Another One Gone

GRE: Check!

It sure feels good.

Sold!

I just sold my apartment contract. There's one big thing checked of the wedding to do list.

Who Wants to be on TV?

One of my responsibilities for my job is that I am the company spokesperson. Typically, this doesn't mean a whole much because reporters would rather speak to the boss instead of the PR person, so I do the occasional phone interview with the newspaper, but for the most part, it means that I coordinate interviews between the president and who ever is wanting the official word as said by the good ol' UW of Utah County and then just prep my boss and make sure he knows what he is talking about.

A few days ago, the local Fox morning news called and said they wanted to do a morning segment at the Giving Tree (adopt an ornament with a child who needs help to receive Christmas) and wanted to have two interviews with UW people. My boss said he would do the first one (at 6 a.m.) but he teaches a class at BYU that was at the same time as the second, meaning the duty was passed on to me.

I showed up at the mall at a few minutes before 6 (another part of the job, always be at all interviews as moral support) and listened to everything my boss said, hoping it would shed some light on what I would be asked, so I could start preparing in my mind. After he was done, the boss wished me luck and left. I then sat at the mall until 8:40 when my interview was, watching and listening to all of the other segments on things like the Top 10 gifts for this year, all while continuously going through the type of questions that could be asked and what I could say without looking like a complete idiot, and memorizing all the statistics and things about the program.

One interesting moment was when during the "Gift Ideas" segment, they said they needed models to wear the coats they were showing. They pointed to me and another girl, and the next thing you know, people were at my side putting on a coat and herding me over to where I needed to stand. I was soon on camera spinning around and doing whatever possible to show the coat as they talked about why everyone needs to go and buy this coat for someone special in their life.

My time finally rolled around, and Buddah (yes, that is the name of the reporter) came to ask me a few preliminary questions. The next thing I know, we were on air, with me staring and smiling awkwardly as he bantered with the show's anchors (all of which, only he can hear). He then started asking me questions. One and a half minutes later, it was over.

I went back to the office and was greeted by the sounds of several nice things from my coworkers. The next morning, I had a meeting with my boss, he started out by saying, "I just want to let you know that I watched your interview online. Very good job!" I thought, "oh that is very nice of him..." And then he continued, "It was actually unbelievably good, in fact, you definitely exceeded expectations. I think we're going to have you do all of the interviews from now on."

Now I'm sure he meant all those things as a compliment, but you have to wonder about the "unbelievably well" and the "you exceeded expectations." Oh well, I guess that's better than having him say I didn't meet expectations.

Things I did in Mexico over Thanksgiving

• Visited LAX for the first time ever. I especially liked the super-long, empty white underground tunnel/hallway connecting terminals. It felt very much like somewhere you would be chopped into little pieces in a horror movie. It was even complete with a large metal gate with warnings to stay away to avoid serious injury that would automatically close for whatever reason.
• Was forced to brush my hair before getting off the plane, so I would look my best (or as much so after an overnight flight...)
  
• Met Matt's parents.
• Lots of sleeping
• Visited the Christo Rey (I have no idea if I spelled that right) where we were attacked by the plague of bugs.
• The market in Downtown Leon searching for a flower arrangement that wasn't 3 ft. tall and all in a line and sweet potatoes.
• Seeing the Parade of Cows. Matt thought this was pretty weird, but I thought it was great. They had the same thing in Bratislava one of the times I was there, and it was the most random funny thing. Who would of thought that a few years later and in Mexico, I'd come across it again? I think the airplane cow had to have been my favorite.
• Had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Matt, his parents, a group of missionaries and two BYU interns who were down there, one of which happened to have been in Matt and my's ward before moving to Mexico and the other guy ended up being from my home stake. Pretty crazy!
• Felt like I was in Cruising USA as we drove in the crazy traffic.
• Visited Guanajuato in the day, a neat city that was originally built on bridges over a river. It is now converted into a series of huge tunnels that you drive through to get anywhere.
• Attempted shopping in the most crowded mall I've ever been in. It was Black Friday, but I thought we wouldn't have to worry about it since we were in a different country, but man, I couldn't believe the number of people!
• Got a new pair of very cute brown shoes for work and church.
• Had dinner at the old governor's mansion (now a restaurant) overlooking Guanajuato (gorgeous view) before going to the University Astronomy Observatory.
• Oh yeah, and got engaged :)

