iHermanas!

I have no idea why I haven't posted this pic yet. It's one of my very favorite ones ever. This is me with my gorgeous sisters at Cade's wedding (9/9/09). I am so blessed to have the best sisters!

Sundance 2011

So, I dragged two of my best gals to Park City with me on Monday to take part in the wonderful celebration that is Sundance. I was really hoping to see loads of famous folk, but was sorely disappointed.

We didn't see anyone even remotely famous. I guess that's what we get for going on a Monday. Seriously, what were we thinking?

It's okay though. The night was not a total waste. First of all, Anna and Angie are a couple of the most hilarious/wicked cool girls around and time with them is always great time. Their sis-in-law Emilie came too and she's awesome. We had dinner at Main Street Noodle and Pizza (something like that) and I decided to get a burger and fries for dinner (yeah, I know it was an Italian restaurant, but pasta/pizza just didn't sound good). My food was okay, at least until I wanted ketchup on my fry...

They put beer in their ketchup.

Disgusting.

It's not that I was worried about alcohol because I know enough about cooking with wine/beer/whatever to know that the alcohol cooks out. It's just that it tasted super awful. And, the worst part is that I slathered my burger with it before I realized the content.

It's fine. My mouth still tasted like beer the next morning.

No big deal.

This is who I most wanted to see at Sundance this year:

The adorable James Franco.

Maybe next year. I plan to take the whole week off work and just camp out with my camera on Main Street. Hopefully, I won't get arrested.

My Awkward Phase

This is me in 7th grade. The date on the back says Sept 1990, so I was 12. The two things I would most like to point out are my bangs - totally awesome, and my eyebrows. I guess I wasn't old enough to know about Tweezers just yet. And, I would also like to point out that I did, in fact, have a perm.

That my mom gave me.

I'm just glad I wasn't still in my mullet phase. Yes, I was a child in Idaho in the 80's. I had a mullet for a time. I'll dig up pictures of that very soon.

You Are Welcome

I just made hard decision regarding this here blog. I decided to remove the music player.

It's better without it, right?

I love, love music, so don't think that's changed, I just find it annoying to have to keep turning it off (especially at work so I don't get caught wasting precious company time) when I meander around my blog. Plus, I've been a major slacker about updating the dang thing and, since I am aiming eventually (maybe? probably) to remove the unnecessary stuff from my life, it had to go.

Plus, how annoying was it to get on my blog when you forgot you had set your volume to its max to listen to that crazy Youtube video with all your friends (and neighbors) and you get scared to death when the playlist starts? I've been there. It happened to me almost everyday actually.
No longer.

Also, I need to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone gets down to the music I like. I know, Ace of Base isn't for everyone - just mostly for my co-worker Mark. (He was seriously listening to The Sign the other day when I went to ask him for help).

In his defense, he does work in I.T.

Is it really only January?

I'm really ready for Spring.

Any day now.

On an unrelated note, I came across this pic I took of the Salt Lake temple sometime last year.

I'm kinda in love with it.

iHasta Luego!

Jordan is in Argentina! She flew out yesterday and I miss her so much! I really wanted to go see her at the airport, but decided against it because I thought it would just turn into a(nother) sobfest, plus the Church highly discourages it. It would have been so awesome to see her one last time, but I'm sure I'll survive.

We got an email from her already and she is doing great. I'm sure she's got a permanent deer in the headlights look that won't go away (I've definitely been there) for a couple of weeks, but this is going to be such an awesome few months for her. I'm so excited for her and proud that she's giving up so much time to serve the Lord.

This is her adorable MTC companion Herman Svedin.

She called home from the SLC airport. She called my parents' house and they put her on speaker phone with various cell phones laying around with all of us on speaker phone so we could hear her. It was a complete redneck set-up, but it was so great to be included and to hear her voice. Man, I miss that kid.

She had such a great time in the MTC but is anxious to get to Argentina to get to work. She had to leave some things behind. Okay, let's be honest, she left four bags that I had to get from her MTC branch president's wife. She's such a pack-rat. So, I met the lady by my office today to get her stuff and as soon as I said hi to her, she asked:

"So, are you Hermana Scanlon's younger sister?"

Man, I could've hugged her! I laughed and told her I was in fact 10, almost 10.5 years older than Jordan. I think she was embarrassed, but I thought it was awesome. Definitely the best part of my day. She quickly asked me not to tell Jordan. I just don't know if I can keep that to myself!

Special Needs

My little brother Cade served his mission in Brazil. I was going to school at Utah State while he was gone and wanted to send him a package for some holiday - like Christmas or his birthday. I don't remember the specific occasion, but I do remember that I had a deadline and I had to get the package out on a certain day to get to him in time. I also had to go to the dentist that day to get a couple cavities filled, so my mouth was completely numb.

