Red-Eyed and Blue

source: Le Love

No fresh man pain...just reminiscing over what could have been...
*Bonus points if you can guess the song I'm quoting in the title

City Deals Benefits JDRF

Have you ever used City Deals? If you haven't, you SHOULD! It's a huge site incorporating discount gift cards - it's seriously like getting FREE money. And even better is that City Deals just partnered with JDRF - we get 50% of all proceeds we generate! That's HUGE! Those links are to JDRF's actual deal page- so you can spread that URL like wild fire!

With Father's Day right around the corner, this would be a great option to purchase some last minute gift cards for dad - there are tons of golf courses, restaurants, automotive, and retail deals (and tons more I don't feel like listing).

This is also a great way to stock up on funding for places you visit on a regular basis - like your favorite office lunch spot, or your favorite date night restaurant. Seriously, I can't say enough about this site!

There's also great hot spots for the family for summer - Cowabunga Bay, Seven Peaks, Cherry Hill, Classic Skating, Clark Planetarium...on and on. Even some great hot spots for YOU - Got Beauty, numerous nail salons and spas...

AND, like I stated earlier, 50% of your purchases comes right back to JDRF to help find a cure for diabetes. City Deals loves us so much that they even created us our very own custom button for your blog:

If you have a vested interest in finding a cure (OR if you love me and want to help) you can grab this button for your sidebar. If you love me EVEN more, you'll re-blog about this awesome opportunity to help find a cure. I thank you in advance for your support. :)

I would be happy to send out the code for the button...shoot me an email or comment with your email address and it's yours. Thanks for playing.

Celebrity Crush #4

This one spawns from movies that should be considered too "juvenile" for my taste. Sadly, though, I don't think even the most seasoned of movie critics can deny the attractiveness of Robert Hoffman.


He stars in movies such as She's the Man, and Step Up 2: The Streets, and he's just awful nice to look at.


He is quite the jacka** in She's the Man, but he bears his pectorals a lot, and who can argue with that?


He's the fantastic non-street dancer in Step Up 2, and exhibits some mad dance skills amidst the awful acting.

AND, by scanning his resume on imdb, it even indicates other on-screen "highlights" to include From Justin to Kelly (which, sadly, I have to cop to seeing that one on opening night in an empty theater), Gigli, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.


Ok...so maybe he has had a less-than-stellar career, but at least most of these credits are as "dancer," so at least we know he's not trying to masquerade as a "real" actor. He's still awfully easy on the eyes...

If...

I'm completely stealing this idea from a blog I stalk (Bits of B)...and I know it's after midnight, but I thought I'd let the creative juices flow for a few minutes before beddie-bye. Feel free to play along if you feel so inclined...

If I was a season, I’d be Fall

If I was a piece of furniture, I'd be a Chaise Lounger

If I was a country, I'd be England

If I was a food, I'd be a Minestrone Soup

If I was a candy, I'd be a Sour Patch Watermelon

If I was a flower, I'd be a Phalaenopsis Orchid

If I was a song, I'd be In Repair by John Mayer

If I was an instrument, I'd be a Snare Drum

If I was a color, I'd be Red

If I was a letter, I'd be an email

If I was a book, I'd be Confessions of a Shopaholic

If I was a time of day, I'd be Midnight

If I was a drink, I'd be Diet Coke

If I was a holiday, I'd be Thanksgiving

If I was a store, I'd be Target

If I was a word, I'd be "panache"

If I was a person, I’d be me - and I'd change the world

If I could know the future, I wouldn't worry so much about the outcome of my life.

RC Willey Haste

So we went down to the Willey last night. After a long, painful, and agonizing search on the internet (KSL, Craigslist, Overstock.com, and many, MANY other retailers), I finally ended the search for couches to replace the beasts I have now. It was a moment of glorious bliss when I told Patti I would take them.

A little backstory on the couches that now occupy my living space. These bad boys are the couches I grew up with. Paul and I would chase each other around them (which may or may not have been misconstrued by our parents as dancing) when we were little. I mean really little (6 or 7 - you do the math). My grandparents slept on the pullout when they visited us in Kansas. Many years of Christmas gifts were displayed in an ever-so-neat arrangement on them. My parents were kind enough to bestow them upon me when I first moved to Salt Lake four years ago. I was ecstatic - my only existing piece of furniture was my papasan, so they made a nice addition.