I've got to admit, it was a great trip

Tagged Again

8 shows I watch:
1. Friday Night Lights
2. The Unit
3. Jon & Kate Plus 8
Hmm... That's all I've got, I don't watch much TV

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Met with someone at the Daily Herald
2. Media Audits
3. Sent out a press kit
4. Did Angel Tree Prep
5. Girls Night with the mom and sisters (minus erin, boo)
6. Twilight!
7. Ate delicious crab at Red Lobster
8. Hung out with little Matthew

8 Places I love to eat:
1. Ruby River
2. Happy Sumo
3. Anything Indian
4. Bangkok Grill
5. Betos
6. Pizza Factory Pizza
7. Carrabas
8. Red Lobster8

Things I look forward to:
1. Thanksgiving (who doesn't love to eat (especially pie) and not work?)
2. Having my van project at work completed
3. Doing AMAZING on the GRE ;)
4. No more 4 hour GRE classes
5. Running outside
6. Next Scuba Trip
7. Presidents Day weekend
8. Moving forward

8 Things on my wish list:
1. Figuring out what I want to do for school
2. Good GRE test scores
3. Knowing where to go to school
4. Acceptance into that school/program (notice a pattern here?)
5. Scholarships to pay for school
6. Exceling at work
7. Tropical vacation with SCUBA diving
8. Time to go back to Vienna for a bit

Is that a New Outfit?

I did "Food on Tires" again the other day. One of the people asked me if I had made the food myself. I kept my laughter and thought to myself, "Only on the days I wear an orange jumper..."

In Her Shoes

Remember this post here and here and here about the award for the Women in Philanthropy Gala? Well, this Saturday was this year's event. I think all of the staff is glad it's over with (no more phone calls from irrate women calling you incompetent), those women could be ruthless.

The event went well with only minor glitches. I asked matt to go on a date with me to it, and it was fun to get all dressed up.

Wahoo!

I filled my car up for only$1.99 (with the help of a $.20/gallon discount ticket, thanks parents!). It was a good day.

Matt thinks my last post was inappropriate for the blog, so I took it down. My apologies...

Adventures in Food Delivery

My office partners with a local nonprofit that delivers meals to seniors in the community, for the blog, we'll call it "Food on Tires" (I don't want to get picked up by their media audit). The way it works is there are 6 volunteers, 5 regulars and a back up. Each of the five are assigned a day a week that they donate their lunch hour to deliver these meals to older people in the community who are essentially homebound. It is one of those things that you really don't want to do when your turn rolls around, but once you do it, so many entertaining things happen that you can't but laugh and compete for the best "Food on Tires" story.

The typical experience starts out by gathering the cooler and heat bag. I always feel a little bit bad delivering these meals to the old people who can't shop themselves because, man, this stuff we give them STINKS so bad! It typically looks like mush of some kind and really has a horridly retched smell. I guess they used to order the food from the hospital, but they recently switched to the prison because it cheaper (the majority of the seniors get the food for free).

Then you drive over to the building and start the run off by being greeted by the sweetest little lady who is always there waiting to let you in and stroke your ego with compliments like, "Oh hello beautiful girl! I'm so glad to see you. You are such a caring girl to bring food to these people," and my favorite, "Have a great day Babe!" On a recent trip, there was also another lady in the lobby who asked me, "Are you selling lettuce?" I tried not to laugh as I explained that no, I wasn't selling lettuce but delivering "Food on Tires." She didn't seem to understand though and kept asking questions such as, "So, I can't buy lettuce from you? Are you giving it away? Can I get some lettuce?" She even followed me into the elevator in attempts to get me to give her lettuce... After her determination, I've decided that maybe I should go into the door-to-door lettuce selling bussines. I think it would be quite lucrative

The first stop is a man named "Herb." Now Herb appears to be the neighborhood lady's man. He doesn't actually receive the meals, but he has a couple of the women over for lunch everyday, and he gets the food for one of the participants. He is a super nice man, who is quite the charmer. My favorite story involving Herb was one day when I started picking up the basket and bag, he started commenting on how I needed to use the little set of wheels (hint, hint) that they provide, I explained it was easier without it, and he said, "Well, I really think you should get that ca...Ohh! Nice outfit!"