After my dental appointment, I stopped at Fred Meyer to get some treats to put in the package. The funny thing is that Cade's favorite candy is rootbeer barrels. I couldn't find them in the candy aisle, so I tracked down an employee to ask her.

Have you ever tried to say "rootbeer barrels' when your mouth is numb? Let me just tell you how it went.

Me: "Hi, do you hab any rummmeer mawwels?"

Unlucky Fred Meyer employee: "I'm sorry. What?"

"Do   you    hab    any    roooomeeer    mmaaawels?"(very slow with lots of emphasis)

We went back and forth for a couple of minutes, then the poor girl asked, "Is there someone with you?" She totally thought I was a girl with special needs and shouldn't be out on my own. Awesome.

She eventually figured out what I needed and I made my purchase and was on my way. (It's funnier when I tell it in real life because I can mimic just how funny I sounded).

Please say 'rootbeer barrel' for me after your next trip to the dentist. I promise you'll laugh.

***

Oh, and speaking of Fred Meyer (did you know there are no such stores in Utah anymore? Sad!), I have been carrying around a small momento from them for the past 7 years. Yes, seven - oh wait, 7.5. I'm not crazy (well, at least not in this instance), it's just dang funny. Have a look:

I know that it's hard to see, but it's the best I could do. The receipt is from 6/21/03 - no joke. [Apparently, I was a little under the weather that day because I bought orange juice and a thermometer, oh, and 2 magazines (further down), and a misc gift. I wonder what that was].

Anyhoo, I guess Fred Meyer wanted to inform their customers on the sexual orientation of their cashiers.

How nice of them.

Hey, maybe that's why they were kicked out of Utah. They were just too liberal for all us conservative folk.

Star Sightings #1

VH1 Big in '04 Awards, Los Angeles, California - Dec 1, 2006

Yes, I really was there. My friends Shannon and Carrie can vouch for me because they were there too. (Also, if you can get ahold of a copy of the show itself, you can totally see me on the 4th row loving the heck out of my piece of gum - think cow chewing cud. So classy). But, let me just tell you, it was one crazy/awesome night! One of my blog friends (and by that I mean a really cool gal who I've never met but blog stalk on a daily basis because she is so cool and I kinda want to be like her) - anyway, she lives in NYC and made a list today of all the famous people she has seen. I don't want to brag or anything, but my list totally trumps her's. Take that Reags!

Just kidding. It's really not a competition (it totally is) but I've been thinking about some of the cool famous people I've seen and thought I would take note for posterity's sake. I've actually been lucky enough to see/quazi-meet quite a few, but (for now) I just want to talk about one night where I saw more stars than camping on a warm summer's night in the Sawtooths. (I'll share the rest later).

Shannon and Carrie had been to the VH1 Big In '(fill in a year) Awards Show one or two times before, so they knew what to do to get set-up. We got tickets to the show online (they really just sold them to anyone) and showed up. Carrie lived/worked in L.A. doing PR so she knew how to work her way in. We not only got to hang out along the Red Carpet, but we also got to be seat fillers for the actual show, so we got to sit way close the entire time. The deal with seat fillers is that we fill the seats of the stars as the present/accept awards or perform. We seriously lucked out and whoever's seats we got didn't ever show so we got to be on the 4th row the entire time. It was so cool.

Since it was 2004 and well before the time that most cell phones had cameras, there was a strict no camera rule. Totally lame. But, thank goodness for the Internet because I came across some great photos on the VH1 website. Here's who we saw:

Hottie McHottie Nick Lachey. Man, he's good-looking. Not too tall, but really cute. He was the host of the show. At the very beginning, he came down a very tall staircase and totally tripped. They had to re-shoot it. Funny.

 

Anna Nicole Smith. Pretty ditzy and quite possibly drunk, but since she is no longer with us, I'll stop there. She was actually really pretty.

The Hilton Sisters. I'm not much of a fan, but they were there. Paris is really full of herself, but Nikki seemed nice. Paris won an award for saying "That's hot."

William Shatner. Loved him on Rescue 911. Remember that show?

Lori Petty. I loved her in Point Break. I haven't seen her in anything else. Has she done anything else?

Brigitte and Flava Flav. Both really annoying, but they were there. Pretty sure that this show was the peak of both of their careers.

Quick! Cleanse the palate!

A little more Nick Lachey (much better).

Jenny McCarthy is absolutely adorable. Sure she hasn't been the best role model, but she is extremely beautiful and has gotten less vulgar over the years. Loved her on Singled Out.

