow on me! now if it would just warm up a little...

How to lose sleep

2012-01-06T22:51:00.001-08:00

Tonight, right before bed, I decided to watch a particularly creepy episode of Dateline about a murder on a cruise ship. Now I can't sleep. So naturally I decided to Google "cruise ship deaths." Most involve people jumping overboard, but of course the creepiest one I read about happened on the only cruise ship I've ever been on (about 9 months before I boarded.) I'll spare the details in case you were planning on sleeping tonight. But I can rest a little easier knowing there was no way the murder happened in my cabin. (I was in an ocean view, this one was interior.)

One benefit of my insomnia is that I've come up with some foolproof ways to avoid being killed on a cruise:

1. Don't drink
2. Don't make "friends"

New year, new candle.

2012-01-02T14:39:00.001-08:00

Probably the saddest thing about moving away from San Diego was the fact that Doug made me throw away my beloved Yankee Candle. In his defense, I had been using it for almost a year. In the candle's defense, that is one long-lasting candle! Luckily for me, my brother Adam gave me a replacement.

I can already tell I'll like this one more because of the two wicks. Hopefully the wax will pool a bit better. Stay tuned for some scientific data!

Blogging at 33,000 feet

2011-12-28T18:00:00.001-08:00

Because I can. I am currently flying over Lincoln, Nebraska. Experiencing some turbulence but what can ya do?

I've learned a few things on this trip to Idaho. Mainly that Doug is really into Gold Rush Alaska. Maybe our next move will be up north!

the magic of television

2011-11-15T22:55:00.000-08:00

i always knew i would be on national television someday. but with my time in the entertainment capital of the world coming to a close, i realized i didn't have very much time to make it happen. so we headed up to LA for the weekend, because, why not? we ended up here:

if you can't see us, skip ahead to 3:15 in the video below. you'll notice a chair perfectly intersecting my face and a muppet completely blocking doug's.

in case you were wondering, the other side of the judges' table is really ugly, nancy grace's twins don't know how to sit still yet, and tom bergeron is a pretty nice guy. but the coolest part was seeing the puppeteers work their magic with those muppets! also, they did a pretty good job making it look live. those tricksters... i'll never trust live television again.

see ya, san diego

2011-11-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

as i was looking at the map of places i've lived on google+, i realized i'm pretty good about moving south on i-15.

so i figure at this point in life, i have two options: continue on south to mexico, or move a mere 2200 miles to cincinnati! i kind of like being able to drink water from the tap. so ohio it is!

doug was offered a new position within his company and since we have no serious ties to san diego (other than our fun friends and our fondness of the sun) he jumped at the opportunity. as fun as it is living in san diego, we all knew we wouldn't be here forever. so, to make the transition easier, and since i've gone my entire life knowing virtually nothing about cincinnati, i've compiled a list of cool things about the place.

1. cincinnati is only 100 miles from veronica, kyle, and little miss cora violet

2. there's a famous brady bunch episode filmed at this amusement park

3. its major league baseball team mascot is a little guy with a baseball head

4. 98 degrees is from cincinnati (and nick lachey just bought a house there)

5. this song. it's been in my head all day. thanks katie and doug.

6. their nfl team has cool helmets

7. most people say "pop" instead of "soda" (finally i can be myself again!)

and probably a lot of other neat things. does anyone know much about cincinnati (or cincy, as the locals and i like to call it)? let me know.

brrr

2011-11-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

last night as i was walking into target bundled up in my winter coat feeling the coldest i've felt in a long time, i realized that i had forgotten what cold feels like. then i remembered...

when my family sang in the live nativity at jensen's grove in subzero temperatures and my feet felt like they were going to fall off

when i was stranded on the side of i-15 with a flat tire in high heels and a skirt on the way back from my wintertime internship

when i was in 3rd grade and only brought a tiny windbreaker on the day of a blizzard but still had to go outside for recess

when i was on a boat that sank on its maiden voyage and i had to cling for my life on a piece of wood while leonardo dicaprio sank to the bottom of the ocean

and soooo many other good times. if i'm lucky, i'll get to experience the cold again during christmas in idaho and hang out with my new niece Cora Violet, 3 days old today! can't wait!

heat wave

2011-10-13T00:03:00.000-07:00

just as i was getting used to the cooler san diego weather and preparing to take my light jackets out of storage for the winter, BAM! the santa ana winds came along and suddenly it was 100 degrees. and according to jack black in "the holiday," legend has it that when santa anas blow, all bets are off, anything can happen. whatever that means...

speaking of "the holiday," christmas is in 73 days. where did 2011 go? well, i've already kicked off the holiday season with a screening of my cleanflicks copy of "love actually" while sipping hot cocoa with the a/c on to give the illusion of winter weather. so, i'd say things are coming along nicely.

no one has time the week of christmas to watch all of the good christmas movies so it makes sense to start now. other items in the queue:

home alone 1 and 2
sleepless in seattle (it has a couple christmas scenes)
muppet christmas carol
the santa clause (which i just recently realized was a pun, not a typo)
the nightmare before christmas
you've got mail (i think this one has a couple christmas scenes too)
it's a wonderful life
how the grinch stole christmas
various claymation productions
just friends
every harry potter movie

let me know if there are any i should add to my list.

flashback!

2011-10-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

exactly 2 years ago, doug (and my mom and my friend brent and thousands of others) ran the st. george marathon. best weekend ever! (for me, at least. all i did was swim and hot tub and eat wholly guacamole.)

i almost ran it a year later. but then we moved out of our convenient, spacious st. george condo and my dreams were crushed. oh well! i guess i'll stick to ~~half marathons~~ ~~10ks~~ 5ks.

to celebrate the anniversary of this momentous occasion, we went to disneyland. fyi, the halloween version of space mountain is really scary. so. just keep that in mind.

forget me not

2011-09-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

in case you missed it, you can watch this talk here.

goodbye, 22.

2011-08-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

i love birthdays! especially when it's my birthday. and especially when it's spent at DISNEYLAND!!!

i did literally everything i've ever dreamed of doing at disneyland.

got matching shirts

got the front seat on every ride

ate at the blue bayou inside of pirates of the caribbean

watched the parade

watched world of color

and so much more. as if that wasn't enough, doug also surprised me with a kindle! guess he felt sorry for my reading books on my tiny iphone screen.

best birthday ever!

slightly surreal

2011-08-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

i hardly ever go to concerts, but a few weeks ago a coworker of mine happened to have an extra ticket to sugarland. i've never been a huge sugarland fan, but we all know i like country music. so i went.

which is why it's weird to see random videos i took that night:

next to videos and images like this:

you can see the little bridge and the round video screen and their instruments and their entire set just like 3 weeks ago... except crumbling to the ground. pretty terrifying.

hp & me

2011-07-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

the first time i ever heard about harry potter was in 5th grade. this random kid came on the rosie o'donnell show and the only unique thing about him was that he had read all the harry potter books (so far) and was a big fan. good for him.

but then, in 6th grade, we read the sorcerer's stone as a class. we then made up a game of quidditch in the gym for p.e. it was cool cause harry was 11 and we were 11.

in middle school, when i was 12 and so was harry, i was bound by the chains of accelerated reader ::shudder:: so, i read the chamber of secrets.

then, in an effort to rack up some more a.r. points, i read the prisoner of azkaban. this one is my favorite. me: 13 harry: 13

finally, and about 20 points later, i had read the goblet of fire. it's then that i realized these books were getting ridiculously long. and kind of scary. harry was 14 and i was still 13 but whatever. by this point i was a bonafide harry potter fanatic!

and that's where my harry potter reading journey abruptly ends. why? well, for one thing, i was in high school at this point and i barely had time to do my homework, let alone read a million page book for fun. also, the 1st and 2nd movies had come out by then, and my imagination was killed. the characters were nothing like what i imagined. hogwarts was way different. the movies left out tons of stuff. and this whole time i thought hermione's name was pronounced "her-mee-own." not to mention i would actually have to wait for book releases. who does that?

but, now that the movies are history and i'm not in school, i'm starting on the half-blood prince. i think it's okay if i skip the order of the phoenix, right? better be, because the library didn't have it.

bravo! bravo!

