What is THIS?...

Right now things are crazy... I've been trying to declutter my mom's house. There were 3 rooms packed full of crafts, odds and ends and a few sentimental items. My sister and I filled up countless garbage and recycling cans with 'stuff'. We found a magazine amongst the mayhem from 1983! Most of the things are going to be sold this weekend and next week in a massive garage sale. Hopefully not a whole lot will be put back in their house, but we'll see. I think my mom started 'hording' to fill a void after my brother and I moved out. She held onto things that she can't even explain. It's been really emotional for my whole family for me to come in and turn their house into a disaster area, more than it was, trying to help get them get rid of years of junk. It's amazing how attached people get to possessions and objects. Personally I would rather have photo albums of friends and family and memories that we've made then a bunch of rooms filled to the brim with stuff. But, their house was a fire hazard waiting to happen. We are halfway there, and should have the majority of it done by this weekend. There will be lots of crafts, Mary Kay, furniture, Stampin' Up, glassware ... you name it! So, PLEASE come to my mom's garage sale...post if you would like the address.

Gooooo Real...

My sister's good friend, Judge, invited us to come cheer on the Real, at their match on Saturday, against Chivas. I have never been to a Real match, or even in their new stadium. It was so awesome! Before the game, we tailgated in the parking lot. Next time I'll for sure bring something to share!Our seats were right behind the south goal, in the front row. The weather was amazing, considering it was the first day of November! Real scored the only goal in the last minute of the game and our huge cheering section erupted! Apparently Judge, and all of his friends are the main supporters of the Real, they even have their own scarves and shirts! We had a blast! Thanks Judge for letting us into your elite group of devoted fans!

Candy, candy, candy...

Ah, October! I love this time of year. Halloween is by far my favorite holiday! Dressing up and begging for candy? Funny how it seems that our food banks are always low, but neighbors seem so willing to hand out candy to greedy kids they don't know. Anyways... It's still my favorite! I never dressed up in anything too creative. I know I have been my fair share of black cats, punk rockers, witches and vampires. One year, me and 3 of my friends dressed up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was Raphael. The costumes were cheap. Green sweats and sweatshirts, and bandanas. Classic. One year I was Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but no one knew since it wasn't a whole lot different than my normal look. I remember in 2nd grade my mom came to my school to help me get ready for the 'parade' and she ratted my hair so bad and huge that I almost refused to leave the girls bathroom. It was a fire hazard waiting to happen.She probably used a whole can of Aqua Net. Here's a pic of me and my brother, as Frankenstein. I think he had marshmallows glued to his neck, for bolts. When we lived out in West Jordan, we had this girl come to our house trick-or-treating, and she was dressed as Princess Leia. She had a white robe on, and bagels tied across the top of her head as her signature 'buns'. Still, that was the best costume I have ever seen. I will never understand the kids that dressed up as hobos or bums. That is just disrespectful. There were always the kids that were Spiderman or Batman, that just seemed too comfortable in their costumes and it made you wonder if they dressed up like that at home just because it was, Tuesday? I did dress up as Tinkerbell and my friend Mandy was Mary Catherine Gallagher - Superstar! Oh, and there was the time I was Trinity from the Matrix. That was fun! Yeah, I'm a 12 year old child trapped in a 31 year old's body... Still, I love Halloween!

A follow up on my guts...

I got my biopsy results back from my endoscopy and everything was negative. Wahoo!! Apparently stress, has caused me to produce more stomach acid, which is irritating some 'erosions' in my stomach lining, and thus making me feel like crap all day, every day, for the last couple of months. I'm sure you are all excited for those details... My doc put me on some meds, and he told my mom to have me take 4 pills a day. Come to find out, I was only supposed to take 2 a day. Now that I'm on the correct dosage, I am starting to feel much better. If I could only mellow out a little, I will be great! And, I know that I should be taking it easy on what I consume, but I have missed my coffee and Coke, like you wouldn't believe! Bring on the caffiene!

Morbid thoughts...

