Hello My Name is Betty

Well, that is pinteresting!

2012-01-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Are you on Pinterest? It's the greatest thing ever. I can't handle it. I feel super creative while I'm on it, then I feel really lazy because all these people are making cute things while I'm sitting with my legs crossed, hand on chin, at my computer looking at all these great ideas of things I should do.

Stop it. You are being a loser.

2011-12-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

I'm all about goals. I hate when people waste their potential just because they have talked themselves out of being AMAZING. They set goals that are nonthreatening, easily attainable and just as easily ignored. The set goals that, if accomplished, don't really change anything one way or the other. STOP IT. I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

Are you happy with the trajectory of where your life is headed?

Honestly answer the question.

Now take out a piece of paper. NOW. I'm serious. I mean it. Don't sit there acting like you are too cool, or too busy, just do it. You are about to change your life.

Take a few minutes to really think about what your life will look like in 10 years. In paragraph form, answer the following questions to help you visualize your future better :

Your VISION is set 10 years in the future, is clear and concise (one to two paragraphs) with enough detail to feel complete, and incorporates all major domains of our life: health, personal and career. Your vision should move you emotionally and make excited – maybe even a little nervous. Use present tense language and write it as if you are already there. Make sure it is authentic to you and grounded in your most sincere passions. Use the following questions to help you write your vision.

1.What would you dare to do if you knew you could not fail?

2. Describe what you see, hear, and feel in your ideal life.

3. Who is there?

4. How do you spend your time?

5. Where do you spend your time?

Now that you have written down what you want to see, lets come up with some POWERFUL goals to help you accomplish your dream. Goals are what it takes to make your vision happen. It’s the “work” part.

Our goals are powerful! When we write powerful goals, we make sure we:

Trickle back.
Set your 10-year goals first, then move backwards to your five-year and one-year goals.
Keep it quantifiable.
You should always be able to measure your goals (and, in the same way, our success).
Are specific.
It’s easier to do something if we know what that thing is. That’s why we precisely articulate the desired activity, object or outcome in our goals.
Use the present tense.
Write your vision and goals in the present tense to make them more attainable.
Use affirmative language.
Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. Keep your goals clear by stating what we want, not what we don’twant.
Include a by-when date.
We use by-when dates to motivate us and give our goals structure. Deadlines give people drive!

Now that you know the attributes of goal setting, find your piece of paper again. Write down two or three goals for each of the following categories:

Example: I save (present tense) $5,000 for graduate school (quantifiable and specific) by December 2012 (by when date)

Ready? GO!

10 Year Goals

Career:

Health:

Personal:

5 Year Goals

Career:

Health:

Personal:

1 Year Goals

Career:

Health:

Personal:

Put your goals somewhere where you will see them often and be reminded of the huge success that is waiting for you. Share this with friends and pretty soon, we will all be on our way to being happier, healthier, more productive people.

You're Welcome.

*This post was adapted through many sites and goal setting blogs, including my lifetime of knowledge.

Studying for the GRE

2011-12-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth : Analogies

a. Peanut butter : Cacti

b. Utes : Cougars

c. Nike : Adidas

d. Santa Clause : Cookies

Christmas list 2011.

2011-12-18T23:52:00.000-08:00

Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is! Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where's the Tylenol?

Ahhhhh 'tis the season!

So, if any of you are looking for some last minute Christmas gift ideas for me, here are some suggestions:

Don't mention it.

Failure Club

2011-12-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

Morgan Spurlock, you are my hero.

Click on this and watch it: http://screen.yahoo.com/welcome-to-failure-club-27284740.html

This is a video from yahoo so I can't embed it, but you need to watch it.

Now that you have watched it, what is your failure club?

Failing at something can actually be kinda fun. The experience you get, the friends you meet, the things you learn...all fun. Right? Maybe?

Well, I want to try something crazy. What should I do? Since I'm obsessed with lists, let's just start naming things I would love to do as part of my own personal "failure club".

Move to Italy and learn Italian
Go to graduate school
Get a real job with a real salary
Move to a big city and start from zero
Be an acrobat
Learn to ice skate
Be an editor for a magazine
Write a book
Finish first in my age group in some race or triathlon
Complete an Ironman
Run a full marathon
Learn to dance

Own a mini cooper

Get a tan

All these things seem doable, if only I wasn't so scared of FAILING. So I'm just going to pick one... a small one to start out with... and I'll see if it's fun. I would really like to go to grad school, the only problem is, I have NO idea what I would get a graduate degree in. Journalism? English composition? Mass Communications? Public Administration? Help me! I'm going to start by studying for the GRE, and learning about application deadlines and pre-requisites and stuff like that.... wish me luck. Any and all advice will be appreciated!

Notice I didn't start with "get a tan". That would be so disheartening right off.

Google Releases top 10 "Googled" phrases for 2011, it leads me to this....

2011-12-15T23:06:00.000-08:00

Apparently, "Rebecca Black" was the number one most "googled"phrase in 2011. I find that REALLY hard to believe. Who is this chick? She is TERRIBLE. I can't sing to save my life, and I am better than her.

If you do watch this video, please don't send me a bill for the time you wasted watching it. The comments are pretty funny though. Totally worth a read.

And, since you are probably wondering, here is the complete list of the top 10 most searched phrases:

1. Rebecca Black
2. Google+
3. Ryan Dunn
4. Casey Anthony
5. Battlefield 3
6. iPhone5
7. Adele
8. 東京電力 (Tepco)
9. Steve Jobs
10. iPad2

Kill me now.

RIP iPod Shuffle

2011-12-15T22:27:00.000-08:00

Out with the old... In with the new.

The Apple store really is one of the most fascinating places to shop. The workers are all hip and with it and probably pray to Steve Jobs at the beginning of each shift. People walk in there and drop thousands of dollars without batting an eye. I'm not one of those people. I was going in to see if there was anyway to squeeze life out of my overworked $49 iPod. I literally saw someone walk in and say "I need 5 iPads" and then pay and leave in about 10 minutes. That's a lot of coin. I hope I'm on that dude's list.

Upon entering the store, I was greeted immediately by one of these said hipsters. He was cute, kind, jovial, wearing red for the season and his name tag said "Harris". I doubt that was his real name, because who would name their kid Harris? Anyway, I told "Harris" I made an appointment with the Genius Bar because my ipod shuffle was broken. I was expecting him to say "ok, go back there... they will help you" but instead he surprised me and asked asked what was wrong. I explained that it crackled loudly in my headphones and wouldn't play music. I think he realized this was a little bit more involved than he has presumed and he directed me back to the back of the store where I was supposed to find "Maddy". Come to think of it, he may have thought I was a dumb girl who didn't understand technology. Little does he know I have an iMac, an iPhone, an iPod Classic, Mini, and Shuffle, oh and a remote for my iMac so I can watch movies while in bed. I'm a seasoned Apple gal "Harris"...if that IS your REAL name.....but it sure was nice of you to ask... you probably have saved people a lot of time by helping them with little fixes here and there...presheeatechya!

I checked in with "Maddy" and waited in the sea of people. I was only waiting about three minutes when a very nice man came up and called me by name. He listend while I explained the problems I was having with my iPod shuffle and then he went in the back to see if he could fix it.

I said I had had the ipod for about 2 years... I was way off. I had had it for 4 years. That is a long time, and a lot of miles my little red running buddy and I have shared. Oh the memories.

In just a few minutes, he returned. In almost a disheartened doctor tone, he explained to me there was nothing he could do. My iPod was out of warranty by three years and was pooping out for good.

Tear.

I traded in the old one for the new one and they gave me some money toward the new iPod in exchange. I like Green Bean. I think we will enjoy our first run together tomorrow. Maybe I'll even run into someone who wants to buy me an iPad for Christmas...

2011-12-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

It's the first week of December and I have been seriously lacking in my blogging. I don't know if anything I have going on right now is blog-worthy, but my life is pretty awesome. I'm seriously loving it.

I rearranged my room.

I went shopping and basically bought a whole new wardrobe.

I'm obsessed with Nordstrom.

I'm writing a cookbook.

I made way too many cookies last night.

I spend way too much time on pinterest, but I really do make the things I see on it.

For the first time in a long time, I want it to snow, and I want it to snow A TON.

I'm going to Austin, Texas tomorrow.

I have seen the movie The Help two times and now I'm reading the book.

I have an addiction to NPS and DI.

I can't wait to see my mommy and Kirk at Christmas.

Cowboys and Aliens was a TERRIBLE movie.

Push-ups

2011-10-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

I, like the T-Rex, have a hard time doing push-ups. It's all about body proportion. Ask anyone.

Day 2: The Love of your Life

2011-08-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today, gaze at everyone wondering whether they might be the one true love of your life, the one destined for you and you alone, and whether you might be passing them by forever...act in consequence.

The only male I have seen today has been Norm. And while he is sweet and kind, low maintenance, and rather ferocious, 1'm 95% sure he isn't the one.

I work today from 2-8, something may pop up there... I'll let you know. However, there is an extreme imbalance in the male to female ratio at the store though...the cute running men are far and few between.

My life is average.

2011-08-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

It has happened. My life is average. I need to change that ASAP.

I bought this book:

Seems pretty promising...365 days of hysterical living? YES, PLEASE!

Here we go. Day 1.

The book advises not to make too drastic of a change on the first day. They call day 1 a "warm up." It has a long lost of things I can choose from like, do one push-up, tell someone your middle name, bookmark a new website, insult an insect.... ok here is the one I choose...decide which of your toes is the prettiest.

Wow. I feel cooler already.

Cooking Blogs

2011-07-10T22:35:00.000-07:00

I would love to profess that I am an excellent chef but alas, I am not. The good thing is, I'm really good at making friends with people who are. Meet my friend Angie. Her blog is amazing and I have tried manyof the things she posts. THEY ARE DELICIOUS and you don't needa degree in chemistry or french to figure out what she is talking about. Very simple and delicious recipes.

4th of July!

2011-07-05T23:30:00.001-07:00

The 4th of July is my FAVORITE holiday. I love it more than Christmas! The last two 4th of July's have been pretty lame, but this year made up for them x 10.

We went to Idaho and met my Mom and Kirk. We stayed at Grandpa's house and the weekend was packed with good food, entertainment, and lots and lots of SUN!

We arrived late Saturday night so the real fun didn't start until Sunday. We woke up and went for a run but it was SO HOT. Running in the heat is certainly something I will have to train to do because it was awful. After the run, we all ate breakfast and then went to Church with Grandpa. After church we went to Ron and Leslie's house for dinner. The food this weekend was great. Summer food is devine. Potato salad, corn on the cob, BBQ meat, watermelon (which I kind of hate) and delicious desserts were everywhere. I gained about 10 lbs this weekend.

Monday was the greatest day ever. We woke up and went to the parade in downtown Middleton Idaho. Small towns are where the 4th should be celebrated. I'm convinced it is the only way. The parade was cute and pretty short but the best part was the fire hoses! The fire trucks turned on their hoses and people ran in the water and got sprayed. It was seriously so fun. I felt like I was 5 again, just living for Summer. After we got totally and completely soaked, we went to Lunch at Sizzler. Not my favorite place, but it was good. Then we went shopping for a bit, I made a pie, and then it was time to eat again... BBQ at Aunt Leslie's house again.

My uncle Ron built a HUGE water slide in his backyard so we went down that and it was the GREATEST. I LOVE water slides. I am thinking of quitting my job and going to work at a water park somewhere. After the water slide, pool, lots and lots of food, I was totally and completely exhaused. We went home and tried to nap just a bit but it wasn't working out so well because al the little kids were amped up on excitement for the fireworks. My Aunt Leslie won $200 worth of fireworks so my cousin Ryan set them up for the kids and lit them off in front of Grandpa's house. After our own fireworks show, we walked down the street to where the Middleton fireworks were and waiting for a bit for them to start. This small town with just over 1200 people in it had AMAZING fireworks!!!! HUGE ones where you felt like they were going to land right on top of you. There were a couple impromptu explosions and huge flame clouds that flew up into the air.... not really sure where those came from but they were awesome to watch.

After the fireworks show, we decided to leave Boise. That's right...5 hour drive starting at about midnight. It was fun though. We made it home safely and I can safely say that was one of the best 4ths I have had YET.

Next big family vacation: Disneyland for CHRISTMAS!

2011-06-29T20:27:00.001-07:00

It's May...

2011-05-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm 25 now. I feel old. People my age with blogs talk about their kids. I have none, so I will talk about myself. I like to run. I have a new road bike. I joined a cross fit gym. I am so over the rain. My mind is full of unanswered questions, but ones I don't really want the answers to. I have a lot of really great friends and this summer I am going to be the very best version of myself.

Christmas 2010!

2011-01-02T00:26:00.000-08:00

Please don't judge me for my baby voices. These kids bring it right out of me!

I'm making videos now.

2010-11-28T10:02:00.000-08:00

Please disregard all of the baby voices and exaggerated excitement. If only I was exaggerating.

Disregard last post.

2010-11-21T22:59:00.002-08:00

I changed my mind. I want Justin Timberlake for Christmas.

My Christmas list

2010-11-21T12:08:00.001-08:00

My mother informed me we are doing Christmas gifts a little different this year. She doesn't want to know what we want. She wants to get us what she wants us to have. I am interested to see what my mom 'wants me to have.' Last I checked, it is illegal to force a man to marry your daughter, so I don't think I have to worry about a man popping out of a box. However, if it was a man that in any way resembled Ryan Reynolds, I would be thrilled. Other embarrassing things my mom could wrap up include a 1 year membership to an online dating service, a self help book on finding the man of your dreams or a cookbook so I can learn to cook for the man of my dreams.

I'm sure whatever my mom gets me will be wonderful. If not, I will just do what my brother and sister-in-law taught me: return for cash. (haha sorry Jesse and Sarah, you KNOW it's true...and lucrative)

Here is my Christmas 2010. No Donny Osmond underwear this year, although I never got any and I'm still a little bummed out by it.

This book has some awesome craft ideas in it. I have the other book called "The Big Ass Book of Crafts" and I LOVE it.

If you lived through the 90's you know what this show is. If you didn't, you are totally missing out. A warning: before you remove your head from your Twilight encrusted butt, this is the cheesiest show I have ever seen and I go against all my principles by liking it, but I don't care. I already have season 1, season 2 is on it's way, and so this leaves season 3 and 4 for potential give givers.

This is the Saucony ProGrid Kinvara. This shoe is BA. It is a minimalist running shoe with ProGrid cusioning for extra softness and flexibility. Looking to start barefoot running? This would be an excellent starting point to get your body used to new form. The heel-to-toe drop is one of the shortest on the market in this price range and... it is GREEN! Wow, do I sound like a shoe sales person or WHAT. Still, I want this shoe so bad!

Are these not the cutest boots you have ever seen? I want them!

Avery Rose

2010-10-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

I love this little creature.

Your shoes....are gloves.

2010-10-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Have you seen these?

Totally hideous, right?

Well, I bought some. Oops.

I tried to hate them, because, in all honesty, if this shoe had a personality, it would be the geekiest granola head on the planet... (even worse than chacos!)

I do sorta feel like I joined some special club though. We will see how the transition goes.

On a scale from one to ten...

2010-08-26T22:32:00.001-07:00

I just came up with a great way to make life infinitely more simple. Rate EVERYTHING on a scale from 1-10. Examples are below:

A) I just don't like her... she talks crap, she is annoying, and thinks her poop doesn't stink. She is also a sociopath, narcissist, and a downright foolio.

B) She is a 1.

A) This is the most amazing movie I have ever seen. I would watch it again, right now.

B) This is a 10.

A) I need to do laundry so bad. I have been wearing the same thing for the past 4 days, and am beginning to smell like a foot.

B) My clean clothing selection is a 3.