Next you proceed to "Agnes" who is a little lady who has arthritis so bad that she can barely move. With her, you just walk in and bring the meals in to her where she is always sitting with no pants on. Bless her heart, she is just a sweetheart who will talk your ear off for 30 minutes if you let her. I'm not sure why she avoids wearing pants, but it sure makes it awkward for the men in my office...

After a few other stops, you finish up the building with "Verna." She is the one that everytime I stop at her house, I think, "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead!" She is typically sleeping in her bed, and she never eats any of her meals. One of the things we're supposed to do is make sure they are ok, so if they are just in bed, we're supposed to make sure they are still breathing. Today she was actually awake though and answered my knock with a "Come on in kid!"

Next we go to a few houses. One of the houses is "Doug" and "Ivy", a sweet little couple who recently had to install a ramp for Ivy's wheelchair. A few weeks back, he informed me that he was "closing the ramp for winter," and we needed to now use the step he had made out of a big cinder block. He then instructed me on how to use it, "Put your hand here, that's really important, you need to make sure you put your hand her so you don't fall. Let's see you do it, just to make sure you can..." He then proceeded to have me practicing going up and down the step a few times. Much to my surprise and delight, the next week when I went, he had really "closed the ramp for winter." He has it all roped off and covered with a Detour sign pointing to the step with an arrow.

I really do enjoy being a "Food on Tires" volunteer. I think the people are all really neat, and I hope this post doesn't imply that I'm making fun of them, because that is really not my purpose. The program is really great and provides the only meal and human interaction for many of the participants. If your office is interested, the organization is looking for more businesses to participate, so they don't have to deny any of the participants. So, let me know!

I had my first GRE prep class this morning. As the instructor was talking, I slowly yet surey become more and more terrified of the test. Then we moved to a computer lab and took a practice test. It started out with the Verbal section, which was pretty darn hard. I couldn't believe some of the questions. I thought that would be by far my strength since words are what I do for a living, but I will definitely need some work on it.

Before the test, I was really nervous about the math section, I haven't had a math class since high school, so who knows what I would remember. I was pleasantly surprised though, although there were things I couldn't remember, it was all fairly basic, and with some studying, I think I'll be ok.

When it gave me my scores, I was surprised that I did better point wise on the math section but significantly better percentage wise on the verbal. I think (maybe it is more hope) as long as I study my little heart out until Dec., I'll do alright. So starts my days of work, straight to studying and then to bed...

Who are You?

I always have such high hopes and expectations for Halloween. When October rolls around, I have these great ideas and plans for really great costumes, but every year, it ends up like tonight, I need a costume in 90 minutes, and no way to execute my fabulous ideas (this year hannah montana). I usually just end up going costumeless. But maybe this year some great inspiration will come to me, and i'll think of some really great costume in time for the party....

Moving Along

I decided it was time to make some decisions that will move my life forward. I'm taking the GRE in December. I think I've gone crazy...

Whoa! I am Naked in Here!

I wasn't feeling that great today. I decided to take an early lunch and come home and take a nap. All of my roommates are working professionals, and I am the only one whose office is close enough to come home during the day, so no one is ever home between 8-5. Because of this, I got home, went straight back to my room and didn't even bother to turn on my light or shut the door. Not wanting to get my work clothes wrinkly, I decided to just take them off and climb into bed in my underwear. I set my alarm to give me plenty of time to make it back to work in time and quickly dozed off to sleep.

Things were going great until I was woken up by the doorbell. I decided to just ignore it, but the person seemed fairly persistent. I finally decided I should get up and get it, but then I figured by the time I got my clothes on and to the door, they would be gone. I rolled over to go back to sleep when I heard the door open and a man's voice call out, "Maintenance! Anyone here?"

I froze and my first instinct was to be really quiet and hope he didn't know I was there. Then I came to my senses when I realized that plan would backfire if he was here to fix something in my room. I timidly yelled, "Hello??" He then again identified himself as maintenance and said he would be working in hall and in the bathroom next to my room. I just layed under my covers in my nearly naked state, covering myself as much as possible and wondering if I would be able to get back to work on time. I wondered if I could get up and close the door without him seeing me. Being too afraid to try that, I decided to wait it out and hope he was fast.

