Fill In the Blank Friday #19

joining at The Little Things We Do

1.  Over this labor day weekend I will be driving up to Eagar with Irish to visit Crystal & fam (they moved up there about a month ago).  I'm excited & a bit nervous at the same time.  I'll be introducing them for the first time & it will be mine & Irish's first trip together.

2.  With the political debates going on right now, my thoughts are that I should be paying more attention to it all.  And by more I mean start paying attention to it all.  All the political BS between the parties & those running is far too annoying to me & it distracts from the issues.

3.  Today has been loooong and it's not even close to being over.  I am working on almost 4 hours of sleep so that's not helping.  Luckily it's Friday.

4. The best thing I've cooked recently was BLT salad.  Soooo good & perfect for Summer.

5. The last thing I bought was gas & oil.

6. The best movie I saw this summer was um...The Avengers.

7.  The best book I read this summer was Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts.

Fill in the Blank Friday #17

Joining at The Little Things We Do

1.   My favorite place I've ever traveled to is I think it may have to be Virginia.  The East Coast is about as different from the Southwest  as you can get.  All the historic places I visited were mind blowing.

2.  Ireland is somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3.  I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by well, it’s different for each mode of transportation.  Plane, I sit clinching my fists & teeth, keep my eyes closed as much as possible and I avoid looking out the windows  at all costs.  I haven’t traveled (far) by bus and any buses I’ve been on have been fun trips so I guess I pass the time goofing off with friends.  Cars I talk to whoever I’m with, eat sunflower seeds and sleep if I can.  Not real sure about trains.  Sadly, boats aren’t listed but I’m adding them…boats I try to avoid.  If I’m on one it’s a scenic thing and I’m doing whatever it is you do on boats and getting sea sick.  So the breakdown is I’m not the best traveler .

4.  My three must-haves when I travel are sunflower seeds, music (iPod, CD’s & now my iPhone and a blanket.

5.  My favorite travel companion is my sisters & my BFF, Karie.

6.  The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is the time I took Dramamine before the plane ride back from VA to AZ.  It made me totally CRAZY!  I would have rather thrown up the whole plane ride from Virginia Beach to Chicago.  IT. WAS. THAT. BAD.  Then when we finally got to Phoenix we couldn’t land and then when we could we had to wait on the tarmac for over an hour because we couldn’t get to a gate.  If I had an uzie I would have blasted my way off the plane & taken out anyone who even looked at me wrong.  Dramamine totally made my claustrophobia a million times worse and added about a hundred other aggravators to the list.

7.  The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried anything exotic while traveling.  It seemed pretty exotic at the time but it wasn’t, it was just different…while in Virginia I was CRAVING Mexican food so we finally tracked down a Mexican restaurant and what they served was NOT the type of Mexican we in Arizona eat.  I don’t think I’d ever had black beans before that day.  How the East Coast does without pinto beans & REAL Mexican food is beyond me!

8.  If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in California, maybe.  Some place by the ocean.

9.  I have been to 12 (stayed in 9 but been to 12) states in the U.S.

Thursday Latelies #15 (Friday Edition, again)

I'm using this as my Thursday Latelies (joining at Bex...A Style Diary) but it's also a rundown of my sisters "vacation".  Because what I am  most thankful & loving this week was my time with my sisters (and family).  Since my first day back to reality was yesterday I'm playing catch up.

* I loved having 5 whole days to spend with my sisters.  They came in on Thursday but I had to work Thursday & Friday so I only got to spend a few hours with them on those nights.  Had I had 7 full days off I don't think I would have ever made it back to work.

Sunday we went with my niece, nephew & my great niece & nephew to Goldfield Ghost Town.  I've been there at least 100 times (seriously) but I still love it.  The mine tour never gets old.  Neither does getting ice cream at the ice cream shop.  I forgot my camera (of course!) and the sunlight was too bright so it was hard to snap a lot of photo's from my iPhone.  I did manage to get a few though. 

Goldfield Ghost Town

The weather really couldn't have been any better.  Warm but not too hot.  Can I just say this is why I LOVE Arizona! 

View of the Superstition Mountains

Monday my sisters and niece, Elizabeth, took a road trip up north for an over night stay.  We didn't really have a plan.  We had a few stops we wanted to hit but nothing we couldn't deviate from.  If we saw something we liked, we did it.

