Modestifying the world, one Utah girl at a time

Ok, so I don't think modestifying is a word, but oh well.

So I got a seasonal job yesterday. I am now the newest member of one of the many Utah modest undershirt trend. For the next few weeks, you can find me manning the kiosk at the mall.

Turkey with Bob

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We didn't do much here, amber and russell came, and we ate the usual Thanksgiving meal. For those of you who know the Jackson Family's love of pie, we were not disappointed with a whole pie for each person, yum!!


The day after, my dad surprised us by saying we were going up to Sundance for the weekend. He was helping settle a family friend's estate, and everyone involved was going to stay at the resort during all of the meetings and such.

It was very nice, our family had our own little cabin suite. We ate a lot of good food and hung out up in the mountains. It was fun to watch the place turn into a "winter wonderland" as more and more artificial snow was made (sadly it was just freezing cold with no real snow). On Saturday, all of the girls headed to the spa while the boys attended the big game (Go BYU!).

Overall great weekend :)

(i actually tried to post pictures but am having some technical difficulties, hopefully i can fix the problem later)

Bawl Baby

I've always been a very realistic person. Because of this, movies haven't had the same impact on me that they do on many. Instead of becoming tense and afraid during scary movies, i often end up laughing out loud at the absurdity of the plot line (ex: when The Ring girl crawls out of the tv, i mean come on!). During sad movies, i could never understand why someone would get emotional over someone/something who isn't real.

This being said, i have no idea what has gotten into me lately. It seems like i have been getting choked up about the dumbest things happening on TV and in movies. I realized how extreme this is becoming when my eyes welled up, and i was really doing everything i could to not cry as i watched MTV's new reality show Pageant Place. PP is a show about Miss Universe, USA and Teen USA living together in NYC (lame, i know, but you'd be amazed at the shows you start watching when you have nothing else going on), and to make it more dramatic, they threw in last year's Miss USA, the one who had to go to rehab, to babysit the girls (makes sense, right?).On last week's episode, not only did Miss Teen USA end her reign and have to crown the new girl, but she also broke up with her boyfriend of a couple years. Poor girl! Who wouldn't cry for her ;)

Even while i was holding back my tears, i wanted to laugh, what in the world has happened to me?!

So close yet not close enough...

On Friday, i went out on with a good friend of mine from freshman year. It was so fun to hang out with all of my former FHE bros again! For the date, we had our own version of the Iron Chef. One of the guys who wasn't participating came up with the "secret ingredient," each couple had to find a recipe (for a different part/course of the meal), we went shopping, created our meal and then ate it all together. It was a clever idea and turned out to be a lot of fun. I was skeptical at first because the ingredient was cranberries, but everything turned out great. We ended the evening by seeing the newest Bourne movie at the good ol' $1 theater. Kudos to the boys for not only having a plan (instead of asking the girls what they wanted to do, i hate that!) but coming up with something outside the typical date box.

Although i had a blast, it also reminded me of this weird limbo stage i'm in. Even though i'm graduated, the majority of my friends are not; they are all still living together in Provo, living the college life. It is weird, i am right next to my old BYU life, and yet, no longer a part of it. My house is only about 12 minutes away, which is not far at all, but it's 10 minutes farther then everyone else down there. I'm not meeting any new people (let's be honest, local family wards aren't the best places to meet people my age, they are all in byu wards), but i rarely am asked to participate in activities with the "old" people. I am just kind of stuck...

What did you say your name was?

The other day, my mom drove my dad to the airport. On her way home, she had to make a "quick" bathroom break at a store. A few hours later, she and quite a few things from the store made it home.

I love my mom, she is the greatest. On the shopping trip, she purchased a new bra for me. Now, being the poor, jobless bum that i am, i have no problem accepting any charity offered to me. As i was carrying the item up to my room, i noticed the brand name: "Sweet Nothings for girls." OK, i know i am not the most heavily endowed, but do i really need the maker of my bra reminding me of the fact that i have "Nothings"?

Maybe it is just me, but it doesn't seem like taunting your customers about what they have or don't have is the best business maneuver.

Keeping Busy

Last week my dad asked me to write a release for his company about their recent merger. He is paying me for the release and then a bonus for each time it gets picked up. I'm excited because yesterday the Deseret News ran something on it. Now 2 out of the 3 big Utah papers have run it. Hurray!! Tomorrow is the big business day, i'm hoping for some more pick ups. We're also waiting for some weekly/monthly business magazines/newsletters.