After a little while, I heard him leave. I was just about to make a dash for the door when he came back in. He was here for a while longer and left again. This time I waited 15 minutes and figured it was safe when he still hadn't returned. I quickly shut and locked my bedroom door, pulled my clothes on super fast and ran out the door back to my office. What a day!

Sing, Sing a Song

So last week during ward counsel, the bishop mentioned that he wanted to have a musical number for ward conference today instead of a practice hymn. The girl in charge of music looked fairly perplexed by this, and so my friend leaned over and said, "Oh don't worry, brenna and I can do something!"

Now back in the day, I used to perform all the time. I started playing the piano in church when I was twelve and from then on out, I regularly played the piano or sang in sacrament. Since high school though, I haven't done anything like that. After she volunteered us, she looked and me and said "that's ok, right?" I reluctantly agreed.

Well, we sang today. I couldn't believe how nervous I was! I don't have church until 12:30 and was practicing beforehand. I was so nervous that I started shaking, while I was still at my apartment! When I got to the chapel, my nervousness didn't go away at all. I think I prayed during that meeting more and than any meeting in a long time. As the time approached, my nerves calmed enough to be able to walk up to the pulpit. We started singing, and I slowly yet surey began to shake even more.

I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but whenever I'm standing at a podium of somekind and I am nervous, I can keep my whole body still except for my bum. It never fails, during musical numbers, talks, presentations, when nervous, my bum just shakes. I don't know if it is because I am trying so hard to keep everything from shaking that it all gets concentrated in that one spot or what. I always wonder if the bishopric and people on the stand can tell this and if it happens to anyone else.

Is anyone going to be brave enough to confess to also having a bum shaking problem? Don't be shy, my bum is quite large and so yours can't be worse than mine...

... And Apparently not be able to Leave

Iowa Trip Part 3

When I went to check in online, I noticed my flight was delayed, meaning I would miss my connection in Denver. Well, we called (I can't keep from calling United's helpful customer service) and the guy said there were no more connections, and I would just have to wait in Denver until morning. He said they would give me a hotel and food voucher, but there was nothing else I could do about it.

We decided to head to the airport and see if I could catch a flight to a different city and get back before work the next morning. Once there, the lady was even less helpful than on the phone and said they wouldn't even give me a hotel voucher. She said when it was weather related (there was no bad weather in Iowa City, but some other city that set things back) they didn't give any form of compensation and that I would just have to be stranded in the Denver airport. I decided that was absolutely ridiculous and declined a night in the airport. Luckily Erin and Abe graciously offerred to let me stay with them another night and a ride to the airport the following early morning. The plan was to take the first flight out of Iowa, catch an early flight in Denver and be able to be at work by 10:30ish (remember I was supposed to be back in town for a full day). I arrived the next morning, only to encounter another delay getting out of Iowa City. By the time we took off, I knew I would have approximately 12 minutes between my first flight landing and my second one taking off. Amazingly, we somehow made up a few minutes in the air, and we landed with 16 minutes to go.

There were a handful of other people on the plane in the same situation, and luckily, the other passengers were kind enough to let us off first. We landed at gate B-88 and I had to get to gate B-47. The older gentleman behind me had to get to B-46 in the same amount of time as me, so we took off sprinting through the terminal together. I felt bad, but I quickly had to leave him behind as I darted between the other people in the airport. I ran and ran and ran. I am pretty out of shape and thought I was going to pass out, but I kept running and running. When I approached 47, much to my dismay it didn't say Salt Lake. I stopped long enough to check a screen and discover the gate was changed to B-17. Again, I found my self running. At least as a form of encouragment, as I dashed people, many would yell "Go, go, go! You can make it!"