I know a lot of people have been putting together their 'Bucket Lists' since one of the guys that wrote "100 Things to do before you die" kicked the bucket, so here are a few of my ideas of what I would like to do before my time comes....
1. Tour an authentic castle in Europe.
2. Disney cruise, or any cruise for that matter.
3. Race a car, legally, of course.
4. Search for real treasure.
5. Drive the streets of Italy on a scooter.
6. Get a children's book published.
7. Stay in a bed and breakfast in New England, during the fall.
8. Swim with sharks/learn to scuba dive.
9. Go on a zip line in the jungle.
10. Cliff jump off a waterfall.
11. Learn to surf.
12. Join the mile high club.
13. Sky dive.
14. Kiss the Blarney Stone in Ireland.
15. Bungee Jump off a brigde.
16. Go skinny dipping.
17. Learn a new language.
18. Drink beer at Oktoberfest in Germany.
19. Get another tattoo.
20. Ride a gondola in Venice.
21. Go to a red carpet event.
22. Ride on a double-decker bus in England.
23. Dance in the pouring rain.
24. Be in a hurricane, and live to tell about it.
25. Learn to play an instrument.
26. Ride on a rickshaw.
27. Get flattering risque photos taken.
28. Go see a soccer game in Brazil.
29. Get snowed in, in a cabin with only my significant other.
30. Go on a wine tour in Tuscany.
31. Celebrate New Years somewhere with tons of people like Las Vegas or New York.

I'm old and broken...

After 2 months of waking up every day feeling like I'm going to throw up, I finally dragged my sorry carcass into a gastro specialist. As some of you know, I have been having a really rough emotional summer, and it's taken a toll on my health. Trust me, I love fitting into my prepregancy pants and all, but the lack of energy, mood swings and sleepless nights, are not worth the weight loss. My doctor took some scrapbook worthy pictures of my innards, revealing that I wasn't going completely insane from anxiety. There is something actually wrong with my stomach!! He did some biopsies and I should get those results soon, but he didn't seem too concerned. Hopefully the meds he gave me will help! As soon as I find out that all is well (cross your fingers) I'll let you know!

I've been having these weird dreams...

I have always had really weird dreams. Really weird. The other night I dreamt that I got a tattoo of Speedy Gonzales on the side of my face. I remember vividly that I told the girl doing the tattoo, that I wanted to make sure that my hair would hide it, if my hair were down (even though I have pretty short hair anyways). She starts doing the tattoo, and is scribing on my face under my left eye. She makes this huge blue pattern (I'm thinking it's supposed to be wind) and she does Speedy's shoes, when I realize that maybe, I made a bad choice. Not of the design that I picked, of course, since Speedy Gonzales is popular and desirable, especially on my friggin' face, but that the colors were all wrong! I'm yelling at her and it kind of dawns on me that I don't need the rest of the tattoo. So I have a pair of running shoes and 'wind', then my good friend Mandy M is there and she comes up to show me that she has a HUGE cobra head tattoo on her thigh. And all Charity can say is "It's a little big..." about Mandy's HUGE cobra tattoo. Then my dream ends with me laying in bed calling my husband from my cell phone (even though he's downstairs) to tell him that I have a new tattoo, and that I'm sad that it didn't turn out right. Break out your dream dictionaries, any interpretations would be greatly appreciated....

Beyond Irritation...

1. Being sick and having the doctor say "I don't know what is wrong."
2. Losing yourself.
3. Not being able to shake a bad mood.
4. No time to yourself.
5. Gas prices at the current moment!
6. Being really tired but not being able to fall asleep.
7. Wet Socks!
8. Speeding tickets.
9. Headaches that never end.
10. Regrets.
11. Feet. (I know, I just hate feet)
12. When someone tells you the ending of a book that you are almost finished with.
13. Making dinner, and halfway through, realize you are out of a major ingredient.
14. Cold sores.
15. On the freeway when someone passes you on your left, cuts you off, and then gets to the lane on your right.
16. Having no one to talk to during the day (that is an adult)
17. People that try to 'one up' you.
18. Finding hair in your food.
19. Calling someone/Having someone call you, and having them talk to someone else in the room half the time they are on the phone with you.
20. Buying a car wash at Chevron, but not being able to use it until the day it expires, because it has been raining, and having it really be expired because you needed to use it before the exact TIME you bought it a month ago. Yeah, I was 20 minutes late.
21. Feeling lonely without being alone.
22. People that wear socks with sandals.
23. Being tickled.
24. Mom jeans.
25. Snakes, spiders, scorpions. Pure evil.
26. Ungrateful people. I know I fall into this catagory at times.
27. Throwing up, especially at inopportune times.
28. Goodbyes.