Car Trouble

Since before I left for NYC, the airbag light in my car has randomly been coming on. At first, the sudden beeping and flashing would scare me, and I would hurry home in hopes of making it before my beloved car blew up or something. Well, shortly after it started, i quickly learned i didn't appear to be in any danger. Being the knowledgable (haha, yeah right!) car owner i am, i called the service people, and they said it was most likely just that there was something under my seat that was bumping the wires. When i checked, the man was correct, so i moved the offending blanket and took off for my NY adventure leaving instructions and a phone number for my mother to call after she drove it a few times to ensure the problem was solved.

When i came back to utah, my beautiful jeep was there waiting for my arrival. Unfortunately, so was the airbag light problem.. My mother had taken it in, the people had it for almost 3 weeks, and then it was apparently not even fixed, and they did a horrible job of putting my dash back in. Being the enlightened consumer (I had to read the most eye-opening book for the internship about companies and relationships with customers, and i lived in NYC, that definitely teaches you not to take any crap from anybody ;)) i promptly called the service people and demanded (politely of course) they fix my car for real this time. Sadly, they couldn't get me in for a few weeks. When my time came, they had my car for only a few days. I excitedly drove it home sans airbag light/crazy beeping. I was so happy to my car back in all its glory!

Too bad my happiness was shortlived, with the stupid light and beeping returning on its second drive. I promptly called the service people again and was ready to demand (not quite as politely) they fix my car, but only the poor secretary was there, and i didn't want to yell at an innocent victim. I left a message for them to call me back and then waited. They never bothered calling me back, but when i finally got a hold of them, they offered me a complimentary loaner car while mine was once again in the shop.

I have to admit, i was a little big excited about having this loaner, i imagined myself driving off in one of Jeep's brand new models. When the man drove up in my little (emphasis on little) temporary car, i really almost busted out laughing. He got out and handed me the keys of my new ride, a Suzuki sx4. I'm posting a picture, but you are unable to truly see how little this thing it, it reminded me of all the little smart cars i saw while in Europe.

I drove home with a smile on my face, thinking about the irony of trading in my powerful, big-motored SUV for the "Zuk". I felt so small and couldn't help but worry i was going to get crushed as i slowly (so slowly!) accelerated after each stop. The best part was trying to make it up the hills to my house; i had the pedal to the metal and we made it up at the average speed of about 13 MPH. Fabulous!

More than a week later, i finally received the blessed call, my car was done! Hurray!! I quickly went to pick it up, laughing one last time as i tried to make it up hills of my neighborhood. As i climbed UP into my beautiful car and revved its engine, i knew, i was meant to have a decent-sized automobile (maybe i feel i need to compensate for my shortness??)

Jeepy is so far, so good. I am a little worried though because when i was giving her a full scrub down, i found a pile of screws in the backseat. My dad said i shouldn't worry, but i can't help wonder but wonder if my car is literally going to fall apart on me as i'm driving down the road. I sure hope not!

Additional Lacrosse Thought

One of my favorite part of this little lacrosse adventure was the coach yelling during warm ups, "Three EXECUTIVE passes ladies! Three executive passes before you can shoot!" It took me a minute a figure out what the heck she was talking about, as i have never heard of an executive pass, then it dawned on me, "does she mean CONsecutive?" Oops!

I'm not Bragging or Anything but....

So my little sister had her first-ever lacrosse game the other night. I expected something similar to little kid magnet soccer, but I was pleasantly surprised by many of the girls' skills.

Since the beginning of her season, my sis has come home from practice telling me how so many of her little teammates knew who i was. I guess all of the girls who went to camp claimed they knew me. This was a real boost to the ego, but seems a little unrealistic since essentially only the girls on the team that i coached the duration camp would know who i was.

Anway, back on track... Out of the top 5 girls (from both teams) two of them were members of my little camp team. There was also another one of my girls who definitely could hold her own out there. I am so proud! Although some might argue it is natural talent, more experience (i mean come on, they did nothing but play straight lacrosse with girls of all levels from all over the country for a week), or the current coaches, but I like to think it was my superb coaching and skills rubbing off on them. Haha! Just kidding!! I was brought down of my high horse fast though when none of them remembered who i was :( (i like to think it was the fact they had never seen me out of full BYU lacrosse/coaching garb) Never-the-less, I was really proud of my little "kiddies" out there, good times...

The Waiting Game

So I am currently waiting for 3 different companies to get back to me. I sure wish they would hurry...

More of Me to Love?

