MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Christmas to all!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend!

I've Been Busy

Okay, I know, I know. I haven't updated since Thanksgiving. I suck. Sorry, life has just been so busy lately, and it's not likely to calm down until next year.

But I just couldn't stand the Happy Thanksgiving post any longer. :)

So, even though I don't really have much to say in this one, Happy Holidays and hopefully I'll post more later. :)

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!!!!

I am so thankful for all the many blessings I have in my life; and the family and friends I have been privileged to have and know.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

The pic reminded me of my sister and her family. They actually killed their Thanksgiving Day turkey last night...so they could have one fresh. Shudder. :)

Another Hair Update

So, the gray came back. Hair change time again. :)

Fun Times! :)

Becca's 15th Birthday

So this last Monday my niece Becca turned 15! Can't believe it....I totally remember when she was born. Sigh. :) Also on that day my friend Kristin and my old roomies Jenni Bond and Renae Gering also turned one year older. November 9th is a very popular birthday. :)

Here are the pics from the family birthday party we had for Becca - enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GALS!!!!

Happy Veteran's Day

Thank you to all of those who have served our country in the armed forces previously or currently . I am so grateful for all that we have been blessed with and appreciate the sacrifices you all have made during your service. Thank you!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

YAY!!! Today is my 29th birthday! And yes, it is the first time I've hit this age....althought I may now claim it for awhile...don't know yet. :)

So here is what I started my birthday with:




I called my Mom to thank her for the wonderful surprise and she told me that she woke up this morning at 3 a.m. and was inspired with this wonderful idea. :) She then got up and made the signs. In her words, "I deserve a nap now." I'll let her sleep tonight after dinner. :) hehe.

So I've decided to take my birthday off, and enjoy a nice lazy day at home. :) I'm actually taking off the rest of the week as well to get some stuff done...that's my gift to myself....knock out my 'to do' list. :)

Let's just hope that I can actually get it all done. :)

Thank you so much all for your birthday wishes, and I hope you have a great day as well! LOVE YA!

Phantom

So my friend Ellen had an extra ticket to the Phantom of the Opera that was in town. It was an awesome performance, thanks Ellen for sharing the ticket with me!

Here are a few pics from the night:

Jonah's Baptism

My nephew Jonah got baptized this weekend. In the church I belong to, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we get baptized when we turn 8 as we view this as the age of accountability. Where a person is really cognisant of being able to choose between right and wrong.

My Uncle Russ came into town from Indiana to baptize Jonah on his special day. Here are some pics of the fun night:

Hope you enjoy sharing in our family times. :)

10 Year High School Reunion

Yup, I have been out of high school for 10 years. Wow, time goes way too fast!


So this weekend we had our 10 year high school reunion for the Marquette High School Class of 1999. Friday night was the Homecoming football game which some of us attended.


A small group of us, Nicole, Heather, Dominique and me went to O'Charley's afterwards (well after half time) for dinner/appetizers to hang out and catch up.

Then on Saturday we got more of us together and had lunch at Steak'n Shake that I worked at while in high school. Here's a group shot we got our waitress to take:

Back row: Dominique, Nicole, Becky, Me. Front row: Heather, Jane, John and Sara.

It was awesome to see some old friends and get together when we could. Thanks guys for hanging out! Some of us couldn't/didn't want to go so that's why we did lunch.

Really, it does not feel like 10 years. Getting older as time goes on. Sigh. :)

My Closet Broke

Yup, you heard me right. Tuesday morning I came back in my room from getting ready in the bathroom, turned on the light...and found this in my closet:

Must have happened sometime during the night...but I totally slept through it.

Apparently my closet is telling me....I have too many clothes. :)

So through the week I emptied it...and on Saturday we fixed my closet:

Isn't it pretty? And yes, I did go through my clothes and got rid of 2 large black trash bags full of stuff to donate. I still going through all the boxes and storage stuff to see if I still want to keep some stuff. Fun times. :)

But since Mom and I put this new closet together/hung it up ourselves...we are just hoping we did it right...and my closet doesn't break again! Power to the women! At least that's what I keep telling myself. hehe.

