The One with the Twenty Four Days of Christmas Stories

Back in the day (I'm talking 15, 16 years ago) our dear friends the Millett's gave us a binder filled with 24 Christmas stories and accompanying songs and quotes. Every year when the holidays roll around we dust the dust off the cover and read one story every night in December leading up to Christmas. It's one of my favorite traditions and it gets my Christmas spirit soaring. I retyped the stories several years ago and am now passing our tradition on to the world. Download, print, read, and enjoy!

The Twenty Four Days of Christmas

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Feliz Navidad! May your days be merry and bright!

The One with the LOST Season 6 Official Poster

Hello, my name is Paige, and I'm a LOST fanatic. (HI PAIGE!) I'm so excited for the sixth and final season to start on February 2nd at 8/7 central. What I love about this show is nothing is certain. Lots of people have died/been killed off, but that doesn't mean they can't come back. Here is proof: This is the official season 6 poster. And almost every important character ever to appear on the show is on the poster, irregardless of whether they died and haven't been on the show in a few seasons.

From left to right: Faraday, Boone (long time no see!), Miles, Michael (where's Walt?? Waaaaaalt!!!), Ana Lucia ("Guns don't kill people, Ana Lucia kills people."), Charlotte ("I can't eat chocolate before dinner!"), Lapidus, Shannon (I still can't believe she played a 17-year-old in the movie Taken), Desmond ("See ya in anotha life brotha."), Mr. Eko, Kate, Jack, John (the only person with his back to the front, what could that mean...?), Ben ("My name is Henry Gale! I'm from Minnesota!"), Sayid, Penny or is it Libby (??), Sun, Jin, Claire, Hurley, Richard, Charlie, Burnard, Rose, and even the dog Vincent.

Any other LOST fans care to share in my excitement? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeps!

The One with I Be Scrappin'

I made my two monthly layouts for American Crafts last night.

This one is called Mt Rainier. When Eric first got home from his mission Chris and I flew out to Washington to greet him. Then Chris had to go back to Utah for school and I stayed a few extra days. The fam and I went on a hike by Mt Rainier and I was missing Chris something fierce, but it was still fun to see the sights and breath the fresh mountain air. (Sorry the pictures are so big or they get cut off, or whatever, I use Photobucket for layouts to keep the colors bright and they can't be small or else when you click on them they'll still be small...I added the smaller version below the big one, but see how the colors are so dull? Anyways, sorry, I wish I were more computer literate!)

Supplies: White embossed cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, buttons, and Thickers are American Crafts, Kraft cardstock is Scenic Route Paper Co. (RIP), the white pen is a Sharpie, the decorative border punch is Fiskars, and the scalloped scissors are Provo Craft.

This layout is called Happy as a Clam. The journaling says: "Moving from UT to CA was very stressful, let's be honest. Chris and Jay took Rachel in the moving truck and Allie and I had the rest of the pets in our car. I was most worried about the finches, but it turned out that Chandler the rabbit was having the hardest time. So Allie so graciously held him in her lap the entire 10+ hour drive. And he was as happy as a clam! Thanks Allie! Chandler loves you!"

Supplies: White embossed cardstock, blue and red cardstock, ribbon, Thickers and the black pen are American Crafts, the tiny letter stickers are Making Memories, the scalloped circles were made with Spellbinders Nestabilities die cuts and the Cuttlebug die cut machine by Provo Craft.

The One with the Unbelievable Black Friday

I had my alarm clock set for 4:25am this morning, but I was so excited to go shopping that I woke up even before my alarm at 4:05am. I ate a bowl of cereal, took the dog out, put on some scrubbies then woke up Chris. We headed out for the only Wal-Mart within a 15 miles radius of our apartment at 4:45am.The masses and swarms of people was indescribable. But I shall try. The parking lot of this Wal-Mart is by far the largest I've ever seen, yet every single parking spot was taken. We had to drive a few businesses down the street just to find a place to park. Then the trek to the line began. The line just to get inside Wal-Mart was literally a mile long. A MILE! Kid you not, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, shake my bottom if I got 'em - a mile long! CRAZY PEOPLE! I guess I was one of them though. We stood in line for about 5 minutes, moved three feet forward, then said, "Forget this, our time is worth more than the deal we'd get on $2 DVDs which will probably be sold out by the time we got in anyways." Note to self: Never go to the Rosemead Wal-Mart on Black Friday ever again unless we want to do the whole camping out thing.
We went to Target instead and found the majority of stuff that was on my wish list. Score. I love Target.
It helps that there are 10 Targets within 10 miles of our apartment. Doesn't help that there's only one Wal-Mart within 15 miles of our apartment. Where Chris' family lives in Colorado there are at least five Wal-Marts within a five mile radius. I bet the lines to get inside at the Wal-Marts in Colorado weren't a mile long...
I'm tired.

