There's a creepy noise coming from the garage/kitchen area, but I'm too chicken to go check it out.

I'm wide awake because since I was really tired today (because I was up way too late last night and way too early this morning) so i did the really awesome thing to do: which is drink Dr. Pepper.
Did you know I used to LOVE Dr. Pepper, and stopped drinking it about 2 years ago, and only drink it rarely? I heard a doctor on TV (I know, very smart of me) say that the soda we drink is one of the worst things women do to their bodies, so I stopped (and I heard one of my aunts once say her doctor said it was bad, so I went with it-I mean, that's 2 sources people).

So today, when I was at work, exhausted-I guzzled a large Dr. Pepper, and now, even though I am exhausted, I am awake. So instead of putting away my laundry like a good girl, I am making lists and forwarding emails to coworkers and thinking of all that I need to do tomorrow, when instead, if I would just go to sleep I would remember it all tomorrow anyway.


here: you can know, too:
-print off a paystub (so I can go shopping in Vegas with my discount!)
-pack ( oops!)
-hang up the rest of my clean laundry
-submit payroll (ick!)
-church (yay!)
-charge zune (hello movies on the drive!)
-try to look decent for church-right now I don't even care what I'll look like tomorrow, but tomorrow I will, and I'll want to look cute-although there is no one I'm trying to impress except myself-and that is a fun challenge each week.
-take a gift to someone before I leave
-leave a note for my team
-forward conference call and meeting agenda for the next week (not gonna lie-probably not going to get done-but this is just something I wanted to do-not required, so I guess that's okay)
-be charming and collected, look beautiful, stay awake, and relax!

VACATION!!!!!!


Holly just came in and said "I've decided anyone who makes a list like this! (holding up a piece of paper) for a 3 day trip is high maintenance!" she points. I smile, and point at my paper- which looks almost exactly like hers. Except, instead of headings over my categories, I just have them separated out into separate sections of the paper. you know: clothes, toiletries, entertainment, shoes, etc. that way, you are sure not to forget anything. The first thing that went in my bag-my swimming suit and pool cover up-I don't care if I forget everything else except my wallet. Those are the necessities.

You know.

Today is Liesl's birthday (that's her blog on the right). Happy Birthday, Liesl!

I appreciate you! You are fun to know, and you are so sweet, and caring about everyone around you. Thanks for always being a good example to me of a kind heart.

I hope you enjoy your 20's.

They're awesome.

It's going to be a busy few days

because on Sunday Holly and I are headed to Vegas for a few days of relaxation.

Hello, sunshine and relaxation.

Now that I am paying rent and a car payment I am much poorer than I was a year ago, and so this little vacation may have to suffice for a long while.

But check it out:

I mean, it's no Pelican Hill (I'm forever spoiled) but still...

I'm pretty excited to go and literally lounge by the pool for a few days. I hope I do very little esle-except get a massage and do a little shopping.

Lounge and read-we've even committed to leaving our phones up in our room while we're lounging so we're not distracted by work. holla!

It's time for a picnic!

It's finally going to start getting warmer (I hear), so it is time for a picnic!

Or, for you to join the provo picnic club if you live in, or near Provo. Fun!

I love me a good picnic, but I have a BRILLIANT idea for a wonderful picnic party in the near future. Cross your fingers it all comes together for me the way I want it to-it could be simply beautiful and wonderful.

I like this painting.

And it's part of the permanent exhibit at BYU. It's by Abbott Thayer, called NOON.

I appreciate people who paint women beautifully. And adore looking at those paintings.

And today Mother's Day. Happy Mother's day, to all the moms in my life (especially my own, dear one).

Fancy Schmanciness

Tonight was a very elegant affair-the art gala of Foothill Elementary School. While I don't have photos, dad does. It was fun, we got all dressed up-though I apparently went a little overboard (but I like getting dressed up!) -and went to see Taylor's art. Dad has pictures, so maybe I can snag some.