Matt's Birthday

Okay - here are some pics from Matt's birthday party:

Now, Mom and I were there as well, but we did noise cards...those I did videos. :)


My Card

Mom's Card

Happy Birthday Matt!

Family Reunion

So, I'm behind on blogging...as that would involve downloading the pics from my camera...and I didn't do it till now. :) So here are the pics from the Christensen family reunion we went to over Labor Day weekend in Pocatello, Idaho:

Enjoy the pics!

Abbott and Costello

Okay, so I was talking with Dominique and I mentioned the beginning of that old Abbott and Costello joke - Who's on First, What's on Second.

If you haven't heard of/seen the joke, you gotta, it's really pretty funny. Here's a clip of it from You Tube. Thought I'd end this week with a fun joke/skit. If you listen to the words you can get it:





Now, for those who only half listened, or still don't get it....

Who - name of player on first
What - name of player on second
I Don't Know - name of player on third
Why - name of left fielder
Because - name of center fielder
Tomorrow - name of pitcher
Today - name of catcher
I Don't Care - name of short stop

Now - since I had to explain the joke...listen to it again. It gets funnier. :)

Have a good weekend!

9-9-09!

Today is my brothers birthday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MATT!!!!

You old fogey you. :) hehe. I love to poke fun...one of the many perks of being the youngest. Now, I found a couple cute Happy B-day sign pics, but the computer is determined to not upload them due to 'internal errors'. Matt, come fix it! jk.

So today Matt turns 33...on 9-9-09. And if you multiply the two numbers in his age...(3 x 3)...they equal 9! Amazing! I'm sure I could find other things that are just coincidences, but we'll just go with one for now.

Well Matt, I hope you have a wonderful day, and don't sleep too much of it away. :) Love ya!

Hair Change

So, I've been getting sick of my hair lately. Of course this means...I changed it. What do you think?

Left side pics are before...Right side pics are after:

Babysitting

So, last weekend Mom and I watch Matt's kids while Debbie and Becca were on a float trip and Matt had to sleep to work that night. Here's a slide show of the fun play time I had with the kids...mainly after Becca got home. :)

Sam is a camera hog. Jonah created a 'robot' we named Monearug. Three blocks on the robot had pics of a monkey, bear and bug. So we combined them all into Mon-ear-ug. :P Becca was busy building a tree house that kept falling down. :)

Belle and 'dead Bob'...I was playing with Sam as she wasn't 'building' anything. So she was Belle and I was Bob. I'd pick him up and say, "Hi I'm Bob, how are you?"

Belle would then attack and Bob was dead...crashed and boomed. :) Then he'd come back to life and we'd start all over again. Went on for about 5 mintues. :) Fun times.

Right before I left I told them..."Okay everyone...dog pile on the floor!"

Then they fought over who would be on bottom. The final pic is what ended up. :)

Hope you enjoy our silly pics!

Thanks!

Thank you all for your input and suggestions. The decision has been made...contrary to my comments/limitations. :) hehe. (you'll see)


So, do you want to know the final decision?

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

We are going on a CRUISE!!!! To the BAHAMAS!!!!!

We'll be going on January but I booked the actual cruise this week. Now we just have to worry about passports and deciding which shore excursions we want to do. :)

Here's a map of where we'll be 'cruisin' to:

For the shore excursions I'm definately wanting to go snorkeling, and I'm also leaning toward swimming with the dolphins. :) Tons of other stuff to do. Need to decide quickly though so we can make sure to get it booked. Oh, this is so fun!

I'm slightly bummed that we won't actually be doing it 'around' our birthdays, but who cares! Now thing is...I've never been on a boat like that...so I'm just really hoping I don't get seasick. I've never even been queasy on a boat, but cruises are...different I'm told. :) But getting sun in January just sounds so fun....I'm not really worried about any negatives. hehe.

