NEW CAR!!

This is a picture of my Hyundai Sante Fe...well a manufacturer picture, but it looks exactly the same. Unfortunately, the Trooper just kept having issues. The motor had to be replaced in September; luckily that was covered under warrantee. And then it started to make a vibrating noise, so I took it in and they told me it was the transmission...the transmission was replaced two years ago! I decided that the Trooper just didn't want me to own it any longer...it wanted to be traded in. So, that's just what I did. I was planning on getting something a few years used, but when I went to the dealership they had just had an elderly couple bring back the new car they had just purchased a few months ago because they couldn't afford the payment. Used with 10,000 miles! Is that still considered used???? With JD's negotiating skills (also know as this is my last offer or we're out of here) we were able to purchase this vehicle only a couple thousand more than I had orginally planned to spend...and I got a brand new vehicle FULLY loaded! Thanks JD!!! Way to play hard ball! And I LOVE it!

Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

This was the latest read for book club. It's about a girl named Connie. Connie is in grad school and is writing her dissertation about the Salem Witch trial. Her studies are put on hold when she is called to go clean out the home of her deceased grandmother. Connie comes across some interesting artifacts and finds herself a family relation to the Salem Witch trial. Witch craft, sorcery or just plain herbal medicine? As Connie searches for the answers mysterious things start to help; magical things. This was a good book. AND the most fascinating part was even though the book was fiction, the accounts of the Salem Witch trial are fact. Real names, real places, real excerpts. Fascinating read with a little history lesson too!!

A little slow...

Sorry, these last couple months have just been crazy! So here's some quick updates:

• JD and I are back together again. Long story short-he loves me and I love him...we got back together the end of August after a LONG talk. Things are going great!
• I went down to St. George in August for some rest and relaxation. The weather was hot and the pool was cool. We went to Zions and hiked the Narrows.
• I went to Swiss Days in Midway. If you love homeade crafts this fair is so much fun!
• I went to Echo Res. for Labor Day weekend. The weather was not very good; it was windy and a bit cold.
• I spend the next weekend in Maple canyon. This canyon is east of Nephi. It's a rock climber's dream...but since I'm definately not a rock climber I enjoyed the scenery and short hikes while others climbed. Good weather until we we're packing things up and then the rain just down poured...good timing!
• Then off to Las Vegas for work. Yep, work and no play. Long meetings and hot weather for the next couple days.
• On Sept 17th I left for Cancun and spent a couple days in San Antonio before returning home yesterday. This was a VACATION! It was great! When I get a little free time I'll blog about my mexico adventure and finally post some pictures. Ever heard of BOB????

My Last Day at Lakeview

Beloved Lakeview

My new home...hopefully some day beloved I am now a week into this new job. I do alot of the same clinical contract analysts stuff that I did at Lakeview it's just on a bigger scale now with more responsibilities. Do I love it? It will take some time but I'm sure I'll get there. My office furniture hasn't arrived yet...apparently everything for my office is on back order. I do have a phone and computer, and a card table and chair from the conference room, so it's kind of an office for now and it has a window...but don't get too excited for me, it's a window to the warehouse there's no great view. Lakeview gave me a farewell gift; a digital picture frame with pictures of all my friends at Lakeview. I love it! But it makes me miss them all so much! I'm making new friends. We have an hour for lunch everyday, so it's really nice to have a huge park across the street to go walk around or sit in the shade and read, it's very relaxing. The hardest part is after being outside in a park, in the beautiful weather, you have to spend the last 20 minutes of your lunch trying to talk yourself into going back to work. I do have to travel more with this new position but it won't be too often and shouldn't be for longer than a couple days. The girl in the office next to mine told me that last year they were in California for three weeks trying to finish a big project....I really hope I never have to do that! I'm learing so much and I am, so far, enjoying the challenge!

Midwives

This is the latest book I read for my book club. It's also on Oprah's book club list. This book is about a midwife in 1981. Unexpectedly one of her mothers dies during labor and she performes a c-section to save the life of the baby. Now she has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. The book is written in the view of the midwife's daughter and tells their family experience before the trial, during the trial and breifly after. For me the book was really slow...but it was alright.

The Comet Bobsled

I took JD to the Olympic Park to ride the Comet Bobsled for his birthday. It was incredible!! Totally breath taking and the experience of a lifetime! You get pretty shaken up at G5 force and it takes all you have just to hold your body posture and your head up. JD and I are still friends and we had a great time hanging out together. We did the other activities at the Olympic Park but the bobsled was the ULTIMATE experience!!