A) I just crashed my car and I'm fairly sure that if the axel is bent, it will be totaled. The good news is, the airbags didn't go off, so the resale doesn't drop too much if we decide to fix it.

B)The damage on my car is a 9.

A) That was the rankest fart I have ever been subject to and I don't think my nose hairs exist anymore. I may need to replace the carpet in my house, and you may need to replace your shorts.

B) That fart was a 10.

Yeah, I do triathlons...

2010-08-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the Bountiful Triathlon and Alex and I competed in it. It was so fun and I can honestly say I loved every minute of it. The distance was as follows:

3.35 mile run

11.5 mile bike

350 yd swim

Best day of my LIFE.

2010-08-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

I just took my Accounting 200 final. Goodbye Norm, I will miss Steven's sweet shop, Norms Furniture, and the way your face would freeze in funny ways between problems and their walk-through. So long debits and credits, hello visa and AMEX, the credits and debits I know best. It's been fun.

Why does transportation hate me?

2010-08-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the deal is but recently the transportation gods have had me on their "S" list. I don't really know what I did to get such bad karma, but apparently I did something...and if you are sitting in your chair thinking "well, you did this and this and this...then you can cram it.

It all started when I decided to move to the great state of Utah...which I lovingly refer to as Jewtah. Two days after arriving, my 2000 Isuzu Trooper's transmission went out. Incase you don't know, they don't sell those at the dollar store-the only place I can shop these days. I decided to just sell the trooper for what it was worth without fixing it. Within seconds of posting it on KSL, I had so many mexicans calling me that after an hour I felt like I was qualified to work at Beto's. I sold it to a man who was like 50 years old and a couple weeks after the deal, he called me. I was sure he wanted his money back, or wanted to undo the deal, but no....he wanted much more than that...a date. I don't think so old man. How about you ask my mom out?

During this whole car fiasco, I went home to Reno to get Norm and my Dad's car since mine was on the fritz and no one was using the Expedition. Geoff drove his Saab to Reno so I caught a ride with him. We made it through the Carlin Tunnels when the fuel pump went out. I had never been stranded in the middle of nowhere, but I was glad to be with Geoff. We had a fun time in Elko with the tow truck driver Ken and his little doggy Tough. Dear sweet Max McCombs, Geoff's dad, drove all the way from Reno to rescue us from certain death. When it was time to leave Reno a few days later Geoff and his friend Meredith, Norm and I all piled in and drove to Utah.

The expedition lasted a good few weeks when all of the sudden, the battery dies. It is currently parked in front of my house... I am thinking about calling some of those Mexicans that called me about the Trooper and see if they will come snag it... (Don't think for one second that I am a racist. I am a race-ologist. duh)

Patti Tartaglia got married this weekend in Reno and I was one of her bridesmaids (that makes like 3135624234 bridesmaid dresses I have hanging in various closets between SLC and Reno.) Wednesday night, after my last college lecture of ALL TIME, I was supposed to board a train to go from SLC to Reno..well the train got derailed. Yes, derailed... that still happens... we can cure small pox and polio, but we can't keep trains on their tracks... Anyhoozles, so I had to buy a ticket at the last minute to make it to the rehearsal dinner on time. This was my first non-mormon wedding adventure. It was so FUN. Her family is all really close and they had an open bar so people were even more interesting. I limited myself to two shirley temples...which I think was responsible...

Saturday night I went to look at cars. Not to really buy one, but just to kinda get an idea of what I wanted. I thought I would want a Honda Fit, but after test driving it, my mind changed... It was super loud inside, and over priced. The used ones they had were all banged up and scratched and I wasn't going to pay 20,000 for a car that looked like it was worth 5. After talking to the salesmen for a while, I decided I was done looking and we started to walk out. My mom spotted a 2009 Hyundai Accent and asked if I was interested. I thought to my self, Hyundai makes cars for old men. Then, I took a closer look. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was cute and fit my needs and my budget. It also came with a 10yr 100k mile warranty. I made an offer and they accepted it, and that was that...so I thought.

The next morning, I started driving back to Utah because I had work and a final Monday. I made it to Winnemucca when my check engine light came on. Those blasted lights are probably the cause of more stomach ulcers than anything else. Immediately my stomach fell out of my butt and I was so sad, mad, and just frustrated. I had had it with crappy lemons and thought I had finally found something that was going to last me a LONG time. I pulled into an Auto Zone and the kid came out and checked out why my light was on. He looked at me and said "uhh you might want to take this one back" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So, I called mother bear and she called the Honda Dealership where I bought the car and she gave them a piece of her mind. I turned around, drove to Reno and went straight to the dealership after rendezvousing with my mom in a nearby parking lot. I called my boss, and my professor to reschedule my final, and to find out what to do about work. They were both very accommodating. When we pulled up we got the royal treatment. THAT'S RIGHT! They took the car and had it fixed for me the very next day. I still don't really know what was wrong with the car, but I left Reno at 4:45 am this morning and made it here by 1:00 with no problems. I hope it continues to be a good car for me. It is really cute. I think I will skip breakfast everyday for a week as a fast that my car wont break on me.

So yeah, that is my recent transportation luck... I dare you to share your transportation horror stories in the comments section BELOW.

Some friends of mine throw down some sweet lyrics

2010-07-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

"Big Spoon" and "Neva" or David Peterson and David Hawkins are some of my friends. They have mad talent and, as you can see from this vid, are dripping in sex appeal. Check them out. You will fall in love with them and beg to be friends with me, just so you can know them...

Download the music and other amazing tracks here and blow your mind with insane hip hop love.

Norm is the King of the Jungle

2010-07-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Norm is possibly my most prized possession. I adore him. He has been so hot lately so my mom had him groomed. I think he looks so stinking cute! I am going home this weekend and bringing him back with me along with my scooter and my dad's car. My trooper is dead :(

Attention Wal-mart Shoppers...

2010-06-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

A compilation of announcements Wal-mart should start saying...

"Attention Wal-mart shoppers. It is now time to take a brief moment and look at the child you are abusing and take them to the toy isle and buy them a stuffed animal. This will make you feel better and reinforce your child's bad behavior. We suggest Zhu Zhu pets. They are just annoying enough to make you want to beat them instead of your child, and they are on Rollback!

Attention Wal-mart shoppers. We are rolling back prices on pre-made frozen dinners. Now you wont have to get off the couch to make a three course meal for your already malnourished family, subsequently missing the newest episode of The Biggest Loser.

Attention Wal-mart shoppers. It is now 11:30 p.m. Please quiet your screaming children who should be at home sleeping. Our jewelry counter lady and electronics guy are trying to take a nap. Thank you.

Attention Wal-mart shoppers. Just in case you don't have enough crap in your basket already, we have restocked our "as seen on TV section." Get you, your husband, goldfish and dog matching snuggies today!

Attention Wal-mart shoppers. If you are located at one end of the store and you just remembered that you forgot something at the other end, please push the call button and a highly trained service person will assist you. This will save you hours of walking, and negate the need to open up that box of cheese-its for nourishment to make the trek.

Attention Wal-mart shoppers. We are experiencing a usual high number of customers. Please wait in line for 100 years and a moderately coherent cashier will assist you. If you are in a "20-items-or-less" lane and have clearly more than 20 items, don't fret, our cashiers can't count any better than you can.

Father's day

2010-06-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

This was the first Father's Day without a phone call to a dad who only wanted "world peace" for father's day but got socks and Eddie Bauer tie-pants instead. I sure miss my daddy! This post is dedicated to him and his famous "Vonn-isms."

"Knock 'em dead!"

"Where is my brush!? I hate when you guys use my brush because the long hairs drag on my face when I comb my hair."

"Get over it..."

"Jesse! Get off me!"

"I weep for the future of the world!"

"Will you go get me a quarter pounder with cheese? Please? Come on!"

"Knock it off!"

"Where is the remote?" "I will give 5 bucks to whoever finds the remote."

"What language would you like me to say family prayer in?"

"Yo-me yo-me yo-me.... yo-me yo-me yo-me" (no matter what language we requested..)

"Staaaaaay green.... come on baby stay greeen."

"Gaul! Dangit!" (at every yellow light)

"Hey kids, watch this!" (just before totaling our Toyota)

"Quit dingkin' around!"

"Do we have anymore banana milk?"

"Will you bring me a toothpick?" "No, the square ones..."

"This is Vonn J. Jenkins from the Church of the LDS...."

"I want to try this new recipe that I saw on Good Eats."

"What's for dinner?"

"Screw your stew!"

"You are my favorite."

"Open...the...garage...door."

"This is baaaaaaad."

"Alright! Alright! Alright!"

"Raise your right hand. Repeat after me..."

"Don't drive angry!"

"UNBELIEVABLE!"

"Who wants to go to Costco with me?"

"SPOT CHECK!"

"Did you know See's candy delivers? Right to your front door!"

"Wait, so you wrecked the car, but you weren't in it?"

"I am a lucky man."

You were a lucky man, Dad! We were lucky to have you in our lives! We love you and miss you everyday! Happy Father's day and I hope you aren't too upset you didn't get your usual socks and tie-pants....its a recession....and plus, you probably wouldn't wear them anyway... you always preferred the ones with the most holes.

Here are some more I forgot, Thanks Jesse!

"Mmmm, that's good" after every free sample at Costco.

"Can someone bring me some toilet paper?" and closely related, "don't come in here, you'll get brain damage."

"I want KFC"

"Do you have tri-tip tacos today?"

"Jess, I hate your dogs."

"Jack, why are we even friends?"

"I didn't vote for Harry Reid! I don't know what the hell you are talking about."

"Time to thin the herd."

"Pull my finger."

"Allie, quit using my sink, get your crap out of here!"

"How hard is it to go to the store, get what you need, and come home?"

"Where the hell are you?"

There were more but most of them were inappropriate. hahahhahah

Daily Affirmations!

2010-06-18T17:27:00.001-07:00

I created a tumblr blog for my daily affirmations so I can be more like this girl.

Remeber, you can do anything good.

First week in Utah

2010-06-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! My life is totally awesome. You should be jealous. Here's why:

I am staying at a cute little bed and breakfast in Lehi, Utah.
I ate the most delicious fajitas last night for dessert.
I ate creamy frozen yogurt for dinner last night.
I am going to the rodeo this weekend!
My niece is at EFY this week and I get to see her!
I have a few job prospects that I am pretty excited about.
My cat is getting shaved like a lion. hahahahahahahah
My identity is stolen and continues to be stolen.
Wells Fargo sent me a replacement debit card and it came in the mail...canceled. Waiting for another one.
My transmission went out in my car yesterday.
I don't have a job.
I don't have an apartment.
I now don't have a car.
I found an apartment to live in up in Salt Lake. So cute and Norm can come! Then the girl decided I was weird and rented it to someone else.
I have one pair of pants that fits.
BYU dropped me as a student and now I can't log onto the computers on campus. I didn't want to study anyway.
My mailing address for my phone bill, bank account, and credit card have all been changed to 471 West Line Way in Muncie, Indiana. I have not a clue why. Maybe I should move there.

Am I awesome? All clues point to YES!

2010-06-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

So, Saturday morning, I am sleeping soundly on my 4-in memory foam mattress topper, nestled in my bed with my kitten Norm, when my phone rings. I choose not to look and see who it is because, let's face it, it is Saturday morning before 10 a.m. It could have been John Stamos calling to tell me he is in love with me and I still would have rather slept. About 30 minutes later, I look at my phone to see that it was an unknown number. So glad I didn't answer, I happily roll back over and sleep for another 30 minutes. I glance at my phone after getting up and almost getting in the shower, to realize the unknown caller left me a message.

"Hello Ms. Jenkins, this is Wells Fargo's Fraud Detection team calling to alert you of suspicious account activity on your Wells Fargo checking account ending in ####. Please call us back at ### ### #### to speak with a fraud specialist as soon as possible. Thank you."

Holy!

Apparently, someone got a hold of my debit card number and bought tickets from/to Italy, and a couple hundred dollars in other stuff. The city where the card was used was Villanova, Italy, the city where my grandmother was born, and where all my Italian ancestors live to this day. What are the odds?

Anyway, now I have no access to any money for 5-7 business days.

Apparently, I am pretty awesome, or else no one would have wanted to steal my identity. However, I am sure they were disappointed when my bank account and my awesomeness were incongruous.

I wanna moyve tah Joysey.

2010-06-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Have you seen Jerseylicious? It might be the most addicting show on TV. The whole premise of the show is as follows:

Gayle and her daughter have taken out a 3-million dollar loan to make The Gatsby Salon legit. They begin by hiring two new hair dressers, and a make-up artist. Words can't describe these peeps. Here is a video:

OMG, I want to go tanning! And I want to drink lip gloss for breakfast!

Now, a tip from Tracey: The Perfect Tease!

Ick! Man hands.....

Who knew "Utah Hair" existed outside of Utah?

A Web-folio!

2010-06-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

I have been working on getting a web-folio started. I went with another blog. I hope it does the trick. You should check it out. It is here!

The job hunt is going well! I have been in contact with a few awesome companies. I have a part-time job lined up for the weekends... so if all else fails, I will be able to eat. It may be bologna (the ultimate sign of poverty) but I can deal. I'm sure there is a cook book out there with a title similar to "100 recipes for bologna!"

I want to know....

2010-05-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

why poor people are fat.

why cheap make-up turns orange throughout the course of a day.

why seven jeans makes crappy jeans to sell at Kohls.

why people even buy clothes at Kohls.

why cheap nail salons lie about 'gel' nails.

why people fall in love.

why more child beatings can be seen in a single trip to wal-mart than in a whole week of Lifetime TV.

why How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days never gets old.

why The Biggest Loser only makes me want to eat massive amounts of ice cream.

why Nevada has the bluest skies.

why people think the iPad is cool. It's not. I promise.

why the sun seems to bleach my skin.

why people name there kids strange names...like Karemily...or Ashlisa.... gag me.

why burgers from a grill taste SO good.

why frozen yogurt is "good" for me.

why fashion is fashionable.

why some colors are prettier than others.

why all flip-flops are not created equally.

why shape-ups are so popular. They are hideous. No matter how tone you get, they will still make you look ugly.

why there are measurements on the doors of mini-marts...if someone steals something, their height is not going to be a very telling characteristic.

why McDonald's doesn't sell hot dogs.

why "real mayonaise" must include the word "real."

why carnival ride operators have, on average, 3 teeth.

why pizza is pretty much the only deliverable food.

why Mexican's put sound systems in their cars that are worth 3x more than the car.

why some things never go out of style.

why Tiger Woods cheated on his wife, like 100 times.

why anyone cheats.

why men and women are starting to dress alike... do you see it?

why beer is cheaper than water in China.

why teddy bears are so cute, but real bears eat people.

why money is represented by paper checks and invisible electronic transfers.

why Southwest Airlines doesn't give out honey roasted peanuts anymore.

why cats are't extinct, when they all seem to hate each other.

why bread is square but sandwich meat is round.

why instructions for a water evacuation are given on flights rather than land evacuations.

why I can have 2 fish, but not 2 cat.

why Donny Osmond is married, and not to me.

Brad and Elisse came!

2010-05-29T01:54:00.000-07:00

I know this picture is ancient, but I didn't have a lot of options....

Brad and Elisse had to deliver furniture for the company Brad works for, and lucky for me, they had to stop in Reno! It was so fun having them here. Elisse is 8 months preggo! So strange that 99% of my friends are either married, married with children, divorced or wishing they were some combination of the three. I'm still single.... woopty friggin dooo.

Novocaine on tap!

2010-05-29T00:38:00.001-07:00

So, I don't know why I didn't start blogging about work before, because seriously, I work with the most amazing people on the planet. Huh-lar-ee-ous.

My job is pretty simple. I answer phones, schedule patients, file charts, pull charts, pour up models, confirm appointments, water plants, order lunch, pick up lunch, eat lunch, file more charts, confirm more appointments, answer the phone some more, punch some numbers in the calculator, and then the best part, I go home to hang out with my...cat?