So I realized yesterday that I am getting a relief society arm. No, that is not a typo, apparently I use my right tricep a lot more than my left, because my right arm doesn't flop all over the place, but there is some definite jiggle going on in the left :P I miss lacrosse.....

Finding My EC = Awkward?

So after attending a family ward for the past couple of months, and my NY ward for the 3-4 months before that, I have to admit, I forgot a little bit how BYU wards are. Shortly after announcements were over, the stake president stood up for a little Q&A session (it was ward conference). As soon as the first question was out of the girl's mouth, I was reminded of how much finding the "perfect" mate is such a huge priority. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about getting married to a fabulous man, but I just found it funny how probably 75% of the questions asked were dealing with dating.

Towards the end of RS, we had a special announcement from a guy and a girl. The ward is starting what they call Awkward Hour (no joke!). What this awkward hour entails is a committee pairing up a boy and a girl and "forcing" (yes, they actually said this was mandatory, and they would be forcing everyone to participate) them to get together during the week, make dinner and eat it together. That Sunday at ward prayer, the couples will then have to stand in front of everyone and report how this went. One of my favorite parts of their speal (spelling?) was how great this is because if you are interested in someone in the ward, they can totally set you up, and the other person wouldn't even know! Hahaha, I almost started laughing out loud.

Ok, while I appreciate the idea of this activity, I think it is a little bit ridiculous. How can they force people to participate? And honestly, what are the odds this is actually going to work for anyone? It would be a fun story if it somehow did manage to work out.

Now I know why I'm a graduated old-maid, I was never blessed to be forced to attend awkward hour! In closing (how is that to end a post about church?), I do give them props for creativity.

What Better Way to Spend Halloween then Watching something Frightening??

So yesterday was Halloween. Since reaching the age of being to old to go trick-or-treating, Halloween typically means getting together with a few friends and watching a scary movie. Yesterday was no exception; after watching a documentary about the Unungan mummies, my sister and I started flipping through the channels. We stopped on a show featuring the world of kiddy beauty pageants.

While the show was interesting, both my sister and i were appalled by what we saw. The show followed 4 little girls (all were around the age of 6) and their participation in various beauty pageants, leading up to the grand-daddy of all kiddy pageants. These poor little girls were forced to parade around all day in these pageants while looking like mini versions of a twenty-something-year-old sexy woman. The pageants even featured a swimsuit portion, I mean, come on! What are they teaching these girls?

The mothers of these girls were insane, living their own dreams through there daughters. It was painfully apparent as the show went on how little the girls cared about the pageants, every contestant was shown just trying to play with toys and crying as her mothers and coaches did her hair and make-up. I couldn't believe all of the bribes as the show progressed (the girl-to-beat was promised a pet horse with her prize money). The only way the girls could make it through the pageant was by OD'ing on sugar (every mother was shown giving her daugther multiple giant pixie sticks to down). At one point, the little girls were asked (no mothers present) if they wanted to win. They all responded "yes!," but then not one of them could actually say what they wanted to win!

I really found this show disturbing and frightening. I can't understand what the heck these parents are thinking. They spend so much money on the things (not only on the multiple costume changes, but each girl wore a couple of hundred dollars "flipper" or false teeth that covered up all of the baby teeth) to turn their LITTLE girls into sex objects. So many aspects in our society are sexualizing girls at such a young age, but these pageants really take the cake. With there being a bigger and bigger problem with child pornography and child pedophiles, I can't help but wonder why these parents are encouraging people to look at their girls that way.

With little gems of quotes such as, "Mommy, I look better than all of them!" "I just don't understand why you can't catch it on the stage" (referring to the little girl's talent portion), "No honey, you didn't beat 20 girls, you only beat 19!" and "No! I don't want to wear the flipper, it hurts, and I don't want my tooth to fall out again!" being heard, I really wonder how these little girls are supposed to grow up realizing they are more than just a pretty face (especially when each girl was given a "cute" little nickname such as "The Flirt," so ridiculous!). I can't help but picture these girls as teenagers wearing shirts and pants with words on the butt proudly identifying them as "Princess!" and "Spoiled Brat!"with the only things they will eat out of fear of gaining weight are giant pixie sticks.

The show ended with the winner of the pageant showing the cameras her new pet; instead of the promised pony, her mother graciously bought her a turtle. Not only is a turtle not exactly a pony, but this was by far the smallest turtle I've ever seen. Lame! That girl got gyped!

So, even though it was not the traditional scary-Halloween movie, after watching this show, I am definitely a little bit more afraid for the self-esteems and feelings of worth of our little girls.