2011-07-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

i forgot to mention that we spent the evening of the 4th with our friends, the rogers'. we had a delicious bbq and then watched the fireworks by lake murray. i just had to upload the video i took during the finale. that's their 5-year-old in the background yelling "bravo!" adorable.

speaking of bravo, i just finished watching sleepless in seattle (one of my favorites.) i didn't think i could love it any more than i already do, and then i realized celine sings the song during the credits. she even has a music video with clips from the movie.

they just don't make rom coms like they used to.

let freedom riiiiiiing!!!

2011-07-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

while i might have regularly slept on a day like today, instead i woke up at 6:30 a.m. to doug watching the live closing arguments of the casey anthony trial and singing "independence day" by martina mcbride. i found out why it's always stuck in his head, but it's still really funny to me.

speaking of the casey anthony trial, i'm pretty sure doug's addicted. he hadn't even heard of casey anthony until a few weeks ago but now he knows every detail. he even gets live updates sent to his cell phone! i wonder what he'll do once it's all over.

the weekend was very eventful. we rented beach cruisers and rode about 20 miles all over coronado island along the silver strand.

we spent a few hours on the beach and found a new place to eat.

we played some tennis and played in the pool. when doug's not watching the casey anthony trial, we've been enjoying the twilight zone marathon on syfy (some episodes are better than others.)

tonight, it's off to a barbecue and possibly the big bay boom. who knows? i'm on vacation.

by the way, fireworks are illegal here. not even a sparkler. heaven forbid a ground bloom fire. don't even think about a piccolo pete.

lastly, i don't really know a good segue into this video so i'm just gonna post it because this is my blog and i do what i want. happy independence day!

voice controls

2011-06-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

i started reading the graveyard book quite some time ago on recommendation by veronica's husband, kyle. after my recent discovery of love for audiobooks, i got the audio version instead.

well, halfway into my solo drive back to san diego from anaheim the other day, i really wanted to listen to it. in my attempt to keep my eyes on the road, i tried using my iphone's voice controls using every combination possible. here's the chain of songs that resulted:

- fnt by semisonic (on the 10 things i hate about you soundtrack, of course)

- you're the best by joe esposito (karate kid soundtrack)

- sending you a little christmas by jim brickman or whoever

- some random lady gaga song

- this christmas

i couldn't figure out what to say and i was determined to make my voice controls work. FINALLY i said "play audiobook the graveyard book by neil gaiman" and lo and behold... celine dion: a decade of song began to play. okay, good enough.

i just tried again.

"play book the graveyard book" = "play songs by david cook"

"play songs by neil gaiman" = "play songs by relient k"

"play audiobooks" = "play songs by leona lewis"

"play book by neil gaiman" = "call 805-3077"

i give up. if anyone knows how to play an audiobook on an iphone using voice controls, let me know.

oh what do you do in the summertime?

2011-06-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

now that it's officially summer, you're probably wondering what to do. here are some suggestions.

i was trying to find my favorite song from the children's video songbook volume 1, but the internet failed me. i think what i found is even better, though. oh, and i also found this. (ryyy-annnn...!)

in with the new

2011-06-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

so... marisalisa.blogspot.com is now dougandmarisa.com. which led me to ponder, where on earth did marisalisa come from anyway? after a lot of thought, i believe it started as a short-lived nickname by a very small handful of people in high school and evolved into a passive agressive mechanism to teach people that my name really is pronounced marEEsa and not marISSa. but i've decided to move on. partly because by now, either you know my name or you don't. and partly because it makes no sense to those who still think my name is marissa (marissalisa doen't have quite the same ring to it.) and partly because 99% of my posts are about doug. anyway, to celebrate my new domain name, i went to the beach.

nothing like a relaxing day on coronado. that's the hotel del in the background. i love coronado beach because it is so close to where we live, tons of parking, never crowded, extremely clean. i don't see any reason to go to any other beach. not to mention it was recently named the second best beach in the united states, and the only beach on the west coast to make the list. yeah... i think we'll keep going.

p.s. shout out to veronica who is on the complete opposite side of the country at best beach number five! sisters represent!

hershey, pa

2011-06-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

doug just got back from a week-long trip to none other than hershey, pennsylvania! worst week of my life, but at least he had fun. actually it was a lot of work for him, obviously. but, they did do a lot of fun stuff, too.

like a trolley tour of the whole city

complete with kiss streetlights

and a stroll through the top secret chocolate factory.

and no trip to hershey would be complete without a trip to hersheypark.

and look, they even gave him a lil milton hershey statue with doug's name engraved on the back. while it was the most boring week EVER for me at home, the souvenirs made it all worth it. like kiss magnets, hershey playing cards, and last but not least, my new favorite hershey candy (not an exaggeration) that doesn't even come out until december but doug was kind enough to share with me. WOW! delicious.

creeping for a good cause

2011-06-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

if you know me, you know i am pro at digging up details on anyone and everything online. it partly stems from my journalism background but i also think it may be genetic. anyway, when i got my new san diego phone number, i set it up so all calls to my idaho phone number would be forwarded to me. i always get weird texts and wrong number calls from san diego area codes, but occasionally i'll get a wrong number call from someone in idaho. which is quite confusing for the person on the other end, since somehow they misdialed an idaho phone number and are now talking to someone in san diego. so usually i just don't answer.

late last night i got a lengthy, urgent voicemail from someone in idaho regarding something happening first thing this morning. most people would just ignore it. conscientious people might call back and explain the situation. not me. instead, using my various ~~stalking~~ research skills and 5 or 6 different websites i quickly located the intended recipient and sent him the message via facebook. weird? maybe. but he immediately responded and i saved the day. see... creeping isn't so bad after all.

i'm considering starting a business. people can leave me a voicemail intended for anyone in the world and i'll deliver.

p.s. yankee candle. day 134. still going strong. but i'm officially sick of apple pie.

the help

2011-06-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

i've been slowly listening to the audiobook of The Help for the past several weeks. i mostly listen while i'm doing housework, which is fitting. if ya know what i mean. anyway, doug and i listened to a big chunk of it on the way to and from santa cruz. (he loved it but he'll probably deny it.) i completely forgot it was being made into a movie until doug saw something about it last night at x-men*. (i lovvve getting to movies early enough for first look.) anyway, i hope the movie is as good as the three-fifths of the book i've read so far.

*it was pretty good

happy campers

2011-06-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

so i found out doug and his family and most of the greater sacramento area have been camping at new brighton state beach for memorial day weekend since at least 1984. who knew? doug hadn't been since before his mission, so we decided it was high time we made the trip.

we hung out at the beach

ate some pie

lounged in the tent

found a railroad track

played with fire

roasted marshmallows (even during the day)

found a little kid silently contemplating life on the edge of a cliff

found another little kid doing the same

plus a ton of other stuff... like card games and wiffle ball and the santa cruz boardwalk and the giant dipper and too many things to mention. with the showers and the beach and the civilization it was definitely my kind of camping! i'll be back.

life is like a box of chocolates

2011-05-24T23:53:00.000-07:00

speaking of chocolate, did you know that it's officially s'mores season in the chocolate world? did you know that they make square graham crackers that you don't have to break ahead of time? did you also know that they make flat marshmallows that fit perfectly on said graham crackers? i went to this website ahead of time to practice. i'm more of a graham-marshmallow-chocolate-marshmallow-graham type, but here's doug's creation:

we had to test it out... you know... for doug's work... and stuff.

as long as i was testing things out, doug let me have this NOT YET RELEASED chocolate bar. very exclusive. there are only like 30 of these floating around the U.S. just kidding, i don't know, but they're good. and airy. and delightful. and hitting candy stands in june. so.

on a completely unrelated note, i took this picture a couple weeks ago on my flight from SAN to SLC. is that the grand canyon in the distance or what? i honestly have no clue.

seaworld

2011-05-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

doug and i headed over to seaworld today with our friends, the wallaces. it was doug's first time ever and my first time since the infamous san diego band trip. not a whole lot has changed!

shamu's still flipping...

the penguins are still waddling...

and people are still getting soaked. we took one for the team and sat in front on the journey to atlantis splashy roller coaster ride. i didn't really get the storyline but it had something to do with being able to talk with dolphins. and check out our new car!

jk.

an anniversary

2011-05-03T00:29:00.000-07:00

in honor of our first anniversary, doug surprised me with 2 dozen roses...