YAY!!! I finally get to leave the country for the first time in my life! I so excited! I think the Bahamas is a good place to go for the first time you leave the country.

So now I wonder...have any of you been to the Bahamas? If so, what would you recommend as a must do?

Thanks tons!

Sorry it's been awhile for a post...busy life. I'll post more later to catch up. :)

Survey

Okay...I need help!

So in fall this year I will be turning 29, and so will my friend D. Anyways we have decided that we need to do something...fun, different, monumental....anything to celebrate this monumental birthday...it'll be our last year in our 20's!

For birthdays we have always done dinner and a movie. Now we want to do something different.

Thing is...trying to think up stuff we could do...I have no idea.

Now, nothing too extravagent...like go to Europe....we want to do that but not that much money and time away from work available for either of us.

But still something....good.

D mentioned off the top of her head a spa weekend...like literally at a spa. I was thinking...sky diving. :) Haven't mentioned that one to D yet but if I remember correctly that's something she said she'd be happy never doing. :)

So the help I need is suggestions. Any? Please?! Pretty please!?

What could 2 single women do that would be fun and we'd definately remember for awhile? Without necessarily having to leave the state....or you know...fly anywhere. (Low fundage remember? Well, we at least not want to go into large debt to do whatever...we willing to spend money just not as much as a trip somewhere would cost.)

Please comment with suggestions...even expensive if you must...just so we can get some ideas to bounce around. THANKS TONS FOR ANY HELP!!!!

Monday Morning

Ughh. So, I almost got side hit this morning while driving to work.

I was driving on Clayton Road and was even with an SUV in the left lane...car in front of her turned on their left turn signal...no turn lane...and hit their brakes slowly...she quickly started to merge around the car right into me. she never even looked over to see if there was a car in the other lane...which there was...ME!

Slammed on my brakes and layed on my horn....I still don't know how she didn't hit me. But because of my honk the car in front of her slammed on their brakes as well... and somehow we all came to a stop with her front end angled into my lane and seriously like an inch from mine rest of her car about half was into my lane and I was practically pinned in the lane.

The car in front of her finally moved and she merged back into her lane, and I started to drive on. She then layed on the horn at the other car when they finally turned (at least I think she was honking at the other car...if she was honking at me she TOTALLY doesn't know how to drive!).

She then tried to pace me but when I kept looking at her with the evil eye she let off her gas and slowed down a lot. ughh. The force of braking so hard threw my purse down on the floor and smashed the doughnuts I had brought for breakfast. :)

I seriously still not know how she didn't hit me...I was totally bracing for impact...I had merged over to the right shoulder when I saw her start to merge into my lane, but couldn't go far as there's a high curb there and there's no bike lane or anything.

I hope she at least now looks before she changes lanes...even if she thinks she's on top of knowing who's around her...cause she obviously didn't see me.

What a way to start out a Monday huh? :) Hope your week has a better start!

All Star Game 2009

This year the All Star Game is being held in St Louis! Above is a statue that St Louis has put up in Clayton. Whether it's anywhere else in town I have no idea. But St Louis has been crazy the past week or so preparing for this event! Have to say rush hours haven't been too bad though...as I head the opposite direction. :)

Now being a St Louis girl, I was rooting for the National League (as the Cardinals had three or four players on that team). But unfortuneately the America League won. :) Oh well, it was still a fun game to watch.

Go Cards!

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!

Mormon Tabernacle Choir in STL 6-20-09

So the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has not been in St Louis for the last 53 years. We were finally added onto the tour schedule! Here are a few short videos of some of the performance:

Battle Hymn of the Republic - portion of the song:

Here is part of the song that they end on in every performance:

The whole show was awesome! Hope you enjoyed the few bits of videos from the show!