The One with Thanksgiving 2009

Took Joey for a walk this morning and he had a fun little interaction with a Tom Cat.I know, I'm blogging about Joey like he's a baby, but he's getting so big so fast I want lots of pictures to remember him at this stage. I promise there won't be as many once he's all grown up! Here he is in the car on the way to our Thanksgiving destination.
We spent Thanksgiving 2009 with my uncle John, aunt Natalie, cousins CAT and Daniel, and their family friends who own a cabin up in the mountains of Wrightwood, CA. It didn't feel like we were in California anymore! At least not the urban sprawl that we've become accustomed to.
Here were are on this blessed day. 11.26.09.
Saw a ginormous gray squirrel with a big fuzzy tail enjoying his Thanksgiving feast. I want one. (Just kidding. NO MORE PETS!)
Trees. I love trees.
I especially love evergreen trees. These babies produce some majorly big pine cones!
Here's an interesting tidbit about the wildlife of Wrightwood - the woodpeckers in these parts of town poke holes in the trees and then fill them with seeds for worms to get in and then they come back and eat the worms from the seeds.
Clever birds!Joey likes playing in the leaves. He sorta blends in.
We went on a walk to town and enjoyed the fresh air.
Have I mentioned I love trees? Cuz I do.
Here is "town," if you can even call it that. It's one street long. Quite a town! But really, I love the feel of small towns.
Surprisingly there was a little coffee shop open and since Chris and I hadn't eaten lunch we stopped in and had some breakfast burritos. They were good.
My handsome husband. I'm so thankful for him!
Back at the cabin we set up for the feast.
Joey was so worn out from the walk, chasing around Kenny the dog, and playing with people, that he thankfully fell asleep during dinner.

Now we're back at home, enjoying our time together, the glow of our freshly set up Christmas tree, and planning out our strategy for Black Friday tomorrow. We love a good deal!
Yeah, so, my camera sorta stinks and I figured, hey, if it's gonna be blurry, might as well make the most of the situation! Behold, our Christmas tree:

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

The One with Carol Hannah's Blog & Etsy Shop

What do me and Carol Hannah the Project Runway finalist both have in common besides the fact that we're both girls? Not a whole lot (she's blond, I'm brunette; she can sew, I most definitely cannot), but we both have blogs and Etsy shops! I was reading A Cup of Jo and every Friday she lists a bunch of things she's randomly found on the internet. One of her latest finds was Carol Hannah's Etsy shop. Fun! I want something just so I can say Carol Hannah made it. She should have won Project Runway, her stuff is all so stinkin' cute and wearable. And then there's her blog. I love getting to know people (and celebrities!) better through their blogs and Etsy shops. Facebook and Twitter might come in handy too, but I'm not on Facebook much and I have yet to jump on the Twitter bandwagon.Boy what an awesome blog she has! I love the colors, the pictures, the writing, all of it. She's so down to earth from what I can tell and that's cool with me.

The One with Happy Holidays from Chris, Paige, and the Zoo

We've never sent out Christmas cards before but figure since we got a dog this year that's news worthy of sharing and it will make a fun picture. But then we felt bad about only including the dog and excluding the rest of the menagerie. Hence the following photos.