But, alas, all things must come to an end. I'm moving shortly, and I was desperate to NOT move them to the new place, knowing that once they went in, getting them out would be a task. So, I took my trusty friends (and opinion-givers), knowing they wouldn't let me do anything stupid, we met Patti, sat our asses in the beautiful microfiber creations, and it was immediate love at first sit. I said, "I'll take it!" and we were on our way to check out.

En route to the cashier, I was busily checking my phone to update my Facebook, and gandering at the other pretty furniture I can't afford. In the midst of all this distraction, I almost missed the clear and blatant sign that was blaring from the gorgeous 50+" flat screen right in front of me - the Willey had the Where the Light Is DVD playing on their display TVs! Immediately, any kind of apprehension or hesitation I might have been feeling was washed away. The Mayer is definitely a sign - and I can't wait to watch that DVD again from the comfort of my new couches in my new apartment!

**Side note: the beast couches are for sale - I will entertain any reasonable offers
**Side note #2: now taking applications for movers AND a temporary home for these beauts until they reach their new place on June 1st

Mother's Day 2010

I think we made mom happy this Mother's Day.

I decided long ago (October when I was in Kentucky, visiting the Shaker Village) that I was going to make my mom a Tree of Life cross-stitch. I just didn't know it was going to take until Mother's Day to complete the project. Since I was so organized this year, I figured I needed to shake it up a little bit, so Leigh and also decided we'd try our hand (read: Leigh would try HER hand) at Edible Arrangements. I think it turned out FAB! Not to mention, it was delicious! I honestly can't take any credit for the beauty of this bad boy - Leigh did it all. I was just a very vocal financial backer.

I love you mom! I hope you had a wonderful Mother's/Birth Day

Waxing Philosophical

My life, of late, has become something of a difficulty. I have struggled to find the happiness I once thought I had, and struggled to find the blunders with which to blame my frustrations. As I sometimes do, I ventured home this afternoon to seek advice from the old man. After a good talk, and the shedding of some tears (sometimes it just feels good to cry), I realized that my life is not all that bad.

I'm not saying I am depressed, I'm just saying I often neglect to see the forest for all the trees. During the past few difficult weeks, life has smiled on me more than I have allowed myself to see. I need to better learn to see the little pockets of happiness that are given to me on a regular basis.

I have a wonderful family who supports me more than I deserve - be it professional or personal, they are there. My family loves me, no matter who I am or who I become.

I have an education and a job that collectively afford me an enjoyable quality of life, with many luxuries that a lot of the world aren't given. I have a roof over my head, food to eat, clean water, and an abundance of clothing.

I have friends that care about me and my happiness.

I have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me better than I know myself, and allows me to experience trials in life that will make me a better person in the end.

We all know that I love the Mayer, and once again I found his lyrical genius soothing my battered soul this afternoon: "Pain throws your heart to the ground. Love turns the whole thing around. No, it won't all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good."

SLC Half Marathon

Last year when I was training for the Bear Lake Half, I ran the SLC Marathon 5K as part of my prep (albeit, that day I should have run 8 miles, but still...). As I stood at the finish line watching as the half marathoners came in, I felt a pang of emotion - sadness that it wasn't me finishing my own half, and extreme pride for those that were finishing. I even watched the amazingly talented em-cat cross the finish line - before she was my friend. I SO wanted it to be me - so this year, I made it happen.

The forecast for the weekend was gorgeous - the temperature wasn't going to break 60 degrees until after 10 am, and by that time I would be done and gone. I picked up my packet on Friday and left work a few hours early, ready to mentally prep for Saturday. Saturday, April 17th dawned bright and early - I left the house around 5:50am (an ungodly hour my body only sees on Walk Day) and booked it to the Gateway. I chomped down my banana on the way and made my way to TRAX to head up to the U. I met up with Mya (a gal from my parents neighborhood) and some of her friends to ride the train to the starting line and we chatted a bit, trying really hard to not let the anxiety get to me. I chugged a Vitamin Water on the way up the hill (and it took FOREVER, mainly because of the sheer number of riders), so naturally when we got to the starting line (15 minutes before the shotgun start), I had to pee like crazy. Consequently, so did everyone else.

