In Other News

Today is 31 cent scoop night at Baskin-Robbins (or 31 flavors if you're a Cowan). Needless to say I'll be there indulging in the 10 scoop/person limit.

I bought a hammock yesterday for our backyard. HELLO summer, here I come! Best part--it's portable, which means I can take it to GG Park and Baker Beach too!

Ok, maybe mine doesn't look like this, but I'll take it all the same :)

BFF's come to SF!

Yes, it's true. Shannon and Mitch came to visit this week! Needless to say, Patrick and I couldn't have been more thrilled. It isn't every day you have friends come to visit (ahem) and especially not these two. We had hoped that somehow we could convince them to stay forever, and although it ALMOST worked, they just have too dang good of jobs in SLC. Lame. (But we still love you!)

First thing's first. We picked them up from the airport on Saturday and went to lunch at Boudin's so Shannon could get her bread fix and Mitch could eat "Real San Francisco Chowder".

Side Note: The Boudin factory is 3 blocks from our house so whenever I walk home from the bus late at night I get to smell heaven (aka fresh baked sourdough bread). It makes me want to grab a loaf and run for my life, but I control myself (barely).

After lunch, we headed over to Golden Gate park to wander around and go to the Japanese Tea Gardens. It was so cute! We'd been meaning to go for a while, so we were glad they were here to do it with us! Next stop--Giants stadium! The Reds beat the Giants just barely but we managed to enjoy the sun, crab sandwiches (well, Patrick did. I had garlic fries mmmmmm), and whale-tail in front of us regardless. Oh trashy blonde, why couldn't you pull up your pants! Yuck!
On to Bi-Rite creamery. For those of you in SF who have yet to indulge in this locally sustained, small batch, completely compostable utensil artisan ice cream goodness, get there STAT. And those of you not in SF, come visit so we can go! The coconut, cheesecake, chocolate and brown butter pecan were voted top four by us four. I can't wait to go back!!


I'll split the adventures into a few posts to save on the length...hold tight, folks!

All Hail Yancy Zimmerman!

Cursed Becca. She linked this to her gmail status yesterday and it consumed way too much of my day. I thought I did well (compared to Henry's 66, Jake's 62 and Heron's 39) until I came into work this morning and saw Yancy's status. 92 WPM.

UGH! Stupid (I mean incredible) Yancy.

Then I talked to Becca. She got 85.

Looks like my measly 74 has a long way to go until we all hail me.

What's your score? Did you beat Yancy? Let me know!

UPDATE: I just got 80 wpm. I'm on my way!

It's that time again...

If you know me well enough, you know that I love birthdays. Not just my own birthday, EVERYONE'S birthday. I mostly just like any excuse to have a party and eat junk food. I also like to string them out as long as possible. That said, my own birthday holds a special place in my heart and there are certain things I feel are a mandatory part of my birthday, no matter how old I get.

1. Good Friends

2. Pinatas (with GOOD candy, mind you. None of this smartee's and double-bubble junk)3. Ice Cream Cake

4. Peanut M&M's

This year we had a barbeque, and it was an absolute blast. (not to mention delicous! Go Patrick!) Thanks everyone, for celebrating with us!

Oh, and in other birthday weekend news, my dad and Robert were here to celebrate with us! It made it extra awesome.
We had such a great time eating birthday dinner at Aqua (which was FABULOUS and super fancy, read: table service for every course!), a fun awards dinner for my dad so we all got to get dressed up,

and delicious brunch at the Cliff House with our cousins.

And to top it all off, Patrick, Brooke, Eric and myself celebrated some more Monday at Benihana. (I forgot to upload the pics). Now that's what I call a birthday! Who's celebrating next??

And We're Back!

Hello Everyone! We're back with minimal (ok, that's not true) burns and peeling skin. We're well-rested, well-traveled, and well-fattened-up.