Anyway, everyday there are numerous funny conversations... today it was about lying.

I am taking a class through independent study and although it is sucking my will to live, it is pretty interesting. I told Heather, the office manager, that my text book says that all lies are bad, and that even white lies are deceiving. She immediately said "Well, what about when someone has an ugly baby?"

Well, it is in situations like this when I personally would avoid Kant's theory...this dude thinks that all lies are equally abhorrent. He believes that we should tell the truth all the time...

What did you "white lie" about today? Hmmmm... I can't think of anything! (Oh, there is one!0

Got me wondering if this was a good movie....

I'm sure it was a big hit.

I'm MOVING!

2010-05-09T14:43:00.001-07:00

I have some exciting news! I am moving to Salt Lake June 21st! I am so excited to get going with my life again. I moved to Reno in September the moment I learned that my dad was sick. I literally hopped on a plane, having no idea if I would ever be back. Now that things are getting back to a new kind of normal, I am ready to finish what I started. I will be taking my last two classes at the BYU Salt Lake center, working somewhere, and living someplace. I have not ironed out all the details yet, but I have a lot of amazing friends and family members in Salt Lake who are helping me nail down the specifics. I am very anxious to start this new adventure! I will have my degree in August, and then I can start looking for a job in my field. I love when things work out. I look back at the last 6 months or so and can see how I have been very blessed. I was able to find an amazing job, I was able to make some great friends, and the timing of everything worked out perfectly. I couldn't have planned it better myself.

I don't know if anyone is the same as me, but when I am stuck in limbo, I have a really hard time making decisions. I knew I had a plan to finish my classes, but that plan just wasn't really working out. I was bored to tears with Independent Study. I love Reno, but I need to do things the Elizabeth way.

I have really enjoyed my time here in Reno, but something has been keeping me from getting totally involved in life here. I always had a feeling that I wasn't going to be here very long. I think now that I know what I am doing, things will start to go a lot smoother.

2010-04-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

I might self destruct.

2010-04-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

My car battery is dead, no one I called has jumper cables. The weather is TERRIBLE and I have to work all day tomorrow and we have no food in the fridge for my lunch. No idea how I am getting to work at 7:00 am, how I am getting to Minden by 6:00 pm, and how I will eat food so I am not HANGRY! I am HANGRY NOW!

Also, Norm decided to take a nap in the fireplace...luckily there wasn't a fire burning...but he is all black now....and I am prejudice... just kidding... my other cat is black...naturally...and I love her.

ok, that is enough ANGER for one blog post. It's not like any one really reads this besides like 4 people any way. lol.

2010-04-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again!

2010-04-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

I woke up with a sore throat the other morning. Don't you hate when that happens? I think, oh great, what do the next few days to a week hold in store? Well, lucky for me, the previous day, my friend Coleen told me about a recipe her family uses (and swears by) when they get a sore throat. It is so simple, and I am a true testimonial because I did it, and I didn't get sick!

Here it is:

1/4 C hot water

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

Mix together and gargle as far back in your throat as you can. Use all of the mixture! Nasty stuff will come out, so make sure you are over a sink. It might burn a little, but that is a good thing. Only do it 2 times a day, or you will burn your throat. Follow with two packets of Emergen-C...just to be safe. Ta-Dah!

Eco Woman

2010-03-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

I know you are all probably really sick of the "Green Revolution" but I happen to think it is very interesting. I am in no way a "greenie" but I do envy those who are rich enough to live in such a way. I would love to be able to buy all local food, spend hundreds at Whole Foods, and drive a Prius. The sad thing is, the media have made the idea of "going green" and turned it into a trendy thing. I have been doing some research and there are a couple things that we can do that don't require a major lifestyle overhaul, OR a raise. These suggestions will not be a surprise, but will help save natural resources, and money.

1. Turn off lights

2. Take a 5 min. shower

3. Fix up a bike and ride it whenever possible.

4. Do full loads of laundry

5. Put trash in a trash can

5. Buy products with as little packaging as possible.

6. Donate clothes, shoes, and household items to a thrift store, instead of throwing them away.

7. Drink tap water in a reusable bottle instead of bottled water. Tap water regulations are more strict than bottled water in most states.

8. Use rags instead of paper towels

9. Use cloth napkins

10. Eat leftovers

Netflix for the WIN.

2010-03-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

Netflix: quite possibly the most amazing invention of all time.

I'm sure Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are trying to deny it, but Netflix revolutionized the way people rent and watch movies. Red Box was doing the same, but in my humble opinion, Red Box has missed the boat. Yes, they are convenient, but I can't even tell you how many times I have wanted a specific movie, and Red Box lets me down. Not to mention, I despise their "no late fees" disguise. I'm pretty sure I could buy a few DVDs for the amount of money I have spent on Red Box DVDs because I wasn't back by 7/9 p.m., or I forgot to grab the DVD and return it...for a few days/weeks.

Netflix is amazing. I signed up in a fit of compulsion last Wednesday, and so far I have watched 7 movies. I have received 1 DVD in the mail, but have been able to watch all the rest on my computer, straight from the internet. I have watched movies that I would never rent, and I ended up LOVING them! I will send yall suggestions every so often, because this is one subscription I am KEEPIN'!

So far, here are some of my favorites:

No Impact Man

Food Inc.

Ballerina

Little Shop of Horrors

Hannah Montana: The Movie (shut up. it is awesome.)

Epic Fail

2010-03-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have laughed more today than I have in a while. I had the most bazaar day, but it was hilarious. To start things off, I woke up this morning with the idea that I needed to hang out with my awesome friends Alecia and Anika. They were going snowboarding at Mt. Rose today and invited me to come along. I have been avoiding the mountain for a while for a number of reasons... The first reason being, I hate being cold. I like to be warm and toasty. I like snow, but only when I am throwing it at someone, rolling it into a ball to make a snowman, or eating it with tiger's blood drizzled all over it. Other than that, I don't care for snow. Something felt different about the day though. I immediately wanted to go with them when Alecia mentioned it was going to be a warm day. Warm, and Winter? Yes please!

I got out of bed and gathered all my gear (minus my goggles...I'm pretty sure JESSE stole them). I was almost ready to go when I decided I needed to put some oil in my car. I popped the hood, put some oil in, and off I went. I stopped for gas at the Shell near my house. As I am pumping gas, gasoline leaked out all over the place. Lovely.

Up at Mt. Rose, the weather was PERFECT. I loved it. I had forgotten just how much I loved snowboarding. The weather was great, the sun was out, and I was not cold at all. I was a little nervous that I would have to start over from scratch, seeing as I had not been snowboarding in over 2 years, but it came right back. Here are some pics for you!

Me with a sweet helmet and goggles that squished my face all day. Haha

(We were practically the only ones on the mountain!)

When I got home from Mt. Rose, I realized that there was oil all over my wheel wells. Mystified, I opened the hood of the car to see I had forgotten to put my oil cap back on, and oil had spurted out all over. I quickly took Allie's car to Auto Zone, picked up a new oil cap, washer fluid, and 4 quarts of oil...I never found the original oil cap.

THEN, I went to Old Navy to return a purse. It was kinda cute, but after I got it home, I just wasn't in love with it. Then, I went to a meeting for Girls Camp and after the meeting I couldn't find my phone. It isn't out of the ordinary for me to lose things, I manage to lose the same item over and over again. Anyway, I went home, found my mom's phone, and called the only number I have memorized, Coleen's. She was able to get me in touch with some people I thought might know where it was.... Welp, that was a big fat no. My heart almost fell out of my butt when I realized it was IN THE PURSE I had returned to Old Navy a few hours prior. I RACED there and on my way called to see if someone would be so kind as to go and find my phone. The nice girl who answered the phone found it. In the purse. On the floor, waiting ever so patiently to be sold.

I love my life.

Peace and Blessings for y'all.

2010-01-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

The Girl With White Skates.

2010-01-12T22:56:00.000-08:00

Reno. Ice Skating Rink. University wards. Awesomeness.

So tonight, we went to the Rink on the River. There were a lot of people there and it was a ton of fun. Despite my best efforts, I fell three times, but I did it with grace...you can put money on that.

I always find it interesting the quick change in the dynamics on the ice when someone with white skates shows up. For obvious reasons we will call this diva "White Skates". Obviously White Skates didn't rent them, which must mean she does this often enough to need her own skates, which then must mean that we are all a bunch of posers with no skills.

While others are shamefully exiting the ice in defeat, or pretending that White Skates isn't totally schooling everyone and skate on, I sit and stare like I have some lesbian crush.

Tonight, I asked this white-skate wearing diva if she would teach me a trick or two. She offered me some excellent advice.

White Skates can stay.

Incase you were wondering...

2010-01-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

I think I may have discovered the purpose of blogging. An outsider/non-blogger might look at us bloggers and think we are all a bunch of narcissistic freaks. Well, I am here to say that we are so much more than that.

In reality, all our lives are just average. Even that one friend who is totally out of this world nuts, is average, too. Personally, I blog because I am too lazy to write in my journal. I also like to be able to say whatever I want to say and whether it be off color or not, I like feed back. My journal doesn't give me any feedback. I like to know that I have set up a system of checks and balances among my peers. If I am about to do something terrible like cut my hair in to a mullet formation, my wonderful friends will stop me, and gently prod me in the right direction. (I've decided on Reese btw. Thank you.)

I love to blog because I love reading other people's blogs. Because every one's life is so average, I take pleasure in knowing that other people out there have the same angst toward even slightly brown bananas as I do. (Shameless plug for one of my favorite blogs: FOL)

I don't really know why I decided to write about this today, and perhaps I will have to write an additional post later, but I have enjoyed sharing my opinion of bloggers. We are fabulous.

Food Rations

2010-01-07T20:51:00.001-08:00

Remember when you used to play Oregon Trail? Food would become sparse and suddenly, you would limit everyones food rations to "meager." Well, I am sad to say that due to Norm's expensive taste, he will also be receiving "meager" rations.

He will only eat this:

Fortunately for Norm, I am obsessed with him. Unfortunately for me, this food is about $30.00 a bag. That's it Norm...1/3 cup in the morning...1/3 cup at night. No mas....

HAIR CUT TIME!

2010-01-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

So, here are some hair cuts that I think would be super cute, but I want to see what you think.

Reese: I have done this one before... but I still like it. I would probably go about shoulder-blade length though. Still "long" but not short...

Rachel: I like this one because I have these exact bangs already, the length is a little short for me so I would lengthen it a little, but I would also dye it dark like this.

Kelly: I like this one because of how thinned out the ends are. I think it makes it lay very nicely. I would also go a little bit longer than this.

Lauren: I just like this... I would have to grow out my bangs, but I could do that... I like the length.

So, what do you think? You must leave a comment. If you leave my blog without commenting, I will hunt you down. LOVES!

I can't wait for 2010 to get here!

2009-12-20T23:39:00.000-08:00

"New Years" is always kinda bland to me. I don't really get excited about time passing because I am usually discouraged by how little I have actually done with my life. This year however, I have a TOTALLY different attitude. This year has been...horrible. I am absolutely ecstatic about a NEW YEAR! I want to put 2009 up on a book shelf and start anew. Before I tell you about all the amazing goals I have set for the new year, I first want to go back and think about all the great things I did this year. Although it was without a doubt my least favorite year of my life so far, I gained many insights into life's challenges, and received blessings without number! Here we go... lets see what all I can remember...

January:

Dad lost his job but because he wasn't at work, we were able to spend a lot more time with him and talking to him since he was home all the time. I LOVED calling home in the middle of the day and Dad would be the one to answer the phone.

February:

Dad was still unemployed but I was in my capstone class for the PR program. It was an intense class but we were working for a client that was helping highly qualified people find jobs. It was very comforting to know that there were people out there trying their best to help people like my dad and the millions of other people who found themselves unemployed. Also, my group for that class created some long lasting friendships that I will forever be grateful for! LOVED my COMMS 485 group!

March:

This was a tough month because we were trying desperately to pull our project together for my capstone class. WE DID IT though and we did a GREAT job with the help of countless others...especially our amazing professor!

April:

Finally, the end of Winter semester. I hate winter semester and somehow manage to sneak out of them as often as possible. This month was great because I moved home from Provo to spend time with my family before I went to LA!

May-July:

Mom and dad drove me to Sacramento to start my internship. Great road trip. Dad got a ticket and my mom didn't even get mad. She said "Even though we have no money, and that ticket is going to take all the money we have left, I still love you. YOU ARE MY BOYFRIEND!" haha I loved that. I moved back to LA for the second summer in a row for an internship and it was AMAZING. I made more life-long-friends this month! Emilie, Marianne, Kainoa, KJ, Macie, Eva, Brady and Ashley. I love you guys so much and I am so glad we had such adventures in LA! The beach, It's Thai, driving in traffic with signs, Yogurtland, 21 Choices, alarm salesmen, Disneyland, awkward sacrament meetings, Bon fires, giving rides to people, Michael Jackson's funeral giving us the day off, Gold's Gym, smoothies, polystyrene, fun, fun, fun. Dad also got a great job in June (or was it July?) We were SO happy! We were going to keep the house, Jesse got accepted to Medical school, CALEB was born! Aww... a great summer.

August:

I moved home from LA and got ready to head to BYU for what I thought was my FINAL semester. I walked at graduation! Dad got to see me "graduate" and we had a great time (even though dad was acting totally out of character). Mom and dad and Allie dropped me off in Utah, I moved in with Rachel, Melissa, and Brookey. Three of the funnest girls. I was so sad to leave them so quickly, but I LOVE them! School started and I was DETERMINED to have a GREAT last semester. It lasted a little while.. haha

September:

Mom and dad lost their house because mortgage companies are run my brainless, spineless inbreds. Luckily for us, Bradley, our amazing cousin, let them move into his house in Reno. It's perfect for what we needed at the time. Dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer with only 7 weeks to live. He was happy, confident and fearless throughout the 7 weeks.

October:

A hard month full of unbelievable blessings, wonderful memories, and the worlds greatest friends.

November:

I said goodbye to my Daddy on November 6th. Lucky for him, he is now pain free, no worries about debt, pain, cancer, jobs, the Utes, democrats, Obama, Hillary Clinton or anything else that bugged him. We get to stick around and deal with all of that for him! In all seriousness, it was a very special experience for everyone in my family to experience an untimely death of a loved one. We each grew stronger spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. We are never ready to say goodbye to someone we love so much, but really it isn't goodbye. We thank the Lord for allowing us to feel his love everyday and have faith that we will see our dad, husband, grandpa, and friend again someday. I realized this month just how important my dad's friends were to him. He was a great friend and had no enemies. I want to be more like him.

December:

Jesse and Sarah and the kids are home for Christmas. Allie is waiting to hear back from BYU! I adopted a kitten! His name is Mr. Schuester, but that changes daily. I got a job at Dr. Childs office and I LOVE IT! I am working on finishing my pesky online classes, but greatful I don't have to go back to Provo.

As I look back on this year, I can name a million bad things that happened, but it is so much better to think of the great things that happened. Still, I want this year to be over. I am ready for a fresh start, a new direction and a new attitude. This is going to be the BEST year yet! I just know it. I can't wait! It has been a hard year for a lot of people out there! We can do it! Make goals, reward yourself, and just love life!

Someday I will post my goals for 2010, but for right now, I think this is good...

PRODUCT REVIEW: The NINJA and other blenders

2009-12-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are considering laying down some serious cash for a top-of-the-line blender, hold on just one second. I may have found the most amazing blender on the market. THE NINJA! Here is a demo I found on YouTube if you are interested....

I was a skeptic, but this thing is AMAZING. I can make smoothies in seconds and there are absolutely NO chunks of ANYTHING in them. You can make peanut butter! I love it!