...and an all-expense-paid trip to fabulous hollywood!

we had never actually been up there, even though it's just a short drive. why leave home when you live in paradise, right? but doug had never really been and i hadn't been since 8th grade so off we went!

first stop... universal studios!

loved the backlot tour despite the fact that the back to the future set (my fav!) is no longer a regular stop

it was also pretty high-tech compared to when i went in 2002, with stuff like this plane crash from war of the worlds

or this flood in the metro station

water world was awesome... filled with b-list semi-famous actors and stunts you wouldn't believe! kind of puts "sea lions rock" to shame (sorry zoo!)

we paid a visit to the dinosaurs. it was quite timely since we watched jurassic park probably 3 times last week when it was playing nonstop on tbs.

we also enjoyed our rooftop pool area cabana with views from downtown LA to the ocean

our penthouse level room view was pretty nice as well. that's the LA skyline off in the distance

and the edge of the hollywood hills on the other side of the hotel. one of johnny depp's mansions is right around the corner. fyi.

we accidentally stumbled upon michael jackson's former elementary school a couple blocks from the hotel, but the best find in hollywood was this little gem. finally, celine dion is living in my shadow for once instead of the other way around!

all in all, it was the best weekend getaway trip extravaganza everrrr! thanks doug! (#winning)

once in a lifetime

2011-04-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

as i was talking to my grandma rankin last night on her 80th birthday, she brought up the fact that my wedding anniversary is on easter sunday and mentioned how rare that is. i found an online easter calendar and discovered just how rare it really is, especially being so late in the month of april.

according to the western calendar...

the last time easter sunday was on april 24 was in 1859.
the next time easter sunday will fall on the 24th is in 2095! that will be our 85th anniversary. i'm not planning on living til i'm 107, but hey, it could happen!

even if i go by the orthodox calendar, the last time this happened was in 1949 (with the next few easters being on 2022, 2033, and 2044, which is actually kinda cool.)

so, since lately i've been on a "this day in history" vibe and i don't have any email accounts that were open in 1859, i thought i'd pull from henry david thoreau's journal, because why not?

Ap. 24th 1859

There is a season for everything, and we do not notice a given phenomenon except at that season, if, indeed, it can be called the same phenomenon at any other season. There is a time to watch the ripples on Ripple Lake, to look for arrowheads, to study the rocks and lichens, a time to walk on sandy deserts; and the observer of nature must improve these seasons as much as the farmer his. So boys fly kites and play ball or hawkie at particular times all over the State. A wise man will know what game to play to-day, and play it. We must not be governed by rigid rules, as by the almanac, but let the season rule us. The moods and thoughts of man are revolving just as steadily and incessantly as nature’s. Nothing must be postponed. Take time by the forelock. Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this, or the like of this. Where the good husbandman is, there is the good soil. Take any other course, and life will be a succession of regrets. Let us see vessels sailing prosperously before the wind, and not simply stranded barks. There is no world for the penitent and regretful.

so there you have it. speaking of the 1800s, tomorrow i cross the plains, if ya know what i mean. here's hoping i dont end up with cholera!

take me out to the balllll game....

2011-04-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

we took the trolley (wee) to petco park last night to watch the padres take on the cincinnati reds. it got pretty exciting by the 8th inning or so when the padres tied it up, 2-2.

they had a LOT of chances to win, but never quite made it happen. luckily we opted out of staying for extra innings, because they ended up losing 8-2 in the 11th. yikes.

better luck next time!

triple antibiotic ointment

2011-04-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

today at the store i thought we might need some neosporin. we have some western family triple antibiotic ointment, but i was pretty sure it had expired. and the official neosporin website says that you need to throw it away as soon as it expires and buy a new tube immediately. but who knows, they're probably just saying that to get people to buy more, right? doug assured me that it would still be okay. so, we got home, i looked at the tube, and realized it had indeed expired: 03/2004!

i'm no pharmacist but i'm pretty sure it's time for a new bottle. that was over 7 years ago. i was in the middle of my sophomore year at high school and not even old enough to date at that point. which got me thinking, where was i in march of 2004? thanks to technology, i can answer that question pretty accurately:

i was on the jv tennis team but got bumped up and played on varsity regularly
i took a german class with thomas, much to his dismay. eins, zwei, drei...
i went to the ward rollerskating party
i took my first english class from mr gardner
i took emily cruisin' around town in the daylight hours

and a lot of other pointless stuff. then i thought to myself... if i could trace my internet presence back to march of 2004, maybe i could trace it back even further. like to the time i first logged onto the internet in 1997 when i was "8 Almost 9," (hence my aol screen name MarisaA89.) or maybe the A was because i was turning 9 in august... who knows. i probably log in about once a year just for the heck of it, and because it's fun to hear, "you've got mail!" i was devastated to find that everything was completely gone. deleted. nonexistent. empty. same with my tripod website with my favorite jack handey quotes. at least i still have access to the aol account, unlike the hotmail one that i got afterward to avoid the confusion (my last name doesn't start with an A and i wasn't born in 89, contrary to popular belief.) so i guess the moral is, nothing digital is permanent. not even the internet. even if you think something will be there forever, someday it will be gone.

to bring this full-circle, i guess a good rule of thumb is if you ever have an expired medical product and you're not sure if you can use it or not, see if you can track your internet presence back to the expiration date. if not, you should discard immediately.

seal pups and a birthday

2011-03-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

it seems like we're doing something new every weekend, so surely we've done everything there is to do in san diego. right? wrong! so this weekend it was off to la jolla cove.

and the children's pool (it's seal pupping season!)

by the way... there's a rope you aren't supposed to cross during pupping season but these people chose to anyway. i think they were protesting or something. politics...

and the underwater park.

in case those pictures didn't quite bring it to life, here's a video for your viewing pleasure starring doug and some seals and a few birds. shot on an iphone 4. no lens. music by celine (duh.) plus you can see the little baby seals crawling around. cute!

p.s. doug had a really good birthday. dinner at bj's, chocolate cake, games, fun!

he got lots of nice cards, birthday wishes, a boogie board, movies, padre tix, et cetera, but surprisingly enough, his favorite gift was this slinky:

happy birthday doug!!!

2011-03-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

the following is a rare look at photos taken 2 years ago today, aka the day we went on our first date. i wouldn't necessarily say we were on a date right this very instant, per se, but we had just played tennis all morning and were about to go on a long bike ride followed by a movie. somewhere in there, we had our first date. i swear!

here's to a slightly less awkward and very happy birthday this year! and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles, of course.

what i do when it's "cold" outside

2011-03-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

my couch came with ugly pillows which were especially ugly since they were the exact same material as my couch, and they weren't filled enough IMHO. so, i'm doing something about it. one down, one to go!

before:

after: (front and back)

in addition to sewing, i am also trying to get into baking despite the fact that it contradicts my recent health vow. so, today my friend marissa (not to be confused with me, marisa. and no i'm not talking in the 3rd person. although i did at one point have an alter ego named marissa. those were weird times.) came over and we made our rendition of these banana split cupcakes. they are banana flavored cupcakes filled with strawberries and pineapple and topped with whipped cream frosting, chocolate ganache, and a cherry on top. tasty!

and, earlier i lit my yankee candle which is currently in advanced stages of my experimentation. about 5 minutes later i noticed it wasn't lit anymore, and i looked in and saw this:

uhh... pretty sure the wick isn't supposed to spontaneously snap in half like that. where did i go wrong? things aren't looking too good for yankee.

welp, happy early easter to all and to all a good night!

spring, at last!

2011-03-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

as of yesterday, it's officially spring! this means i've survived my first southern california winter. boy, was it a rough one.

it started out with some pretty dicey weather at the beach

followed by extremely treacherous road conditions

below 70 temps at disneyland

and icy cold water in the san diego bay

phew, glad that's over! here's the view from my apartment today.

don't let the blue skies fool you, there's actually a bit of a breeze and it was raining earlier. or, the southern california definition of winter weather. i thought this was supposed to be spring!

tastes like chicken

2011-03-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

i watch enough food network that it's time to walk the walk by expanding my dinner repertoire. i enjoyed this. it was good. and quick. and very easy. and used not a lot of ingredients. and somewhat healthy... right? served with a tossed green salad and cafe rio inspired dressing (thanks for reminding me that cafe rio exists, caley!)

thanks martha

don't worry, i'm working on my plating since it accounts for 5 of my 30 points. and i guarantee i would not have been chopped. now... to the beach!

candy

2011-03-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

with my recent workout craze, i have (mostly) cut candy consumption out of my life, which is quite a feat considering doug's employer. as a farewell to candy, i thought i'd pay tribute to my favorite random candy products throughout the years that i forgot about until now.