This one would have worked, but Chris isn't in it and Li'l Chinchilla is hiding. This one would have worked, but Chandler's head is cut off. And Chris is MIA.
This one would have worked, but I look silly. And Chris is still missing.
I think maybe we'll just have to wait for our photoshoot with Kate and only include Joey. Sorry Rachel. And Chandler. And Li'l Chinchilla. And Jadis. And Frank Jr. & Alice. Maybe next year :)

The One with Jenny's O's

After the boutique on Saturday, Jenny and her husband Chris (that's a good, solid name :) helped me carry my stuff out of Ashley's apartment, but as we passed Jenny's apartment I peeked inside and stopped dead in my tracks. I had seen her "O" wall on her blog, but pictures don't do it justice. Seeing is believing. Their living room is heaven on earth! They had quite the adventure acquiring those lovely couches. Something like 12 weeks later they finally arrived. I remember sitting on their floor playing games and now look at this place! I love the mixture of modern and vintage: a few key pieces of furniture belonged to Chris' grandma like the side tables, the coffee table which Jenny refurbished, and these awesome lamp stands.
I had some questions about these O's so I emailed Jenny and she graciously answered me back.How long have you been collecting O's?
I had a one B (for Bawden, maiden name) in my room in college and I had always wanted to start a collection of my "new last name" when I got married. When Chris and I got engaged I started collecting O's. So I have been collecting for four years now!

What's the best story behind one of them?
The very round one on the far bottom left was my very first O. It was given to me by my mom. She had remembered that I wanted to collect O's so it was an engagement congrats present. The largest O, the silver one on the far left, is the one I had my eye on the longest. I saw it and LOVED it, BUUUUT it was a little out of my price range. My mom surprised me for Christmas and gave it to us. Thanks Mom!

How did you decide where to place them all? Did you sketch it out or just start nailing them up and going from there eyeballing it?
I set them out on the ground first and arranged them how I thought they would look best. Then I went next door to the Kuchenmeister's and apologized ahead of time and let them know that there was going to be a LOT of nailing for the next couple of hours.

Do you plan to add more?
I had always planned to add more, but once I got them up, I felt that I liked the look of it how it was on the wall. So I don't think I'll add any more, unless I find a really unusual one or something. In fact, the day after I got them all on the wall my mom was in town and we went shopping and stumbled upon another three or four O's, but I did not take them :(

What gave you the idea to make an O wall?
I don't remember what gave me the idea...I didn't see it anywhere, I just remember that I thought it would be fun and I had always wanted to do it.

Did other people help contribute to your collection?
Yes, others have contributed to the O wall. Chris has given me several. My parents. And my mother-in-law gave me one as well. In fact, last Christmas my parents pretty much gave me O's. My nephew went to my mom after we were done opening presents and said that he "was worried that Jenny didn't have a good Christmas...all she got was O's." My mom died laughing. She assured him that is what I had wanted. Love that my nephew has my back!

What's the most/least you paid for an O and where did you get them? (You don't have to answer this one if you don't want to, I'm just curious.)
I found them all over. You'd be surprised the stores that randomly have alphabet letters! Two of them were pretty pricey...that's all I'll give away!

I am so excited that I FINALLY got them up. We have not been in our own place for the last four years so every time I bought or got an O I would have to pack it away in storage, so towards the end I slowed down on purchasing them because I wasn't sure if I had that one already : )

Thanks so much for answering my questions Jenny! I love what you've done with your place and now I'm gonna start collecting E's (hint hint :)!

