Happy Birthday Chareese!

For Chareese's Birthday, a group of us went to Harry's Tap Room for Brunch. I went out on a limb and ordered the Eggs Benedict, nice work TABS!







Check out that Birthday Cheesecake.












Carlie, It's springtime which means one thing: lots of sporadic drives in the mini cooper with the windows down, naturally.














CHAREESE'S Evening Birthday Bash! I love the paint in Chareese's living room, isn't it quaint? This is my good friend Bryson and Kami, quality peeps. Sorry to cover you up Kami- not that it's hard to do (she's petite as they come)!











Mr. Tolley was harassing me, so I threatened that I would post this picture of him. He had it coming!

Wishing Dave was in the tu-o-tu

Whoever doesn't know Dave Ackerman, must be feeling a void in their life! I don't know why/how/when he made this video but it fills my heart with joy and thoughts of years gone by. Dave, I sure wish you lived in the 2-0-2! Enjoy this video!

"We Still Remember"

Yesterday, Utah State University unveiled the Agricultural Memorial honoring the eight students and one instructor from the College of Agriculture who lost their lives in a tragic van accident in the fall of 2005. To learn more click here.

The memorial commemorates the lives of Steven D. Bair, 22, Moses Lake, Wash.; Dusty Dean Fuhriman, 22, Tremonton, Utah; Justin W. Gunnell, 24, Wellsville, Utah; Justin Huggins, 21, Bear River City, Utah; Jonathan Dennis Jorgensen, 22, Peoa, Utah; Curt A. Madsen, 23, Payson, Utah; Ryan Wayne McEntire, 22, West Point, Utah; Bradley G. Wilcox, 26, Salt Lake City, Utah; and instructor Evan Parel Parker, 45, Hooper, Utah.

The memorial project received financial support from alumni and friends, the Utah Farm Bureau, USU student government ;), USU Student Services, departments in the College of Agriculture, the Agriculture Experiment Station and others.

Logan Ipsen, the Agriculture Senator for ASUSU in 2006 was passionate about building this memorial and approached our council various times to financially support this endeavor. I had since forgotten about this memorial and am impressed with Dean Noelle Cockett and the many others who have been working on this project for years. Upon completion, this memorial will be a priceless asset to the new agricultural building.

Dusty Fuhriman, Justin Huggins, and Robert Petersen all attended Bear River High School with me. Miraculously, Robert survived the crash and is doing well. I was good friends with Justin and he had recently returned back from his mission in Florida when I ran into him at Wal-Mart. This was probably a week or so before the accident and I remember him being chipper as ever. He was waiting in line to buy a gallon of Neapolitan ice cream and I remember our conversation vividly: he told me about how he was going to find Sheldon a girlfriend and that he was playing baseball for USU. He even invited me to come to his next game (One fond memory I have from high school was sitting with Justin's mom, Annmarie, at the baseball field and watching my friends play ball), I sure miss that cool cat.

"This memorial stands to ensure that future generations will know the emotional significance of this event," said USU President Stan L. Albrecht, "that was a tragic day of the school's history. Time has passed, but we still remember,"

30 days and counting.

I'm training for a half-marathon next month in Charlottesville, VA. After my last two posts, I felt the need to show that I do more than just eat fatty foods. Anyway, it should be a great race and I'm really excited for it. This is the trail that I ran last night (mapmyrun.com is pimp, check it out).

Happy St, Patrick's Day!

This weekend, a group of my friends went to dinner at a Dublin Chipper in Old Town to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We had Fish & Chips as well as some fried desserts: a Snickers bar, a Mars bar and a banana. I was not a fan of the fried candy bars (picture above), but the fried banana was incredible, I can't get it out of my mind!

I'm claiming that I already celebrated St. Patrick's Day because I totally spaced wearing green to the office today. What was I thinking!? Also, I'd like to make a shout out to my good friend Nicole because it's also her birthday today!

Utah trip to see the Aggies play!

This past weekend, I flew to Utah to see friends/family but ultimately to go to the last home Aggie Basketball game for the season.

Friday night, I went to dinner with my Logan Ladies and their significant others in SLC. (Thanks Heather for those pictures.)