Vinylmation

Okay, one more Florida Trip thought....I swear. :)

Disney now has these souvenirs out called Vinylmation. You can buy created sets...or blank ones to create your own. (There are also two sizes, 3 inches and 9 inches. I'm a fan more of the 3 inch ones.)

But pretty much...they are blank "Mickey's". The blank ones you buy are painted white all over. You then paint whatever you want to on the Mickey. But I like the sets, as I'm no artist. Twelve "Mickey's" per set...with one of the twelve unknown and called the 'Chaser'. Tons of sets...here's a link so you can check them out yourself: http://www.vinylmation.net/

Now the really fun part of these is you have to buy the box. Within the box is a sealed foil like bag which contains the "Mickey". So when you buy...you have no idea which of the set you just purchased. And you can't open it...they won't let you really...till you purchase it. Ellen and I quickly became addicted. I seemed to have knack for buying doubles of one's I all ready had. So after awhile I assigned Ellen to be my picker...as she had WAY better luck than I did. In the end I had 9 out of the 12 and I stopped when I finally got the Panda. :) That one I really wanted...within my top 3.

Unfortunately, I didn't unpack them from the bag first thing...was waiting till I had some time. So that next trash day....Mom thought it was more of my 'trip trash' and they accidentally got thrown away. Just tells me I need to keep my room a little bit 'cleaner' than I do. :)

Although I just kept missing them. So I found online where I could buy a whole tray of them. A tray was how they were displayed to sell in the stores. I wanted them...and if I was really going to go through the work of getting them all back....might as well buy the whole set. If I got a tray...I'd be guaranteed the whole set no matter what...and an extra 11 out of 12 of another set. (Each tray has 2 complete sets including only one 'Chaser'.) I broke down and bought it. hehe.

Here's a Tray:

Here is the pic of all the 12 Mickeys in the set:

I was so excited when they arrived. The next day I finally decided how I wanted to open them all...all at once. :)

Here's how the boxed displays look in the stores:

Here's all 24! I got 3 Monkey's all together. :)

Here is the complete set that I will be keeping, in order as shown on the box:

The complete set is as follows from L-R: Penny Machine, Panda, Mike Mouse (Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc.), Little Green Men (little aliens from Toy Story), Aquaramouse (It's a fish bowl), Poncho (has a Mickey drawn on the bum), Toonhole (slimed on the back of his head, yeah I have no idea but he's cute anyways), Festival of the Lion King, The Little Mermaid (Flounder on front, Ariel on back), Snow White's Adventure (has the dwarfs and Snow White on it), Monkey (he's holding a banana with his tail), Pongo (Dalmation from 101 Dalmations) as the Chaser.

I gave a few away to friends...I helped Ellen finish off her complete set...and the rest I hope to sell on Ebay. :) Seriously check out the site...you may become addicted as well!

Meet the Characters

Okay, so the final pictures from my Florida trip I meant to end on...just remembered. :)

Sea World

Ellen and I with the Shamu :)

Look, I swimming with Shamu! hehe

We got to meet Micket 3 times! We just didn't get to see him at Epcot. Here are the best shots we got with our cameras:

Magic Kingdom

L-R: Minnie, Me, Ellen, Christel, Mickey

Hollywood Studios

L-R: Me, Mickey, Ellen and Christel

Mac Daddy Mickey - he came up with this shot himself :)

Animal Kingdom

L-R: Me, Mickey, Ellen and Christel

Eyeore and Me - D this for you! :P

L-R: Ellen, Eyeore, me


L-R: Ellen, Tigger, Me

I swear Tigger was flirting with me...he just kept pulling me in closer and closer till I was flush against his side. :)

Meeting all the characters was a blast! They can't talk so it's interesting to see their handlers try to figure out what they want. :)

All right, that's the final summary of my trip....I think. :) So happy I finally got to meet Mickey. My life is now complete.

Not really, but you know what I mean. hehe. :P