The One with the Holiday Open House Review

Holiday Open House = success! With our powers combined, we put on a pretty good show. Contributors included (left to right): me, Ashley, Merrilee, Jenny, Autumn, Shanell, Carrie, and Lorraine.
Here are Ashley's suuuuuper cute earrings. She also has an etsy shop: PepperPerch.etsy.com
These are Carrie's beautiful frames and hand crocheted hats. They sold like hot cakes!
Here are Autumn's and Autumn's sister's sweet girly accessories.
Plus a few headbands for older girls which are gorgeous!
Shanell's hair accessories are each unique and lovely. I want them all for my hair, my clothes, my purse, my Christmas packaging, so on and so forth.
She had a super cute way to display them!
Here's my booth complete with a pom pom snowflake hanger thingy, handmade cards, calendars, handbound books, peanut butter Hershy kisses cookies, holiday magazines, and paper stars. Random stuff I know.
Christmas music was playing, a (pink!) Christmas tree was in the corner, and the treats put us all in a festive mood. If only it felt like Christmas outside. Driving to work with the air conditioning on is quite a change from every Christmas season I've had since I was 10. But who's complaining? Not me! I love wearing shorts and t-shirts in late November!
These are Jordan's cute aprons. She couldn't be at the open house, but she was there in spirit!
Here is Merrilee's professional booth. She also has an etsy shop: TuesdayMourning.etsy.com I traded her a calendar for one of her amazing prints which will go on my wall of art ASAP.
Next up is Jenny's booth. Jenny has the coolest sewing/embroidery machine in the world and can make all kinds of custom t-shirts and onesies and stockings. Look for a post of her radical living room soon!
Jenny just signed up for an etsy shop with a fantastic name: PrimAndProperShoppe.etsy.com
Last but certainly not least, Lorraine's adorable sewn bags, onesies, burp cloths, cards, and more.
With everything set up cute and nice it really looked like a boutique! And I loved how each booth had different things. Very inspiring.
Desserts at 10am in the morning, yum :)
I hope we can make a tradition out of this because it was F-U-N!

The One with the Trip to Long Beach to See Sara Jayne Swim

My cousin Sara Jayne is on the swim team for BYU and just so happened to be attending a meet in Long Beach this weekend. We couldn't pass up an opportunity to see her! Plus it's been fun to have our very first visitor stay in our guest bedroom - her husband (my cousin-in-law???) Tyler. Long time no see! So last night after I got home from work we headed out to the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Only got lost once :)My Aunt Katy also flew in from Utah to watch SJ swim. Hi Aunt Katy!
Tyler and Aunt Katy indulging my picture taking obsession.
Chris and I were talking about these diving boards. We would jump off the normal diving boards on the sides that are cut off. We might even jump off that first level diving board. You'd have to pay us a lot to jump off that second platform. But you couldn't pay us enough to jump off that one at the top. I don't know how people do it in the first place, and then to do it in style with flips and twists?!...Crazy cool!
That's SJ in the BYU cap about to start her swim. Go Sara Jayne!
Action shot. SJ is in the middle of the picture.
After her swim (she did GREAT!) she came up to sit with us and watch.

Fun to see ya'll!

The One with the New Moon Review

Don't worry, I won't reveal any spoilers for those who for some odd reason unbeknownst to me haven't seen the movie yet.

You know that feeling you get when you're reading the Twilight books that stays with you for several days after that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and hopeful and you never think it will go away and all you want to do is walk around like a zombie muttering, "Twilight. Twilight. Twilight."?? That's how I feel right about now. My head is in the clouds. Or maybe I feel the way I do because I only got 3.5 hours of sleep....Either way, NEW MOON WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!!

I got off work at 5:30 and rushed home to eat dinner and put the animals to sleep. Then we picked up Blake and Veronica (Erica and Brian, the spouses of the aforementioned, were coming a little later) and headed to the Santa Anita AMC theater. We got there around 7:30pm for the 9pm showing of Twilight. What baffles me is that people were already lined up for their various midnight showings of New Moon. Why sit outside in the cold when you could be inside all warm and toasty watching Twilight? Plus, since we stayed in the same theater after Twilight to watch New Moon, we got the best seats in the house; everybody waiting outside had to fill in the leftover seats. Anyways, I'm just trying to say that I'm super glad we signed up for the double-feature.

Blake = our very own vampire; see the red in his eyes from drinking too much human blood? Or something... (3.5 hours of sleep people, my jokes aren't quite up to par on this fine morning...)Here's me with my fellow Twilight lovin' home girls Veronica, Jenny, and Erica. (Thanks for the shirt Marlene!)These are the husbands we had to drag tooth and nail to get to come with us. Haha. False. They actually volunteered. Guys like Twilight, too! -> not only a statement of fact, it's a Facebook group Chris has joined. What a catch :)This is the theater we shared our New Moon experience with. Excellent crowd participation. Always makes things more entertaining.
RIGHT!?!?
Intermission = potty break and audible gasps at the length of the concession lines.A few others showed up for New Moon like Brian (of Brian and Veronica), Kate and Pehrson, and Kim and Alyssa. The more the merrier!
Congrats on the new braces V! And I loved all your commentaries during the movies :)
What I especially loved about watching Twilight before New Moon is it totally put me in the "Twilight" mood. New Moon picked up right where Twilight left off. Alls I'm gonna say about the movie is, I almost converted to the dark side. Meaning, I almost converted to Team Jacob. That Taylor Lautner is a dang good actor (those pecs don't hurt to look at either :) Plus Kristen Stewart's acting was improved 100 fold. Overall, I'm in la la land and don't fancy coming back down to earth anytime soon.

