Not a Classic Anecdote

Down Under Day 1

2010-01-05T02:56:00.001-05:00

Hello people (Dad and Mackenzie), this is Alisa blogging from Australia. I'm back at my hostel, which is so fancy and nice, thinking that 7:30 is a little too early to go to bed no matter how tired I am. Therefore, I will recount the excitement of the day (which started on Sunday at 3:30 PM--it's now Tuesday at 7:30 PM). Also, I didn't bring my little thing that gets the pictures of my camera so now is the time to dust off that old imagination and work with me here.

Yes, it has been a long day. A long day of sitting. I left SFO on Sunday. I hate HATE airports. I've always had rather bad flying/air travel luck to the extent that I am on the TSA watch list for my terrorist tendancies. Plus, the airport is so boring. I'm not fancy with billions of miles so I have to gold member suite to chill out in. I'm forced to mingle with the commoners in uncomfortable chairs. Well, my flight was an international flight sort of. I was flying to LAX then on to Melbourne. They say to be there at two hours early for international flights because of customs and what not. Well, I followed this advice and sat at the airport for two hours bored to death. I played solitaire and wore out the battery on my phone.

After my first Virgin America flight I have come to two conclusions. #1: I am not "hip" enough to hang with Richard Branson. #2 I saw nothing that made it better than any other airline, why do they charge so much?

Luckily my winning smile got me a free upgrade to an exit row (wouldn't have minded first class, but I enjoyed the leg room for my giant long legs) for the 15 hour+ flight to Melbourne. I took some Tylenol PM and put in a movie. I think I slept for about 3 hours, not bad! At one point in the night, while I wasn't sleeping, one of the flight attendants (who was a huge meat head with his shirt barely containing his arm muscle bulge in a gross way) reached across me to close the window and then turned off my tv. My eyes were open the whole time and I just looked at him with this confused expression. Then he asked if I was watching that....um, yes, seriously, what else would I be doing? The flight was fairly anti-climatic. However, I did request the vegetarian meal when I booked the flight. This means that you get your meal before everyone else because they deliver the special meals first. It was great. The poor schmucks sitting next to me had to wait forever to get both of their meals while I happily ate mine in front of them. Plus, they were really good. (well, mostly good). Must remember this though.

Now, I'm here in Australia. It is summer time. The weather in NYC right now is 21 degrees farenheit. The weather here is like 60 degrees or something celsius (I have no idea but it is hot and there is no snow on the ground!)

I made it through customs, bought an Australian cell phone, got some Australian cash and jumped in my rental car. In case you didn't know, the driver's seat is on the wrong side of the car because they drive on the wrong side of the road. This is a HUGE adjustment and require a lot of mental repetition: left side, left side, left side. It is especially problematic when turning onto a new road because I get so confused. Fortunately, I quickly drove out of the city into the sticks and haven't had to deal with traffic which would cause me more confusion I'm sure. I fully plan on being an expert on left side of the road driving before heading back to Melbourne. I was also fortunate to have a reminder from the man checking me out of the rental car place that the blinker was where the windshield wipers would be (everything is backwards except the pedals).

Things I have seen today:
Kangaroos jumping across the road: 0 (but I really want that to happen)
Road kill that possibly could have been a kangaroo: 1
A car coming up the wrong side of the street toward me while I was on the left side (correct) of the road: 1
Eucalyptus trees: about a million
Eucalyptus trees with koala bears in them: 0 (I'm beginning to think that Australia doesn't have cool animals like everyone has been telling us for years)

Happy Christmas Dad

2009-12-25T02:38:00.000-05:00

It has been brought to my attention every Sunday evening for the past 10 months or so that my blog needs to be updated. It is brought to my attention by my dad who does not like the flickr representation of his trip to New York City. I therefore decided that the best Christmas gift I could give the man who has it all would be a new blog post.

So, here you go dad. This is a recent picture of me and you are no longer the last post. Have a very happy Christmas!

Mom and Dad Came to Visit

2009-03-02T23:28:00.001-05:00

You read that correctly. My parents came to New York to visit their favorite daughter. It was fantastic. Now, since the batteries in my camera recently died back in November, I was unable to take any pictures. However, you have no need to fear. With the help of flickr, I will be able to photographically represent their entire trip.

First my parents:
Mom:

Dad:

They flew in early Thursday morning. That night we ate delicious Italian food (even though they were out of salmon) and saw Lauren Graham and Oliver Platt in "Guys and Dolls."

Friday, mom and I got facials:

Dad met up with us and we got pizza and went to Rice to Riches (so delicious). Dad had spent the day walking back and forth from Times Square to Grand Central just to get us tickets to see "In the Heights." Sorry I didn't teach you about the "shuttle" beforehand.

Saturday we had brunch at Alice's Tea Cup (a place that I'm pretty sure my mom wishes she was at with all of her granddaughters) and then took a nap before having a delicious Valentine's Dinner at Jane.

We went to church on Sunday and then had a delicious tuna fish sandwich at Union Square Cafe for lunch. We sat at the bar and were served by a Brigham look-alike. He even gave me free cookies, I'm a fan!

Monday we went to the Guggenheim and then to Gramercy Tavern for dinner. It was delicious (the restaurant more so than the Gugg). Tuesday I had to abandon them in order to go to school but we met up for lunch and cupcakes before I sent them on their way. Thanks for coming to visit mom and dad. I had a blast!

It Kind of Fits Into a Theme

2009-03-02T23:08:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday I realized that it was Ash Wednesday (it helped that there were lots of people that had remembered and had gone to mass thus allowing me to remember) and got excited about Lent. Although I am not a Catholic, I do enjoy "giving something up" for lent. Plus, it fits the theme of my life this year--better myself (yes, quite impossible, I know).

Anyway, the difficult part is determining what to give up. For instance, one year it was boys--this was more out of coincidence than self-control, but who's keeping track? Well, this year I wanted to challenge myself even more, so I decided that this year for lent I would give up not blogging. Meaning, I'm going to blog during lent. Now I've left this loosely defined because I don't want to over commit myself and then be disappointed. I always succeed at my lent goals. I figure if I just get one post in during these 40 days, I'm good. For all of your sakes, let's hope I do more though. (Basically I mean dad's sake since I'm pretty sure he's the only one who still checks this thing).

Happy Lent!

The Goal Setting Continues

2009-02-10T23:24:00.000-05:00

It's important to set goals for yourself and then measure your performance against those goals. Is this not how we grow?

I had a goal to be in bed by 11. It's 11:29. In order to be in bed by 11, I had to complete all of my homework and write my Leadership report. I have two sentences done on the Leadership report and none of my corporate finance read. Luckily, the report is only a page, and I think I'm far enough in the corporate finance chapter that he won't lecture past what I've read tomorrow; therefore, I should make it to bed before midnightish. All I want in life is to go to bed before 3 AM just one night. Just one. I feel the waking up at 7 won't be as painful then.

That is all...I set goals....I fail....The recession sucks!

(yes, I did just blame my inability to achieve goals on the recession. no, it isn't logical. don't worry about it.)

A Whole New Year

2009-02-05T01:00:00.000-05:00

I've never been a big New Year's Resolution maker...so why should this year be different? Yes, I'm "goal-oriented" (or so I've told everyone I've interviewed with lately), but I don't think I should only make goals at the beginning of each year.

So, as this year began, I decided that I should better myself and the world. The plan was to give up red meat. I had heard how producing one pound of red meat wasted some insane amount of water. Growing up in a desert, I've always found myself sensitive to water conservation. There's also the methane gas situation. And finally, it's not all that good for you. Since I don't typically eat a lot of red meat anyway, I thought this would be a great to help out the environment. In fact, I soon imagined myself turning into a vegetarian and liking it. (I have no idea what drugs I was on when imagining this--I love meat and can't imagine myself as a vegetarian although nothing is wrong with those of you who are)

I think I lasted a week before I was forced with my first challenge: restaurant week and the friends got reservations at a steak house. Seriously? I professed that I don't eat red meat and tried to leave it at that. The peer pressure. The internal desire for a giant juicy steak. In the end, success. I was able to pawn my spot in the reservation off of on someone else to eliminate the temptation.

The next day, while walking home from school barely breathing due to the freezing cold temperature and bitter wind, I ducked into my favorite coffee shop. Daily special: angus beef chili pot pie with corn bread. Comfort food like that on a freezing cold day when I'm hungry meant there was really no other option. It was delicious!

The next day I went to bake with my friend Stephanie...made a delicious dulce de leche bread pudding with chocolate chunks....she made me dinner. I love home made, non-take out food. Spaghetti with buffalo. More red meat.

These two set backs only made me more determined to pursue my new non-red meat lifestyle.

It didn't last long. My friend Carrie came into town today and took me to dinner, a steak house. Yes, I could have had fish or chicken or pork or lamb or veggies...but no, I had a steak. It was good. Not delicious though. So, it's back on. I don't eat red meat so stop trying to make me!!

Sometimes New York is Cool

2008-12-15T22:27:00.000-05:00

Today after taking a horrible accounting midterm and then going to a wildly amusing statistics review session, I walked by this guy on the street.

There I was walking home from school, thinking of how much I don't want to study statistics only to look up and see Mr. James Franco. Before you all ask, no, I didn't pretend to trip and fall or do anything else to get his attention. I didn't even make eye contact. I looked up, watched him walk past me and then looked away. In hindsight, I wish I would have quoted Freaks and Geeks to him or said, "Hi, I know Vicky. You went to high school with her." As quick and clever as I am, none of this came to me when I saw him today. However, next time I am prepared. And yes, there will be a next time.

According to the Fresh Air interview, he goes to NYU Tisch to study directing--which is right next to my school--and Columbia to study writing and some other community school here in NY to study something else. Three schools! Can you believe it? Plus, he just got nominated for a Golden Globe and has been promoting his new film Milk. How on earth does he do it all? I thought I was busy. That's not all either. As a public service, he teaches acting classes online. Check it out, I know I sure will.

And for the record, I am not obsessed with James Franco. Reason #1: He was just a much cooler star sighting than my neighbor, Katie Holmes. Reason #2: I really didn't want to study statistics today and found myself doing some web-based research. Reason #3: And finally, I'm white, I have to listen to NPR.

To Whom It Might Also Concern

2008-11-17T23:29:00.001-05:00

Dears Bars, Pubs and Food Establishments of the Northeastern Seaboard:

When a patron asks for a Coca Cola Classic, that patron actually wants a Coca Cola Classic. If you only have Pepsi, do not assume that the patron is indifferent. The patron is tired of accidentally having a sip of that nasty stuff when really wanting a Coca Cola Classic. Simply inform that patron that you have Pepsi products, and then the patron can order a water with lemon.

There is a difference, and yes, I can tell!

Kind Regards,
alisa

To Whom It May Concern

2008-11-08T00:46:00.000-05:00

Dear Ladies of New York,

I just thought I should let you know that leggings are not pants. Please stop assuming that they are interchangeable. I no longer want to see your butt jiggle as I walk behind you down the street.

Thank you and with all due respect,
alisa

I heart blog tag

2008-09-28T15:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not positive I actually was blog tagged, but I just don't care. It's always fun talking about myself. So, in response to the ever darling Mackenzie, I give you:

Alisa's Blog Tag--I kind of wish she had come up with a better name.

10 Years Ago I:
Was a sophomore at Utah State University in the beautiful metropolis of Logan, UT. Man, I love that place. I was a Resident Assistant in Snow Hall. This means I probably had a crush on a few of the freshman boys on my floor. I was also discovering how awesome not going to class was while preparing for the bitter winter ahead. I've reflected upon my college days a lot lately, especially now that I'm a student again. Some things I've outgrown: wearing pajamas to school (this is how you spot the freshman), never studying and doing homework (core classes in undergrad much easier than grad school), staying up for days at a time (how can anyone stay awake after 11?), ramen and cereal (okay, i still survive on cereal), the list goes on...

5 Things on Today's To Do List:
1. Strategy Homework
2. Accounting Homework
3. Finance Homework
4. Statistics Homework
5. Economics Homework

5 Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Apples
2. String Cheese
3. Cookies
4. Pudding Snack Packs
5. Raw Cashews

5 Things I Would Do if I were a Millionaire:
1. Pay for school
2. Buy fancy shoes
3. Buy an apartment in the West Village
4. Buy a house north of Grand/west of Central on Alameda
5. Take pastry chef classes

5 Places I Have Lived:
1. Sandy, UT
2. Greeley, PA
3. New York, NY
4. Alameda, CA
5. Seoul, South Korea

5 Jobs I Have Had:
1. Holiday Gift Wrapper
2. Waitress
3. Bar Tender
4. Temp
5. Babysitter

I Tag:
Gnu and Whitney--I want a post from each of you
Ms. Peachey
Melanie
and Ashley--I swear she said she was going to start a blog--now's her chance!

Rules:
Each of you need to answer these same questions. Mackenzie said that she would leave a comment on my blog letting me know I'd been tagged, but she didn't (thus I may have not been tagged but hate to be left out therefore pretended like I had been)...I don't think I will do that either, I don't want you to hate me or anything. Anyway, then you are supposed to post the blog and let me know. I religiously check all of your blogs so you don't have to let me know if you don't want. It's basically like the blog version of awesome chain mails. Have fun!

Treat Tour Stop #3

2008-09-13T20:07:00.000-04:00

The Little Pie Company

Today on the tour I headed up to the area between Chelsea and Times Square. It was an adorable street. I enlisted the help of a fellow Berkeley-ian. Meet Laura:

Brother Marostica was quite excited when he learned I was moving out to New York...I do love all of the Marosticas. Laura and I enjoyed our delicious pie.

The conversation focused on how much Berkeley kicks New York's butt. To be fair, New York totally kicks Berkeley's butt in many other aspects that we also discussed. However, it was nice to get someone to sympathize with me on the lack of space everywhere--people are always in your face and touching you. We also greatly miss the Berkeley ward.

On to more important things. The pie was delicious. Mark's list included recommendations at all locations. So, according to the list, I tried the Sour Cream Apple Walnut. Very tasty. Laura and the Mudslide pie which was super rich. I want to go back again and try the key lime and Southern pecan. I guess I'll have to wait for visitors!

My First Visitor

2008-09-12T12:56:00.000-04:00

It's official. I've had a visitor. Natalie, from such fame as being my life coach, came to New York for business. I remember when I used to have a job. Business travel was great when you weren't somewhere cool (New York) and got to visit friends (me) for free! Unfortunately, Natalie is so super busy that I got to spend a total of 1 hour with her.

Here she is standing in my apartment, which she said was surprisingly larger than her hotel room. I doubt it. She did laugh at all of my space. We then took a walk around union square, down to campus and Washington Square Park and then back up to 14th Street through the Village. Of course we stopped at Mrs. Fields on the way back. (We met working at Mrs. Fields way before the bankruptcy thing).

We strolled, talked about boys and had a lovely hour together. Then she caught a cab and went back to her hotel to work. I went back to my apartment to do more homework. Hope you enjoyed your stay Natalie!

I Still Love It!!

2008-09-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

A Case of Mistaken Identity

2008-09-10T22:28:00.001-04:00

As you all know, I often get mistaken for someone younger than I am. I've noticed that as I get older, the bottom age gets a bit older as well. For instance, it's been about 2 years since I was asked if I was old enough to sit in an exit row. And it's been about 4 years since I was mistaken for an unaccompanied minor. (Not all cases of mistaken identity have occurred while traveling--these are just the two examples I thought of quickly).

I can never really expect this phenomenon to end. I'm sure I'll always be mistaken for much younger than I am. First of all, I've got those Lloyd genes that keep me looking young. Second, the chubby cheeks. Third, the youthful personality (read: immaturity). The list goes on.

However, I may have secretly hoped that starting business school would eliminate these instances. Business students are professional and respected, etc, etc. Unfortunately, not everyone got the memo.

I was unaware that you have to be 18 to by Nyquil. I bought some at Walgreens yesterday. The cashier rang me up and looked at my kind of funny. The she said, "You're 18, right?" I replied, "Yes." She kept looking at me funny so I then said, "Do you need to see my ID?" I took it out of my wallet and handed it to her. She looked at it and a look of shock and embarrassment crossed her face. I'm probably the oldest person she's ever carded.

And no, this isn't the first time I've been mistaken for someone much younger in the last three weeks since my move to New York. And yes, I know I will be grateful when I'm old....everyone tells me this. I have my suspicions though. Honestly, I'm not complaining, just sharing the funniness that is my life.

In Other Food Scouting News...

2008-09-06T20:18:00.000-04:00

New York is definitely lacking in the delicious Mexican food; however, it tries to overcompensate for it in the fine, delicious cupcake (and bakery goods) segment. I heart cupcakes and am living in the mecca land for cupcakes. To aid in my cupcake tour of New York, my dear friend Mark gave me a list of places to check out. I've decided to visit each location on the list. Every Saturday I will go to a new place. (every Saturday may be defined loosely as Saturdays that I actually get around to waking up and leaving my apartment). Look out for future posts with other tales of cupcakes and treats.