We stood in line - listened to the sponsors of the race, Mayor Corroon encouraging the racers, the National Anthem, and yup....the shotgun start. I still had my gear bag that I needed to stash with the gear truck for careful transport back to the Gateway - and, you guessed it, we heard the announcement that the gear truck was leaving as well. I wouldn't have cared about my sweatshirt, but my car keys were also in the bag. I made an executive decision to kindly ask a gal in jeans (i.e. a marked non-runner) if she would take my gear bag back to the Gateway and get it with the rest of them. She said she would and I had serious doubts about ever seeing my keys again. But nevermind that, I had a race to run!

I finally started the race (unsure of how late I started, and really hoping I would still be able to cross the finish line relatively close to when I asked my family to arrive) and I knew it would be a great race as I was running down Mario Capecchi and Heartbreak Warfare came up on the 'ole iPod. Love it! The trending for the first stretch was an easy downhill grade and actually quite pleasant.

I got down to about Sugarhouse Park (6 or so miles in) and started to feel it in my hips. I was making sure to adequately hydrate at each aid station, with both water and Powerade, but it wasn't helping matters much. One of the houses along the route was even handing out bacon (why, I'll never know). I kept plugging along, knowing it would all be done soon enough.

I found myself at mile 9 around Liberty Park, and I remembered the few miserable training runs I did there last year. As I made my way out of the park, I realized I was so close to being done, but I was starting the State Street climb - one of the only stretches of road that was pretty moderately uphill. It was at this point that I started seeing an aura in my left field of vision. This has never happened to me before and I was a little freaked out. That hill, and the vision issues all but killed my motivation, and the self-talk got really intense. People were passing me, and I felt like a snail creeping up the road. Perseverance and a few good tunes and I was on South Temple. I saw a guy mouth to the woman in front of me "Only one more mile!" I was so motivated by that!


Working my way along South Temple, I noticed the crowds of spectators becoming more and more prevalent, and I remembered with a swell of pride that my parents would be waiting for me at the finish line. Last year Krista was at the finish line cheering for me, but there's something about having someone who shares your DNA that makes that moment all the more enjoyable. I started watching for them, but never found them in the crowd. I was overcome with such intense emotion and accomplishment as I turned the corner into the Gateway and the finish chute. I remembered the emotions I felt the year before and almost teared up as I started sprinting to the finish. I almost felt defeated as I crossed the finish line with the official time clock reading 2:22:54, and I had to remind myself that I had gotten a late start. I couldn't worry about that - I needed replenishment!


They herded me through the chute and I was bombarded with food and beverage. I wanted to find my parents, and was seriously upset at the length of the lines to pick up your gear bag. I wandered out from the tents and immediately found my parents just outside the menagerie - what a coincidence! We snapped a few pictures, my mom so kindly offered to stand in the ginormous line to get my bag (after I explained what happened, we all started praying that my keys actually ended up at the finish line), and we headed off for breakfast. My second half marathon experience was officially over.


I got home and anxiously pulled up the site to check my official "chip" time. 2:09:31 (overall pace of 9:53). All the emotions of the day again washed over me and my heart swelled with pride. I finished 6 minutes faster than last year, shaving nearly 30 seconds off my pace. It wasn't as fast as I had hoped, but the improvement over last year was enough to make me happy about what I had accomplished. Perhaps I shall entertain thoughts of a third.

Battle Studies, Round 3

It's not Wednesday - but I have no words. I will be sitting (or, rather, standing and cheering vigorously) on that star on August 31st to see the Mayer for a third time this year. That makes for a gooooood year.

p.s. I haven't forgotten that I still need to blog about that race I did on Saturday. Patience - it is forthcoming.

Vogue

Madonna. Simply saying the word aloud makes me feel powerful.
~Sue Sylvester

Okay...so this made me all kinds of happy tonight. Vogue has long been one of my Madonna favorites, but Sue Sylvester makes it all the more delightful! Next week is the Madonna themed episode of Glee and I'm so excited!



There's even a cameo by cute Nathan Trasoras from the last season of So You Think You Can Dance.