I'm off to find an Eclipse countdown widget to replace the New Moon one! Can't wait 'til June 30th- only 222 days away!

The One with the Artistic Grandpa

All my life up until a few months ago I thought my artsy fartsy skills came from the maternal side of my family. My Malm and Grandma Doris are particularly in tune with their right brain. It turns out a good portion of my creative genes stem from my paternal roots. Right before we moved my Grandpa Taylor invited me over to look through his portfolio. Talk about mad skillz! :) I don't know how people created text before computers and Adobe Illustrator...actually I do know: they created it BY HAND. My grandpa worked in advertising and created many a poster in his prime. Each and every one was meticulously hand drawn, letters and all. And scattered throughout his portfolio were pieces of fine art, like this one:Watercolor and ink. Timeless. I can't wait to frame it and hang it on my wall of fame. I'm so happy to find out this lovely secret about my Grandpa Taylor - who knew?!

The One with Thank You MySpace...

...for live streaming the premier of New Moon that was in Hollywood last night. Hollywood. Just a couple towns over. Just the fact that I had the option of going to the New Moon premier is an overwhelming feeling. But I'm not much of a crowds person. Maybe I'll get up the guts to go to the Eclipse premier in June. It's gonna be nuts.

I wasn't planning on watching the New Moon premier on my computer last night. I had a lot of other things I needed to be doing. But when I was reading my blogs while eating dinner I came across a post on "Bella and Edward" that said "If the MySpace feed doesn't work, you can try UStream." One click and I could be watching the premier from the comfort of my own home? Too tempting. Click. I was there. And so were 102, 688 people. (Later on there were over 240,000...crazy Twihards!)
I watched the stars arrive. I giggled inwardly and laughed out loud. If I had been there physically rather than cyberally, I would have been screaming like this at the arrival of R. Patz too:

His interview was short and sweet.

I think people should have been making a bigger deal of the presence of Stephenie Meyer. Afterall, if it weren't for this very woman, none of this would have happened. Thank you Stephenie. I love Twilight.Kristen Stewart's interview wasn't nearly as awkward and uncomfortable as I thought it would be. Props to her.

Taylor Lautner played it cool. Oooh my computer screen is NASTY! Good thing tomorrow is cleaning day!

T minus two days and two and a half hours until I see Twilight then New Moon! I'm a happy camper.

The One with the Holiday Open House and the Grand Opening of Patina

A few fine folk around here have teamed up and are hosting a handmade holiday open house this Saturday. Here are the details (click on it to make it bigger):
I'll be selling some calendars, handmade books, cards, maybe some fabric flowers, and who knows what else. Whatever I can whip up in the next week will be at my booth. Other ladies will be selling prints, quilts, jewelry, fabric dolls, purses, baked goods, etc. There will be Christmas music and decor galore, door prizes, drinks and treats. Hope to see you there!

Speaking of handmade things, if you live in Utah (or you feel like road tripping!), my dear friend Nichole is having the grand opening of her new uber cute shop: Patina. It's this Wednesday the 18th and the address is 200 South Main St. Pleasant Grove, UT. Free cupcakes and a little handmade gift for our first 25 customers that day! Patina is a handmade market set up like a retail store where local artists/crafters can sell there creations. They rotate ten artists each week to keep people interested in coming to check the place out. Starting in January they will being having at least one class every week; from knitting and quilting to painting and bookbinding. Good luck Nichole! Wish with all my heart I could be there!!!!!!!

The One with A Day in the Not-So-Typical (But Hopefully Soon-To-Be-Typical) Life of a Puppy Named Joey

We have high expectations of our little Joey. We want him to like wind, rain, snow, water, the beach, the mountains, the desert, maybe even tornadoes. We want him to like taking baths, getting groomed, and getting his toenails clipped. We don't want him to bite or bark. We want to be able to take him everywhere leash-less. Basically, we want a perfect dog...Too much to ask? Probably. But we've found a reputable trainer who says he can make our wildest dreams come true.

