teaching swim school=really fun

Its only my second day and I already got this note. who wouldn't love teaching little kids to swim??? Plus they think you look really great in a swim suit...see the realistic representation..."when you swim, a side-pony is the way to go,"says swim teacher rachel.

provo dont be so lame...

come on grow up. seriously, like there aren't better things to do then protest the visit of the Vice-President of the United States. That makes me so sick. One thing I learned when I left Provo was that, everything that matters there, doesn't even matter in the real world. Its all about the people and there are so many other things we can do with our time.
I personally respect the decisions made by the board to invite Cheney. I am sure that I can learn something from him, even if I don't agree with a lot of his politics. He prolly won't even talk politics!
Its all about respect and tolerance. I feel so ashamed that my fellow students would disrespect like that...whateves, Its a free country. talk about controversy

Oh how I wish I could photosynthesize!!

Now I see that this has a double meaning. If you have twenty-nine minutes and four seconds, listen to this: Look up 'Maxwell, Neal A.' Topic:Patience, Its the last one listed, entitled "PATIENCE" then download the free MP3. It will change your life

Arbor day is on the way...

I might be a tree hugger
I bought this shirt to commemorate arbor day. love it.

holla holla holla

I LOVE my friends. Way to go superstars!! Go vote for Ju and Emily after March 31st. This video is spectacular!!

I, wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day.

So basically I was on tour with Drew Danburry, but if you want to know the truth, Drew just needed a ride to UT and as incentive told me I could open. It was pretty amazing to be a rock star for a weekend, playing a show for a bunch of people I didn't know, standing behind the merch table and telling everyone about Drew and his music. Its been fun to have Drew in Vegas.
First off on the tour, he played a show in Provo with Micah and Camille and some other bands. It was so much fun to see Heather, Amy, Hillary, Stefan, Lauren, Shannon, and Aaron:



After the Provo show we went up to Logan to play a house party. We met a ton of cool people and the crowd was amazing. I've included a picture of Drew rocking the crowd up in Logan.



I think it is so hard to make music into a business, or anything you love for that matter, into a business. If you become a rock star you need to make money doing it, but at the same time I wished that I could have developed real relationships with all of those awesome people I met in Logan. We had a great time and if anyone wants to book us for future shows. Call Annelisa...she's the real girlfriend/booking agent.


That yellow bucket was the collection plate. We got it filled to the top. People just kept pulling out $20s and we eventually had to tell them, "We know you like our music, but you need to eat this week." or "We can't take your whole paycheck." and stuff like that.

And here, for your listening pleasure, Nate and I recorded this song back in January. "Sonny Listen"--Its our first single. Enjoy!
Sunny Listen

This must be why I am so west coast...

I'm just a snob, reviewing some album...

So, the Shins new album...not many people have given it outstanding reviews. But personally, there are quite a few reasons why I like it. Mostly, I make that statement because of one line in 'Girl Sailor,' "You've made it through the direst of straits alright, can you help it if plain love now seems less interesting?"
That in a nutshell describes how I feel lately. When you've been in love with someone who is completely crazy, strange, non-commital, needy and extremely emotionally unstable, liking a normal guy suddenly becomes really hard. Your mind can't understand someone sane. What? there's no games, no guessing?? All the sudden plain love just seems less interesting. woah, unbelievable.
So at least I finally pin pointed what it was. In the end, when its true, plain love will be enough. John Lennon was right, "All you need is love."

I could chew this all day long...

YUM YUM GIMME SUM!! so minty, so mojito-y, so exotic. you're gonna love it.

Birthday Supreme! Just like the pizza, but I am 25!

This is what $25,000 would look like if these were $1000 bills instead of ones. I had to pop the 25 balloons that my parents blew up for my birthday breakfast surprise to get all the cash out. It was a great day, commemorating my birth.


Bob at work bought me cheetos. Rene bought me a cookie. Amy bought me the 20 questions game-rock and roll version. Diana bought me a design book. Drew and Megan bought me chocolate cake.
I wish all of you could have come!!!
After dancing and trying to stump the 20 questions games with Bright Eyes, Gustav Mahler and Reba McIntire, we went hot-tubbing at a hotel downtown. LOVE it!!!

maps interest me.

I do market and sales research. Basically I make spreadsheets with info for sales reps. One thing I have enjoyed is seeing names of cities that I didn't know existed. There are some really great names, it makes me want to visit these places, or just say their names, or just tell people I am from there. Here are some of my favorites:
1.Itasca, IL
2.Boca Raton, FL
3. King of Prussia, PA
4. Piscataway, NJ
5. Celebration, FL
I love being able to assign a memory to a dot on a map. You never know what a place looks like until you go there. Each city is distinct. Sandra Cisneros expressed this idea in her book "Caramelo" when she talked about her family's annual trip to Mexico. I love it. She says, "Not like on the Triple A atlas from orange to pink, but at a stoplight in a rippled heat and a dizzy gasoline stink, the United States ends all at once, a tangled shove of red lights from cars and trucks waiting their turn to get past the bridge. Miles and miles."
This weekend I saw Logan and got to know it a little better. Now it is more than just a dot on the map. That is another blog in and of itself, don't worry, soon.

The problem is money comes and goes...