I was considering paying over $400.00 for a VitaMix or a Bledtec Blender. I am so glad I did not!

If you decide to buy one, I hughly suggest NOT getting on from the infomercial. You end up paying $120.00 for 1 system, a "free system", and a recipe book. GO TO BED BATH AND BEYOND! You can get it for 39.99 if you have one of their coupons for 20% off one item!!!

It is what I did....LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

My man

2009-12-11T21:49:00.000-08:00

While all my friends are calling to tell me they are either pregnant or engaged, I decided to find a man of my own! His name is Mr. Schuester. He is perfect.

Angels, Zebras, Cookie Monsters! OH MY!

2009-11-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

I am thoroughly convinced that holidays are infinitely more amazing with little kids around. When I was a kid, I loved holidays, lived for them even. While often times my reasons for liking certain holidays are totally unrelated to the real reasons for the holiday, I can't help but love everything about the special days we set aside each year to reflect on our love for our friends, family members, country, freedom, and more. While I have always been a proponent of holidays, Halloween is probably close to being number 2 on my list of faves. Over the past 8 years or so, I have been battling with an internal struggle that I think I have found the solution to. When you are sadly too old to go trick-or-treating, and too young to go out partying, what are you supposed to do? Sit home and knit? Well, luckily or me, the majority of my time spent in this limbo was when I was at BYU. People like to have parties, watch scary movies, eat candy corn, but nothing that I would consider to be as fun as trickery.

This Halloween was different though, I discovered the secret to enjoying the holidays when we are stuck in the rut of lameness. KIDS!

I know I promised that this wouldn't be a mommy blog, but I can't help it. Avery and Caleb came to Reno on Thursday and I was so excited when I realized that we would have them here for HALLOWEEN! I took some pictures and videos and I want to share them! Hope you enjoy them!

So you like the product reviews?

2009-10-22T15:54:00.001-07:00

I have had a number of people ask me to do more product reviews. I kinda like the idea. Also, I kinda like the idea of maybe doing some vlogging. I don't really have the right kind of video camera, but we will see. I think I may get stage fright. Maybe in like 5 years, they will change the words of this song to "Vlogging killed the blogger star".

Maybe I will just post videos of other people. I have a bunch of videos from over the years and I need to do something with them. Maybe I will call it the "EMBARRASSING VIDEO OF THE DAY FROM THE DEPTHS OF BETTY'S HARD DRIVE" No? Yeah...that was lame. Well, I will think of something. UNTIL THEN, stick this in your pipe and smoke it.

Product Reviews of the Day:

A&W Diet Root Beer with Aged Vanilla

If you are like me, then you probably hate soda. I really can only stomach one kind, A&W Diet Root Beer. I think they just changed the recipe or something because it used to not taste this good, and they have a new label that says "With Aged Vanilla." I suggest you snag a can if you get the chance. I love it, and I hate soda.

And.... just for fun. Here is a video of my amazing brother...teaching us all a dance:

Follow up on Recession Obsession

2009-10-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

So, I tried the warm wax and it is SO MUCH BETTER. I love it. This is what I bought:

Right now, Sally Beauty has them on sale for around 40 dollars (with a sally card) 50 without a card. The great thing is that with a Sally card, you get discounts on EVERYTHING in the store and it is only $5.00 for a whole year. Just get one. You can also pick up a ped-egg while you are there. :)

The kit comes with everything you need. It will last you forever too. One thing I would also recommend you buy would be baby powder and baby oil. Not necessary, but I think they would be advantageous. Make sure you read the instruction booklet because it tells you everything you need to know.

Enjoy being hair free! haha

Recession Obsession

2009-10-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

During my long hours at home taking care of my dad, I often find myself looking for new forms of entertainment. This usually leads to trying bazaar things, and then I get to blog about them. I read a lot of news, watch a lot of Glee and for just a few minutes, try to come up with things to do to take my mind off what is really going on in my life.

I recently read an article that basically said the recession is showing signs of being "over", but that unemployment rates will continue to hover where they currently are (12-13% in many places) well into the next decade. I don't think that translates into "Hurry, everyone! Go spend as much money as you possibly can!" But hey, I'm not an economist.

I do wonder if the amount of debt people are in has increased or decreased over the last year. I can't help but think that the economy is still the same, people have just been scared to spend a dime for the last 9 months or so, and now they have some extra cash to burn and are finally getting the things they wanted. After all, wanting something really really bad is a great reason to buy it, right?

Anyway, the real purpose for this post is to help out those of us who are still very careful with our money, whether by choice or circumstance... So, for those of us who are still trying to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE to ward off anymore unforeseen economic crisis, I have decided to post some money-saving ideas which I have come across. Take them or leave them, but I have actually tried most of them. I will rate them as well so you know what to expect. If you have some ideas which have worked for you, e-mail them to me and I will post them on here for all to read.

1. Homemade lip scrub.

I don't know how your lips react whenever the seasons change, but you would think I was part snake, shedding my summer skin every time fall rolls around. I always get really dry lips and I found this simple recipe online because I didn't want to pay $12.00 for a lip scrub at Ulta. Here it is:

1 Teaspoon honey (warmed)
1 Teaspoon baking soda
2 Drops of Olive oil

Mix all three ingredients together, put some on your clean dry lips and let it sit for about 30 seconds. Then gently start to rub your lips with your finger. (you can rub them together but when I did that I got a taste of the stuff and it was not very pleasant, use your finger:) Rub them for a couple minutes and then wash off the goo with warm water. Then, get some more olive oil and rub a little on your lips.

rating: (***- -)

reason: I think the baking soda actually dried my lips out a little. I think next time I will use sugar instead...

2. In-home body hair removal.

I don't know about you, but I could potentially spend a lot of money on hair removal. I am not a fan of body hair. My friend Roxanne is an esthetician and taught me some tricks to remove my own hair, rather than paying someone a boat-load to do it for you. While, I must admit, practice makes perfect and the first few times you try, well, you may just get what you pay for. In the long run you can save yourself a lot of money. An eyebrow wax can cost upwards of $25.00. I like to have mine professionally done every so often because over time, the shape of the brow needs to be fixed, but I am really cheap and like "free" things. Waxing at home for a few months between professional visits can really make a difference.

I just so happened to come across the "Nad's Hair Removal Strips" (pictured above) in a beauty supply store and they were on sale for $4.00. I love having hair-free arms so I purchased these to try them out. After all, way back in the day, the Nad's infomercial would suck me in every time and I would pine for smooth limbs. I anxiously purchased them and went home to try it out. If you have never waxed your arms before, don't worry, it hurts WAY less than eyebrows.

First you start out by "desensitising your arms" with the little cloth they give you. To be honest, the cloths are like the wet-naps from rib night at Applebee's. However, they did the job. Then you separate the wax papers and place them on your arm, rubbing in the direction that the hair grows. Then, in one swift movement, you rip the sucker off as quickly as possible in the opposite direction in which you rubbed. You can re-use the same strip many times and when it gets un-sticky, you just fold it in half, rub it a little, and then unfold it and wa-lah! Good as new. Highly recommended. HOWEVER, DO NOT attempt to remove hair that is less than 1/4 inch long. It won't work. So, it may take a while before I will be successful at waxing my legs with these strips.

rating:(****-)

reason: It worked well, but I still want to try a warm wax method. I'll let you know how it goes.

3. The Ped-egg

Pedicures are just as important for the cold months as they are for the warm months. Cold weather makes them crack and hurt. I can't afford the $40.00 to get a pedicure every couple weeks so I use a ped-egg. It is AMAZING. I love it! I use it when I get out of the shower and then I put lotion on my feet. Love it, HIGHLY recommend it. You can get one for about $10.00 at Sally's Beauty Supply, or maybe even Wal-mart... I don't know for sure. But I have seen them many places.

rating: (*****)

reason: It works! It's cheap!

So, there you have it. When I am bored and trying to think of things to do, I get dry lips, hairy arms, and nasty feet. So hot right now.

Hello Hello

2009-10-17T00:43:00.001-07:00

To be completely honest, I have been avoiding writing an update. Dad seems to be doing just OK. These last couple days have been hard as he has had nausea, headaches, and he can't keep much down. Today was a little bit better because he was able to eat some shrimp tacos from his favorite Mexican food place, and even some See's candy. As the "Pill Nazi", I take care of all the medications. He calls me the Pill Nazi because I don't take "no" for an answer. I have to bribe him with See's candy just to get him to open his mouth sometimes, but I like my job. I believe my official title is Pharmacy Benefits Manager. Sounds so important huh? My other duties include opening the window, closing the window, restarting the CD, getting water, getting See's candy, KFC, McDonalds, and whatever else he wants.

We are so blessed to have such great family members. Just here in Reno alone we have a crew of people on call to come at a moments notice should we need something. My Aunt Carol (an RN) and Uncle Nate (Dad's brother) have been wonderful to us. They sure have been an amazing support to us. We also have an unlimited supply of great friends here that are also equally willing to help out. We call on them frequently and I know this sounds lame and cliche but i REALLY don't know what we would do without them all.

Bradley (dad's cousin) came into town over last weekend. That was fun, despite the circumstances (I say that a lot). I always love when Bradley comes to town. He didn't bring Kendal and Izzy this time which made me sad, but I'm sure we will see them soon. Bradley and my dad have always had a really good relationship. That has trickled down to us kids. We have loads of funny stories about Brad doing crazy things. So many in fact that I could probably have a whole other blog just dedicated to all the fun times.

Some other friends have come into town over the past week or so and it's great to hear stories about my dad in college, law school, and so on. He sure is amazing. He has so many good friends and I think that is because of 2 reasons. 1. He is really funny and everyone just automatically loves him, and 2. He is a really good friend to everyone he meets. Even to people who may have wronged him. He is very forgiving, loving and charitable to everyone he meets. When he was diagnosed, I heard someone say "this is hard because we all think we are his best friend!" It is true. You all are really his best friend because he wouldn't think of anyone as less than that.

Dad seems like he is getting more headaches and more nausea. He gets really tired and nauseated when he has to talk or listen to conversations. He still laughs and jokes when he feels like it though, so that is good. He will still tell a funny story when he can.

I don't know if there is much else to say. I guess I will check back in in a few days...

Love love love!

Oh, also, in my home24/7-ness, I got behind on what is hip and missed the coolifying of the band Owl City. It wasn't until about a week ago that a friend helped me discover them. I literally got out of bed at 2 a.m. and danced to a few songs with headphones. I'm sure, had someone seen, they would have called 911 immediately to report a deranged idiot freaking out in silence. It was fun...

Also at the moment, all my clean clothes are in my hamper and all my dirty clothes are in my laundry basket. How in the...? Life is awesome.

Please comment! I LOVE Comments!

Grrr. Attack of the Angel fish!

Update from the Jenkins house!

2009-09-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

I apologize for taking so long to update you all like I had promised. I have been very busy with family coming into town, friends of my dad visiting, and dealing with the emotional roller coaster of this whole mess.

For those of you who do not know, my dad was diagnosed with very advanced brain cancer on Tuesday of this week. He had kidney cancer nine years ago and underwent surgery and treatment and it has come back with vengeance. . .this time in the brain. He has been acting strange for the past few months--very sleepy, non-engaging and impatient. We didn't know what was going on because these are very uncharacteristic behaviors of my dad. We thought maybe he had some sort of a chemical imbalance going on that was causing symptoms similar to depression. Turns out, we were wrong.

There isn't anything the doctors can do that would leave my dad in a state worth living in. We are enjoying our time together as a family and need all the prayers we can get. We have experienced such a generous out pouring of love from our dear friends and family members. It is overwhelming to think just how many people know and love our dad, and how many people he has touched throughout his life.

I withdrew from school for the semester and will continue back when I can. I am not sure when that will be right now... but it will happen sometime. BYU has been great in helping me get out of my classes, I hope I can get out of my housing contract as well... oh well. I have other things to worry about. Jesse came home and will be here for a few days. It will be hard when he leaves. We don't really know what the future hold for our family but we are blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and we know that families are forever. We will live with our father and our Father again someday. That day will be a great day.

Right now I am just trying to help out as best as I can. I am taking care of all my dad's medications and funny demands. The other night when he was still in the hospital, he called at 2 a.m. asking where is razor was. Then he called back at 4 a.m. asking for an egg mcmuffin with cheese. He never ceases to crack us up. He makes us smile and laugh all the time.

I will write again soon just to keep everyone updated. Right now things are great. We have a window here where 'the elevator is going almost all the way to the top.' Not sure when this will end, but we consider it our gift and will cherish it forever.

Things to do incase boredom consumes your soul.

2009-09-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell, I am partial to lists. I love them and can't do anything without one. This is a list I made in the event that I am bored. I am making it available to the world because I oppose boredom. Enjoy.

Public Library
Museum of Peoples and Cultures
Take Pictures and edit them
Go to the temple
Spray paint stencil-pictures
Hammock party
Dress like a biker and go on a scooter ride
Make homemade smoothies
Bake a cake and doorbell ditch it
Watch the Office
Make a music video
Make Clay pots
Flower Bomb some cars
Make a chalk target and throw stuff at it from the top of a tall building
Water game-Like beer pong but with water
Tennis
Go to an art gallery
Styrofoam telephones like 1989
Fugitive
Finger-paint with pudding
Invent a new game
Four square tournament
Make up a dance and perform it in a public place and work the crowd
Play “Who's that” in a restaurant
Burn things with a magnifying glass
See how many licks it takes to get to the center of the tootsie pop
Write a song about being bored and perform it for a random apartment
Have a pic-nic in your front room
Put on as many clothes as possible and take pictures
Juggle
Make a tire swing
Volunteer
Climb Trees
Flip coins into the ASB or JSB fountain
Put soap in a fountain
Double dutch
Bottle cap hockey with pens as the stick
Popsicle stick puppet show
Change your message machine
See how many fast food workers you can confuse
Hypnotic cliff jumping
Dye hair
Tube down the river
Slip-n-slide
Ultimate spoons
Make toothbrush bracelets
Make a pinata
Press flowers
Make ice cream
Hide in a bush by the Botany Pond and scare people
Throw water balloons at canoodling couples in the park
Learn to play the harmonica
Make chili and invite friends over to eat it
Make a torch and burn stuff
Go fishing
Pool Hop
Shopping cart races
Dress up like hicks and go to Demolition Derby
Shave a word in someone's back or chest hair
Get a facial
Freeze things with liquid nitrogen
Buy live baby chickens and raise them
Sew a quilt or pillowcase
Invent new food combinations
Make a fort
Melt records into bowls
Have a Lemonade stand
Find a stray dog or cat and keep it for a day then return it
Make a match head bomb in a tennis ball
Light Artillery shells
Ultimate hop-scotch
Shaving cream sculptures
Banana split party
Put live gold fish in someone’s bathtub.
Progressive dinner
Explode a watermelon with M-80s
Stage a ninja fight and afterward pass out cards saying we will perform at birthday parties
Cheap Theater
Make sock puppets
Play the Wal-mart game
Human Statues in the park
Kiss in the rain
Puddle jump
Make an instrument
Scavenge
Write a limerick
Make a paper press
Gallon Challenge
Talk with a lithp
Sharpen carrots and stab people
Fake sneeze on people
Fake run into doors
Spin around really fast while staring at your shoe then try to jump over it
Make popcorn balls
Make cup cakes and hide secret messages on paper in them
Cup cake cones
Saran wrap everything in your roommates’ room
Write a letter to Santa and mail it.
Breath fire by spitting powdered sugar on a lit match.
Put Mentos in a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke

My bucket list.