1. green apple airheads. they take me back to summers spent at porter park in rexburg. i think they were like 5 or 10 cents or something and thomas would go buy a handful for all of us. or at least that's what my 6 year old self remembers. they also get really soft laying out in the sun and still taste good covered in pool water.

2. squeeze pops. they remind me of rexburg riding our bikes to the... gas station? what was that place? mini mart? i think you turn left after the archibald's house, cut through the bank parking lot, cross the street, and there you are. anyway, they were soooooo good but i think they have an age limit of 12, sadly.

3. zotz. what the heck ever happened to these things? they came in strings and the only place i've ever seen them was at the "candy store" at the 6th grade school. they fizz when you get to the middle, i think. which is THE BEST! speaking of the bsgs candy store, does that place still exist? and did we pay in money or tickets or what? this was over a decade ago! i'm getting old!

4. chewy tart n tinys. i forgot these existed until i saw them under the former products of willy wonka candy company wikipedia page a few days ago. i bought these ALL THE TIME from the vending machines at MVMS. they were perfect for sneaking in class. i can't believe they've been (supposedly) discontinued, though. guess it doesn't matter, since i'm done with candy...

5. shock tarts. i was shocked to find out that these are now called "shockers." maybe people were getting them confused with sweet tarts? who knows. i was so obsessed my mom used them for the "about me" display at new beginnings.

6. war heads. the black cherry ones were my favorite. i always randomly had a few in my pocket in middle school for some reason. they're not so sour once you get past the first layer! i think i saw my mom eat one once... and never again. some people can handle it, some people can't!

7. giant pixy stix. i think i specifically recall getting these at the blackfoot swimming pool. blue ended up being my favorite. they were really hard to open without scissors, though, which was their one downfall.

and that concludes my trip down forgotten candy memory lane. there are several more i could mention but they started playing the music and i have to get off the stage, and i've been watching too many awards shows. it may seem as though i ate wayyy too much candy as a child/teen, but look... by the end of it all i was still pretty skinny. proof:

so in conclusion, eat candy as a kid and you'll be okay! after that... it's over.

endure to the end

2011-03-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

for christmas, thomas and caley so graciously gave me the insanity workout dvds. i've never been good at new years resolutions but i figure since i have more time than i've ever had in my life (and probably ever will have in my life) this is my year to follow through. so on january 3 (the first monday of 2011) i started day 1 of 63 of insanity. meet my personal trainer, shaun t:

very strange to realize monday will be my last day! this is especially impressive considering i didn't even make it halfway through the 30 day shred (i blame jillian.) i'm trying to decide if i'll jump right in to round 2 of insanity or not. decisions, decisions. so now, i'm becoming obsessed with exercising (naturally) and parentheses (apparently) and pretty much want everything on this list (found here):

i like how the article says to dress for success when exercising. if we do it for everything else, why not this? don't know if it's the san diego sun or what but i have a motivation i've never had before! i hear the sun releases endorphins.

by the way, i've resorted to muting the workout audio and exercising exclusively to justin bieber. happy birthday, jb.

Just in case you missed it...

2011-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Go here to see at-home footage of Celine and her babies as seen on Oprah. They are adorable! And I want her house.

On an unrelated note, today I finished day 51 of Insanity. Less than 2 weeks to go and then it's on to round 2!

i won the lottery!

2011-02-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

kind of...

out of all 3.2 million people in sd county, i get the honor of fulfilling my civic responsibility. i was summoned in idaho once, but was disqualified since i lived in utah. guess this is my second chance! never say never!

my goal is to be selected, have it be a really high profile case, and then later be interviewed about it by keith morrison for dateline nbc. or spend the day finishing a book or two on my iphone. both sound alright. any tips?

a whale of a tale

2011-02-13T22:52:00.000-08:00

well, i finally got my base tan for 2011 which means i'm ready to hit the beach! we went whale watching yesterday out on the open sea in the 80°+ weather. it was supposed to be a three hour tour (a three hour tourrr) but instead it was more like... a 5 hour adventure. it took a long time (like an hour and a half) just to float out of the harbor due to the parade of flight happening above us and like parachuters and the coast guard and stuff. but hey, we had the best seats in the house!

the show was cool, somewhat ho-hum. but then... these guys made an appearance! see all these little specks? that's like... a lot of planes. amazing how they all stay in formation. kind of eery actually. like they were coming to take over the world.

same lighthouse, new angle, FUN FACT: this point is the most south western point in the continental united states!

some sea lions and/or seals. sea lions can walk on their front flippers. seals cannot. fyi.

and... FINALLY... out of the harbor. woo! los coronados islands straight ahead. hello mexico!

if you've never been whale watching, here's the deal. you're either looking for a tail flipping out or a spray coming up through the blowhole. believe it or not, it's pretty hard to photograph the phenomenon, but i did manage to get the tail AND the spray (kind of...look closely!)

luckily we went during the perfect time of the season and we saw lots of whales and dozens of dolphins. the dolphins were jumping and swimming really fast along with the boat. the vid i got seriously doesn't do the experience justice, but it was amazing!

anyway, you should go sometime! so so fun!

speaking of fun, my yankee candle is still going strong. i guess. except today i had to hold the lighter on the wick for 10 seconds or more just for it to light. and then, only the base of the wick caught fire. what gives?

i got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine

2011-02-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

my mini laminated diploma finally came in the mail today! doug got his months ago and i was super jealous. supposedly moving twice and changing my name confused the byu alumni people. and the postal service. am i the only one who thinks this is the coolest thing ever? (don't answer that)

one year ago today...

2011-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

it was a saturday morning. i woke up early (for a saturday) and went to work for a few hours. which was okay, since i loved every second spent at ccf, even on saturday mornings. little did i know that moments after leaving work, doug would stop by and buy me a dozen roses. even littler did i know that he would then take me to buy me the best sandwich i've ever eaten. littlest did i know (that's my new phrase) that he would ask me to marry him!

seeing this picture reminds me not only of how happy i was that doug asked me to marry him, but also how happy i am that we are now far, far away from that blinding snow you see in the picture! here's to one year! and one heck of a sandwich.

obsessed?

2011-01-31T19:41:00.000-08:00

i've used to really love those late night infomercials. especially the ones with really sharp knives that cut tomatoes like butter. but one in particular has had a profound influence on my life throughout the years: time life's 70s music explosion, presented by barry williams. every now and then, a 10 second snippet of a 70s "music video" will pop in my head. like gypsies, tramps & thieves*, rich girl, brand new key, saturday in the park... to name a few.

wellll, this music video popped into my head the other day (just the 10 seconds that i remember from my past) and i've watched it an embarrassing amount of times since. seriously, her facial expressions are the best! you cannot watch this and not be in the best mood afterward. at least that's been my experience. which is why i've been watching it every night before bed. to stop the nightmares. jk... haha... ha.

*i'm pretty sure my love of this informercial indirectly or directly influenced my sister's blog title. veronica, back me up on this!

call us ma and pa

2011-01-30T16:08:00.000-08:00

just wanted to announce that toward the end of april doug and i will be proud parents... to about a dozen 14-18 year olds! and an "infant". but the infant i understand will probably die and be buried along the trail. it'll be kind of like this...

