Sometimes I draw

I drew these on my mission, and both are of me and my companions. I think I drew Sister Hibbard and I as princesses because I missed theatre and I missed being girly. Sister Hibbard had cut her beautiful long hair at the beginning of her mission, so I drew hers long to go with the fairytale theme. She colored both drawings. We made a good team.


Sometimes I think it'd be fun to spend a day at the zoo and sketch the animals, or trees, or whatever. Or take a class. It's fun to flirt with once in awhile. I don't fancy myself as very skilled; it just feels good to see what comes out of the end of my pencil.

Peter and Jordyn on Utah Bride Blog

My brother and my sister-in-law's wedding is featured on Utah Bride Blog today. Check it out if you're interested in seeing the details. I love Jordyn's style. Everything on all of the tables were items she already owns (books, keys, etc). Such a lovely event. I'm glad more people get to see it. I think her photographer did a terrific job. In fact, I now follow her blog and the Utah Bride Blog. I love photos of happy people and beautiful places!

My Birthday Weekend

My birthday this year ranks up at the top of awesome birthdays. And by "birthday" I really mean "birthday week" because even though the birthday itself was a terrific day, it was no doubt amplified by the three days that preceded it and two days that followed.

It started on the Friday night before. I left work at about 8:45pm (because I was a total slacker that week and tried to finish everything I had to do on Friday which of course never works) and met my dear, dear friends Kate, Brandon, Sharon, and Tyler at the movie theatre to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Loved it! And it was so funny watching with this group of people. Kate laughed at me when after the trailer for Devil I said "I am NOT going to see that movie!" I'm not really a video game player, but I could appreciate the art in Scott Pilgrim, and I loved the special effects and hyper-reality. It was pretty surreal. I could see why most of my friends were seeing it a second time. I wouldn't mind seeing it a second time myself! As a birthday present, Sharon took care of my ticket. She's such a cutie! It was a fun night -- a great kickoff for the weekend :)

Saturday I went swimming in the morning and then saw a bunch of my friends in the Pirates of Penzance at Hale Centre Theatre. Pirates is one of my favorite musicals, and I was glad that my friend Carrie invited me to go with her. She was one of my favorite castmates in Kiss Me Kate and I don't get to see her nearly enough.

Sunday night my family celebrated my birthday over at my parent's house. I got to pick what I wanted to eat, which included tacos, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and a chocolate pudding/cream cheese dessert my family likes to call "the best dessert ever." Sadly, it was really windy outside, so we couldn't get the candles to light and I didn't get to make a wish this year. But everyone still sang "Happy Birthday." The gifts were wonderful and thoughtful. My family knows me so well! I sure do love hanging out with them!

Monday was Labor Day and I was thrilled to have the day off work. I spent the morning cleaning my house! I even vacuumed! My little home looked and felt so lovely! Then I spent the afternoon at my grandma's pool with my parents, my brother, and my brother's kids. The G-unit was a little frustrated that I took so long to eat lunch but when I got in the water we played and played and played! I'd never seen the girls in their swimsuits, and it's so fun to watch their personalities come through. I stayed for a while after everyone else left, so I could swim a few laps and just sit quietly. I don't feel like I have a lot of quiet time lately.


That night I was late to a barbeque at my parents' house. Fortunately there was still some food left :D

Tuesday was my actual birthday and I took that day off work, too! Mom and I took my nieces to Hogle Zoo and I LOVED it! I'm a huge fan of the zoo, and an even bigger fan of my toddler nieces. It wasn't their first trip there. All I really wanted to do was see the baby elephant and the giraffes (Breezy kind of hated the giraffes at first. I happened to be holding her at the time and she gripped me really tightly when I stood too close). We ended up seeing nearly all of the animals, took the train (which was really lame, by the way), ate cotton candy, and still had time for the girls to just wander around and play. Like lemmings, they'll follow any group wherever they're going. I had a bit of stress trying to keep track of both of them while Mom fetched us some lunch. Zonks wanted to walk around and Breezy wanted to be held. It was difficult to handle them both with just one good arm. I've decided my sister-in-law is truly amazing being able to take care of both of them at the same time. I was exhausted by the end! So were the girls. They fell asleep in the car.

