Lessons Learned

Here are a few lessons I've learned from grocery shopping and running errands on my lunch hour:
-Bread will dry out from being left in a hot car, so the time spent picking out the softest loaf was wasted.
-You can only fit so many groceries in your refrigerator at work.
-The closest grocery stores to work never have the good sales or prices.
-Same thing goes with gas stations.
-The lines are always longer at lunch time. I guess everybody else had the same idea.
-Plan on waiting at least 20 minutes in line at the Walmart pharmacy because once again everyone else had the same idea.
-Same thing with banks.
-Inevitably, the store will not have what you need to make dinner and you will have to go elsewhere in the evening anyway.
-Traffic is a nightmare.
-You will loose your excellent parking spot in the shade.

Yep, that is just one glimpse into the life of a working woman.

Family Fun

This weekend my family did something we have NEVER done before. We went camping together as a WHOLE family. I have 5 older sisters and a brother plus 4 brother-in-laws, a sister-in-law, 4 nephews, 7 nieces, and between all of us 8 dogs. Now, we all grew up going camping but because of age differences and what not, I don't know if all of us have ever been camping together or at least that we can remember. Unfortunately, my oldest sister and her kids could not make it but the rest of us did including 4 of the dogs. We camped at the Willow Campground outside of Lehi. It wasn't as exotic as we usually like or are used to but it was close and convenient. It was a great site though because it was quite big, had lots of big trees, and was secluded (which benefited those who were also camping there because my family is LOUD--imagine the family from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding.") We started off the night with S'mores.

Then, we had a dutch oven dessert cook off. We ended up with three delicious desserts who all won first prize. To work off the desserts we played a serious game of volleyball. Well, I suppose it was more comical than serious because we aren't very athletic. When it got dark we sat around the camp fire telling ghost stories in which my 3 year old niece insisted we had to tell our story holding a flashlight below our chin to illuminate our faces. After we told all our ghost stories we had to lighten the mood with funny stories the theme being: office pranks. Hopefully, none of you work with my brother--he had the best stories. The night ended with my Dad telling his classic "Slew-Foot (a bear) and the handy-dandy pocket knife" story that we grew up hearing on camping trips. I will never get tired of hearing his heroic tale and even finding "slew-foot" tracks outside the trailer in the morning.

All in all we all had a great time and we already are planning on doing it again next year although next time we will go somewhere a little more exciting.

After my Mom took pictures of all the cousins together she of course had to get a picture of the "cousin" dogs! Bailey, Gizmo, Frodo, and Brinkley. Gizmo is the yellow lab/retriever that I had through my teenage years but he grew on my Dad and currently he has custody.

Gizmo took advantage of having a lot of frisbee throwers.Caught one too many frisbees but is the happiest puppy around.

"See, Neil my family isn't that weird."

SYTYCD

I never thought the day would come that I would actually blog about a reality show. I’m not sure why because they do provide great material for blogging. I suppose I never wanted to admit I was a fan of reality shows because how much reality is in those shows? I’m guessing not much. Anyway, I am really loving So You Think You Can Dance. This is only my second season I’ve ever watched it but I love the show! I don’t want to offend American Idol fans (I have watched that one faithfully from time to time) but I just think dancing is so much more interesting. Seriously, last night as Neil and I were watching the show we kept saying, “Wow, that was cool.” Dancing is such an awesome medium because you can have so much variety whereas singing is just singing (it’s still the same song even if you change up the tempo or sing in a different octave). In fact, I even rewound two of the dances just to watch them again because I was so impressed (totally loving the DVR still).

Now, here is where I am going to rant. I am so frustrated that the judges praise the choreographers on the excellent piece that they created but then tell the dancers that they did not execute it! How do they know? Were the judges with them in rehearsal? I don’t think the choreographers should be given so much credit. The dancers don’t have a choice in their choreographer, music or costumes so I do not think it is fair to judge them based on those elements. I would like to see at least one round where the dancers get to choreograph their own dance. I know they could come up with something better than some of those choreographers.

Deprivation

I used to be obsessed with shopping. I used to have moments of weakness where I bought anything and everything I wanted even if it cost me $500.00. I don’t know where I got this from. My Mom hates shopping. But in some strange way shopping became very therapeutic for me growing up. Whenever I had a bad day, shopping was the only way to make things better. So either I used to have a lot of bad days or I had a problem. Fortunately, I am able to talk about my problem in the past tense. I no longer go shopping when I have a bad day, I buy ice cream. It is a much cheaper way of making things better but not necessarily healthier.

I bring this up because I am experiencing clothing deprivation. Seriously, the last time I bought a piece of clothing because I just liked it instead of needing it was 1.5 years ago. It was a blue tunic style shirt from New York & Company. I know it sounds strange that I can actually remember the date and what I bought but it just goes to show how important it was. I made the mistake of signing up for notifications of sales from Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Gap. So, this morning I received yet another email telling me that I could get 50% off of selected items! Sometimes, I just delete it right away knowing that even though it is 50% off I would still pay $30 for a shirt. Other times, I say it won’t hurt just to look. And occasionally, I fill up the virtual shopping cart and smile at all of the beautiful selections that I have made and then frown as I quickly exit out as if pretending I didn’t just do that.