After spending a week touring the country (and beach) side we've decided that we like the Jungle best of all and can't wait to get back! It was incredible!! We saw a sloth, toucans, howler monkeys, iguanas, flowing lava, guitar sharks, octopus, sting rays, eels, and much much more. Needless to say, it was probably one of my favorite vacations of all time (although it's a sad day when you realize your parents have truly spoiled you so badly by living in Laguna Beach that the shores of Playa Conchal (touted as the most beautiful beach in Costa Rica) doesn't hold up to your expectations and that your diving tours of Fiji and Hawaii have left you a bit of a dive snob. Such a hard life!)

So we decided that when we do go back we'll focus mainly on the Jungle portion--there was so much we didn't get to see and so much we are dying to see again! Our hotel in Playa Conchal was an all-inclusive, we've never gone to one of those before and while things could have been better service and food-wise, the rooms were beautiful, the weather was incredible, and there was free food everywhere we turned. Lex was in room-service heaven! (Ok, we were too) Oh yeah, and Patrick is now an officially certified scuba diver! He really is a part of our family :)

And now, what you've all been waiting for! Pictures!

We're going to Costa Rica! We're going to Costa Rica! We're going to Costa Rica!

Can anyone tell we're excited out of our MINDS???!!!

We leave Friday.

We are impatiently anticipating:

-Rafting level 3/4 rivers
-Taking a horseback ride through the jungle to a Canopy tour
-Scuba Diving
-Getting TAN! (Well, at least for me. Sadly, Patrick is unable to produce brown skin no matter how hard we try)

We have prepared by stocking ourselves with:

-Aqua Socks (and yes, mine are actually Aqua!)
-45% Deet Bug Repellant
-Hiking Shorts (yes, they're as ugly as they sound)
-Terrain appropriate sneakers
-Emergency Ponchos
-Sunscreen (SPF 10 for me and 30 for Mr. Larsen)
-SPF 30 Chapstick (I am trying to not get a cold sore this trip!)
-Mini-Fans
-lightweight sweatshirts

Anything we forgot?

Well, Well, Well

I think we all say "Never thought I'd do this" at the beginning of these posts, and yet we all do them. All things considered, my sister-in-law (SUCH A WEIRD THING TO WRITE!!!) Carrie tagged me and since we don't know a whole lot about each other, I feel pretty okay doing it.

Here goes nothing...

What were you doing 5 years ago?
5 years ago would make me 17 which means I was driving around in my Red Beetle with Flower Rims (yes, you read that right!) blasting music and dancing at the stoplights with Alex and Amanda, thinking I owned the world (and the hearts of every 18 year old boy...). Working at Hobies, and getting ready for college!


5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Start "The Other Boleyn Girl" since I finally got it in the mail!
2. Call Bella Pictures AGAIN to yell at them about our wedding photos
3. Go to spin class (or at least attempt to go)
4. Organize my desk at work
5. Become a healthy organic-only eating gourmet cook! (Ok, that's gonna be on my to-do list for a LONG time)

7 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Peanut M&M's
2. Aunt Opal Cookies (Oatmeal Chocolate Chip with Walnuts)
3. Ice Cream (Specifically Haagen Daz Vanilla Swiss Almond, Baskin-Robbins Chocolate Chip, or Bluebell Moollenium Crunch)
4. Glazed Donuts
5. Reese's Eggs, Hearts, Pumpkins, Trees, etc. (I'm no snob when it comes to the reese's holiday treats!)
6. Lays Potato Chips (Preferably with Onion Dip, but I'll be okay with just plain)
7. French Fries

3 Bad Habits:
1. Whining (according to Mr. Larsen)
2. Thinking I'm always right
3. Trying to do everything too fast (I love to multi-task!)

If I were suddenly a billionaire...I'd buy a few fabulous houses, have someone else decorate them for me, get a personal trainer, personal chef, personal financial planner (and a maid while I'm at it), a huge TV with unlimited Bravo, and travel the country. Oh yeah, and invest a big chunk (using my personal financial planner) and give a lot to our Church.