After that we had a relief society dinner-I assumed it would be dress up, so didn't bother changing-and ended up being extremely more dressed up than EVERYONE and felt a little silly. Mostly because I had so much fun being dressed up, but one girl said "wow Amy, you certainly are trying to impress aren't you?" and I wasn't and it made me feel kind of bad, for a minute. But I had a good time. Here are some photos.

"Wonferguel," Me (rockin' my first lady hair do) and Kyra.

Isn't Monica (Wonferguel) beautiful? sometimes she stuns me-like here!

And Kyra-kick it up Kyra!

we had to try like 4 times to get a photo-but this one's my fav.

Our silly faces. Who doesn't love to pull a silly face?

I wish I were better at pulling silly faces.

They always look more outrageously silly in mind.

You know, the beauty of the first lady hair do is that tomorrow I can just stick in a headband and I look JUST as put together, if not better.

fate intevenes!

So, yesterday Liesl and I went to the Springville Museum of Art where I was totally surprised and pleased to see art by none other than our dear friend J. Kirk Richards, who I love, hanging on some of the walls. It was even more beautiful in person (obviously) and such a joy to see. There were some other really beautiful things on display during the spring salon. If you have a chance, go see it!

Someday / Madonna and Child

I have lots of someday dreams...

these include the someday dreams of a family full of children, but I'll spare you... I'm talking about these kings of someday dreams:

YOU KNOW...

someday I hope to have a big porch, with a swing on it.

someday I hope that I have a pretty sparkly chandelier above my bathtub.

someday I hope I take good enough care of a garden to cut fresh flowers every day.

someday I hope to travel to Africa.

etc...

But I really hope that someday I have lots of original art works in my house. I don't even care if they're by famous or even "real" artists.

Even if they're just paintings by me or my super talented sister (I already have a painting or two of Sarah's in my house and people always compliment them). I just think original artworks bring something special to a room-they just feel substantial and special.

I really love this artist. J. Kirk Richards...he's pretty talented. I would happily have pretty much any one of his paintings hanging in my home. But I especially love his Holy family:

I LOVE paintings of the Holy Family, but especially of the Madonna and Child. I just think there is something special about the mother and child, universal- maybe only women feel this way, I don't know for sure, but I think so. It's just something that connects, even though I don't have children. There are many, MANY that I love.

Okay, I don't remember who these are by, because they've just been sitting in a file on my blogger for a while. Sorry! But aren't they beautiful?

Rogier van der Weyden

By Sir Joshua reynolds, found via my new favorite blog

Hope you love looking at mothers and children, (did you love it Denise?) I do.

A year ago I was enjoying life at the spa...
On Monday, two other store managers are headed off to enjoy the beauty that is Pelican Hill Resort and Spa.
However, I did get a spa gift certificate, bonus and am ex gift card from my company, who loves me and who also loves to throw contests.

Cross your fingers I win the drawing for the $4,000 travel voucher. I will take a HEAVENLY vacation, which I seriously need.


This Thursday and Friday mom and I are headed to the womens fair or whatever it is at BYU. I am really excited to take a minute away from the rest of the stress in my life and help me realign on the things that matter most.

yay!

If there's anything I hate loathe despise and abominate it's a BULLY!

But I really love the movie "Meet me in St. Louis" it's quite wonderful.
Right now I'm reading this book called I, the Divine. I like it. It's written like every chapter is the first chapter of a biography, so every chapter is chapter 1. It's a story about a Lebanese woman-the daughter of a Lebanese man and an American woman, who grows up in Lebanon and moves to America-and how and why she is who she is. It's very interesting. Maybe one day I'll try to write a book about myself this way. It seems like yes, there are some really outstanding events in her life, and definitely some very interesting moments.