Books to Movies

Lately there have been several books that I have read that have been turned into movies. And most of them I would have to agree with the norm that the book was way better than the movie. Finally an exception, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The movie wasn't better than the book but I felt it was equally as good. Having read the other books in this series and seen all of the previous movies, this was the only movie so far that didn't really follow along as closely with the book. The movie had additional parts that were not in the book and vice versa. It was done really well!! I have been so disappointed at the movies lately that I almost decided not to see any more movies when I had already read the book. Perhaps there is hope yet...

Here are some movie/book disappointments:

• My Sister's Keeper
• Angels and Demons (Also The Davinci Code)
• Twilight (though the preview for New Moon looks promising)
• The Golden Compass

Book Club

Yep! I joined a book club...Okay it's really a wine/book club. I started attending last month. So, every month I'll post my opinion about the book we're reading that month for book club...and if there is a certain wine that really stuck out I'll post about it too. For the month of June we read My Sister's Keeper. It was an exceptional book about a family, one daughter with cancer and the other daughter with the possible ability to save her sister but refuses. You could laugh out loud on one page and grabbing for tissue on the next; an emotional roller coaster. Well worth the time. I even saw the movie this weekend; which didn't hold a candle to the book! For July we are reading Trash, Sex, Magic. It's a story about magical whores...yep magical whores. It's a current time fantasy book about two very good looking witches, their neighbors and the construction team that threatens to take their land. NOT worth the time. It was really hard to follow and the story kind of jumped around. Although, I will say the author is a very detailed and this allows for very vivid pictures. I know it's not even July yet, but I want to hurry and finish so I could re-read Harry Potter before the next movie comes out.

Belly Dancing!

A friend mentioned that I didn't blog about Belly Dancing Classes. Yes, it's true. I took a belly dancing class with some of my friends a few months ago. The class was for eight weeks. And it was one of the best work outs I've ever done! No kidding. Every night after class we would all be totally exhasted. You move muscles you never knew you had and you feel pain in places that you thought would never ache...good pain. I remember going to a small town parade with a friend and they had Belly Dancers...actually it was kind of a Club who's hobby was Belly Dancing. They looked so funny, dancing around in their costumes. We laughed about it forever...want to join my club? I have a new respect for those women! Thinking back at it they were amazing! I'm in class after just 5 minutes sweating my ass off, no traces left of any make-up because it's in a puddle below my feet and these woman were dancing around in a parade looking beautiful! The classes were just as much fun as they were exhausting. We'd all get the giggles so bad! And in every class you have to dance in front of the rest of the group. If you ever get a chance I highly recommend it!! And invite me to come along! Last week I met up with some of the girls from my class for a night of dinner and dancing. We went to India Fusion for dinner; they had some exceptional belly dancers! Later we went out dancing...however, we did not practice our belly dancing moves on the dance floor...too embarassing! I think I'll have to take a few more class before I brave the outside world with my belly dancing...or maybe I should say scare the outside world!!

Status Post

Bad News: well, I wasn't able to get into that duplex. The owners decided at the last minute that they didn't want to allow pets. It is their current policy and decided not to change it. I understand their position, it was just really frustrating to get that little bit of news in the 11th hour and after I have waited several months...patiently. I have been diligently searching for a new place to rent, that has a little yard for the dogs and under $700. Well that has turned impossible. I can't find anything under $900. And if I'm going to pay that much in rent I might as well just buy a duplex. So, that's what I'm doing; then at least I can rent out the other unit for part of the mortgage. I haven't found a place yet but I'm looking.

Good News: I don't' have the swine flu! I haven't come in contact with someone who has the swine flu and I haven't been in Mexico recently...but you never know! :)

WICKEDLY AWESOME!!

Have you ever heard the term, "The 4th times the charm"...yep, the 4th time, not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd, it's the 4th time. Well that's how many times my friend Sirena and I went to the raffle drawing at the Capitol Theater to win Wicked tickets. We started out on Friday evening all dressed up and ready if we won tickets...and then we went home unsuccessful. Saturday we lined up at two different times; each time less "theater" appropriate, neither time taking the prize. On Sunday we loafed into line in jeans and t-shirts...and we WON!! Needless to say we screamed, jumped up and down several times, ran to the front and claimed our prize! I couldn't believe we actually won!! Now we had about an hour before the show so we headed over to the Blue Iguana for dinner and then back over to the theater. When we reached the theater we realized we were completely under-dressed! Everyone was in dresses and suits. That's okay, right, no one will notice when the lights go down anyways! So, we head into the theater. We had no idea where we were going to be sitting. When we entered the usher said follow me and so we did. We just kept following him all the way down the isle...4th row from the very front!! We couldn't believe it, not only did we win tickets, they were AWESOME SEATS!! The show was AWESOME! The seats were AWESOME! We got AWESOME FREE parking and close!! This was truely a WICKEDLY AWESOME NIGHT!!

Jamis Durango it is!!