I have been aching to go to an Aggie Basketball game all year and finally made it to Utah in time for the last home game: classic procrastination move on my part. Thanks Tiff for the tickets, we had great seats but I secretly wanted to be in the student section yelling 'STU-PID' with the undergrads. (seriously though Aggies- you could think of something classier to say). My friends Jon and Donnarae joined in for dinner at firehouse (YUM!) and then to the game.








Some of my old roommates (TiVo house) and their friends drove up to see the game as well (we miss you Morgan).














There's a new frozen yogurt shop in Cache Valley, located in the shopping center by Little Caesers'. Former Aggie Basketball players (Cass, Nate Harris, and 2pak) own it and it's a pretty cool: ice cream/frozen yogurts of various flavors, a pool table, foosball table, other games and a DJ. What more do you need for a post-game party?














These are the toilets in this place, how funny is that!? It has the BYU, UofU and Weber logos so you can pee on. gotta love it.














On our way out, James stole a helium balloon and this is Lance entertaining us on our car ride home.


I was also able to spend some time with family this weekend. I have the cutest nieces ever. Libby here had put Hannah Montana nails on before coming over to Grandma's and they were sooo cool until they started falling off (double sided tape doesn't quite do the trick). I'll admit it, I wore fake nails when I was her age.














Happy 35th Anniversary Mom and Dad! It was so good to visit and to see the snow capped mountains, there's no place like home.

Have you ever...updated

I highlighted the things I've done and the items with a ** at the end indicate what I plan to accomplish soon.