Our first stop was to the Tonto Natural Bridge...

via 

Tonto Natural Bridge

I didn't bring my camera (surprised, I know) and I was too afraid to take photo's with my camera because there was too much water around and the ground was too slippery.  I took one photo while standing on a rock and almost fumbled my phone so I tucked my phone safely away for the rest of our hike. 

Our next stop (after lunch) was to Montezuma Castle.  I've been there at least 50 times but it still amazes me how the Sinagua built a 20 room dwelling in the side of a cliff.  I'm also amazed that the dwelling has held up as long as it has.  They were working on stabilizing it while we were there.

via
Montezuma Castle

* We ended up a Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde.  My sister Beth & I suck at gambling so we ended up at the bar drinking margarita's in a can.  YES... Margarita's in a CAN.  They were the special that night so we figured why the heck not.  The bartender poured them into a glass with margarita salt around the rim...which is the best part for me.  I'm not a margarita person, I think the tequila is too strong, but when it's in a can it's not too strong.  el Jimador Margarita's in a can are pretty darn tasty if you ask me.

El Jimador Margarita in a can



We may or may not have gotten drunk.  From CANNED margarita's.  Yeah, we're special.  We ended up drinking everyone else's left over can parts & some guy bought us all a round so our 2 margarita's ended up being like 4.  It was fun sister bonding time that's all I know.

Sunday we drove up to Sedona checked out the Chapel in the rocks (Chapel of the Holy Cross) and wandered around the shopping areas around town. 

SISTERS! in Sedona

(Georgie, Sherri, Beth & me)

It's not the most "Sedona"ish photo ever but it's the only one we took.  It was in the courtyard of a little chapel in the middle of the Tlaquepaque shopping village (or whatever it is called). 

* Wednesday we went though crates of stuff Georgie had been storing from our mom & grandma.  We found some crazy old photo's and news clippings of family members.  There were scrapbooks our mom made back when she was a teen and it was an interesting look into her psyche.  She was obsessed with Vic Demone.  She kept every letter & card any of us ever sent her.  She was way more sentimental that I ever gave her credit for.  We were able to divvy up some of her jewelry from back before I was born.  We all got a piece of jewelry with her name on it (mine was a pin that's her name in cursive) and each of us kids (5 of us) got a St. Christopher's medal (or some similar protective saint medallion) from either our mom or our grandma.

We found a piece of paper she kept track of my weight on from when I was born.  I was premature and weighed 3lbs, 13oz.  It took about a month or more for me to reach 5 lbs and a few months to reach 8 lbs.  Crazy that she kept it but pretty cool none the less. 

* I snagged these...

McCall's dress patterns from the 1950's

I'm trying to talk Georgie into helping me make one of these.  Probably way too ambitious for my first attempt at dress making...or sewing for real...but so totally worth it.  I just have to find the perfect material.

The only bad this is that the patter will actually fit me.  Sounds like a good thing, which it is...except for the fact that it means that I am pretty much built just like my Nana.  First her feet, now her build.  I loved that woman but not exactly the things I wanted to share with her.  =)

* We did scratchers and I won $2.  Super exciting, I know!  I wasn't the big winner of the bunch (Beth won $20) but I, at least, won something (refer back to suck at gambling).

Winning words...Bed, Lovely & Idle.

* I got my copy of Jack's Mannequin's new album People and Things this week and I LOVELOVELOVELOVE IT!!  I'm going to put it out there that it is my favorite album of the year.

My favorite song (so far) off the album is Television.  Musically it starts off a bit different than most of JM's stuff but it ends with JM trademark music, in my opinion... if that makes sense.  I absolutely love the honesty of the lyrics...

