Culinary Secrets

Karly's Wedding Cake

2010-03-07T18:10:00.008-07:00

I ask myself every time I make one of these, why I put myself through the stress. My Mom asks me the same question, and always adds that this cake should be the last one we do! It 's been said ever since the original cakes I made with my friend Jen. I never seem to say no those friends who've had their hearts set on me making their wedding cake since seeing pics of those original ones. I know, not surprising knowing me, but still...

Usually my blog posts of my wedding cake making involve all of the drama which accompanies the existing drama and stress already present when taking on this certain task. I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday wedding, or if it was because it was my roommate's cake, or if I'm just getting better at it (not), but this one seemed to go off without much drama. At least no major drama to report. It is a long process, and it has been a very long week, but I thought I would give you all the "in process" pics, thanks to a suggestion by Shameonyou21.

Lemon Cake, Raspberry Filling, Cream Cheese Frosting

From This

To This

Must border the edges so the filling doesn't ooze out into the frosting on the outside.

All filled, and all stacked. I usually only do two layers, but they were thin so I made another one!

I believe this is the 2nd coat of frosting, before they are all smoothed out.

TA DAH! I made Idyllic Ideas have her flower lady do the tops of the cakes. No Belnaps, or Mommy doing arrangements last minute!

My Mom asked the flower lady once we set up the cakes on their stands, how the arrangements were going to look. She freaked out and said "The arrangement are over there, and I'LL get to it in a minute. As if we were going to try and do it ourselves there! PA-LEEZE!

I monogrammed some ribbon that is along the bottom of the layers, at the request of the bride, with the words:

"Karly & Rob"

"March 6, 2010"

"Draper Utah Temple"

The cake server was a high heel, which is SO Idyllic Ideas!

There you have it. The only real drama that happened was the middles of the cakes kept sinking with under ten minutes to bake it the oven. One of the big layers got over cooked when we tried increasing the oven temperature to compensate for the sinking middles. I ended up remaking some of the layers that were too sunken, and the big layer that got over baked. In the process we decided the layers were just a bit too thin, so I made another layer of each size to go along with the re-makes.

That's pretty good drama for a wedding cake if you ask me! I think some kids poked one, and the ribbon slid down a tiny bit on a couple of layers. The whole night at the reception, I kept going over to the cakes and trying to play with the ribbon, or smooth some parts, or whatever, and my other roommate Nat Nat, had to physically grab my arm a couple of times and yell at me to just leave it alone. I can't help myself. I guess I notice the imperfections more than others might! Even though I don't claim to be, nor ever will claim to be an experienced or awesome cake decorator, I think it turned out alright.

I had made a small sample cake for Idyllic and Fiance to try since I'd never really made a lemon cake before. I didn't want to mess with cake flour as some of the recipes online suggested, and others just didn't seem to be anything more than a yellow cake with a lemon filling. I found one in my Mom's Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook that was a triple layer cake. It wasn't very lemony because of the lemon filling and lemon frosting, I am sure, so we doubled the zest for the main batch and hoped it would be enough without having to worry about having too much liquid. We sampled one of the sunken layers to make sure it was actually edible, and also to make sure it tasted a little more like lemon than before, and OH! MY! I think I've found a new favorite!!! You can find the recipe here, but remember to double the zest if you are just making the cake by itself!

Haven't Fallen Off The Bandwagon Yet!

2010-02-02T09:03:00.002-07:00

I know what you are all thinking...I post two in a row, and then go AWOL again like usual! I promise I had some good excuses this time! My lovely Dell (bad brand, bad) decided the battery charger port thing (the place where your power cord plugs into the computer to charge the battery) decided it wanted to break off it's mother board, and then in the meantime, my work computers are going bonkers too! Nothing with which to waste time at home, and not daring to waste time on the only computer at work that doesn't seem to be freaking out at the present time. See! No bandwagon falling here!

What is it with that?! Thanks to Kristeee's husband Blue Eyes, both computers are up and running again. I feel bad, like I'm totally using him lately or something because he's fixed my dell twice (among the others who've also played with it too), and then I give him the work computer to deal with! He must think I'm the...well...I dunno...but he's probably sick of me!

Anyway, hopefully we won't have any more major meltdowns (knocking on wood). I don't want to have to go AWOL again...really, I don't (last time maybe, this time I really don't)! No promises though, because even though Blue Eyes soldered the part back on, a couple of prongs were broken off so who knows how long that will last even tough I am basically treating it like a desktop from now on!

Sometimes It Pays To Know Someone...

2010-01-12T09:43:00.004-07:00

To all those who either nearly or actually did fall off their chairs yesterday, by seeing the first post in over two months appear on my blog, pick your tongues up off the ground. Here I go again!

One day last week I left early from work to run around and get some miscellaneous things accomplished like renewing my drivers license and passport (even though I am not going anywhere anytime soon...it's a "just in case I want to go somewhere I'll have it" errand), actually paying car taxes to register my car before the cops pull me over in march for a three month expired registration. I also bought some flowers for my friend Jamz who just had her baby and went and saw her at the hospital.

My story though, focuses on the first activity I mentioned. The dreaded DMV-Drivers License Division. I kinda thought that since it was about 3 p.m. maybe the lines wouldn't be so long. Turns out I was sorta right, however, I didn't know that I had to bring every tiny piece of information that ever existed to prove that I was actually me, and not some imposter or something. So, I had to leave and run up to my parents house (which was luckily not far away), to locate my birth certificate.

Before I left I wanted to slap the obnoxious man behind the counter silly for being a rude SOB. He's telling me that I need to have this list of stuff, of which consisted of something he referred to as simply "letters" and that I needed two of them. When I asked him to clarify what he meant by letter, he got rude, and said,

"You know, like mail, something with your name and address on it?!"

Here's the killer though,

"Do I need to write it down for you?"

SMACK, you stupid moron!

Anyway, so I went and got what I needed (plus some in case the bozo decided to add anything else to the list), and returned only to find the line had since doubled in size! As I was standing in line to get my number, I noticed my friend was working, so I yelled out her name to say hi. She asked why I was there and told her I was renewing my D.L.. She then said to come over to where she was (basically skipped over like 6 or 7 people, she took my pic, and we went right over to her desk to get me processed. about 30-45 min later on my way out the door, I noticed a couple sitting there who were just a few people in front of me in that initial line, still waiting to even be seen!!! HA HA!!! SUCKERS!!!

I could totally tell they were trash talking me as I walked out but I totally didn't care! It pays to know someone!

BTW, while renewing my passport, I had to get new pics taken. The first picture was 10 years ago, and they told me NOT to smile. This time they told me I could smile, just not show any teeth because of the government's facial recognition software or something. Many thanks to Costco for the cheap, 5 minute pics, that do not make me look like a terrorist ready to kill the first person I see, or make me look like I am as high as a kite!

Party At My House?

2010-01-11T10:30:00.005-07:00

Do NOT fall off your chairs, this is actually a real post! I've been a bit AWOL from the internet world for the last couple of months (if it isn't already very obvious to everyone). Rarely got on my Facebook, and definately didn't post on my blog, nor read others' blogs. I don't have any lame excuses for why I haven't. I guess I just wanted a break or I didn't feel like it, or something. Who knows. I am back (for now, but hopefully longer) so don't get too upset with if my posts suck for a bit!

I've recently just had a birthday, and I am now officially in my 30's, rather than just being 30. Still not sure I like that, but at least this year blew last year's out of the water because I did not end up with walking pneumonia like last year. Hooray for not having walking pneumonia again!!! Anyway, with my birthday being shortly after Christmas, I wasn't entirely expecting anything huge. Especially with my Christmas present this year:

I think I've had the same little RCA TV set since, well, since I got my first very own TV like forever ago! YEA FOR HD!!! When my mom was helping take the ginormous box up my stairs one day, my roommate Nat noticed our other roommate Idyllic Ideas got the new Super Mario Bros game for the Wii for her Christmas present. Nat got really excited because she loves to play that game with her nephews. That apparently started the Wii-Ball rolling with my Mom, and secretly had Nat trying to get the scoop from me on if I wanted one too. I was apparently pretty dumb about it because now looking back, it was SO obvious!

Anyway, my fam was VERY good to me this birthday:

From Ma & Pa & Sissy's & B-I-L's & Brooklynn

From Nat (I asked her if she got a good deal on the game in light of recent events, but apparently not!)

I got the cutest black cardigan and silver necklace from Brady & Lauren & Boston, and Mitch and Tavi and the kids got me an Old Navy gift card!

I think I am set for a bit, what do you think??? Anyone wanna be my friend again!!!

p.s. Lauren took some pics of the kids helping me blow out candles, so I'll post those when I get them!

Plus 2 in Hotness Points

2009-10-15T18:50:00.005-07:00

After a lot of $$$, and some family hookups, I've been told I gained two points on the hotness scale! I got my hair (re)done the other night while Shameonyou21 got her eyelash extensions done, and then the next night, I got mine done. My sissy works at this spa as an aesthetician, (or esthetician depending on how you want to spell it) and she helped in this effort of mine.

My Mammy was the first guinea pig in helping Megs get certified to do the eyelash extensions. She looked so fabulous, and I hate my eyelashes, so I thought I would give it a try too. The girls at the spa pretty much just said it as a generalization, that all girls who get the eyelash extensions gain two hotness points, but I took it as I, personally, gained the two hotness points. Cause why not? DUH!

Sorry for the creepy pics of me, but I had to demonstrate my point. Let me know if you agree with my hotness points! You don't have to lie, I just rather you not burst my little bubble right right now by telling me the truth!

BEFORE

AFTER

HOTNESS POINTS GAINED!!!

Cake Anyone?

2009-09-18T19:46:00.006-07:00

About a month ago a friend asked me to make her wedding cake. I didn't even know she was dating anyone, not to mention engaged! I couldn't really lie to her and say I didn't know how to make cakes, since she was good friends with the two girls for whom I made those first cakes. CRAP!

There's been nothing but drama surrounding this particular cake. All during the cooking process, the stupid cakes were having issues coming out of the pans. Even though I sprayed the crap outta them with pam, greased the snot outta them on the remakes with crisco, and then both greased AND sprayed on the re-remakes. Stupid 6 inchers hated my guts all week!!!

Day of the wedding, things are finally going pretty smooth. I decide to pull out the cake stand provided me by the bride, to make sure I knew how the thing actually worked. That's when things went downhill very quickly! Assembly was really easy. Almost self explanatory. I pull out the clear plastic "glass" looking plates the cake layers are supposed to sit on while on the stand. The freaking 8" piece is MISSING!!!

After my assistant, ran all over town looking for another stand to buy, we settled on some round mirrors, which actually worked out great, cause I think they look better and they aren't cheap plastic!

My floral arrangements were courtesy of my Mammy, Sissy, and B-I-L Tay Tay! Tay Tay and EK would make FABULOUS florists doncha think???!!! Belnap Bundles of Flowers or something dumb like that!!!

I was under the impression that Shelly ordered arrangements from the local grocery store, not just individually bundled flowers. The Bride was not having any flowers of any kind at her reception, so Shelly offered to buy these for the tops cause the Bride also couldn't decide on what she wanted on top besides NOTHING! Specialty orders have to be at least two weeks in advance, so this is what the florist had in stock. The blue flowers are actually just painted baby's breath, not little cute unknown name flowers!

Anyway, here are the pics. Don't adjust your screen, the bride's colors are actually the primary colors of red, yellow, blue. Turned out better than the image I had in my head. Maybe it's the Mammy/Belnap magical floral arrangements that did the trick!

MMM Cake!

2009-08-24T09:42:00.005-07:00

For Idyllic Ideas' birthday, I ordered her something that she'd been drooling over for a while, but never actually ordered. I was struggling with an idea, and also running out of time (even though I had tons of notice) so I came up with a brilliant plan...

Introducing one of the coolest new toys to enter my household since...well...ever! Is it a cookie? Is it cake? It's both! It is the Cookie Cake Pan!!!

According to the recipe on the box, this is what you will look like when it is all done:

It will work with any type of cake though. We made a lemon pound cake with raspberry cream cheese frosting on the inside. Idyllic did a great job while I was half sprawled out on the couch with ice on my head, and face due to my concussion and sore jaw. Next time I decide it would be fun to see what it would be like to be a brick wall, and get bull dozed over, will someone remind me it WASN'T that much fun!

I will have to get Idyllic Ideas to email me the finished product, but this is what it looks like coming right out of the pan.

Hooray for cookies. cakes, and now best of all, COOKIE CAKES!!! I think this little movie could also apply for my new friends the cookie cakes. Don't you?!

"I'm Concussed!"

2009-08-21T15:39:00.004-07:00

Or at least that's what we think. Turns out that slow pitch softball actually can be dangerous. Who'duh thought it?! I know what some of you are saying to your computer screens right now...

"She hurt herself AGAIN?!" "What the crap did she do to herself now?!

See how well I know you! Anyway, so last night while playing on my city co-ed team, I took a turn playing catcher for an inning. Turns out that wasn't so much fun. While rounding third base, the stupid girl decides she wants to try and make it all the way home. My team throws the ball in for the play. The rules say that if there is a play at a base, the runner has to slide. She didn't. I caught the ball fully expecting to tag the runner at my feet, instead I got bulldozed to the ground. I upon landing on the ground the back of my head did a nice little bounce in the dirt. Not such a soft landing.

Technically the girl should have been out anyway since she didn't slide, but luckily for me, I held onto the ball so she was FOR SURE OUT!!! I got up and finished the game alright, with the only thing really hurting was my jaw from tensing up. Today, chewing is a bit of a task, and I've been on the verge of dizzy all day with a slight headache. That's when we decided (my Mammy and I) that a slight concussion was probably the likely outcome. Now I wish I'd gotten up and punched the retard girl in the teeth or something!

I know I have this unusual habit of injuring myself (burns while cooking, road rash from sliding into 3rd base in shorts, etc.) and a crazy attraction to an array of ski breaks, I just can't help myself. What can I say? I'm like Martin Short in the movie "Pure Luck" or something! Dumb things just have a way of finding me!!!

Cooking Mood

2009-07-29T19:45:00.004-07:00

I do love to cook. That is no secret, nor has it ever been. I have recently been very very lazy and not really made anything for a long time. I have eaten, don't mistake that, my meals have just been parents/sammiches/Shameonyou21's house/restaurants/VERY BAD Red Rooster fried chicken and waffle restaurants.

No worries though! I think I have found my passion again over this last week! I made homemade scones with homemade honey butter one Sunday. I came home from work one day last week, and all of a sudden had the desire to make homemade broccoli beef. So I went to walmart, bought the groceries, came home and made it! I also threw in some homemade ham fried rice for good measure!

The night before last, I asked my new roommate around midnight----OH YEAH, I forgot another new event for my list! I got a new roommate! Idyllic Ideas finally moved in! There goes all of my future roommate bashing posts though. I know how much you all believe that too! ANYWAY, I asked her what she wanted me to make for dinner the next day. She came up with the kabobs idea.

I made both chicken kabobs and steak kabobs. I bugged Shameonyou21 at 12:30 a.m. over text message for some suggestions. I marinated the chicken in my usual soy sauce/7-up marinade starting the next morning. I did not marinate the steak, but just brushed the finished kabobs with garlic butter before cooking. Idyllic Ideas really wanted to add the fruit of the devil (pineapple) to her kabobs, so I made sure those stayed far away from my kabobs (even though those that ate them said they liked them)!

I really wanted to BBQ the skewers, but somehow, my small charcoal grill disappeared at my parents' house, so I settled for baking them instead. I guess they turned out alright...in fact, they were pretty freaking fabulous!!!

My neighbor made us dinner tonight since I have basically fed her over the last month off and on! Anyone got any other ideas while I am on a roll? You all might want to try and take advantage this roll if you know what's good for you--mmm food...good...

New Post!!! (arms stretched straight in the air in glee)

2009-07-27T16:53:00.003-07:00

Don't fall off your chairs. This IS in fact a real post!!! I have recently fallen WAY off the wagon when it comes to the blogging world. OK, so it's probably more like AWOL instead of just falling off the back of a wagon.

There's been so much that has happened over the last almost three months, I think I just got so far behind, I didn't know where to even start. I think I am just going to do a quick synopsis of what has happened over the last little while. If there is something you need more clarification on something, just let me know!

Ahem...

My baby sis got married at the beginning of may. Beautiful bride, handsome groom, gorgeous/awesome reception. Build-your-own Panini Bar, and candy buffet. Find ME a husband committee was founded.
My older bro got a long awaited call up from the LA Dodgers. He spent about three weeks with them before getting sent back down to Triple A when a suspended Manny Ramierez returned. He had his very first hit, but didn't really get a lot of opportunities to get into any kind of rhythm since he mainly only pinch hitted. He still had a .308 average in 10 at bats which is still very good. Even got a double in one of the games! Whole family (except the bro and s-i-l and nephew in PA selling alarms) flew out to CA to watch his debut week!
Softball team won our tournament championship after going 0-12 in the regular season. We had to play 4 games in one night to do so, and even beat one team twice in a row (beat them badly the second game). None of us thought it was possible at the beginning of the tournament, but we found ourselves a pitcher who was also a homerun hitter so that also helped a lot too!
I got a new church calling. Gospel Doctrine Teacher. Can I tell you how freaked out I was. It's always been one of those calling I always thought I never wanted. I've only taught one lesson so far, but I can tell that it is probably going to be very good for, and I will probably learn more than I will ever teach.
Ink Spot moved. We moved from one happy valley city to another. Family City, USA to be more exact. It is a lot bigger location, a lot nicer location, and a lot closer to Ma and Pa. State Street is a very busy place. Provo is just not the place to be any more unless you are a student. At least that's what we keep hearing and the feedback from those who have followed us. The move was hard on all of us, but no more so than our big embroidery machine. It got dropped off a forklift and is now outta commission. The insurance company is now playing games with us, and is trying to do everything in their power to jack us around instead of paying up to replace it, even though we have good insurance and have never had a claim in the 20 years of business with them.

Anyway, I think there is more, but I can't remember right now. It has still been three months after all!!! Keep your eye out for that sore thumb that might be coming your way in the next couple of days too!

Baking Frenzy

2009-05-01T18:07:00.003-07:00

I had the [un]fortunate pleasure this month of hosting our bunco group. Which, if you all remember one of my previous posts on that subject, everyone always seems to bail when I host it! I had to scramble to find the subs at the very last minute, so thanks to Idyllic Ideas and her roomie, and Serena for coming on short notice!

I promised them a fun, fancy, yummy treat if they came. I was originally going to make the desert that is shown on the front cover of this Culinary Institute of America textbook, but changed my mind when I saw that I could buy frozen puff pastry shells. Not all of them baked up perfectly when I actually baked them, and the cream filling wasn't completely set, but I still think they turned out alright. My bunco group seemed to enjoy them anyway, so I guess I can't complain too much!

I had a ton of leftover cream (I made a double batch fearing I wouldn't have enough to fill the puff pastry shells), so I promised one of the girls who did me an enormous favor that I would make her cream puffs as a thank you! It's been since I was in my first couple of semesters of Culinary School since I made these, so I was WAY out of practice! I used a recipe I found in one of my textbooks, and the batter (pâte à choux or eclair paste) was runnier than I remembered, but I thought I would bake it and see how they turned out.

No need to zoom in or come back with comments about how these are either sugar cookies, or snickerdoodle cookies and not cream puffs. They are,in fact, the first batch of the puffs! No need to post a pic of the second batch, because there wasn't much change in appearance. I decided to add a bit more flour to tighten up the paste. Turns out I had too much flour in there! I again, wanted to see how they baked, just in case. Not much puffier than the original, but definitely more dense! (Heavy cream puff cookies!)

Anyway, I left and went to dinner with the fam, and was still fuming and very disappointing that these were not working and not up to "my standards!" Nats, my roommate, was quick to recite the little vinyl saying we have stuck to our kitchen wall:

"If you don't like my cooking, lower your standards"

That made me more determined to get it right! I quickly jumped on the Internet to one of my favorite recipe websites: www.allrecipes.com to get a different recipe than the obvious not-going-so-well recipe I had been playing around with for two hours beforehand. I changed it a tad from what they wanted me to do, but right from the get-go I knew this was going to be a much better recipe, and a much better turnout! I was right! My cream puffs were tall and puffy, light and fluffy, and golden brown! I filled em, drizzled em with melted chocolate, and then dusted them with powdered sugar! Now these I am actually proud of enough to call them mine (meaning that I actually made them and I will admit to it), and then give them away so I don't eat them all!