But this is what I think: anyone's story can be fascinating, exciting, exhilirating and wonderful-it just depends on how you write it. I had a wonderfully suburban, middle class childhood, but the way I saw it was different than how anyone else saw it, and I could probably make it a very compelling story that any person (with at least a slight interest in that kind of a story) could enjoy. If you've ready any of the stories I wrote , you know that I at least had an active imagination, and a terrible fear of being kidnapped...so that's something that added a colorful element to my early years.


Look forward to the possibility of future installments...

GRATITUDE

Have I ever told you that my calling is FHE co-chair?

Well, I started writing this post about how frustrating that experience sometimes is.

But instead, I want to share something else.


Today, our lesson was on having an attitude of gratitude when things are rough.

So, that's what I'm doing.


Today I am grateful for:

people who can read my mind
a couple of my girlfriends in particualr, who just know how you feel, in a minute.
BIG HUGS!
sunny sunny days
zebra wallpaper
seeing the awesome skills of my friends: Christie is putting on her BFA final show next week, and I'm so excited.
the words "I appreciate you" and "thank you"
people love to work for me

I get along with everyone on my team, and get along well.

random text messages from random people that surprise me

painting

finding something in the scriptures that sticks out to me

eggs

glitter

flowers

rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens

bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

kindred spirits

long drives up the canyon with the windows down

zits that get smaller

my super awesome family, and especially the little kiddos in my life.

friends I haven't seen in a while, and will get to see soon

the joys of reunions, when it feels as though a minutes hasn't passed

paid vacation days

upcoming womens conference-I've never been

pretty little books

good hair days

funny tampon commercials

GLEE

that's all.

Tampon commercials in general are seriously annoying.

Which is why these are seriously awesome.

My rommate and I love these commercials. Have you seen them?

You might hear us saying some of these things:

"I'm believably attractive..."

"Oh, that's what's supposed to happen!"

"By day 3, I just want to dance."

"I wear white pants, and have good hair, and you want to be me."

"Don't all these angles make me seem dynamic?"

I appreciate when people take a new approach to things, and it catches my attention. SO FUNNY!

Happy Birthday

MOM

I am so grateful for you.

Your kindness,

willingness,

love.

You have always

been there for me,

supported me,

loved me,

inspired me,
and all of our family.

You are an example to me of

so many things

like twirling in the hills and loving musicals, being silly, friendly,

thoughtful, putting others first, being a lifelong learner,

prioritizing relationships, planning, being flexible, and serving others.

and

you are pretty much everything that

I want to be in a mom someday.

Thanks for being my mom, and for believing in me.

my mom turns 36 today

or maybe 51, I can't remember.

I stole this from someone else

Because I don't have the energy to come up with something different, and it's bugging me that I vented on my blog and that's the last post that keeps coming up at the top.

It's been a really crazy few weeks/months at work. It's like when you're so close to being overwhelmed that you just barely manage to stay in control-and it's hard, but I also like it that way, because I am still just managing to stay in control, which is great.

so, anyways. This is fill in the blank Friday, where someone, somewhere comes up with some phrases and I just fill in the blanks-seems easy enough: let it commence.

{1.} The strangest thing I've ever eaten was: WILD boar- that the hunter had recently hunted in the German countryside. While staying at the quaint little bed and breakfast in BAD LIEBENWERDA. (I think that's the name of the town).

{2.} My best friend is: Ang. Man, I'm lucky I know her.

{3} If I could live in a different era it would be: Maybe the Victorian, but only if I were rich. Or, I could live in the 50's. I think I'm pretty grateful for when I live-people would probably think I was crazy if I lived in another era. But I like the clothes in the 50's.

{4.} I like: friendly people. And people who don't take me or themselves too seriously.

{5.} If you only know one thing about me it should be: wow, ONE THING? I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and live like I am. okay, I can't just do one thing. I also really love to get to know people and their stories, and sometimes I ask so many questions I think I make people nervous, but I'm just curious!

{6.} My favorite book of all time is: Ella Enchanted. or the Historian.