 

Tommy Lee

Ooh Baby ---> USHER! I was, by far, most excited to see him! He's amazing!

 

Fergie. All of the Black Eyed Peas were there. They are all incredibly small. I was surprised. The guys are actually kinda scary looking, but Fergie is really pretty. Josh Duhamel was also there that night and I kinda think that's when they met, but maybe not.

 

Jim Caviezel. I really liked him in The Count Of Monte Cristo.

Jesse Metcalfe. Whatever happened to him? 

Eva Longoria. So pretty. 

Green Day. These guys were so cool! They came off the Red Carpet to shake our hands. They were very nice. Unlike some other bands (Suck it Maroon 5).

Michael Cera. Look how little he was! I actually don't even remember seeing him. Probably because I didn't know who he was then, but he's famous now, so it counts.

American Choppers

Anna Nicole Smith

Jenny McCarthy again.

Black Eyed Peas. See what I mean? The guys are scary, but really small, so they can't hurt you.

We could all use a little more Usher.

Portia Di Rossi. So gorgeous. Ellen was there that night too. Pretty sure that was the night they met as well. And now look how happy they are! I'd like to think I took part in that.

Maroon 5. I have to say that I was super excited to see these guys. I was way into their music and had seen them in concert at least once at this point. When they passed us on the Red Carpet, every girl in a mile radius (me included) was yelling at them and they couldn't be bothered to even look our way. I vote them the biggest party poopers of the night. However, during the show, when they got up to go backstage to get ready to perform, they passed right in front of us. I may or may not have told Adam Levine (lead singer) that I loved him. But, I still think they're lame and they're not that great live either. 

Amy Poehler. I didn't really know who she was then, but I think she's way funny now, so she counts as a star I sighted.

Jason Bateman. So hot.

More Jenny McCarthy. She's so cute, I really could just fold her up and put her in my pocket.

Joss Stone is absolutely gorgeous. Most of the women in Hollywood are itty bitty skeletons but Joss is super tall and super pretty. She was the only normal-sized woman I saw the whole night. She should really put out more albums. She has a great voice.

Kathy Griffin. I find her extremely annoying, but a lot of people know who she is and they let her walk the Red Carpet and present an award, so she counts.

P Diddy, or Puff Daddy or Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Not really sure what his name was in 2004, but he was there. He seems really full of himself, but he's done pretty well for himself.

Serena Williams. Not really sure she chose the right dress for the event, but she is really pretty in real life and super buff. I would not want to mess with her.

Slash from Guns 'n Roses. Enough said.

I don't know who the two girls are on the left, but the one on the right is named Trish and she appeared on The Bachelor in '04. She just embarrassed herself in front of all America on the show because she's crazy. When she walked by us, she had stopped on the other side of the Red Carpet (I think to let real celebrities pass). I guess I was caught up in the excitement of seeing all of these really cool people, but I totally yelled her name. She looked over at me and I didn't know what to do, so I just gave her this lame little wave. It's fine. I don't really like her anyway, so I'm not embarrassed at all.

And we will finish off this post with a little more Usher. He's even more beautiful in real life.

*Some other notable stars of the night that are not pictured above were Ellen Degeneres, Eric McKormack (from Will & Grace), Josh Duhamel (who likes to drop the F bomb a whole lot), Stevie Wonder, Jamie Foxx, Sharon Stone, Paul Hamm, Joe Rogan, and Wanda Sykes.

Such a great night!

*All images are from VH1.com and I sure hope I don't get arrested for using them. I would have my own photos of the event, but they wouldn't let me take my camera in, so I think they should be okay with me using theirs...

Christmas 2010 Part 1

Those of the family who could come hung out at my house for Christmas this year. It was a little weird not having Christmas in Idaho, but we had a great time. I wrote Jordan a letter last week telling her that we would take a walk around the MTC at noon. I know that we wouldn't be able to see her (rules and all) but I thought it would be cool for her to know that we were close at that time.

So, Dad, Cade, Krystal and I took a short walk up and down the sidewalk in front of the MTC. Of course, we didn't see her, but it was cool to be close and a good excuse to make fools of ourselves. We kept it pretty short just in case someone thought we were suspicious and called the cops. Jordan will love these pictures. I hope she had a great Christmas.

I came across this awesomeness on my way home from work tonight. How cute is it that someone made the manger scene out of snow? I totally pulled over to take pics (so out of character, I know). They aren't so great because it was dark (obviously) and I couldn't get a head-on shot without standing in the middle of University Ave and, since it was rush hour, I didn't really want to do that.

I've labeled the second one to better portray how incredibly cool this little display is.

I'm really glad the constructor(s) of this scene had sufficient time/desire to make this. It definitely brightened an otherwise average evening.