They took up all the room in my fridge! I am actually suprised that my other roommate who often seems to find her way into mine and Nat's food didn't steal any! Especially when I told her I used all HER eggs to make 'em since I was out!

You Know You Might Be In For A Rough Day When...

2009-04-06T14:29:00.008-07:00

...You have a Ski-Break night like this:

I awoke in the middle of the night with a tickle in my throat which cause me to have a few hard coughs. I keep a water bottle next to me, for just such an occasion (cause who wants to walk all the way out to the kitchen to get a glass, and wake yourself up more).

The next little bit is kind of a blur because I apparently fell back asleep again with the water bottle in hand. The next thing I remember is turning over, or twitching or moving my arm in such a way that I doused myself with water! Talk about a rude awakening. I kinda had to laugh at myself, but at the same time I was pretty upset because I had to change out of my wet pajamas!

Remember when I gave all those reasons as to why I struggle ? Yeah, better add this to the bottom of the list (There are three links, this one must be number 25 or so from those previously linked lists)!

101

2009-04-02T13:23:00.005-07:00

So I am totally stealing this from Goddess Divine, because hey, it is a post, and I don't have anything more entertaining to say! Thanks Goddess!

1. Ridden in a train. (In Croatia it was much more safe than the bus!)
2. Slept under the stars (Froze my butt off each time...why'd I keep doing it?)
3.Played in a band/orchestra
4. Visited Hawaii (Happy 18th B-Day to ME!)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain (Timpanogos here/Slieme in Croatia)
9. Held a praying mantis (More like it landed on me and I freaked!)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (Adriatic Sea was right out the window of my apt in one of my mission areas)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (Define ART?)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (Two Words...Mama Chu's)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (Lines are 4 hours long every day...I had better things to do)
18. Grown your own vegetables (Watched others, then benefited!)
19. Had a letter to the editor published
20. Slept on an overnight train (Croatia Again)
21. Had a pillow fight (Who hasn't?)
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when not really ill. (Macey's)
24. Built a snow fort (Well mostly watched my brother's)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (I can't run to the end of the street let alone 26 miles)
28. Seen the running of the bulls
29. Seen a total eclipse (I think anyway)
30. Watched a sunrise (These are cool!)
31. Hit a home run (Short fences)
32. Been on a cruise (Almost went again, just can't afford it)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (I know another one, but kinda had a little help with that one)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (Hard to define truly satisfied...)
38. Been on a draw-bridge (Croatia once again)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Received a traffic ticket (Just A ticket...lol too many over the years!)
41. Sung karaoke (Not by choice)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (San Diego after we got done with our cruise)
46. Been transported in an ambulance (Sister and I were in a minor accident, I rode, she was being attended to)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Been a story on the news
50. Seen a wild mustang
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Not my favorite)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (I was a dumb child)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (Kinda miss these!)
55. Been in a movie (UV Culinary Recruiting Video--regularly shown on channel 17)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (Hopefully in the future)
58. Taken a martial arts class (Want to)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen (Helped prepare T-Giving Day dinner, but didn't actually serve)
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Only bought and eaten them)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Received flowers for no reason (Does a friend forgetting your b-day count?)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (They think I have mad cow disease now, so they won't let me anymore)
65. Gone sky diving (Never!)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (Paycheck bounced, then everything else bounced)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (Not good)
72. Pieced a quilt (Does tied one count?)
73. Stood in Times Square (SO FUN...WANNA GO BACK!)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (Mutal hatred at Macey's)
76. Won a contest (Battle of the sexes on the cruise ship!)
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (What a rush!)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Been in a cave (Croatia)
82. Bought a brand new car (Only used)
83. Walked in Jerusalem (One day!)
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (Culinary Arts from UV)
85. Read the entire Bible or other religious book (Never completed Bible from cover to cover)
86. Visited the White House (Would love to!)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Not at the same time though!)
88. Had Chicken Pox (Scratchy Scratcherson)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (ALMOST HAD TO)
91. Met someone famous (Few people, but it depends on how you define famous!)
92. Joined a book club (Never really participated though!)
93. Lost a loved one (Never fun)
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Been to the top of the Gateway Arch
99. Been stung by a bee (Pieces of crap!)
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument (Don't remember much, but I learned the piano!)

The Numbers

2009-03-30T15:12:00.003-07:00

Since it is almost the end of March, and I haven't posted anything in over a month, I thought I'd better hurry and write one (that and Mjillie threatened me with violence if I didn't)!

Anyway, I went to AZ for my brother's opening weekend of Spring Training games, and read this in the Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine on the way home. I've been meaning to post this since then, which was around the beginning of the month, and just haven't out of shear laziness!!!

Here you go...

4-John D. Rockefeller was nearly 4 times richer than Bill Gates. Even though he was only worth $900 million when he died, they figured today it would equal close to $190 billion. Bill Gates is worth $58 billion.

2-Women generate 2 times more trash as men. We average around a dozen miscellaneous items in our medicine cabinets compared to the seven for men. They were quick to also point out that it is no wonder who the cleaner sex is!

65-People over 65 dream in black and white. At least 25% of the time anyway. People under 25 said their dreams are in black & white only about 5% of the time. They figured it was due to the type of television set we watched while growing up. Whether it was a black & white set, or colored. The question was then posed as to whether or not today's kids will be dreaming in HD!

633-We eat 633 hot dogs per second. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (they have one of those for real?) figures Americans eat about 20 billion hot dogs per year. The killer thing in this number is that the figures do not include sales from Wal-Mart, sporting events, or street vendors!!! They figure baseball parks sell during the regular season alone around 30 million hot dogs. Just imagine all those Family BBQ's/Costco/J-Dawgs/Sporting Event hot dogs you've eaten! Since my family has practically lived at the ballparks/sporting events my entire life, I am kinda grossed out to even think of how many I have consumed in my ripe-old lifetime to date. Probably won't be enough to stop me from getting them again though. There is just something to be said sometimes about a dumb hot dog!

What's Your Flavor?

2009-02-17T14:18:00.004-07:00

I know this may come as a shock to some of you, and for others, you may just shake your head in shame at me and think to yourselves, "How Pathetic!" Anyway, I am on the frequent email list for The Cheesecake Factory and I received an email asking me to find out what my perfect cheesecake flavor is.
I quizzed my roommate Nats, and her friend Frino who was over, and they thought it did a pretty good job of describing them. The description makes it, not necessarily the actual flavor, so be sure to read it all the way through if you decide to play. Also, let me know what your flavor is, and what you think mine might be according to you cause that's the fun of it also!

My flavor is Carmel Pecan Turtle:

"Your precocious, yet delightful personality endears you to everyone you know. This flavor of cheesecake has that same effect, which is why it is your perfect match. How could it not be? Layers of chewy chocolate pecan brownie, and creamy caramel cheesecake swirled with caramel and Belgian fudge have that ability. Certainly you understand better than most. You're just that lovable!"

Probably not what I would have chosen for myself for my personal flavor of choice, but I guess it's kinda fun to be described as a flavor anyway!

Thirty, Flirty, But Definitely NOT Thriving

2009-01-23T09:47:00.003-07:00

Have I mentioned to anyone yet that being 30 sucks so far? I have been sick for almost exactly 3 weeks straight now! I remember it all started on a Monday, and I woke up with a scratchy throat. Well the sore throat came and went but then developed into a major head cold. That started clearing up until the sore throat came back with a vengeance (all within a week's time)!

I spent my birthday just a little achy but I could feel it was getting worse. Sunday, I couldn't make myself even go to church, but the more I got up and showered I felt well enough to go have birthday dinner with my family. Monday was the last straw. I stole the batteries out of my roommate's remote (AAA) to use in her flashlight to check the redness of my throat. I thought it was strep, so after learning my Doctor was booked for the day, I forced myself to go to the InstaCare facility nearby.

After the strep test came back negative, the Dr. told me it was probably a secondary infection caused by whatever infection initially caused my head cold. I was given an antibiotic "Z-Pack" which cleared up the sore throat and sinus issues pretty well.

All last week I had this little hack that continued to get worse and worse as the week progressed. I went and bought some Robitussen cough syrup but after spending this past Tueday night (almost ALL night) hacking so hard I wanted to puke, I thought it was time to visit the Dr. again. By this time I had been on Nyquil/Dayquil for sinuses, Antibiotics, Nyquil (but the regular syrup this time), and Robitussen. I am still getting more sick. How is that possible??!!

Again, my Dr. was booked but at least an associate in the same office was available. After an hour and a half wait in the waiting room, the Dr. listens to my lungs, and asks me a bunch of questions (beyond the ones the nurse asked me before he got there). He tells me he isn't liking how my breathing/lungs sounds so he wanted to get a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. X-ray tech was out to lunch! He decided that instead of making me wait or come back, that an x-ray probably wasn't 100% necessary, unless I wanted it. How do I know if I want it or not, I am not the Dr. that's why I am here!

I told him it was his call cause I just want this sickness gone! 3 sicknesses in 2.5 weeks. I will do whatever it takes! I didn't have the x-ray, but got two new prescriptions for stronger antibiotics, and cough syrup (w/codine). So, with my high deductible it came to $150. The pharmacist warned me before filling it, and asked what I wanted to do.

Let's see, not get better because you are a cheapo, and really end up with a full blown form of pneumonia and be in the hospital for who knows how long--which would only cost a freakishly tiny bit more than the medicine would. I opted for the medicine cause I am tired of spending the entire month of January wishing I could trade in my immune system for a better one! I have to go back in a week if I am still not 100% better, so all I have to say is,

"SELF, COULD YOU PLEASE GET BETTER ALREADY? THIS IS GETTING VERY TIRESOME, AND VERY EXPENSIVE. I PROMISE I WILL GIVE YOU CHOCOLATE IF YOU JUST GET BETTER!" (Should work right?)

I hardly ever get sick, and this one definitely takes the cake for the worst one in forever. I didn't really have another choice, so hopefully February (and let's hope the last week of January too) goes MUCH better!

Inauguration Cartoons

2009-01-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite cartoons from this website today. Was it just me, or was the inauguration a tad bit of a let-down? I mean, its great that we have overcome such issues as race, etc. but how big of a deal do we have to make about the guy's race for crying out loud?!

I don't get too much into politics, but I have been kinda bugged by hearing every two seconds about how much this thing IS about race ever since the election. Even though the point, in my opinion, is supposed to be that we have come so far as a nation to overlook the color of a man's skin, and freedom and justice for all men. Ever since the election it has been about nothing but Obama's skin color! Don't get me wrong, I agree that history has been made, and that we really have come far as a nation. I just wish that more could be focused on him and his qualifications, what he is going to do to keep us safe from terrorists, or help rebound our economy without putting us further into a problem.

I am excited for changes, and I am excited for freshness--even though he wasn't my first choice for President. Let's hope that expectations aren't so high that Obama is looked at as a "God." It's easy to say changes need to be made coming into the situation from an outside perspective. It's another to actually do it! Drop the race card and get on with business!

"Thirty, Flirty and Thriving!"

2009-01-16T21:13:00.003-07:00

So, I know I am only 4 years too late on this movie, but tonight was an "eventful" evening. I went to dinner with Idyllic Ideas and my roommate Nats. After that typical, obnoxious wait staff/service experience, we decided to come back to my house and watch a movie.

I received this DVD in a gift basket from some friends along with some other items to help me feel young. Coloring book and crayons, slippers, and Razzles candy. "First it's candy, then it's gum!" I don't even remember the last time I had these. Couldn't even remember why they are still around since they pretty much taste like butt!

Anyway, I watched this for the very first time, and finally understood some of the quotes that have floated around for the last four years. I don't know why I never saw the movie to tell you the truth. Just missed it somehow. It was probably during school when I felt I didn't have time to breath, let alone watch a "teeny bopper movie!" It is definately one for the collection for those times you need a blast from the past pick me up!

"Eminem is on the phone and he wants an answer now...PLAIN...no PEANUT...no PLAIN!"

Gotta love karma in it also. The "cool kids" turn out ugly, and the "dorks" turn out pretty cute. Go Mark Ruffalo! Maybe I should start lying about my age now.

"I'm 13...If you are going to start lying about your age, I would stick to 27!"

I could pass for that yeah? I don't know that I want to start claiming I am no longer in my 20's!

I Am Getting All Domesticated!

2009-01-15T10:54:00.010-07:00

Sorry I have been MIA the last few weeks. My body knew it was getting old, so it decided it wanted to catch the worst cold I can remember getting in a very long time! I am finally back, so stay tuned for a lot more posts!

Between Christmas and turning a really ripe old age, I am finally starting to get all domesticated! It all began long ago...just kidding...a couple of years ago I got my very first Kitchen Aid Mixer. I thought I scored big time back then, let me tell you! Then for my birthday last year I got an angled liquid measuring cup. That way you don't have to crouch down to eye level to see how much liquid you poured into the cup. Trust me, it's cool, you just think you are too cool for the measuring cup!

This Christmas I got my very first shower curtain and set of towels. Not to mention my stainless steel cookware with utensils to actually be able to cook!

As the day of old age came and went, I got my very first down

comforter,

which was SO VERY needed! It was one of those things that you just don't think of to ask for. At least I didn't. I guess I complained too much about being cold all the time or something!

Next, since I didn't get opportunity to create my wish list, I got a gift card to a very helpful store--Target. One night as my roommate Nats and I were making ourselves grilled chicken salads for dinner, I realized how much I have grown to dislike soggy, wet lettuce. You know even though you drain out what water is left after washing said lettuce, it is still very damp and

soggy. Unless you plan on eating the leftover lettuce in a salad for breakfast the next morning,

the gross brown spots have already begun to form. Forget it!

I discovered this handy little contraption while in school, a salad spinner, but didn't think to buy myself one until this gift card presented itself! I even forced my mother to buy one about a year ago despite her thinking she didn't need or want one! How messed up is that? Trust me, once you use one, you will never go back to soggy, watery lettuce again!

Lastly, the main reason for thinking I am becoming all domesticated, is this last present I got. My very own, very first,

crock pot! I always borrowed my Mom's whenever I decided to make something in a crock pot. That happened only once, twice at the most, because it was a pain to haul the thing back and forth all the time! It is 6qts. so even though I won't come close to even filling it all the way up for just my roommate and I, there is always the occasional dinner party!!! (hint hint)

Now that I am acquiring more "stuff" let's hope my landlord doesn't decide to sell the place to someone who will not continue to rent it out so I don't have to find a way to move it all somewhere else!!!

My Christmas

2009-01-04T17:05:00.001-07:00

Some--not all--of my Christmas Presents...(in no particular order)

All ten seasons in this one little box. It also came with a triva book. My sissy and I quizzed each other all Christmas morning and then died laughing at each question!

The first season. Nats got me addicted to it in like season 5, so I have been recording the old re-runs on the soap channel while I run on the treadmill at my parents house! I was always asking her questions, so she finally figured I needed to start from the beginning. Go Figure!

Both sweats are supposed be black. My sissy Megs gave me these, and I wear them all the time they are so comfy!

I love me some Gap lotions. This is a new kind I guess but I love it!
I have wanted these for a very long time. All it took was me ordering them and telling my Mom and Dad to go get it. If I would have known that, I would have ordered them a couple of years ago!

Hot pads, and towels to match. I guess it's a good idea I start wearing an apron when I cook anyway seeing how I always end up with crap all over myself (among other places as well) in the process!

What is some nice cookware without any utensils to use with it?! I am kinda excited for the potato masher...even though I don't know what I am going to use it for...I usually just use my kitchen aid to make smashers!

Serious food lovers is right! How perfect is the name! Gotta remember that site for next time I need a perfect present for someone!

Again, what good are pans without the essentials to back it up? I am always calling my Mammy for certain recipes out of this book. Guess she got tired of it! I went through it page by page Christmas Day. How sad is that?!

Shamelessly wasn't too thrilled with my blue liner purchase not long after I switched into the bigger room with my own bathroom. I have never been one with the "eye for decorating" like her or most other people. I thought I did a fabulous job of organizing the towels all by myself don't you?!

Digital Picture Frame Keychain...Shamelessly put some very momentous pics on there to start, and then thought I could show off my nieces and nephews in the process since I usually have them all over my phone anyway!

100 Miles & Counting

2008-12-10T09:21:00.012-07:00

Some of you may know that I participate in a little challenge with my friend Mjillie and her family. I bought a pair of Nike Shox shoes, and an adapter that goes into the sole of the shoe and transmits information to my iPod Nano. It keeps track of distance, speed, calories, and time among other things. (That is what that little counter thing is off the right of my blog).

Anyway, there are all sorts of things you can do through the Nike Plus website and one of them is participating in challenges with others who have the same nifty little device (friends and or strangers). Mjillie and her family are the only ones I know of that actually have this, and they are nice enough to let me play with them! Not much is at stake for the winners of our challenges, other than the satisfaction of knowing you won. Maybe that will change in another challenge, but for now, Mjillie and I are teamed up to be the first team to reach 200 miles from the time the challenge started (almost a month ago). So far we are ahead, but her sissy, and sis-in-law are gaining ground fast too. It will be fun to try and kick some trash if nothing else! The information gets transmitted automatically through iTunes, so there is no way you can cheat and pad your miles!

From the time I bought the shoes and the adapter (in September), the challenges have mainly helped motivate me to get going, my iPod has kept a continuous count of my total miles. I just wanted to brag that I have just reached the 100 Miles mark!!!

Halloween Outfits

2008-11-05T16:11:00.010-07:00

Is anyone else but me glad that the elections are over??? I didn't love either candidate, and I don't get too involved with politics but now I hope that we can move on with life! Here's to hoping that Obama does a decent job, and not screw things up too badly!

Anyway, I am actually glad that Halloween is over too. I loved seeing my little nieces and nephews in their outfits, but for some stupid reason, I gorged on freaking candy all day long! Not before, not MUCH since, but on that day, it was like I had been deprived of sugar all my life or something!!!

Below are some pics of my favorite little characters on that crazy day. I made my outfit for the day. I thought it was rather appropriate if you ask me! Not to worry, Boston had a scowl on his face all night because he didn't feel well. Cooper screamed bloody murder anytime anyone wanted to get a picture of him. I think it was because he could!!! I borrowed a couple of pics from the mothers' blogs of Brooklynn, and Boston. Cooper was no where to be found, but I think his bat ears can be seen in one of them!

Happy Halloween & B-Day!

2008-10-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

By the way, B-Day does not stand for BIRTHday. It is a different event entirely that has now become a holiday with my sissy and I. This event happened one year ago this past Sunday on the 26th. We decided that from that time forward, Oct. 26th would be known as B-Day! Most of you should know what that event was, so you can figure it out pretty easily! My sissy doesn't want to remember it, but I do, and it was kinda fun to tease her about it! Being that it was on a Sunday, not much celebrating happened, but who says the celebration can't happen a few days later (like five or six even)!

Anyway, to celebrate Halloween, Jamz and I went to get a pedicure. My roommate Nats found this girl out in Spanish Fork, UT that specializes in Nail Art. She is a Certified Esthetician, so she can give you facials, and all that comes with it, but she will draw anything you want on your toes for like $10! It is not a full on pedicure (although for only $28 she will give you a pedicure too), it is more like just a polish change and design. She has all sorts of different designs, for the different holidays in a binder to choose from, or she said that some people bring in scrapbook paper and she will copy it. Amazing this girl is I tell you!

Mine and Jamz's toes all decorated for the season! (Left pic: Witch on broom
w/ghost in corner, bat, jacko-lantern, ghost, googly eyes. Right pic: Dead tree,
bat flying in the night moon, stripes with googly eyes, stitches, Halloween polka dots)

I do have a couple of restaurant reviews to add, but I will wait for another post to do so. Who is doing what to celebrate the holiday this weekend? I am trying to avoid a dumb ward party, so if someone is up for doing something fun...LEMMENO!

Birthdays and Ski Breaks

2008-09-23T15:21:00.006-07:00

I had another name for this post when I was first thinking about what I wanted to write about. The original title was "So Many Birthdays. So Little Time." Then Monday happened and I was forced to change my title.