Okay, I did it...I bought a bicycle! I bought a Jamis Durango. I haven't taken a picture of it yet to post but it is exactly like the one in the picture except the colors are pearly white, silver and sparkly blue with matching helmet! I probably haven't riden a bike since I was in junior high school...it was my only mode of transportation. I took it out over the weekend with the dogs for a short ride and it was a lot of fun! That is until the wind picked up and and it took me three times the amount of time it would have taken me normally to get back to my car. So much for a short ride! I'm looking forward to some nice weather so I can get back out there again! If you know of any easy...EASY...rides let me know! I'm looking forward to starting my new hobby!

Which one???

Okay I need some help. I'm going to buy a bicycle...yep a bicycle. I'm out of the 4-wheeling business! There is so much to know about bicycles! I had no idea. Suspensions, forks, brakes, grips, saddles, frames... I have narrowed it down to three bikes; all are aluminum frame and one of them has disk brakes, which is supposed to be better than pad brakes. Here are pictures of the three I'm looking at. They are all similarly priced...but I just can't decide. Which one do you think I should go with?? Or if you know someone that knows anything about bikes, ask them for me! Thanks!

Jamis Durango with disk brakes

Giant Boulder with pad brakes

Specialized Globe Carmel

Update!

Okay, so, it's been a few weeks since my last post. Here's a few updates: I'm finally going to get into the duplex about mid-April. I'm sooooooooo excited! Not that I haven't enjoyed the free rent at my sisters place, it will just be so nice to have all of my things out of storage and stop feeling like I'm living in a suitcase. My eye's have healed wonderfully! This is truely amazing to have such great vision! For those of you that don't have any vision issues...you are blessed. For those of you who know what I went through for the majority of my life, not being able to see 10 feet in front of you without glasses or contacts...I HIGHLY recommend getting lasik! Any questions call me! The weather has warmed up so quickly. Sadie is shedding so badly, it's hard to believe that she still has any fur left. I tried to get her into the groomer and they're two weeks out! Spring is here!!! :)

LASIK EYE SURGERY!! OH, MY!!

Well, I finally did it! I had lasik eye surgery. Over all it was good experience. I could already see better immediately after the surgery! It was a pretty simple process. First they had to guide me to the surgery table; since I'm so blind I couldn't see it across the room! Then numbing drops for each eye...oh, and let's not forget the Valium I had about 20 minutes before. Next I held very still as the machine sucked by eyeball out of its socket, lasered it open, corrected my vision and then put it back in the socket. Okay, so it didn't actually suck my eye out of the socket, but it did feel like I had an elephant sitting on my eye; the pressure was pretty intense for about 1 minute. Next thing I knew it was over! It happened so fast! The nurses taped these big, frog eye goggles over my face and sent me on my way. Grandpa drove me home and I slept for the rest of the day. The next morning I went in for my follow up visit. 20/20 right eye, 20/30 left eye; after a few days my left eye was up to par with my right and I was already ahead of "seeing" schedule! Besides the eye drops every hour for the next couple months this is AWESOME! I can't believe how wonderful this is! Why did I wait to have it done! I usually wake up every morning and squint to see my alarm clock...today, out of habit, I squinted and I couldn't see the clock. I started to freak out and unsquinted my eyes...and then I could see the clock. This is going to take a little getting used too! But I'm sure I'll do just fine!!

Chuck E. Cheese

Chuck E. Cheese's is really adult code for HELL on earth. I think if you've been as an adult you'll agree. I remember going as a kid thinking this place is awesome. But then something happens...something terrible. This place of awesomeness turns suddenly without warning to a place of doom. I'd rather a poke in the eye...seriously! I was watching my niece and nephew on Saturday and "we" decided to go to Chuck E. Cheese. Okay. No problem, right?? WRONG! The parking lot was packed! We had to wait for a parking spot, then wait outside in the pouring rain in line to get inside, then wait in line to order food, then wait for the food, then wait in line to ride the rides or play the games, then wait in line to reciept our tickets, then wait in line to pick a prize...so, after $40 and two hours (90% waiting in a line) we left with a belly ache from the really greasy pizza and a small glitter packet (our ticket prize). I sound really negative, but the kids had a great time. Both of them feel asleep on the ride home...finally peace and quiet! Just a quick stop at Costco to buy a jumbo size container of hand sanitizer (for my whole body); I'm not a germaphobe but that place was dirty!

Snowmobiling

I went snowmobiling with some friends. It was great fun! I still don't have my computer up yet, so I don't have all the pictures I took with my camera. I used a friends computer to post. This picture is of my friend Cody totally wiping out! I haven't been snowmobiling for soooo long! I'm doing great and having a lot of fun! I'm still staying with my sister; I don't have a move-in date yet for my new place. When I finally get my computer up and all of my pictures downloaded, I'll post some more of them. Sorry for slacking! Are you happy now? I posted!!