{7.} The one beauty product I couldn't live without is: mascara. or eyeliner. They both really do the same thing. I don't feel like soap, shampoo, conditioner or lotion fall into the category of beauty-I find them more hygiene, so those are automatically included.
{8.} Blogging is: whatever I feel of it that day. Today it's a nice outlet, to wind down from a long day and not think about other things I should be thinking about. Normally, it's also just a place for me to put my thoughts out there.

{9.} If I could star in a movie with any actor/actress I would want to work with: Ummm, I don't know: either Reese Witherspoon, so we could become best friends and she would share her clothes and stylists with me, or some handsome hunk who could tell me I was beautiful all the time and mean it. That would be cool. Then he would probably fall in love with my beauty and winning personality, become a mormon and we could be MARRIED. And then he would introduce me to Reese Witherspoon, and we would become best friends and she would share heer clothes and stylsits with me.

{10.} One of the best feelings in the world is : feeling completely and utterly accepted, loved, respected and appreciated. And knowing you give the same in return.


That was fun. Clearly, I am very wordy.

Can I share a frustration here?

* mostly because I feel a little anonymity here, even though everyone that reads this knows me...but things I say here I probably wouldn't say in person-unless I was in one of "those" moods, much like I was tonight, but only to some of the people that read this, so it could be considered a sneak peak into the me that some of you never see.

Okay, so...
WHY DO GUYS ONLY WANT TO
a) make out with you,

or

b) be your very best friend and not love you at all??


Desn't it sometimes just suck? The people that want to make out with me-I don't want to make out with them. I don't like them. Although they are now at my beck and call I guess. I could start to be one of those people that just makes out with people for fun. I could try it, it seems like people go through that in their lives, and I've never really been that girl. So I could try it...I guess.

Not that I'm a hater. I appreciate that they at least want to make out with me, but COME ON. ask a girl on a date.



-and, why do they want to come over and mess with my hair ONLY WHEN IT'S DIRTY?
-although, my hair is currently very clean, and I had two offers tonight...hmmm, bed calls.

In Honor of Easter

I am 100% certain that if I were not a Mormon, I would be a Catholic.
(I quite enjoy the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the Catholic Church). There is something wonderful about being Christian.

I love knowing of the divinity of Christ, of His Earthly mission, and the knowledge I have of His resurrection and the hope that it brings to mankind.

Sandro Boticelli-Annunciation

The gift of God-His son, a sacrifice for all of the Earth! A woman-willing, blessed, and worthy; A Son: obedient, hopeful, and strong; A Father: loving, gracious and merciful.

I feel very, very fortunate that I grew up in a home where I know how my parents feel about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also where I wasn't sheltered from other faiths and ideas. My mom and dad always did a great job of helping me know that other people believed differently, but that they were good, their beliefs were good, and that they had truth in their lives.

My dad would always visit religious sites in his travels and bring home pictures. I remember seeing pictures of him in Buddhist and Hindu temples- shoes off, respectful. As I grew up, I wanted to know what they thought, what they believed, what they hoped for in life. The more I studied art history and humanities and came home with a fresh perspective on religious history the more my mom would say little gems of wisdom to me, encouraging my learnings, but grounding me in truthfulness and her testimony of the gospel.

(I wonder if they knew they were teaching me these things as they explored and lived curious lives?)

Because of that upbringing-and because of the COUNTLESS churches and museums my parents dragged me to in Europe as a child ( yay!) I grew up knowing that art could be religious, and loving it. I remember feeling something special about art-a special spirit that lives inside each painting-a story, a testimony, a moral.


I get to my point, I promise. Because of this, I love any religious painting-they hold such a special place in my heart. I see a painting of a religious scene-it's a story, a testimony, a moral frozen in time. But more than that-it connects! I get it in such a different way than in words. Most especially I love paintings that have to deal with the life of Christ; from the Annunciation to Mary, the Adoration of the Magi, anyways, any of them. ( I also really love stories from the lives of the Saints, and stories from the Apocrypha-especially those still revolving around Christ-Anna and Joachim etc.) here are some of my favorites.