I went on a little road trip by myself to visit my really good friend Mjillie in Boise, Idaho. Her birthday was on the 16th so I thought I would go up and say hi, maybe take her out for her (late) birthday or something. Anyway, so the weekend went great, no speeding tickets on the way up (found a friend to tail who liked to go 90 mph the whole way), and none on the way back. The way home however, was filled with a little bit of drama all on its own. Keep in mind this is my first time ever DRIVING to Boise. I always flew because it was cheaper. Obviously not the case now-a-day!

I was driving along just great, making good time by finding more speed demon friends to tail, and then somehow I started noticing I was on a different interstate than I remember. I knew I started out on I-84, but then I started noticing signs for I-86 toward Pocatello. Apparently the road forked and I didn't notice that I went left, instead of veering right toward SLC. Kinda started freaking out to myself a little and then saw a sign that said x-amount of miles toward SLC.

I figured by the time I found a way to turn around and go back to figure out what I did wrong, I might as well just keep going since Mjillie di

dn't answer her phone to find out what I did. When I told her about it, and said I had no idea what I did, all she could tell me was that I went left instead of right! So I ended up cutting across the great state of Idaho, and then coming down, instead of just staying on the road which would have intersected I-15 and gotten me home in a much faster way. About 45 min to an hour sooner than I actually did! My Dad called me and asked where I was, and then told me he was done talking to me when he found out what I did and that I didn't realize how I had done it. I guess he couldn't believe he had one of those stereotypical blondes for a daughter!!!

Should have turned here!!!

The thing that really sucked is I had to still go into work for an hour when actually made it home, and then turn around and drive back up to SLC for Shameonyou21's birthday! The things I do for those I love! Anyway, it was at The Cheesecake Factory and I was very excited, so I am sure that helped my reasoning along with the fact that I do love Shameonyou21 very much also, and she would hate me if I didn't make it to her party!

I was running late (had to leave work, go home and shower, and then pick up SuziQ to head up to dinner. I have lived in Orem my entire life so you would think I would know how to navigate Geneva Road after all these years. I was going from my apt. just south of the Pkwy, to just north of Center. I was yacking on the phone to Mjillie and all the sudden noticed I am almost to 1600 North!!!

I was apparently a very easily distracted driver yesterday. It's no wonder I didn't kill myself or someone else!!! I apologize to anyone who was on the road at all yesterday! I will be MUCH BETTER...I PROMISE!!!

Anyway, dinner was great! A great friend's birthday, great food, and a GREAT Cheesecake for dessert! It was ALMOST a refreshing ending to a hectic and chaotic and very long day for me. My restaurant luck continued with the computer crashing at the end of dinner last night, so it took them an hour to HAND WRITE our checks. If someone would have said it would have taken an hour to do that many checks (6), we would have just put it on one tab, have someone pay for it, and settle up in the parking lot for crying out loud!

In the words of Idyllic Ideas, you all really should just "leave me in the car" when we go places! All in all, it was a fun evening, and just to give you an idea of how FABULOUS their new flavor is in honor of the 30th anniversary...

30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake

Two layers of our Original Cheesecake and Two layers of our Creamy Chocolate Fudge Cake filled with Chocolate Cream and finished with Crunchy Pearls of Chocolate.

NYC PICS!

2008-09-03T20:08:00.007-07:00

I am going to post a few pictures of the highlights with descriptions, and then there will be a slide with all of them.

Just like the movie! Mmm...FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE!!!

NYC had these fountains under a bunch of bridges. Can't remember why though now! Cirque Dreams was the first show we saw. It is in the Broadway Theatre which is the ONLY theatre actually ON Broadway St.

Kinda funny to lump these together, but the Manhattan temple, and Yankee Stadium!

Friends anyone??? It's funny that this little Cafe on the bottom isn't even close to a coffee shop! Statues of Liberty dressed in robes of all of the MLB teams could be found all over the city. The All-Star Game took place at Yankee Stadium about a week before we went to the game!

Creepy Statue Men who force us, then charge us to take pics with our own camera! WICKED!!! My friend won the ticket lottery and got front row tickets for $26. I think the cheapest ticket if purchased from the ticket office (which were probably sold out) were around $90.

As promised...here are the rest of the pics! If there is one you are wondering about...leave me a comment, and I will try to remember...a lot of the random buildings and stuff I don't remember anymore, but most of the other ones I probably will!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Once A Month?

2008-08-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

I promise I am not turning into one of those "only once a month" bloggers. Life has been super crazy since returning from NYC. Just as an example, before leaving for NYC, my family went to Las Vegas for some more baseball fun. After returning from NYC a week later, I did enough laundry to pack up and go to Vegas again since Mitch's season is coming to a close very soon. (My family goes through withdrawals if there aren't any baseball games to go to).

Upon returning, Mitch & Tavi had their 3rd child, a little girl!!! They finally got their princess among those two non-stop baseball boys. They are going to be such good brothers, and it is already obvious how much they love their little sister!

Baby Boston, now longer such a little baby, turned 1 the day after Baby Stori was born. Too bad Boston and his parents were still in Texas for it :(

Anyway, if this wasn't enough adventure for one month, let's add moving into the equation! What possessed us to move to a third floor apartment is beyond me. Anyway, it is a nicer area, a nicer apartment, more parking, supposedly a better ward, and best of all, there is NO PIGGY!!! (For now anyway).

Stori Mekai Jones was born Thursday, August 7th!!!

(I stole the pics from Tavi's blog since I can't find my camera right now in all my boxes)

I have been trying to upload pics from my NYC trip, but things are taking a little longer than expected to do so. I will get those uploaded as fast as I can and get you some more posts asap!

NYC Greetings!

2008-07-25T07:12:00.005-07:00

Hello my long lost bogger friends! I find myself once again apologizing for my lack of posting behavior. Life has been kinda crazy as of late. Trips to Las Vegas, long working days, and most recently, my NYC trip!

Things kinda snuck up on me with this trip. A bunch of friends and I had talked a long time ago about possibly going to New York to visit some friends we had out here. About a month ago when we decided to get more serious about it, most everyone either bailed out, or couldn't go due to work, and or other obligations. My friend Harper was the only one who turned out to be able to go.

We got looking at tickets, and prices were outragiously expensive. Over $400 roundtrip! We had almost consigned ourselves to not going, and settle on somewhere a little closer to home. My roommate (the cool one, not piggy obviously), Nats said that she might be able to get us buddy pass tickets because her dad works for JetBlue airlines and gives away buddy passes all of the time!

As luck would have it, things worked out, almost last minute even. We had to fly standby, but tickets were only going to be $100 for taxes and fuel and "someone looked at this piece of aper fee" instead of the original $400+ that it could have been! If that wasn't enough, Harper's old roommate, Hungaryrita, had an apartment all to herself for the summer, and said we could come stay with her. She eventually had people move in, right before we got here, and since we've been here, but they didn't seem to mind. Really though, with the way things have gone so far, I am tempted to say if they did mind, who cares!!! (So rude of me)

Initially we were thinking we would come and maybe even drive up to Palmyra, NY to see the Mormon Temple Pageant similar to one you might find in Manti, UT. My uncle is living there on a mission and is in the temple presidency, so we thought we could probably stay with him and my aunt and see a bunch of the sites that follows. As fate would have it, the timing didn't really work out to go to the pageant, but that hasn't stopped us from having an amazing time here in the city!

We fly back home this coming Sunday, July 27th in the evening sometime. I thought I would give you a run-down of some of the highlights until I can get back and post a bunch of pictures and give you all more details! Ready?!

Open-air tour bus rides around the city (Uptown, Downtown during the day and at night, Brooklynn)
Yankees Game
Cirque Dreams-Jungle Fantasy (Broadway Play)
Mariachi band on the subway
Food (Boy do I got some good ones to post about that)
Front row Wicked tickets for $26.25 (Broadway Play)
Last two people on the the plane on the flight here
Sleeping in until noon almost daily
Manhattan Temple
"You're here to meet a friend on the second floor?" (the security guard in the lobby of the Manhattan Temple/Church Offices where Hungaryrita works, said in a very confused tone).
Our day of Murphy's law and riding the trains all day
NBC Studios Tour
Free place to stay (and cheap airfare over here)
HOT policemen that we were too chicken to take pictures of
Creepy statue of liberty people who grab you and force you to take a picture with them, and then charge $5 for you to take it with your own camera!
European attitude on the Staten Island Ferry

Stay tuned for more when I get back!

Mini-Van Road Rage

2008-06-19T15:49:00.004-07:00

The other day as I was on the freeway headed to my parents house after work, I had an experience that made me both angry and chuckle all at the same time. I was driving along right around the "S Curve" just before the Parkway exit. I was actually going pretty close to the speed limit (maybe like 5 over) and I wanted to get around a diesel I was approaching, so I put on my blinker, looked and went over. Pretty textbook right? You would think!

When I looked behind me I saw a mini-van but it was still a ways away when I decided to change lanes over to the fast lane. As I was moving over the mini-van started to speed up to prevent me from getting in front of him I guess. It wasn't as if I cut him off by any means. HE was the one who sped up. I even hit the gas to get even more speed between us.

I looked in my rear view mirror to see the mini van RIGHT on my butt, and then I see the driver raise both hand and flip me off!!! I was pissed, and had the thought to wave back since he was the one having issues with my lane change. He backed off a little, but still tailgated me until we got to the carpool lane, he swerved over and out of the corner of my eye I see the passenger roll down the window and flip me off with both hands!!! Once again, I was irritated because I did nothing wrong!!!

The urge came again to wave but I had the thought that they would probably pull out a gun and shoot me or something the way they were acting! I just had to laugh that this younger couple were acting all bad A$$ in their beater mini-van. They were probably teenagers borrowing mom's van so they could have some wheels cause they sure didn't act any older!

Cruise Pics '08

2008-06-06T09:29:00.006-07:00

At long last, I finally got off my duff and put these together!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Spinach Artichoke Dip

2008-06-04T17:24:00.003-07:00

Here is THE BEST spinach artichoke dip EVER. This is the original recipe, but instead of buying all of the different cheeses, I bought the six cheese blend that comes already shredded in a bag. One of those small bags is two full cups of cheese, so you will have a little extra to do with whatever you want. I may have cooked it a tiny bit longer than the recipe says to also, but I doubled this. Yield is about 10-12 for the single recipe. I have made it both ways with putting the cheese on the top, and just putting it inside the mixture, and I like the inside way best. On the top makes a cheese layer that is hard to dip the chip through. Let me know if you make it and how it turns out for ya. OR, you can invite me over and we can make it together!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 (8 ounce) package cream

cheese, softened

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

cheese

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

1 clove garlic, peeled and

minced

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

salt and pepper to taste

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke

hearts, drained and chopped

1/2 cup frozen chopped

spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a small baking dish.
2.	In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.
3.	Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

At Long Last

2008-05-31T17:16:00.005-07:00

OK, so being that it is the last day of the month, I figured I would get a quick post in!!! I know I have fallen off the wagon this month, but I promise, I will try to write more BS posts to keep them coming!!! May just hasn't been very eventful, or very fun.

Anyway, I thought I would post a couple of pics I took of my experiment with my Strawberry Mango Goodness. My roommate Nats was in charge of Bunco this month, and she asked me to make something.

My version of the Strawberry Mango Angel Food Cake Trifle

Key ingredients include:

Strawberries
Mangoes
Angel Food Cake
Danish Dessert Strawberry Fruit Sauce/Pie Glaze
Vanilla Pudding (thinned out more than the package directions)

The Funny thing is that is just doesn't look as pretty when it comes OUT of the trifle bowl!

I promise it was really good despite this picture! I also made a freakishly yummy Spinach Artichoke Dip, but I forgot to take a picture, so I will just have to post the recipe or something another time and you'll have to trust me on the delicious-ness of it.

Marshmallow Animal Favors

2008-04-17T15:28:00.007-07:00

During my senior year in high school, I had to take a few extra classes to get some fine-arts credit. Being the crafty/artsy fartsy type that I am, I took a crafts class to fulfill this requirement. The class was taught by the AP Art teacher, and he didn't care what we did, as long as we came prepared to stay busy during the entire class working on something crafty/artsy fartsy. Most of the class was either making model cars/airplanes/etc. or actually using their god given talent to actually draw something.

ME??? I made cork animals!!! I went to a craft store, found a how-to book, and would make little animals out of different sizes of corks with googley eyes and lined them up on the top shelf of mine and Shameonyou21's locker! That's right folks, I am sure the AP art teacher was beside himself at this lame idea of mine. I brought my mommy's toll paints, and the hot glue gun, and kept myself busy for an hour+ while secretly laughing on the inside at Shameonyou21's reaction every time she opened the locker door to find yet another googley eyed animal gawking at her!!! LOL!!!

Hey Shameonyou21...this is my next project to line up on your windshield while you are at work!

(Picture found on this website).

More Restaurant Reviews

2008-04-08T15:37:00.004-07:00

While my evil Dell was on the fritz, I had the opportunity to sample a few new restaurants:

Paula's Cazuela-During my most recent getaway to St. George with Nats and our upstairs neighbor, Shaniqua. We decided to take a weekend and go golfing while it warm. Nats had heard of this restaurant on a previous trip with some friends of hers who live in St. George. Shaniqua and I were up for trying something new. This quaint little Mexican restaurants is located just off one of the main highways in town up on top of a small hill or ridge, if you will.

We were seated after a brief wait and although the waitress took some sweet time even acknowledging us, or taking our drink order, I thought the food was very good. Homemade chips and salsa, what's not to love about that! I didn't love the dish I ordered, but I wasn't in the mood for a salad...let alone a salad on top of a ranch dressing filled chicken burrito. Normally the ranch thing wouldn't bother me, but I wanted something different. Both Nats and Shaniqua ordered the Chile Verde Burrito (pork burrito with a spicy green sauce...its actually quite on the milder side of spicy). They shared some of their excess sauce with me so I could somewhat enjoy what I ordered. I would go here again, next time I am in town, to try some of their other menu items.

Pizzeria 712-This restaurant is located off of State Street in Orem inside the enormous monstrosity that is the Midtown Village condos (which are still and will forever and always be under construction it seems). Anyway, one of my friends, Harper, suggested we go there one night to try it out. They had just opened and she had heard good things about it. We got about five us together to go, Me, Nats, Harper, Idyllic Ideas, and Messervy.

We weren't sure if it was going to work out the night we went however, because when we arrived, we discovered that the restaurant was SUPER TINY, and there was a lot of people waiting to get in. Luckily for us, we had just the right amount of people, and that size of table just happened to open up!!! Take that all you little gross couples making out in the tiny lobby!!! Anyway, we had no idea how things worked there, and the menu seemed a little intimidating at first. We asked the waiter to explain some of the menu items to us, and kind of the general gist of the "system." All of the pizzas are made with thin crusts so one person can pretty much eat their own pizza. Some people share one also, but I am with Joey Tribbiani when he says: "Joey doesn't share food!"

I allowed myself to however, on this night, so I could see what everything was about. We ordered four pizzas so we could all share. We had to ask about a few of the different sounding toppings, but soon discovered that they are just the real authentically Italian ingredient most commonly used in Italy (Speck=Prosciutto or Cured Ham, Sopressatta=Pepperoni...go figure!). We got one that was just plain cheese with basil like a margarita style, another one of those with the pepperoni added, one with the speck and pepperoni, and another one I could find on their website menu that was more of a white pizza. (Help me out guys if you remember or if you have been there cause I can't remember from a month ago what it all entailed!) I think it had like five cheeses and garlic but it had a different sauce other than just a regular tomato. This one was everyones favorite, although the other ones we got were fabulous in in their own right!!!

The atmosphere of the restaurant is fun, they have a few waiters, and what appeared to be only two guys acting as cooks. The have a big brick style oven, and the two guys are right there behind a counter making it in front of you! Everything out in the open! As I mentioned before, I couldn't believe how small the place was. I can't imagine them not expanding either within the same complex, or franchising to another location. They will be that popular!

La Dolće Vita-I have wanted to try this restaurant for a very long time, but now that I have, I wish I had left it to my imagination and wondering. I went with a big group of friends to celebrate a mass birthday. Three of my friends had birthdays in March, so we decided to all go out to dinner once to celebrate. Some of the guys said it was good, so I was excited to finally try it out. This restaurant is located just around the corner from Ottavio's in Provo off of Center Street, and around the other corner from the big Wells Fargo complex on the side.

At first, I was extra excited because I found another place that made Gnocchi! Pronounced n-yo-kee. For those of you not familiar with this little delight, they are associated a couple of different ways. Potato dumpling, or ricotta dumpling. It is either mashed up potatoes or ricotta cheese and flour and salt...that's it. I LOVE ME some Gnocchis! Anyway, so I found a little combination platter on the menu that came with 1/2 penne alfredo, and 1/2 gnocchi marinara. I like the alfredo sauce the best with gnocchi's, so I figured since the dish already came with alfredo, they couldn't charge me an extra $2 to get a different sauce like some places. When I asked the waiter if I could get it all alfredo with no marinara, his response shocked me to the point where I wanted to get up and leave. He says that the dish is pre-made with the sauces already on the pasta that way, and then it just gets heated up.

Are you kidding me??? What kind of so called Italian Restaurant PRE-MAKES pasta that way, and why would I want to eat something that was made who knows how long ago and possibly frozen and re-heated??? Let's just say that when the food came out, it wasn't as hot as you would think food that's just been cooked/re-heated should be. It pretty much tasted how I anticipated...soggy gnocchi's and luke warm temperature...neither are a good combination. I will not go back to this restaurant...it's over priced for that kind of quality, the service was lousy, and it's just not that good. Stay away, unless you like really bad "Italian Food" if that's what you can even call it!

Friendly Note

2008-03-30T20:02:00.006-07:00

I got Dell back tonight and thanks to Queenmeadow and her husband Stuthewise, it is working great!!! Who knew that a little bit of RAM could go such a long way! Thanks again guys. You are awesome!

I think I have mentioned our other roommate before. We affectionately call her Messy, because, well, she IS really messy. Nats and I are tired of leaving the friendly notes to keep the kitchen clean. It doesn't work. She ignores them. We have to clean up after her, and clean up her messes so we can even get in the kitchen to do our thing. Nats has cleaned up their shared bathroom every single week since she moved in last September. On a few occasions, cleaned the entire apartment so that Messy can have friends over without even a thank you. We are flat out tired of her.

Anyway, my roommate Nats and I went to St. George this weekend to go golfing a bit. It was the first time that either of us had actually been out on any course actually golfing yet this year. We have been to the driving range a few times, but let's just say that we both need to do some more serious practicing before this golfing season is up!

We purposely left the apartment a huge mess just to see what Messy would do with it while we were gone. We half expected the same disaster we left. As we arrived home this evening, we noticed that not only was the kitchen clean, but there was a note left. Remember how I said we are tired of her??? Ahem...the full page note reads as follows:

"Hello Natalie and Amber,

I'd really appreciate it if more attention could be paid to what is left in the kitchen. I know I don't always have time to keep things spotless, but I do try to keep my messes contained and out of the way of others so that others can do what they need to. It is sometimes hard to cleanup, do dishes, and access the disposal when the right sink is blocked with dishes. It's is also difficult to do my dishes when the dishwasher is full of clean dishes, as was most of this week. Earlier in the week I'd taken care of all my dishes so nothing was left but a spoon or a knife in the sink. As I used dishes I tried to put them into the dishwasher but found it was full of someone elses dishes. The load stayed there thru the week and into the weekend, causing dirty dishes to pile up. Both the full dishwasher and the piled dishes were left for me over the weekend. I don't think its fair to write a note about cleaning up after yourself or else and then leave the kitchen thrashed while out of town for several days.

I am concerned that stuff is being thrown away without thought. I've had food disappear several times and I've been unable to my cheese grater all week long. Once before my cheese grater was missing for a couple of days and I discovered it was lent out only when the girl returned it. I'd appreciate it if my items weren't lent out or left the apartment.

Along with throwing stuff away, a blue shake was chucked into a cereal box and left next to the garbage. This spilled onto my clothes and the carpet when I was taking care of the overflowing garbage. (Just my luck to be wearing a white shirt). Please dump stuff into the disposal.