Somewhere around B-30 my phone started ringing. I almost didn't answer, but since it was a coworker, I decided I better. I breathlessly answerd, "Hey ---." To which he replied, "Hey Brenna, where are you?" I barely got out, "I'm running through the Denver airport trying to catch my flight which leaves in 5 minutes." He then said, "Well, we're having a team leader meeting, and you're not here. When are you going to be here?" I couldn't help but think, "Seriously? I can barely speak, and I told you I'm not in Utah, my flight is about to leave, I still have about 20 gates to go, and you're asking when I'm going to get to the meeting?" I contained my mean thoughts though and managed to get out, "Well, I'm not going to be able to attend team leader meeting today...." We then said our good byes and hung up.

As I approached my gate, I was excited to see a line of people outside the gate door. I ran up and was informed by a sweet elderly couple that the flight was delayed... At that point I didn't know whether to be happy or cry.

After the delay, I finally made it back to Salt Lake. The problem was, Matt was originally going to pick me up (on Monday night), but he had to work Tuesday morning, so he couldn't come and get me. Also, there is essentially only one time a week that my mother has something that has to happen at that time, Tuesday morning, so she couldn't pick me up. The rest of my friends were either at school or work. Matt drove his truck to work (in downtown Salt Lake), so I was going to take the bus to his work and drive back so I could get back to my office, but according to the bus schedule, it would take 1 1/2 hours to get into downtown. So, I ended up sitting around the Salt Lake Airport waiting for another hour until my mom was able to get me. She then drove me straight to work, where I arrived just a short time before I had to conduct an interview.

As I sat and waited, I couldn't help but laugh at how I mistakingly thought I somehow had a whole trip with United with no glitches. At least, at that point, with so many things going wrong, breathless phone conversations and getting more exercise than I had in quite some time, I couldn't help but laugh and think, "Well, at least I have a fun story to tell...."

...They Will Come (Or at Least I Did)

... So I got to Iowa thinking it was too good to be true that I got there with no problems with the airline. Erin and Abe picked me up when my flight got in about midnight. We chatted for awhile and headed home for bed.

The next morning we got up and headed to the diner in town where all of the political candidates eat when in town. It was great food and a fun little atmosphere. After eating, we headed off to Hawkeye football game. It was a little bit different than BYU football. I'm not exactly used to the "real" tailgating atmosphere. We left about halfway through the third quarter, and apparently I missed the school song of "In Heaven there is no beer, that's why we drink it here.." My favorite part of the game though, might have been the baton twirler girl. They actually have a girl on full scholarship for baton twirling. It was great; she just wanders around the sidelines in a sparkly bikini doing tricks with her baton. I've decided that's how i'm going to pay for my graduate studies. First, I just have to learn to twirl. Hopefully I'll be able to work up to flaming batons!

That night, Erin and Abe were in charge of a ward party. We headed out to a really pretty area by the reservoir (which was all flooded during the big floods this summer). It was fun to meet a lot of their friends, and their activity was a huge hit with the bishop commenting multiple times, "This is a really great event, one of our best!"

Sunday we had went to church and then headed to Abe's family for dinner and the CES fireside. We also played a few exciting games of Mexican Dominos and Scrabble. We also made some excellent tasting pretzels. What can I say? It was an action packed day! How could i resist not showing this gem? While at Abe's house, his sisters entertained us by making faces such as this one. Erin had to go to school on Monday, so she headed out early to start working on her patient. Abe was kind enough to play chauffeur and drive me around all day. I met Erin a little while later at school, where her classmate made me some bleaching trays for basically nothing. This is my "Do I really want to let my sister stick sharp instruments in my mouth?" face...

Then Abe and I headed over to his lab where I got to meet his mice, fill micro-pipette trays, tour rooms where I wasn't allowed to touch anything or else I would get cancer, and see some mice's hearing get tested. It was pretty cool.

That evening, we had some delicious Chicago-style pizza before my flight. It was a lot of fun to go out and see where my sister has been for the past few years. I was skeptical about Iowa, but I have to admit, I really enjoyed myself and the town. No wonder the Field of Dreams is there!

This post is getting quite long, so the journey home will have to be another continuation. I know everyone is anxiously awaiting...

Quirky? Me?

My siblings and Ashley tagged me wanting 6 quirky things that I do.

1-- I have to have a perfectly made bed before I can go to sleep. My freshman year of college, I always slept until the last possible minute (therefore not leaving time to make the bed). Every night though, I faithfully made my bed. I like it to be really really nice and even pull the bed away from the wall to ensure it is exactly right. My roommates thought this was very weird and would come and jump on my bed after I was in it as a way to annoy me. After they did this, I would have to get out of bed, and remake the whole thing.