Treat Tour Stop #1: Two Little Red Hens

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon (note this was last Saturday since this week's Saturday was rainy as you will read later on), we ventured up to the Upper East Side and quickly found the shop.

Per the recommendation, here I am with my friend Young enjoying a Lemon something--Lemon Cloud was recommended but the only lemon cupcake was named something else. A delicious lemon cupcake with lemon curd filling. The second recommendation: Brooklyn Blackout. A chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate pudding. Very delicious and very rich. I'm pretty sure both Young and I were unable to finish both halfs of cupcakes before getting sick.

Treat Tour Stop #2: Levain Bakery

I realized that I forgot my camera when I was already in the subway. So, rather than spending $2 to leave and re-enter, I decided to take mental pictures and bring cookies home to take pictures of later.

I ventured up to the Upper West Side this time. Rain was in the forecast which meant that the weather was balmy hot and humid. It was gross. Growing up in the dry west, I really can't do humid well. I've spent a fair amount of time over on the Upper East Side, but not the West. It's adorable. At least the few blocks I saw along 74th. Again, I quickly found the bakery.

Already a small line was forming, good sign. I got in line and wished that they had air conditioning inside their little bakery. It was hot. I tried to look over shoulders and between people to make sure I knew what I wanted by the time I got to the counter. I hate being that guy who holds up the line festering on the decision at hand, especially when there is a line. I hate the people at Ici (in Berkeley) who wait in line for an hour just to get to the front and have to taste every single flavor of ice cream before taking another 10 minutes deciding. Take a chance, man! Anyway, after looking at the options, I knew I'd have to get multiple cookies. They have four flavors: chocolate chip walnut, double chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and chocolate peanut butter. Since I'm against all shriveled grapes, I chose one each of the other three and was on my way.

Since it wasn't raining yet, I decided a stroll through the park would be very New Yorkey of me. It was. In fact, some out-of-towners who spoke Spanish asked me if I was American and if I lived here. I replied with a nod. Then they said I should be really proud to live somewhere so beautiful. I am proud to live here. However, I don't really think that I can take credit for the beauty. Oh well, guess they think I can. So, I'm just letting you all know, I'm the reason New York is so great!

The rain started slowly so I headed to the subway. Humidity picked up and I wanted to pass out while waiting for the super late subway. I got to my stop and did a mad dash to my building. It's like 50 feet away and I was drenched. Yay torrential rain!

I got home, took pictures and have been snacking on the chocolate chip cookie. It's pretty amazing.

I miss you Romero and Sons

2008-09-03T21:37:00.000-04:00

Oh, how I miss you Romero and Sons. I miss you so much. So, so much. For those of you non-Alamedians, let me explain. Romero and Sons is the local taqueria on the island. I have no idea what else is on the menu besides the chile verde super burrito (a large feat for anyone to master) and the child's chile verde burrito (the perfect size to avoid the 'i hate myself' stuffed feeling). This is not all folks. Amigo (the guy who works there and has a crush on Mackenzie) not only knows us, but he knows what we order. It's wonderful not having to repeat back the same order every week. Yes, every week. And finally, it is so h-ing delicious is going to make me cry right now just thinking about it. Yummmmm. So delicious.

Enter New York City. The city that never sleeps. The center of the universe. One (myself) who think that finding equally amazing burritos for the same affordable price would be no big deal. I was wrong. I've yet to scour the entire city, but to date my research has come up short. First of all, finding a dive taqueria is not easy. Luckily, I received two menus under my door from "local" tex-mex joints. Tonight I decided to check one out. I google mapped them both and chose the closer of the two. I live on 14th Street. The restaurant was on 24th Street. This should have tipped me off. 10 blocks is not worth it--unless it was Romero and Sons. Second, I walked in and it smelled like Chinese food. Again, I should have just turned around. Third, everyone there was Asian. Now, I have nothing against Asians--I love them, truly I do. But my concern lies in the fact that they may not be the best resource to make my Mexican burrito. With all of these red flags starring me in the face, I walked up to the counter and ordered a chicken burrito with no guacamole or tomatoes--yes, that is correct I hate both of these things yet love Mexican food. I gave the lady $5.85 and waited. She put food in a bag and set it on the counter in front of me. I asked, is this mine? She replied with a grunt. Assuming this was yes, I picked it up. Then they all yelled at me for taking somebody else's food. This would never have happened at Romero and Sons. Only Mackenzie gets embarrassed there when Amigo flirts with her. (Sorry Mackenize, I love you!!) Honestly, I was relieved because what was put in the bag was tiny. Two bites would have completed that meal. I'm not a big eater, but I can do more than two bites. I wait another minute and a large burrito is wrapped in foil and given to me.

I get home and ride the elevator up with a fellow Californian who is on a similar quest to find good Mexican. He too has been unsuccessful to date. I get to my apartment, poor myself a glass of water and open the burrito. It's wrapped like a taco. That's right, stuff is spilling out the sides. I have to eat over the sink to avoid sleeping with my food later (it's a tiny apartment where the bed functions as all furniture--see the pictures from the previous post). Needless to say, I will not be trekking the 10 blocks north again to enjoy that burrito again. I wonder if I'll even finish the second half now residing in my fridge.

Well, congratulations on surviving the long post with no pictures. For your efforts, I give you this:

Look at me and that 'go get 'em' attitude. I'm off to my first day of school. Yesterday was my first day of school. Luckily I only had two classes. Today I was not so lucky as I had three classes. Monday will be even worse with three classes and one of them being like 3 hours long....yuck!

For some reason, I hate myself. In registering for classes, I consciously decided to get all of the "hard" classes out of the way first semester to be able to therefore enjoy the rest of time at school. How did I ever think this was a good idea? Usually, I'm one for ignoring the "hard" situations in hopes that they go away. Could it be that I'm growing? Doubtful.

Well, because of this moment of insanity here is my schedule: Finance, Accounting, Statistics, Economics, Strategy. Now some would say, that's not bad, you're a wimp. These are the other 50 or so people that have my exact same schedule (yes, we see a lot of each other). To them, I stick out my tongue and say I do marketing. That's usually enough for them to get a knowing look on their faces as they nod in understanding. It's going to be a fun semester!!

The Before Shots

2008-08-26T00:03:00.001-04:00

So, yes, I'm here in New York City. I live in a closet that was super nasty dirty when I moved in. And it comes complete with its own funky smell (I'm working on that one as well). Anyway, here are the before shots. Stay tuned for me to get some time to put the new IKEA stuff together and to get settled for the after shots. Imagine me here right now as I type this out. I'm lying on the bed.

That floor sure looks comfy--it'll soon be all ready for guests. Okay, make that guest.

It's All About Me

2008-08-25T23:09:00.000-04:00

It is a well known fact that I love my birthday. All those who know me also know that I continually try to turn the event into multi-day extravaganzas to celebrate my greatness. And finally, I also love cake.

This year was no exception. I had been anxiously awaiting my birthday since November when I purchased one special occasion cake at the annual Berkeley University ward's sub-4-santa auction. The lovely Sister Pat Hogan (proud mother of a daughter who recently celebrated her 60th year) makes wedding cakes and donated one. Awesome!!! That's right, I bought my own birthday cake. It was for the children. As the year progressed, my birthday party soon became my going away/birthday party. All the more reason to celebrate.

In the two and a half years that we lived together, Courtney and I have thrown several wonderful parties. It was the people that made the parties so spectacular so don't start thinking I'm bragging here. However, one of our finest achievements was the Mackenzie/Alisa birthday party of 2007. It was scary themed so the menu consisted of: questionable cheeses, overly ripe fruit, half-priced sushi, mystery meat, brightly colored mystery drinks, etc. We went so far as to only have used napkins available. It was awesome! I'm pretty sure that no one appreciated our cleverness quite as much as we did. However, we knew it was going to be difficult to beat the ingenuity of the previous year.

So, as with any great party, we waited until the Sunday before the date to start making invitations during Sunday School and Relief Society and then distribute them after church. Earlier in the week we decided to do a black and white cocktail party. This would make it easy to decorate the cake as well as be fancy since I'm a fancy gal. I'm not going to lie, there was some concern about people dressing up in cocktail attire. We're mormons. We don't go to cocktail parties. We don't get dressed up. The invitation said cocktail dress strongly encouraged, so we just had to hope for the best. Everyone dressed up!!! (well, except Dustin) I was so happy that everyone dressed up. Truth be told, not everyone wore cocktail attire, but everyone put thought into his/her ensemble to make sure it went with the black and white theme (again, Dustin excluded--please notice he is in purple and blue, like a bruise).

I had a lovely time at my birthday party. I'm now officially 29, which is great and weird. Just yesterday I was mistaken for a freshman in college--18 year old--so that is pretty exciting. I didn't have my camera with me for most of the evening because someone else was "taking pictures" for me. I think my battery died or something because I don't have a lot of pictures. If any of you took pictures at my party, please send them to me. Please. Here is what I have:

The Bakers! Oh, I do miss living so close to family.

Me celebrating my amazing lung capacity. 29 candles. 1 breath.
(again, please note that someone else took these pictures. I just discovered them on my camera)

Courtney at the bar.

The spread.

A Stolen Idea

2008-08-07T14:20:00.000-04:00

This came from Renee's blog back in June--the lack of structure has gotten me behind in a lot of things. Everyone knows I'm a joiner, so here is my mosaic of me based off of other's pictures.

If you would like to create your own, here are the rules:
1. Type your answer to each of the following questions in Flickr Search
2. Pick an image from the first page.
3. Copy and past each image's URL into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (Kid version: favorite animal)

Now, when you copy the pictures in to the mosaic maker it will create the credits portion so you don't need to add that extra step into the copy/pasting mantra--learned that lesson the hard way.

Photo Credits:
1. Alisa the sniper 2. improvised bread pudding 3. Week 4: Tuscaloosa County vs. Hillcrest 4. purple sea snails 5. Celebrity sighting #2- Aaron Eckhart 6. Coca Cola Classic 7. Evening Rain at the Duomo 8. bread pudding 9. She's Happy 10. My friends......ROCK 11. Hilarious 12. Caro y la llamo

Wikihow, I'm a Fan

2008-08-06T20:02:00.000-04:00

I'm also a fan of iGoogle and the fact that it gives me new Wikihows everyday. So, yesterday, I was minding my own business reading my Google horoscope (also located on the iGoogle page right next to the countdown until school starts) when I noticed that the Wikihow for the day was doing a running front flip. Awesome.

I read the article and then proceeded to watch the instructional video. While doing this I had two thoughts come to me.

#1: I'm pretty sure that I would pop my air mattress that is currently my bed if I were to try this. Must find a gym to pratice.

#2: I could make an instructional Wikihow video.

Mid-instructional video my mind began to wander. What skills could I teach via video via youtube? I was therefore no longer paying attention to the instructional video and will therefore not need a gym to practice in since I only know the first two steps which I can do in my own living room sans mats. I've been pondering what instructional wikihow I should create. These are my ideas:

#1: Pretending you aren't singing at the top of your lungs in the car when in fact you are singing at the top of your lungs in the car.

#2: Kicking an attacker in the shins.

#3: Launching candy necklace candies at the unsuspecting.

What do my two readers think? Who is willing to help? I need a video camera because my camera only does short film and I'd like this to be top quality. I'll also need some actors and stunt doubles. Let me know who wants to help. Or share you own wikihow instructional video ideas here.

I do not apologize

2008-08-04T22:36:00.000-04:00

That's right! I'm not sorry that I've abandoned this little blog or my two readers. I have no excuses. I've just not blogged. That's it. Stuff has happened that I could easily share. More importantly, stuff is going to happen that I will have to share. Big stuff.

Where I've been:

So, since I last blogged I have learned to love the life of the unemployed. Seriously, why did I ever think having a job would be a good idea? The life of leisure is fantastic! FANTASTIC!! I highly recommend it to all if circumstance permits. Plus, the last 3 or 4 months haven't even been enough time to do all that I could have done as an unemployed menace to society. Just keep that in mind as you all plan future bouts of unemployment ahead of you. I forsee no more of this wonderful life in my future; and therefore, I mourn.

No, I haven't spent this non-blogging time mourning. I've spent it sleeping, watching Buffy, visiting family, visiting friends, hanging with the sticky and the noisy generation (neices and nephews), preparing for the move, touristing all around San Francisco and the beautiful bay area. I've lost all routine and structure, and I love it. I sleep as late as I want. I jog along the beach whenever I want. I go to movies in the middle of the day, by myself. I'm not restricted by deadlines and duties. Anyway, no one feels bad for me or my circumstance. They therefore cannot comprehend why I do not blog. No one realizes that this loss of structure is the reason that I have been unable to blog. Time? Yes, I've plenty of it. Routine? Gone. I don't even read the blogs of those I love anymore. Or the blogs that are funny and provide me with hours and hours of wild entertainment. These were where the ideas and the need to blog came from. Without them, there were no blog entries. Do you see, dear reader? I needed the structure in my life. I need you all and your blogs, your wit, your anecdotes to make mine happen. So there it is. I left the world of the weberspace and the blogosphere during my unemployment months because my world did not have blogs.

Where I'm going:

Now, I'm on the cusp of re-entering civility. I shall gain structure and deadlines and routine in my life. And with that, I plan on re-entering the blogging world. I've got adventures to tell you. At least, I hope I will have adventures to tell you.

I'm moving to New York City!! Yes, I'm trading in my relatively high rent and cost of living in the bay area to move to a closet in Union Square that's more rent and a greater cost of living. Everyone who reads this knows this already. Not a shocker, I get it. However, one (read: me) can hope that she has blog stalkers (read: not the creepy kind) out there who hadn't heard yet and may be interested. I fly out on the red eye on the 17th of August. Take my diagnostic tests on the 18th. Pre-term starts the 19th. And I'm officially a first year MBA student at New York University. A little Felicity-esque, I understand. However, I'm not following a track star out there, and I don't plan on falling in love with my RA.

I kind of feel like a grown up. You'd think the full-time job, benefits and a 401K plan would have made me feel like a grown up. But this is more grown up-y. Trust me on that one. New York is a big city. This equates to more grown up-ness. Don't ask me to explain it, it just works that way.

So, here it is. A boring return to the blogging world. No pictures. No jokes. And not a classic anecdote. I've missed you little blog.

Unemployed: Day 2

2008-05-05T20:27:00.000-04:00

Adorable!!

Unemployed: Day 1

2008-05-02T14:52:00.001-04:00

On my walk to Jay's after the "morning" jog (Read: I woke up at 11 and went for a run.) I passed an elementary school. It was PE time. Standing around a giant brightly colored parachute stood about 25 tiny people and one teacher.

My question to you: Where can I get one of those things? That was hands down my most favorite thing to do in elementary school PE (wait, I really loved the scooter things too and crab soccer--crab soccer rocked). How wonderful would it be to play with that everyday while I'm not working?

I Like Books Too

2008-05-01T13:41:00.000-04:00

While catching up on my blog reading this morning, I got a great idea from Melanie's blog.. She had been book tagged. It was interesting enough. Being the ego-centric person that I am, I felt I could easily participate in this activity even though she hadn't book tagged me or expressed interest in my current reading materials. I began to wonder what a book within close proximity to me would reveal. Working for a legal publisher, there are several boring books on the bookshelf a few feet away that are all written in legalise. This is a foreign language I have yet to master, even after two years. Korean was a breeze compared to this mammoth beast. Anyway, I am now left with two choices (unless you count the February 2008 edition of Spirit Magazine).

Choice #1: Angel Customers and Demon Customers. A gift from one of my many CMOs from the last two years. All us marketers received one and I've yet to open it still. Now's a good a chance as any.

Page 123, 5th Sentence: Does each group have significantly homogeneous needs to be susceptible to common offers and marketing? (yes, it's a question not a sentence, but I'm sure it still counts.

Analysis: The context of this sentence is grouping different target markets by need. The example would be computer companies clumping individuals together and businesses together and targeting the two groups separately. Upon reflection, this is a valid point. Are the needs of the group similar enough that one message will reach them all equally, or do I need to be more specific in my messaging thus dividing each group into more groups? The answer is yes. It is common knowledge that I can come across as rather abrasive upon first introduction. However, this abrasiveness is soon recognized as an expression of my adorableness upon further acquaintance. Nonetheless, I realize that it isn't always the best method to reach new acquaintances.

Choice #2: Eat, Pray, Love. Stolen from Amy where it was stolen from Ashley. Great book and I just got to the Bali part this morning and am now contemplating Bali as a great vacation spot during these unemployment months.

Page 123, 5th Sentence: Like all great philosophical ideas, this one is simplest to understand but virtually impossible to imbibe.