Its often too esy to overlook the good things people do and focus on what is irritating. I know we each want things our own way, but there are 3 of us living here and some concessions have to be made in consideration of anothers needs and rights, such as temperature or leaving laundry unattended for hours while out, preventing others from access.

I really have appreciated all that you two have done to keep the apartment nice. Thank you. But we all can make a little more effort to be a little more considerate.

Thanks,

Rachel"
WHAT THE F? OH NO SHE DIDN'T!

Happy Birthday Nats!

2008-03-10T10:30:00.007-07:00

Today is my roommate/friend's birthday. Happy Birthday Nats! Anyway, Look what the One-Eyed Man in Park City helped me snag! Another friend of mine and Nats (her name is Harper), went in on this bag together...let's just say it's a good thing that One-Eyed Man gets me stuff at wholesale! Harper and I stayed up til almost 1 a.m. blowing up balloons and filling them up with helium. (Harper bought a little helium tank in a party kit at Wally World).

We wanted to surprise Nats when she woke up this morning since today is the actual day, so we waited til she went to bed to start on things. It was fun though, cause a balloon ended up popping and we totally thought Nats was going to come catch us in the act. I guess she didn't even hear it!!! Nats came in my room this morning after seeing everything and was so excited I thought she was going to hyperventilate! I almost couldn't tell what she was most excited about, the bag or the logo on the bag!!! Her next response was, "When we going golfing?" Turns out we might take work off and go to St. George next weekend!!! Hooray!!!

Technical Difficulties

2008-03-02T19:30:00.002-07:00

I am sure you have all noticed my lack of blogging, and wonder why I would put myself behind in the great blog-off. Trust me, it is/was not on purpose. Friday I came home from work to a not-so-cute blue screen that says

"Beginning dump of physical memory."
"Physical memory dump complete."

I obviously freaked out...did a hard shut-off of the computer, and tried to boot it up again praying that it will work. Not-so much! I would get a black screen with a little cursor, or just a solid black screen with nothing, or I would get the blue screen with that evil message again.

Just like Shameonyou's evil computer with horns, mine is also called dell, and I REALLY HATE dell now. I never really had that many issues with it, but now is a whole other ballgame!

I had just ran a virus scan on Thursday, realizing I hadn't done it in a while...and nothing came up. Yesterday and today, there were times where dell would boot up...act normal for a few minutes, and then do one of those not nice things I mentioned above. I try to open it in the "safe mode" and it doesn't like that at all. Last night my friend and I got a few extra minutes in a "de-bugging" mode, but it still isn't working.

This week started as any other, and ended very frustrating. I don't have the money or the knowledge to even begin to try to fix this, and to top it all off, after spending $50 to get my car able to pass inspection (tail/stop/head lights and windshield wipers) my driver's side brake light STILL doesn't work!

I barely have enough money to get the stupid taxes paid to get it registered (it expired at the end of December by the way), let alone now have to pay a freaking mechanic to look at the wiring of the stupid light! UGH!

As far as the blog-off is concerned, I am just going to concede the stupid contest since some of the participants think its funny that my computer broke. Work is getting busier, and my dad is getting less and less amused that I have been playing on the blog so much anyway. I will just let Shameonyou21 run-away with the thing, and I just don't care anymore! I have enough stresses going on, I don't want any more, nor do I want to have to run to my parents every day or to work after hours just to blog.

I will still try my best to get you a good amount of posts, so as to keep with my goal. I love you all. Peace out for now!

Interesting Concoctions

2008-02-28T21:26:00.006-07:00

So today we printed an interesting shirt. The man who ordered it came in a while ago and wanted us to print all of it. Unfortunately, the front logo was trademarked, so we told him he had to find that shirt and bring it in. Then we could print the back logo (against our better judgement).

Front

Back

Now, even though the One-Eyed Man in Park City could have printed the front, I don't give out his contact info to just anyone. Only special people get to use that contact!!! (Shameonyou21 the man's artwork made them look like what I told you before, I fixed it to this).

p.s. Just to clarify or clear up any confusion, the One-Eyed Man in Park City is not actually a real person. He just helps give me a source to tell people who ask me where I got my trademarked apparel so as to not get a certain business owner, of a certain print shop, in trouble for printing certain logos!

Baby Girl Jones

2008-02-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

Easton called my parents the other day and told my Mom that he was going to have a baby sister! Tavi took the boys to Kanab for a couple of weeks before they go to Japan for the rest of the summer, and Tavi had a friend whose husband who is an Ultrasound Technician. They figured they would give it a go, even though it is still a little bit early to be 100% certain. From what I gather, they got a good shot of the certain region needed to detect the baby's gender, so they are 90% for sure that it is a girl!!! Tavi really wanted to have a girl being that she has the two boys, and they may just stop at three kids. They only wanted three or four to begin with. Cooper will be 2 1/2 when the baby is born, and Easton will be almost 5!

The two babies, Boston, and Brooklynn will be 1 when the baby is born. Mitch and Tavi are still not sure where Tavi will have the baby. If she is having it in America, Mitch can't be here (it's not just a hop, skip and a jump away ya know), and she has to come home in like July (she will only be over in Japan with Mitch for a few months, and he will have to spend the rest of the summer [til like October] alone. If Tavi has the baby in Japan...well that just opens up a whole big can of what ifs. They are going to check out the options, and see if there is some way Tavi and the boys might be able to stay there with him. Mitch and Tavi have heard from some people that there is no such thing as an epidural in Japan. Again, they have a lot of questions and things they need to figure out!!!

Not only has it been shown that the Jones kids can have girls with Ericka having Brooklynn, but so can the Jones boys with Mitch and Tavi now having a girl. Now my label for my posts :niece(s) will actually make sense!

I Finally Got Her To Laugh!

2008-02-27T20:19:00.003-07:00

I was putting Brooklynn in her car seat as she was about to go home, and she was being kinda fussy. I mean who wouldn't be upset if you were being strapped into this cramped little seat and shoved into the backseat backwards away from every one and everything getting car sick to boot!

Anyway, as I always do, I make a little jump when the handle "clicks" into place like it scared me. This time though, she thought it was actually funny! Despite all of my previous attempts of making a fool out of myself to make her laugh, it worked when I was least expecting it. Most of the time I get a smile, or some other form of acknowledgement. This was so cute, and so funny I wanted to cry as she laughed harder the more Ericka and I did it! Not to mention as soon as the phone comes out to record the event or take a picture, it is no longer funny, or they are no longer in the mood to even give you the time of day!!!

A Record!

2008-02-26T21:59:00.004-07:00

I don't know if any of you out there have noticed but today marks an amazing record being set. What record you ask? How dare you not realize it! As of today, and as of this post, I have posted every day for seven straight days!!! That is more posts than I have done in some months all together!!! Credit the blog-off, credit my new years goal, or credit my own personal determination/stubborn-ness to make sure I get you some good quality posts to read. All of them in some way, shape or form have had a hand in it I am sure!

Even when the blog-off is conceded a victory to me by the "other" participants, I will continue the posts often enough to not keep you stranded with a lack of life from me!

By the way, I just want to also announce that I am officially a current temple recommend holder again. I technically had my old one that didn't expire until April, but since the Church changed them to the barcode system, I slacked in getting the new one. I was supposed to get it taken care of before December, but I am a lazy dork, and didn't get it done until everything was finalized tonight. Yea me!!!

There was a little bit of a process to get the Bishop's portion done. It is a long story but to save you the drama, let's just say that our ward clerks/young boys pretending to do their callings, need to be more on the ball so it is less of a back and forth as to who is in charge of scheduling the appointments, and returning phone calls earlier than one week after the initial call and message was placed! Another thing that bugs is that when the Bishop is clearly more than 30 minutes behind schedule, a courtesy call would be nice to say that it would be best if I came about 30 or so minutes later than originally scheduled. This way one doesn't show up for a two minute interview, but leaves an hour and a half after arriving! Not that hard people, not that hard!!!

Blog-Off/Bunco

2008-02-25T21:39:00.003-07:00

Since the whole blog-off war started between Shameonyou21 and I, two more people have jumped on the Blogger Bandwagon (tee hee hee)! Shameonyou21's sissy, and Di Di (our other cruise friend). I hope they both realize that this really does mean war! Shameonyou21 is behind enough, let alone two wanna-be's who just started!!! Just kidding guys!

So we had Bunco tonight at my mammy's house. I begged her to come and play along with three other friends. I knew Shameonyou21 would tell me there is no chance in haites she would even consider playing, so I didn't even bother. To one friend I basically said I was so desperate I really needed her to come.

The way the prize thing works in this group is that we each pay $10 after each get together. There is a $30 prize for the one with the most Bunco's, a $20 prize for the highest score, four $10 prizes (most zeros, lowest score, hostess square, and the red Bunco travel dice). Everyone else gets a $5 prize for just showing up. That's what I always get. I have NEVER gotten any of the above mentioned prizes. Two of my friends who came tonight walked away with the two highest prizes...jerks!!! What is with everyone else's beginners luck, and I can't even get a tiny bit of veterans luck, not to mention I couldn't stop eating the friggin candy on the tables!!!

Bunco Is Not Worth This Much Hassel!

2008-02-24T21:20:00.002-07:00

A few months ago I joined a little game group my roommate belonged to called Bunco. I had played this dice game a couple of times before, and thought it might be fun. It is only once a month, and if nothing else you get a stupid $5 prize for just showing up (even though it cost $10 to play)!

Last month while I was in Mexico, three people out of our group quit. This game is pretty dependent upon having all 12 members of the group in attendance, so when the person who is the hostess for the month gets to be in charge of finding the subs. I am the hostess for this particular month. Not only did I struggle finding three subs, but a fourth called today and said she couldn't come either!

My philosophy then, is we are down four members, three subs were hard enough to find, now I had to BEG another friend and my mommy, both of whom didn't want to come in the first place! A stupid dice game is not worth having to find subs for the majority of your group every month. If we can't find people who are willing to commit to this every month, then what is the point of even having the game in the first place???

I understand things come up. I had surgery, went to Las Vegas for the football game, and went on a cruise to Vegas, but I told them an entire month in advance that those things were taking place, let alone the night before the game is supposed to take place!

GAH! I am so tempted to just quit this thing if it is going to be this freaking complicated!

Charlie Bit Me

2008-02-23T09:33:00.002-07:00

Why does this keep reminding me of something my two nephews Easton and Cooper would do??? Probably because I really can see them doing it. Not very long ago, my brother and s-i-l were sitting on the couch in their living room when all of a sudden they hear:

"Jump Cooper, I'll catch you!"

Cooper then proceeded to jump off the kitchen counter into his brother's arms. Let's just say that Easton got flattened! Easton is 4, and Cooper is not quite 2. Cooper weighs almost as much as his older brother, so the thought of little chubbers jumping off the kitchen counter to Easton, makes me roll on the ground laughing! That is like adding another 20 pounds on top of the 35 pounds Cooper already has on him. A whopping 55 pounds flying through the air and a slender kid like Easton probably wondering while Cooper was in mid air, what in the crap he got himself into!

I Love The One-Eyed Man

2008-02-22T08:28:00.008-07:00

Before you all freak out, I just want to say that it's true. The "One-Eyed Man from Park City" is the one who helps me get all those name brand clothes for real cheap! You have all heard me talk about him over the years I am sure of it!

I forgot to mention in one of my "Pros" from the game the other night that I scored a sweet new t-shirt. I just called up my long time "friend" and luckily he had a cute little white t-shirt (in my size can you believe it) just lying around, and pushed off to the side. The front had the word "Cougars" in navy writing, in a script font with one of those baseball looking tails on it. It also had at the end of the tail an oval "Y" logo which you see on the football helmets. On the high back it had a small little "BYU" just under the neck line--also in navy writing. To top it all off, both logos had a "washed" look to them, so they looked kind of faded and worn! SO CUTE! I have attached a rough sketch at the bottom of this page of what it kinda looks like!

What luck! I never have that kind of luck with clothes. I also forgot to mention that he was passing right by my work when I got the idea that I wanted to wear some "Cougar Gear" to the game. He pulled over right in front, I walked out the door and he found me a shirt. The ONLY one of its kind!

Nats was jealous cause she secretly wanted one too. She hid her excitement by asking if I knew if my "friend" had any Utah apparel. I told her I would ask, but he might charge her more because of the fact that she claims the UofU as her school and he is a long time BYU fan!!!

Do you have any friends that give you the hook-ups like this???

Pros and Cons

2008-02-21T09:02:00.005-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to a very important basketball game last night. Important because it gives one team certain bragging rights until the next meeting. Of course, but not in as dramatic fashion as the football team, BYU prevailed over UTAH 67-59 in what was a close, exciting game that came down to the last minute of play, in what was an extremely loud arena.

I remember when I was little, I used to go to the games with my Dad. Then I would feel all important when I would go with him as he refereed the games too, cause I could go in all the back tunnels, and get a VIP treatment from the staff who were told to just keep an eye on me so I didn't wander off. Some of my favorite memories are going refereeing with him. The early years while sitting in the stands listening to everyone yell bad things at my Dad, I would start to get kind of defensive within myself like, "Hey stop yelling at my Dad!"

Anyway, needless to say it had been a very long time since I had been to the Marriott Center, and therefore didn't remember or realize how loud it really was. My Dad gave us some trivia last night, in that BYU has the 2nd largest basketball arena in the country, with Kentucky being number 1. Who-duh-thunk-it?!

Here are some pros and cons about our experience last night:

CONS:

Bench Seats (no chair back)
The Creamery's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream only had TWO chunks of cookie dough. What the crap! I gave my dad the cookies and cream one cause I thought the cookie dough sounded better...DOH!
Dumb lady behind me kept hitting me with her rally towell, and kept saying jibberish about the game in which she had no clue about.
BYU didn't blow out UTAH.
Nats wasn't cheering for the right team!
Parking too far away for sweet old G-Pa.
Having to drive back to my parents to get my car, to drive back to my apt that is five minutes away from the Marriott Center.

PROS:

Free tickets (Given to us by a member of the Athletic Dept.)
10th row free tickets
Free Ice Cream and Drink (My Daddy paid for these!)
Free Rally Towell (A Blue towell that the gave everyone in the first 20 rows to wave around and cheer with) I told Nats I was going to screen print the score on them and hang em up on our wall in the apt...although I probably wont though, just to be nice.
Nats dressed in blue. (She had her UofU t-shirt on underneath her sweatshirt)
Nats having to struggle to keep her emotions in check, fearing she would be mauled by the sea of fans dressed in blue on all sides of us. She had a few outbursts that she couldn't control, but I just giggled.
The Company (Grandpa Keetch, Dad, Friend)
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup at my Momma's house before the game.
The Cougars WON!
G-Pa had tons of fun! He doesn't like to get out much, fight crowds of people, and think that he is burdening us who want him to have fun. He is a MAJOR fan, and so it is only natural he had fun.
Saw "Church Celebrity" Sheri Dew. Grandpa also thought that was pretty cool. We almost rode the elevator with her, but she changed her mind last minute and took the stairs.
BYU didn't blow out their opponent. This made for an exciting game. Probably would have been pretty boring had one team completely dominated the other.

Contest

2008-02-20T16:51:00.003-07:00

So Shameonyou21 decided that after months of having a blog, and not doing anything with it, that she would issue a challenge to me that she will out-post me. She works 9-7 a lot, and I sit at a computer all day, with not much to do right now. Hmmm...I wonder! Not to mention, I am a stubborn, and competitive fool that some people will not even play Monopoly with me I get into it so much. We'll see how long she lasts!

Anyway, I finally got my last cd of pictures, so expect a big cruise picture fest within a day or so. I am headed to the BYU vs Utah basketball game tonight with my Dad, and Grandpa Keetch. My roommate Nats is coming, and she is a big Utah fan. She invited me to a game a couple of weeks ago, and I was good about cheering for Utah since we were on the third row behind their bench! They weren't playing my Cougars though, so I don't know how she will be tonight. I told her she had to wear blue and cheer for the Cougars. She agreed to that in the form of, she would sheer as much as I did at their game (i.e. accidentally busting out in the "Rise and Shout" fight tune of BYU during the Utah fight song).

GO COUGARS!!!

My Calling In Heaven

2008-02-19T19:40:00.003-07:00

Most people say they find their callings in life, and while I am still looking for mine, I've discovered what I want to be when I get to heaven. A Sniper Angel. You might be wondering what the crap, but hang with me, I will explain.

On Sunday during my second church meeting, I had a really hard time concentrating, and focusing on the lesson being taught. We as a ward were all combined into one room. By the time I made it into the room, my roommate and I were near the back of the room. With about a hundred people in this room, and being near the back of one of the dance rooms we met in, voices didn't exactly carry to my neck of the woods.

What makes my rambunctiousness more damnable is that the Stake President was the one teaching the lesson! I figure I will have to settle for being a good girl, but not quite good enough to go all the way. This way I can still have a job, and it in a way, punishes me for being a bad girl and will remind me for eternity what I did wrong.

Not a bad job if I can justify myself a little bit. A Sniper Angel will get to hover around church meetings and strike down those who are being naughty when they probably really need to learn the lesson being taught!

Brian Regan

2008-02-15T10:20:00.003-07:00

This guy is so funny. He's my new favorite comedian!

Strawberry Mango Goodness

2008-02-07T09:53:00.001-07:00

While I try to get the pictures organized, and uploaded, I thought I would do a little restaurant review. The restaurant is called World Famous and it is located right on the beach in San Diego, California. Their menu changes pretty much daily, or at least they print out a new menu every day...(you know that because the date is printed at the top of each menu). Shameonyou21 and Randoval found this place a couple of years ago when they were staying here, and took a walk on the boardwalk. A short ten minute walk along the beach's boardwalk and you are there. We went there Thursday night for dinner, and then we loved it so much, we went back the night we returned to San Diego a week and a half later!

This, my friends, is my strawberry mango goodness! The actual name is Strawberry Mango Angel Food Trifle! It has giant spears of mango in the glass along the sides, a strawberry and a vanilla custard sauce (creme anglaise), chunks of angel food cake, and whipped cream and strawberries. All I have to say about this is...OH! MY! This made dinner oh so much better!

The best part about this restaurant some would say is the view. While you can't normally beat that, I would have to say that my strawberry mango goodness is almost tied with something else on the menu. What is it you ask??? It is the most rich and yummy lobster bisque (basically a cream of lobster soup) I have had since school! The cruise ship had lobster bisque offered one night, and it didn't even come close to this one. It even had some lobster bits in it! You all know how much I love me some lobster bits!!!

We joked about asking the waitress if the soup comes with free refills, so I actually asked her. She giggled, then leaned down and asked me what is was I said! I repeated my question,

"So the lobster bisque comes with free refills right?!"

She kinda chuckled again, then took my bowl (which I wasn't completely done with cause I wanted to use the bread to lick it clean) and said, "Oh it is so rich you would get sick if you ate another bowl."

As she walked away I felt my eyes welling up with tears because I wasn't done, and because she really never answered my question. I REALLY did want another bowl! It wasn't like there was a full cup of soup. I bet there wasn't even quite a half of a cup in there! JERK WAITRESS!

The second time we went, we couldn't decide what entree we wanted, so we tried all the appetizers, some delectable lobster bisque, and of course some strawberry mango goodness! I think the appetizers, and those other two dishes are the best things on the menu (from what we tried anyway).

What we tried:

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms--These are better when you squeeze a little lemon on them, rather than eating them plain!
Crunchy Jumbo Shrimp--Essentially these are a coconut shrimp. The sweet ancho chili sauce was tasty also!
Lobster Spring Rolls--Lobster bits (mmm lobster bits) in a spring roll with a spicy mango jalapeno sauce...mmm!
Big Island Ahi Tuna--If you like sushi, this is the appetizer for you! Chunks of tuna on sticky rice with a little sweet/spicy sauce drizzle!
Peppered Seared Yellow Fish Tuna--A little too peppery in some spots (I know shocker cause I put pepper on EVERYTHING), but overall very good and it was cooked to perfection. The hot mustard sauce went perfectly with it also!
Shrimp San Miguel--Shameonyou21 said she liked it, but the sherry flavor took over a little bit from the overall taste.
Capellini California--Di Di didn't have much to say about this because she was too busy eating it! I tasted some and it has a very fresh flavor. No seafood in it, which was perfect for her!
Steak and Sea Scallops--I don't like scallops very much. To me they are just ooey gooey fish balls. They have a very fishy flavor and the texture is rubbery. Randoval didn't love this, because I think the steak came with carmelized red onions and so it was a little sweeter than he likes his meat.
Pacific Clam Chowder--I liked this very much, but once you've tasted fresh clam chowder somewhere on the coast, there isn't much you can do to doll it up. I just liked the lobster bisque BETTER!