Devil's Gate

...but not in wyoming. and not quite as long. i can't wait! does anyone have any tips on pioneer period clothing? i've seem to have misplaced my bonnet.

scenes of the season

2011-01-29T23:53:00.000-08:00

today i finished week 4 (of 9) of INSANITY! this is a big deal. i've never stuck with anything this long. to celebrate, we went out to cabrillo nat'l mnm't and balboa park. just kidding, it wasn't to celebrate, it was just for the heck of it. and also just kidding, because we went to cabrillo a couple of weeks ago, not today. whatever.

point loma lighthouse

we took a hike on the bayside trail. which is a trail. by the bay. in case. you wondered.

close up on the artwork (and the reason i took the picture in the first place.) it was really funny when i saw it. maybe you had to be there.

some building in balboa park

eureka! i mean evreka.

and a candle update: since nobody could give me a reason why yankee candles deserve such a high price tag, i'm doing my own experimentation. results so far:

1. the yankee candle flame is 56% larger than the average candle

2. the yankee candle scent is 12% more pleasant than the average candle

margin of error: ±14 percentage points

more results to come!

candle discrimination

2011-01-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

why are yankee candles so expensive? are they that much better than other candles? is it the brand name? do they burn longer? do they burn better? do they smell better? why? what's the deal? please, i need answers. it's been weighing on my mind for years.

but I did buy one today for the first time ever. it was on sale for $6 (reg. $25). apparently people only like the smell of apple pie during the christmas season. well, i like it year round so joke's on you, yankee!

well, hey!

2011-01-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

i haven't blogged a lot lately. that's partly because i feel guilty posting pictures of the beautiful san diego sunshine when ~~so many~~ all of my ~~faithful~~ occasional readers don't live here. so here's what's new, picture free!

- i have astigmatism
- i'm in week 3 of the insanity workout
- oatmeal is my breakfast of choice
- celine's twins are thriving
- my blog is now yellow
- i can do boy push-ups

that's all folks! by the way, if anyone wants to buy me tickets to celine's return to vegas in march, feel free.

photo booth with emily

2011-01-03T18:29:00.004-08:00

emily, doug, and i went to a photo booth at the mall last year at some point, but the photo strip has since vanished. this is almost the same, right?!

and an accidental video...

weeeee!

finally feels like christmas

2010-12-20T15:51:00.005-08:00

so instead of seeing david archuleta monday in san diego...

...i thought, why not see him saturday in salt lake?

we sat in the 11th row, a little to the side but still a great view! our section was right next to the door where all of the "VIPs" came into the conference center. by the way, President Uchtdorf came less than 30 minutes before showtime. he's lucky they didn't give away his seat to a standbyer! j/k.

i liked reading the huge teleprompters in the back and seeing how closely the people followed the script.

bonus-- we got to see the lights at temple square! we were still getting used to the cold weather at this point, and don't mind the special twinkle in our eyes.

nothing like a christmas concert to get you into the christmas spirit! the only way it could have been better is if celine was lowered down from the rafters for a special encore performance. maybe next year!

addicted to cuties!

2010-12-13T16:57:00.003-08:00

california clementine cuties, to be exact. they're the perfect little snack on these chilly, 80° december days!guess what other state is famous for their oranges? florida! guess who's going there on a mission? my bff lauren! spanish speaking. so exciting!

she leaves in a month and luckily i'll see her before she ships out since i happen to be heading home for christmas. (brr! but that's another story...)

anyway... good luck to lauren! here's hoping you don't wash away in a hurricane!

visitors welcome

2010-12-09T09:25:00.005-08:00

doug's mom and sister stayed at the Haycock Hotel: San Diego this past weekend. in case you were wondering, a stay at our fine establishment includes unlimited entertainment!

like relaxing walks on the beach...

...trips to the world's finest amusement parks...

...and even action from the local wildlife!

come again soon!

"nelson is angelil, eddy is dion!"

2010-12-08T18:41:00.005-08:00

celine has finally released pictures of her twins, nelson and eddy!

aren't they cute?!

in other news, i just found out they call their other son R.C. these days. that's a relief, because Rene-Charles Dion Angelil is a mouthful!

why i like rocklin

2010-12-02T19:15:00.007-08:00

i first heard about rocklin, california back in the park family's AOL days ("you've got mail!") my mom's good friend's screen name was "thunder-something-or-other" for the rocklin high school thunder. (yes, their mascot is a sound.) little did i know that 2 of my freshman roommates and best friends (becca and kaiti) would also be from rocklin. even littler did i know that my husband would be from rocklin. i came to the conclusion that rocklin and i were meant to be, which is great, because i like the place! here's why...

reason 1: delicious hot cocoa. made with milk, love, a candy cane, and reddi wip. (that is not a typo. it's really spelled wip, not whip. i just realized this.)

reason 2: signs with my name on it. and by "signs" i mean "sign." singular. that i've seen. so far. there may be more. i'll research this later.

reason 3: a large amount of photographic evidence of doug's childhood. here's a classic. (although i'm not sure this sibling-friendliness accurately represents anything, but it's precious anyway! doug's on the right, if you couldn't tell.)

and lastly, i love that it doesn't snow on thanksgiving. but i am so looking forward to the snow in idaho this christmas. bring it on!

these are special times

2010-11-22T11:45:00.002-08:00

celine dion! christmas album! $5! amazon!

it's a christmas miracle!

cabrillo: the monument

2010-11-15T22:47:00.013-08:00

we visited cabrillo national monument on point loma this weekend courtesy of our national parks pass we got as a wedding gift from some of doug's awesome friends.

there was a statue of Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo, of course.

and a view of the lovely naval complex on coronado island, with a distant view of downtown san diego in the background (can anyone spot the spam and pop-tart carnival cruise special?)

there were also some tide pools, which weren't really tide pools at the moment, but we found some pretty cool trees(?)

we also stopped by the old point loma lighthouse, which coincidentally just celebrated its 115th year! how bout that.

the lens...

the... well i'm not really sure.

weeeeee! great friday.

seafood? well ok.

2010-11-06T21:53:00.009-07:00

i've never been a seafood person. in fact, i can probably count on one hand how many instances i've eaten seafood in my entire life (besides solid white albacore from a can, of course!) you can't really blame me... idaho's not exactly the seafood capital of the world. neither is utah. but now that we actually live by the sea, i've been easing myself into it.

step 1 - frozen fish filets from ralph's. actually not that bad. then again, at this point I had nothing to compare it to. still don't, really.

step 2 - shrimp tacos from rubio's. kind of grossed me out but i just ignored the fact that it was actually shrimp i was eating. i kept having flashbacks to when my dad brought this big shrimp platter to thomas and caley's apartment the only time i ever went to thomas and caley's apartment. i guess i wasn't in the mood, but it still haunts me for some reason. :shudder:

step 3 - fish and chips at seaport village. i think looking at the ocean while eating fish instills confidence in me. it was really good!

so I guess the next step is eating some sort of seafood that isn't breaded and really bad for me!

in the meantime, please enjoy a couple of photos from our visit to seaport village:

nelson and eddy!

2010-10-29T08:58:00.002-07:00

in case you didn't know, celine had twins the other day and now she's finally decided on names! nelson, in honor of nelson mandella, and eddy, after eddy marnay, a french songwriter who helped launch celine's career back when she was just 13. they're a little less french sounding than rené-charles, her other son, named after his dad.

no pictures yet... i think she's waiting for the highest bidder! we'll pretend these are them for now:

i'm so glad she didn't go with the celebrity trend of bizarro names... like these:

Bronx Mowgli, Son of Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz
Daisy Boo and Petal Rainbow Blossom, Daughters of chef Jamie Oliver and wife Juliette
Kal-El Coppola, Son of Nicolas Cage and Alice Kim (kal-el was superman's birth name)
Diva Muffin and Moon Unit, Daughters of singer Frank and Gail Zappa
Pilot Inspektor, Son of actor Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf (okay, take any word, misspell it, and you have an instant name!)
Sparrow James Midnight, Son of Nicole Richie and Joel Madden (at least they stuck the "james" in there)

...and the list goes on and on! anyway, congrats again to celine!

glad to be here

2010-10-25T05:58:00.002-07:00

snowflakes in the forecast? in october? yikes! i can't even imagine!

jk, who am i kidding? i can imagine, quite vividly, almost hauntingly. sure, the seasons never really change here, but i'd rather have a year taken over by springtime than a year taken over by wintertime.

however, this doesn't stop my practice of earlier than supposedly normal christmas music listening... sorry!

this commercial was made for me

2010-10-20T12:37:00.003-07:00

i'd try to explain, but you'd never understand!

ebook worm

2010-10-14T11:24:00.004-07:00

i never thought i could stand reading an entire book on my little iphone screen. and then i read 3. in 4 days. and it wasn't so bad! it's kind of nice being oblivious to how many more pages you have to read until you finally swipe the screen one more time and read "THE END."

i admit, however, that i downloaded the kindle app instead of using ibooks, since all i could find on itunes were the audiobooks and i have on good authority that the audiobooks are no good. plus i'd probably still be on the book one.

anyway, i just... don't know what to think. mockingjay kind of rubbed me the wrong way. i won't give out any spoilers to those of you who are as out of the hunger games loop as i was, so i'll leave it at that.

any suggestions on what to read next?

election time!