2009-09-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

This semester I am taking Accounitng 200 at BYU and it is an intense class. Hours of videos to watch online and many more hours of actually working out the problems for homework. I have been enjoying the class so far and I hope that I can get a decent grade. One part of the class is to try something new. I have put a lot of thought into this because I really want to try something awesome. I like picking up random hobbies every now and then and I think this is the perfect opportunity. To decide what it is that I will take up this semester, I have decided to post my secret list of things I want to do before I am too old and crotchety to do. Here goes:

Hang-glide over the Swiss Alps in Switzerland
Sky-dive
Take Trapeze lessons
Kiss under the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Make a wish in the Trevi Fountain in Rome
Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
Slide down a mud slide in Guilin
Play Ping Pong in China
See Wicked
Pet a sheep in New Zealand
Milk a goat
Meet the Prophet
Eat a fortune cookie in Hong Kong
See the Sacred Grove
Watch a performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC
Eat a hot dog in Central Park
Pose with a wax celebrity at a wax museum
Swim in the Atlantic Ocean
Snorkel at a white sand beach
Snorkel at a black sand beach
Hold an octopus on the Great Barrier Reef
Catch a firefly
Buy something at Harrod’s
Learn to Kite Surf
Pick a coconut
Send away for more pages to my passport
Visit the land of my ancestors and eat pizza
Go to Africa
Be a bee keeper
Learn to sail
Run a race longer than 5K
See the Terracotta Warriors
Ride an elephant
Kiss a dolphin
Weigh 130
Learn how to say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards
Learn another language
Graduate from college
Learn to play the piano
Take Avery to Disneyland
Jump on a trampoline, again
Ride my scooter over the BYU bridges
Learn to make real Italian food
Meet Donny Osmond
Run a marathon
Perform the Hoedown Throwdown
Fish in the Atlantic ocean
Train my tongue to do that clover thing
Get a Vita Mix
Go spear fishing in the Caribbean
Surf in Australia
Eat fish and chips in New Zealand
See Death Cab in concert
Paint an old chair with ZEBRA
Go back to 21 Choices
Ride a Ducati 1098...tri color.
Buy and Honda Rebel
Go horse back ridding down the Grand Canyon
Visit Nepal
Go to Tibet and buy Tibetan prayer flags
Dye my hair blonde, again
Go camping

Avery Licks Grandma

2009-08-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

I think this video is so cute! It makes me miss Avery a lot!

Wow, I just realized that I am a total Mommy Blogger...and I am not even a mom. This will be the last post soley dedicated to Avery Rose.

Park day with Avery!

2009-08-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

Before Jesse and Sarah and the kids moved, Allie and I took Avery to the Great Basin Adventure Park. It was so fun. Avery had a blast and then got a bloody nose which cut our day a little short. It was fun though. Here are some pictures of the cutest little girl in the whole world. I am seriously obsessed with her.

The lamb kept licking her. She likes it....

She wouldn't stop giving the animal kisses.

She seriously is soooo cute.

If she is terrified of horses when she grows up, don't look at me!

She didn't seem to mind this horse though....

Then we went to feed the ducks. It turned into feed Avery though...

I will miss her very much but I am so excited to go see them in January in the Caribbean!!!!

I so badly want to title this post "Da*n." Because that is what I want to say when I read it.

2009-08-25T18:27:00.001-07:00

My friend Suzy showed this to me and I immediately wanted to cry..... and throw bricks at boys faces. It is called the MORMON SCALE OF ATTRACTIVENESS and Emily K. (whoever she is) finally came up with a way to describe to girls everywhere why even the ugly boys don't like them...

I think this is my problem... Here goes....

Here, you see a depiction of a normal Scale of Attractiveness. You are, I am sure, not wholly unfamiliar with this scale as it is a rather common assessment of beauty.

Here you see two adult people of "Average Hotness", both a "5" on the scale in the normal, everyday world. In this normal, everyday world, the ratio of single men to single women is pretty much 1:1. There are as many single men as their are single women.

This ratio does not hold true for the Mormon community, however. Since men tend to drift away from the teachings of the LDS church at a higher rate than women, the ratio of men to women skews a bit, becoming 1:2 or even 1:3 or 4 in some areas of the country.

In an area where there are 3 or 4 Mormon women to ever 1 Mormon man, the balance of power is thrown off. All of a sudden, men who would otherwise get no attention from women become desired commodities, merely because the demand is so high on the limited supply. How does this affect our scale?

Emily K. suggests that, because of the abundance of women, a Mormon woman will move down two points on the scale of attractiveness, while a Mormon man will move up two points. Two people who used to be equals are now 4 levels of attractiveness away from each other.

This movement on the scale causes women of normal attractiveness to consider themselves fugly, impeding their ability to make wise dating decisions. It also inflates the ego of average mormon men into thinking they are more of a catch than they truly are.

Here is another example. Average man sees Beautiful Woman. In the Regular world, he would think her out of his league.

In the Mormon world, since they each slide, they are now considered equals, while Average Man's actual equal, Average Woman, is left down in the "3" range with men that could have started at a Fugly "1" on the scale.

You can scoff at this theory all you want. But, I'm telling you that I've seen it in action. Look around you at church--notice that average men are hooking up with women WAY out of their league all over the place. How many times have I had to listen to my thin, beautiful friends at church cry because none of the ugly guys at church give them even the slightest romantic attention? Every size 8 Mormon woman thinks she's fat. All the women are insecure and all the men have ridiculously high opinions of themselves.

This female insecurity leads my fellow mormon women to act in the most juvenile of ways. There is constant scheming to, not only attract male attention their way (through baked goods or dinner parties), but also put down all women around them (this is obviously not true of ALL Mormon women, but it IS a VERY common phenomenon).

Emily's full theory includes extra-notch-up-moving for men who went on missions or hold a high position at church--but, I'm going to exclude that aspect of the theory for now to let you all respond. Oh, I know you have a response.

Canoe Night With The Whole Fam-damily

2009-07-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

My family loves to do outdoor things, but we don't like them to last very long. We like to canoe, kayak, swim, ride bikes, and have weenie roasts in the back yard. We love to camp out on nice house boats at Powell, but again...a few days at a time. Here are some pictures of our little outing.

Here is mom in the kayak. She loves it!

We suckered Avery into the canoe. "Let's go see gamma" gets her to do just about anything.

This is what we call "camping." And no, that is not an animal on my bro's head. That is all natural.

Highlights from Girls Camp 2009!

2009-07-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

For the first time in 6 years, I returned to the bug-infested hills of Buck's Lake for this year's Reno, Nevada Stake Girls Camp.

One thing was different this year from the 6 years I spent as a camper in my youth. I was a leader! They put me personally responsible for making sure no one drowned in the lake. I was also what they call a "Tent Mom." I quickly changed that title to "Tent Queen" and the girls in my group were great. I had 3rd-years and they were all sweet and very willing to help out. Here are some really funny highlights from the week:

1. On Thursday morning, I woke up and walked up to the kitchen. When I got up there I over heard my bishop and his counselor talking about how the water in the lake had risen about 10 feet and all the canoes which I had left on the beach were now afloat in all corners of the lake. Luckily there was one canoe left on the beach. We hiked down to the beach and piled in one canoe, paddled all around the lake and rescued all of the canoes. I wish I had a picture of the train of 5 canoes trailing behind us and also a picture of the one canoe which made its way beyond a row of booeys, past a chain fence and was resting in a pile of logs.

2. I love pranks. Love, crave and addore pranks. This week at camp was the perfect place to pull some memoreable pranks, or so I thought....

Prank 1: There is a lady in my homeward and she comes to camp just about every year to help with crafts, and what not. She has three daughters and they have the biggest mouths so I had to be ultra careful because all three of them were there at camp and I didn't want them to find out what I was up to and tattle tell, LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO! Anyway, I asked the lady if she would braid my hair and she said she wouldn't because since she did another girls, a bunch of people had come up to her and asked her if she would braind their hair. The very next person that asked her if she would braid their hair she said yes to!! So, since she said no to me, I decided to get as many girls as I possibly could and have them go ask her if she would braid there hair. I rounded up about 30 girls to go ask her. It was glorious.

Prank2: The next prank was sure to be genious. I took a stuffed animal and sewed it to the bottom of my sisters sleeping bag. I sewed a string though the end of the sleeping bag and drew the string out away from the sleeping bag by about 10 feet. I waited intil Allie went to bed, snuck over and started pulling in the string. The reaction was supposed to be something like, "HOLY CRAP THERE IS AN ANIMAL AT THE BOTTOM OF MY SLEEPING BAG!" but, instead I was pulling on the string for about 20 minutes with absolutely no reaction. I had to wake Allie up and tell her I had just tried to prank her. We laughed pretty hard about it so it ended up being worth it.

Prank 3: The third and final prank was when my friends Alyse, Katy and I made a plan to get the camp dad out of camp for a few minutes. When Katy, his daughter, needed to go up the street to get some much needed coke, Alyse and I ran up the hill to snatch up the camp dad's tent. We ran down the hill to the beach. We first put the tent in a canoe and then put all the oars to all the canoes in our canoe as well. Then we paddled out into the middle of the lake and set up his tent on a floating dock on the water. We put all but one oar in the tent so he would have no way to retrieve his tent. Then we paddled back to shore with one paddle and then we hid it in the kitchen. We ran back up the hill just in time to see him getting out of his car. I am not going to share what happened to the tent or the parties involved as criminal investigation is currently underway and also the ending was kinda lame.

A taste of summer...

2009-07-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

I don't have all the pictures I want to post, but here are some from this summer... in no particular order.

The Fourth of July

2009-07-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

This 4th was incredibly lame... Emilie and I were alone for the weekend so we did the usual Cali-4th things... we went to the beach, had a picnic, walked through a swarm of bums, watched the fireworks and had a BBQ. Sounds great right? Wrong! It was ridiculous. The beach was COLD and parking was absolutely insane. The food we ate on the beach looked like the seagulls got to it first, and the bums, well lets just say bums are to Venice Beach like Mexicans are to Mexico... that is all there is there. One funny thing happened there though... we were walking down the walk way that runs along the beach and this guy who was clearly insane walked past us and wished us a happy 4th. He then proceded to slip in a huge pile of horse business. It was awesome.

After a few hours of complaining to each other, Emilie and I bounced. We decided to go to the grocery store, get food for a BBQ and then catch the La Cresenta fireworks. We watched the fireworks from an overpass in La Cresenta. They were pretty good. Then we went home and after 20 minutes of trying to get the coals to light, we roasted hot dogs, mallows and then went to bed.

I thought things were about as bad as they could get then I called my family. They were in Boise, Idaho with my 91 year-old grandpa partying it up. They bought roman candles, artillery shells and all sorts of crazy stuff. They sure had fun. I wished I was with them. Oh well... next year!

iPorn: How Apple just completely lost my trust.

2009-06-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, apparently the iPhone app store now has porn apps for purchase. Perfect! Just what I always wanted.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/06/porn-comes-to-the-itunes-app-store/

NOT. What the heck Apple? Are you seriously contributing to our already decrepit society?

UPDATE: TechCrunch is reporting that Apple has pulled the app from its App Store, stating, “it appears someone over at Cupertino [has] ultimately decided to reject the first such app.” However, the removal of the app is only a temporary one, according to the app’s developer, who states the he made the decision to stop distributing the app himself.

Allen Leung, developer of Hottest Girls, posted on his web site that his app is “temporarily sold out” due to overload on his image server.

2009-06-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I first have to apologize for not blogging in an incredibly long time. I know you are all waiting on the edge of our seats to see where I am and what I am up to.... snore.

I am in LA, doing basically the same thing I did last summer. I love it. This summer is different than last summer on too many levels to count, but I am loving it. I share an apartment with three amazing girls who are all so fun. I think we scored big-time because everyone just fits. It has been a while since I have had a harmonious apartment. If you are a past roomie and you are reading this thinking you are the one I am hinting about, you are right. :)

I don't really have anything profound to say today other than I have embarked on a new life mission. Treat my body like the temple it is. Yes, my body is a temple. So is yours. We were created in the image of our Father in Heaven and our bodies are a gift from him so that we might be able to become more like him. I am no longer going to put unhealthy things in my mouth. I am eating food that only comes from the earth. I will not be a vegetarian, but I will not be eating processed foods, refined sugars, or white carbs. Of course S'more pop tarts are exempt from this new life plan, but in moderation...

Having grown up with a mother who works for WeightWatchers, healthy eating has pretty much been drilled into my brain, but I think the most important thing to know about healthy eating is that we should eat healthy foods in small portions. we need to drink lots of water, and exercise lightly daily.

New Recipe From My BFF: Coffee Mug Chocolate Cake!!!

2009-03-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

a small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?

Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Utah Tap TV Spots!!!

2009-03-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

Check out the Utah Tap Project. Want to help out? Go out to eat at a tap-participating restaurant!!! Need to know where one is? Go here: www.tapproject.org

Utah Tap :: Glass Half Full from Mike Morris on Vimeo.

Utah Tap TV Spot from Mike Morris on Vimeo.

Utah Tap :: Here's to the World from Mike Morris on Vimeo.

Twitter-pated?

2009-02-22T11:08:00.001-08:00

Twitter is a new obsession that is sweeping the world. How does it work? watch this video..

As you can see, this powerful new site can be very helpful. When I log into my twitter page, I can see updates from people all over the world and from all different backgrounds. You can cater your tweets to a certain field, hobby, interest, occupation, religion and the list goes on and on and on. I like social media, running, dating advice, fashion, PR stuff. I 'follow' people that tweet about these topics. Twitter is a fun and easy way for businesses to meet the needs of key publics they had previously missed. It also allows for us mere commoners to network with the big wigs.

On my page, I follow the head of social media for Ford, Scott Monty. Find him, follow him, he has a lot to offer.

I also follow Katie Paine, the "Queen of Measurement." She is very well known for her ability to measure success in a variety of fields. She actually just came to BYU and spent a few days with us, sharing her insight. She is fantastic. She has a book out, too. If you are interested in measurement, it's the one to get. Find it here.

To find people who tweet about the things you are interested in, there are a few places to go.

Search.twitter.com is a great one. This is best for searching by topic.

Twello.com is a great place to go if you are looking for a specific person. Try them out, cater your twitter page to what interests you the most.

Twinfluence.com is an interesting site as well. You can type in the profile name of a tweeter and see how their level of use compares to other tweeters. Pretty interesting to see how you match up with others, and also a great way to measure your popularity over time.

Hope this was helpful. This is a funny video my friend Ed told be about. It pretty mush depicts how not to use twitter as an effective social networking tool.

Want to learn more about proper twitter etiquette? Check out this great article: HERE

This is a re-post, for all those still a little foggy about social media.

2009-02-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

Cheryl Snapp-Conner is the president and founder of Snapp-Conner PR. I don't know if she planned on talking about social media when she presented to my PR class, but what she said really inspired me, and also made me realize that all forms of social media are a necessary evil.

Why evil? Because never before in the history of the world has anyone had this easy access to personal and revealing information about us. From blogs to micro-blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and linked in, anyone can see what you are doing and who you are doing it with. This is scary...but also intriguing...need I mention, addicting?

As a future PR professional, I need to be connected with people. People are my source for everything. I can't survive without them. In 5 years (or even sooner) our Facebook friends list will turn magically into a professional network. Our linked-in accounts might land us a sweet job, and our Twitter followers might provide us with conversation currency when talking with friends or colleagues. In a perfect world, our Facebook pics might provoke a prospective lover to ask us on a date. Of course, these sound like extreme outcomes, but they do happen. They happen everyday.

I deleted my Facbook account last summer because I was so annoyed with the social media craze. This was a huge mistake. After about two months, I realized I had totally lost touch with people. I had no idea who was where, and who was with who. I was meeting new people, and wanted to stay in touch, but the old fashioned ways of calling and hanging out have gone the way of the buffalo. Face it. We are busy people. That doesn't mean we don't want friends. Quite the opposite in fact. We NEED friends. We need to feel connected. This is perhaps the best way, and a revolutionary way to be connected to all those people whom we might need, and those who will need us in the near future...