Analysis: I love the word imbibe. I should use it more often. I'm a little annoyed that both of my sentences needed context. Couldn't they be like one of the preceding sentences: But we do have the chance. Or one of the following sentences: No problem. However, today, I must dig deep into my philosophical mind and explore what these books are telling me. Just to spite the cosmic powers I will proceed without context on this sentence. How is it possible to understand something while it is impossible to imbibe? You'd think if you understand something that you can easily absorb it, right? No. Think about how many things you get, but can't explain? Is that not the same thing? Don't most faith-based principles elicit this same paradox? I don't know...just thinking about the illustration of imbibing an idea is interesting contrasted with merely understanding it.

So, I guess my self-imposed book tag proved nothing. Although, I did try to use big words to increase the grade-level of the blog. But for the most part I'm the same. I'll continue to be abrasive upon first introduction--it's my thing, I'm good at it. And I will try to use imbibe more in everyday venacular--and not just in reference to when people are actually drinking.

We All Want the Funny Back

2008-05-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have been fighting five-year-olds for a very long time. No one realizes this more than myself. I'm sorry team. I'm sorry. It's just been a difficult month...I got layed off and now I have no job. Oh wait! That's great news. I have all the time in the world to do nothing. Hurray. I will one day blog again. Until then check out this funny blog.

Another Interesting Fact--5 year olds beware!

2008-03-25T02:11:00.001-04:00

Doesn't Everybody Poop?

2008-03-25T02:06:00.001-04:00

I think my mom would be happy with this rating system...I'll try and class it up for the rest of you though. At least I know that Grant can read my blog and be among company

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
poop (1x)
pooped (4x)

Some Time to Reflect

2008-03-21T15:44:00.000-04:00

Sitting in my umpteenth airport in the last month has given me time to sit back and reflect.

#1--I'm horrible at blogging. There are so many great pictures that tell so many wonderful stories and memories with my friends that I've yet to share with the world for your own enjoyment. I keep telling myself that I'll be better when I have more time. However, we all know that that is just a load of bollocks. I'll never have more time. And if I do have more time, I'll spend it sleeping and watching ABC Family movies.

#2--I'm too predictable. This is true. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm just simple minded and can easily be figured out. For instance, I totally still have a mad crush on Jared Leto. Because I know that underneath this 30 Seconds to Mars creepiness...

...lies the silent and confused Jordan Catelano (I've been watching a lot of My So-Called Life lately).

#3--I don't appreciate my Marketing Academy instructor to tell me that because I'm so smart I have cognitive dissonance. I'm not stupid enough to think that you were actually trying to be anything but a total tool with that comment. I spent a wasted two days in Dayton learning all about the fundamentals of marketing. Good thing I don't have a degree it that already. Anyway, he wasn't impressed with me not being greedy enough when negotiating even though I was quite happy with my million dollar cabin; he therefore labeled me as delusional.

#4--I take rockin' good jumping pictures.

This is the Traveling Lexpo--aka the "bus". It is touring across the country and spent two event filled weeks in my region. This accounts for half of my busy travel month. Anyway, I'm super glad that it has ventured out of my region, and I can spend some quality time in the office again. However, I miss Ryan and Victoria, the driving team. I'm pretty sure I'm the best thing that ever happened to them.

For Posterity's Sake

2008-02-29T16:17:00.000-05:00

To keep an accurate record of my life I include these two items. Again, no pictures because I'm still at work (shhhh...don't tell that I'm doing personal blogging during working hours) and don't have my USB port thing.

#1: Jeanette is having a baby girl. That brings the Baker family total to Girls: 12 and Boys: 8. Well done sisters. Her name is Allie Jean Zumwalt. I'm pretty sure that the Allie is short for Alisa. Therefore two of my nieces will be named after me: Allie and Rachel (her middle name is Joy). Actually, I asked Jeanette if Allie was going to be named after me and she said no, I don't believe her. ALIsa and ALLIE--you all see it right? Please also note the names of my nieces: Abbie, Annie, Elizabeth, Addie, Rachel, Allie. I hope the Fizz (that's Elizabeth) and Rachel don't get a complex. My first daughter will be named Aggie--I'm proud of my alma mater. No, that isn't an annoucement that I'm pregnant because I'm not.

#2: While waiting for my lunch, my friend Nancy looked at my shirt and asked what I got on it. I looked down knowing I hadn't spilled anything and there it was. Bird poop. Seriously. I was outside for 1/2 second. I have now been bird pooped on twice. The first was while running across the street. A bird pooped on my hand, and I ran to Whitney's house for soap and water. Now, I got pooped on walking to lunch. I scrubbed it off with a Clorox wipe. So nasty. I hate being pooped on. I'm not happy about it at all.

Bag Tagging

2008-02-29T11:37:00.000-05:00

Luckily one of the things in my bag was my camera so I took a picture. Unluckily, my handy little flash drive thingy isn't--I wonder where it is. Therefore, I'm going to have to remember to upload the picture later when I find it.

My dear friend Mackenzie bag tagged me. I have to expose the contents of my bag to the world.

Last week Courtney and I were grocery shopping. While at the store she needed to get into my bag for a pen or some other writing instrument and commented on the disgraceful situation that is my bag. I admit that I treat my bag like a portable garbage can. There's always random stuff in there and it takes a long time to get it cleaned out. Courtney's comments prompted one such clean up so there isn't anything too embarrassing in the bag today--which is surprising considering the fact that I traveled this week. Sorry dear readers. You'll have to tag me again in a couple of weeks, and I'm sure it will be full of trash.

Today's Contents:
1 book--I started reading this book a really long time ago on the commute. I don't really like it but haven't taken the time to find something else to read.
1 checkbook
1 pair of sunglasses
1 cell phone
1 binder clip
1 pack of gum with 9 pieces of gum in it--must be a new pack. I admit that I don't go through gum nearly as much as I used to before Whitney moved to Alameda, Gnu loves gum!
1 hair elastic
1 elastic headband thing that never really stays on that well because my hair is silky smooth
1 key--I don't know what it goes to. This may be the key my dad gave me last time I was home since they changed the locks. Must remember to test it out when I'm there.
1 frequent buyer card from Ralph's. I had to buy some stuff in LA and the lady made me take it even though I didn't want it.
1 camera memory card
my keys
1 chapstick
1 lip gloss
1 lip shimmer
1 cap to a lipstick liner--I've been looking for that
$4.54 in change in addition to the huge amount in the change pocket
3 tampons that have been in there for a really long time and should probably be thrown away
2 feathers--left over from the pillow fight
Piece of paper with grad school interview schedule and information
3 strands of stray hair--kind of disgusting but not as bad as Chris' fashions with human hair, still gagging
5 bobby pins
1 wallet
1 camera--obviously not pictured

I view tagging as a slightly elevated form of forward messages and only send on the absolutely most hilarious ones when it comes to forwards. Plus, Mackenzie tagged most of the ladies. Therefore, I tag you only if there is something scandalous in your bag right now...tell me what it is!

This is Our Time to Dance

2008-02-27T00:31:00.000-05:00

It must be said that I love Kevin Bacon. And how could a true fan of the 80s not love Footloose? How wonderful is the part where Kevin Bacon is talking to the city council trying to convince them to change the law and allow a senior dance? What did David say? Leaping and dancing....leaping and dancing before the Lord. Anyway, it is a cinematic masterpiece.

Now I did recently watch this movie with Amy, but that is not why I bring it up now. Courtney and I splurged and subscribe to basic cable. This means we get the typical channels (fox, abc, nbc, cbs, cw, pbs, etc), two bonus channels (tnt, tbs), several sport channels (espn, espn, espn--in fact we have two of the same channel--I'm not sure how many of them are all espn, but espn has like a million channels), a handful of Spanish stations, the Chinese station, a few others in the middle that I'm not sure what they are, and the Alameda channel. I often watch the Alameda channel when it is showing the bridges and Alameda point in rotation. No words or music or news or anything worthwhile happens, just the same three shots of Alameda rotating. Well, tonight I discovered that they sometimes have actual programming on the Alameda channel. Tonight was the city council meeting. I stopped on the channel just long enough to hear this: "Closing the swimming pools at Encinal high would literally make us an island with no swimmers." A young high school student was passionately making his argument for funding and support to keep the swimming pools open. I was intrigued and had to watch. It was just like Footloose. Only this time it was swimming instead of dancing. Let the children swim. It was wonderful.

Reason #1558 Why I Love Alameda!

My Half-Birthday

2008-02-11T11:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Half-Birthday to me.
Happy Half-Brithday to me.
Happy Half-Brithday Alisa.
Happy Half-Birthday to me.

Hurray! What kind of cupcakes should I make for my half-birthday?

Keeping up with the Jones'

2008-02-07T19:03:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Courtney's blog and got worried:

Movie Reviews

Of course, there was nothing to worry about--I'm just as smart as she is. Happy reading.

My 15 Seconds of Fame

2008-02-05T11:42:00.001-05:00

Thank you Whitney for discovering me. Here's the story as it was told to me:

Whitney was traveling home to Alameda from Houston on Friday, February 1. While flying back she began to browse Spirit, the Southwest Airlines complimentary in-flight magazine. As she wandered upon page 24, she thought to herself, "That looks like Alisa."

Upon further investigation she read the by line and confirmed that it was in fact Alisa right next to a kid dressed as Elvis and a giant dog. Check me out:

A big thank you goes out to Courtney, the artistic genious behind this shot, and 63, my partner in crime and a great high-fiver. Thank you to my parents and family who have always supported me and encouraged me to dream big. And thank you Whitney for being the sister-in-law I never had.

Ladies That Still Brunch

2008-01-27T23:32:00.000-05:00

The Ladies Brunch Group has been quite pathetic lately. We rarely brunch anymore and can never get the full group. Last week we turned it into a lunch and it was such a chore. It lost it's allure. I say that we take back the brunch. C'mon ladies, we have got to get our brunch on.

So, in an effort to protect this sacred ritual, I gathered those that I could and we brunched in Alameda at Ole's on Saturday. Before I go on and attach pictures, I must say: I love waffles.

Now, when we finally left for brunch I was starving and feeling artistic. Check out this photo:

I have got to figure out how to use my new camera. I guess it really isn't new anymore since I bought it like 3 months ago. I also need to figure out how to use my telephone and all its cool features. And I also need to figure out how to use my new video iPod nano and take it out of the plastic box thingy. Man, technology is lost on me. I've got to get myself a friend (read: super cute boy) to do all this stuff for me.

Adorable "ladies" that brunch early in the morning:

I can't even open my eyes.

Okay, I'm making a New Year's Resolution right now. The ladies brunch in 2008. Must get in the pattern girls.

A Very Long Wait

2008-01-23T11:39:00.000-05:00

Shortly before Thanksgiving I learned that I had missed out on the theatrical event of the year. I had not yet seen (or heard of for that matter) Sydney White. Everyone (all of my sisters and CindyMindyPindy) had seen and loved this classic fairy tale set on modern greek row with our heroin Amanda Bynes. Before I go on I must say that I love Amanda Bynes. Loved "What a Girl Wants" and "She's the Man." She was great in "Hairspray." Found myself watching episodes of "What I Like About You" while flipping through the channels. I'm a fan. She's stays out of the Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton gossip scene and seems like a pretty cool person.

I was perplexed as to how on earth I could not have heard of or seen this movie yet. As many of you know, this is my kind of movie. I began searching local theaters to see when and where it was playing. No luck. No theater was playing this movie...I'm guessing none of them had heard of it either. Luckily, I was heading home for Thanksgiving weekend and it was playing at the dollar movies in Salt Lake (Bless the dollar movies--greatest invention of the century). I had a plan to see the movie and nothing was going to stop me...except of course for the fact that the movie theater changed its line up the day I arrived into town and it was no longer playing. I was bummed. I was going to say that I was devastated but that would be a little too melodramatic. I was truly bummed though. I had been looking forward to going to the movie for about a week and didn't want to have to face the fact that my only option now was to wait for it to be released on DVD. Since it was no longer playing in theaters in Salt Lake or anywhere in the bay area, I was forced to put it in my Netflix queue. It sat in the bottom "saved" section alongside "My So-Called Life" (which has now made its way up the queue but lost excitement due to free episodes on abc.com) and "Maid to Order" for about a month and a half until it moved to the bottom of the queue with a "Releases January 22" note. I instantly moved it directly to the top. The day it was released it would be the next movie I got no matter where I was in the Veronica Mars saga (oh the intrigue and angst waiting for the next disc).

After much anticipation the day finally arrived. Yesterday was January 22 and waiting for me at home was Sydney White. I had the evening planned out. I start two loads of laundry, run to the store, cook dinner and enjoy the evening in front of the television. Everything was going according to plan. I knew that I needed to keep my excitement for the movie under control or there was no way that it could live up to my expectations. It just isn't possible with this type of movie. This is probably why I love these types of movies so much. The movie starts and the first thing I wonder: why is Amanda Bynes wearing a wig in this movie? There has to be a make over scene coming up when she's going to get cute hair and normal make-up.

I kept waiting and waiting. The whole time she had this stupid confused look on her face and her hair unnaturally hanging. Occasionally she would have her hair pulled back in a pony tail which made her hair look real from behind. However, I just wanted to push it all behind her ears or back in the pony tail to fix how stupid it was. I'm serious, what is going on here?

The guy she's about to kiss saved the movie for me. How cute is Matt Long and why on earth did I never watch "Jack and Bobby?"

Cute Matt Long and Amanda Bynes in a wig:

Cute Matt Long (but kind of hard to buy as the hottest guy at school):

Cute Matt Long (thinking about asking me out--look how happy the thought makes him):

So, after viewing this much anticipated film, I have to say that I was expecting more. I'm sure I would have loved it if Amanda's horribly fake hair and white eyeshadow had not gotten in the way. Basically, it made me so sad and wish that I had three hours of Veronica Mars.

Also, I missed Northanger Abbey this week. If anyone out there loves me and DVR'd it, please save it for me. Please, Mom.

The Fond Memories

2008-01-15T18:42:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I really miss my old job. The free cookies and Coca-Cola Classic were a huge perk. But then there are other days that the fond memories of the people and love we had for each just bring joy to my heart:

I'm Obsessed

2008-01-07T19:04:00.000-05:00

Everytime I turn around the joys of Pride and Prejudice are staring me in the face. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm totally loving it!!

Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!!
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Elizabeth Bennet

As one of Austen's most beloved characters, Elizabeth Bennet represents what most women would like to become: strong, independent, and loyal. Of course, she has her faults including a stubborn will of iron and a clinging to first impressions. Overall, Lizzie is bright and lovable...something to admire and aspire to.

The Finer Things

2007-11-28T01:03:00.000-05:00

I moved to San Francisco (okay Berkeley) in January of 2006. Those of you familiar with the bay area know that winter is not like the Utah winters I was used to. I was looking forward to the snowless, mild winter. Unfortunately, I didn't get the memo on the rain. It rained the day I drove into the state thus causing the drive from Reno to Berkeley insanely long (6+ hours). And then I don't remember it the rain stopping until mid-April. What a glorious day it was when I first looked out over the bay from my office window. The sky was blue and the bay was covered in little white triangles. At that moment I knew that I had to meet myself a wealthy young gentleman that sailed.

Enter Dallas:

I guess I should say Captain Dallas. He got his Skipper license and we got to go sailing on the beautiful bay on a warm, sunny, breezeless day. It was fantastic--even without the breeze that propels the boat along.

Thus started the Alameda chapter of the Finer Things Club. Members are: Dallas (obviously-even though he technically isn't an Alamedan). Me:

Courtney:

and the Bakers: (If the batteries in my camera hadn't died I would have mine own pictures of the lovely couple. Instead you will have to settle for ones that I'm pretty sure I took--click on the link)

I'm flattered but....

2007-11-28T00:40:00.000-05:00

So, as I've mentioned before, I get a lot of junk mail. A lot. And about once a month a new catalog is added. The Discovery Channel, Oriental Trading Company, Red Envelope, REI, Entertainment Weekly, Nike store.com, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn kids, Major League Baseball, Outdoor Adventures, Cold Water Creek (I must ellaborate on that one because it almost made me cry, it came to me at work. The catalog gods clearly hate me), the list goes on--it seriously does and I have no idea how I got on all of these subscription lists because I honestly don't buy this much stuff--it's a bit ridiculous. Anyway, I think it may have gone too far this time.

This is the catalog for Barney's New York. I know what you are all thinking and yes, I do have a fancy job and live in San Francisco. But let's be real: I live in San Francisco. Who can actually buy stuff from the Barney's catalog? So, while I may be flattered, I think I'm going to have to continue to make my wish lists from one of the many JCrew catalogs I get every single week.

A Thumbs Up Weekend

2007-10-31T00:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-30T01:27:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-24T00:51:00.000-04:00

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....

2007-10-24T00:40:00.000-04:00

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

Nicknames

2007-10-10T23:25:00.000-04:00

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.