And so we take our journey to 8 o'clock am on Saturday November 14th, 2009. Plan of attack: wash and dry the dog. I saw him get his very first bath two weeks ago and he didn't do too bad. He shook like a leaf in a hurricane while getting dowsed, and he howled like the wind when the blow drier was on his face, but other than that he wasn't too bad so we were expecting similar results today. Not so. As soon as we put Joey in the sink he started freaking out. I'm surprised our neighbors didn't call the cops on us. But if there's one thing we've learned it's to press on. We gave Joey a bath whether he liked it or not.
Then we dried him with a fancy shmancy blow drier (and I don't mean this towel). That was an experience...
Fast forward to 10am - we left the shady woods of South Pasadena for the ocean views of Redondo Beach to meet with our dog trainer.
Joey was an angel and sat on my lap during the one hour ride.
We were at the trainer's house (well, in his backyard) for two hours. We are super impressed and have seen positive results already. We've learned tips and tricks and what to do and what not to do. Joey got the bejeezes scared out of him by the trainer's male dog. Joey was getting a little too friendly (ie: trying to get milk from him...haha) and the dog snapped at Joey and Joey screamed like a little girl for 30 seconds straight. I thought he had been hurt but he was just scared to high heaven. Let's just say Joey minded his manners around that other dog the rest of the time.

The trainer wants Joey exposed to EVERYTHING. Bikes, trikes, automobiles, wheels, skateboards, people old and young, people with disabilities and people with too much energy, animals of all kinds (we're well on our way in our own apartment in this department), and terrains of all types. We're so excited, this is exactly what we want too. So we decided to go to the beach. Our mission was two-fold: expose the dog to the elements and let Chris see the ocean for the very first time since we moved here in August. What a deprived husband I have :)
Dogs aren't allowed on the beach (sad!) so we just walked him up and down the boardwalk or whatever the path is called.
Shhhhh.....
We couldn't walk more than five feet at a time without getting stopped by hoards of people. Typical conversation went as follows:
"Oooooooh my gosh! He's sooooo cute! How old is he?"
"Nine weeks."
"How big does he get"
"About three times as big."
"What kind of dog is he?"
"Shiba inu."
"A what?"
"Shiba Inu"
"A what??"
"SHIBA INU."
"Oh. OK. Oooooh he's sooooo cute!"
Moving on to the next bunch of gawkers.
It was a long day for Joey, what with the bath, getting yelled at and demonstrated on, then the bombardment of people at the beach. But he had a good time.
He slept on my lap all the way home then he slept for the rest of the day.
Presh-a-presh.

The One with Everywhere I Go, Movies Are Being Made

I have yet to see someone famous since living here (UPDATED: FALSE! I remembered that I saw Aaron Ruell aka Kip from Napoleon Dynamite one of the first Sundays here...), but I think my chances of such an occurrence happening are increasing because everywhere I go in South Pasadena movies are being filmed. I don't know what movies, I don't know how important or insignificant the movie will be, and I don't know who they're starring, I'm too chicken to pull over and ask.

I'd say the reasons for filming here so frequently are pretty clear: "South Pasadena is known for its tree-lined streets, historic California Craftsman-style homes, unique small businesses, and its outstanding public schools. This small town atmosphere makes South Pasadena one of California's most desirable locations. South Pasadena prides itself on its small town character. Less than three and one-half square miles in area, South Pasadena lies between the far larger City of Pasadena, of which it was once part, and the metropolis of Los Angeles. Small, proud and independent, the City of South Pasadena has battled for a hundred years to preserve its status as a distinct—and distinctive—community."

Movies that have been filmed here include Father of the Bride (recognize the house? It's only 2 miles away from our place!),Freaky Friday, The Terminator, Gone with the Wind, Halloween, American Pie, Legally Blonde, 13 Going on 30, Back to the Future, Bruce Almighty, and License to Wed. Notable television series that have been filmed here include Family, Boston Public, Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, Cold Case, and Bones.