2010-10-07T17:57:00.002-07:00

now... who/what to vote for?

i hope there's an "i voted" sticker in there...

house hunters... sigh

2010-10-05T13:00:00.006-07:00

no i'm not house hunting, but i've watched my fair share of the hgtv show "house hunters" and i've had it up to HERE! it's especially bad when they're first time homebuyers. (i'm obviously no real estate expert, but i do read my realtor aunt janna's blog!)

these are the top 10 comments by homebuyers on this show that i just cannot stand:

1. "i don't know how i feel about looking out this window and seeing another house."

newsflash: unless you live in the middle of nowhere, you'll be seeing signs of civilization when you look out the window. and do you honestly picture yourself staring out the window all day long?

doug's of the opinion that the best view is a 50 inch TV with the blinds closed.

2. "everything about this house is perfect, but it doesn't have the awesome 'man-cave' the other house has!"

not sure where this man-cave concept came from, but it's pretty silly to base the BIGGEST FINANCIAL DECISION of their LIFE on whether or not there is a "man-cave."

3. "this would be great for entertaining!"

ok, how many parties do they actually plan on throwing? besides the little fake party with the homebuyer's parent's and realtor at the end of the show (woo, what a party!), i'm guessing not as many as they think.

4. "i can't get past the wall color."

why is this even an issue? painting the wall is probably the least expensive and easiest modification someone can make to a house.

5. "this isn't much of an outdoor living space."

outdoor living space? these people have been watching too much hgtv. what were they expecting?

sidenote: quit calling everything a "space!" this is a living room. this is a patio. this is a bathroom. etc.

6. "i don't think we could function without a double vanity."

so they've got a jetted tub, a nice shower, but it's out of the question because they can't both be using the sink at the same time and can't wait 2 minutes for it to be available?

7. "i would have expected the master bedroom to be bigger than this!"

what exactly are they planning on putting in there other than a bedroom set? i think a lot of people want another living room inside their bedroom. i think i'd rather have a bigger living room than a bigger bedroom.

8. "do you think you'll be able to fit all of your clothes in this walk in closet, honey?" "oh yeah, they'll fit, not sure where your clothes will go, though. har har..."

no comment.

9. "this house is perfect, but, i want to look at some more places."

okay, you do that. but i'm pretty sure chances are, in the real world, if they stumble upon a perfect house in the perfect price range, if they wait too long they'll be in competition and maybe lose out. also, unless they have an unlimited budget, i doubt their dream house exists.

10. "i HAVE to have my granite countertops and stainless steel appliances!"

sure they look nice and everything, but why are they a must? it's getting to the point where everyone wants them just because everyone else wants them, and they know that if they ever want to sell their house they'll have to have them. it's a vicious cycle.

any thoughts?

country girl at heart

2010-10-02T20:29:00.004-07:00

doug got me carrie underwood tickets for my birthday and friday was the big night! i hadn't been to a country concert since brad paisley came to idaho in 2005. believe it or not, san diego has a lot of closet country fans. here's a montage of some of the highlights i got on my iphone. (in honor of the sabbath, there's a "Jesus take the wheel"/"how great thou art" medley/mashup at the end.)

it was quite the spectacle! i was kind of scared for the fans underneath the dangling pickup truck during "country roads", though.

billy currington opened, and i forgot who he was. but then i heard some songs. and remembered. here's a good one. here's a better one. here's a classic.

lastly, while i'm on the subject, if you're a mom and want to cry watch this brand new video:

and if you're a human being and want to cry, watch this one:

the temple at dusk

2010-09-26T17:42:00.005-07:00

it's been surrounded by scaffolding all summer for cleaning and whatnot... but not anymore!

now it's whiter and cleaner and sparklier than ever!

i like palm trees.

the moon also looked very cool this night... but you'll have to take my word for it. maybe you saw it.

last "summer" hurrah

2010-09-21T19:42:00.008-07:00

i was hoping to keep my birthday post up for an entire month and keep the magic alive, but then i realized all good things must come to an end. (plus i was tired of that picture of me and the cake...)

so here's a lil riddle: where does one who lives in paradise go on vacation? that's easy... utah! and idaho! (p.s. if you fly frontier they give you warm cookies! and they have little animals painted on the plane! it's the little things in life...)

i worked on a documentary in school and it was finally time for it to premiere. i got to see my best friends forever for the first time in... forever! especially the one on the left. she's been in nauvoo for about 18 months or so.

then, my loving family took me up to idaho for the rest of the week. i may have missed the EISF, but i got there just in time to paint infamous black box #2, visit grandma's house, have lunch with college steve-o, jump on the trampoline, have a bbq with thomas and caley, and, perhaps most entertaining, witness emily the cheerleader!

she's 2nd from the left... and i've got about 25 more videos if any of you in the emily fan club are hungry for more.

so i think that'll be the extent of my travel for the next little while. for all of you who want to lay by the pool with me while listening to the palm trees sway in the breeze, the ball's in your court.

catch 22

2010-08-30T22:43:00.005-07:00

a funfetti cake (my fav!)

red roses (a lot of them!)

a shout-out from michelle on the ccf blog (what an honor!)

facetime on the iphone with emily m. (technology is amazing!)

lots of calls/missed calls (oops sorry!) from family and friends

a flood of cards/parcels in the mail today (nice timing, everyone!)

carrie underwood tickets (score!)

a couple of special drawings on my facebook wall from veronica and stevie (i have such an artistic family!)

and the fact that today wasn't the first day of school for me. (bittersweet... not!)

what a great birthday! thanks world!

save the rainforest!

2010-08-29T21:06:00.007-07:00

what better place to spend the saturday before my birthday than the world famous san diego zoo? doug and i were greeted by this little guy...

who had an uncanny resemblance to this little guy:

here's our little panda friend. just hangin out!

but i would have to say my favorite zoo buddy was this little monkey. if i had a friend with a tail like that i'd swing on it too!

doug and i sure enjoyed the many ways to get around that didn't involve walking. like the skyfari aerial tram.

and the escalator-like conveyor belt contraptions.

my only regret is that i didn't get any footage of the birds that flew out in sync with the theme song of the chicago bulls. or the parrot that sang old mcdonald. or the middle-aged men who dressed up like cats and did trampoline stunts. next time!

good news minute

2010-08-23T11:11:00.005-07:00

my birthday is in one week

jillian and i are shredding again

my legs are the tannest they've been since hawaii '08

sister picard is home

anyone else have some good news?

soy un peridot

2010-08-18T14:23:00.006-07:00

just so you know, my new blog header font is based on the actual handwriting of celine dion. (thanks veronica a year ago). someone on the comment board for the font used it to tattoo some celine dion lyrics on their body. now that's commitment!

also... today would have been my birthday if i had been born on my due date. but i was a little late. only like 12 days. better late than never!

i guess it's for the best, since doug's brother was born on my due date (happy birthday!), and my grandpa was born exactly 60 years before my due date (happy birthday!) and i hate sharing.

cookies anyone?

2010-08-15T18:18:00.003-07:00

I didn't even realize until the other day that Hershey doesn't really have much of a presence in the chocolate chip world compared to Nestle, and that I can't even recall ever using Hershey chocolate chips... ever. Naturally we had to research the matter... for Doug's job... and stuff...

Guess what? They taste so much better than Nestle! jk they taste the same. But Hershey also have the Reese's and Heath bits which are pretty good. Plus, I just remembered these little guys:

Before making the cookies we went to the beach (big surprise!) Check it out on Doug's blog, which he finally updated (bigger surprise!) Maybe if more people look at it he'll be inspired to update regularly... only time will tell.