That night I went to Romano's Macaroni Grill with three of my favoritest people: Kate, Steph, and Candice. I even got to meet Candice's baby! I chose that restaurant because their chocolate cake is DIVINE and it did not disappoint. Neither did anything else about that meal. Terrific food and even better company. Thanks again, Steph, for treating me!

My dear friend Rach came over to my house later that night and I finally got to show her my condo! She and I ate some of the leftover "best dessert ever" and watched the pilot episode of Pushing Daisies, which never should have gone off the air. I forgot how enchanting the show is! Rach liked it enough that I loaned her DVDs :) Nice to share something I enjoy with someone I like to spend time with!

Seriously, I don't get to see any of my friends nearly enough.

The next day I went to work and experienced some hardcore post-birthday blues. I admit this milestone is a little depressing for me. I'm having a hard time saying my age out loud. I might just start telling people I'm 28. I'm still youthful, and that was a crummy year so I should get to do it over!

But I digress! Kate invited me to be her plus-one at the annual Hale Thank You party on Wednesday and we had a marvelous time, despite the fact that she was worried about school and I was worried about work and being old. We met up with Karrie Ann and enjoyed the performances, the food, the games (which we thankfully didn't have to participate in), and best of all the renewing of friendships. Kate introduced me to absolutely everyone she talked with. More than once I had to stifle the impulse to go all "rabid fan" on people. I see all the shows and those actors are seriously talented! And nice people!

Thursday and Friday were forgettable, but Saturday was NOT! I met Kate for lunch and we hung (hanged? did some hanging?) out at Fashion Place Mall for awhile and ate some frozen yogurt. Then I went to the Jordan River Temple that night, and spent some time with my Heavenly Father. It was the perfect cap to a great week.

There you have it: one of my top 5 favorite birthdays ever. Thank you everyone who participated and sent me good wishes! I have very high hopes for this year. It'll be exciting to see what happens!

Wise words from President Monson

Next week is the semi-annual General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In preparation, they held a meeting on Saturday night just for the women. How I love hearing from the prophet and the General Relief Society presidency! I feel very blessed to have access to these wise, faithful people who can offer council that applies to me. What better in this crazy "anything goes" world than to hear sensible, inspiring, relevent advice for navigating it all!

The following are my favorite quotes, all from President Thomas S. Monson's talk. Simple concepts, but I always need the reminder:

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

"I consider charity -- or the pure love of Christ -- to be the opposite of criticism."

"Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life. May we recognize that each one of us is doing her best to deal with the challenges which come her way. And may we strive to do our best to help out."

A Christmas Carol Callback

The callback was a lot of fun interspersed with severe disappointment and hideous nerves. All in all, I thought it went well. I arrived about 20 minutes early and found a HUGE mass of people crammed into the backstage/rehearsal hall. I felt grateful that the pro team had the foresight to get the octet vocal callback done the Saturday before! As it was, I know suspect they were still reading people at midnight.

But I wasn't there quite that long. I had a chance to dance pretty early on. It was a pretty crazy dance. I stood in the back and felt like a dope... until it finally sunk in that I and everyone else was supposed to be silly and just have fun. So I did! I tried to relax and not worry too much about my dignity. We had a chunk of music where we got to do whatever we wanted. I hoped we would get that! All I wanted to do was the "dying swan" and I did! And I think I got a laugh (it's possible the others were laughing at something else).

When we finished dancing I sat and chatted with my besty and some other fun people. Then they called all of the adults into the music rehearsal hall. We filled the entire room. I watched the candidates read for solicitors and the Old Joe scene. It took awhile and yet didn't feel like it was very long. I thought about the talent in the room, and about how I have a week's worth of conflicts which is a little excessive when the run is only 3 weeks long. I decided that since my chances weren't as great as they should be I should cast off my fears and play as much as I could.