Reflections

2007-09-26T00:30:00.000-04:00

I sat around a dinner table with five other amazing women on Sunday discussing our current single situations. Oh, let me pre-empt this with the following: I do not plan to use this blog as a place for my diatribes or reasonings on why I'm single, frankly, those blogs irritate me. As we sat there talking about how old we thought 25 was when we were 18 and how we would could never imagine ourselves as those "poor" women. We were so young and brainwashed. Anyway, sitting around listening to my friends' stories got me to think about my own life. I'm single. I have been single for 28 years. I see myself being single for the foreseeable future (read: no legitimate prospects). So, as I've begun to age (I'm 28 now, yikes!) I've started to evaluate interesting patterns in my life that I find highly amusing. These patterns could be the contributors to the singlenss, further exploration and evaluation is needed. One of the most baffling patterns is the unexplainable failure for guys to actually take me out after they've already survived the asking. I've been asked out more times than I've actually gone out. In other words, there is a tendency for guys to ask me out and then never actually take me out. I will now provide examples. I was tempted to make up names, but then figured I don't care and can therefore share real names.

Incident #1:
To the best of my knowledge, the first incident took place in 1999. I was 20 years old and home from school for the summer working at the Gap. A cute little senior at Riverton High School named Nate was also working at the Gap this summer. As well as another girl whose name I do not recollect. Both of these kids went to school with Jeanette who probably knows them both and can pass this story on to them. Anyway, I was standing by the register folding clothes. Then Nate was standing there too folding clothes. We started chatting. Then he asked me if I had ever been paint balling. I said no, I hadn't, but had always wanted to because it looks so fun. Then he asked if I wanted to go with him the next day. I immediately said yes. Paint balling was going to be so cool. In fact, I'm pretty sure I started to think about what I would wear. As Nate walked away, I began to wonder if this was a date. It didn't matter, I was going paintballing with a cute high schooler, awesome! Later that night Nate and the other girl were by the dressing rooms folding clothes. She had gotten word of the "date" and was no happy. I had to drop something off over by them. As I'm walking towards them, she asks me, "So, Alisa, how old are you?" I looked at her and said, "20." I had no idea this would be an issue, but it was. Nate looked up with huge eyes and exclaimed, "What? You're 20." I said yes. I guess he didn't know that I was just back from school for the summer. Who knows? Anyway, the next day Nate called me and said that something had come up and he couldn't go paintballing anymore. I don't remember the exact excuse, but it was lame. I was mostly bummed about the paintballing....I've still never been.

Incident #2:
New boy Dallas moves into the ward. Friendly guy. As all guys should do, Dallas quickly ascertained the lady situation in the ward by taking every opportunity possible to meet and further interact with the sisters. Myself included. When Dallas learned that I worked in the city, he asked me to lunch. Concrete plans weren't made, but a definite plan to do lunch was made. Well, since there were no actual concrete plans on the day of the lunch "date," I wasn't upset when Dallas ended up bailing (and forgetting) about the plans. We tried to reschedule a couple of times and had a super awkward phone call on the bus once. We never ended up going out. Further evidence that it's tough to take me out.

Incident #3:
Please see Dating Advice Tip #1.

This is a two part incident because a few weeks after this Bret (I'm past protecting his name) called me again to say hi. He was getting ready to go out of town for a week but would be back the following weekend and said we should do something. Then he said he'd call. Well, guess who never called? I got a sorry text a few days later and then a "We should go camping sometime." text a few weeks after that. Both elicited no response from me. C'mon, don't be ridiculous.

Maybe three incidents spread out over 8 years aren't a pattern, but there is something here. I know it. I haven't figured it out yet, but I will. Also, please note that I don't consider myself someone who gets stood up, because I'm not. I'm someone that guys can easily ask out but not take out. It's that simple.

Alisa v Mandy

2007-09-12T13:31:00.000-04:00

It has recently been brought to my attention on several occasions from different sources that I look like Mandy Moore. As much as I loved her performance in Saved, she's one of those actresses that I couldn't care less about. Speaking of Saved, I think that is one of those movies that I could always watch: I am filled with Christ's love. Although I do give her props for not becoming crazy like others of her generation. Way to stay strong Mandy. Oh, and you were funny on your cameos on Scrubs: That's so funny. Hmmm, maybe I do like Mandy Moore. Nah, I'm still indifferent.

Anyway, besides the matching brown hair cuts and the huge sunglasses, I don't get it. This could be anyone. Your thoughts? I'm not opposed to looking like Mandy Moore, but it just isn't obvious to me. When I was younger I'd get Punky Brewster, but I'm an original and don't get that celebrity look alike thing all that often. So, I wonder if I've somehow transformed into Mandy Moore without realizing it. Does this mean I have to start dating Zach Braff? Hmmm, fine by me.

Come to think of it, maybe I do like Mandy Moore. On Monday night I was at the multi-ward pirate party on Treasure Island and a girl that I've never met or seen before tapped me on the shoulder and said hi and asked how I was doing. I politely answered and inquired after her as well. It was a lovely exchange. Now that I think about it, she knows Mandy Moore and thought I was her.

I figured it Out

2007-08-31T19:23:00.000-04:00

You know how Gnu loves jumping pictures? Well Renee quickly jumped on the band wagon (he he he he, that's an original). I too love jumping pictures and try to capture them all of the time. However, I recently made a very important discovery. Does this look familiar to anyone?

So secretly Gnu is a huge High School Musical fan. He must have given the crew some pointers because this one is even better.

Gnu, do you really know the cast of High School Musical? I want to meet Zac Efron. He seems gay. Must be fun to shop with.

The Grand Scheme

2007-08-30T20:15:00.000-04:00

Stolen directly from Leslie's blog, I'd like to incorporate this into my repetoire of hilarious things I say. (Note: you will need to click on the link to Leslie's blog if you want to know about the Grand Scheme).

Courtney and I are the funniest people in the Berkeley student ward. There are other funny people, but we are the funniest. Gnu likes to add "self-proclaimed" in there, but no one is competing for this title--they all know they don't have a chance. Now, we are hilarious girls, but we are far from the funniest ever in the whole universe. Luckily for us, we came into the ward at a relatively dry time and were quickly the funniest and have been able to hold our title while other funnies have joined. Anyway, we have recently discovered (side note: she's probably going to get mad at me for stealing this blog topic, since I can imagine her writing up a doozy on the topic) that a large percentage of our jokes are covers. We have some Baker/Forester originals that we do really well, but some of our best jokes are covers. (Meaning they are our version of other jokes we've heard or seen--some classics, others obscure, think Free Bird).

As Amy can attest to (she has no blog or I would link to it, instead I choose to link to this: Iheartamy), I have an uncanny ability to make references to pop culture particularly television shows and movies of the "chick" variety. There is a gold mine of jokes that are easy to cover in both of these mediums. Courtney remembers everything thus adding to our possibilities.

Now, don't think that because we do covers, we aren't originally funny because we are...plenty of covers are easily better than their originals. I'm just saying that the fact that we have covers and Baker/Forester originals adds to our diversity and credibility as the funniest in the ward, Gnu. Anyway, I'm definitely going to add the grand scheme into the repetoire. I don't know when. I don't know how. But I know someday it'll happen.

Jeanette Tagged Me

2007-08-29T11:53:00.000-04:00

My adorable little sister Jeanette, against her will, started a blog a while back. It's pretty nice being able to know what is going on in her life. Anyway, she tagged me on her blog and, as I've often said, I'm definitely a joiner. So, without delay, I bring you more facts about me!

Four Jobs I've Had:

Resident Assistant
Bartender
Gift Wrapper
Camp Counselor

Four Movies I Can Always Watch:

This Time Around
What's Up Doc?
Fever Pitch
Chipmunk Adventure

Four Places I've Lived:

Logan, UT
Greeley, PA
Seoul, Korea
Berkeley, CA

Four TV Shows I Enjoy:

The Office
Scrubs
30 Rock
Gilmore Girls

Four Favorite Foods:

Cheese
Cupcakes
Apples
Chicken Tikki Masala from Breads of India

Four Websites I Visit:

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:

My bed
My couch
A day spa
Disneyland

Four Blogger Buddies I'm Tagging:

Natalie
Courtney
Gnu
Kellie

World Peace

2007-08-27T17:20:00.001-04:00

Now, besides the fact that it is sad to see our once beloved AC Slater on Dancing with the Stars and now hosting Miss Tean USA instead of reprising his famous role in Saved by the Bell the major motion picture, I wouldn't be surprised if Miss South Carolina even knows where the US is on a map. Even harder to imagine, why are beauty pageants still on and a career possiblity for women like this?

Thank you Pappy

2007-08-27T01:15:00.000-04:00

Dads are wonderful. I've learned all sorts of wonderful things from dad throughout my life. I remember him teaching me how to ride a bike. I'm pretty sure we all learned on the red bike with the white seat. My dad taught me how to do magic. I can now make my leg disappear with the help of a large handkerchief. And my dad taught me how to take pictures. He's practically a professional when it comes to photography. The folks were recently in the bay area visiting us and this is what they shared with him. After he learned of the death of my camera, my dad was great at forwarding me all of the shots that he had taken so I would have something to blog about. You can all thank him yourselfs. What I didn't expect, was how great the pictures would be and the story that they tell.

These should be in a gallery they are just brilliant.

I'm so glad that dad was able to capture these amazing shots and memories. Especially when I have no pictures since I have no camera. Oh, this just in. The memory cards have not been damaged. I still have pictures. More to come!

Thanks for the pictures dad.

No More Pictures

2007-08-19T23:09:00.000-04:00

I realize that my recent blog posts have been a little light on the pictures (read: there have been none). And I realize that for some of you this has been rough. I too love the pictures; it makes it easier to read...all those words for recreation? Exactly.

Well, I would like to blog with pictures, but I've had a death in the family. I went rafting yesterday and took the camera along and now I'm in the market for a new one. It is still undecided if the memory cards are going to give me access to all of my memories. I kind of hope so.

Now, you are probably thinking that it is my own stupid fault that my camera got wet and ruined when I chose to take it rafting. Let me explain. I've been rafting several times. Several. I go every year with my friends to the Snake river. I would never take my camera if it wasn't in a dry bag on that trip. There are actual rapids and you get wet on that river. So, last year I was super excited for the annual ward river trip. The plan was to raft the Russian River. I'd never been or heard anything about it. Silly me, I assumed that it would be like every other river I've gone down and include some rapids and some good times. Plus, with the ward we are guaranteed a little water fighting. Imagine my shock and disappointment when the river was about a foot deep and barely moving. We had to row the whole time if there was any chance of finishing that day. No rapids anywhere. No water fights either. I came out of there super dry. Nothing got wet. I had gone all prepared for Niagara falls and came out like I'd been in the Sahara desert.

August comes around again meaning the annual river trip is back on. New river this year. However, there are no rapids on this one either. I like to consider myself someone who learns from her lessons. Therefore, I didn't get all raft geared up and loaded up my backpack with supplies: granola bars, water, first aid kit and camera to capture the moments and God's green earth. Well it turns out this was a bad decision. We were drenched from water fights within 15 minutes. Everything got soggy. Even the food, nasty. Anyway, lots of fun and stories happened on the river last night. It was a good time. But among the damages was my camera. It was old and had had a good life. It had been to Europe and Seattle. It had a full successful life by providing me with memories and joy. Thank you camera. I hope I can find a cheap replacement that will make me just as happy. However, until then, there are no pictures on the blog.

More Fun Facts, Part II

2007-08-09T00:20:00.000-04:00

As promised, I'm going to continue to share useless, interesting and fun facts about myself with my reading public. Again, some of these may be new, some may not. Some show my hidden depth while others confirm that I'm completely hollow inside.

51. I don't like kittens, cats or puppies....I can tolerate dogs if they are big. I'd be just fine if I never had a pet.
52. I have no idea how I survived before discovering pedicures. Thank you Amanda for getting married and having mom buy us all pedicures.
53. I have to sleep in the middle of my bed. I also try and take up as much room as possible.
54. I hate getting ready for bed. I don't hate washing my face, brushing my teeth or flossing. I hate the energy exerted to "get ready for bed."
55. I love pre-sleeping (taking a quick nap on the couch before getting ready for bed) but try to avoid it because I tend to wake up at 3 in the morning to go and get ready for bed.
56. On lazy Saturday mornings, I turn on the television and always hope that TBS or ABC Family will be having a bad movie marathon that day (by bad I mean awesome movies that you can't admit to liking because it is just not cool). This rarely happens and am I forced to watch something stupid while I eat my cereal.
57. I've been meaning to decorate my office at work since I moved in in January.
58. I practice my signature until it looks cool...it has evolved into an A with a squiggle and I couldn't be more pleased with it.
59. The Minnesotan accent is by far my favorite. I think this may have derived from Drop Dead Gorgeous.
60. I don't know how to drive a stick shift...and I really don't care if I ever learn.
61. I don't remember ever having church treats as a kid; however, now I can't go a Sunday without snacks for Sunday school--except fast Sunday.
62. I love getting non-junk, non-bill mail...random letters are the greatest things ever.
63. I have really good cop karma...I have no idea why, but I'm not complaining. Some people can always find parking places; I don't get pulled over.
64. I look adorable in hats although I never wear hats. I always buy them too because I'm adorable...I wonder what my problem is.
65. I have a way with parents. All women over the age of 40 find me absolutely adorable and perfect for their son, grandson, nephew...impossible to be perfect for all of them, sorry.
66. Friday eve is my favorite day of the week.
67. I've planned out my funny anecdote to tell on Letterman when I become a famous movie star and promote the release of the show--fake laughs and all.
68. I am very skilled at instant messenger and gchat--I surprise myself with the number of conversations I can carry on at the same time. I owe all of my fake typing skills to interoffice IM.
69. I'm not normally afraid of the dark, but sometimes I can freak myself out enough that I get totally scared and it only makes the fear worse.
70. I don't have tivo. This means that when I find a show that I love to watch, I plan my night around being home to watch it. It is bitter sweet when shows end, I get my life back but it closes an era (exhibit a: the Gilmore Girls)
71. I like listening to "bad" music that is awesome on KOIT 96.5 on the radio. I have a theory that lyrics to those songs are ingrained in our souls...think about how many of them you can easily sing along too. Just ask Courtney, she knows.
72. My sales rep in Seattle thinks I look like Mandy Moore. She tells everyone this too. I don't see it. Maybe the bangs.
73. Whenever Lori and I go out to dinner we always go to Stoneground...especially after the stinky cheese incident at Bombera.
74. I get a little sad when I hear or try and speak Korean now because I've forgotten so much. I'm grateful when Koreans humor me and let me talk to them and they say I'm good. I know they are lying, but it makes me feel good.
75. I really enjoy flowers and know how to take care of them, but I have a tendency to kill plants. I think it is a lazy thing.
76. I love reading fashion and entertainment magazines on airplanes and on the beach.
77. I miss being able to sleep in past 8 on a Saturday. Back in college, I could easily sleep in till 1 or 2. Walking up to go to work everyday has totally ruined my internal clock.
78. When I was younger I thought that one day I would have enough freckles that I would be all brown and perma-tan. That never happened.
79. I get an insane amount of junk mail.
80. I bruise really easily. I always seem to have one and have no idea where it came from.
81. I'm on a quest to discover/create the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever.
82. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if it were a musical.
83. Raw tomatoes make me want to die...I had to eat them "to be nice" in Korea and it almost killed me. They are disgusting.
84. I miss being able to stay up for Letterman every once in awhile back in Utah. Prime time starts so late in California.
85. I love having house jokes that we can get all of our friends into. (Who's glad that guy's gone? What the h? Number 1, Ne na ne na, etc)
86. I always think I want a job that I have to be dressed in business formal all the time, but then when I have to wear a suit for a few days in a row, I'm totally glad that's not the case.
87. I'm pretty sure that I'm tied for funniest person in the ward. Self-proclaimed.
88. I play two chords on the guitar really well...the rest, not so much. I should practice.
89. I've lived in California for 18 months and am still driving around with a Utah license. I'm not so sure that is legal. I don't want to have to take a driving test.
90. I ride the bus every day with basically the same people. They all seem to be a lot more social than me since they will chat with each other while waiting. I just stand there and wait for the bus. I do however have two friends on the bus: Melissa and Scott. Awesome!
91. I don't wear glasses or contacts. I want a pair of glasses to wear as an accessory.
92. I often determine what I'm going to wear based off of the shoes that I want to wear.
93. It takes me forever to use gift cards that I receive. I either wait until there is something I really want to buy, or I forget I have them and just pay for stuff instead of using the gift card.
94. I like checking things off of to do lists. Sometimes I'll write down things that I do every day just so I have something to check off.
95. I keep to dos on post-it notes on my desk, along with reminders and things. This causes my desk to fill up with lots of post-it notes. I hate it when they lose their sticky and get stuck to my arm or move around on the desk. I also hate it when I use sub-par post-its and they leave a sticky residue on my desk.
96. I prefer using Sharpies and construction paper for most things (grocery lists, letters, sign up sheets, etc.).
97. If they didn't bleed through paper, I would only use Sharpie markers. I don't make mistakes and can handle the permanent ink. Just kidding--I just like the fine point Sharpie's.
98. Every time I clean my office and bedroom, I'm amazed at how quickly they get cluttered again. I'm not a dirty person, stuff just builds up.
99. Dirty bathrooms and kitchens gross me out.
100. I have a good sense of direction and can follow maps very well.