I'm not the only one...

Wednesday night I got to hang out with some of my old friends from high school, or as I like to call them, my partners in crime. See, they were some of the ones that went along with all the shenanigans that I talked about in my last post. Like always we talked about the new goings on in every ones life, all the old memories that we have and the usual gossip about what happened to so-and-so from school. It's amazing how your brain deteriorates when you get older. One friend couldn't remember her old boyfriend even when I told her his name! It seems that some of them have created this black hole into which they threw some of their high school memories in. It was funny for the most part, I have to admit. We all decided that we pretty much all seem and look the same. It's crazy that these were the girls that I thought I would see on a day in a day out basis throughout my older years. Unfortunately, I have only seen them once or twice a year for the past 10. I have decided that this is one of the things I hate about getting older. Losing touch with good friends. I'm glad that we had the day to catch up and relive old times. Let's just try to make it more than a once a year occurrence!

Reminiscing...

For the past month or so, I have been trying to remember my old self, through my old journals and pictures. The things that I had written are funny, revealing and sad at times. I wrote many entries that started off "Today I woke up, got ready, and went to school. I went to all my classes." I do not understand the significance in writing that last sentence. I don't remember skipping class enough to warrant writing that I was there the whole time on some days. I do remember skipping seminary, of all classes, to go mack on a boyfriend. Not my finest moments. And yes, that is plural. I did skip Yearbook to go get breakfast for the class, many times. Okay, maybe I did need to remind my future self that I did make it through a whole day of school more than a few times. I wasn't part of the popular crowd. Not that I thought I needed to be popular. I had my little group of girl and guy friends from my year, a group of boyfriends from the year under me, and a handful of loner friends. Those are the friends I hold dear to my heart. I wrote "I love 'so and so' " a lot at the bottom of pages. I did my fair share of driving around in my Thunderbird with the broken window, or my Jeep, talking with friends. If I ever went dancing, I managed to remember all the guys names that I danced with and wrote whether or not they asked me, or I asked them, and phone numbers if given. I watched supposed boyfriends cheat on me, right in front of my face, and then try to say that the girl was the one that made the move. I wrote about all those breakups. There were plenty of shenanigans like, toilet papering, driving by boys houses, leaving notes (or Oreo's) on people's cars. Going to court for 'criminal mischief'. Climbing on schools, churches and malls. Running from the cops and almost getting hit by a cop car. My graduation is in there. It's one of my favorites. It started off a sunny day, graduation was outside on the football field. The sky turned gray, the Ghostbuster clouds rolled in and when the principal announced our class, our caps flew up as a torrential rain fell down on us. This is my good friend Jeewon and me hugging after graduation. We are totally soaked from the rain! Check out the pool behind us... Apparently someone at Alta's graduation got hit by lightning. But still, those were the days. Just get up and go when you wanted, hanging out with friends until curfew, if you had one, going on endless drives up the canyon, talking about nothing and everything, sneaking over to a boyfriend's house and tapping on their window, just to say 'hi'. Anticipation of new loves, crushes or objects of 'desire'. First kisses, first dates, first loves. Forbidden dating in the workplace, even with managers. Filling a friends van full of popcorn (hey Johnny). Embarrassing moments, all there in my journal. I'm glad that I kept a journal, so that I could have some laughs the older I get. There are things that I'm not proud of, but I'm glad I got to experience all of those things. I'm also glad that even though I wasn't a religious kid, my friends were, and I think that they are the reason that I am still alive today. Thanks! I think it's important to remember where you came from, the friends that you had, the memories you made. Fortunately, I've managed to either stay friends or find some of those people I treasure, through the power of the internet. It's fun to go back and read about all the adventures. I hope that everyone has a journal like the ones I kept. I hope you all can remember your old self and smile :)

There's nothing better than....