Anyway, I am only waiting on Di Di and Shameonyou21 to get me CD's with their pictures. Let's face it...we were all going to share pictures, so I let them take the most. Anyway, in the mean time, Shameonyou21 has posted a little synopsis with some pics on her blog, so go check it out while you are waiting for me to get the CD's to give you the whole trip!

I No Wanna Be Home...

2008-02-06T14:37:00.002-07:00

My Mexican Vacation is officially over and I am not happy one bit about it! Needless to say I had a blast, and would turn around and go back right now if I could. I hate coming back to the real world where I have to clean up after myself, and actually have to pay for my food and drinks. What the crap is that about?! I have been tempted to take my soda card from the ship and walk into a Chevron and walk out with a free soda. What??? It doesn't work that way in the real world?! STUPID REAL WORLD!

Anyway, I working on a site where I can upload all of my pictures, so when I get that finished, I will have a fatty post with tons of pictures. For now though, I have scanned and uploaded my really expensive cruise photographer pictures on the two "formal dress" nights in the dining room.

Formal Night #1, Second Day on Ship: Me, Di Di, and Shameonyou21

Formal Night #2, Second to Last Day on Ship

Formal Night #2--We actually had these taken

by one of the thousand photographers on the ship!

Mexico Here I Come!!!

2008-01-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

I thought this day would never come! For the last four or so months, I have known I was going on a cruise, but time seemed to move so slowly!!! At long last, my cruise vacation is about to begin. My friends and I will drive to San Diego, California tonight, play all day at Sea World on Thursday, and play for half a day doing who cares what on Friday. We will then board the ship, and from then on I will be praying (and so should you) that I will not be blowing chunks for the two days at sea before we ever reach the shores of Mexico.

Acapulco's weather forecast calls for high 80's, and you had better "keep your cake out of the sun" type weather. With that said, I just want to let you all know, that I will be thinking of you often. Especially when I am laying on the warm beaches of old Mexico, while you all are laying on your freezing cold couches bundled up in blankets, while it is 10 degrees outside, because you are stuck in this frozen arctic valley that is Utah!!!

I will post pictures, and an overall summary of my warm, fabulous, and much needed vacation when I get back the first week in February! Love ya all, mean it!!!

More Goals...

2008-01-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

I figured today of all days was an extra appropriate and good day to set some more goals. I have reached yet another year closer to that very bad day that mjillie and I decided today was going to give me a coronary. I realize I really do have things that I want to have accomplished in my life just in case that coronary actually does come 366 days from now (it is a leap year). I promised Kristen that I would for sure put this first one on my list, so my friend, that one is for you!!!

More Posts, More Often-I go through these phases of ginormously long posts, and then no posts. Another ginormously long post apologizing for being a bad girl, and promise to be better without any change. With or without anything profound to say, I WILL be better.
Being Debt Free-I almost have my car paid off, I have some student loans still, and I have a little bit of credit card debt (mostly from school). I hate seeing my money go down the tubes. I waste a lot with my own habits, don't get me wrong, I would just love to know what it feels like (for what will probably be the only time the rest of my life this will happen) to not have most of my paycheck every month sent to a thousand different places. I would actually like to have a savings account with more money in it than the required minimum. In my last post, I mentioned eating out less. I feel this will help me a tiny bit with my financial frenzy. I know it isn't the cure all, nor is there a cure all by any means. I will be smarter about my habits, but not so strict that I can't have fun.
Learn a New Trick/Hobby-I know that Jaime and Shameonyou21 are licking their chops right now hoping they mean scrapbooking of some sort. While that is a possibility, I may want to try something new. I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar, even though I have no sense of rhythm or musical ability. Heck, it could even just be something as dumb as a card trick! Obviously, I hope it might be more than that, but I want to try and better myself in any way possible. I would love some ideas on this as well!
Have Fun, and Laugh A Lot-My cruise is something that is getting me off on the right foot. Who knows if I will ever go on another cruise ever again in my life, who knows if I will even like it. All I know is that I am hoping this turns into one of those once in a lifetime vacations, that I will never forget. (It better with what it is costing me to go, that's for dang sure!) I have good friends, and we have had great times together. I love those times! This will only happen obviously if I don't lose touch with those I love. I promise to do all those things I love to do, and hopefully enjoy doing them with my good friends. Such things include games, movies, dinner, kicking either Kristeee's trash, or Birdees's trash at deathball, and cooking/baking for and with you all. Shameonyou21 and I occasionally get together for a fun night of making dinner, but she usually just goes behind me cleaning up my spills/messes all over. She comes up with new ideas (or even the old ones), and we help each other figure out how best to accomplish the meal successfully, with the least amount of food all over her stove or floor. It's a win win situation really! Even if it is piling a plate for Randoval a mile high with spaghetti enough for five! Road trips, or veg out times, or even getting a cold beverage in the summer, or getting a hot chocolate in the winter to simply have a free minute to catch up. I just don't want it miss out on even the dumb things that may not mean a lot at the time, but looking back and laughing and loving those times we spent I hope will stay with me forever!
Be More Spiritual-I am not going to elaborate too much on this, because I feel it is pretty self explanatory. It is the little things in this area that I find myself slipping in, and therefore not feeling as I think I should. The daily habits that are so hard to form, yet so easily broken must become more of a routine, or it will never work.

At the close of this "special" day in my 20th-something year, I'd like to say thanks to all the little people that have kept me going. Especially when I have my fun little ski-breaks like smacking myself in the face with my deathball racket! Maybe I need more help than is actually humanly possible afterall!

New Years Resolutions

2008-01-03T12:36:00.002-07:00

I have come to terms with something that may come as a big shock to all of you...I am not perfect ::big sigh:: I know, I know, pick yourselves up from your fallen state of shock and get over it!

I have been contemplating my life as of late. Not that I am dying, or plan to by any means, I guess as the holidays drew nearer (and then ended), my money stash under my mattress dwindling into dust bunnies, and work sucking (with some of the customers needing a good shovel to the side of their heads), I've decided to set some goals for myself with ways I will be able to reach them and measure them. I haven't decided yet whether or not to put them in my sidebar. I guess if you guys think they are OK, and worthy of such an honor, I will!

I will post a couple of goals a day until I feel they are all here, so you don't end up with one of my famous novel posts! Here the first couple. Keep in mind these are in no particular order...

Lose 10 More Pounds: I know that 65 is already a lot, but call me greedy, I would like to get down to my ideal weight being this close. Ways to accomplish this particular goal would include an actual gym attendance/work out regime. I am currently a member of a certain large, well known gym in the area, I just actually need to go! Also, after spending almost two years paying Weight Watchers to lose weight, I think I have some of the eating tools to be able to help me accomplish this. I will start writing things down again, and paying closer attention to my point values. I did not come this close to gain it all back again (STUPID HOLIDAYS). Eating out every night must stop also. It will become more of a reward to myself for a week well done, or for special occasions such as nights out with you folk!
Keep in Better Contact with those I Love: I have some good friends. Some I see and speak with on a regular basis, some I see and speak with every blue moon, and some I haven't seen or spoken in a very long time because of a geographical location or otherwise. I would still like to keep their friendship and keep in good contact.

Holiday Happenings

2007-12-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have been a very bad girl. Bad me, bad! Anyway, just before Christmas my family all traveled to Las Vegas for the BYU vs UCLA Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl (a football game). My cousin obtained about 40 tickets in the main endzone section of the UNLV football stadium. All of them were taken up by family and friends. I think including the kids, there were about 27ish family members at the game who traveled from various places in Utah and Nevada. Despite the cold weather, and the near loss by my BYU Cougars, we had a ton of fun...

After we got home (no thanks to two hour flight delays, but better than driving in black ice conditions on I-15), all of my siblings happened to stay over at my parents house on Christmas Eve. We had a huge dinner consisting of Tenderloin Steaks, Salmon, Shrimp, Crab Dip, 7 Layer Dip, Clam Chowder and a Veggie Tray (it was ALMOST as huge as the dinner they have for the Super Bowl...[another football game, only on a professional level])!!! We opened pajamas, and woke up early thanks to two crying babies, two young boys excited for Santa, and my sissy flopping around on the air mattress!

Thanks to the many service men and women for this!!! It covered the entire field!!!

Brooklynn was SO bundled up, she couldn't even move her arms!

Baby Brooklynn (left) and Baby Boston (right)

Baby Boston helping Grandpa open his present!

Cooper and Easton got Matching Cars Pajamas. They couldn't wait to open the tent/sleeping bags that went with them either!

Hope all your Holidays went well...I promise to post more often in 2008!

Sesame Street May Not Be Suitable For Children

2007-11-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

This world is getting more and more retarded. Or maybe I should say to hell with all of the stupid people that go out of their way to ruin things for everyone else!!! I don't normally post about such "controversial issues" but with this I couldn't help myself. The earlier episodes of Sesame Street are now coming with a warning label on the package that the episodes may not be suitable for children. Adults Only...LAME!!! I love how this first article ends. There wasn't, nor is there anything (other than the newer, more politically correct episodes maybe) with this television show!!! Get a life people!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-medium-t.html?ref=television

http://churchrelevance.com/warning-sesame-street-1969-is-not-suitable-for-generation-z/

http://crookedhouse.typepad.com/crookedhouse/2007/11/more-on-the-ses.html

The Results

2007-11-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the delay on getting you all the results of the Gingerbread House Competition. I spent Thanksgiving weekend at the Folks' and with all the festivities, I simply forgot about it!!! Anyhow, yesterday I went to lunch with Shameonyou21, and she yelled at me for not getting it done yet, so I figured I had better do it quick before she decides to deflate my tires while I sleep or something (although she still doesn't entirely know where I live)!

The results according to the neighbor lady were as follows:

First Place-House #3. She liked the Cinnamon Bears roasting marshmallows on the fire pit, and the loved how the burnt gingerbread looked like stucco. She also gave them props cause it was twice as big as everyone else's, and they made their gingerbread from scratch instead of using a kit like everyone else. This house belonged to my sissy EK and her hubby Tater Tot (the construction worker just like Shameonyou21 thought).

Second Place-House #1. She wanted to disqualify them for the use of the illegal fake snow stuff and the plastic reindeer, but when they whined about not hearing the rules, she let it slide cause she liked the reindeer poop, and the candy cane fence. This house was the genius of my older brother Mitch, his wife Tavi, my nephew Easton, and my daddy Calvie. Easton threw a fit about how they HAD TO HAVE a fire pit too, cause Ericka and Taylor had one! There was some arguing with me and my dad over the Peeps Snowmen, and the Peeps Trees cause we both bought them, and he couldn't find his, so he accused me of stealing his and putting them in my stash. He even pulled his receipt out to "prove" to me that he bought them. I told you that us Joneses get a little too competitive for our own good sometimes!

Third Place-House #2. The lady gave the lower placed houses "other prizes" too. This one got the award for "Most Traditional." She said she felt like she was "there" or something like that. Liked the brickwork, the icicles, and the DumDums for light polls. The pretzel fence was a last minute throw together. This was MY house, and MY house ALONE! My momma helped me put up the fence and the Nerds walkway though cause everyone else was finished and mad they had to wait for me to finish. GOOD GRIEF, it wasn't as if I had a partner to work with, or four people helping me like others did!!! Anyway, thanks to all of you for your love on this one!

Fourth Place-House #5. This house got the award for "Most Original." She loved the Cinnamon Toast Crunch shingles, and the Tootsie Roll fence. Grandpa Keetch gave them the idea of the Hersey's Kiss out of the chimney...BRILLIANT! You can't really tell, but they have the log cabin theme going on the sides too. Good thing I didn't have time to make my own gingerbread logs for my cabin, or that would have been embarrassing! This house was the handy work of my little sissy Megs and her bff Gage.

Fifth Place-House #4. Aside from my older brother who is "Mister Trash Talk" everyone of us thought this house was the clear winner. This was my younger brother Brady's , and his wife Lauren's house. Brady went home PISSED, cause they lost. Mister Trash Talk didn't help matters much either. He made fun of the fact that Brady's house came in last place, after all that work they did. Then again, Mister Trash Talk also told Taylor that his house was going to get hit by a roadside bomb too, so what does he really know! Anyway, this house got the award for "Most Creative." Ya think??!! Aside from the doormat, and the swirled melted Jolley Rancher stained glass windows, you have the ice skating pond, the Frosted Mini Wheats for shingles, the Licorice Nibs for brick, and the Cotton Candy for billowing smoke out of the chimney. What more do they need??? Brady told my Momma that he hated her neighbor, and Lauren told us the other day that Brady was in a super bad mood all the rest of that night!!!

Think we take things a little too seriously??? Nah! If it weren't for us Joneses, there would be no standard for the rest of the world to live up to!!!

1st Annual Jones Family Gingerbread House Competition

2007-11-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

My family decided to have a gingerbread house competition this past Sunday. I guess they decided they want it to be an annual event, so this is the FIRST of what I kinda hope might be a forgotten about event.

My parent's neighbor came and judged them (with my family it always has to be a competition) I got third place, but I also worked alone. Everyone else had their spouse/boyfriend. Easton was supposed to be my partner, but ditched me at the last minute. My brother Mitch had his wife Tavi, Easton, and my dad. I think I should get extra props.

What are your votes for the best/least favorites. Rank them #1-#5, cause I want to get your opinions. You'll have to ignore the "illegal" use of plastic animals/other non-food items on this first house. The individuals responsible claimed they didn't get told any rules, let alone that this was against the rules. We were supposed to bring our own gingerbread/graham crackers/ building structure, and our own candy. My mom made all the icing.

The numbers for each of the entries are located beneath the photograph.

#1

#2

#5

Grandpa Keetch watched us AND the kids. How cute is this picture of him feeding Baby Brooklynn!!!

A Giant, Fluffy, Junior Mint

2007-11-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

As the weather cools down, the need for some warming up comes into play, so a couple of weeks ago, Jaime and I went to 7-Eleven to get us a hot chocolate. I usually add a few of those Irish Cream flavored coffee creamers to not only cool it down a bit, but you all know I am a sucker for just about anything minty!!!!

As we arrived, I noticed that a new flavor had been added:

3-Musketeers Mint Hot Chocolate!!!!

I of course jumped at the chance to try it. Upon purchasing our beverages, I noticed the actual candy bar from which this delightful beverage had been inspired. It wasn't until this past Friday that I actually decided to try it. It was a moment of weakness in the Walmart checkout line, and it was only 50 cents. I really didn't know what to expect. Maybe the little chocolate marshmallow nougat thing in the regular candy bar has a tiny bit of mint flavor...

The discovery was actually a very pleasant surprise. My very first thought was that it was very similar to a Junior Mint, only bigger, and fluffier...and better! So my review, in my professional opinion: A Giant, Fluffy, Junior Mint. If you like Junior Mints, you'll like this candy bar.

In the words of Kramer from Seinfeld..."Who doesn't like a junior mint?! It's chocolate...it's peppermint...it's refreshing!!! It's very delicious!!!" It is dark chocolate, but the mint flavor hides the strong taste of that a little bit. The mint bar is a little thinner than its original counterpart, and it has two separate mini bars if you will, in the one package. You all will have to go out and get yourselves one to make your own comparisons, and then let me know what you think.
vs

Oh yeah, and by the way...the hot chocolate flavor was pretty good too!

Day of Fun

2007-11-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

I kidnapped the boys one afternoon a couple of weeks ago and had Shameonyou21 take some pictures of them for me. Cooper was really hard cause he wouldn't smile very much, and I don't think he felt very well. Easton was hammin' it up the entire time.

Another friend of mine brought her little girl along for the ride too, so I think the added distraction didn't help much. I thought they turned out cute, even though these are the only pictures Shameonyou21 liked. Dang photographers think they know it all!!!

You all know I love the TV Show "Friends" quite a bit. I could not help it when I saw Cooper pull this face all day long. I kept flashing back to Chandler when he and Monica are taking engagement photos, and Chandler cannot smile. In fact, these are his "bedroom eyes!"

"Someone on the subway licked my neck, they licked my neck!"

"Awe, Willie's still alive!"

Lifetime Restaurants

2007-10-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

I have been a major slacker...yes what else is new you say! I have been a very very bad slacker, I have two restaurants to review, and one big major announcement to make! So without annoying you any further...

I AM A LIFETIMER!!! What does that mean you ask? Well, that means that in my last 1 year, 10 1/2 months of being a faithful paid member of Weight Watchers, I have reached my goal weight, and maintained it for at least six weeks. That now means, that as long as I stay no more than two pounds over that goal weight, I am what they consider a Lifetime Member. I don't have to pay them anything ever again, and I only have to check in ONE time during the month, instead of going every single week. HOORAY!!! I have lost 61 pounds (and counting), and have dropped my pant size in half!!! YEA, YIPPEE!!!

In between, and after said blessed event happened, I managed to find a couple of restaurants to review. One was so-so, and the other BAD!

Remember "The Place of Which We Do Not Speak?" Well, someone told me that it no longer existed. That it was named something different. I figured this would be a good opportunity to find out if I simply disliked the location by the movie theater, or if it was the actual restaurant itself. I still can't tell.

Kristen, and Kristeee and I all went out to try our hand at this new place to see what we could see, while the LDS boys were supposed to be at their Priesthood Meeting session of the LDS General Conference. The restaurant is called, "La Vigna," not to be confused with a different vulgar word referring to a woman's body part, as Kristeee originally thought it was called!!!

We arrived at the restaurant, and were escorted in very promptly. It kind of surprised us being that this was usually the time all the women go out to eat, while the men were in their meeting. Kristen and I usually have issues with this restaurant telling us ten minutes, forgetting about us, even though they asked us our name twice, and the actual wait time ending up to be about 45 minutes. This was a very nice change of pace for us!!!

Anyway, we took a look at the menu, trying to decide what we could order. I noticed that much of the menu was the same or very similar to that of the previous restaurant, only maybe with a different name. The prices seemed to be slightly higher, but only by a dollar or two. We asked our waiter for some suggestions, and he gave us ONE. His favorite. OK, so not that bad, but maybe we wanted some options to choose from, maybe you could tell us what a lot of people order, or what another dish you like might be. Don't just give me one and walk away like a homer!!!

As we sat there wondering if we dared ask the waiter what happened to "That Place of Which We Do Not Speak," or for more menu suggestions, we mulled over some other options to choose from. None of us picked the waiter's favorite as it turned out. Maybe I should have. They had a dish similar to my favorite one from "that other place" (Lobster Bits), only slightly different, but I wanted to try something new. Once again...BAD IDEA!

I can't remember exactly how the dish I ordered was supposed to be prepared. I ordered the tortellini in what I thought was supposed to be a garlic cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes. What came out was tortellini in some broken, sorry excuse for a pasta sauce I have ever seen. There was no garlic flavor in it at all, and it appeared to be either straight butter or olive oil, or a combination of the two together. In fact, there was no flavor to the dish at all, even though they had strings of basil ALL OVER the outside and on top of my plate!!!

I think the dish was called something like "Katarina de tortellini." Or something with some woman's name in it at least! If that is the way that Katarina intended that dish to be, someone should smack her upside the head with one of those hanging sausages on the walls, because as I said before, it was the sorriest excuse for a pasta sauce EVER!

I am pretty sure that both of my companions enjoyed their dishes. But how much different can you get with Marsala Chicken, and Cannelloni??? I might give this place one more try. Maybe go try their version of my lobster bits and then I can compare for sure.

While trying to search to see if a website was available yet, I came across this guy's commentary on the place. It explains what happened to "that other place" and why I thought things looked so similar in the new place. Apparently is was differences of opinion between the two partners, and that's why the Provo location of "that other place" is still in tact. I hope that since the management is the same, and only the name and the menu differ slightly from the original, their service will differ as well from what we have dealt with in the past. If it is the same...I will ban myself from eating there as I did "that other place."