To help you on your way to being a social media whiz, I have done some research on the most popular sites and have complied a list of need-to-know items. Study-up. Or else you could get lost in the midst of social networking, and left out of the game. Remember, I am new at this too, so if you are a social networking guru, please help me out and let me know if I am forgetting any key players.

Social networking sites:

Facebook: This is the most popular social-networking site among college students. Totally free and getting more updates every quarter. Increasingly, we are seeing more professionals joining in. The fastest growing demographic for facebook is people 30-40 years old. The easy to use interface and the clean style make it something almost everyone can master. You can easily search for friends and add them to your friends list. Basically, Facebook is so popular that if you don't have it, you are out of the loop. So out of the loop, that you might not even be able to hoola-hoop....ha ha, forgive me. I found it funny that Facebook has been banned at many places of work to increase productivity. I can't lie, my GPA would be higher if I was not addicted. It has more than 110 million active users worldwide

Linked-in: This is primarily for professionals. It is also free but, I don't like it, but I probably will when I am getting ready to graduate jobless. It allows people to upload resumes and network or 'connect' with people in a specific field. People can also 'recommend' other people they trust in business for a position, or just vouch for them in general. Employers use the site to list jobs and people can search the listings for free. It is definitely catered to the older more professional generation, but like I said, most of the people reading this blog will be there soon if not already. This site gets over 3.2 million visitors per month.

Bebo:"Bebo" is an acronym for "Blog early, blog often" It too, is a social networking site. Not unlike Facebook, bebo users can add quizzes and polls for their friends to vote on and comment on. Photo albums with a maximum limit of 48 per album, can keep their friends updated on what fun things they have been doing. It also has its own blog section--kind-of like the Facebook 'notes' with a comments section. There is also a list of bands of which the user is a fan, and a list of groups that the user is a member of. (Facebook has these too)

Blogs:
Not up to speed on what a blog is? Have you been living in a barn for the past year or so? Wiki it and you will find this: "Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs."

Blogger: THIS IS BLOGGER..isn't it great?

Wordpress: Another blogging service. I have heard good and bad commentary on both blog services...I like Blogger. Wordpress.org however is a lot more vesatile. You can make webpages that are very custom. They do most of the hard work for you so that is nice.

Micro-blogs:

Twitterfon is a free iPhone app. I use it and it is great. You can tweet a picture, search, read updates and more. I love it.

Twinkle: It t is basically just like twitter only it is an Iphone application (get it for free here). Users like it because it syncs to your phone and it also says where the person is located. If someone twitters that they are having a bad day and it says that are in Hawaii... you should probably tell them they are stupid because even if they are having a bad day...they are still in HAWAII.

Popular Stories:

Digg: Digg is a Web site made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on them. Voting stories up and down is the site's cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Many stories get submitted every day, but only the most Dugg stories appear on the front page.

Here is a list of other sites I would recommend you check out. They all offer something different.

Stumbleupon
Del.icio.us

Don't be afraid of social media...embrace it. It is the wave of the future.

Allie's Election Video

2009-02-01T20:26:00.001-08:00

This is my awesome family. Allie, my little sister, ran for

Commissioner of Elections at Reno High this year.

SHE WON! GO ALLIE!

New year, new goals...

2008-12-15T21:39:00.000-08:00

My family: Thanksgiving 2008

This has been the best year of my life. I was blessed to be able to do and see so many things. I have the greatest friends and the best family. The only thing I worry about is that next year won't be as great. I'm sure I will find some more adventure along the way, I always do!

As I look back on the past year and the lessons I learned, I decided that this year I would make a list of things I want to learn next year. That way, I can actively pursue my future, rather than passively accept what comes my way. Life is too short to be passive.

I had a friend about a year ago who died this last summer in a boating accident. He was amazing. He knew more about love, charity, and humility than any other person I have become acquainted with. He wrote a list of rules that he decided to live by after losing his hand when a firework exploded in it. I want to share them with you. These are the things that I want to learn this next year. I have also added a few of my own.

The Rules

People are always more important

When I am about to get mad about something, be it a dirty dish, or a rude comment, I will try my hardest to remember that the person is always more important. By saying something about it or reacting harshly, it only makes the situation worse. More feelings get hurt, and contention increases.

Do what you need to do when you need to do it whether you want to or not.

I should get paid for how amazing I am at procrastinating. I save everything until the last minute. I have been getting better but I have a lot of room for improvement. Think of how less stressed we would all be if we just took a little extra time to get things done early.

I am not a victim, ever.

Playing the victim never solves anything. Sympathy gets you nowhere. We make our own choices and must accept the consequences. We each have the power to recognize the need for change in our own behavior. There are always people that are hurting worse than us. Life is great.

Purity is power.

We will be blessed if we are true and faithful in everything we do. Power comes from

harnessing our desires. We will be blessed for keeping ourselves un-spotted from the world. Bro. Bott says never to do anything that can jeopardize our eternal rewards.

Leave it better than when you found it.

No matter where we go, we can see room for improvement. Why not pitch in and help in the smallest ways to make this world as beautiful as it was intended to be. Not only places need beautifying, but also people. We can leave people better than we found them by making sure they know how important they are to us and to our Father in Heaven. It takes little effort to make someones day brighter.

Life is a joy, a journey in becoming like my Heavenly Father.

Elder Wirthlin taught, "Come what may, and love it." That really is the only thing we can do sometimes. There is no sense in getting angry over the little things. We can lift one another up by doing that, and our burdens will seem lighter. Life will throw curve balls, but many home-runs have been hit off of those same pitches. I will not be defeated by the unexpected events that transpire over this next year and beyond. I will love them, and thank my Heavenly Father for continuing to test my spiritual strength so that I might be prepared for any other trials that I will experience.

Live with purpose.

We all have a purpose here on Earth. Instead of finding our purpose, we can make our purpose. One of my favorite quotes is "Life is not about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself." We decide what we become. We have the power. What a chance we take when we let others decide who and what we are.

Be a Nobel servant, not a self-serving Nobel

This counsel came from President Uchtdorf in this last conference. What a powerful statement and phrase to live by. When we are constantly seeking what others can do for us, it will never be enough. If we do things for people, expecting nothing in return, we will be blessed greatly with humility and joy. When we receive something in return, we are happy and elated to have been thanked so warmly. The opposite would be a dreadfully pessimistic view at life. Life is not a zero-sum game.

Take every chance to learn something new Learning is one of my favorite things to do. I love to pick up a book and look at the cover and imagine what is inside. To think that when I am done reading the book the information lives on in my head, to be used in the future, is amazing! I never go anywhere without a book. I love to read and hope to be able to read a lot over the next year.

Theses rules are great reminders of what we are on this Earth to do. I hope you all have a great end of the year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Me and Avery

Love this girl!!!

She did this to herself...

Social Media: A Necessary Evil.

2008-10-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

Blogger: THIS IS BLOGGER..isn't it great?

Wordpress: Another blogging service. I have heard good and bad commentary on both blog services...I like Blogger.

Micro-blogs:

Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts.

Twitter: Twitter allows you to blog as a network. With limited characters, you answer the question, "What are you doing?" You and your friends, or random people you 'follow' can have discussions about whatever you want. When I first joined Twitter I was was a little confused. Why on earth would I want to know what someone else is doing? Well, it is pretty fun. Also, you get to know people a little better. Cheryl Snapp-Conner said she is connected with some very powerful people on her Twitter page. She said she might not have a personal relationship with them, but she knows what they ate for breakfast!

I just recently heard that terrorists where using Twitter to plan attacks....A friend heard it on NPR. Bwahaha. I guess the report sent Twitter into a coding frenzy to stop this from happening.

Twinkle: It t is basically just like twitter only it is an Iphone application (get it for free here). Users like it because it syncs to your phone and it also says where the person is located. If someone twitters that they are having a bad day and it says that are in Hawaii... you should probably tell them they are stupid because even if they are having a bad day...they are still in HAWAII.

Popular Stories:

Digg: This is a really fun site to check out when you are bored...or not bored. Digg is a Web site made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on submitted links and stories. Voting stories up and down is the site's cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Many stories get submitted every day, but only the most Dugg stories appear on the front page.

Well, that is pretty much all I have for you. Here is a list of other sites I would recommend you check out. They all offer something different.

Stumbleupon
Del.icio.us

Don't be afraid of social media...embrace it. It is the wave of the future.

In a time of utter discontent, Mr. T says it best.

2008-10-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

It's true. Mother's cookies are no more. I'm most upset by the fact that my future posterity will not experience the joy of kneeling on itchy church carpet, playing 'jungle' with the cute, sprinkley "animal" shaped crackers. My mom bought these for me and my siblings so we would have something to keep us happy during Sacrament meeting. How on earth will I recreate this experience for my off spring--should there be any?

GI Joes and Hot Wheels are nothing like these tasty morsels, and they certainly don't leave that priceless film of wax in your mouth. Barbies have way to many accessories to even compare to the simple delicacy of Circus Animal Cookies. If you lose a Barbie shoe, Barbie is forced to go barefoot, soooo not OK. If you lose an animal cookie, you just grab another one from the colorful bag. Chances are you will find the cookie eventually... and it is quite possible it will have melted to the lining of your pants pocket and you will find it when you do your laundry. Fruit--no good-- inevitably stains clothes and, come on, it is so much more fun to bite the head off an indistinguishable animal cracker than it is to chew grapes. Cheerios..the worst idea ever. Coloring books and crayons? I think NOT. Mother's cookies are infinitely better than a box of crayons because you can't eat crayons. Although, I do know a few people from elementary school who would disagree.

I don't think I can handle another one of my staple foods going under. I have already tried a Western Family knock-off of the cookies and....blargh, there is just no magic anymore. It is far too apparent that the love is gone. These fakers were NOT made with love.

I guess the only thing we can do at a time like this is turn to our real mothers. They love us. They are sweet. They take care of us in times of need. So switch your attention from one mother to another. If you don't know how, I have brought Mr. T in to tell you just how to treat your mother right. May we find peace and solace at this time by burying out heads in our mothers bosoms.

Meet my lover: Zeus.

2008-10-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have wanted a road bike for a good three years now. Finally, I get to call Zeus my own.

Tomorrow we have a date to go up the canyon.

Typos

2008-10-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

I do solemnly swear that never, under any circumstances, will I commit a typographical error. I am dedicating my educational life to hunting down misplaced modifiers, comma splices, spelling infractions and superfluous redundancies. I will seek and destroy such heathens. Starting now, if anyone finds typos in any of my school work, blog posts, resumes or letters, I will lick a toilet seat.

Cinderelli! Cinderelli!

2008-10-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

So, in case you didn't know... I am interviewing to be a character at Disneyland for this next summer.... We will see how it goes. My interview is tomorrow, Monday at 6:15 pm and then my audition is on Halloween. I wonder if I will still be as excited then as I am now. Either way, I am hopefully going to get to dress up like a Disney princess everyday next summer. It will be magical. If I get the gig, of course I will let as many of you that come see me in for free... no strings attached. OK, maybe just a little string, you have to bring me sour patch kids...

Good, Better, Best

2008-09-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

This week was fantastic and horrid all at the same time. I think I went through a whole box of s'more pop-tarts this week due to stresses and triumphs. S'more pop-tarts really are the best way to celebrate a success or comfort a weary heart.

My week started out with a disappointing grade on an assignment. Then I forgot about a paper that was due in one of my classes. I was able to cope, but I hate when I don't perform to my best ability or lazily forget about something important. I am usually really good about it, but for some reason this last week was just not going like it was supposed to.

In the midst of all this craziness, I had the greatest epiphany ever. I was just finishing up my nightly routine when I realized something that has helped me to rethink my life. First, you need a little background...but not too much. I have been praying for the same thing for a long time now. I was beginning to feel like my prayers were going unanswered because of something that I had done, was not doing, or any other slew of reasons. I was beginning to think that maybe I was going about it the wrong way when it hit me.

The Lord doesn't withhold blessings from his children if they are worthy of receiving them. I think that the principle of good, better, best, applies to blessings as well. When there is something that we are praying for, the Lord might have even more in store for us than we can even imagine. We just might not be in a position to receive the blessings for one reason or another. Maybe we wouldn't recognize it if we were given it. I don't think that the Lord will bless us with just "good" blessings if he knows that we are on our way to receiving the "best" blessing. It is our responsibility to be living in a way that we can be worthy of receiving the best blessings that our loving Heavenly Father wants to bestow upon his obedient children.

So, that was my epiphany.

Anyone want to help with a couple really good causes???

2008-09-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I am a public relations major. PR is a very fascinating and diverse field and I am so happy that I have chosen it. I get to work on projects that really make a difference in the lives of people all over the country and all over the world! It is awe inspiring how much difference just one person can make. History is full of stories about people who took matters into their own hangs and made a positive change in the world. I hope to be one of those people who make an impact for good. We already have enough people making a bad impact on the world these days.

I have just been given the opportunity to oversee the PR side of a very exciting project. Here is a video that explains what the Tap Project is all about.

Sounds pretty cool huh? Well BYU's student-run PR firm, Bradley Public Relations and the student-run adverting agency, Ad-Lab are working together to bring this effort to the attention of Utah consumers. We know that by getting the right people informed about the needs of people in countries that are not as developed as the USA, and by providing them an easy way to help that doesn't feel like an all out effort to save the world, we will be able to make an impact that will literally save millions of lives.

If you are at all interested in getting involved, please e-mail me and let me know. We need people from all backgrounds so even if you are an EL-ED major, you can still help. My e-mail is elizabethjenkins@byu.edu

The second effort that I am trying to get people involved in is one that directly effects the people living and working in an around the Utah and Salt Lake valleys. There is an awesome organization called the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. It was started by 4 avid cyclists that decided their knowledge of bikes and bike safety could be a great asset to the community. They take old bikes, repair them, donate them and sell them. If someone needs a bike and can't afford to pay, they offer another option. The individual can come to their shop and build an entire bike from scratch and then keep the bike.

Here is their website: Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective - Home

This endeavor has greatly blessed the Salt Lake City area by providing people who need reliable transportation with a low or no cost way to get from point A to point B the earth friendly way.
Utah is the new home to many refugees from war torn countries. The refugees can go and get a bike for free and they can also get riding lessons or safety lessons for free too.

What I am going to do is help get the word out about them and also by helping those of us who ride bikes to and from school, work, and play and have no where to park our bikes because the bike racks are chalked full of bikes that people have left to waste away year after year.

I am organizing a Bicycle Harvest. This will help to get the word out about the SLCBC, clean up the bike racks, and also get a hefty load of bikes for the people in the community who need them desperately.

If you are interested in helping in anyway, please contact me by e-mail. I am going to be needing a rather large committee to help with everything and it will be a great chance to see what life is like on the inide of a real PR campaign to take back the racks. So whether you have a rusty bike in your backyard or garage, or you have a couple hours to get some hands on PR experience, please let me know.

Photo courtesy of SLCBC

The End of the Best Summer of my Life

2008-08-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

This truly has been the best summer of my life. I really can't think of anything that I wanted to do that I didn't accomplish. I was so blessed to be able to go to China and get to know a totally new way of living and a new culture. I made friends that will last a life time and memories that will last even longer. Living in Los Angeles taught me more than I was expecting and I now have an obsession with the beach and frozen yogurt. I don't want to re-cap everything I did in LA but I do want to share some funny or exciting things that happened while traveling up and down the Golden State.