As for my movie sitings, I was on my way to Target this morning and saw some action.
I took Chris to the bus stop a different way than usual this afternoon and ran into more movie trucks. And then on the way home from dropping Chris off at the bus stop, I saw even more movie trucks and action. Three movie set sitings in one day! Crossing my fingers I run into someone famous soon.

The One with the Reality TV Dilemmas

There are six shows I watch religiously.

Biggest Loser
America's Next Top Model
Supernatural
Project Runway
The Office
LOST (can January come any faster??)

If for some reason I can't watch any episode live, there's this wonderful thing called the World Wide Web that allows me to watch what I've missed anytime I want. Who needs TiVo? :) Half of the shows I watch are reality shows. What can I say, they're addicting.

Supernatural is going great so far. It give me my "X-Files" style fix. The Office is funny as usual.And I'm still sitting and waiting patiently (or not so patiently) until January for LOST to start.
Meanwhile, it's the reality tv shows I'm having dilemmas with. On the Biggest Loser, I have NO IDEA who I want to win! I really like the "pink ladies" Amanda,and Rebecca.I really like Abby but she sacrificed herself so Amanda could stay. Abby's story is so inspirational. She had a five-year-old red haired cute daughter, an amazing husband, and a two week old baby boy. They were all killed in a car crash when some guy going 100mph crashed into them. Sooooo sad. But Abby said she accomplished what she came for - she learned to open her heart and love again. I hope she wins the stay-at-home biggest loser prize.

Project Runway - I am torn between who I want to win! I dig all the final contestants. Irina's stuff is super radical - but she's so mean that something she said ended up in Entertainment Weekly's "Sound Bites". The contestants call her Meana Irina. Besides her attitude, her stuff rocks.Carol Hannah is so cute and I would wear everything she makes.
Althea also makes totally wearable stuff. I love it all.
I'm torn. I'm absolutely torn. I'll be happy with whoever wins.

Meanwhile, for the first time in America's Next Top Model history (and it's been on for like seven YEARS), I am rooting for BOTH finalists. This is Cycle 13 and the theme is Petite Models - they're all under 5'7". I really like Nicole. She's 18 and from Louisville, Colorado. She's awkward, socially inept, and totally gorgeous.
I really like Laura. She's 19 from Stanford, Kentucky and she's got the accent and personality of a Southern Girl to boot.I've digged them both from the beginning and I'm so happy they're the two finalists! I feel like so many times in ANTM my faves have been kicked off early or they lost the final battle. Honestly and truly, I will be 100% happy with whoever wins. It's a good feeling, one I've never felt before with this silly yet addicting show. Entire seasons air every Saturday on Oxygen from 8am to 8pm. I love having it on in the background while I'm cleaning/working.

I watch too much TV.

The One with A Shop Called Ruche

I have a new favorite online shop. It's called Ruche and IMHO (in my humble opinion) it's got that Anthropologie vibe, but it's much easier on the wallet - always a bonus. I was looking at the Ruche Blog and found out they're located in Fullerton, CA - just a hop skip and a jump away. I emailed them and asked if I and a few other hip gals could maybe possibly visit their warehouse and they emailed me back within an hour and said YES! So, if you're interested in tagging along, lemme know. I'm thinking a Saturday in the near future. Check out a small sampling of their cuteness below.
"I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!"

The One with Legitimate Californians

I've been procrastinating going to the DMV for good reason. I arrived at 7:45am and the line was already a block long. Once it opened at 8 I got inside the building pretty quickly and got called up to a window pretty quickly too; niiice. I handed my paperwork to the mysterious man behind the glass and he said, "Now you need to do this and that and this and that, give me $291, then come back when you've done all that stuff." Perhaps I shouldn't have procrastinated so much cuz they tacked on some hefty late registration fees. But the good news is I passed my written driver's test with flying colors (I was very worried I'd fail since I didn't study much at all) and my new California driver's license will arrive in 4-6 WEEKS. I thought he was gonna say 4-6 days. Haha. Then after driving all over town trying to find a smog check place (and coughing up another $50, just "put it on my tab"), and after getting the car inspected, and after waiting in line again, I was handed over a flashy set of license plates. I left the building at 10:45am. Three hours later. Not too shabby. I had been warned.