Just a quick note...that other place that I went to, just stay away. It will not be in business long at all. It is called "National Express Restaurant," and it is located in Orem where the old dine-in Pizza Hut used to be by Jamba Juice. It is supposed to be a chinese buffet style, but their selections were very few...maybe like 10 or so, and the flavors weren't quite there. They had a General Tso's Orange Chicken dish, which tasted neither like the hot and spicy norm of the general's chicken, nor anything like orange as one might expect from a dish with that name. Their assembly line seemed backwards and kinda wierd. The plates were at the end of the line, the forks and napkins way over by the register, and the sweet and sour sauce was at the beginning before you ever come to the actual chicken. With the mother of all chinese buffets (LQ Chinese Gourmet by Subway off of 1200 north) only a few blocks away, I can't imagine this place staying open for very long.

Halloween Dinner

2007-10-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

I'm very serious about this by the way. Let me know if you are interested!

Happiness & Drooving

2007-09-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Shameonyou21's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! As for her age...let's just say she is about 15 weeks, and 4 days OLDER than I am! Man she's old!!! Her computer is down at the moment, so I can get away with saying that for a little bit anyway! As soon as she gets a new one, and logs on to see how my posting is coming, I will be dead, and my posts will cease!

Anyway, we went to Black Angus in Fort Union for the birthday dinner. Out of the ten or so people in our party, three of us did not have anything to drink. Because of that, dinner got extra happy toward the end with everyone telling us of their favorite drunk stories! Most of them were about our friend Krissy, bur Shameonyou21 and Randoval had a few of their own to add! Randoval made up his mind from the beginning that he wanted to drink...A LOT... and Shameonyou21 wanted to celebrate her birthday with a couple of fruity square cow somethings.

DiDi, and I were two of the sober ones at the table, and we rode up with Shameonyou21 and Randoval to the restaurant, so they said it was up to us to decide who was the designated driver between us. DiDi was very anti touching this "baby" of a vehicle, so the lot fell upon me, even though I didn't want to either. What else could I do though. Randoval was really happy, and Shameonyou21 said she was fine, and could DROOVE us home! Tons of RED FLAGS popped up all over the table, so I took it upon me to suck it up and just do it (like Nike tells me to do), cause there was no way I was letting either of them droove us home.

We made it fine, no big giant metors came flying out of the sky like I had feared, but let's just say that it was pretty much the worst experience EVER! Everyone was yelling at each other to shut up and let me drive, but the very next second someone was trying to tell me where to go and what to do. I yelled at them a few times, they snapped back, it was so much fun!

One of the highlights of the ride home was when we found a Pie Pizzaria in the same parking lot. Same fantastic restaurant, closer location. What's not to love? Anyone up for some pizza in about three weeks (when I hit my lifer status and have a month to work it off)?

Now if only I could get Mjillie to come down and play. Her birthday was last Sunday, so she is about 16weeks and 4 days OLDER than I am. Man, she's old too!!!!

SVAŠTA

2007-09-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not understand the Croatian language, the title of this post will not make any sense to you...I used this title because using the phrase, "Everything, Anything, Whatever, However, Whenever, and Who Cares" just doesn't seem to give it justice. If you really want to know how to pronounce the word though, and even if you don't...SVAH-SH-TUH.

Anyway, this post is going to (try) and make-up for the last month of happenings and goings on in my life since I haven't been on blogger to write about any of it. Be prepared for ski-breaks, babies, food, work, friends, basketball referee junk, my W.W. experiences, family, church, roommates, etc.

Get it, Sit back, and Shut up....(OK not really, cause I really want you to comment). Where should we begin...Family sounds good, cause they are an important thing right!

My brother is still living in Japan, but doesn't like the style of baseball they play over there. It's a whole different game than the "American Pastime" we play here in the states. His wife and two boys came home on Tuesday for the rest of the year, so that was exciting for us at least. Mitch will be home when his team is finished with the playoffs over there. Let's all root for the team playing AGAINST the Nippon Ham Fighters, so he can come home too! Those boys though are so big. Cooper is a monster, and Easton is so tall!!!

You are all aware now, both of my younger siblings have children now. Kinda frightens me sometimes to think of at least one of them as a parent...we'll see how they do! My momma has all four of her grandkids close to home now, so I probably don't need to tell you how happy she is!!!

Let's just summarize the rest of these like this:

I have been contemplating trying to make things right (even though I wasn't really the one who pushed away) from a good friend. This person moved away, dropped off the face of the earth, sort of resurfaced, moved back, dropped off the face of the earth again, I said some things to someone out of frustration to someone else who then in turn most likely went to this friend and told her what I had said. I am the kind of person who likes everyone to get along, and even though I get the attitude of "who cares, they dug their own grave, I'm through trying, its too hard" I have been feeling the need to apologize for the things I said, which may or may not have gotten back to her, and try to at least clear my conscience with things. Any thoughts?

A good friend of mine lost his son in a tragic car accident a few weeks ago...two weeks before his 17th birthday. I didn't know how to help, even though I knew their wasn't much I could really do. He is dating one of my best friends, Shameonyou21 so that's how I know him. I think I have actually mentioned him before on my blog...I believe I referred to him as Randoval. What I ended up doing was making everything and anything they asked for, or had been asking me to make for the last while now. I even made stuff for the ex-wife, and husband, and other son!!! I guess not everything because Shameonyou21 DIDN'T ASK for the cream puffs. I didn't know Kiefer that well, but the few times I was over, and he was there, he was a fun, energetic, and outgoing kid with an infectious laugh. Like I said, I didn't know him that well, but I couldn't help tease him right along with everyone else! Maggie Moo's ice cream will never be the same (we used to give him and his brother, and friends money so they would have something to do, and they would bring us back ice cream)!

I am on my 5th roommate since May. Two have already been married, the third is getting married in October, the fourth is a little piggy mess sty, and the fifth is really cool. PHEW! I would have shot myself dead, (or just opted out of my contract for the next year) if I had a weirdo move in. I would have been surrounded, and probably would be afraid to contract some form of disease because of Messy Bessy. My ward is really really young, but I am hoping I can weed out the babes, and find some real men (which I am hoping is a feasible goal). For now, I am happy, trying not to strangle someone, and actually reading a book. I am in the 5th chapter of Twilight, thanks to HeidiVN, and my roommate Nat.

Ski breaks have been so very many, that I can't remember them all...If I was with you and had one, or I told you about one that is not listed...feel free to remind me how dumb I can be!!! There are only a few that are so bad that jump out right at me off hand. The first one is, while walking to work one morning, I was a good 2/3 of the way to work when I noticed my zipper was down, and had been down the ENTIRE time. What made it worse was it happened during the time that buses are bringing the kids to school. Since I was around 800 N. and Freedom Blvd. (a very busy road) I couldn't just up and fix it...lots and lots of people driving by, and kids in school buses...they wouldn't stop coming though so it lasted another however long, but it felt like an eternity before I could do anything about it

The last thing I wanted to mention, (I promise it will just be a mention) I hit my w.w. goal, and I am three weeks into my six week maintenance period. After those 6 are up, and I am hopefully, no more than 2 pounds above my goal weight, I get be a lifetime member, and not have to pay them a dime ever again, r at least as long as I maintain my weight. I don't ever wanna be where I was again, or feeling the way I felt...I like having brand new size 10 pants feel baggy...sort of (I am not made of money...I can't keep buying new clothes every time I turn around)!!!

Thanks for indulging me in my last month's worth of journey's/ non-adventures. I promise I will be better at my slacking off Blogging Posts!!!

2007-09-18T06:58:00.001-07:00

Brooklynn Belnap
August 27, 2007
6 pounds 13 ounces
19.5 inches long

New Review!

2007-08-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Not much has been happening recently, as I am sure you have all noticed the complete lack of blogging on my part. Nevertheless, I have managed to find a restaurant at which is worth eating, and which is worth actually reviewing since I haven't been to this restaurant before, nor had I really noticed it was in existence until a few weeks ago when I went.

As we walked out of the restaurant, I heard a woman, who was passing by, tell her friend that this restaurant was not good and to never, ever go there. I have to disagree completely, as I thought it was a very nice, fresh change from the usual Chinese crap that is out there these days. One thing that grabbed my attention right away was the dish descriptions on the menu. Some places have a very generic description that barely gives you an idea of what you are ordering. These descriptions were brief, yet informative enough to let me know what I would be getting myself into if I decided to order this dish.

The prices were very reasonable considering its location, and the amount of food you receive. Most lunches were just under $8, and they are served with egg rolls, soup of the day (this day was the egg drop soup), fried wontons, and your choice of fried or steamed rice. By the time the actual entrees came, we were already pleasantly satisfied. The food came out very quickly, and the portions were large enough to have leftovers (if you like to have leftovers) for the following day.

I ordered the General Tso's chicken. Most everywhere I have been, has this particular dish in the deep fried format. Shoots had the chicken grilled and then sauteed in the special sauce that I love so much! My favorite Chinese buffet did away with this on the menu, so knowing of another place to get it, that is even healthier than the original, was happiness in the world in which I live.

The only negative things I noticed was that the water glasses were slow to be refilled, the bill was quite slow in getting to us once we were finished eating, and then quite slow in returning it to us. The restaurant appears to be all family run and operated, so I am sure the wait staff/owner's wife and daughter had other tables to attend to, but these are just "must haves" in my book.

I reccomend this restaurant to all who like chinese food, and especially to those who aren't always down with the always fried shrimp, chicken, and pork dishes that so often accompany this type of cuisine. The website advertises that all of the food is made fresh to order, and not sitting under a heat lamp to order. That's a good way to get me interested at least. For dinner they have a "mix and match" type of entree which I thought would be worth checking out. You get a choice of starch, three choices of vegetables, and one choice of meat (or something along those lines. All of it freshly stir-fried when you order.

Baby Boston

2007-08-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

Nephew #3 has finally arrived!!!! After weeks of labor pains/contractions, Lauren delivered baby Boston yesterday afternoon!!! I am so ticked that I can't see him in person for three more weeks. I tried to pull the guilt card with Brady, in saying that if I had thousands of dollars at my disposal, I would fly him out to see me. Nice try huh!!!

Brady's response was, "Don't worry, we'll be home in a few weeks!"

HOW RUDE!!! My parents told me I couldn't fly out to VA. with them this weekend because I had to watch the shop! JERKS! I am just being shot down right and left here!

Anyway, Brady thought that this kid was gonna shoot right out for some reason, but it took about 11 hours instead! It's no wonder though, when you see how big he is!

BOSTON BRADY JONES
August 8, 2007

9 lbs. 8 oz. 22" long

Check out Brady and Lauren's site to see a couple of cute videos they've uploaded!!!

Just Some Pictures!

2007-07-20T07:55:00.001-07:00

I haven't done a whole lot of fun traveling like I had hoped this summer now that my brother lives in Japan instead of Las Vegas--go figure! In exchange, I have been trying to take advantage of a few of the events around town to try and make up for it. Take a gander...but don't forget, I am still waiting on some smart A$$ comments from the peanut gallery!

This one was just so much
better in color!

All About Me I Guess!

2007-07-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

I guess the thanks goes out to Kristen for this one!

Four Jobs I’ve held:
1) Grocery Bagger--Macey's
2) Assistant Concessions Mgr/Stand Mgr.--Orem Owlz
3) Wrapper--Costco Bakery
4) Digitizer/Pretend Graphic Designer--The Ink Spot

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
1) Any sappy love story like Runaway Bride/Notting Hill
2) Pride & Prejudice (either the A&E or the '06 version)
3) A League of Their Own
4) Ocean's Movies (1, 2, and even 3) or (Rocky movies--any one of the first 5)

Four Places I’ve Lived:
1) Croatia (five different cities)
2) Orem, Utah (two different places)
3) Provo, Utah (two different times)
4) Lake Powell/Page, AZ (for like a week)

Four Places I’ve Vacationed:
1) Las Vegas, NV
2) Cincinnati/Columbus, OH
3) Denver/Colorado Springs, CO
4) Boise, ID

Four of My Favorite Dishes:
1) Lasagna
2) Sushi
3) Madeira Chicken
4) Au Gratin/Scalloped Potatoes (cheesy goodness)

Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1) Japanesebaseball.com--to check on my bro
2) Yahoo mail--although that seems to be pointless lately cuz I'm not writing anyone either!
3) Bank account--stupid bills
4) All of YOUR blogs since you are the ones posting and not me!

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1) Croatia
2) Japan
3) Mexico (on my cruise)
4) Anywhere but here!

And I tag.....NOT A SOUL! You play if you wanna play. Otherwise make some smart a$$ comments on this!

I Love Me A Good Comic Strip

2007-06-27T15:59:00.001-07:00

I haven't had me a good laugh at a comic in a while, so when I found the first one in the newspaper a few weeks ago, I went online to read what some of the others were like. These two were just a couple that I could relate to. The comic strip is called Baby Blues by the way.

The Hotties

2007-06-24T13:35:00.001-07:00

Tavi (my sister-in-law) had these taken at Kiddie Kandids before they left for Kanab this week. Apparently, Cooper was a ham, so easy to work with, and so it made it hard to choose which prints to use. Easton on the other hand was kind of a pain, even though he usually loves his picture taken. He kept making faces at the photographer, and his mom had to get after him a little bit to knock it off and be serious!

I am going to miss them a ton while they are in Japan, but they will have a great experience, and I am happy that they will get to be with their daddy through this whole thing. I thought I would brag about my nephews just a bit with you all!!!

COOPER (13 Months)

EASTON (3rs. Old)

THE BROTHERS

From Japan to Mexico

2007-06-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

I have told a few people of the possiblity of me taking a trip to Japan sooner than anticipated. This was due to the fact that Mitch had to leave this morning without his family, and they would join him a few weeks from now. My hopes were soaring high because I was the only one in the family (on both sides) with a passport who was not selling alarm systems for the summer and would not be able to go. How sweet would that be? An all expense paid first class flight (paid by my brother's agent's company), they already have the hookups as far as housing, food money, and stuff, so I wouldn't have been out hardly any of my own money. Where do I sign up???!!!

My hopes have since been dashed though. I tried not to have them too high as it was, just in case, but Tavi (my sis-in-law) was sad (obviously) about not being able to go with Mitch right now. She decided that she would rather her mom go with (I would have probably preferred that too if given the same situation) to help her with Easton and Cooper for that long of a trip. So they expedited passports for her parents, and she is going home to Kanab for the rest of the time until she leaves for Japan.

In the meantime, I guess I will just save my money for a cruise I am taking the last week of January. I am going with my friends Shameonyou21, her bf Randoval, and another of my friends, DiDi, who also happens to work with Shameonyou21. My trip is a Mexican Riviera Cruise for 8 days. Cities include Acapulco, Manzanillo, and Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa. The links I provided to those cities are different shore excursions, which I can pay extra for, and enjoy some extra fun outside of the ship. Some of the excursions I want to possibly experience (despite the costs) in each city are things such as the Dolphin Swim, in the city I can't pronounce. The cliff divers dinner in Acapulco, City Tours, Mexican Fiestas, Snorkeling, Jeef Safaris, etc in Manzanillo Some of those we can do in any city, and we can always spend a day at the beach and rent waverunners, and stuff, or rent mopeds and take our own city tours.

I best be getting my white butt to the tanning beds or I might come home looking like a burnt red pepper! Trade-offs I guess. Trade-offs!

Million Dollar Man

2007-06-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

Some of you have heard about my brother's possible opportunity to go play baseball in Japan. Even if you haven't, now you are up to date, and will be able to better follow along with the story!

Mitch Jones, formerly of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Organizations, has just signed a contract with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese Baseball League guaranteeing him at least $1.1 Million over the next two years! That's right, you read that correctly, $1.1 Million! My brother the millionaire!

This deal is so perfect for him in so many ways. Below are just a few of the "perks" that come with this offer.

Mitch, his wife Tavi, and two boys Easton & Cooper all fly for free to and from Japan.
I think this was implied from the above, but Mitch's family get to go and be with him.
Housing is provided.
A Car is provided.
An additional $300 provided daily for food expenses.
An interpreter is provided.
$50,000 signing bonus paid within three days of arrival.
Bonuses depending on how well he plays (up to an additional $200,000).
An option for a third year worth another $1 Million.
Some form of "money cushion" provided for extended family to travel to Japan.
His team won the Japanese World Series last year (that means they are a very good team).

I am sure there are more, but I can't think of any more right now! Other than an extra month of being away from my favorite nephews, (who really are the main reason we are sad they are all going far, far away), it is a great situation for them, and maybe they can find some kind of awesome missionary opportunity over there too!!!

ARE YOU SURE?

2007-06-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Kristen for this:

Take the Quiz here!

:: L I Z Z Y ::

I am Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! I am intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. I have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find myself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of silliness. I take great pleasure in many things. I are proficient in nearly all of them, though I will never own it. Lest I seem too perfect, I have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves me very ill indeed.

I don't know if I completely agree. Those of you who know me well enough to be a fair judge, (but also somewhat familiar to this character) what say you???

CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE

2007-05-22T15:33:00.001-07:00

As promised...CAKE #2

The preperations:

Let's Just say that Ganache (the chocolate drizzle)=EVILNESS! Turns out chocolate and flowers like each other!!!

50CentJen is playing with the tops white I ganache!

Its all starting to come together:

More FLOWERY TOPS!!! There are little chocolate curls around the flowers as well. I told you, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!!!

At the reception all put together: (the purple things in the background are not my doing b.t.w.)

The white thing on the table in front of the cakes is a white veil with mouse ears. Then of course is the main cake topper of Mickey and Minney which is sitting on the 2nd biggest layer because it was way too big for the very top layer.

So the low down on this. This was fun up until the ganache. When made according to the recipe, it is VERY runny, and had ZERO contrast to the other frosting. We spent an hour messing with the consistency, and trying to get more of a contrast between the frosting, and the ganache.

We ended up with twice as much more chocolate, and it was thicker, but still not where we needed it to be. We had to mix the frosting into the ganache to thicken it up to where we could at least drizzle it over the sides. The drizzles were forced down the sides with a squirt bottle, in strategic locations.

An hour after we were supposed to have the cake at the reception, we finally made it, despite a few attempts on all our parts to drop them on the way over. I almost dropped the top layer right in front of the bride!!!

Then Captain Obvious, (as I have affectionately re-named my mother) pointed out to me on the way in, after one of the most frustrating hours of my life, I was late. I needed to plan better. NOT the thing to say when I am likely to shove the cake I am holding, right into your face!!! That would have gone over well right in front of the bride right? So instead, I almost just drop the thing on the ground. I probably would have sat down on the ground, possibly said a few choice words, then burst into tears!!!

The same applies to this one as it did to the last. Rip on it, admire it, laugh at it, tell me it sucked, or that it wasn't that bad, I don't care. It is over and done with, and since I do not have a cake in my hand, nor are you standing right next to me, I think your opinions will be duley noted no matter how good or bad! (That applies to you too SHAMEONYOU!)

Bake Sale?

2007-05-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

It was brought to my attention just the other day that the reason I can't seem to find anyone to move into my apartment with me, is that perhaps I am stinky. This individual is such a good friend, she offered me a suggestion:

I SHOULD HAVE A BAKE SALE!

My first thought was that it wouldn't work cause people would come steal a treat, and then turn around and run in the other direction. My second thought was that maybe that was a good way for me to get a date!!!

THOUGHTS???

T-Mobile=EVIL LIARS?

2007-05-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this blog while seeing if anything was new in Cheneyville.

I don't use T-Mobile, so I have no real opinions, but I think all cellular phone companies are all the same. They are all in it to gouge the little guy. Does it stop me from using their products. Not really. I hate how expensive they are, but I am the type of person who will pay a little bit extra to have a little more conveinience. (i.e. paying $100 for a flight to Boise, ID. or Las Vegas, NV.) rather than spend 6 hours in a car driving. I hate driving!

What are your thoughts on this? I would esp. like to hear if you use T-Mobile, and have ever used it in more smaller, rural areas rather than in more urban areas, such as Salt Lake/Provo.