I seriously sometimes feel like I need new clothing. I am tired of wearing the same outfits day in and day out. I need variety. But then I look a Neil’s corner of the closet (yes he only needs a corner) and I can’t remember the last time he even got something new. But yet when I bring that up he says he doesn’t need anything. When I bring up that more than half of his shirts are starting to get holes in them and his favorite pair of jeans has a hole in a place that you shouldn’t go around in public in, he still refuses the fact that getting a new pair of jeans would be a good idea. In summary he just doesn’t understand.

Now, please don’t take this the wrong way—we are not incapable of buying clothes. If I chose to re-work our budget I could buy all the clothes I could dream of but we’ve decided that we want to travel while we are young. So we cut out a few things like extravagant clothes buying and seeing movies (which definitely would be my next topic of deprivation) in order to travel. So perhaps, while I am traveling more this year I may not feel so deprived but for right now I think I need to cancel those enticing emails.

Distraction

I’m sitting here trying not to distract Neil while he is studying. I am beginning to resent summer term. Not only have summers been ruined by having to work but going to school too? I am trying to be supportive. He has a test tomorrow and needs to study. But I worked all day and want to play. I’ve already showed him a few utube videos and then had to demand he go back to studying. Then, only a few minutes later, I asked, “How much longer are you going to study?” Poor guy. How is he going to get anything done with me around? I’m sure glad that it is him and not me doing the studying. I’m so glad I graduated and moved onto the phase of salary, paid vacation, paid sick time, and most importantly no tests or homework. I can’t wait until he gets there too.

Neil, I don't think hiking is for us....

That was my statement not even a half mile into our hike to the Wind Caves in Logan Canyon. Neil and I decided to take up all sorts of hobbies this summer, hiking being one of them. So last night we went on our first hike in Logan. We really didn't know what we were getting into. I knew nothing about the hike except one of my co-workers warned me about rattlesnakes. That news almost prevented me from even going. And much to my dismay the trail was very narrow with tall grass on each side--the perfect place for rattlesnakes. I was worried about the snakes for the first half mile until the trail starting inclining even more and then my legs were too tired to stomp to scare off any snakes. It was a beautiful hike and the caves were pretty cool, we just didn't realize we had to climb a mountain to get to them. Here are few pictures to document our attempt at hiking.
"Is that it?"

How could you go on a hike through the mountains without at least one bigfoot picture? I am sure he was just paying his respects to Old Ephraim.

"Neil! I am going to fall!"

"Wow."

"Neil, careful. Don't slip. If you fall, how am I suppose to get you off the mountain? Please be careful." Why do guys have to climb on everything?

"Let's just take one more." In which Neil said no.
Check this out next week and hear about our adventures with our next summer hobby: Tennis.

I said, NO!

So I got my hair cut this weekend. I like going to someone regular because they know how to do your hair and what you like. I finally found a fabulous stylist and have been very happy with how she has done my hair. But the girl who usually does my hair is gone for the summer so I went to someone else at the salon. The only person available was someone who charges more than I normally pay but I thought, well then she must be better, so I will pay it. Well, the whole time she keeps trying to get me to pay more for an eyebrow wax or a deep conditioning. Then while she is washing my hair she asks what I use to wash my hair. I tell her and she is like, "Oh, that's not good. You should use professional shampoo and conditioner. Pantene Pro V adds waxy deposits to your hair. I'm going to have to use a purifying shampoo to get that out." Seriously, she said that. I told her that it wasn't in my budget to spend that much money on shampoo. Then, she proceeds to tell me all about how it is worth it. Like how it lasts twice as long but realistically I could buy a years supply of my normal shampoo for the price of one bottle of the “good stuff.” For those of you who use professional shampoo and conditioner, that’s great, I bet you have fabulous hair and I wouldn’t mind using it but at this point I would rather buy other things. Besides, she probably gets a discount and doesn’t even pay full price. Anyway, the whole time she is trying to convince me to buy the products. Even when she is done she takes me over to the products to show me what she recommends. I figured it would be around $20.00 for a bottle of shampoo. Boy was I shocked when she showed me the price tag for a bottle of shampoo and conditioner--$65.00! She then uses the classic salesman line, “Are you interested in purchasing these today?” Of course, I say no. Then she takes me over to the other product display and says, “These products are still good but a little more affordable.” Then she proceeds to show me the price of that line—definitely cheaper but certainly not affordable. I'm sorry but I would never spend that much money on hair products, I would rather put food on my table, pay bills and use it for more exciting things. For a second, I thought I may have wandered into a used car dealership. I had no idea that hair stylists were becoming high-pressure salesman.