Bye bye Utah! It was good while it lasted!Hello California! So far so good!
Now all I need is a good tan and beach blond hair :)

The One with Joey's First Road Trip - Destination: Indio

What a memorable day we had yesterday! We packed more fun and games into 16 hours than should be allowed.

It all started when our friends Blake and Erica Bybee (plus don't forget baby Brooklyn) decided to take advantage of their family timeshare and booked a room at the WorldMark resort in Indio, CA. They invited us and a few other couples to tag along and spend an entire weekend hanging out and relaxing. We were down with the plan but due to extenuating circumstances, we were only able to make it up for one day out of the allotted three. That's okay, we came, we saw, we conquered.

We loaded the car with our designated dinner night resources, clothes, PJs, snacks, iPods, cameras, oh, and Joey!He was such a good puppy the entire two hour drive. He sat on my lap for a bit.
Then became a wee bit tired.
So he fell asleep in his bed the rest of the way.
Melts my heart I tell ya!
We drove past more windmills than I know how to count.
Indio or bust!
Indio is a beautiful oasis smack dab in the middle of the desert.Pets technically aren't allowed on the premises so we had to be fairly discrete about Joey's presence...Who could ever get mad at this cute face?First thing's first: pool time. Of course in our rush to get out the door I forgot my swimsuit. Blast. Luckily Veronica had an extra pair of shorts and a tank top I borrowed. Spanks!We took a few laps around the lazy river, waded in the wading pool, and caught some sun rays on our all-too-white-to-be-true-Californian faces.
I looked up and saw a palm tree and life was good.
Speaking of nature, I ran across a bunch of interesting flora while walking around. Like this. And this.
And this.
Back at the room we let Joey out of the secluded bathroom and let him sleep out on the deck. Funny story, so Chris had to drive Joey "off campus" to let him relieve himself and as Chris was walking him around a big ol' truck drove by. The truck stopped, backed up, rolled the window down and yelled, "Hey, is that a Shiba Inu?"
"Affirmative."
"Is it a male"
"Affirmative."
"Is he a purebred?"
"Affirmative."
"Is he fixed?"
"Negative. He's only 8 weeks old."
"I have a female and a lot of people want Shiba puppies so can we get our dogs together?"
"Uhhhh. Well, we signed a contract with the breeder that said we won't let him reproduce so I'm afraid not. Sorry!"

Shoot. We coulda made some extra cash had we not signed that contract.

So anyways, Erica and Blake got to cookin' their assigned lunch meal: creamy chicken and rice deliciousness. Here's the whole Indio party, from left to right: Blake & Erica (Brooklyn was sleeping), Melissa & Ryan, Veronica & Brian (Mariah was sleeping), Chris & the woman behind the camera, ME!
Then we went outside and played some Botchi ball. I won TWICE! See see see, that's totally MY yellow ball closest to the small white ball.
I was proud.
As the sun was setting we ate our frozen Costco lasagna then we headed back out for more good times.
The boys played an interesting rendition of ping pong.
Mariah wanted to get in on the action!Meanwhile I was trying to figure out how to blog from my phone so I downloaded an application from the Google Market, logged in, and posted. However, after I published my post and the list of recently published posts flashed across my screen, I realized none of them started with "The One with..."... I had just posted my "we're having fun at Indio, be back later" post to the South Pasadena Relief Society blog which I am technically an author of! Ahhhh! How embarrassing! Luckily, there was an internet cafe in the main building so I ran over there, logged in, deleted the post, and correctly posted on my own blog. I hope no one saw that post the 5 minutes it was live. And since it's a private blog it shouldn't show up on Reader or anything. Crisis averted. Hopefully. Sheesh.
We concluding the evening by playing a few rounds of Partini, watching some football, eating some cookies, candy, snacks and all things junk, and just hanging out. At about 10:30pm I nudged Chris and said we'd better skedattle. We were originally planning on spending the night, we had our PJs and everything, but the more I thought about traffic in the morning, the more I felt we needed to get home. And so we all decided to pack 'em in and move 'em out. We made it home by 12:30am and now here we are. Thanks for the great time Blake and Erica, let's do it again real soon!