P.S. I woke up today with the sudden urge to listen to Christmas music. This usually doesn't happen until at least October. What's happening to me?

friendly reunion

2010-08-08T19:23:00.006-07:00

meet lauren. she's been a best friend of mine since the my early high school years. i could probably trace our friendship back to middle school when we met at our fathers' high school reunion at jensen's grove. naturally, when i heard she was going to be so close (relatively speaking) to san diego, i had to pay her a visit!

here we are at newport beach. a little bigger than jensen's grove i suppose...

i think doug was pondering life at this point.

thanks for the fun afternoon, lauren!

have YOU seen this cat?

2010-08-05T22:40:00.009-07:00

Doug's new job requires him to fax things quite regularly, so we actually own a fax machine believe it or not. it's a printer, scanner, and copier too, so not totally archaic. late last night, we received a mysterious fax.

if anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of this cat, feel free to fax me about it.

p.s. i have an iPhone.

Saturdays in SoCal

2010-08-01T15:15:00.011-07:00

one friday night, doug and I decided to go to disneyland. because we can. doug jokes that he agreed to go just so that i would, "get it out of my system." except i don't think i'll ever get disneyland out of my system. joke's on him!

i found out that doug's favorite ride (of all rides) is star tours. seriously? star tours? who knew? it closed for "reimagining" a couple days after we were there, though, so it's a very good thing we went when we did.

my favorite part about this trip to disneyland (besides the churros) was my first set of mickey mouse ears!

if you've watched 5 seconds or more of the disney channel in the past couple months, you've probably heard of "world of color" at california adventure. well, it was awesome! sorry no pictures, but, take my word for it.

speaking of california adventure...

"I: because there's no M in california." and nobody gets a picture with the I. i wonder Y.

since we had such a tiring saturday in anaheim, we decided to tone it down a notch yesterday and chill (i mean burn) at the beach. we headed out to coronado island's silver strand state beach.

the weather was perfect! i found out the girls in my ward sometimes come here for girl's camp. which is great news, considering i am now the laurel adviser. let the good times roll!

this is the bridge you take to get to and from coronado. the "suicide hotline" signs every hundred feet or so are a little unsettling... i guess people are prone to jumping off.

maybe next saturday i'll get a little shamu face time. we'll see.

my new favorite pastime

2010-07-28T21:20:00.008-07:00

this site is so fun. you can type in anyone from idaho's name and it instantly digs up the dirt on what they've done. (traffic violations, crimes, court appearances, you name it!) hey, it's public information. i've known about it for a while but rediscovered its magic tonight.

anyway, i knew bruce willis and demi moore lived near sun valley, so i thought, "why not?" lo and behold, i found bruce (aka walter) willis. he's got quite the lil' record. and got a speeding ticket back in 1994. (demi got one in '97)

for some reason this song is running through my head right now... (r.i.p lisa "left eye" lopes)

utah's got a similar site, but it's a little less user friendly IMHO. plus, it's always fun looking up old high school classmates. kind of like a "where are they now" game.

calico ghost town

2010-07-23T08:05:00.009-07:00

on long road trips, i've been known to beg doug to stop at certain historical sites (cove fort, rock-a-hoola water park, the outlet malls) but he always says "no" or accidentally misses the exit. well, 72nd time's a charm because on the way back to st. george from our "apartment hunting" trip we moseyed on over to calico ghost town!!!

i have fond childhood memories of a ghost town my family and i went to when i was a small child. or maybe i'm thinking of an episode of the brady bunch i watched as a small child. either way, i love old historical places. they're so creepy/cool.

it was VERY HOT. i can't imagine what it would have been like to live there when it was actually a town. no water. no AC. just a silver mine. and boredom.

i was somewhat disappointed to find that most of the buildings were replicas, and that most of them were just gift shops trying to sell me poorly-made souvenirs with "Calico" written on them with a sharpie.

they also really played up the "ghost" part of ghost town. skeletons and coffins and cobwebs everywhere. (the cobwebs were real, though, and i think an unintentional byproduct of a lack of upkeep)

so there you have it! doug's first ghost town experience. possibly last. we'll see!

p.s. we also stopped at 2 outlet malls. was this my lucky day or what?

wherever you go, there you are

2010-07-21T19:52:00.007-07:00

welp, we're in san diego! doug in the u-haul and i in the corolla survived I-15, I-215, I-5, I-8, I-805 and all the other I's in between. by the time we got here it felt like st. george was all a distant dream...

before moving, we had to scope the area out (obviously.) so i got us a sweet deal on a priceline hotel with advice from my mother who is a veteran at bidding on hotels. hello hilton san diego resort and spa! here's the view from our room:

and here's our little comfy special chair-thing on our back porch place.

the hotel also had fire pits everywhere and a private beach. boo ya! we then proceeded to find an awesome apartment in an "unincorporated area of san diego county" called rancho san diego. we'll be legit once we get a post office, but for now we're associated with the mean streets of el cajon. our apartment is cute looks out on a lovely community park.

so we went back, we packed, we cleaned, we moved, we unpacked, and finished everything just in time for doug to start his job on monday. he is currently deep in sleep on our brand new couch kindly picked up for us by his sister katie and her husband. thanks guys!

as for me, i now spend my days on the job hunt. i thought about opening a segway tour company, but it turns out they already have one of those, and i don't have any segways, so it didn't exactly work out.

that's all, folks

2010-07-09T14:57:00.005-07:00

well, doug kind of already announced it on his blog, but there's been a little tiny change of plans...

we're moving to san diego and pursuing our dreams of being whale trainers! jk, doug got a job there with this fine company and we decided it was a great opportunity... so... see ya later st. george. the 2 months i spent with you were amazing!

i'll admit, i'm gonna miss this town: the polygs, the earthquakes, the unlimited diet coke at my job, the red rocks, the temple, the golf courses, the snow birds, the free flights.

but i probably will not miss the constant triple digit temps and being scalded with my seatbelt everyday. sorry, sg, that was a deal breaker.

a year ago...

2010-07-03T08:08:00.004-07:00

today i can't help but think about independence day 2009: a day that will live in infamy. i'm tired just thinking about it. i was so tired then that i didn't even blog about it.

we all headed down to our friend brent's parents' house in st george for a weekend of cave exploring, bbq'ing, monopoly deal, fireworks, and swimming! then the boys decided, what better way to celebrate our nation's freedom than to go rock climbing and mountain biking in the middle of the day?

the rock climbing came first. doug hoarded all the water!

then we got on the bikes and off we went on the green valley trail or bear claw poppy or whatever you wanna call it. (ironically, it's right behind the place i now work: a constant reminder...) it was way fun except way hot and way tiring. becca and i took the easy way around all of the sections with names like clavicle hill and... that's the only name i remember actually.
about halfway through is when things went downhill (literally! jk, figuratively...) we all ran out of water, i rode through a nasty dust devil, tyler popped his bike tire, brent traded bikes and ran tyler's all the way to the end of the trail, becca and i drove back to brent's and almost collapsed from exhaustion...

luckily, we lived to tell about it!

and then we did this for a couple hours:

buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks

2010-06-30T21:53:00.004-07:00

doug and i went to a roadrunners baseball game tonight. it reminded me of those 3-5 fun-filled childhood nights i spent watching the idaho falls ~~braves~~ ~~padres~~ chukars. except in st. george, they have huge fans blowing mist on the crowd! (if you know me, or if you've attended the st. george marathon with me in the past, you know that i love misty fans.) another difference between this and a chukars game is that everyone around me wasn't drinking beer. that's always nice. here's their interpretation of a roadrunner (photo courtesy doug):

in other news, after leaving the game i went to the church and practiced some primary songs. here's my question... where did "scripture power" come from? it's not even in the book, yet every primary child in the world now knows it. mysterious...

TRAPPED!

2010-06-25T07:32:00.003-07:00

so yesterday (my day off) i was drifting into an afternoon nap when suddenly i heard a loud banging noise outside my window. apparently they decided to strip and reinforce the floor of our front porch balcony thing without letting us know. no big deal... i did kind of feel like I was going to fall through each time I stepped foot on it.

then, early this morning, one of the workers knocked on my door and informed me that they're putting a base coat of cement on it and that I can't step on it for like 4 hours! that's our only exit! they even put a strip of red tape across the doorway.

i feel like R. Kelly in his 12-part music video trapped in the closet. (anyone else remember that or just me?) i'm tempted to make a handprint or sign my name in it or something.