Slacker Reviews

2007-05-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have been a slacker on a couple of reviews, so now that I have a few minutes while at work (more like I don't want to really do any official work right now), I thought I would say a few things about my experiences.

More recently, I ventured into Chili's and into the California Pizza Kitchen restaurants, both in Orem.

This one has always been kind of like a staple. It features southwest cuisine, but also the traditional burgers and fries and stuff. I have always loved the traditional fajitas. This time, Queenmeadow, her husband Stuthewise, and their 3 kids invited me out for an evening of fun since they couldn't make it to a BBQ I invited them to a little while back. One thing I love about this restaurant, is that you can use a service called "Call Ahead Seating." The idea is that your name will go on the waiting list as soon as you call, and then you pick up your pager when you get there. The wait time is the same as if you had just walked in the door, but it is from the moment you call, not when you arrive! I haven't ever had to wait very long when I used this wonderful service. Other restaurants are dumb for not implementing the same type of service. I believe this would ease the stress of a huge lobby of hungry, yet angry guests (bad combination)!

I have heard many advertisements lately for their new menu item called "Fajita Trio." (My favorite one is the game-show one on the radio, about naming that sound...cracks me up everytime I hear it)! I was kind of tired of the usual things I get everytime I go there, so I thought I would try it out. It is small portions of steak, chicken, and shrimp all cooked in a sizzling skillet with bell peppers and onions! MMM!!! I thought they were fabulous, and so did Queenie! Overall a very good experience!

CPK specializes in non-traditional pizzas with more gourmet type toppings and cheeses, etc. Along with that you will find some pastas along the same lines. They too have a call ahead seating option available, but you still have a bit of a wait once you arrive, which is no big deal usually.

One of my friends, Ms. Cvitas, graduated from BYU (or at least walked, cause she gets her diploma in August). She is from Croatia, along with some friends she as met while living here the past few years. They have green cards, and live here, while Ms. Cvitas is here only on a student visa. After the long, boring, drawn out, graduation ceremony, she had a little celebration at CPK.

We got in and got seated after a short wait, but then the server was not aware we were her table. Usually servers have sections, so if a new group comes into your section, they are your table to serve. I don't know what happened, but they gave us a free appetizer to make up for it!!! The food was prompt, and the right temperature. She had issues with keeping up on our drinks (some didn't like the italian sodas, but she wasn't around to get it changed).

The biggest beef of mine was when I paid my bill. My bill came to $11.00, and I paid with a $20 bill. She brings me back $6, but a $5 bill, and $1 bill. I have no other cash, and I was going to leave her like $3, even though it was only supposed to be like $2 technically. I would have asked her to change it out, but like I said before, she never came back. We were there talking for like 30 min after our bills came, and I had no caffeine to help me keep up the fast pace of a foreign language I can barely understand anymore as it is! So, I left her $1, and then I found a couple of quarters, so her tip ended up being $1.50. HALF! If any of you are servers in restaurants out there, and you actually want a tip, don't expect me to be leaving you the $5 bill. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN unless you blow me away with your incredible service/food!!!

Lastly, this place shouldn't have even been mentioned cause it was so bad. Sakura Teppanyaki Grill and Sushi Lounge in Orem. I only have two words for this place. SO BAD! Perhaps these ones are better: NEVER AGAIN! Two hours to get a few sushi rolls, then it comes back either not rolled tight enough, or they used the wrong kind of rice, because they fell apart the second you touched them. Just avoid this place if you can!!!

Cake #1

2007-05-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have officially been deemed a pastry chef by a couple of my friends, Chocoball, and her life-long friend Angister. Back in December/January, I got a phone call from these two asking me if I was a pastry chef.

I replied that I wasn't really, but then inquired as to why the scary question!

They then said they were hoping I could/would make their wedding cakes for them in a few months.

Very hestitant, I agreed to the task. I reminded them that their cakes would be my first, and that I would require the help of a friend who makes wedding cakes a lot for friends, family, etc.

They assured me of their confidence in my abilities, and that they would still love it if I could do this for them. I agreed, and the stress bagan!

Thanks to 50Cent-Jen for all the help, and for the use of your abilities, advice, and most importantly, for the use of your equipment!!!

These pics are all of Angster's cake! Chocoball's cake will be appearing in two weeks, and believe me when I tell you, it will be quite the cake!!!

The difference a stupid border makes!

Angister's cake-topper was a crystal Mt. Timpanogos LDS Temple

The finished product as delivered to the reception center.
(Bottom & top layer were chocolate cake, with chocolate mousee filling. The two middle layers were white cake. The middle-bottom layer had a raspberry puree with whole raspberry bits for the filling, and the middle-top layer had the raspberry puree/raspberry bit filling along with some of the chocolate mousse filling on the top of that).

Despite the not-so-warm welcome from the stupid owner of the reception center, we thought everything turned out very well. The happy couple was happy with the results, both the look, and the taste (at least to my face which is what really matters); some of the guests' comments were nice...even when they didn't know I made it; and the bride's parents thought it was great too (they were the one's who paid me for it so that makes a big huge difference)!

Feel free to critique it, compliment it, rip on it, whatever. I was happy considering this was my very first attempt at this gig!!!

My Vegas Vacation

2007-04-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Now that my brother lives, and plays baseball in Las Vegas, I will probably be visiting a lot more often, what is probably one of my most favorite places ever. I had such an interesting time this last weekend, that I thought I would share with you some of the happenings, and maybe expound upon a few of them.

First of all, my Dad and all of his "connections." It doesn't matter where we go, or what we do, there is always someone he knows that does something, or who knows somebody else. This trip was no exception. My Sissy and I went online to see what kind of prices we were looking at and there was absolutley nothing for the weekend we wanted, and come to find out, even our "connections" couldn't get us one. I guess NASCAR was in town or something, not to mention all the other crap that was probably going on at the same time. Then one of the "connections" has a friend who was out of town.

This guy is an NBA basketball referee, who is apparently single and owns a 10,000 sq.ft. house just outside of Vegas. He said his friend was leaving to go out of town, and offered us his house to stay in for free for the weekend. This guy has autographed pictures all over his house of celebrities from the likes of Jack Nicholson, to Muhammed Ali, and George Foreman's "Rumble in the Jungle" fight (this was a very famous fight a very long time ago). So nice except for then my Dad invites a bunch of other people to come stay too, and my prego sissy and I end up sleeping on the floor! RUDE!

Next of all, there were very funny, "only in Vegas would you see..." type of scenarios that I noticed all over, but I wanted to relate only one or two. At the ballpark in Las Vegas, snow cones are available for an extra $3.00 with a shot of Smirnoff Vodka, Jack Daniels Whiskey, or Bacardi Rum. ONLY IN VEGAS! Very tempting, (or at least very tempting to knock out the two pains in the butt under the age of 4, who were whiney and onery the whole weekend)!!!

One scenario that you would think would be an "only in Vegas" moment, however, this one was the other way around. The first weekend in April, my brother's team the Las Vegas 51's,came to open their season in Salt Lake with games beginning from Thursday and going thru Sunday. We all thought because the Sunday game was on Easter Sunday, there wouldn't be a very big crowd. The crowd was huge. Who wants to go to a baseball game on Easter? Apparently, lots of people in Salt Lake did. Then in Las Vegas, we anticipated the Sunday game to be very crowded, but there were significantly fewer people at the game on non-Easter Sunday, and Vegas is supposed to be Sin City!!!

Lastly, my brother will forever be known as "The Chicken Cheater." We went to Circus Circus so that a few of the kids could play and ride some of the rides since we had a few hours to kill before we had to go to the game. After letting my nephew Easton go on some of the kiddie rides, my brother Mitch was trying to win the kids some prizes at some of the games. One particular game was a chicken catapult of sorts. For $5 or so, you get three rubber chickens which you place on a catapult, and with a hammer you hit the other end of the catapult to launch the chickens. If one of the chickens happen to land in a bucket, you win a prize. One thing you don't do to Mitch is dare him to do something and not expect him to follow through with the dare.

So, my other brother Thad, who drove up from Arizona to watch the games, dared Mitch to just hit the catapult with his hammer, and then throw the chicken into the bucket with his hands when the guy wasn't looking. Sure enough, as soon as the guy turned around, Mitch hits the catapult with the hammer, (it makes a noise btw, kind of like that strong man game with the sledge hammer that the goal is to hit the bell at the top of the scale) and then throws the chickens one at a time into the buckets with his other hand. The first one he missed cause he was trying to hurry before the guy turned around again, but then when he noticed that the guy wasn't really watching all that close, he took his time and made the next two.

I think what was even more funny, was this Asian family who had just won a prize at that game (the correct way) saw what Mitch did, and died laughing at him. I wonder what that worker guy though when he turned around and saw about 10 people laughing at this guy who was pointing out to him that yes, in fact, he had made two chickens in the buckets.

You can't take my family anywhere anymore!

The Closest I'll Ever Be To Stardom

2007-04-09T14:09:00.003-07:00

Many thanks to Kristeee for this one!. You should all go check it out.

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

I don't know why my pics didn't show upPublish, but just scroll down a bit to a previous post to see a few of the pics I used. Apparantly I look like Amanda Bynes, because she showed up in three different tries. No arguments from me, she is cute, rich, and lots of people like her (who cares if they are mostly little girls...they are still people, and they still like her)!

Anyway, I am almost up to 5,000 Visitors, let me know if you end up being the 5,000th and you'll get a prize if I like you enough!!! (The counter is on your left below all the links and junk).

At Long Last!!!

2007-04-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for this moment since I became a self-proclaimed food critic!!! Stupid Utah does not have have The Cheesecake Factory yet. My question is how does Boise, Idaho get one before Salt Lake City??? RUDE!!! Even my waiter, Gustoffer (that was REALLY his name) thought that was bogus!

Last weekend (plus a couple of extra days), I decided I better take my long overdue vacation and go see my friend Mjillie up in Boise. I had a frequent flyer ticket that had to be used up before May, so I figured now was as good a time as any to go. The only stipulation I had with her about coming was that we HAD to go to The Cheesecake Factory at some point. Last time I was up there visiting, which was November I think, we happened to be in the mall and noticed a sign that advertised that The Cheesecake Factory was coming in the Fall of '06. Now that is was winter, we set out to go look for it. We couldn't find it, and figured that it was part of the construction/remodel mess they had going on. I was so sad!!!

I knew that both she and her husband didn't care about this restaurant as much as I did (who really ever does). They were good sports and came along with me anyway. As usual, I apologized ahead of time, telling them there is no way to know what service they might encounter. Believe it or not, we had an EXCELLENT waiter. I gave him a 20% tip!

One of the main reasons I had to eat here (besides the fact it is freaking good) is that I had to try out their Chicken Madeira. Last summer I ate at the one just outside of Denver, Colorado, and decided to be daring and order something new. It paid off! Shameonyou21 found a copykat recipe and she and I have attempted to make it a few times. Ours turns out fabulous, of course, but neither of us could remember exactly how the original was, so this was a good way for me to compare the two. According to my self-proclaimed expertise, I think we do a fantabulous job of imitating, if not exceeding it in our version of the dish. (That means that ours is better)!

If you have not had this made by me yet, when are you going to throw a dinner party and hire me to cook it??? Get with the program already!

The only criticism I had with this particular location, is that the dining room is very small. For how popular of a place this is, and it is unlikely that you have less than a 30 minute wait no matter when you go, it seems odd to me that such a small dining room is really going to last--even with the soon-to-be patio seating.

Our service was prompt, they kept up on our drinks, they refilled our bread, the food was what we ordered and the right temperature and it was freaking good, they had a blender so I was able to order me a virgin strawberry daiquiri, and they have cheesecake! What more do you need in a food establishment???

Just ME!

2007-03-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, my mother is re-doing her "wall of shame" with all of our pictures. My youngest sissy, Megs, just got her senior pictures taken, so that meant itwas time to nag me to death that I should go get me a new set of pictures taken. I am not so much a fan of having my picture taken, nor did I want to go spend the kind of money it takes to get them done. Even though the last time I had any pics taken was before my mission about 7 years ago. Why can't she just deal with that one? I mean, come on, I am reading the scriptures and everything! You can't even tell it was that long ago. You can't really see my whole face, but isn't that the idea cause I am not a drop-dead gorgeous fashion model like my younger sissys???

Anyway, so Carol was adamant that some way I must get some new pics taken. As some of you may not know, my friend Shameonyou21 scheduled likes to dabble in photography a bit. She is always trying to get me to pose, so I asked her if she wouldn't mind taking some pics of me that would be displayed in my parents house. We tried for a little while to get together, but it was too hard with our two jobs and the lack of daylight hours by the time we were both off. We had it a few times, and then I go and do things like try to break my nose, and give myself black eyes. Carol would love that on her wall now wouldn't she!

We finally got together and got a few shots that could have some potential of being "THE ONE." Unfortunately, the ones that Shameonyou and I like the best, are 8x10 the wrong way. We are looking into adjusting them just to see if it would look funny to crop it and enlarge it the right way. Calvie (my pops) and Carol and EK (my other sissy) couldn't decide which one they liked most, so I wanted to get your opinions on which ones (despite the orientation) you all like the best, and wouldn't mind seeing on my parents wall (or, just to have a cute of all cute picture of me with you at all times) if it was your choice.

#'s 1, 2, 3, 4

#'s 5,6

#'s 7, 8

#'s 9, 10
----------------------------------------------------------------------

50 Pounds

2007-03-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Friday morning was probably one of the happiest days of my life. I stepped up on the scale at my morning Weight Watchers meeting, just like I do every Friday morning. The scale God was in my favor because he saw fit to let me lose those last two pounds I needed so very badly to get me to my next big milestone in my weight loss efforts.

50 POUNDS BABY!

I have officially lost 50 pounds total doing this program. I was so happy after I realized that I had hit that milestone, I almost started crying!!! I called my Mom and Dad and just about started crying to them too! My Dad was so cool he told me he would buy me a present. Not an expensive one, he had to point out, but a present none-the-less!!! I sent text messages out to all my siblings, a couple of friends, and I called a couple of others too. I tell you what, I was so excited I couldn't keep it in for nothing!!!

Some might say it is too expensive (about $12/week) and they can't afford it. I say how can you afford NOT to? I understand that finances are tight sometimes. Believe me, I get it. I guess I am just so happy that I finally have something that has helped open my eyes to some of my poor habits. Whether it be my exercise program (or lack thereof) or my food habits, my world will never be the same again.

I still go out to eat too, that is another thing. I can eat what I want (in moderation) I just have to account for it, and I am just a lot smarter of my choices. I have battled with my weight for some time now, but especially these last few years since my mission. Culinary school didn't help matters at all either! Even though I am a bit ashamed to admit it, I hit the scales at just over 200 lbs when I finished the program.

My Mom had done the W.W. program years ago, and decided a year ago last October that she was going to just go join and get the new info, etc. The idea behind it, was that she would go get all of the information, and I would just follow the program along with her. I never did. I soon was told that I was going to join, and that my Dad was going to start me off by paying for the first little bit. I think it was basically an intervention from my entire family.

I officially joined W.W. in January of last year. I have learned so much, and have grown a lot in just confidence if nothing else ever since. I am not going to tell you it is the easiest thing I have ever done. It has been one of the hardest, but it has also been one of the best things I have ever done in my life. I've never felt better!!!

This is not one of those "quick fix" diet plans that you lost tons in no time at all, but then when you "go off" your diet, the weight comes back with a few friends along the way. This has been a lifestyle change, and will influence the way I look at life, just as much as it will influence the way I look at food.

Now let's all root for these last 15 or so pounds that I may earn my lifetime award and will get to go to W.W. for free for as long as I am maintaining my goal weight. Thanks for all of your support. I couldn't have done this without you!!!

Croatia

2007-03-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

I went to my Uncle's house in Salt Lake yesterday to take my grandpa up for dinner. When we walked into the front room to sit down and talk, when I happened to glance over and see the front page of the Travel Section of the Deseret Morning News. Much to my surprise it was a giant article about my favorite place in the world that I so desperately want to return to. I provided the link to the website, but after a few days, it probably won't be accessible but to subscribers. I am just going to copy the text and paste it here so that it will always be accessible to me, if no one else!!!

Croatia — Discover this Eastern European country before the glitz hits.

By Mike Korologos
Special to the Deseret Morning News

Hurry. There's still time to visit the fledgling Republic of Croatia while it's still in its pre-tourism boom innocence. You should visit soon, before mega-resorts, hotels and multi-lane autobahns start sprouting like mushrooms after a spring rain. Here's a capsulated travel advisory of what you'll find:

Photo by Mike Korologos

The ancient wall that surrounds historic Dubrovnik, Croatia, provides a spectacular view of the red-roofed old town.

• Croatia's Adriatic coastline with its historic enclaves, castles and fortresses, and its inordinate number of natural wonders, which are so pervasive the place is called "The Garden of Europe;"

• The imposing Alps in the distance that make you wish you were a Sherpa guide;

• The striking seascapes along the Dalmatian Coast that make you want to be a pirate;

• Centuries-old-but-still-bustling Dubrovnik and its old town fortress;

• Hospitable locals who will welcome you as family.

Croatia has been in the throes of becoming a destination darling since it emerged from the turmoil of armed conflicts that raged throughout the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995. This Croatian War of Independence was triggered when Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia, ending 45 years under Communist rule.

Thankfully, war damage to several centuries-old landmarks has been repaired, due in large part to funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Today the country is doing what it has done throughout its history — capitalizing on its geographic locale as the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Central Europe and the Balkans. But this time it is attracting tourists, not conquerors. And rightly so, as it has the basic goods — including six World Heritage sites and eight national parks — to deliver a quality travel product.

The crescent-shaped footprint of the country stretches from the Alps in the northwest down its island-speckled 3,552-mile Adriatic coastline to Dubrovnik on its southern tip.

Photo by Mike Korologos

Ancient cistern where people gathered to get water just inside the wall surrounding old Dubrovnik remains a place of hustle and bustle.

Its well-preserved antiquities, reserves, natural monuments and natural parks are constantly in the view-finders of cameras being toted by some nine million-plus tourists who visit annually — a significant economic engine for a country with 5 million residents and an unemployment rate of some 15 percent. (By comparison, Temple Square in Salt Lake City annually attracts about five million visitors.)

Last October, my view-finders joined those nine million during a 2,300-mile, 12-day motor-coach excursion orchestrated by Collette Vacations, the venerable travel-tour operator. Starting in Zagreb, the capital, our troupe motored down the Adriatic coastline to Dubrovnik, then traveled the mountainous interior north to Salzburg, Austria, and ultimately to Munich, Germany.

The trip included numerous stops between the destination cities affording extravagant visits to attractions including miles-deep caves, boat rides to secluded restaurants, remnants of World War II bunkers, massive Roman Empire-era structures, the island enclave of former Yugoslav leader Tito and bucolic villages.

No doubt, one gets seat-ite-is on such a motorized journey, but the discomfort is fleeting, thanks to the panoramic countryside zipping by and the hospitable, humble, hard-working locals. (Humble to the point of apologizing for not speaking perfect English. "You know more English that I know Croatian, please do not worry.")

For sure, our group dynamics, heightened by the confines of the motor coach, occasionally wore thin, but the awe of the place, the exceptional hotels (for the most part) and the delightful, wine-enhanced meals diminished every irritation.

The shoulder-season tour proved to be a fortuitous period to travel as our group numbered only 18, less than half the capacity of the spacious coach. We enjoyed the luxury of on-board seating options following extensive walking tours: quiet chatter, personal CDs, a back-seat snooze, the passing views, reading or watching a travelogue about the next destination. The spectacular autumn hues were a bonus.

Photo by Mike Korologos

Street markets, such as this one in Dubrovnik, provide an opportunity to take colorful photos.

The group's median age was in the 55-plus range, and most said they travel extensively. They hailed primarily from New England, the upper Midwest and California. Donna and Bill Kyle of Twin Falls, Idaho, helped tout the travel wonders of the Intermountain West.

Veteran travelers among us rated the tour's price as "upper mid-level." Its fare started at $1,649 per person, for 12 days and 21 meals, exclusive of air travel. Singles paid a substantial premium. Since Croatia is not a member of the European Union (it hopes to join by 2010), shopping bargains were plentiful — but who knows for how long?