1. Probably my favorite thing that happened in LA was when David Garcia won Tickets to see Wicked on the front row. We had tried three previous times to win tickets but had failed. I blame myself. I am cursed when it comes to raffles, drawings, what have you...basically anything that requires luck. I have never won anything and I told David that as long as I was present at the drawing we weren't going to win. On Saturdays at the Pantages Theater on Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles there are two showings of Wicked. If you show up to the theater 2.5 hours prior to the show, you can put your name in a raffle and possibly win two front row tickets to see the greatest show ever for $25.00 each. David and I showed up for the afternoon showing and we didn't win. I went home hanging my head in defeat and was ready to call it quits. After being at home for a few hours, I get a phone call from David and he said "Want to go see Wicked?" I freaked...literally. I had seen it once before but this was like watching a completely different play. To say I loved it would be an understatement. It was remarkable.

2. Trapeze school was also ridiculously awesome but you already know that.

3. My short road-trip with Mauri Earl from Reno to San Francisco was spontaneous and quick. Almost a little too quick seeing as we made the trip in about 3 hours and 15 minutes. I love talking to Mauri.

4. Yogurtland is hands-down the most amazing place ever. It is a self-serve frozen yogurt place that will change your life. I would consider myself somewhat of a frozen yogurt connoisseur. I have worked in the frozen yogurt business for over a year and also have been eating it ever since I can remember. I would say that there are a few things that determine the success of a visit to get this delicious, cold, creamy yet healthy treat.

*Variety-I can respect any place that sells Frozen yogurt but I will respect them more with the more flavor options they have. Yoasis in Provo has one measley flavor. I admit that it is the best flavor to go with fresh fruit but still, not everyone is going to be in the mood for fresh fruit all the time.
*Toppings-there must be a wide variety of toppings. Fresh fruit is a must but also, you should have some cereal toppings, candy bar toppings, and also some strange ones like Moochi and cheesecake bits. Granola and strawberries are my favorite toppings.
*Price-portion ratio- At some frozen yogurt places, you will pay about 5 bucks for a very small serving of yogurt. Not only is the yogurt way over priced but the toppings are breaking the bank. I like toppings just as much as (but probably more than) the next person in line and I hate when I have decided to splurge the $.50 and I get a $.10 version.

Flying through the air with the greatest of ease...

2008-07-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. I finally accomplished one of my life dreams. Ever since I can remember I have been telling my parents that I wanted to become an Acrobat. Of course they laughed at me and thought I was joking like they do with every amazing idea I have. After going to the circus and realizing that none of the acrobats were taller than 4 feet and all of them were Asian, I was sure I would never reach my goal. Well now that I am 22 years old and more than ready for any type of adventure, I decided to enroll in the Trapeze School of New York in Santa Monica, California. I was a little scared that I was going to be the only person over 7 in the class but it turned out that it was me and 3 other girls about my same age all just looking for a fun adventure and it was exactly that. I have done some daring things before but this was totally different. Not only was I sacred of dying but if you mess up, EVERYONE on the Santa Monica Pier can see you look like an idiot. Luckily I didn't have any embarrassing failed attempts at the trapeze. It was so fun. I want to go back again and again. It was totally different than I thought it was going to be like but so worth all the apprehension.

The coaches and the other people in my group were all so nice. Here is a picture of us all after we were all done.
I learned two tricks. One was the knee hang and the other was the bar split or something like that. I have included some pictures and hopefully I can figure out how to add video to this.

Guilin and Yangshuo trip

2008-06-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the best weekend I have had in China. We went to the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It was called Yangshuo. A tiny tourist town in the northern part of the Guangxi province. I did NOT want to leave. We arrived in Guilin at 4:00 a.m. from the over night train. We then got on a bus and drove to Yangshuo. When we got there it was about 6:00 a.m. and we immediately were corralled by a man who had a hostel that he was offering us. It was actually an amazing deal. It was super nice and ridiculously cheap. Only about $4.00 a person a night. We had our own bathroom and our own showers. After that we headed to "Western Street" and got some breakfast. I had toast! It was glorious! I missed it and I didn't even know it. Then, we rented bikes and scooters and we decided to just explore the city. It was awesome. I loved being able to just go and see whatever I wanted to see. I took so many pictures of the amazing mountains and hills and rice fields. After we rode around the city for a long time we went back and ate some lunch, rode the scooter some more, and shopped the street vendors. After a while, Christy and I decided to trade the scooter in for a two-person bike. It was so fun. I loved that.

The next day, we rode in a hot-air balloon. Yes, a made in China one. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done. The sight from the balloon was so incredible. Even a photograph can't totally show how amazing it was. We were in the air for about an hour and went over 1200 meters up. We landed in a tiny village and all the little kids within a mile came running to see the balloon and the white people. It was more expensive than the entire trip to Yangshuo but it was so worth it.

The next day we hired a rafter to take us down the Li Jiang River on a bamboo raft. All I can say is wow, it was awesome. I have never been in such a beautiful place. Our rafter didn't speak any English but we were actually able to communicate quite well. He was so nice. He took us to his home village. It was over 300 years old. The town looked like a ghost town but then someone would poke their head out and it was kinda funny. The little village had its own school and they had the most ghetto ping pong tables. The net was a log on bricks. After the village we went to lunch farther down the river at the shabbiest bamboo hut. I was a little scared because they killed our chicken right after we ordered it. The price of the meal was really expensive because the rafters get a cut of the money. We were more than willing to pay a lot because the 6 hour raft trip/tour was only 7 dollars a person and the lunch was about the same. After lunch we continued on the river and it poured rain! It was really pretty on the river. After the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and the mountains were even more beautiful with the clouds hugging the tops of them.

After we finished our raft trip we went back to Guilin and caught the overnight train back to Xiangtan. It was pretty cool on the overnight train, aside from the people eating chicken feet and other parts of animals that we American's would only tripple-dog-dare people to eat. All the traveling around China has made me want to go to Europe really really bad. I hope that I can go there someday. Maybe after graduation! Anyone can come!

All in all the weekend was fantastic. I want to go back there again. There was so much that we didn't get to do because we were pressed for time. I hope to go back and do the mud caves and the natural water slides. They also offer cooking lessons and rock climbing tours.

I was not super excited about coming back to Xiangtan after being in Yangshuo. This city is dirty, loud, and not very pretty. The redeeming qualities are the students here and the cheap food. I will really miss the students. I will give my final exams next week and then head to Hong King for a short stay. Then home for just about 12 days and then I head to LA for a fun summer at the beach! I am anxious to start school again in the fall. I think this experience will really change what kind of student I am. I also have so much MORE respect for teachers. It is a really hard job. It has been the most rewarding thing I have done though. By far.

No more facebook....but here are some pictures!

2008-05-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

For those who are mad at me for deleting my facebook account because you wanted to see pictures from China, I have made a web album so you can see them anytime you want. The links are below. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I have enjoyed taking them!!!

the most recent: http://picasaweb.google.com/thebazile13/YangshuoGuilinTrip?authkey=vKs53_h9nJw

Pictures from the beginning of China:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thebazile13/China2

Sent May 16, 2008

2008-05-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hello again,
I wasn't going to write so soon but there seems to be a lot of question as to whether I am alive or not. Well, I am happy to announce that yes, I am. Monday's earthquake has caused more damage than any report can accurately portray. The stories are so sad and a lot of our students can't find their friends and family members. I am in the Hunan province just east of the Sichuan province. I didn't personally feel much but a lot of my students felt it. Everyone in the library ran out during the quake. Most people had never been in a quake before. The school I am at has started taking donations for the victims but there are so many people and the cities effected are literally obliterated. The students here have very little money as it is. The Chinese govt is really doing an amazing job with the relief effort though. This has been a hard year for the Chinese. I hope everything goes well with the Olympics. Please keep the earthquake victims and survivors in your thoughts and also take it as a reminder to be prepared in case of an emergency.

On a lighter note, my birthday was amazing. My friends and students really out-did themselves. My "eleven dwarfs" took me to lunch at a really good restaurant. They surprised me with some 'traditional Chinese handicrafts" as a gift. They are the funnest group of girls. Hanging out with them is kinda like hanging out with a bunch of beehives. I had about 10 surprise parties this week. I loved it! The other foreign teachers and Lany, our "China mom" and some good friends from the school took me out to a delicious restaurant. It was northern food so it was much sweeter than Hunan food. Lany bought a delicious cake. It was so good. It got kinda smashed but it was still amazing.

On Tuesday night I told my students that they could come to a park near our apartment for a very casual party. There were a ton of people there. I was surprised that we didn't get in trouble but it was a blast. I have included some pictures. I got some of the most random gifts ever and I loved each one. Everything from boiled eggs and ancient Chinese medicine to batteries and a back massager. They are so funny. I still don't know what the battery is for.

This week my university was being inspected by the Ministry of Education. They cleaned everything up and made it look really nice for the inspection. They filled in the dump, made all the vendors leave, and improved the food at the dining hall. The students were threated with demerits for being late and they had to memorize pages of information about the school to regurgitate in the event that an inspector asked them a question. I didn't see any of the inspectors though....it was pretty intense.

No one was allowed to leave the campus this week (that is what they told us anyway but I saw plenty of people leaving). We were told Tuesday that our trip to Guilin the next day would have to be postponed. We were not to happy about that. Hopefully we can go next weekend. We are running out of time. I only have three more weeks of teaching left and then I am off to Hong Kong to see my friend Samily. Then I will be home. So soon. I can't believe it.

love and miss you all!!!

pic 1- me and my eleven dwarfs outside of their dormitory before my birthday lunch
pic 2- some of my guests at my awesome party
pic 3- the strangest b-day gift of all.....time

Eleetherbasss

Sent April 30, 2008

2008-05-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

How are things going in the USA? I have been hearing stories that make me want to consider staying in China for a lot longer! But then I think about grilled cheese sandwiches and tacos and I decide that even if the USA is crumbling, at least they have a delicious variety of food.

This weekend is the Labor Day Holiday. Isn't the rib cook off this weekend in Reno? My body aches for some Kinder's BBQ sauce. Regardless, I have 4 days off this weekend and we are going to have some fun. We were going to go to Guilin but with all the crazy traveling traffic, we are waiting for a couple weeks. I feel much better about that. We will be here in Xiangtan for a relaxing weekend. I am going to buy some painting supplies and paint some pictures.

I have made good friends with some students here. They are not my students but they have been teaching me how to play ping pong and they are so funny. There are 11 of them and 10 of them live together in one room that is much smaller than a single car garage. They are small though so they pack them in like sardines. All of the girls are about a foot shorter than me. I have dubbed them my "eleven dwarfs" and I am Snow White. I will miss them a lot.

Not a whole lot has changed since my last e-mail. Things in China are still going well. There have been some interesting developments with the Tibet problems and the Olympics that have made things a little shaky here. The day after the guy on CNN made the comments about China was very interesting. My students were very offended and were expecting me to have the same opinion as the CNN reporter. I felt like I was trying to regain a toddlers trust when I was explaining to them that not all American's think alike. This concept is very hard for them to grasp because in America, we all think for ourselves. We do what we want to do when we want to do it. But in China, they are VERY group oriented. They seek to be a part of a group and also to be just like everyone else in the group.

The students brought up censorship and this launched into a week long discussion of whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing. It is very strange to talk about it with them, but also very interesting. They are almost 100% for the censorship of the media. I asked them the question of why or why not and one of my students said that if the news wasn't censored, there would be riots and the country would become very unstable. I didn't argue of course but it is just very interesting to hear their opinions. Another funny example was from another one of my students and he said, "Censorship is good because if a political person did something really bad, the media would keep us from knowing so that man's image wouldn't be tarnished." I laughed out loud and then I told him how one of American media's favorite things is to expose these such cases to every listening ear. haha... kinda funny.

One of the coolest things about being in China has been seeing another side of the story. It is nice to be able to see something from someone else's point of view but it also makes me very frustrated because now I don't know who to believe. The Tibet problem for example is quite comical for some young Chinese...They feel like how we would feel if say Texas, decided that it wanted to secede from the nation...again....They also hate the Dali Lama with a fiery passion and regard him as a terrorist. They say that he is using his religious influence to gain political power in Tibet so he can return to rule over it. Also, they feel that the rest of the world refuses to understand their history and culture. My students told me that in 1951, Tibet was peacefully liberated by China, acquiring it as one of the largest Chinese Provinces. China then built up Tibet and gave the people there a better life. When I tried to read some sort of history about Tibet online for anything that would help clear things up, ALL the websites were blocked. I don't know if this is because the internet is slow or because....... Either way. There are two sides to this story for sure.

The thing that I keep thinking is how much I wish I understood what is going on all over the world. Not just in China but everywhere where there is conflict. I think that sometimes we make to quick of assumptions about things and are too quick to judge situations and people. This last few months has certainly taught me the importance of seeking to understand something before seeking to be understood.

Well, before I make this e-mail any more political, I better go. My e-mails are surely being censored. I ate mashed potatoes tonight. It was incredible. I love American food.

Elizabeth Jenkins

Sent April 1, 2008

2008-05-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
A lot is happening so I figured I would write and get you all updated...

The most exciting news first...I got an amazing internship with a PR firm in Los Angeles when I get back from China. I am so excited. I will be going with one of my friends from BYU and we are going to have a blast. I am not sure what exactly I will be doing but it will be some sort of lobbying. I will also get to go to the beach anytime I want and finally take trapeze lessons like I have been wanting to do for a million years. I will start work on June 23rd so I am going to leave China a little early, on June 15th as opposed to June 25th and go to Hong Kong and Macao for a couple days and then I will fly back to the states. This will be an awesome summer!

I have been having a really hard time with the food here. It was bad at first, and then good, and then really good... and then.....it happened... I was eating at this one restaurant that looked a little sketchy, but really, all the places to eat around here are really sketchy... anyway. I was eating this one dish that had potatoes and something that I knew was meat...but I don't know what kind of meat. I picked up a piece of meat with my chopsticks and went to put it in my mouth when I noticed that on one side of it, there was.....hair! I'm not talking about 'a' hair.... im talking about a full on section of animal fur! I wanted to puke ....and since then I have been unable to eat meat. even now, just thinking about it... yuuulck!

And also, we found out that they add MSG to everything. It is a very common ingredient in all their food. I remember seeing it in bags at the grocery store when I first arrived and visualizing in my mind the Chinese restaurants in America with neon signs that say "NO MSG". haha I have a suspicion that it is addictive. One of my students said that if her mom doesn't use it, she wont eat her mom's cooking. haha

The other night, Christy, my roommate and Doug, one of the other teachers, and I went to a street (Lian Jian Lu) that has a lot of places to eat. It is on campus and we go there a lot. We were walking down the street when we noticed that between the buildings, you could see a huge field of vegetables growing. This was where a lot of the food was grown that is sold on the campus. We walked down to see it when we came to a stomach churning realization. We realized that uphill from the crops was the university dump...literally like 30 feet away... Everytime there is a rain storm, our vegetables are watered with toxic waste water. YUMMY. Also, there was a stream of water that was watering the vegetables and it had a really funky film on the top of it. It looked like what the street looks like after it rains on a car oil drip. All marbled and cesspool-like. I pretty much stick to bananas and peanut butter ever since I saw that. Sick nasty.

Our trip last weekend was canceled because it was rainy. We were going to go to Zhangjiajie (zhong-ji-(like eye) -jay). If you want to see a Web site about it, go here > http://www.zhangjiajie.com.cn/english/

It is beautiful. We went to Changsha, the capital of the province again instead to stock up on peanut butter. The weather was horrible but it was still fun. We are going to Zhangjiajie this weekend for sure though. We already bought our bus tickets. The bus will take about 5 hours to get there. We are leaving on Friday and we will come back on Sunday. There is a huge elevator that goes up the side of one of the mountains. We are totally going to take it. I believe it will cost about 100 yuan (14.00 USD) to go up and come down. You can get out at the top and take pictures. It is the tallest elevator in the world.