Let the Celebrations Begin

2007-08-08T10:57:00.001-04:00

I officially started my birthday celebrations last night at Lark Creek Steakhouse. It is super delicious if any of you are starving in the Bloomingdale's mall and want a big, tasty dinner.

This is also why I didn't have time to finish the 100 list last night, and why I didn't get to eat a French Dip sandwich yesterday. I still claim I'm in the club even though I haven't had participated in three months.

This week the annual NABE and ABA meetings are here in San Francisco (it's a big lawyer seminar) which means it's like traveling for week long meetings without the benefit of having the rest of your life on hold (or at least out of your hands) because you are far away. There's just too much to do when they are all together. So, some of my team was in town and we went out to dinner after the meetings. Dinner was good as was the snickerdoodle cookie with a candle that I got because it is my birthday on Saturday!!! Hurray! The celebrations have begun, and I'm in full "I'm so happy it is my birthday" mode! Not liking the fact that I have lots of work and meetings and have to stay late in the city every night...but I'm psyched that it's finally my birthday.

I'll keep you all posted on the rest of the celebrations. I think it may get pretty spread out this year since my parents are in town for the actual day and celebration, my work party won't be until next week, and the friend party will have to be later too.

Let's talk about me, baby. Part I

2007-08-07T01:32:00.000-04:00

I've seen these lists going around on several of my friend's blogs lately. H, I've seen it on stranger's blogs, I just haven't read it because they aren't as entertaining if you don't know the person...I digress. I was obviously hesitant at first because 100 interesting factoids is a lot. But since I like to talk about myself and can easily type as I think up stuff--just as Natalie can attest to--I'm sure I'll be able to create a great list for you all. So, in no particular order and without further adew, I bring you 100 interesting facts about yours truly that you may or may have not already known. Keep in mind these go from shallow to deep and back again, and I could probably write an entire blog entry about each and every one (I won't though.)

1. I don't care for ice cream. I'd much rather eat cakes and cookies.
2. Apples are my favorite fruit. Honey crisp apples make me so happy.
3. I have an iPod that I never ever use.
4. Some days I know exactly what I want and then the next day I want something completely contradictory. I actually want both but know that will never be possible (e.g. stay single forever and be married).
5. I love being around friends. We don't have to be doing anything. I just love to sit around and chat. In fact, I prefer this to being all alone (although there is a season for everything).
6. I love all of my nieces and nephews and love returning them to their parents when they have dirty diapers or have eaten (this comment refers to the boys).
7. I love the sensation of dead arm when I wake up. How on earth can my pillow weigh so much?
8. I hate my laugh. It is loud and I can't control it.
9. I love laughing. Especially when it makes me cry and my stomach starts hurting. And love it the most when I have to run from the room to the bathroom so I don't pee my pants.
10. Sometimes I wish I could quit my job and open up a bakery that is only open at night time (that's the best time for cupcakes). However, I fear being a small business owner because all the business stuff is a lot of work. Yes, I majored in business. Oh and all of my recipes are stolen from the Barefoot Contessa. So this is a silly plan.
11. I love fresh flowers...I love solid vibrant colors.
12. I love to dance. (Said in the Sarah Jessica Parker Girls Just Want to Have Fun voice)
13. I love movies.
14. I love ABC Family movies and pray that one day I'll be able to buy them on DVD so I can watch them all the time. Especially This Time Around.
15. I get obsessed with albums and will listen to them over and over again until I'm sick or them or find something else. Then I rarely come back to them once I've moved on. It takes me a lot longer to get sick of an album then most people.
16. I love getting non-work emails from friends.
17. I enjoy writing stories rather than telling them even though it takes a lot longer and is sometimes more confusing.
18. I love shoes.
19. I told all of my sisters that I was the favorite and then told my parents and I've gotten the entire family to believe me and act accordingly. Now I really am the favorite.
20. I love my little sister even though everyone (my mom) thinks I was mad she took my "baby" status from me. I'm glad I'm not the baby.
21. I love how different all of my sisters are from me.
22. I love listening to people tell stories.
23. I'm not that great at listening and remembering.
24. I said I contradict myself sometimes.
25. Water is my favorite beverage. I seriously love it more than anything else and always order it at restaurants even though it makes the server mad because it is free.
26. I tip well even when the server doesn't deserve it. I could probably count the number of times that I was so annoyed that I didn't tip well. It's not a lot.
27. I really enjoyed being a server and a bar tender. I sometimes think that I should quit my job and work at a hoity toity restaurant in san francisco and sleep in every morning...then I remember I don't get weekends off and I have to be nice to everyone.
28. I love not having to do my hair.
29. I wish I was better at wearing make up. Some people can make thier eyes looks so cool. When I try I feel like I have a ton of make up on and that I'm playing dress up.
30. Getting emails from Natalie and Amy still makes me happy...every single time. Because I know they will be long and full of inconsequential tidbits that we can analyze.
31. I love discovering lost acquaintences in the blogosphere. A couple of weeks ago I found this kid that was my fhe dad at Utah State for like a semester before he transferred to BYU...I've since lost where I tracked the blog down and hope to run into it again.
32. I love sleep and have no idea why I always stay up too late thus causing me to get less sleep than I would love.
33. I love obvious dating/realtionship/health/life lesson articles on MSN and Yahoo. If you've ever read them you totally know what I'm talking about.
34. I love reading the news on my phone on the bus ride home when I'm avoiding studying.
35. I hate sitting next to strangers on buses and airplanes. I think as small as possible and avoid contact as much as possible.
36. I love my freckles...and I'm super glad that Abbie has adorable freckles too.
37. I'm obsessed with sunblock. I hate getting sun burns and will put on SPF 50 numerous times in an outing.
38. I feel stupid when I do get sun burnt.
39. I love getting more freckles though. I also love when I've been out in the sun and they are brighter than normal.
40. I love that the freckles on my legs camoflouge the leg hair thus allowing me to go bare legged when I really shouldn't because the leg hair is quite long.
41. I love making up nicknames.
42. I could watch any episode of Gilmore Girls with my mom in her monstrous bed any time and still love it.
43. When watching the Gilmore Girl episodes by season numerous time, I'm a little sad every time it gets to the end because I don't want it to end.
44. Full seasons of television shows on DVD is the greatest invention ever.
45. I love to read on the bus and am anxiously awaiting the end of the perma-studying because there are so many books I want to read.
46. I can never decide what I want for Christmas or my birthday until it is right upon me.
47. I love my birthday more than any other day in the entire year.
48. I only eat kid cereals. Adult cereals gross me out.
49. I have a tendency to create awkward moments or make semi-awkward moments even worse.
50. I have grown to love the awkward. They make for excellent stories.

Due to #32 I'm going to have to go to bed. I'm super sleepy and I've got a busy and early day tomorrow morning. I'll finish this list later.

Tie a String on your Finger

2007-08-06T12:55:00.000-04:00

After my own forgetfulness last month, I'm not going to let this month's French Dip Tuesday go by uncelebrated. Let's all get French Dip sandwiches tomorrow...yum!

My Sabbatical

2007-08-05T23:49:00.000-04:00

As many of you may have noticed, I took a month long sabbatical from the blog. During this time, I have been able to do a lot of quality research and gather the information needed to further the entertainment derived from this blog and its entries. According to my mother, my blog is hilarious, and I should write a book. This is something I already knew. I'm h-ing hilarious and could easily be the equivalent of a mormon Sophie Kinsella--with the help of my life coach, of course.

I did a lot of this on my sabbatical. Here I am thinking. Thinking about the meaning of life. Thinking about my purpose here on this earth. Thinking about what the future holds for me. Thinking about what to blog about. Truth be told...I'm posing for the picture so I look like I'm thinking. There was no thought process in my head besides I hope this picture doesn't make me look fat because I'll just delete it.

I'm confident that this month long sabbatical will result in a plethora of funny posts that will one day be the basis for my best-seller and chronicle my life's adventures. I'll try and keep you entertained this week Leslie.

What's more American than Independence Day?

2007-07-05T23:37:00.000-04:00

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than getting a good spot for the Alameda parade?

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than barbecues?

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than Amy?

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than baseball?

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than squinty eyed smiles?

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than fuzzy pictures taken while bouncing crying/sleeping babies?

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than Red Dawn?

Nothing. Nothing.

What's more American than High School Musical?

Nothing. Nothing. Seriously, absolutely nothing here. I've heard of this from Abbie and had to Netflix it...good call!

Well Done Me

2007-07-04T22:23:00.001-04:00

As many of you know I'm studying for the GMAT. I love standardized tests. I also love doing math that I haven't done since junior high. Luckily, I think I may be smart enough. Check this out:

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Too bad none of the questions on this little quiz have appeared in my GMAT study book. Wish me luck!

The Crimson Wave

2007-07-02T21:41:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I officially joined the Alameda Bike Gang. The gang started just over a year ago when I moved to Alameda and Courtney, Sarah and I decided that we would start a gang and beat up other people in the ward that didn't live on the island. However, since I didn't have a bike, I couldn't really go on the gang bike rides. When Gnu moved to the island he instantly became a member of the gang and threatened my expulsion from the gang because I didn't have a bike. Therefore, in an effort to keep myself in the club, I finally bought a bike.

Even at the risk of making this sound like a Craig's List posting (where I actually found the bike) I will continue to talk about it. According to the previous owner this is a 50's Schwinn World Tour Cruiser. I have no idea if that is correct or what that even means, but I love it! It has a basket. It is red...well, like a burnt redish color. It has one speed so I don't have to worry about all of that gear shifting thing. It has a foot brake, again, I don't have to worry about all that handle bar stuff. It is perfect for getting around the flat little island I call home.

Now, when the gang goes out late at night to cause trouble, I can go too. This bike has been around the block so many times, I can't even count. It's furthest trip has been a late night run to the library to return an overdue book. I still need to get myself a bike lock--I'm paranoid that it'll disappear the second I leave it somewhere even with a lock on it (can you blame me? Who wouldn't want this beauty?) I also need to get a helmet. Although I personally don't like helmets and am sure I will look like a total dweeb in one, I am pro-safety and tend to follow such safety guidelines (seat belts, closed toed shoes at Lagoon, etc.) in an effort to conform to society and regulations determined by the man. That and I think dying by getting my head bashed in during a bike accident would totally suck. So, I need to get these two things, and I will then ride my bike more often.

Today is the perfect day to go for an afternoon bike ride along the beach. Check out my shadow. That is the shadow of someone wishing she was on the bike and not wearing a dress thus preventing a "G-rated" bike ride for the kids in the neighborhood (read--I don't want to go around flashing my white biker shorts underneath my dress).

The Alameda bike gang is always looking for newcomers. All you need is something with wheels (a bike, long board, roller skates, Razor scooter, etc.). If we get big enough we could be in contention for a spot in the parade next year.

Freaks and Geeks

2007-07-01T23:52:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many of you caught this little gem back when it originally aired. However, thanks to Netflix you can do what Courtney, Gnu and I did and watch it all day on Sunday. I highly recommend it!

Spending five hours of my day watching this show has gotten me to think about what exactly it means to be a freak and/or a geek. I did the little quiz on Cindy's blog. I also was a total nerd...fine, I buy it, whatever. However, it still didn't answer the question as to what it means to be a freak and/or a geek.

This quandry reminds me of a little game my friends and I played one year in college. Remember when you were in elementary school and you would break into teams for dodge ball/kick ball/red rover (insert your favorite school yard game here). Then do you remember standing there hoping that one of the team captains would pick you to be on his/her team, desperately hoping and praying that you wouldn't be the last one standing there. All of this stress because the last kid standing there was automatically designated to be on the other team by the first team captain saying, "He's on your team." We all know what that meant and nobody wanted to be that guy. Well, the game we played was basically putting people on our friend's team. Chelsea's team got loaded up with people that we found at Six Flags--yes, let your minds imagine the types of people we found there. While Brynn's team filled up with all awkward guys--she hated us so much for it. In essence, we put the "freaks" in Chelsea's team and the "geeks" in Brynn's. In hindsight, yes, I was a total jerk and should have treated all of these people as children of God, please forgive me. Nonetheless, I was trying to define the definitions of what it was to be a freak and/or a geek.

Do we ever outgrow being a freak or a geek? I spent most of last week melting in Phoenix (seriously 115, it was horrible!!) and observing many alleged freakish behaviors. It would obviously be rude to take pictures, but I was able to pull out my notebook and write them down so as not to miss anything.

I saw a lady with a bejeweled denim jacket. I love bedazzling my clothing as much as the next guy, but this may have been a little over the top. Every color of the rainbow was represented in plastic shiny jewels stuck to the shoulder and upper back of the jacket. How is it possible to not have these things poking you while wearing a bag across your shoulder?

While on a ride along with my sales rep in Phoenix, we visited a paralegal who had a sequined blue shirt on. Completely sequined blue shirt that she wore to work in an office on a Tuesday. She also had feathered bangs and side bangs and straight hair in the back. I hadn't seen this look in years...okay, I'd never seen this look in real life only movies and tv shows on Nick at Night.

I ate lunch at an average restuarant that appeared to be a local hot spot. While waiting for the server to return with the check, I looked over and saw an older gentleman reach down into his cowboy boot to pull out his wallet. People actually keep their wallets in their cowboy boots...how awesome is that? I've got to get myself some cowboy boots.

I spent about a day and a half at our booth on the exhibit floor for the Arizona State Bar show. Usually, I don't tend to see too much odd behavior amongst attorneys, they tend to be an old conservative bunch. However, two people caught my eye. The first was a lady just walking around. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to her, but I made a mental picture of her outfit that I will now try to describe for you. I'll start at the top. Her black hair was in a pony tail covered up by an American flag bandana. Then she wore a red mesh top over a blue leotard. Then she had on a pair of pink, blue and red leggings with pictures of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean on them. I got stuck on the leggings and have no recollection of the shoes. This outfit was a masterpiece. I wonder if she wears that in the courtroom? Next was a man going by the name of David Brown. I don't know if I can believe him because I caught him being dishonest about a few other things. First of all, he had a toupee on his head--can't be honest about the status of his hair. Second, he had the initals ADS monogrammed on his shirt. Where do you get ADS out of David Brown? How am I to believe such a man? He showed up the second day of the conference in the exact same outfit.

These people all had one thing in common. It didn't matter if they were a freak or a geek, they were happy. My observation and judgment didn't change they way they acted. Not one of them seemed sad or miserable or even cared about what I or anyone else thought about them. So, now, I don't only know what it means to be a freak or a geek, but I also don't know why it matters in the first place.

So, the doomed question. Am I a freak or a geek? Do I do things that make other people giggle and write about me in their blog so all of their friends are amused by my antics? Am I being placed on someone else's "team" in an effort to mock and torment that person? Are my friends therefore freaks and geeks too? Must it be that we all have a little freak and geek in each of us and the goal of life is to just let our freak flag fly?

Just Another Day at the Park

2007-06-22T01:18:00.000-04:00

It is summertime which means baseball time. I'm not a big baseball fan, not at all in fact. I've been to a handful of Giants games. I was with friends so I could occupy my time fine enough. However, my first A's game was super close thus allowing me to actually watch and enjoy the game. Hey, did you know baseball games can be fun? There are two rules to make baseball games fun. 1) Sit at least this close. And 2) Have a guy that looks like this sit in front of you and hit on you--awesome!

Matchy Matchy Brown Squared

2007-06-22T00:56:00.001-04:00

Here are Erica and Courtney in matching adorable brown dresses at Kara's wedding. Being Mormon is super great, it really is. And temple weddings are wonderful. I can't imagine my life any other way...but this also means that I rarely get to attend any of those fancy weddings that grace the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings with the bride walking down the aisle at a vineyard and everyone is in pretty dresses and then you eat awesome food and dance all night. So, you can only imagine my delight when Kara invited us to her wedding. Her big fancy, in a vineyard, pretty dress wedding. She looked gorgeous. The weather was gorgeous. It was storybook. It really was. Here she is walking down the aisle.

And here is the beautiful Vicky Hill as a bridesmaid. She set up Kara and Adam and look how that turned out. The two of us get to visit teach each other which is awesome! Plus, she looks gorgeous in her dress too.

I have to say that driving for over 2 hours to cover just about 35/40 miles was well worth it when we got to go to the wedding. Thanks Kara for letting us come and for the beautiful wedding. Plus, it gave me a chance to wear my shoes that I'm still totally in love with.

A Hiking We Will Go

2007-06-19T13:57:00.000-04:00

I woke up really early on Saturday to spend the majority of the day staring at this:

Don't get me wrong, Gnu's got a great little toosh, and I'm sure his adorable fiance Whitney loves it. However, it was really early on the start of a super long day. We went up hiking near Pt. Reyes. If you haven't been there, go, it's gorgeous. I bet Gnu would even join you if you want to stare at his toosh all day!