"Television" ~ Jack's Mannequin

Run around the spiral it's our choice now,
Up or down, days can seem so long
Holy ghost, I'm living with your voice now
But tonight, I'm sleeping with my television on
But tomorrow they're be hell to pay and clouds across the sun

You were right I've always been a sinner
You were right I've wasted all your time
You said it all, "We drank to much at dinner."
So tonight I'm sleeping with my television on
Come tomorrow they'll be hell to pay and clouds across the sun

You and I baby we're a broken record.
Turn around we're making sound but only for the noise
And what if I could live like this, but not forever
And what if you could move the needle to a more forgiving song
And what if this, was never really broken all along
But for tonight, I'm sleeping with my television on
I'm sleeping with my TV on
Yeah I don't mind sleeping, not when there's flash and buzz
Your colors dance beneath my bedroom door
Yeah I don't mind sleeping with my tv on
With my tv on
With my tv on
With my tv on

I've become THAT Aunt...

You know the one.  The weird, goofy & quirky one. 

Not sure why I'm surprised by the fact.  Not that I am actually all that surprised.  I've been called both weird & quirky.  Oh, and goofy.  A lot.  As far back as high school, as a matter of fact.  So maybe not so surprised. 

Except for the fact that my nephew called me weird.  Or was it goofy?  Same difference really.  I'm always aware of what my friends think of me but I never really know what my nieces & nephews think of me.  At least, not most of them.  I always know what my niece, Elizabeth, thinks of me but that's not too hard...she's always speaking her mind.  God love her for it!

While I was hanging with the fam in UT (have I mentioned for 7 GLORIOUS days) we got to talking about who would play each of us if a movie were made of our family.  See my nephew, Jesse, is going to Columbia University (School of the Arts) & wants to be a director so naturally we'd end up talking about him filming a movie about our great & interesting family. 

Some people picked who they wanted to play themselves...or other people; like my sister, Beth, chose Brad Pitt to play her husband John.  My 7(?) year old niece, Sarah, would play her self as she is a HAM and would love to play it up on screen.  I couldn't figure out who would be a good me so I asked Jesse who he would cast as Aunt Kerri.  His answer...Parker Posey.  Hum...okay.  I sat on it a while but finally had to ask why.  His reasoning..."She's weird/goofy.  You're weird/goofy."  Fair enough, I guess. 

She's a bit older than I am but it's Hollywood and age doesn't matter.  40 year olds play high school students so why not have an actress play 10 year younger.  When I think Park Posey I think Blade:Trinity (LOVED that movie!) and The Sweetest Thing. 

Then I think..."My God am I that weird/goofy?!" 

Why, yes, I guess I am...especially in the eyes of my nieces & nephews.  Who I act super goofy & silly around.  My nieces & nephews range in age from 33 to 7(?) and my great nieces & nephews range from 16 to 16(?) months (actually 4{?} months in utero).

I know, I am a horrible aunt!  All this (?) is because I am not sure on the exact age.  I should know because I asked enough while up there but I really suck at numbers.  I flip them.  Switch them.  Forget them.  Whatever I can do with them.  All but remember them.  My brain isn't wired for numbers (IE math).

So who would you want to play you if a movie was made of your life?
 

Sweet Beans!

I have no idea why the title is Sweet Beans but it is what came to mind so I'm going with it.  7 days off vacationing with my family may have fried my brain.  Too much fun.  Too much food.  Too much laughing.

Wait...you can never have too much fun and laughing.  Too much food...I'm on the fence about that.  I'm pretty sure you can have too much food but I have yet to reach the exploding point so I'm stuck on if it was actually TOO much food.

I'm totally lame and didn't take one photo while on vacation.  My camera never even saw the light of day (or night).  I was having too much fun to worry about where my camera was & what I wanted to commit to photo memory.  It's a bad habit I've developed over the last few years.  I love photo's but I can't be bothered with taking them myself anymore.  I'm trying to get back into the swing of taking photographs but it's totally at hit and miss thing right now.

I guess I did take a few photo's while I was up in UT.  I, of course, had my phone with me (at least some of the time) so I got a few shots with it.

I took a couple shots of dragonflies while waiting at Lagoon.  The photo's do not do these crazy creatures justice.  They were far more beautiful & colorful than my phone camera can show.  Plus, they were HUGE!

I was standing by a bunch of trees & bushes and they just kept flying right besides me & landing.  I think they are the one "bug" I am not afraid of.  You know what they are when they are zooming towards you which always helps.

I managed to take these shots while on the way home yesterday.  For the life of me now I cannot remember if this farm is in UT or AZ.  12 hours in a car is TOO long & I slept most of the way home.  Too much fun & too little sleep while on vacation it seems.