1. +Slept under the stars


2. +Started your own blog


3. +Played in a band
   


4. -Visited Hawaii**


5. -Watched a meteor shower


6. +given more than you can afford to charity


7. +Been to Disneyland


8. +Climbed a mountain


9. +Held a praying mantis


10. +Sang a solo


11. -Bungee jumped**


12. -Visited Paris**


13. -Watched a lightning storm at sea


14. -Taught yourself an art from scratch


15. -Adopted a child


16. +Had food poisoning


17. +Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty


18. +Grown your own vegetables


19. -Seen the Mona Lisa in France**


20. +Slept on an overnight train


21. +Had a pillow fight


22. -Hitch hiked


23. +Taken a sick day when you're not ill


24. +Built a snow man


25. -Held a lamb


26. +Gone skinny dipping


27. +Run a Marathon


28. +Ridden in a gondola


29. +Seen a total eclipse


30. +Watched a sunrise or sunset


31. +Hit a home run


32. +Been on a cruise


33. +Seen Niagara Falls in person


34. -Visited the birthplace of your ancestors


35. +Seen an Amish community


36. -Taught yourself a new language
37. -Had enough money to be truly satisfied


38. -Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person**


39. +Gone rock climbing


40. -Seen Michelangelo's David


41. +Sung karaoke
    


42. +Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt


43. +Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant


44. -Visited Africa


45. +Walked on a beach by moonlight


46. -Been transported in an ambulance


47. +Had your portrait painted


48. -Gone deep sea fishing


49. +Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer


50. -Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris


51. +Gone scuba diving or snorkeling


52. +Kissed in the rain


53. +Played in the mud


54. +Gone to a drive-in theater


55. +Been in a movie


56. +Visited the Great Wall of China


57. -Started a business


58. -Taken a martial arts class


59. +Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all


60. +Served at a soup kitchen


61. -Sold Girl Scout Cookies


62. -Gone whale watching


63. +Got flowers for no reason


64. +Donated blood, platelets or plasma


65. -Gone sky diving*****
    
66. -Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp


67. +Bounced a check


68. -Flown in a helicopter


69. +Saved a favorite childhood toy


70. +Visited the Lincoln Memorial


71. +Eaten Caviar


72. +Pieced a quilt


73. +Stood in Times Square


74. -Toured the Everglades


75. -Been fired from a job


76. +Changed a light bulb


77. -Broken a bone


78. +Been on a speeding motorcycle


79. -Seen the Grand Canyon in person


80. -Published a book


81. -Visited the Vatican**


82. -Bought a brand new car


83. +Mowed the lawn


84. +Had your picture in the newspaper


85. +Read the entire Bible


86. +Visited the White House


87. -Killed and prepared an animal for eating


88. +Had chickenpox


89. -Saved someone's life


90. -Sat on a jury


91. +Met someone famous


92. -Joined a book club


93. +Lost a loved one


94. -Had a baby


95. -Seen the Alamo in person


96. +Swam in the Great Salt Lake


97. +Been involved in a law suit


98. +Owned a cell phone


99. +Been stung by a bee

100. -Been to the Caribbean

Friends in NYC

Kami and I went to NYC this past weekend to visit our friends the Riley's. Alli and Noah were in the process of moving from one apartment to the next on Saturday. We wanted to help them move but didn't end up doing much at all. However, we did get a nice view of Manhattan as we drove downtown in their rental van with them.














Kami and I waited in line at the TKTS booth in times square to buy tickets to Chicago. Jan from 'The Office' played the part of Roxy (Renee Zellwegger) which was cool but it's probably my least favorite show so far.















My friend Nathan came with us to 'Chicago'. A side note: earlier that day, Kami and I had bought several purses at Canal Street and Nathan kept being forced to carry them for us. In his defense, he didn't WANT to carry our purses but he sure didn't put up a fight. :) Nothing wrong with a 'MURSE' (man purse) if you ask me!!
After the show, we got some late night pizza and pinkberry...yumm!














we met up with the Riley's for a fabulous brunch at Sarabeth's. This is the 2nd time Kami and I have eaten brunch there and it is amazing, I recommend trying it if you're in NYC but get there early because the line was long.














It was a long, cold weekend but overall we had a great time. On our next trip we should spend more time in Soho, Greenwich Village, Brooklyn, and less time in Times Square!!

Obama Inaugural Weekend!

A few days before Inauguration there was an Obama Concert at the Lincoln Monument in D.C. There were a lot of performers; usher, beyonce, garth brooks, and many others, as well as actors; tom hanks, denzel washington, jack black etc. It was a pretty mellow concert and they mainly focused on Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation and events leading up to Obama's Presidency. Here's a few pictures from that day..














Kate, Carlie and I snuggling to stay warm at the Obama Concert.














We were pretty far back. Obama is standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, it's a good thing they had lots of jumbo screens.




























INAUGURATION DAY: (for great pics of this historic day)
I woke up at 5 AM and was so excited to get into D.C. to partake in the historic day. I had been given purple tickets for this event which were pretty good seats (except that it was a standing area only)














Look how excited I was at 5 AM on the metro ride into D.C. I almost caught Obama Fever like the rest of the craved fans that day...














This was our view when we got off of the metro, thousands of people just wandering around trying to figure out what they were doing.














Kate and I found the 'purple ticket line' that went all the way down the D street tunnel. Little did we know we would be standing in that line for over 5 hours and never get inside the purple ticket gate...argh. I'm trying to let it go but i'm still so annoyed with diane feinstein and the inaugural committee for their poor planning.














This is a 360* view of where we stood for over 5 hours.









We were scrambling to figure out how to get inside the gates of the inauguration before it began but were unsuccessful. Because of the location of the access gates we couldn't hear or see the Inauguration from where we were. Luckily, we found this lady that had brought a radio and we listened to the Inaugural speech with the help of NPR. What a cold and disappointing day.

Operation FIRE Dianne Feinstein

As Inauguration Day drew close, I was contemplating taking a vacation to get far away from the crowds that would be loitering my place of residence. However, several weeks ago I received a phone call that I had been approved for 2 purple tickets to Inauguration through my Congressman's office.
Yesterday, I awoke at 5:00 A.M and got in the purple ticket line around 6:00 A.M. where I remained in a tunnel for over 5 hours waiting to get to our security gate. There appeared to be nobody that knew where the gate actually was. There was no staff/policeman directing the crowds, and there were no visible signs. It was utter chaos and I about got trampled several times. It felt like being trapped in a people river, I had no control in which direction I was moving. ARGH! Luckily, there was a lady by me that had brought a radio and so I listened to the Inaugural Address with the aide of NPR! Haha, what a lousy day!

For those of you who care, here's an article describing my day!