Hiking along the coast line made me super glad that I live in California. Sure I had gorgeous mountains in Utah, but they weren't right next to the ocean.

We hiked up a really steep hill that reminded me that I'm not as fit as I once was and even made me consider passing out along the trail thus missing my opportunity to see this:

You may notice that I am still out of breath in that picture and barely standing up. Thank you Amy for preventing me from falling to my death. I don't think I fully recovered until I was down at the beach.

and able to jump this high:

Thank you Gnu for my first ever jumping picture. I'm really proud that you were able to get it on the first try when I used about 35 pictures to get you jumping--at least you aren't in the film era anymore, right?

I got some well needed rest eating lunch on the beach and was ready to book it the 5.5 miles back to the car in order to get home in time to shower for Courtney's graduation dinner at the Gingerbread House.

It didn't take me long on the 5.5 miles back to the car to realize how stupid we were to keep hiking past our original 4 mile turnaround point. The out-of-shape factor was definitely starting to play a bigger role in my tired level. With the help of adorable new girl Tori, I was able to make it back to the car with 0 seconds to spare. Gnu and I jumped in, pawned off our carpoolers on other people and headed for dinner. (Home to shower first and then dinner--yes, I showered and got ready in about 10 minutes, I'm amazing!)

Ever since Courtney and I first discovered this little gem by the freeway on our way to the tube to Alameda, we have often wondered what it would be like to actually eat there. Courtney's graduation was as good an excuse as any...and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I do hope that Courtney blogs about it because she has all of the pictures. It was definitely an experience.

True to form of late, last Saturday was exhausting. I miss the good ol' days where I could sleep in until 11 and then watch an ABC Family movie marathon all day. When did I sign up for this event filled lifestyle? It's fantastic.

Blogging from the Bus

2007-06-11T20:53:00.000-04:00

Today I saw a pale man with white hair. Imagine this. A pale man with white hair. He didn't have white hair just on his head. No. In fact, his arm hair was white too. Are you imagining this? Contrasted with his black t-shirt and black jeans, I was freaked out by this phenomenon. He was so white...it made me look tan by comparison. I hope I see that man again so we can become friends.

As the title of this blogs states, I'm blogging to you all now from the comfort of the bus. (Well, it was a lot more comfortable before some man thought he could sit next to me. There are plenty of other seats available, why would you sit next to the person with a computer open on her lap and her bag next to her only to make her move her bag and type on the computer all awkward like? Jerk!!) Anyway, back to the story: Technology is awesome. I'm on the internet on the bus. Who would have ever thought that we could live in a world where such luxury was possible? I wonder what fine things will be next? Teleporting? I sure hope so!

Stealing the Show

2007-06-10T17:31:00.000-04:00

As many of you may recall, Courtney and I began serious rehearsal of the Air Supply classic, Making Love out of Nothing at all, several weeks ago. I told you all that we were trying to perfect it for open mic night or other such opportunities to showcase our talent. Well, to be quite honest, I wasn't planning on ever letting a performance of that song leave the apartment. Much to my surprise, Courntey was. Last night at acoustic night at the institute, we held nothing back and performed our best to date performance of the Air Supply classic.

We moved many in the audience to join in and sing the chorus. Look at the smiles of happiness and glee from those who could witness the spectacle.

Now, to be completely honest, it was mortifying. I don't sing in public and I'm pretty sure Air Supply is the only band that could inspire me to do so ever again. We did fall apart a little at the end when I couldn't control my giggling when I was supposed to be doing the "Making Loves" but we were able to pull it together and finish on a very lovely "Out of nothing at all."

Even better were the not so subtle promptings to join the choir that were focused in my direction all day at church. Sorry Mackenzie, I don't do the choir. I'm going to go ahead and hide that "talent" under a bush. We'll save the choir for the real singers.

Copying Natalie

2007-06-10T17:15:00.000-04:00

So, my life coach posted this on her blog, therefore, I must follow. This is actually pretty funny. I went to Google and typed in "Alisa needs" and pressed enter. These are the top nine things that I need:

1) Alisa needs a home without children (this is so true, I have sticky issues. I love my nieces and nephews but prefer living with adults)

2) Alisa needs to quit working (again, couldn't be more true if I made this stuff up))

3) Alisa needs to think through the issues (like I'd admit if that one was true))

4) Alisa needs food every couple of hours (preferably chocolate!) (I didn't even have to add in that last part, it was already in Google, so true about the food though))

5) Alisa needs help...and not just the psychiatric kind (now this is getting a little self-destructive))

6) Alisa needs to get her own (don't even ask))

7) Alisa needs to wait for Annette to not be around because she doesn't want her...(again super true, I don't know what comes after her...but I know it has got to be true. I don't want anything to do with Annette, I can't stand her.--if an Annette is reading this I'm not talking about you, promise))

8) I'm not saying Alisa NEEDS any enhancement, but her size seems to vary (ha ha ha ha ha, awesome!))

9) Alisa needs to sing deeper more (how perfect is this because it leads me to my next blog subject))

Thanks Natalie, that was fun!

You Should Never Tell a Lie

2007-06-08T20:03:00.000-04:00

Before you all head out for a weekend of fun, please keep this following lesson in mind:

Other People's Kids

2007-06-06T23:38:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm sick of looking at my feet every time I open my blog...yuck...what was I thinking when I decided to post my feet on the internet. I've reached an all time low. The shoes are great, but next time I will refrain from showcasing my feet with them. They are much cuter from my angle anyway (looking down from just over 5 feet away).

Anyway, I've recently become an aunt for the 5th time. I love being an aunt. It is so fun to spoil little children and dress them up in adorable little clothes. I am also lucky that I get to live by one of my nephews and the baby in utero (Heidi Anderson--no mom and dad, Stephanie and Erik aren't going to name her that, but I think it would be funny).

Berkeley, my adorable nephew, just loves animals. I went down to Stanford to go to the local carnival and study math with Stephanie. It was an awesome day. Here is my adorable little nephew:

I never knew how much of a Dr. Dolittle he was. He is riding that pony like a John Wayne natural.

After that horrible experience was over for Berkeley, we decided to test his love for animals out in the petting zoo.

The whole ordeal was so traumatic that it took a Capri Sun,

a sno cone,

and another Capri Sun to help the poor kid recover.

We eventually went back to Stephanie's for so much needed naps. Berkeley is a good kid and I'm sure he's going to be a great big brother in August.

I'm in Love

2007-06-04T22:45:00.000-04:00

That's right mom, I'm in love. Don't start planning the wedding though because it's not like that. When I was in Portland I got distracted by all the fancy shops and got sucked into a Nordstrom only to fall in love with these:

My feet have never been more happy wearing animal bi-products (although I'm pretty sure that no zebra's were killed in the making of my shoes). I hope you all enjoy the nice shot of my feet, they look white and big at this angle.

Remember the Cheesecake?

2007-06-04T01:08:00.000-04:00

Well, awhile back we went to Tahoe. It was wonderful. We still talk about it. In fact, I just got back from Ali's house where we laughed about the awesomeness that was that weekend. You may remember that I made the most delicious cheesecakes, yummmm. Well, Erica was talking about the cheesecakes and then Elisa piped in and said, "Bret [Gnu] totally watched me eat it...off my chest." The entire room broke into laughter. She was referring to her fall while skiing and meant the "eat it" as in fell and wiped out. However, this was right after cheesecake talk...it was amazing. My stomach still hurts a little bit, as do my cheeks.

Oh, good times.

I know this doesn't truly appease Leslie, Amy and Natalie. I did promise Amy a good 30 minutes devoted to the blog this weekend. However, this story was truly funny.

It's Bathtime in Berkeley

2007-06-01T01:26:00.000-04:00

That's right tomorrow is the first Friday of the month and that means everyone in Berkeley takes a bath.

I was walking around the Cal campus a few weeks ago when Brett was in town and someone had filled it up with bubbles. Awesome. I was so tempted to jump in.

I try to Blog but...

2007-05-30T21:36:00.000-04:00

As my life coach so lovingly pointed out to me today, I've only blogged four times in the last month. I'm sorry. So, tonight while watching a very depressing first half of the Jazz game I am blogging. Good thing I can't upload any of the awesome pictures that I need in order to tell stories with.

Dang it!

I'm going to have to regroup and try something else. Wait for it folks.

Riding the 51

2007-05-19T23:10:00.000-04:00

I take the bus. Yes, I also own a car, but it usually only comes out on weekends. I take the bus to and from work. I love this set up and always wanted to take the bus when I lived in SLC, but I couldn't seem to get over the fact that in order to do so I would have to wake up one hour earlier in order to get to work at the same time. There also wouldn't be a cost savings on gas, and I would have had to walk a couple of blocks downtown for my transfer. However, I always imagined myself one day living in a place that I could just take the bus. Now, I take the bus. My bus is usually a big fancy bus with soft seats that recline a little like tour buses. My fellow bus patrons also commute into San Francisco and are relatively quiet with the occasional loud talker on his/her cell phone. I enjoy my commute and riding the bus.

This past week I had two opportunities that made me incredibly grateful to ride Bus O daily instead of any other bus. Bus O only goes to and from Alameda and San Francisco. Bus 51 goes from Alameda to Berkeley through Oakland. I usually take this bus when I leave work really late (I take the BART to Oakland and then the bus to my house). Last week my boss' boss was in town, and we had dinner after work. We ate at a steakhouse in the new Bloomingdale's mall. Of course I went shopping after dinner. I didn't find anything, but I also spent too much time shopping because I barely missed the BART I needed, so I was left waiting for 20 minutes for the next train. I therefore barely missed the bus I needed, and I was left for 30 minutes waiting for my bus. Yes, mom, I was standing in the middle of downtown Oakland at 9:30 PM (it was dark). I was completely safe. Anyway, I met a couple of interesting people while I stood there waiting for the bus. One homeless man was really nice to me and wanted to know what kind of a store JCrew was. I guess that did mean I ended up buying something because I had a bag with me. Anyway, he was pretty funny and told me not too worry lil' darlin'. Who doesn't love being called a lil' darlin'?

Finally, the bus is approaching a new person joins the crew of people waiting for the bus. He seemed normal enough. I got on and sat down. I later realized that I only paid $1.50 for the bus when it actually costs $1.75. I guess I owe AC Transit $.25, sorry. So, it was late and cold and I was bare legged in a skirt. So I sat on the seat on top of the heater. It was so toasty wonderful. Unfortunately the new fella came and sat across from me. He kept looking at me too. When on the bus you should look forward, out the window or down if you do not have anything else, like a book, to occupy your eyes with. Don't stare at the other strangers. (Yes, I did stare at the Jason Lee guy from Almost Famous, but he was almost famous--ha ha ha, I'm hilarious). Anyway, creepy! I was totally grateful when he got off the bus a few stops later.

Overall a less than stellar bus ride. I missed my fellow quiet commuters that don't stare at me.

I took Friday off of work. I had to take my car to the dealership in Logan. Guess what? A 51 bus stop was right next to the dealer, awesome! So, in the middle of a Friday afternoon, I innocently enough I hop on the bus. Big mistake! Big! Apparently it was field trip day. The bus was full of at least 30 8 year olds. Luckily they were all in a very giving mood and decided to sing for all other patrons on the bus. That's right. They sang, the entire time they were on the bus. I learned about the planets in the solar system (Pluto was still included) and how many minutes are in an hour, and hours in a day, and days in a week, and weeks in a year. I also got to listen to Yankee Doodle, This Land is Your Land, The Star-Spangled Banner and some other patriotic tunes that I couldn't quite place. Plus additional songs that I couldn't pick out or knew. True to 8-year-old form, they only had one volume level for their singing voices: LOUD! It was the longest 10 minute bus ride of my life.

I'm taking a moratorium on the 51 bus.

There's no place like home

2007-05-07T23:07:00.000-04:00

On my way home from Seattle, I had a layover in Salt Lake City and decided that I should definitely spend the weekend with my family. Families are awesome.

Here's me and mom. We spent Saturday up in Park City shopping and eating. By spent Saturday, I mean, we woke up around 10, got ready and left around 12 for Park City. Bought a lot of clothes for the grandkids, got lunch, and then hit two more shops for new clothes and shoes. We were home by 3 and ready for a nap. I made my dad take us all to the new restaurant Pine. It was a good meat and potatoes place.

Here's me and Jeanette. Little sisters are so fun. I can still beat her up, easily.

And here's Mike.

True to form, I have no pictures of dad. He's like a ghost or something because we can never get a picture of him. I have no idea how Kellie was able to get one in North Carolina. It must have been the pistachio popsicle that distracted him long enough to snap a picture.

I then went to the Jazz game with Paul. Jazz games are usually a ton of fun. The Energy Solutions arena can get so loud and out-of-control. Plus, it was right before the play-offs and Phoenix was in town. (I totally have a crush on Nash--too bad about the stitches). Well, no offense to Paul, but the night was very underwhelming. The Jazz got totally schooled. It was the quietest I have heard the Delta center ever.

Well my weekend in Utah was awesome. Thanks for letting me come visit mom and dad. As always, I got to do free laundry and eat well!

It rains 9 months out the year in Seattle

2007-05-02T00:25:00.000-04:00

That's right, I learned that in Sleepless in Seattle. And it is true. Think about it like this: there are 12 months in a year and only 3 of those months are sunny or 1/4 of them are sunny. I was in Seattle for 4 days it was rainy for 3 of those 4 days or 1/4 of them were sunny. Awesome.

Good thing the one sunny day was the day I wondered around town. I had a half a day in the city and I was going to go see stuff. I went to the Space Needle.

I went to the market and saw the pretty trees in bloom.

I went to the sculpture park.

I went to the aquarium. These are blowfish. Bad picture, yes.

And I did not go to the Science Fiction Movie Museum even though the building looked cool. I knew that there was nothing in there worth $15 from me.

My first night there I went to dinner at the Pink Door. I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't. I did, however, steal a pen from the restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious. I took it to go and ate back at the hotel, but next time I'm staying for the cabaret show.

The next night I got to go out to dinner with Jason Campbell--one of the funniest guys I know. It was pretty tasty.

I went to Olympia on the rainiest of days, that wasn't too fun, but it was very green and pretty. I had been craving fish and chips and made the horrible mistake of ordering fish and chips at the restaurant we went to by the state capital building. Yuck! A mistake I won't make next time.

All in all, I like Seattle and I'm super glad I get to go there more often for work. Hurray for traveling to fun places!

I heart Luke!

2007-05-01T23:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to say that French Dip Tuesday is a wonderful club to be in. Tonight Courtney and I went to Ole's and had French dip sandwiches. Side note: upon entering Ole's Waffle House I was quite sad about not being able to order waffles, but I was going to have to stay strong. So, Courtney and I both order our French dip and French fries (an added bonus).

While waiting for our sandwiches, we decided to play one of our favorite games 1-2-3. Those of you who are obsessed with Gilmore Girls like myself learned of this game after Rory and Dean first broke up. Sitting in our local diner in Alameda at a window booth set the scene for this game. For those of you who are oblivious to the game, I'll give you a quick rundown. You get three choices for your husband. The catch is you have to decide yes or no with each one. In other words, you can't compare 1 to 2 or 3. And if you say no to both 1 and 2, you automatically get 3. I was first. 1--adequate, but I knew I could do better so I said no. 2--old man postal worker, this was a definite no. Therefore, I automatically got lucky bachelor #3. A 50-some old chubby balding man. I'm sure he's nice and the two of us are going to be so happy.

Courtney's turn. 1--a very, very nerdy young man that walked with a slight slouch. Courtney said yes. Seriously. She wasn't even going to wait to see what options were out there for her. After witnessing my options she decided that age was a really important factor in her decision and she took the young guy. Watching him dine at Ole's really made her appreciate her decision. I'm pretty sure he even left a good tip. After watching #2 and #3 go by, she stuck by her decision. They were fine choices, but I really think there was a connection between Courtney and Mr. Nerdy McNerdison. I know they will be happy.

Shortly after that our sandwiches were ready. So delicious.

I hope you all enjoyed French dip sandwiches today. If not, you can always join us in June.

Now, I find it appropriate to be watching Gilmore Girls while blogging--especially because I had a Tuesday night Gilmore Girl experience playing 1-2-3 in the diner. Anyway, I do hope you all were able to witness the horror (by horror, I mean wonderful theatrical element) of Lorelai singing the Whitney Houston classic "I will always love you" to Luke at karaoke night. She started singing it to Rory but then Luke entered and blah blah blah...awesome! I hope I didn't ruin it for everyone--you must check it out.

I hope you all had a great French Dip Tuesday!

French Dip Tuesday

2007-04-30T16:49:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone! Remember tomorrow is the first Tuesday of the month. Not only does Brigham finally get to shower, but it is French Dip Tuesday. I'm hoping to steal my camera back from Gnu so I can take a picture of me eating a French Dip Sandwich tomorrow night while blogging and watching Gilmore Girls. I invite all to join in the festivities. French Dip sandwiches are really good. I don't know where the best place to get one is. I did have one at Tillie's once. Even though I don't like Tillie's, I may have to go back for French Dip tomorrow. Hmmm, basically I've got a lot to think about and prepare before tomorrow night.