At the rate I am going I will never be able to save enough money for grad school by this coming August. So I have decided that the only solution is to start playing Megabucks. yes! it was divine providence that I moved to Las Vegas.

U R A 10!

Happy Valentines Day! I love you all!
Fax me! Email my heart! Text me! Blog me!
Tonight is our ward temple night...for sealings. What a great coincidence! Since my friend and I didn't sign up for the ward valentine date (every year they do a little match making and assign you a date for the 14th of Feb. You can even make requests) we decided to go do sealings. This should be the best valentines day ever!

Dear Salt Lake City, I am really sorry to hear about what happened Monday night...

Rest in peace Trolley Square.

prolly this is my favorite picture of 2007.

I found this: two of my friends from elementary school jumping on the tramp in my backyard with my brother.
I love aaron's clothes, his checkered vans with knee-high socks and crazy shorts with matching pocket on the shirt. Then check out the girl on the left's boots. Any girl would wish she could own those now. We used to play hide-and-seek in my neighborhood. The best place to hide was in the corn-rows. Yum, look at all that corn in the background. Sometimes I wish I was still a kid. Childhood is so care-free, making faces at the camera, doing some chores so you can go swimming, playing monopoly for days on end, riding bikes to 7-11 and then riding home with no-hands so you can drink the slurpee and open the candy you bought, making home movies, playing recreational soccer, cheating at go-fish, getting in trouble for saying "butt-face" "stupid" and "shut-up"
I think that is why I liked "13 going on 30" so much. She recognizes her innocence lost. I wish we could all be innocent again and also tell more knock-knock jokes.

Life is not what I thought it was 48 hours ago.

My office is being remodeled this week. My boss kept saying, "tomorrow it will be done." But finally on Wednesday at about 3pm I figured the week was already over and I should just ask for Thurs and Fri off to go visit San Diego State University and talk to professors there about the grad program. I applied there this year so I wanted to check it out and I already had work off, I just needed to get into the car and drive. So with basic plans set up, I left about an hour later, hoping I could find a place to sleep and also hoping the ceramics professors wouldn't be on sabbatical.
I stayed at my sisters on Wed night in Long Beach. Then early Thurs I went to San Diego. I wandered around campus and felt so happy that I couldn't stop smiling. This is hard to admit, but I do miss being a student. I scheduled an appointment with one of the profs, then the other one gave me a little tour of the studio. They both seemed extremely nice and easy going and also I talked to some grads and undergrads. The program is awesome, the facilities are amazing and San Diego is beautiful.
I really wanted to go to the temple the next day, so luckily I found a place to stay there in San Diego. (muchas gracias a estefan) Then I drove home. wow. vamos a ver que pasa.

THIS is heaven on earth!!

I feel like life is always a lot different from what I think. Sometimes it takes a year to look back and recognize our growth, sometimes just a couple of days. Those moments are two-edged swords because on the one hand I love seeing the enlightenments I have had, but on the other hand I always wonder what my current blindness is.
So, moral is: I can't change the past and worrying about the future only makes me nauseous...I guess I have to live in the present with all its little surprises keeping me on my toes. Its a funny process: becoming who we are.
So, goal is: Do something crazy spontaneous today! It vales the pena. Thats spanglish for its worth the pain.

Things I really like on roadtrips...not necessarily in this order

1. rolling the windows down
2. sunflower seeds
3. looking at maps while driving
4. dr. pepper
5. making u-turns
6. npr
7. feeling independent
8. really loud music, I'm talking REALLY loud!
9. rest stops, those are great.
10. living out of a suitcase

Museums should be more interactive...

This weekend I went to/by two different museums that I really enjoyed. Rob was in town and we went to the Neon Boneyard. It is at the Neon Museum downtown.


They only take groups by reservations so we just drove by and looked in above the fence. It was amazing. They have all the old signs from old imploded hotels and casinos. I have to get an appointment and organize a rendezvous with some friends. So if you want to go, contact me and we will get a reservation!!
Second museum that we experienced was the Pinball Hall of Fame.

It was so much fun! They have about 5 rows of superb pinball machines. Most of them have little tags talking about how they acquired the machine and how old it is and how famous/infamous it is. Heres a picture of the inside.

Basically, I have been thinking all day about the next time I can go. I am really excited to play the Pirates of the Carribean machine. There was this guy hogging it for a long time when we went, but it's pretty awesome if you can sink
the ship like Rob did.
Wouldn't that be great if we could play with all historical artifacts when we went to museums. History would be much more interactive and maybe I would appreciate it even more.

THIS IS A MUST!!!

My friend Kara just told me about clearification.com. It is really funny. Just go there with plenty of time to watch and plenty of breath to laugh! oh man, I could watch it for hours...

COWA'BANGS'A!!

I have always thought about going to hair school. It would be neat to actually know how to cut and dye hair, even though I do it without proper training. Here are some of my clients/friends. I am trying, one person at a time, to take over the world with bangs. Bangs will hopefully soon wield more influence in society.

"The Sidesweep" a classic show on Bryn

"The Rachel" shown on Lauren

"Bangalicious" shown on Julia


This one is called "Bangarang" shown on Rachel


And just a note, from one who was told they have very healthy gums by a friend who is in dental school today, remember to floss. Gingivitis is no one's friend.