2 months ago today...

2010-06-24T10:12:00.006-07:00

so, for our 2 month anniversary, i decided to get doug something he really wanted...

an iPhone 4! sure, he pre-ordered it and paid for it but it's the thought that counts, right? it even arrived a day before its official release date. i'll admit, it's pretty amazing. while i've always been a zune/microsoft/pc activist, doug is converting me to the apple way of life. (sorry thomas). i'm waiting for the white one to come out before i jump on to doug's new at&t plan. (sorry mom). i'm mostly excited for iMovie for iPhone:

This phone does everything! (sorry samsung t819).

i guess i misunderstood

2010-06-17T08:12:00.003-07:00

back when v and i witnessed the magic of celine dion's world tour, i was under the impression that she was done with the vegas show, done with touring, and basically retiring. silly me, she's just on maternity leave!

who's in?!

speaking of awesome, BSB will be in SLC on WED. how did i not know about this until a couple days ago? this is huge! i might fly up for it so i can check another lifelong dream off my list. i'll never forget the butterflies i felt the first time i listened to i want it that way back in 1998. for some reason i'm finding it hard to convince doug to go with me, though. (he claims he has to go to work. excuses, excuses...)

expecting!

2010-06-09T09:37:00.005-07:00

i know i announced the news to some people a while back, but it didn't exactly work out. this one's for real (i hope)! celine is officially 15 weeks pregnant with twins! i saw the news by the check out stand at walmart last night, and doug's like, "yeah... according to Star Magazine." but cnn is reporting it too, and they're at least a little bit more credible.

speaking of babies, when i married doug i also got a brand new baby niece! here's zoe sleepily trying on her blessing dress.

i'm hoping some others will give me another niece or nephew one of these days now that i'm an experienced aunt. (you know who you are ...)

pepsi and disneyland

2010-06-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

found this on my computer from a few months back at grandma's house. i have no clue how emily got doug to play along.

speaking of emily, she's going on the 8th grade california trip on saturday! can't believe she's old enough to go. seems like just yesterday alisha, sarah and i were chasing churro carts around disneyland and making friends with 23-year-old dan the vendor man. (creepy!)

here's the last time she was at disneyland:

have fun little buddy!

employed!

2010-06-03T07:48:00.003-07:00

as much as i enjoyed my graduation freedom and lack school or work or basically any real responsibility, i decided it was probably a good idea to get a job. so, for the past week or so i've been on the in-house marketing team here. woo hoo! vacation everyday!

with doug's travel benefits and MY travel benefits combined, we will make a globetrotting dream team. that is, if we ever get any time off.

for those wondering why i didn't get a journalism job, it's because they don't exist. at least not in st. george. c'est la vie!

caley tagged me

2010-05-20T07:42:00.004-07:00

and i'm bored.

the google game

rules:
search google images to match your answers
only use images from the first 2 pages of your search

-my age-

-place i've been-

-place i want to go-

-one of my favorite places-

-favorite object-

-favorite food-

-favorite animal-

-favorite color-

-birth place-

-current place of residence-

-past love-

-best friend-

-nickname-

-first name-

-first job-

-what i'm doing now-

adventures in mixing

2010-05-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

My mom always makes this awesome frozen peanut butter/oreo/whatever pie from a recipe I believe she got from my Aunt Janna once upon a time. To celebrate the arrival of my new kitchen accessory, I decided to make said pie, but mother was unavailable for the recipe, so I found a similar version from The Pioneer Woman. Here's the pie in progress...

Who knew having a stand mixer would make life so easy? It would have been even easier if the grocery store I went to carried Oreo pie crusts, but alas. This is the finished product...

Okay, so it's not the most beautiful pie in the whole wide world, and may even look like a little kid made it, but it's not like I'm entering it in the fair! Still very delicious.

so much to blog, so little time...

2010-05-03T08:16:00.006-07:00

i've had a lot to blog about lately... but the thought of detailing it all here makes me tired. here's the reader's digest version.

first... all eyes were teary at my last day at work. especially the mammoth Y's.

later that afternoon and following morning... doug and i graduated! woo hoo!

the next day, it was off to idaho for the wedding!

what's a honeymoon without a guided segway tour of catalina island? i kid you not when i say that this was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so that's about it. stay tuned for a tour of our lovely st. george condo! (visitors welcome)

the last

2010-04-18T10:19:00.003-07:00

today is my last day in a singles ward. this week is my last week in provo. thursday is my last day at campus craft and floral. yesterday was my first and last saturday-9pm-scheduled-final. probably a lot of other lasts happening soon too.

just a few more things to do during my undergraduate career, but i realllllllly don't want to do them. currently suffering from combination senioritis and engagementitis. 6 days to go!

weekend in rocklin!

2010-04-14T21:47:00.008-07:00

scott's little brother got married! so doug and i got to make the 10-hour drive to his hometown. it was great!

The happy couple:

Another happy couple:
a few things i learned:

reno has a really nice denny's
there is a place called pumpernickel valley
doug and i do a pretty good job dancing together
nobody in rocklin has a basement
turkeys run loose in the granite bay countryside
how to set up a bed
and this:

by the way... 10 days from today i will be married. i keep checking weather.com to see what the deal is going to be that day. i can only see up to the day before, and that day switches off from being cloudy to being rainy every few hours. pray for sun on the 24th, please!

St. George, here we come!

2010-04-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

Good news... Doug and I now know where we're headed after the wedding (which is happening in 2 weeks and 4 days, in case you wondered)! These people were so kind as to offer him a job in sunny St. George. No, he's not a flight attendant, although he'd probably make a pretty good one. His job is in their Corporate Communications department. Way to go, Doug!!!

On a side note, living in St. George means I will have no excuse not to run the marathon. Hmm.

the life of a fish...

2010-03-31T14:45:00.002-07:00

in case you didn't know, my little sister is an expert stop-animation filmmaker. she's been making them for several years, actually. here's her latest. prepare to be inspired. coming soon: an infomercial about a hat.

story time: hair revelation

2010-03-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

once upon a time, about a week or two ago, my hair straightener (which i begged my mom to buy from this guy after seeing his amazing demo on home shopping network in spring of '05) decided to break after 5 years of faithful service. so, since then, i've let my hair dry naturally/awkwardly wavy, or i've spent the time to curl it. how annoying.

fast forward to today. i remembered that my hair dryer had a random "straightening" attachment that came with it. i don't really do attachments...i'm a tad bit skeptical, especially since my hair is so thick and uncooperative. but then i thought, what the heck? well guess what? it worked. that's all. good bye forever, flat irons!

[however i will say that my maxius worked better than any chi i've ever used, and you can take that to the bank! just ask lauren.]

a slice of heaven

2010-03-29T16:13:00.004-07:00

i've wanted some of this coconut cake ever since i saw it on "food nation with bobby flay" a while back. i was thinking about it today just found out i can order it online, straight from charleston, south carolina!!! what luck!

too bad it's $100.00. plus $114.00 for overnight shipping to provo. (that's $214.00 total for those of you not into math.) ha! a girl can dream though...

doug had a birthday, shout hooray

2010-03-28T22:46:00.026-07:00

hard to believe it's already/only been a year since the first time i casually dropped doug's name in my blog. This year, his birthday fell on a sunday, so while we didn't play a game of tennis in which he let me win or ride our bikes clear the heck out to utah lake or play "the game" at red robin, he did get a cake this time!

we also watched the discovery channel special "Life" (in HD) thanks to blake and megan. it's amazing. i could watch it all day. and we played scum (doug never left the couch.) anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY fiance! (sorry, only have 3 weeks 6 days left to call him that. gotta get my money's worth...)

where has the time gone?

2010-03-24T21:42:00.005-07:00

one month from yesterday: graduation

[i forgot this picture existed]

one month from today: marriage

[thanks, michelle]

please tell me i look older now than when i was 17... i think the shorter hair actually does help.

what do ya know...

2010-03-13T22:49:00.001-08:00

another 5k! this time, doug was so kind as to sign me up behind my back. but it was great, and i got another shirt! which is really what running is all about, right?

photo op in my parking lot. maybe next time i'll try a 10k? maybe... not.

how "twilight" should have ended

2010-03-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

thanks, doug.