2-- I don't eat hamburger. If you don't remember this, read here. I have been trying to get over this weird fear/dislike though. I'll keep you posted on my progress...

3-- I don't touch animals. It isn't that I dislike them, I just have no desire to have their dirt and nastiness on my hands. My family's dog Chico and I never got along because he wouldn't leave me alone. As soon as he learned to respect my boundaries (i know, he's a dog, what does he know?) we started getting along great.

4-- I make my living doing communications things such as editing. Ever I worked in the publications department in New York, I mentally edit everything I read (hopefully this doesn't make people afraid to write to me...), emails, books, billboards, scriptures, you name it, I think about every comma, period and apostrophe.

5-- I'm not a swimmer, instead, I am a sinker. I took swimming lessons all growing up and can swim when necessary, but it is very difficult for me. I have to work very hard to stay afloat (and I am slightly afraid of water). Despite this, I really enjoy scuba diving. It took some coaxing and bribing from my family to get involved, but now I can honestly say that I look forward to our scuba trips. To me, diving and swimming are not the same thing, but people tell me that this is very strange.

6-- It seems like my entire family talked about their toes, so for my last one, i'll do the same. My toes are not as nice as colty's but they are not like erin and amber's. They are nice in the middle toes.

If You Build it...

So I decided to use my flight voucher to go out and visit my sister who is going to dental school out in Iowa. She has been out there for more than three years now, I figured it was high time I got on out there to see her new home. She lives by a pretty small airport, so flights out there are usually not exactly the cheapest. Lately though, for whatever reason, United Airlines has had flights for a little over $200.


Thursday evening, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a ticket for the next day. The plan was to to the early evening flight out, and use all the extra hours I had accumulated from working the huge event I was in charge of to take Friday afternoon and Monday morning.


Sadly, the internet at my apartment wasn't really working, and I had to head up the canyon for a ward activity. My sister, being so excited to see me, offered to purchase the ticket for me. I emailed all the voucher information I had and headed off to the activity. As we headed back down the canyon and back into cell reception, my phone started buzzing with voicemails and texts. Apparently, the confirmation number United gave me didn't work. My sister and brother-in-law spent an hour on the phone with them, but they just kept saying I had to have more information (which I did not, they only gave me the one number).


I went to my office to try and buy the ticket, but wasn't able to do it online. I called and spoke to a representative and was informed that United changed their voucher numbers from a 15 digit to 18 digit number. Apparently people were hacking in and guessing the 15 digit numbers, so in order to protect their customers, they changed all the numbers. In theory, this is a great thing to do, but they forgot to tell their customers about it. Apparently they issued everyone a new 18 digit number, but the only way to find out what about the new number was to call and get it. After explaining this, they assured me the office who could help me was indeed still open (it was about 11:30 p.m. at this point) and transferred me to a voicemail saying office hours were until 5.

The next morning I spent an additional hour on the phone getting everything figured out and my flight booked. During this hour, I complained about the hours I spent on the phone the night before and not being informed of my new number. After some coaxing, she offerred me a $25 flight voucher (that I couldn't use for my flight to Iowa). I nicely told her that was very gracious, seeing how it was enough to cover the new baggage fee they instated and then asked to speak to her supervisor so I could file a complaint. She told me, "I would be happy to have you speak to my supervisor, but I can assure you, he can't issue any additional vouchers than the $25 I already gave to you." I told her that was just fine, I didn't care about the vouchers, I just wanted to file a formal complaint about the fact that United is trying to cheat their customers out of vouchers. She transferred me, and after being put on hold, her supervisor got on the phone and without me even saying a word told me they were issuing me an additional $100 voucher. I thanked him and said I still wanted to file a written complaint. To that, he gave me $25 more. This cycle went on for a little while longer until he finally realized I wasn't going to give up on the formal complaint.

I hung up the phone with them at 2:45 p.m., left my office at 3 and was on my way to the airport by 3:20. Talk about last minute trip!