Let me know about your French Dip sandwiches tomorrow. Natalie, you live right by the Gateway and can go to the Doto, home of the most delicious French dip. If I find out that you don't participate in this event, I will cry. (I'm testing out using crying as a threat. I haven't been able to gather enough evidence yet to truly test its power, but I'm not about to stop the test. On a side note: I have gotten more laughs as a response than I had originally hypothesized.)

Happy Eating!

Patience is divine

2007-04-29T23:14:00.000-04:00

So, I'm sure several of you (mostly just Natalie) are wondering when I'm actually going to blog again and post pictures and tell classic anecdotes, well, right now is not that time. I'm sorry. Watch the news people. We've had exciting and dangerous happenings here. The freeway broke. Actually, this doesn't affect me all that much, but traffic is going to suck for the next several months. Really really sucky traffic.

The real reason I can't spend my Sunday afternoon blogging about my last few adventures is because Mr. Gnu has stolen my camera and is taking it hostage. He's such a jerk. Until I get that camera back I can't blog with pictures and tell you about stuff and try and be funny. Tell him you are upset by this recent event, it is all his fault.

Now, I have a real life problem. Our fridge stinks. Not smells a little, but stinks! Full blown stinky nasty so we never ever want to open it up. We have thrown away fresh, good food on the random chance that it could be bad. I have cleaned and sanitized every inch of both the fridge and freezer. All of this to no avail. We have become the stinky kids, and I'm not happy about. Not happy!!! How can I get rid of the smell? It's nasty. Nasty!

There you go, Natalie. Happy Monday morning to you. I can't blog with pictures because Gnu's a jerk and my house stinks because of my nasty fridge. On a happier note, Golden State just went into the half with a very nice half court shot tying it up. Well done local team, well done.

Every Member a Missionary

2007-04-23T23:08:00.000-04:00

Sunday was ward conference and theme was missionary work. Missionary work is a great topic; something that I think we can all work on. It was great timing. Just last week, I walked into my office and found a pamphlet with Jesus on the cover and Plan of Salvation across the top. Right away I recognized the mormon stock art and was thrilled someone thought to leave me information about my church. I giggled inside assuming that Anita had left it for me. I don't know why I thought it was Anita. Anita is the greatest. She's this 40 year old lady that lives with her mom in San Francisco. She grew up going to Catholic School and gives up treats and chocolate every year for lent. I'm so proud of her. I'm also grateful that my religion doesn't participate in lent. Who wants to go without candy for 40 days--you Catholics are amazing!

Back to the story. The pamphlet is still sitting on my desk so I am constantly reminded that somebody else was being a good member missionary. Who do you ask was the good member missionary. A stranger on the BART. Anita got on the BART one night after work. There was a window seat available. She kindly asked the gentleman in the suit sitting on the aisle on his way home from work if she could sit there. He got up and let her in. She thanked him and sat down. He then reached into his briefcase, pulled out the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and handed it to Anita. No words were exchanged. The man got off of the BART a few stops later. Never to see Anita again.

Anita could not throw the pamphlet away because it talked about God. Therefore as a God fearing woman, she passed it on to me. Thank you Anita. And thank you Mr. Member Missionary. I'm always afraid to be bold and invite others to learn about my religion, however, your example inspires me. Thank you.

At Least I'm a Good Mother

2007-04-11T19:25:00.000-04:00

You're Lorraine Baines McFly!

Take the Which Person from Back to the Future Are You? Quiz
Also try my other quizzes.

Breads of India...Delicious

2007-04-11T00:58:00.000-04:00

It's a well known fact that my favorite restaurant in the bay area is Breads of India. I think that this restaurant is so great that it has pushed Indian to the top of my list of favorite foods. That is quite a feat because I love food. So, well done you amazing cooks at Breads of India. Okay, well done whoever came up with their chicken tikki masala recipe--yum.

This is one of my most favorite places that I like to take visitors. Courtney also shares a love for the tikki masala. The original Breads of India opened in Berkeley on Sacramento. It is the tiniest little restaurant and dining there allows you to dine with strangers at your table. It's great and very intimiate. Luckily for me, this was on my way home from the Bart stop every day after work when I lived in Berkeley. Unfortunately, when I moved to Alameda I didn't get to drive by as often. However, they expanded and opened a restaurant in Oakland which isn't far from our house at all. This one is much larger and decorated perfectly. You really all should come to Breads of India with us.

So, when Lynn, Drew and 63 were in town we of course went to Breads of India in Oakland. As usual, it was delicious. I am pretty sure that our guests loved it too.

Easter Egg Hunts are for Winners

2007-04-10T00:05:00.000-04:00

According to Grant, Easter is one of the greatest holidays ever. I believe second only to Halloween--it's the costumes that really put that one to the top. After several moments of contemplation and talking to Amanda, I'm going to have to agree with him. Easter is eggs-cellent!

Apart from the obvious and most important reason we celebrate Easter, let's further discuss the secular blessings we get on this beloved day. The day is devoted to eating ham and candy, how can you not love it? I am pretty sure I've loved the holiday ever since I can remember. Easter morning we woke up early and hunted for our Easter baskets that the Easter bunny had hidden for us. Who doesn't love the adventure of finding prizes? Next, we put on our new Easter dresses and headed off to church. Who doesn't love a new fancy dress? Then we headed off to Grandma and Grandpa Lloyd's for the traditional Easter party. Grandma had been up all night the previous night stuffing chocolate covered marshmellows, pennies and nickels and candy that I have no idea where she bought into colored eggs that were used every year and taped together to prevent them from exploding and to hold them together. Grandpa would then hide them throughout the house. The younger kids' were all upstairs and the older kids' were downstairs. I remember the first year that my eggs were downstairs. I really felt like I had arrived. Every year one of the downstairs eggs would never be found (the older kids got harder hiding places). Every year we looked forward to this Easter egg hunt.

I just celebrated my first Easter in California (although I lived here last year, I was visiting Kellie, Brigham, Abbie and Grant over Easter last year). So, in the grand tradition of Easter, a hunt was inevitable. Gnu and I were in charge of the hunt portion of the Easter picnic festivites, and, I have to say, it was super classy! Probably the classiest. So classy that I am going to need to document this play-by-play style in order to replicate it in the future.

The egg hunt started on Saturday. It began with a pile of empty eggs and toys and candy. (Best toy award goes to the bouncy ball although the ninja came in a super super close second. The yo-yo's come in a dead last--so lame.)

Note that those are fun size candy bars. I said this was classy. Gnu was so happy he swam in the toys and candy.

The egg stuffing began. We worked like crazy trying to stuff as many toys and candies as possible into each tiny little egg. Eggs these days are not as great as they were when I was a child. The eggs that we had didn't click and lock closed. Instead they had this wavy thing that did not hold the egg together, seriously bad form egg making companies, bad form.

We stuffed eggs until we were tired and needed a break. Here we are on our Kit Kat break. Yum Kit Kats.

Look how pretty the Kit Kat is.

The stuffing of the eggs and the Kit Kat break wore me out. I had to make Gnu finish the eggs by himself.

After he was all done, we discovered that we got an extra egg bottom. Total bonus! Gnu enjoyed playing with it and admiring all of his leftover classy candy.

Gnu decided that it would be best to put the leftover candy in a bowl and place it on the bookshelf for all of our visitors. He carefully filled up the bowl and then walked it over to the bookshelf. I'm happy to report that no candy fell out of the bowl. Well done Gnu! Well done!

We then dyed Easter eggs. The best part was writing messages on the egg for Courtney to read when she put the dye on. She loved it. Day before preparations were done, and we just had to wait for the picnic to start.

Easter arrived and it was a beautiful sunny day. Hurray. Our prayers were answered there would be no rain ruining our Easter picnic. Friends came and picniced. I love friends, they really have a way of making awesome parties even better. Maybe they make them awesome in the first place? Who knows, but I totally love them.

Marcus helped Gnu and I hide the eggs. We were at a park so we found a grouping of trees and tall grass and went to work. Ordinarily the Easter bunny would hide the eggs, but we were helping him out.

We had to make the hunt fair so we were sure to get organized and provide everyone with equal opportunity to hunt. This is Courtney telling them all the rules.

Sean kept trying to cheat and get a head start. I am pretty sure that he did cheat because he got more eggs than anyone, by like a lot.

The race to the eggs was on. Some were much more enthusiastic than others. Check out Carl!

And the hunt began. Several strategies were used in egg hunting. Kevin examined each egg carefully before deciding which ones to put in his bag. Sean grabbed them as quickly as possible. There were a lot of eggs and a lot of hunting. I wouldn't be surprised if we even left a few eggs hidden in the park for future children, birds, squirrels and homeless people to find. We are so nice and sharing.

That last picture was Clark yo-yo-ing like a pro. Gnu had troubles when he tried. At first I thought that the problem lie in the 12 cent yo-yo, but based off of Clark's skill I've had to reconsider.

So, Easter was awesome thanks to friends, candy, potluck dinners and, most of all, Easter egg hunts! I hope to make these types of classy hunts a tradition that'll last forever. Thanks friends for making Easter awesome!

Alameda Bike Gang

2007-04-09T22:31:00.000-04:00

Ever since I moved to Alameda and true to my "joiner" personality, Courtney and I have been recruiting people to be in our Alameda bike gang. Sarah was the only person truly excited about the gang and thus became our first recruit. (I'm super sad she's leaving us in a couple of month--the gang won't be the same without you.) I don't actually have a bike so I couldn't go out on any outings. This being said, I was still a vital player in the gang. Well, we successfully recruited Gnu and The Black Pearl into the gang. Awesome!

While Courtney was out of town, I rode her bike and when Gnu left his bike at our house, I rode his. Besides the obvious fact that I hadn't written a bike in a long time and crashed into the fence, riding a bike is fun. Plus, Gnu said I couldn't be in the gang without a bike. A Razor Scooter, a long board, roller skates, Hover board, red wagon: none of this would do, it had to be a bike. I'm therefore in the market for a beach cruiser. How sweet would I look on this beauty?

Let's All Go to the Movies

2007-04-05T17:02:00.000-04:00

1. Name a movie that you've seen more than 10 times.
A&E Pride and Prejudice

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in a theater.
I saw Stranger than Fiction twice in the theater. I'm pretty sure I saw Titanic a couple of times in the theater as well.

3. Name an actor and actress that would make you more inclined to see a movie.
John Cusack and Sandra Bullock

4. Name an actor and actress that would make you less inclined to see a movie.
Billy Bob Thornton and Katie Holmes

5. Name a movie that you can do a quote from.
I can do quotes from several movies. I can quote all of Better off Dead and Clueless.

6. Name a movie musical to which you know all the lyrics (and dances) to all the songs.
This was basically the only movie genre I watched as a child: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Newsies, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Calamity Jane, Moulin Rouge, Meet Me in St. Louis, Annie. Grandma would be so proud.

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.
I'm sure all of the above qualify.

8. Name a movie that you would recommend to everyone.
Say Anything

9. Name a movie that you own.
Anne of Green Gables

10. Name an actor/actress who launched his/her career in another medium but has surprised you with his/her acting.
Ludacris--he was awesome in Crash.

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in theater? If so, name the movie.
Yes, several. The first movie I saw at the drive-in was Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. But the best drive-in experience was a double feature: Batman Begins and Mr. and Mrs. Smith (hunk fest!)

12. Have you ever made out in a movie?
At the theater? No way!

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to.
There are a couple that keep lingering in my Netflix queue. An Inconvenient Truth and Spider Man 2

14. Have you ever walked out of a movie?
Slept thru? Yes. Walked out? No.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the movie theater.
My Life.

16. Popcorn?
Rarely.

17. How often do you go to the movies?
Twice a month--sometimes more, sometimes less.

18. What was the last movie you saw in the theater?
I hate to admit it, but I saw Wild Hogs. I should have just lied.

19. What is your favorite movie genre?
ABC Family movies

20. What is the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
Flight of the Navigator

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
I wasted 8 hours of my life watching the first two Lord of the Rings (I only saw them on unedited DVD) and still can't bring myself to watch the third.

22. What's the scariest movie you have ever seen?
Silence of the Lambs

23. What is the funniest movie you have ever seen?
Waiting for Guffman

Roommate Sing-a-long

2007-04-05T01:01:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday I had a meeting in Oakland and then came back to the house to work from home for the day. I got home to find a CD on top of my computer that read: a Wednesday morning gift for Alisa. I popped it into my CD player and the first song was Air Supply's Making Love out of Nothing at All. Genius! This is going to be the greatest CD mix ever. The song ended, and I anxiously awaited the next song. A familiar tune started again. That's right, she made me an entire CD of the wonderful Air Supply song repeated over and over again. I love Courtney.

Just wait, it doesn't end there. Courtney looked up the tabs to this magical song on the internet. We are on the verge of perfecting our harmonies and will be performing at open mic nights by the end of the month.

Thank you YouTube...check it out for your listening and viewing pleasure!

I Heart Clubs

2007-04-04T02:50:00.000-04:00

If you were to describe me to someone else, I hope you would say something like this: Alisa? Let's see. She has brown hair and freckles. She's funny. And she's a joiner. That's right, I am a joiner. If there is a group of people that I can follow around and join, I'm there. Sign me up.

In fact, I joined a club today. The French Dip Day club. My sister Kellie has a friend from college named Cindy who writes a wonderful blog. She instigated that the first Tuesday of every month would be French Dip Day. Everyone was to eat a French Dip Sandwich for lunch, take a picure and then she would add the group to her blog.

What a brilliant idea! I love French Dip. So, I actually left my office today during lunch and went to Quizno's (the recommended French Dip sandwich place) and ordered myself a sandwich. I got back to my office, realized I didn't have a camera and couldn't document the event, but ate my sandwich nonetheless. I left a comment on Cindy's page saying I did eat a French Dip sandwich and hoped I could still be in the club without photographic proof. She let me in just because I participated in the joy of the day! I was so happy. I'm still so happy! Hurray. I'm in a new club.

If I remember I'll send out a reminder when French Dip Day comes again in May. You can all join too.

Blog Fodder

2007-04-04T01:35:00.000-04:00

Today after institute I was building a relationship of trust with Marcus. Conversation soon turned to the blog. I didn't know that Marcus read my blog. I was honored and flattered and all of the things that you should be when you discover a new blog reader.

Now, I've always enjoyed writing. In college, I wouldn't stress out about papers and could easily whip them out in an evening after procrastinating a week or two (I hope my mom didn't read that, I was really studious and got good grades). I even think that after a year of emailing with Natalie, I've perfected the stream of conscious writing technique. I can easily interject my thoughts and side comments seamlessly into the storyline. Maybe not all of the time, but I proof the blog enough that I think I'm okay.

So, Marcus and I were discussing how it can be difficult to combine the right amount of wit and storyline to create the perfect email or blog post. It is a science. It truly is. I admit, some blogs/emails are better than others. Some days are better than others. It is the nature of the beast. For instance, today's blog, not so much! But we press forward.

Since I started the blog, I've discovered that I've become obsessed with it and, most importantly, the "blog fodder." I'm always thinking of what I should and shouldn't blog about. What will be funny and witty? What will provoke thought and discussion? Everyday events transpire and I'm categorizing them into blog worthy, Amy and Natalie email worthy, future story for the story game worthy or just a great moment for me to enjoy today. Everyday, I spend several seconds, minutes and/or hours (each day is a little different) preparing blog fodder. Is this the life of a stand up comedian or a columnist? I'm pretty sure that such a life would make me completely crazy. How can be people be expected to think as if they are constantly philosophizing to an imaginary audience? This is something I'm not ready for. I'm therefore happy to report that I will be maintaining my amateur status--plus, I like the thought of being able to compete in the Olympics. I don't plan on publishing or going professional allowing Marcus and the rest of my blog readers to enjoy the simple things I get out of life.

Tiny Dancer

2007-04-02T11:42:00.000-04:00

Today on the bus I saw a man who looked just like Jason Lee in Almost Famous. As I sat there staring at him, I was tempted to break out into the Elton John classic, Tiny Dancer, but felt the power of the moment would be lost on my fellow commuters. Rather than allowing us to let go and forget about our problems while we grew tighter and stronger as a group, I fear my singing would have ostracized myself forcing me to find a new method of transportation every morning.

Has the world really come to a point when we can no longer sing in unison with strangers on the bus? I wonder what Isaiah would have said about this when he foresaw our generation.

Dating Advice Tip #1

2007-04-02T01:30:00.000-04:00

I am of the general opinion that when asking someone out on a date you should ask him/her about 2-4 days before the said date. It is also nice to ask with a tentative plan in mind, however that is another dating tip and blog entirely.