1. Coffee in the morning.
2. Sleeping in.
3. Finding money in pockets of clothing you haven't worn for a while.
4. Cheese and crackers and a good movie.
5. Listening to your favorite song on the radio, and then turning the station, only to find it playing again on a different channel.
6. Up close parking spaces.
7. Catching up with old friends.
8. Blanket, park, summer, fireworks (they all have to be present to enjoy)
9. A hot shower when you are freezing.
10. Surprise gifts for no reason.
11. Making all the traffic lights.
12. Being told you are a good friend.
13. Hugging someone who hugs really good.
14. Going to Vegas with the girls.
15. Sipping Pina Colada's in Mexico.
16. Having a good hair day and makeup day on the same day and actually having somewhere to go.
17. Having someone say that they thought you were younger than you are.
18. When the sushi chef lets you try something off the menu, and it's free, and delicious (makes you feel like you are part of the elite few that know about something really good).
19. A massage from your honey, without asking.
20. Laughing so hard that you cry, and having your stomach muscles hurt the next day because you were laughing so hard. And then thinking "why do my abs hurt......oh yeah!" And laughing some more.
21. Fitting into preprego pants.
22. Finding something you always wanted, on sale.
23. When someone says "You are really good at that...." whatever it may be....
24. Having such a good conversation with friends that the restaurant is practically kicking you out because they are closed.
25. Suggesting something to someone, and have them actually take your advice and love whatever it is as much as you do.
26. Driving with your windows down, at night during the summer.
27. Having a great friend find the title of a movie that made you both bawl your heads off in school, that you have been searching for, for years. All Summer in a Day (saddest movie ever!)
28. Hearing songs that remind you of someone or better days.
29. Lagoon at night.
30. Rain during the summer.
31. Friends that accept you for who you are and don't judge you no matter how blunt or random you can be.
32. Ice cream.
33. The smell of rain on pavement. Yes, I know, weird.
34. Macaroni and Cheese, if it's made right. The perfect combination of ingredients.
35. Cold sheets on a hot summer's night.

Things I've realized this year thus far...

1. Blogging is fun!
2. No matter how many times a friend, going through divorce, tells you that they are fine, you still need to call them to see how they are doing, or there will be repercussions.
3. Men in kilts are sexy (thank you Scottish festival organizers!)
4. Guitar Hero is fun as hell, like everyone says it is.
5. Bugs are attracted to me.
6. My LDS friends, are the crazy ones when we go dancing.
7. I feel old when I go to clubs :(
8. I will never stop drinking Coke, even if it can dissolve a nail in a couple days.
9. Shopping is always more fun with a friend, unless it's Damjan, then it's just torture. I love you Man!
10. Brown hair suits me better than blonde, and fools everyone into thinking that I have lost weight.
11. Certain meds do not go well with wine.
12. No matter how much sleep I get, I will always feel tired.
13. I do not understand everyone's fascination with Dancing with the Stars, the Hills, 24 or CSI (any of the versions of CSI).
14. Just because you love a tv show with all of your heart, it's not enough to keep it from getting cancelled. (R.I.P. Moonlight)
15. I really like reading, and, I will put all responsibilities on the back burner, if I'm really into a book. (sorry, family)
16. I will never understand organized religion.
17. I hate watching sports on tv.
18. I will always love playing video games.
19. If it weren't for instant messaging, I would have no social life.
20. I watch waaay too much tv.
21. Sometimes we all have to do something we don't like, because it is good for us.
22. No one will every know the answer to my question "You know what I was thinking...?" They won't even come close.
23. I have the best friends ever.

So I was thinking....