It's an Elk farm...

I was so mad that this big guy decided to pose BEHIND the sign.  Another car stopped to take a look & kept chasing him off before I could get a good shot.

Here are some shots of some land up by my sisters house...

via my brother-in-laws phone

A view from my sisters back yard...


Via my niece Elizabeth's phone

I do have photo's to share from the family reunion but I have to wait until someone else shares them first so I can steal them.  I somehow managed to miss out on getting a CD of the family photo's we took. 

Seriously, I was too busy to be bothered with anything apparently.  At least, that didn't pertain to stuffing food in my face & lazing around on a recliner lawn chair or acting goofy with my family & giggling with my sisters.

I did manage to hop online for a few minutes a couple of times & imagine my surprise when Jillian from  The Life of a Lioness/Pretty Little Lion had a few photos of the birdhouses I sent her up in a post.  I sent them off to her and totally forgot to take photo's of the finished product.  Surprise surprise, I know.  I have to say they look pretty cool sitting in amongst her garden.  I just wish you should see the cool birds that are on one side of each roof.  They were actually the reason I made up these two birdhouses.  Once I added the bling I knew they needed to be sent to Jillian.  Sparkly jewel bling is her business after all.

Photo's via The Life of a Lioness/Pretty Little Lion 

Knowing people are enjoying my creations makes me want to craft more.  Crafting sounds like a great inside idea since it's been a blasted 116 degrees here lately.  At this time going outside is a thing you do only when you absolutely need to.  I was so glad to be home (at least to see the cats) but I definitely did NOT miss the Arizona heat!!  Movie watching & crafting will be my inside summer activities.  Yeah, that definitely sounds good to me. 

What are you doing to stay busy & inside during the summertime?

Thursday Latelies #2

Hopefully I will be able to actually link up this with 

Bex: A Style Diary 

but my computer access will be limited

(if any at all)

so lets hope

but not hold our breathes.

Thursday Latelies...
 

Edits/notes:

* So sorry I didn't notice that Remington was inappropriately cleaning himself in the background.  I stopped one take because I noticed Cyrus doing the same thing.  Everyone wants to be a star. See what happens when you let your guard down. 

* I always pictured Pleasant Grove, UT as a Pleasantville type place back before it BLEW UP with development.  I'm guessing that's where I got Pleasantville from.  I've never made that slip before.  Go figure I'd do it on camera.

Links:

The blog I found the heatless curls tip(s):

Angel Face Designs

The video she found & the tutorial I (we) watched:

The Lipstick Diaries on YouYube

Rod Works

Okay, here are some photos prior to this video shoot...

What my hair looked like prior to taking it out of the heatless curl updo...

Hair flow: Pretty Little Lion Design

See I can totally rock this hairdo on the 12 hour car ride to UT. 

I won't be seeing anyone I know so

the horror that will be my hair won't matter.

I hope.

*Pray's*:

Please don't let this be the time I run into

Ryan Reynolds.

Don't have a tripod...

Make one of your own.

~I'm not ghetto...I'm inventive.~

Then hope that the cats don't decide to check it out

as it is not that stable & bad things happen.

Like toppled camera's.

And books on toes.

And flipped out kitties.

Fill in the Blank #5

  

Joining at The Little Things We Do




1. This weekend I'm hanging out with my friends Sommer & Shane.  We're hanging by the pool & eating Super Nachos from Filiberto's.  Possibly getting into some trouble.  Other than that I have no idea what this weekend holds, probably finishing up Chuck S3, Enchanted (rewatch) & The Time Travelers Wife (never seen).

2. My last vacation was to Disneyland for Jessica & Michael's wedding.  IT. WAS. AWESOME!

3. My next vacation will be at the end of this month.  I'm going to UT for a family "reunion".  All the sibilings are coming so it's gong to be CRAZY. I will be gone 7 glorious days.  CANNOT. WAIT!

4. My favorite way to relax is to get pedicures.  Which means I apparently don't relax enough because I rarely get pedi's.  I guess I mostly just lay on the couch and watch movies.

5. When vacationing one should always go with the flow.

6. When vacationing one should never worry.  About anything.  Not food. Not schedules.  Not any other thing that plagues "real" life.