This is a tried and true formula. Any detour from it can lead to confusion and awkwardness. For instance, about three weeks ago I was talking on the phone with an old friend of mine from the mission whom I recently became reacquainted with out here in East Bay. He's a nice guy and we've gone out a couple of times. We were chatting on the phone talking about my upcoming busy travel schedule and his travel plans. Anyway, he said that we should get together on the 30th and do something. This was over three weeks ago, so I said sure knowing full well that I had absolutely no clue what in the world I would be doing on the 30th, but I could probably do something...I would worry about it more when it was actually closer.

Now, at first I thought this was totally awesome. Never before had I been asked out 3 weeks in advance. It made me feel super busy and in high demand. Which, let's face it, I totally am. So, I made a mental note not to make other plans for the 30th.

I went about my life for the next two weeks traveling and working like crazy. This guy's birthday showed up in the middle of these two weeks so I called him to wish him a happy one. Ended up leaving a voicemail and then got the reply text the following day. Based off of the text tone I assumed we were still on for the 30th, and he'd be calling the following week to make finite plans.

The next week comes and work sucks! I'm crazy busy with projects and things and suddenly realize that it is Wednesday night and I haven't heard from him yet. Hmmm, I begin to wonder if we are still actually going to do something on Friday, but don't worry too much assuming he'll probably call on Thursday. Thursday comes and goes and no call. Plus, I begin getting weekend event offers on Thursday...what am I to do? I can't make plans in case he calls because then I'm a jerk, but I can't sit around all day and wait for a call. Friday morning I buy a ticket to the baseball game thinking that if he calls with an actual plan I can eat the $10 cost of the ticket.

Friday night comes along and no call. I froze at the baseball game but had an awesome time with my friends! (Wish I'd had a blanket though, Greg!)

So, let's recap: I got asked out for a date 3 weeks in advance and then stood up! My life rocks!

Welcome to Paradise

2007-03-29T21:56:00.000-04:00

Let me just start off by saying that Hawaii is awesome. Even when you are all alone in a couple infested paradise, it is still wonderful. I had to go to Hawaii for work. Yes, I do hate my job sometimes, but other times, I quite enjoy the perks. I already posted pictures of my view of the ocean and told you about my amazing sunburning skills. However, I've yet to enlighten you all on my adventures.

No one ended up taking me up on my offer to come stay in the hotel except this little guy. I made him sleep outside, but he was there most of my stay. I also ran into a relative of his while I was changing at the spa--he scared me.

When I checked in the concierage gave me a schedule of events that I could do while staying in the hotel. Due to the conference, I basically only had one day that I could get away with blowing off work until later to enjoy my surroundings. After looking at the schedule on the elevator ride to my room, I decided that I was going to check out beach side yoga and the ukelele lessons the next day. After getting settled and taking a couple of pictures, I turned on my computer and got some work done.

I opened up my calendar for the following day to make sure I could get my yoga and ukelele lessons in. Unfortunately, I had a conference call that started right in the middle of the yoga class. I was very disappointed. However, if I had to choose between ukelele and yoga, I would pick ukelele so I was able to cope with the loss. The next morning I woke up early, got some work done (being 3 hours ahead of CA working for a company that tends to favor the east coast was a little rough--i woke up for 5 AM conference calls a couple of times on the trip). I dialed into my conference call and the automated computer voice said that my meeting number didn't exist. What she meant to say was this meeting doesn't start for another hour, idiot. Remember how daylight savings time was 3 weeks earlier than everything was programed to be? Well, it has completely ruined my life, or at least caused me serious grief over the past three weeks--I'm so excited for it to all end this weekend. So, my conference call was actually not for another hour, right during my ukelele class. By this time it was too late to join beach side yoga. The day is basically over for me now because I'm absolutely depressed. Why do bad things have to happen to good people? I was so looking forward to returning from Hawaii and actually being able to play a tune on my ukelele--I would have been so impressive that no one would be able to resist me. I'm still sad about it.

I managed to get some work done the next day and the rest of the week. In fact, I managed to wake up, get dressed and actually attend my conference. Basically, I was supposed to meet people and learn about all of the western states bars--their needs and potential opportunities for us, etc. Ordinarily, I'm easy going and enjoy meeting people. When I say ordinarily, I really mean in social, non-work settings. Business is different and I really don't find much pleasure in schmoozing work people and coming up with chit chat. I can do it, I just don't necessarily enjoy it. Plus, I'm always the youngest kid there, and I don't have a deflector spouse like everyone else. I had signed up to go to all of the extra events (sunset cruise and closing dinner) because they were great opportunities to meet and chat with people, but I didn't want to go for those exact same reasons.

This being said to help you understand my mood and attitude in going to the sunset cruise/whale watching excursion (plus considering my first whale watching experience when Courtney's boys were in town), I actually had fun and am super glad I went. I ended up going on the mormon boat. Not that everyone on the boat was mormon, because they weren't. However, there was a couple from Wyoming and a couple from Salt Lake that were not drinking with me. The Wyoming couple was stereotypical small town mormon. They were shocked that I was able to actually enjoy living in Sodom and Gomorrah (aka San Francisco), and they asked if I was a Latter-Day Saint instead of using the term "mormon." The Salt Lake couple was stereotypical Milcreek mormon family. Both were really nice and excited to meet me. The best part of the night. We saw whales! Yes, I'd seen things that the captain of the boat had said was a whale back at Half Moon Bay, but I know these were whales. I'm not the best picture taker and it took awhile for my camera to be ready to snap another photo but check this out:

That's right three whales. It was awesome. Plus the water was super calm and beautiful so no one threw up. So, I pretty much planning on moving to Hawaii and living with the whales. I wish I had better pictures to show you how amazing it was.

Mini-marshmellow Roast

2007-03-28T00:23:00.000-04:00

Courtney is amazing! She barbequed for us tonight. By us I mean me, Courtney, Ali, Mackenzie, Gnu Bret, Gregory and Sean. It was so good. Plus, we got to break in the new barbeque, so yummy. Courtney is such a great cook.

Anyway, after dinner the coals were still super hot. I found some toothpicks and mini-marshmellows in the cupboard and the party was on! Roasting mini-marshmellows is so much fun. Plus they were delicious. Plus we could eat like a thousand of them and not feel guilty.

Thanks Courtney for bringing the barbeque into our lives.

Sunblock....check

2007-03-26T21:44:00.000-04:00

I love sunblock. It helps me keep my beautiful translucent glow. Therefore, on my recent excursion to Hawaii I decided that I would buy some sunblock there and enjoy several hours of basking in the sun.

Day 2: I head to the little shop in the swanky hotel to make my sunblock purchase. It is a convenient store/gift shop so I'm planning on the block being pricey...$15.50 pricey was a shock to me though! Yikes. I had to do it. My fair skin cannot sit unshielded against those violent UV rays.

I took my computer out to the beach (hoping to pick up some WI-FI)and found myself a nice chair to relax on. I got all settled and found an internet connection. However, the glare of the sun was unavoidable and I could barely see the computer screen even with the umbrella up. Oh well, guess I'll have to work another time. So, I thoroughly sprayed myself down and laid in the sun for a bit.

I took inventory afterwards and found a handful of new freckles, but that was it. I knew that another sun session was going to be necessary in order to convince people that I had just spent a week in Hawaii.

Day 4: I had the afternoon off since I wasn't participating in the golf tournament. I put on my suit. Sprayed myself with the sunblock and headed down to the beach. This time I took a book. I wasn't making any pretenses to working today.

I fell asleep on my back. Rolled over and the fell asleep on my stomach. After a while I decided that I should probably hide in the shade to prevent burning. I was thinking that I'd been out long enough that a second layer of block was needed but had left it up in the room. I put the umbrella on the chair up, but didn't quite cover myself completely. Plus, I was really tired and hadn't gathered enough energy to go inside. It didn't matter though. The damage had already occurred. That's right. I got sunburned.

Why is it so embarrassing to get sunburned? It isn't embarrassing to lie down in a skimpy swimming suit on the beach but as soon as your skin goes pink, the humiliation is eminent. Maybe it is because I was totally remedial at applying the block. I'm not evenly sunburned. No, instead I've got a streak down one leg. A big blotch of sunburn on the other. A band of burn across my back. The best is my chest. I sprayed the block on when my swimsuit straps were tied behind my neck. While laying under the sun I wanted to avoid a v-shaped tan line across my chest so I untied across my neck and retied at the top of my suit. Irony of ironies: the complete opposite happened and now I have a v-shaped red mark across my chest where the block didn't penetrate the suit. I should take a picture, but I somehow feel odd about taking a picture of my chest and posting it on the internet. Just imagine a freckled background with two red lines meeting at a v. It's awesome. Plus, I managed to burn half of my face. This must have occurred during the laying on my stomach portion of the day.

Day 5: I went back to the hotel convenience store and spent $5.50 on a bottle of aloe vera gel.

So, lessons learned: bring sunblock to avoid the insane cost at the hotel store and be sure to completely cover your skin. I do have cute new freckles though.

Come Back to Tahoe

2007-03-26T17:27:00.000-04:00

The first weekend in March God blessed us with beautiful weather and lodging in Tahoe--we won it at the service auction last year. So, we packed up our cars and drove to our home for the weekend...a good time was about to be had!

Here's who came and their respective winning characteristics.

Me: Tied for best hair...and apparently the easiest girl there.

Coutney: Tied for best hair! Thanks Rachel for mine and Courtney's awesome hair.

Erica: Most likely to get a divorce and has a sordid past.

Amy: I can't remember what you won--do tell me.

Gnu Bret: what didn't he win? Tied for best butt. Won most wanted to kiss. Best dancer.

Liz: she tied for best butt (couldn't get a picture of it though)

Greg: Makes the most money.

Elisa: Best eyes.

Aaron Johnson: I think most likely to be famous or something, I don't remember.

Marcus: Most likely to go crazy.

Kara: I can't remember what you won, and I don't have a picture of you. How in the world did that happen? You were there right? I totally remember seeing you there. You are in the group shot. Are you a ghost? Is this why I wasn't able to get a picture of you?

We had a great time playing games where no one cheated.

doing puzzles

sleeping, reading, writing

and eating.

Here we all are together on the stairs, like a big, happy family. Too bad we had to leave shortly afterwards to go back home. Oh, how I miss Lake Tahoe!

P.S. I hope you all didn't forget about our wonderful neighbor Mr. Smoky McSmokerson. I love that he would shovel everytime he came out for a smoke break.

P.P.S. So, we should make this an annual affair.

P.P.P.S. Check out "Gnu Bret" on YouTube for more fun from the cabin.

Celibate and the City

2007-03-21T02:23:00.000-04:00

We've started a brunch group that we dedicate to talking about boys, boobs and books. Yes, we talk about other stuff too, but the alliteration was so nice there. Similar to the once popular television show on HBO, we sit around and discuss our lives over brunch on Saturdays. It seems like forever since I've actually been able to attend brunch, but I do love the idea of having a brunch group and look forward to getting back in the swing of things next weekend. Plus, my list of places I want to go keeps getting bigger.

Luckily for the people that know us, (us is referring to Erica, Sarah, Courtney and me) we aren't at all particular about who comes to brunch with us. I personally love it when Amy comes. We even had our home teachers join us one week since they home taught all of us. It was fun. We went to Tillie's which wasn't fun. On a bad restaurant but good company brunch we even let Gnu Bret come. He dressed up in leather and his motorcycle helmet...it was hot. Then he took off his helmet and we all hoped that he would shake his head about to release his hair, but he was bald. Oh wait...this wasn't Gnu Bret. This was the guy that walked into the diner with his helmet still on that we wished was Gnu Bret. Gnu Bret showed up later with his favorite Palomino sweatshirt and a smile on.

Here's Courtney and Erica engrossed in conversation about starving children in Uganda. Note: Courtney is wearing her favorite t-shirt that she's had since she was about 5 years old. You can't even see the blue flowers on it.

I was obviously taking the pictures so you won't see me at brunch. Here's Gnu Bret apparently bored with the lack of girl talk going on today over our breakfast food.

So bored, in fact, he was forced to entertain himself.

We look a little bit closer and learn that Gnu Bret is spitting his ice back into his cup with actual saliva coming out of his mouth as well. Yuck! Boys are so gross.

Well ladies, brunch is definitely back on a week from Saturday. I can't hardly wait for the event. Where should we go?

We went to Pixar

2007-03-21T01:54:00.000-04:00

So, I'm not really in a funny mood because I'm tired and can't really be funny all of the time. Plus, I've so many pictures that I've taken lately that I just need to post and blog about. Therefore, since there is no CW and Gilmore Girls in Hawaii, I'm using my time to finally update some stuff in the blog.

In the Berkeley student ward, there are basically four classifications of people. 1) the students--these are mostly Cal students and mostly undergraduate but a few other schools and grad students make the list as well. 2) the chemists--these are the Cal chemistry doctorate students (yes they get their own number because of the sheer number of them). 3) the accountants--these are working professionals that live in East Bay and do taxes. And 4) the Pixar folks--these are the lucky few who get to work at Pixar studios in Emeryville. For the most part these classifications include everyone in the ward with the exception of me and Amy. We're special!

Anyway, because I've got connections, we were able to go on a tour of Pixar studios. It was awesome. And I've basically been canvassing their web page weekly for job openings. Think about it. I could go shopping while I was at work every day.

Now, I'd love to go into detail on the tour and tell you exactly what I learned, but I've somehow managed to misplace all of the facts of the day in my large brain. So, I'm going off of the pictures that I found on my camera. This is all of us at the start of the tour. Sully was such a great tour guide. He told us jokes and tried to make us laugh. He's no Mike, but we still had to laugh because he's quite big and we all feared for our life. Courtney and Amy were there too, not sure why they aren't in the picture though.

Sully took us on a great tour. We learned a lot and were all super grateful. This is how Courtney, Gnu Bret and I each showed our appreciation.

Oh and they have free soda and a cereal bar. Yes, folks that is correct. Free cereal all day, everyday! Plus, you can work off the extra calories playing badminton, air hockey, ping pong, pool or video games. Best job ever!

Thanks Emma and Jake and Pixar. It was fantastic!

Kellie Came to Town

2007-03-21T01:37:00.000-04:00

This is super old news now, but Kellie mentioned that she had come to San Francisco on her blog but didn't bring her camera. Therefore, she criticized me for not yet posting pictures. So, for a full recap of what we did you can read her blog. However, I'll post the few pictures I did take of Kellie, her big belly and what we did on my day off of work. I need more days off of work!

The original plan was for the four of us to play in the city for the day: me, Kellie, Stephanie and Berkeley. Unfortunately, Berkeley was "sick" and Stephanie needed to take him home to sleep for the day. Hmmm, I wonder who was really tired and wanted to sleep for the day?

Therefore Kellie and I ventured off into the city alone. Two strange girls in a stranger city can never be too cautious. Here is the parking garage where we left the car. Mostly I did this so we would remember what level the car was on. Look at Kellie's cute jacket though.

We walked from Union Square through China Town to Little Italy for lunch and then back again. Not really a lot of walking but big bellied Kellie had swollen ankles and this wore two Baker girls out. However, included in the trip was a visit to Stella's--yum!!

Please note that Kellie is standing under the "Grant" street sign at the entrance to China Town. I'm hoping that little Grant Daniels can truly understand the significance of his name.

That is all. I hope Kellie can stop bothering me about these pictures now. Oh, it was really good to have Kellie come visit, by the way. I get to see Stephanie all of the time because she lives here too, but it is rare to see one of my other sisters unless I go visit them (Amanda and Jeanette: I've got an extra airmatress just in case).

A Room with a View

2007-03-21T00:37:00.000-04:00

Apart from naked men bathing (they could be, I just haven't seen them yet), I definitely have a room with a view here. Holy crap. I just checked in and walked in my room to this:

I'm here till Sunday. I've got a king size bed and a couch...all are welcome!

I blame you George W. Bush

2007-03-21T00:19:00.000-04:00

I don't want any of my regulars to worry or think that I'm going to become political and use this blogspace as my own personal forum for political debate. That being said, I do have political views; I just don't like to share them because I think fighting/debating over politics is the stupidest thing to debate. I'd rather debate horrible fashion trends that are creeping back into mainstream. Ladies, I'm not ready for high-wasted pants, I just can't do it!

However, an event happened to me today that I completely blame George! I was stuck on a 4 hour layover in Honolulu. Airports are airports and I worked for the majority of the time. As my flight time got closer and closer, I began to see more and more men dressed in regulation camo. That's right there were about 50 young and vibrant army men getting on my plane. I'm sure the plane doesn't seat more than 70 or so. Therefore, guess who I get to sit by on the plane? You'd think with the odds in my favor I would be forced to sit next to a strapping young army man....but no, not today. I'm stuck next to a stinky smoker who obviously just smoked a case of Marlboro's like he was about to die. Plus, he was super chatty with the guy on the other side of him, thus forcing me to listen to their inane conversation. Yuck!

So, Mr. Bush...because of you there are all these troops running around....but I didn't get to sit next to one of them! Bad form, man! Bad form.