Book #11

A big thank you to my friend Megan for recommending this book to me!!

The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever!

I really enjoyed this book and it's one of those stories that can be hard to put down at times!! I was up late again finishing the story because I HAD To know what happened to everyone!!
It's a very easy read and I cant wait to get the second one!!

I Know It's Not Monday

I have a small obession with quotes! I love quote books, I love collecting quotes..... hence Quote Wall Monday!!
I have a really cool 1001 Things To See Before You Die desk calendar at work and the other day there was a really cool quote next to pretty field of dandelions in Vermont. This is what is said:

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things"

      - Henry Ward Beecher

I know it's not Monday but I needed to post it today. I just got back from a not so awesome dentist appointment and I need something the cheer me up! I was trying to think of regular everyday things that make me happy. Here are  just a few:

The straws made me espeically happy today as the front part of my mouth was numb and I drank my Jamba Juice through a bright orange straw!

I hope you are having a wonderful day and can find happiness in the ordinary things aroud you!!

Quote Wall Monday

Book #10

I LOVED this book!! LOVE it a lot!! I stayed up until 12:15 a.m. Friday morning to finish reading it even though I had to be up for an early morning meeting!

"Claire Prescott doesn't understand Mr. Darcy's appeal. She's been comfortably dating Neil, a nice-if a bit negligent-sports fanatic. When she agrees to stand in for her sister at a Jane Austen seminar in Oxford, England, she finds herself holding a lost version of Pride and Prejudice. Scholars thought Austen's original manuscript was destroyed centuries ago, but as Claire reads the first draft, she uncovers a long-hidden secret about the iconic Darcy, as well as the truth about Austen's own struggle to find the right hero for Elizabeth Bennet.
And when a tall, dark, and dashing stranger crosses her path, will the staid Claire suddenly discover her inner Lizzie Bennet? Neil's unexpected arrival in Oxford complicates Claire's journey to finding her own romantic lead, and she discovers that finding the right hero can be more difficult that she ever imagined."
Here are just a few of my favorite parts from the book:

"The word courage, of course, comes from the French word coeur, or heart in English," Martin continued. "Austen shows us that it is in knowing one's heart that one may find the courage to overcome obstacles."

"Perhaps the hero wasn't born, but made. And perhaps a true heroine learned the difference only by having her heart broken along the way."

I think that the plot line of the story is great and the mystery of it all makes you want to keep going!! I don't think you have to be a Mr. Darcy fan to really enjoy this book!

Flashback Friday

I am a really crappy blogger sometimes!! I start writing posts and never finish them, most of the time it is because I need to add pictures later and I am just too lazy to take them off of my camera!!
I never blogged about my graduation from the University of Utah.... that was CLEAR back in 2009!! And I didn't get posts up about Mother's Day and Father's Day...... I am lame!!
I did a "Flashback Friday" post once and meant to do it at least every other week for awhile to get myself caught up.... and because I am a lame blogger...... I never did!!
But that all ends now!!! I am going to get caught up!! Mostly because I just heard of sites like Blurb and Blog2Print. I am also not that great of a journal keeper {don't be shocked.... I cant even keep up on my blog for crying out loud} and some day in the very near future I want to turn my past blog posts into books that I can keep as makeshift journals!

So today is Flashback Friday #1!! I changed the post date and time on this blog post because I wanted it to be in order {for the journaling reason}. SO, if you are extremely bored with nothing else to do, feel free to go HERE to read about my golden birthday!!

Oh! If you have ever used Blurb or Blog2Print or any other site like it, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and opinions!!

Under The Desert Sea

This past weekend my family went down to St George for a weekend getaway! We did all kinds of fun things and a post about it is coming soon {as soon as I get pictures off of some other cameras}.

One of my favorite things we did though was see the shows at Tuacahn. Just in case you don't know what Tuacahan is, I'll explain it to you. It's seriously one of the BEST ideas someone has EVER had!! It's an outdoor theater built in the middle of a red rock canyon!

The views are amazing! The stage is huge! And there is a very cool background waterfall!!

This seasons shows are The Little Mermaid and Grease. My favorite was The Little Mermaid, hands down!! The boys didn't want to see that show with us so it was just a girls night out for my mom, Hayley, Kaylee and I! We had so much fun together taking pictures before and after the show!

We had really awesome seats!! The center section in the center of the row!! And the temperature was perfect for the entire show!

Want to know why they are all smiling so big in the picture above? Because I had just fallen off my chair right before we turn this picture!! :0)

The show was AMAZING!! I wish picture taking was allowed! I tried so many different Google searches to see if anyone else took some but I couldn't find any at all!!

The show started with the waterfall behind the stage flowing down and flooding the stage! Yes, water all over the stage! Which looked even more awesome when the huge ship came out and they sang "Fathoms Below."

There was lots of water, the costumes were colorful and some of them even lit up! Ursula had a really cool costume that I am still trying to figure out how it worked!! There were some new songs that I thought were fantastic and the guy that played Sebastian had an awesome accent!! I loved it!!