5 Places I've Lived:
1. Glendale, CA
2. Laguna Beach, CA
3. Provo, UT
4. London, England
5. San Francisco, CA

5 Jobs I've had:
1. Mother's Assistant/Babysitter
2. Filing Queen (at my dad's office)
3. Sales Associate, Hobie Sport
6. Food Runner, PF Chang's (oh, the drama)
4. Student Managing Director, BYU Ad Lab
5. Assistant Account Manager at my now-job (which, if you recall this post, I can no longer say the name of)

5 things people might not know about me:
1. I used to volunteer for an organization called T.I.P. (Trauma Intervention Program) where I would go to homes or hospitals where someone had just had a family member die to help them cope.
2. I played water polo, was on the swim team, golf team, and ran cross-country in high school
3. I used to actually love pets and had 4 dogs growing up (I think that's why I hate them now, I got a little burnt out)
4. I used to dye my hair all the time--at one point I had at least 6 different colors at the same time! Now I'm too lazy and cheap.
5. I HATE talking to people on airplanes and my hairdresser. I actually warn the hairdresser that I don't want to talk to her and as soon as I sit down on a plane I bury my head in a book so no one will initiate conversation. Call me anti-social, I don't know what's wrong with me!!

I tag Brooke, Michelle,Bekah and Natalie (but don't feel obligated. I would have tagged Becca but I don't think you'd do it. Prove me wrong!)

Adobe is Rad

My friend at work just shared this with me. Pretty cool! Yet another reason why Goodby is #1

Sweet.

Patrick sent me these to my office for Valentines Day. (Count 'em, 36!!) as well as a dozen chocolate-covered strawberries.

We went to dinner at Bobo's where the steak was FABULOUS but the rest of the meal was so-so. Going off just the steak, however, you'd better get yourself there STAT.

I bought him this.


It was a pretty darn good day :)

The REAL Deal

So some of you might have heard about our little rendezvous in Napa last Saturday. For those of you who didn't, we participated in a photographer's conference as models. I had been interested in doing a "Trash the Dress" session for a while, but they are a bit expensive, so I hadn't fully committed. One of the photographers I had contacted about doing a "Trash the Dress" session emailed me asking if I would consider being a model for thier conference. Umm free pictures (and free hair and make-up?) Sign me up! Even if the pictures were bad, we weren't losing anything! There were at least 6 or 7 photographers shooting at all times. Only one photographer has emailed me with her pictures yet so expect more in the weeks to come!

Our wedding pictures weren't bad at all, just kind of boring. Doing a shoot like this, we hoped to get some more interesting pics (and no, I didn't "trash" my dress at all, it's just a little dirty on the bottom) which I think we did. Take a look! (I can't figure out how to do a slideshow so just click here to see her flickr album)

You have got to read this

Possibly the funniest thing I've read in a while.

http://www.prdifferently.com/2006/07/how_not_to_act_.html

Big Man on Campus

Remember this guy?

He just got an awesome promotion today.

No Big Deal.

Give the guy a big ol' pat on the back and congratulations--He deserves it!

(In case you're interested, Patrick is now the Account Executive for Nokia's Americas Team. Woot Woot!)

Is it just me or...

do PB&J sandwiches taste SO much better smushed? So much better in fact, that I throw it into the bottom of my bag for work in the morning so it can get that much more mushed before lunch time and then smash it some more before eating it. MMMM so good!

Just in case you're in a bad mood

Robert showed me this website (don't worry, there's no sound for those of you browsing at the office) today and I think it's HILARIOUS. I apologize in advance to those of you who read this who might be offended. But it was too good to pass up without sharing!

I'm pretty sure it's a legit business operation.

the 31

So usually in morning, Patrick and I take the 31bx which is basically an express bus full of commuters. Occasionally, like this morning, we miss the BX and have to take the regular 31. Lets just say that the crowd on the 31 is slightly different than the crowd on the 31BX. For example, this morning: The guy sitting next to us leans down, rips off the top part of his sock, blows his nose into it and then proceeds to put it in his pocket. Then, he loudly guffaws (yes that is how you spell it) at the name of some store, makes a random (and very loud) comment to the guy sitting next to him, and proclaims to us all "I'm outta here". He then develops a Boston accent and tells everyone to move 'attamaway' and asks the door to "Open Sesame". When he gets off he just stares at all of us on the bus instead of going on his way. Crazy!!

Needless to say, We prefer the BX.