About 9pm the pro team left the room to talk about us, and I hadn't done anything since about 7:45. I happened to be sitting on the front row (very unlike me) when Anne came in and requested three volunteers -- a bass, an alto, and a soprano. Well, I ran to the front of the room and picked the alto part! We ended up taking another guy into the dance rehearsal hall and taught him the tenor part along with the quirks Anne wanted. It was awesome! This way, even if I wasn't cast I still got to sing the song one more time! I regret choosing to sing alto. I didn't love it. Next time I am going to rock the soprano.

Not long after that I was told I could go home. I didn't get to read for any parts, but I don't mind. I left feeling very satisfied with my efforts and realistic about my excellent chances (except maybe for the conflicts, but I am not about to skip my family vacation, even for the Hale).

After the callback, I "rewarded" myself with a meal from Carl's Junior. I used to love their food but Wednesday's burger, fries, and shake were very disappointing. Sad. I'm all junk fooded out. Get me a salad STAT!

They made most of the casting calls yesterday and they didn't call me. So, it seems it didn't work out this time. BUT a lot of my talented friends were cast and I could not be more thrilled! I am even considering actually paying for a ticket to see the show. I am just so proud of them! They deserve their success!

I have come out of the experience feeling grateful and happy. I needed a good audition at the Hale. I feel really good about my talent and hopeful about auditioning there in the future. I really do want to work with Anne sometime!

Meanwhile, I have another audition tomorrow morning. And if that doesn't work out there are several other shows coming up that I want to take a shot at. Although, I will miss the lovely down time I've been enjoying!

And, just because it makes me happy everytime I watch it because I adore every person in it so much, here's a rough rehearsal video from the time I actually did Carol at Hale. Good memories!

Notes about work

1. It's weird to me that most of the office is gone before or right after 5pm. Then again, I have a hard time getting there before 9am most mornings.
2. Sometimes I can't tell if the office Dwight is insulting me or commiserating with me. I'm pretty sure it's the former, and if it is I wish he'd keep his unsolicited thoughts to himself. There is a reason technical writers and not engineers are in charge of documents meant for publication.
3. If you're going to claim that editing a PDF is too hard for you and you choose instead to print a 118 page document and edit it by hand, have the courtesy to write legibly.
4. And be more specific than "fix" or "rewrite" or "yuck." (Seriously--those are actual review comments I got this week. What needed to be fixed? What information am I missing? What is so "yuck" about the default administrator's name? Help me help you help our customers!)
5. Whoever put the carnival-style popcorn maker in the break room is a genius.
6. Anything I assign a timeframe to will take 8 times longer than that (1 day=8 days). This is why I should always start early. I almost never do. So it's my own fault when I'm overwhelmed and stressed...well, most of the time it is.
7. My boss is awesome. That is all.
8. I hate it when people try to force their personal pet peeves on me as though they are "correct." I don't like to use "have" in professional writing, but I'm not about to rewrite every sentence that contains that word just because I don't like it (If it's poorly written, that's another matter). This isn't even counting "grammar nazis" who are only aware of 4 or 5 rules they remember from high school but insist on correcting everyone who breaks them. Sometimes it's appropriate to end a sentence with a preposition. Even in business writing.
9. It's nice to know I'm not the only writer who feels lonely sometimes. I miss having peers in the next cubicle.
10. However, I get more done not having another writer in the next cubicle.
11. Plain celery seems to make my tongue fall asleep. (Yes, this is work related.)
12. You may not have seen or read the e-mail, but I did respond to your question. Yesterday.
13. It's frustrating to copyedit the writing of someone who is outsourced from India or China. I can understand them, but the writing is still terrible. English is a tough language to navigate, even when it's the primary language, let alone a secondary one and speaking is a lot different from writing.
14. I know that I mostly like my job when -- even after all this complaining -- I don't mind working through the weekend once in awhile. In fact, I'm annoyed about all the non-work stuff I have to do that keep me from working.
15. #14 Doesn't make me a workaholic. I don't work weekends if I don't have to but it's nice to have the option if I need it.
16. It's nice to be able to stay late because I don't have to rush to rehearsal or a performance.
17. It's nice to know that I'm needed because there is always so much to do :D At least, I hope that's what it means!