Flotsom and Jetsom the electric eels!! They did such a good job and had some crazy high kicks!

I had so much fun with these ladies! I would definitely love to see it again!



Solstice

It's officially: SUMMERTIME!!

 

Quote Wall Monday

A BOGO Sale

I am all about BOGO {Buy One, Get One} sales!! Especially when it comes to shoes!!
I got these fun sandals today for $7.99!!! You cant beat that!!

Plus, I was able to get them in size 7!! The rest of me may be huge, but at least I can buy small shoes!!

Book #9

Clary is back in New York and life is good: she’s in training to be a shadowhunter and is finally able to call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price. When Jace inexplicably begins to pull away from her, Clary is forced to acknowledge that she herself has set in motion a chain if events that could lead to the loss of everything she loves. Even Jace.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever…

This the fouth book in The Mortal Instruments series. It has been a long times since I've read a series where all of the books are not already published! I read The Hunger Games and Cathtching Fire last summer and had to wait until August for Mockingjay to come out. That was torture!!!

Well, I have gotten myself into the same situation with these books!! It of course ended with a cliff hanger and the next book doesnt come out until 2012!! Dang it!! It's a good thing my "Books To Read" list is so long, I will have plenty to keep me busy!!

30 Days and Counting

The final count down has begun!!

My families Lake Powell trip has been postponed, which means I no longer have to choose between two fantastic things!

And thanks to my awesome friend Danielle, I already have seats for the midnight showing!

There will be lots of clapping and cheering! And there will most definitely be tears! It's going to be epic {and I just have to say right hear that I hate that word.... totally overused! BUT, it is the perfect word right now} and I can't wait!!

Quote Wall Monday

Sunday Afternoon Treat

Cookies are fantastic!
But what about a cookie within a cookie?
Even better right?!?!
If you are an Oreo fan you will want to give these a try!!!

Cookie 'N Creme Cookies

What you need:

• 2 1/4 C flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 C butter, softened
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1 {4.2 oz} pkg Cookies 'N Creme pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 C white chocolate chips**
• 15 Oreo cookies, coarsly chopped/crushed**

**The first time I made them I added more than 15 Oreos. I probably used more like 20 to 25 cookies! My mom made them a few days later but she didnt have white chocolate chips. She used semi-sweet chips and I thought they were even more delicious with all that extra chocolate!!

What you do:

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2- Cream butter and sugars together then add the pudding mix and beat until well blended.

3- Beat in the eggs and vanilla; mix well.

4- In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking soda using a whisk to mix them together.

5- Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Mix until well blended.

6- Stir in the choclate chips and Oreos

7- Drop cookies in rounded spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.

8- Bake for about 10 minutes or until cookies are barley brown

Makes about 3 dozen

So easy! So delicious!!

Original recipe found here

Time To Straighten Up

Clear back in high school I had braces. My teeth were never crooked or crazy looking {which I was very grateful for} but I did have an overbite, so my parents took me to the orthodontist to get it taken care of!

My orthodontist is AWESOME!! I remember being REALLY nervous about going. I absolutely HATE going to the dentist {I have to go next week... boo!} so the orthodontist also sounded very scary. But, it wasn't too bad!

I didn't think braces were awful and I tried to have fun with them! My bands were always fun and crazy color combos and always coordinated with holidays! I had no problem with them. It wasn't until I got my retainer that I started having troubles!

I was actually really excited to get my retainer because my orthodontist told me that I could bring a small picture to put on it if I wanted. Now remember, this was back when I was a sophomore/junior, so I was thrilled to create my own retainer. The brand Roxy was huge back in those days! I was to fat to fit into any Roxy clothes, so I cut out the Roxy logo and had it put into my retainer. It was going to be my awesome, name brand retainer!!!

I went back in a few days later to pick it up and it looked fantastic, I was pretty excited about wearing it. The only problem.... it tasted weird! Really really weird!! A gross mixture of plastic and acrylic! I couldn't handle it being in my mouth.I brushed it all the time, I soaked it in mouth wash and orange juice... nothing worked.... it always had a funky taste! So, I hardly ever wore my trendy Roxy retainer!

Flash forward to now! Not wearing my retainer was a bad move on my part! Remember how I never had crooked or crazy teeth before? Well, now I do. My two top front teeth overlap each other and one of them sticks out a little bit...... my ugly snaggle tooth.

It's sad. Sad because now I have ugly teeth and it makes me self conscious, sad because my parents paid a ridiculous amount of money so I could have perfectly straight teeth and I let it go to waste {I really do feel awful about this part of it!! SORRY mom and dad!!!!}, sad because now I have to pay to have it fixed and sad because my insurance doesn't cover adult orthodontic care at all.

I went back into visit my orthodontist today and he is still just as awesome as ever! The appointment was short and sweet. The solution to my problem: a new retainer. THANK GOODNESS that's all it will take! I don't know what I would have done if he said I needed a top row of braces again!

My new retainer will be blue... no logo this time.... and I can pick it up in a week! My guess is that if will probably taste funny for awhile, but I am just going to have to suck it up!