Rogier van der Weyden-Deposition

Okay, how beautiful is this? Besides the compositional harmony, again it just catches my emotions! I love to learn the stories behind the characters-like Veronica over in the corner.

Isn't she wonderful? Look at her beautiful tear-she weeps. Oh, it just reaches out from the canvas and grabs my heart.

Giotto-Lamentation

Oh look! They don't understand that although He is dead, He will rise again. They're so sad-grieved-distraught actually. Yet, look how lovingly the Mary's cradle his body.

(Plus, Giotto puts someones back against the viewer-how very risky!)

I guess I love these stories because they show the mortality of Christ, but in showing his mortality, hint at his immortal divinity. He OVERCAME death! He is risen!Caravaggio-Doubting Thomas

And although it may be difficult to believe at times, that such a blessing as gracious as the atonement can be a part of our lives, I am grateful and hopeful that I can, and will have it as a part of mine, everyday.

I don't think I'll ever catch on.

Or remember not to believe things people tell me on April 1.

For Instance-no my friend did not get in a car accident. No he did not need surgery. He IS very lucky I didn't actually go to the hospital all worried and make a fool out of myself, or we would probably no longer be friends. (Although, let's be real, I fall for everything, no matter the date.)

No, there is also NOT a sky writing convention in SLC.

There is also not someone living secretly in my backyard.


The other thing: I'll never be able to take care of the big scary, hairy spiders by myself. I would rather scream, run away or leave the whole house for hours until someone else can take care of it. Seriously.

Tonight, I got my crafty on.

This is the result: Hannah and I spent a couple of hours "wallpapering" (actually, yes, papering the walls) my dining room with leftover paper from our new marketing campaign at work.

The first square! Go us!

The first row, wasn't so bad.

Hannah and I with the final result. Don't mind my wings, it happens.

Hannah demonstrates our fine quality measuring and cutting skills. Yes, we did cut all the way around our lightswitch.

The Final result. I wish I'd taken a before, but it was covered in a fabric wallpaper and had a bunch of nails in the wall and dry wall screws.
We're putting a big mirror on the right wall, and moving the light fixture with a hook so it's centered and we can line everything up.

See the confessional screen in the 2nd picture? Man, I wish we could tear it out. This house we live in has a LOT of potential, but we rent, and we're 3 girls, so our style is so different.

We also came up with some house rules:

1. No making out in bedrooms or hallways, that is what the living room and basement and front steps are for. (okay, not the front steps...)

2. You have to be okay with walking around in undies, it happens.

3. The house is called the house of the beautiful brunette bombshells, which means you have to be a brunette to live here. sorry blondies.

4. We share, but that doesn't mean you can take whatever you want.

5. there is no limit to the rules we can make.

For realsies everyone...

don't you just love to flirt?


I love it. I think it's so much fun!


And besides that, it increases my skill with witty banter, (which is really pratically the same) a skill, which it is always good to be up on.

Flirting does a lot for you, not only do people you flirt with automatically like you better, it's not like they have to be a potential date to flirt with them (although flirting with them in the "I'm interested in dating you" way increases the likelihood they will become a date).

You can flirt with friends, random strangers, customers, co-workers, superiors, policemen, people in the service industry (they'll ALWAYS flirt back and give you better service) I mean, the list goes on and on...you can even flirt with girls (if you are one, but be careful...this is a different kind of flirting than "I'm interested in dating you" flirting). It improves relationships and makes everyone more pleasant. For an added bonus: it definitely makes you more approachable, which to be honest, is a quality a LOT of people could benefit from having.

I have GOT to remember that more often. Go, my friends-get your flirt on!

It may not have been the best thing...

that I disovered dry shampoo, because now I'm even less motivated than before to wash my hair when it's dirty: today is day 3 (and I worked-eeeewww), and tomorrow I'm off work. Likelihood my hair will be washed before Thursday (slim to none: except for institute-that's the only motivation).