A Thumbs Up Weekend

That's right. Last weekend was a two thumbs up weekend. I stayed up way too late and had way too much fun. Courtney turned thirty and wanted a big, San Francisco celebration.

You'll have to check out Courtney's blog to get any details and pictures from the night.

I got home late, went to bed around 3 and slept in late until 9 on Saturday morning. I got up, got ready and went to San Francisco to play with Jerilyn. I love it when my friends come visit me. Okay, I love it when they have to come to San Francisco for work related purposes and spend time with me.




And then it was Halloween time. On the bus ride home on Friday, I decided that for Halloween this year I wanted to wear fake eyelashes, lots of sparkly makeup and wings. So, I decided to be a butterfly. While out with Jerilyn and her boyfriend Spencer I bought a pair of Tinker Bell wings at the Disney store. Then I got some purple leggings, some pink pom poms, some black pipe cleaner and a headband--and tada...the caterpillar emerged from her cocoon and became a pretty, pretty butterfly. A huge thank you to my make up artist Kara...I love having you around. Don't you think that the getting ready for Halloween, is always the most fun?




Some samplings of how much fun we had.
Me and Amy (a deviled egg):



Mackenzie (Adriane, from Rocky):



Cameron (Winnie the Pooh):



Marcus and Vicky (Blue man group Tobias and Rita from Arrested Development):



Ashley (props to Amy on the make up):



The Eggertson's (Scott and Melissa as Jim and Pam. Liz as a go-go girl):



Another night that I stayed up way too late and slept thru ward council in the morning. Once again though, it was a jammed packed weekend full of good times and great friends.

Comedy Night Done Right

Thursday night is the only good night of television. It is just a sad, hard fact. This has been the case for much of my life...with the exception of the TGIF of my youth--I so loved Full House. Anyway, I heart Thursday night television on NBC. I'm not affiliated with the stations, so this is a completely unbiased opinion about their Thursday night programming. It starts at 8 with My Name is Earl. Honestly, people say it is funny, but I've never gotten into it and therefore don't watch it. It's basically like a free 30 minutes to get ready for the next hour and a half. At 8:30 the fun begins. 30 Rock is so super fun. I heart Liz Lemmon. Seriously, if you don't watch this show, you should check it out online. I promise you will not be disappointed. Next, The Office. Yes, everyone loves the office and rightfully so. It is hilarious. So fun that Pam and Jim are dating. And finally, (after waiting an extra month for the season to start) Scrubs begins at 9:30. This is the last season of Scrubs. So, basically this means that after this year there will be no more perfect comedic Thursday evening. We must all therefore enjoy what we have now with all of our hearts.

Last Thursday night was perfect. The Bakers came over and we went to Romero & Sons. Best Taqueria in Alameda, so good!!! And enjoyed one and a half hours of comic bliss. Just look how happy we all are.

Whitney is always adorable:



Gnu is too cool to just pick it up and eat it like a man:



Courtney seems to be confessing her undying love for her burrito:



And me, using the burrito to mask the massive lip zit...such horror...such pain....several more pictures from the weekend coming up where I was unsuccessful at hiding the horror:

Sunday Night Done Right

So, I finally did it. I got a new camera after drowning my old one. I still haven't figured out all that it does. Mostly I'm hoping that I'll be able to take awesome jumping pictures. Now I just have to hope my life gets super exciting so I'll have stuff to share.

This weekend was exhausting. So exhausting and busy that this was needed:



The Andersons came up for dinner on Sunday and Courtney made delicious butternut squash lasagna, and I made dessert. I probably should have taken a picture of the other side that doesn't have that hole in the frosting. Oh well, it tasted delicious. Chocolate cake with a mint whipped cream frosting.

Addie is getting so chubby. She's adorable...so is Courtney:

I am no expert but....

Do you think this store also owns stock in chiropractics. Seriously, bean bags for children's beds?

Nicknames

I have an amazing gift for nicknames. Just kidding. But I still don't have a camera and need to write about something. There are those people that are always trying to come up with nicknames for people with no regard to people's given names. Why is this necessary? Is it so difficult to remember a name?

In my history, yes, it is too difficult to remember a name. Two of my years spent in Logan, Utah I went by the name Al Baker. Ryan Cheever likes to think that he started this nickname for me, but it started much much earlier when I used the same piano books as my older sister Amanda. To differentiate my star from her "A" star, my piano teacher labeled my star "Al." I secretly loved this and would sing the Paul Simon classic to myself. Ryan began calling me Al because he could never remember if my name was Alisa, Alyssa, Alica, etc. This name died when I went on a mission with the exception of Mr. Paul Larkin who still calls me that.

I've tended to use nicknames to avoid confusion when talking about people. This is how Gnu and Bigandtall both received their nicknames...they just seemed to stick after awhile. And I'm pretty sure that Bigandtall is not willing to part with his name at all. My bff Laurie has also used this reasoning to give me the nickname Maurice. Yes, that is a nickname that a handful of people can call me and they must have the last name Armstrong, Grover, Ruggle and Weidner.

Now, Courtney and her friends all have nicknames. They all go by their nickname in that they use these to introduce themselves to others. In fact, I did not know that several of these guys had real life different names. No offense, but really? Are you ashamed? I don't understand. Please enlighten me.

And finally, if nicknames are meant to be a term of endearment passed on to a friend or loved one, why must some of them remain a mystery? I ask this question to my mother. The background: when I was a young, beautiful, adorable child my father had a nickname for me. Apparently, this nickname was so horrible that it scarred me for life. So much so that I've repressed all memory of it and my childhood. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to remember the nickname in order to remember any memories from my childhood. Not knowing it, I'm no better than an orphan without parents and a family. Again, just kidding. The true story: My dad had a nickname for me that my mom found inappropriate. She won't let him tell me what it was and none of my sisters can remember it. I'm an adult now and am still not privy to the nickname. Can you believe it? So, what do you think it could be? What possible nickname could my dad had given me that would be this offensive? I'm h-in' adorable, c'mon. Please feel free to offer any suggestions. Mom, Dad, you too.