7. The best part about vacation is to get away for a while to relax and recharge.





Adventures in Disneyland

Here are some photo's and some little stories of my vacation to the HAPPIES PLACE ON EARTH! DISNEYLAND...

While we went to celebrate Mike & Jessica's wedding...

We, also, played played and PLAYED all weekend...

We drove up Thursday and stopped by the beach before heading to our hotel.

Me & Jessica at Newport Beach

5-19-11

Me & Brittany

walking the slightly cold & windy beach

Oh, and can I say walking on the beach barefoot is the best thing on earth!

5-20-11

Debi & Larry

My favorite example of love & marriage

34 years of marriage

5-19-11

Mike & Jessica

Relaxed from their Pre-Honeymoon vacation 

(a few days without the family)

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Friday was our first day of Disneyland.

Me, Lance & Jessica waiting in line somewhere

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Jaden, Lance & me...

I'm pretty sure that's the most affection Jaden has ever shown, he's holding my finger.  LOL.

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Jessica & me

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Jeremy & Karie

He's my "sometimes husband", which means he does stuff like help me with "manly" stuff I can't do on my own.

She's my hetrosexual wife.  She's currently my partner in life.

Hee!

5-20-11

Karie & Me

Mattahorn time!

Round 1

 

5-20-11

Friday night the girls got a "night" out. 

We started out strong but it ended up being just me, Karie & Brittany and we met up with her brothers & dad.

Somehow later that night standing in line waiting for the Mattahorn went from this...

Round 2

Me

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Karie

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Brittany

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Karie & Me

BFF'S 4 EVER!

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Me & Brittany

She was my "riding buddy" most of the time

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Me, Brittany & Karie 

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Karie, Brian & Mike

Siblings 

5-20-11

Me & Larry "Papa Bear"

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To this....

Me & Brittany

I don't know what came over me

5-20-11

Karie

 Facebooking (nobody Myspaces anymore)

5-20-11

Me Facebooking... scary, I know!

But my ring from Old Navy is super cute, right?!

5-20-11

Brian & Mike

I don't think we have one "normal" photo of Brian. 

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Brittany

 

5-20-11

Me, Brian & Mike

At least I tried in this one to be "normal".

Can you feel the sibling love??

5-20-11

Saturday we had the pleasure of starting the day off with Mike & Jessica's wedding...

When the minister suggested we, the "crowd" get closer, Larry got right up there.... LOL.

Larry, Mike, Minister Guy (I'm lame & forgot his name), & Jessica

5-21-11

Jessica & Mike

Happy Groom

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Mike & Jessica

Happy Bride

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Minister, Mike & Jessica

THE KISS!!

5-21-11

Photo time...

Mr. & Mrs. Hill

Part Deaux

5-21-11



Mike, Rylee & Jessica

Prefect little family



5-21-11

Brittany

The birthday girl

15 years old

5-21-11

Karie, Debi & me

Two of my favorite women

5-21-11

Debi "Mama Bear" & me

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Debi & Karie

Mom & Daughter

5-21-11

Joy, me, Rylee, Brittany, Jessica,

Karie, Kassidee, Nicole & Debi

The GIRLS

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Nicole & me

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Me & Jess

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Later, after the wedding, we all went to California Adventure.

Waiting in the long line for Toy Story ended up like this...

Me, Brian & Karie

So happy to be a the "get your glasses" part of line

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Me & Brittany

with Mike creeping in the background 

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Jessica, Karie & me

It's almost time!

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Sunday, our last day, we ran to both Disneyland & California Adventure to get all the rides we missed or really loved.

The little kids wanted to, of course, visit Toon Town.  It's sort of a special kind of hell for adults.  Or, at least, this adult.  =)

Brittany & me in Toon Town

I'm doing my panda bear sit, sorry.

5-22-11

Brittany & me

I don't even remember taking this so I have no idea what we were doing

but it was fun!

5-22-11

Monday, we drove home.  Sort of sad but we were all ready!

The ride home looked something like this...

Me, Kassidee

Lance & Jaden are in the back

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Kassidee & Brittany

Zonked!! 

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Totally GREAT trip!!

 

5-21-11

Jessica, Rylee and Michael

walking into Disneyland to get married

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