The well-planned itinerary was comprised of one day in the bustling capital of Zagreb, three in the charming and restful seaside resort town of Opatija, one night in Zadar, three in Dubrovnik, one at Plitvicka Lakes National Park, two in enchanting (read: fairyland) Bled, Slovenia, and one night in Munich.

Sandwiched between Bled and Munich was an all-too-short visit to Salzburg, Austria, birthplace of Mozart and the Christmas carol "Silent Night," incredible shopping opportunities, a restaurant dated to A.D. 803, and the Mirabel Gardens, site of the filming of the "Do Re Mi" scene in the 1964 movie classic "Sound of Music."

Rating scores of "10" on the trip were:

• A delightful sign-language (read: hand and arm motions) exchange with a grizzled 80-year-old Croat farmer as we shared a cluster of grapes from a mountainous load he was delivering to a winery.

• The precision performances of high-stepping horses at the Lipica, Slovenia, stud farm where the bloodlines of some of its horses date back 400 years.

Photo by Mike Korologos

The seaside resort town of Opatija is known for its exotic spas. Croatia's Adriatic coastline is spectacular.

• The strength and grace of the guy who rowed our traditional
pletnja (20-seat boat) for 20 minutes non-stop from shore to the
tiny wooded Bled Islet and its picturesque medieval church where
we pulled the rope near the altar to ring the bell for good luck.

• Remnants of a 23,000-capacity Roman Era (circa A.D. 425)
coliseum, site of gladiator vs. lions contests, in Pula, Croatia, the
main base of the Byzantine fleet in the 6th and 7th centuries. The
coliseum, whose underground once housed animal cages and a
prison, is said to be the sixth largest of the era still standing. It now
is a venue for musical/rock concerts, operas and film festivals.

• The trek through a portion of spectacular Plitvicka Lakes National Park that has 16 lakes connected by countless waterfalls, pools and streams.

If there was a "People's Choice" vote, this visitor would split his between Dubrovnik and the alpine paradise of Bled as the sites for subsequent visits and longer stays. A knowledgeable, accommodating, flexible and patient (worthy of a medal in some instances) tour manager greatly enhanced this tour. We were fortunate to have Steve Walker as our guardian, answer-man and sometimes taskmaster. ("If you're late, the bus will leave without you" ... which it never did). The mild-mannered Walker hails from Sun Valley, Idaho, where he once worked as a bartender at the storied Duchin Room at Sun Valley Lodge.

As such, he is acquainted with several Intermountain area luminaries and ski aficionados, which made for "did you ever run into ...?" conversations. The trip's most interesting inquiry about knowing someone from your home town came from a waiter at a poolside bar at the luxurious Dubrovnik Palace Hotel. The waiter initiated the exchange that went like this:

Photo by Mike Korologos

Cities in Croatia have an old-world feel with narrow, cobbled streets.

"Where you from?"

"U.S."

"What county?"

Assuming he meant what state, I responded with "Utah."

"Utah!" he exclaimed, eyes propped wide, arms raised. "Utah Jazz! You know Karl Malone?"

See, Croatia isn't as far away as you may have thought.
__________________________________

Napkin scribbles from Croatia ...

By Mike Korologos

• Gasoline, sold by the liter, costs about $7.40 per gallon.

• As the birthplace of the "cravat" that evolved into the necktie, buying a silk necktie at an upscale shop is an occasion to behold — a real event. You've got to do it, pricey price be damned.

• Another "must-do": Take the 1.8-mile stroll around the top of the cannon-dotted medieval-era wall that encompasses old town Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The views and photo ops from its rampart-accented vantage point are endless as you peer over the ubiquitous red-tile roofs out to sea and fantasize about the pirates who once plied these waters — defying the TV antennas and strings of drying laundry below.

• Access to the interior of old town is gained through one of two 18-foot-high drawbridge gates that were called into service during the 1991-92 war (not bad for a place built in the 13th century). The interior of the walled city is abuzz with its bustling Stradun (promenade), alleyways, shops, restaurants, museums, Franciscan monastery, apartment-dwellers, cathedrals — and lots of tourists.

• Croatia's lone golf course is on the island of Brijuni, a one-time private preserve of Yugoslav leader Tito. The tranquil isle is now a national preserve with three hotels and a zoo that houses exotic animals given to Tito by visiting heads of state. The golf course's "greens" consist of white compacted sand and the fairways resemble a recently harvested alfalfa field. The lone golf equipment sales representative (Titleist) in the country informed us that there are only about 1,000 resident golfers in Croatia, but that number increases substantially each summer due to club-toting tourists. He assures us that numbers of golfers and courses will increase in the near future.

• Tito's hulking 1953 Cadillac convertible is the only car on Brijuni. The chrome-laden classic and a curator/driver are available for hire for a 4-hour tour of the island for about $400.

• As the birthplace of Marco Polo, the island of Korcula with its Venetian-influenced Cathedral Square is a magnet for tourists, but the visit to his alleged home with its cupola overlooking the sea isn't up to the hype.

• Locals are as charming as they are accommodating. When we inquired about the prospects of rain on a cloudy day, our city guide said: "We don't expect many splashes today."

• Locals talk to each other with great gusto — hands and arms a-flaying — be they folks on street corners, in restaurants, buses, restrooms, wherever. It is delightful to watch the animated exchanges.

• Germans make up the majority of the country's nine million annual visitors; Italians are next. British and U.S. visitors are far down the guest list, yet commercial and road signs and restaurant menus in English are plentiful.

• Croatia's capital, Zagreb, has 800,000 residents and was the cultural center of the former Yugoslavia. It is the home of the ball-point pen and fountain pen and offers numerous museums, ballets, art galleries and folk festivals — most accessible by its 1930s-era narrow-track trolley system.

• A college in the capital is housed in a one-time tobacco factory, but students are not allowed to smoke on campus.

• The local menu fare is accented with Mediterranean dishes, meaning lots of seafood. Lamb, pork and veal are the primary red-meat dishes and almost all restaurants have a custom risotto dish. Restaurants along the seacoasts specialize in deep-fried squid, oysters, scampi and mussels.

• A multi-course dinner of fried squid (calamari) on the idyllic patio of the Opatija Yacht Club costs $18. (There was no charge for the picture-perfect full moon and its wavy reflection on the bay waters just beyond the rail.)

Texas Roadhouse/Bombay House

2007-03-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

At long last, here we go I had heard that this restaurant was good, and some even went so far as to say it was better than Ruby River. Up to this point, even though I haven't been here since I started this food critic business, Ruby River has been my favorite steakhouse to date.

I know some will still disagree with me, and some will even say that others are better. All I have to say to that, is just let me know when and where, and I will show up with my anal retentive food critic hat on that reads in giant letters "I am reviewing your establishment, please treat me and my friends like dirt!"

The atmosphere is very western-like. As soon as you walk into the restaurant, you are immediately greeted by a giant barrel of peanuts. Much the same as you would at other western themed steakhouses. Grab a handful of peanuts and have a seat while you wait. The trash can for your peanut shells is simply the floor. It is no understatement when I tell you that you are walking on shells. It sucks for the poor, 16 year old, pimple-faced kid who has to clean up all of the shells at the end of the night, but never mind that.

Once you sit down at your table, you are once again greeted with peanuts. A smaller tin bucket awaits you the moment you sit down. Good idea? Bad idea? I guess that depends on how much you like or dislike peanuts, or how many peanuts you ate during your time spent waiting for your table.

I also ordered the garlic mashed potatoes, but I think the next time I go, I am going to have to order some veggies if I get the same dish. A little too much starch on one plate for my liking, although the potatoes were very The menu selection is very broad, the prices are very reasonable for a steakhouse, and the side selections are also numerous. I decided upon the tenderloin medallions. Three, 3oz. medallions of one of the most tender cuts of meat you can get. It is served over a bed of rice pilaf, and your choice of a shitake mushroom sauce, or a three peppercorn sauce. I could not decide between the the two, so they were kind enough to give me a half and half--no extra charge!!! They were both very delish! I liked them mixed rather than I did separately though.

For once, I did not have a bad experience at a restaurant. The waitress was very friendly, very much on the ball with drinks and refills, clearing plates, checking on us...but not over bearing. I would definitely recommend this place to everyone. You just might need to experience the true ambiance and good food without me, so I don't jinx your first experience!

I am not going to say much about this restaurant. If you are in the mood for a good ethnic experience, try this place out. All of the dishes you can make as hot or as mild as you like. Just a warning though, the curries are a little on the spicy side even if you order them mild. You will start out thinking they aren't so bad, you will possibly even get a sweet flavor when you first take a bite. Then as soon as you swallow, maybe even take a couple of bites before the curry kicks in, but you will soon start to feel it in the back of your throat. You will even be tempted to make the same noise, and wiggle our fingers on your throat, just like Will Smith does in his movie "Hitch" when he has that allergic reaction, just before his face swells up like a giant balloon!

Anyway, don't be afraid to order a few dishes if you are in a group, and be sure to order some flat bread called Naan. The Chicken Tikka Masala is also another recommendation. I tried the shrimp curry--medium heat, which was very good, just got a little too hot about half-way through. My lips were burning so much that I couldn't finish the rest (other than the actual pieces of shrimp that is)!

Becoming a Hermit

2007-03-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

You can't take me anywhere anymore (as demonstrated by my previous post). My luck however, has taken a turn for the worse since that post.

"Worse?" You ask yourself. "Is that even possible?"

Oh but it is! Luckily, my luck didn't turn on me with my nose (or at least at this point nobody thinks it has). What I mean is just restaurants. Maybe this self-proclaimed food critic business isn't for me. Even though I have bad experiences with places, does not in any way mean that you will have the same bad experiences. In fact, I think you should try out these places WITHOUT ME, despite my bad reviews, and see what kind of luck you have. The only bright spot in any of this, is that I have been in good company. Unfortunately, some of this good company has finally told me that I have to sit in the car from now on. You be the judge, because I am starting to believe them!!!

In this post, I am going to give you the evolution of experiences, while reviewing the newer restaurants. In an upcoming post, I will just review a couple other restaurants. I am a little behind on my reviews, so I apologize to those of you whose experience does not appear in this particular post. I promise you it IS still coming.

We all remember the evil place in American Fork of which we do not speak. The bad service, the lame manager, the stupid servers. All that said, we had a couple of OK experiences in between to tease me, and then IT hits. (The word "it" is in reference to a not-so-good phrase about something hitting the fan. That's all I'm gonna say 'bout that).

Anyhow, this experience was not all bad. There were some bright moments to start, and then it was a good finish. Market Street Grill is an upper-scale (white tablecloth) Restaurant/Private Club/Oyster Bar. I have always wanted to go here, but since they are mostly "members only" and I never really had anyone express interest in going, I never did. I finally convinced Shameonyou21 and her b.f. Randoval that they wanted to go there too. They just opened a new place up in South Jordan on the other side of the freeway from the South Towne Mall, so we figured that now was as good a time as any to go. We didn't have to drive as far!

We got right in, and began to glance over the menu. We ordered drinks, and finally someone had a freaking blender to make me a Strawberry Daiquiri--virgin for me of course! We decided to be daring, and since we were at an Oyster Bar, we were gonna try some oysters! We ordered Oysters Rockefeller, and Calamari for appetizers. Then an eternity went by, and we got drinks, and then another eternity went by before we got our appetizers.

The Calamari was very disappointing. Especially for how much you pay for them. We didn't hardly get any! I get much more substance at that evil place of which we do not speak for far less $$$. Jerks! Anyway, the oysters were actually very fabulous. They are oysters on the half shell (half of the oyster shell with stuff inside), mixed with spinach, bacon, hollandaise (butter) sauce, and topped with a parmesan cream sauce with melted parmesan cheese on top. MMMM!!! I even got a history lesson from the waiter when I asked him what was in it. Although, he had to go ask the chef what was in it, and he took an eternity doing that too!!! If you are interested in the history of Oysters Rockefeller, ask me later!!!

Anyway, so the meal once it arrived was just average. I ordered Alaskan Halibut, Shameonyou21 ordered Ahi Tuna, and Randoval ordered a Prime Rib. I think Randoval liked his, but Shameonyou21's dish came VERY well done, not rare like she ordered it. I had soggy asparagus, and the fish was a little overdone too. Overall, nothing special about those.

Then came the finale. All night long, Shameonyou21 and Randoval were subjected to this ever-so-subtle screen that took up the entire wall, picturing a different variety of selections you can order there. Including which was dessert. MMMM dessert!!!

Shameonyou21 and Randoval both ordered the Raspberry Almond Torte (left), and I got the Sabayon (right). Mine had a stronger liquor flavor to it, and theirs had no flavor. That is probably why I didn't like theirs, and they didn't like mine. I got a scoop of Haagen Das vanilla ice cream with mine! MMM Ice cream!!!

I think I was a little disappointed overall, but I would have to go back and order a nice steak to really see if it was a fluke, or if their service sucks (toward me) just like everyone else. We got out of there in about 2.5 hours. Not exactly customer friendly!
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Really quickly, I am going to give you a run down of my last restaurant. One that really screams at me that I need to just become a hermit and never leave my house again.

Mazza is a Middle Eastern style restaurant, in Salt Lake. They have a little shack on 1500 East/1500 South, and a MUCH bigger, nicer place on 900 east/900 South. We tried the smaller first, and they suggested we go try their other location to accommodate a larger party (8). After an hour wait to get in to eat, the waitress tells us the kitchen is a little backed up. That should have been our clue to get up and leave. An hour later (two hours total) we still don't have sodas, or food. We got appetizers about 30 min after ordering, but again we still stayed. Another 30 min. goes by(2.5 hours total), and the manager tells us they are traying up our food. 20 minutes later still no food.

Finally some food comes, and it is just kinda warm. Not hot like hot, cooked food should be. Everyone but me gets food, and 15-20 minutes goes by until I do (going over 3 hours now). No one is hungry anymore, and we just want to leave. We get our bill, and not only is it price, but they still want us to pay a FULL18% gratuity. Oh no you don't!!!

We tried to get the waitress to split up the checks so that those who were being reimbursed, could get a separate receipt to turn in to their company. She acts all put out, throws a hissy, and essentially walks off. She brings it back, and nothing is different, except for the fact that they comped one meal which she said would happen earlier. We get the manager to come over, and he has the nerve to ask us what's wrong!!! What in the HELL do you think is the matter you moron?! We have only been sitting here for 2.5 hours, plus we waited for another one hour to get in. The food tastes good, but there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this world that is worth that long of a wait at a restaurant.

I got my meal comped also, because I complained enough and told him that it came way after everyone else's. As an observer of the industry, as a manager, I would do absolutely everything possible to ensure that people come back again. Whether they had a good experience, or a not-so-good experience. Throw in the apps, give me a discount on the order as a whole, do ANYTHING, except give me a bill at full price with 18% gratuity when it has been the worst experience ever. We still ended up having to split up our own bill, those who were to be reimbursed didn't care after 3.5 hours of dealing with this place. I think we underpaid the total bill, and stiffed them on any sort of tip.

Don't give me your lame excuses of only being open for 3 days, and you didn't anticipate being so busy. Obviously you did anticipate being a little busier since you built a huge new restaurant in addition to your shack. There had to be some driving force behind that reasoning my friends! I think I counted three cooks in the kitchen (it was an open kitchen you could see into). The third one didn't come out of hiding until we were leaving though. No wonder you are having a hard time keeping up retard! HIRE MORE HELP AND DON'T OPEN YOUR DOORS AGAIN UNTIL YOU DO!

Stay tuned for more rantings of a self-proclaimed food critic. Next up is Texas Roadhouse Grill, and The Bombay House.

Update

2007-03-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

ANYONE ELSE HAVE DAYS WHERE YOU FEEL JUST LIKE THIS???

This is how my entire week has gone so far. The stress at work isn't helping my already existent headache that stems from the front of my face!!! I suppose got every last thing that I deserve from this!!! Maybe I am just full of it too!

Anyway, here is the latest rendition of how much I have indeed struggled this week! It is very obvious that my right eye is a little on the "not-so-normal" side. My left eye has a hint of the abnormal, but I can get away with people not asking who beat me up. I do not believe the nose is broken, I have had tell me that it did not appear to be, but I will wait a little longer until the swelling goes down a bit, so I might be able to tell better. If not, then I guess I will break down and go see someone more professional about it!!!

It is kind of a creepy picture isn't it? I apologize for that. I tried to do the simplest little thing the other night by blowing my nose, and I just about ended up in tears!!! I think that small task hurt worse than the actual event itself. Much of the feedback I have received from others, suggested that it really was no surprise what happened to me. "Only you," they said. "It all stems back to your [stupid] childhood." I really have nothing else left to say about what happened except, I was a stupid child. And, I struggle!

Note to all of you...

Be very careful when playing racquetball (or any sport/game) with me. Emotions tend to run high, adrenaline gets pumping and there is no telling what might happen! Kristeee and a few others I am sure can vouch for that with a sounding, "You're not kidding!"
Be very careful when your around me while I am cooking. Things (mostly just me) tend to get burned almost every time--although, I haven't done that in a very long time. Never mind the fact I don't really cook anymore. I am making my roommates dinner on Sunday, and then Shameonyou21 and her b.f. Randoval, sometime next week, so we'll see how that goes!
Be very careful when going out to eat with me. VERY bad things tend to happen. Restaurateurs seem to forget everything they should do (the right way), or how their guests should be treated when I walk into their establishments. If that crazy event doesn't take place you will usually find me complaining about something. Just pat me on the head, and tell me, "That'll do Foodie, that'll do!" (Obviously done in the Shrek voice, of course!)
Be very careful when you are around me no matter what I am doing, who knows what dangerous events might take place. I can trip on air at any given moment, I can spill food down the front of me at any given moment, because I have a drinking problem (the other one besides my alcohol problem), I can have liquid come out my nose at any given moment.

What else might happen? You all know me so very well. You tell me what strange occurrences might happen just by being in my presence. Please enlighten me of my "luck" or lack thereof.

Still, as always, STRUGGLING!!!

2007-03-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

So I have decided that racquetball is a very dangerous sport for me. In a high school PE class, I smacked into the front wall so hard with my knee that the purple/pink bruise covered my knee in its entirety, and probably parts of my shin/thigh too! I haven't had too many major incidents like that since high school--UNTIL NOW!!!

Kristeee and I have started a weekly trip to the Orem Fitness Center to play racquetball. It has been years since I had played, (at least 7 I think). Anyhow, tonight marked the 3rd week playing. The first week, Kristeee smacked me in the back of the head with the ball. The second week I think we both got hit with the ball at least once, but I think the wall hit us, and so that wasn't our fault. Running into the walls is just a natural part of at least my game, so those times don't count!

Then there was tonight. About ten minutes into the game, my racket decided to take control of itself and take out its built up hostility and anger towards me ON ME. I know this pic is hard to see, that's what I get for trying to take it with my phone! Anyway, you can however, see the big red spot on my nose. Just a bit to the left is another little scratch, which I don't know how well you can see it in the pic. I didn't notice the second scratch until I got home and was forced to change the band aid.

After it happened, I told Kristeee what I had done as she saw that I was forced to my knees. Good ol' sweet, supportive Kristeee didn't know how to react. She was trying not to laugh at me being in agony, but let's face it, it WAS funny! I think the laughing made it hurt more, but even I couldn't help but laugh at myself!

We noticed my nose was bleeding, but not from where we first thought. Obviously by the big red bulls eye on my nose, that was the source of the blood. Not only did we have to stop our game to take care of my issue, but we were at the end of what seemed to be the hallway of death! All the old ladies waiting outside their courts for their turn saying:

"Oh my gosh you're bleeding!" or "Oh my gosh you got hit!"

Good thing they told me that, or I don't know what I would have done!!! Kristeee found me a band aid and a sack of ice, cause she noticed my nose was swelling up rather quickly. She offered to call off the game, but I couldn't let a little blood stop me from whooping on her! OK, so I won 1 of 3 games. I choked at the end of the last two...we'll blame the nose, and the headache for that. I couldn't think very clear!!!

You would think smacking myself with my racket would be enough for one evening, but this is ME we are talking about. I won't go into the details, let's just say that my nose and my ego are not the only things bruised after this evening. My derriere is a little on the sore side too :(

I have said it before, and I will say it again, I STRUGGLE!!!