I think that no matter how many people you meet in the future, you'll have a hard time liking them as much as your little handful of friends. --
I think that the idea that my husband thinks that I'm 'dainty, will always bother me to some extent. I still think I'm more 'rock' and a tomboy, then he gives me credit for. And, I also think that I could handle a motorcycle, even though Alex disagrees. --
I think that a lot of people my age are more mature than me, but I also think I look loads younger than them, so I guess it balances out. --
I think that I am an excellent singer, but I fear critizicm, so I'm sure none of you will ever hear me sing. --
I think that So You Think You Can Dance is one of the best shows there is. It always makes me want to learn hip hop, even though I lack the 'thugness' (or skill or grace). --
I think that just because your husband has a best friend, you don't have to be best friends with their wife. --
I think that no matter how much money you have, if you don't love your significant other, you will be miserable. --
I think that 'play date' is the stupidest term ever. Do you ever remember hearing those words when you were a kid as you went to play at a friends house? --
I think that Say(All I Need) by OneRepublic, is the soundtrack of my life right now. --

Mandy wants to touch Zac's abs....

June 24th I was supposed to go to a sushi class with Mandy and she called and said that her friend got us into Highschool Musical 3 as extras. My sister Mindy got to come, which was fun. We played audience members while the actors sang to each other. We got to see Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens (and the peeps that played Ryan and Kelsi) in person. It was great! They are very beautiful people. It made me want to be a professional extra. I definately know that I want to do something that involves movies, or tv. I just kept watching the crew and thinking that that would be so much fun. It was fun to be a part of such a pop culture phenom. Hopefully you'll be able to see one of us in the audience!

Lately...

Lately, I have been a bummer to be around for some reason! I just turned 31 (gulp) and I swear I'm going through a midlife something-or-other. I feel like I've been having a hard time seeing the positives, and I feel like last year I didn't accomplish anything. But I know I did. I did go to real estate school, I did go to Cabo with Mandy and her family in January of this year,and I also went on a well needed trip to Las Vegas with my homegirls back in May.

I did read 11 books between February and May which is saying a lot for me, because I swear I have adult ADD to some degree. I seem to go through these bouts of "did I make the right choices" or "I don't feel like I'm living the life I envisioned". I hope that when I'm old and gray (and living in a rest home with all my old friends) that I can look back and tell some awesome stories and say "that was my life, how amazing.....this is who I am". I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that way about their life. Sometimes it's hard to focus on the good when you can't get your mind out of the bad. I do have a great hubby and 2 awesome kids, but I think when you are a stay at home mom, you kind of 'lose' yourself. It's hard think of what your own interests are, and what you like to do. Your life is focused on your kids, husband, house, bills, and we are constantly reminded of all the horrible things happening in the world, when we watch the news. That is the one thing that I hate about the news. The first 98% of the show is about killers, natural disasters, war, gas prices, the plight of other countries, and the last 2% , they try to cheer you up with "Doris Weathersby is 110 years old today, so the governor came out to wish her a Happy Birthday!" *yipee, sigh* And I get so depressed from the beginning of the news, that all I can think about is "Well, first off, Doris is probably that old because of the preservatives in our food these days, and she probably is embracing the idea that she will die soon, because of all the horrible things going on in the world, and lastly, she probably has no clue that the man wishing her Happy 110th Birthday, is the governor. She probably thinks he's a nurse at her nursing home!" Now that I say that, I'll probably be in her shoes one day :) For the record, 30 isn't all it's cracked up to be. So 31 will be better. I plan on learning the guitar or piano. I'm going to try really hard to focus on the good. I'm going to 'better' myself, and do things that I'll remember forever. I will read more books.
I did have a different post on here, that pretty much said "woe is me", but after I read it, I didn't want to keep it up. So, I'm havin' a redo. That is the greatest thing about this blog business. I wish some parts of life you could get 'redos' but I know that having regrets will only make you sad. I always try to say "I do not regret the things I've done, just those I did not do". Now if I could just try to live by that a little...

I have a blog for the kids and family, and this one is just for me. I know that I have a lot of fun writing what is on my mind, well, I used to, and I used to keep journals, but not since before I was married. So, I decided that this will be a good outlet and break from the monotony, that is my life. You can comment if you want, but this is for me. And, I will warn you that I ramble, so some posts might be long, just to make one single point. Welcome to From the Mind of Mel.