It is really interesting to hear what the students think of America. There is a movie out in America called Juno. It is about a 16 year old girl that gets pregnant and she gives the baby up for adoption. It is actually a really funny movie. They showed the movie on campus here a few days ago and a lot of my students went to see it. This week they have all been asking me questions. The first thing they said about the movie was that it was unrealistic. To quote a student, she said "a 16-year-old girl would never get pregnant" Oh how naive they are. I told them some statistics about teen pregnancy in America and they were floored. They were so shocked that their squinty eyes became round. It is interesting to see what the different problems and issues different countries and cultures face.

Everything else is going well. It has been a while since I have seen the sun...I hope it comes out this weekend. Please keep me posted on what is going on in America. And PLEASE take a deep breath of fresh air for me and drink a big glass of water straight from the tap. Oh how I miss that.

Love and miss you all,
xoxo
Elizabeth

Sent March 21, 2008

2008-05-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Nin Hao!!!

I thought I would get in a quick e-mail before I take off for a few days. We are going to have an adventure!

China is remaining awesome. I don't have a lot of new news other than we are taking our first trip this weekend. We are going to Mao's home town. It is about 45 minutes away and we are going to stay the night and see all there is to see. I am not sure just how much there will be to see there but I am looking forward to getting off of campus. The weather is so draining here. It is gloomy and cloudy and rainy way too much and I am so sick of not seeing a blue sky. I hope that the weather is good for our trip tomorrow. We haven't totally figured out all the details yet but we are taking two students with us so they can get us there and back. haha It is so difficult not knowing the language. I bet it will be really weird when I get back to America and I can tell the person what I want to eat rather than point to it. One thing is for sure, I will be able to whip anybody at Charades when I get back.

My classes have been going well. I had to lay down the law in one of them this week because it is a class full of slackers. They saw a side of "leezer" that they didn't know existed. For the most part, all my other classes are doing great. I have to meet with a few students outside of class to help them because they are sooo far behind. It is frustrating when they have no idea what you are saying and they are English majors and they just repeat everything you say. I would say the most tiring thing about teaching is straining to understand what they are talking about. They are trying so hard and they pause for like 30 seconds between each word haha. Cracks me up.

Ping pong is basically my new addiction. I played for almost 6 hours straight the other day. I love it. I play everyday that it isn't raining. I have made a lot of friends by playing and I even bought my own "pie" (paddle) I am so going to join the BYU Ping Pong Club when I get back. And buy a ping pong table for the garage....haha mom, dad, don't think I am lying. I am hoping to get a lot better before I come back. Good thing the Chinese train hard.

I bought a cell phone today. One of the other teacher's students works for one of the two cell companies and he hooked us up.I got an amazing deal. For 200yuan ($28.00), I got a phone and 252yuan worth of minutes. That is about 2500 minutes that never expire. Also, in April, we get to pick 5 people that we want to talk to for free. haha that is like...everyone in my phone book. I love the Chinese. haha

Well that is pretty much all that is happening right now. I am sure that over the next couple weeks things will get more exciting because we are going on a lot of trips and we are getting more and more involved with things happening on campus. If only the rain would go away. I would be outside playing ping pong all day everyday.

Love and miss you all. Keep me posted on what is happening!!!
oh and no, we didn't feel the earthquake. Good thing too because they freak me out.

--
Elizabeth Jenkins

Sent March 7, 2008

2008-05-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,
I hope you are all doing well. I hear that spring break is just around the corner. What are you all going to do? I don't get a spring break but I do get to have some awesome adventures everyday. This past week or so has been very fun. We have been able to do a lot. I don't really know where to start.

The woman that takes care of the foreign teachers here at Xiangtan University is Lany. She is very nice and makes sure that we are happy and healthy. She is Buddhist and thought that we might enjoy a visit to the Buddhist temple. I was really excited because I had never seen a Buddhist temple and I was not sure what to expect. Lany had a driver pick us up at 7:00 a.m. last Sunday morning and we drove to the Temple. It was very different than what I expected. The street (or ally) that the temple was on was full of people and the gates to the temple were just in the middle of it all. I don't think I would have even noticed them had Lany not pointed them out to us. We went inside and we were expecting a service to be starting but as it turned out, all the nuns were meditating and had been for hours. We decided to take a look around and Lany told us what each of the Buddha's represent. It was really neat because I didn't know anything about the religion before that. We met this lady who was so sweet. She was so excited to see Americans. She just kept thanking us for being there and we thanked her and she thanked us and we thanked her and she thanked us and back and forth over and over. It was really funny. Maybe we need to learn more Chinese phrases other than "thank you" and "Your welcome". The first picture is one I took of the lady that we met there.

We decided to go get some breakfast down the street and then come back and have a meeting with the Master of the temple (She is the one in brown in the second picture). Then we went back to the temple and met the Master. She was so nice. It was kind-of the same situation where we just went back and forth telling each other how great they were back and forth for about two hours. Then we ate some lunch and it was delicious. My roommate informed me about an hour ago that while we were eating, she saw three giant rats running around the kitchen...I am so glad that she decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell me that while we were there.

The nuns at the temple treated us like royalty. It was really interesting to see how much they loved us and they don't even know us. English teachers are very appreciated here because they believe learning English is the door to a brighter future. They just think we are the greatest and they don't hesitate to tell us over and over again. haha. The master of the temple gave us these really cool bracelets that Buddhist people wear and these little charm things as a thank you for our visit. She also invited us to come back and stay the night at the temple and be a nun for a day. I thought about it and I decided that I didn't want to. My roommate is going though. I decided that I would rather spend the day in the city with some of my students. We are going to have a super fun day of shopping culture.

On Wednesday night our friend Dennis, who is the equivalent of student body president, was in charge of a fund-raiser for the victims of the ice age. We didn't really know what was going on but I think it was an event to honor the students who raised the most money. How they did it was they sold oranges. The money from the oranges went to the farmers who lost all their trees from the snow. In the middle of the event, Rita pulled out some money to donate so we thought it was a good idea too. We handed the money to one of the people that was working at the event and she looked really confused. We told them that we wanted the money to go to the farmers and then all of the sudden all these cameras were on us and they were thanking us and we were even more confused and then they told us that our oranges would be delivered in the morning. After trying to explain that we didn't want the oranges, we just wanted to donate, and failing miserably, we gave up. We thought that we bought a few oranges and we felt good about helping out the farmers. Well, the next morning, I came home from class and there was a HUGE bag of oranges in our front room. This things has to weigh more than me. There are probably 400 oranges in the bag. Anyone got any ideas for how to have fun with 400 oranges?

I really love teaching. It is so fun and the students are so eager to learn. I love making them laugh and helping them to learn English in a fun way. They get so excited when they see us on campus and they want to do things with us. I taught about 5 of my students how to play basketball a couple days ago. They are actually really good for having never played before. I loved it.

This week the number of students I teach doubled. I originally had about 200 students and then I was given 5 more classes of college juniors to teach. I now have about 450 students. I have made a real effort to memorize their names and I think I have about half of them. It is a lot harder than you think because they all look so similar still! For the first week, I swore that the same girl was following me everywhere. It was probably a different girl every time, I'm just an idiot. I taught them about emotions this week and ways to express themselves. I lost my voice practically every day this week because of it. Showing that you are ecstatic and enraged and terrified is hard on the vocal chords. haha I think they got the point though. I also taught them about music. I played some of the hits of today and some Beatles songs. They love the Beatles and they love Mika. They really like country to which I though was funny. I taught them the head-shoulders-knees-and toes song, and the Itsy Bitsy spider song... they hated learning those hahaha.

Today, Friday, was Women's Day here in China. Apparently they adopted this holiday from us but...i had never heard of it before. I think in America we usually refer to it as "Take your daughter to work day." Anyway, there was a big conference in Xiangtan City that was for all of the most important people in the city. Rita, Christy, Lany and I were all invited to attend. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was I did NOT want to have to do any sort of chanting. We got to the place where the conference was and it was a beautiful hotel. The only 5 star hotel in the city. The meeting was all in Chinese of course but Lany helped to translate. Our table was in the front of the room and they were broadcasting the show on TV. The hosts/emcees were dressed like they were hosting the Oscars or something. They had Chinese dancers and a few people did Karaoke (they love that here and take it VERY seriously) and they presented awards to some people that were very helpful during the "Ice age" (they refer to the ice storm as the ice age) A lot of people in this province were badly put out by the storm. Many people lost their homes and many even died.

The Chinese love to toast to...everything. I now know what a room full of tipsy Asians looks like. They get up and walk to all the different tables and toast to each other and drink red wine. Christy and I both don't drink so it was funny because after the toasts, everyone would look at us and stare like we were forgetting something...oh well. Our table got a lot of attention and we just smiled and nodded because we didn't know what they were saying haha. Lany leaned over to us and said, oh now it is time for you to be interviewed for the TV. Uhhhhh... excuse me? WHAT?! So we were all interviewed and they asked us questions about how we celebrate this day in America and ....since we don't, I had to make up some stuff. Rita, one of the other foreign teachers decided to turn it into a Hillary Clinton Rally...gag. She loves Hillary Clinton so in her interview she asked the entire conference to stand up and toast to Hillary Clinton. It was really funny and I just kept thinking, I hope this doesn't make it back to America. After the conference, they gave us these awesome "China Red" tea cups and saucers. They are so beautiful. I was so excited. It will be something that I keep forever. Then we went to a super nice hotel and we had Lunch with all of these important people in Xiangtan City. They all kept saying how I look like Barbie with my humongous eyes. haha At least they don't say that I look like a bug or something.

After we got back from the celebration, we went to the salon and had our hair washed and blow-dried. It was fabulous. I feel like my hair has never been so clean and smooth. I will be going back...every week. Then we came home and took naps and then Rita called and told us to turn on the TV. There we were. They were showing us at the conference and our interview and they talked about us for about 5 minutes. It was ridiculous. I took pictures of the TV to prove it! haha. So random. At the end of our interview they had us hold hands and raise them in the air and say "HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY" haha. Awkward. There are some pictures of that too.

Everything is an adventure here. We have made friends with almost all the street vendors between our apartment and our classrooms. They just laugh at us because we are clueless. Oh well. I love China and the people here are so generous. I have to fight my students to let me pay for my own lunch. The people are very curious and they just want to talk with us. I hope they know that I really am not as cool as they think. They keep saying how grateful they are for our contribution to the students of China but I really think that I am getting more out of this experience than I ever imagined. I love it here.

I miss you all and I am enjoying the replies I am receiving. Keep em' comin'!
--
XOXO,

Elizabeth Jenkins

Sent February 24, 2007

2008-05-28T08:48:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!
I hope that you all had a good last few days. Today is Sunday and I am just hanging out in my apartment because it is really cold and rainy outside. Humidity is something that I am unfamiliar with. The temperature isn't very cold but the humidity makes my fingers and toes go numb. I hate that.

So, I was really hoping to avoid any accidents here in China but I wasn't so lucky. Friday for lunch I wanted some rice so I was boiling water, The only pot we have is a pressure cooker. My mom had always told me they were dangerous but she never told me why. Well, i was trying to get the lid off because I wanted to see how much water was left in it. It was stuck so I kept trying to open it. My friend Doug said.. "uhhh I wouldn't try to force it open...it's like... under pressure." Yeah... I wish I would have listened because right after he said that KABOOM... the pot exploded and boiling water and steam went everywhere. It even shot the ceiling! I was very lucky because only my eyelids got the worst of it. I was just a little red for a day. Now I refuse to put lids on pots.

Yesterday we went to Changsha, the capital of the province. It was pretty much like a NYC but everything was in Chinese.... except for "WAL MART". We successfully found peanut butter there. Wal-mart is pronounced war-ma. haha. It is very different here. In the stores they have dead animals hanging everywhere. No really... Oh and our next door neighbor had chickens and fish hanging from the clothes line all week. Yummy.

On a lighter note, the bread here is purple. They make it with taro. I really like it. I like it more than American bread I think. It is delicious with peanut butter on it. But then again... what isn't delicious with a little P.B.? So far I have made two dishes that I like. One is rice with vegetables and the second is vegetables with rice. Who knew I could get so creative with food! I'm your average Martha Stewart. Or should I say Mahta Stoowaht.

Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. I am so excited. Ill let you all know how it goes. I hope that they don't think I am some dysfunctional American. I'll have to keep that a secret for as long as possible.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Elizabeth

Sent February 24, 2007

2008-05-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Sent February 21, 2007

2008-05-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to let you all know that I made it to China safely! I absolutely love it here. It is incredible and strange all at the same time. School doesn't start until Monday so the three other foreign teacher and I have had some time to explore the campus and the city. Our first three days here in China were spent in Shanghai. I loved Shanghai. Shopping there is really fun because you can always get a good deal. They love to sell to Americans because we love to spend our money. Especially when you can get a pair of $50 shoes for $7.00.

After Shanghai, all the teachers split up to go to their school all over the country. I am in Xiangtan City at the Xiangtan University. It is a really nice university and almost everything that I will need to buy while I am here (except for Mcdonalds and kfc) can be found right here on campus. It is a really big campus. The school has about 30,000 students and almost all of the students and faculty members live on campus. There are apartment buildings everywhere you look.

Our apartment is pretty awesome. It will make for some great stories someday I am sure. Our bathroom is more like a shower-toilet-sink all in one. Every morning shower is an adventure. We are definitely used to a different style of living than they are here in China.

When they say that Americans are treated like celebrities here, they are not lying. Everywhere we go, people just stare at us. Some people run up to us and ask us where we are from, others just want to practice their English on us. We are the only Americans, that I have seen, in this entire city. People just don't come here because it is so far from anything touristy.

I have not seen the sun in about a week. It is just really really foggy/smoggy. I hope that it clears up soon. Every morning I am woken up by roosters. They like to hang out by our apartment building. There are also lots of stray dogs and cats everywhere here in Xiangtan. I should probably carry my pepper spray just incase one of the dogs thinks I want to play.

So far I have had some good experiences with the food and some bad ones as well. Trying to find American food in the grocery stores is really hard. I am craving peanut butter and Lucky Charms cereal. I am going to have a huge bowl of it when I come back home. We did find some oreos though. They are the peanut butter chocolate flavor. They taste so good!
Yesterday we were hungry for some American food so we took the bus into town and found a McDonalds. It was the best tasting food I had had in a week. I didn't feel guilty at all. You can find some really good fruit here. There are peasant ladies selling fruit and vegetables right near our apartment building which makes it very easy to eat well.

I think either today or tomorrow we are going to go to the capital of Hunan. It is about an hour away. It is called Changsha. Maybe we will get lucky and find a Wal-mart there.

Well, I hope all of you are happy and healthy. I miss you all and I wish you all could be here to see what it is like here. Please let me know what all of you are up to. I look forward to hearing from you!

--
Elizabeth Jenkins

Rosie Posie Puddin Pie

2008-01-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

This is Avery Rose. I call her Rosie. She is the funnest thing in our family right now. I am really going to miss her. I have also included a video of her. She is so cute.

The Ebay Addiction

2007-12-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

Some call it shopping, some call it Ebaying, others even call it winning. The "winning" factor that Ebay provides is taking a tole on my back account. I have been bidding relentlessly on crap for the past week. I can't stop. I want to win! So far, I have been outbid on a lot of things. Thank goodness or else I would need a U-haul to deliver my "winnings." I have won two things. One is a fantastic shade of eyeliner that has been discontinued. Don't worry, it has glitter in it. The second item I was fortunate enough to win is a gem. I was at Best Buy looking at new speaker systems for my Ipod and I found an awesome system but it was $129.99. That was a little steep for my unemployed wallet so I decided to go Ebaying. Yes, I am a bidding machine. I got the exact same stereo system for $36.00. I may never leave my house ever again. I have also started selling stuff. I have made about $100.00 off of old crap laying around my house and reject-Christmas presents. Craigslist.com is also awesome. I highly suggest checking it out. I have sold everything I have put on there.