So, now I have additional flight vouchers. I'm pretty excited that I'm getting multiple trips out of this, but pretty bugged that their customer service is so horrible (not to mention the fact that they outright lied in an attempt to get me to not speak with a supervisor). Who knows, with their track record,maybe i'll be flying United for free for the rest of my life (Is is worth the horrible service?!).

My Iowa travelogue will be coming shortly. For a sneak preview and Erin's thoughts on it, visit here!

Hmmm....

So I have started several posts in the last couple of weeks, but then, nothing comes to me. I'm trying to decide if it is better to have lame-o/boring posts or nothing at all...

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

So last summer my trip home from NYC was the flight from Hell. It involved over 13 hours of sitting in the airport (I only had 2 scheduled) with United screwing up EVERY step of the way. I know all flights were bad last summer, but man, this was seriously ridiculous, there were unexpected 10 hour layovers, constant gate changes (all on opposite sides of the airport), extremely rude employees and lost luggage.

Now I am very sympathetic to the fact that the airlines have several unexpected and uncontrollable problems, but everything I experienced was all just stupid errors on United's part.

Well, when I got home, I decided i wasn't going to take that and demanded compensation of some kind for my troubles. I was rewarded with a small flight voucher.

Well, the whole point of this post is that the expiration of my voucher is fast approaching, and I need to decide what to do with it. Where should I go? Any ideas?

What did You Say Your Name was?

So this post probably won't mean much to people outside my family, but oh well, what can you do?

Apparently when I was a little girl, when I was asked what my name was, I would proudly proclaim "Debbahs!" When people would repeat "Debbah?" (usually a little bit confused and wondering what the heck my parents were thinking when they named me) I would say, "No! Debbahs!" This cycle would repeat for several rounds until one of my parents or sisters would save the poor unsuspecting soul and explain that my name was brenna. When they asked "Brenna?" I would excitedly say, "Yes!"


I don't know what was going on with my little toddler brain, maybe I was dropped on my head or the paint on our walls had lead in it or something, but to me, Debbahs=Brenna. My siblings still to this day call me Debbahs. (Even the ones who weren't born at the time.)


Well, my bro-in-law was in some random place in Maine buying mice to experiment on, and he came across this store.

Being the nice guy he is, he not only got me a picture, but purchased a sucker that proudly declares "Debbahs." I couldn't believe it when I got his package; I think I laughed for a good five minutes, all while being joined in one by one by my family members as they came to see what I was freaking out over.

I have never before had a desire to visit Maine, but now I am very tempted to visit good ol' Bar Harbor. Anyone want to join me? I hear they have great maple ice cream!

-- Debbahs ;)

You Better Belize it...

So my family (minus Erin and Abe :( ) just got back from our annual family vacation. This year's adventure took us to Tobacco Caye, Belize.

Tobacco is a small 5 acre island in the middle of the ocean. It was a fabulous 10 days filled with dives (16 to be exact), snorkeling with a manatee, snorkeling with dolphins, over 1,000 pages of reading (new Twilight book= anticlimatic and a little bit lame), laying around in the hammock and lots of glorious sleep.

Now that I am quite a bit browner, a little bit blonder and used to the unbeatable Carribbean lifestyle, it is time to return to the normal routine.

You Know, I have to wash my hair that night...

So there is this kid in my complex, who, bless his heart, is just super-socially awkward (Family: Think Patrick W-esque). He tries really hard to be "cool," but there is just something about him that gives off the "super weird-- avoid if possible" vibe.

Well, I seem to have caught his eye. From the time I moved in, he made it a point to come and talk to me at every function, ward prayer, church, activities FHE, etc. I always try to be polite, and so I always talk to him, but I quickly realized that he never remembered anything we ever talked about. This seems pretty odd to me, since I have obviously caught his attention enough for him to seek me out at each function. Every conversation (at least once a week since May) we have goes something like this.

B: "Oh hey ----"
----: "Hey, how's it going?
B: "Good. How are things for you?"
....(Awhile later)---"So, are you still in school?"
B: "No, I actually graduated about a year ago"
---: "Oh really?! That's cool. So, where do you work?"
B: "Oh at UW, just down the street.."

The conversation usually continues on about whether or not I like it, usually has a "So which apartment to you live in again?" thrown in there and other things that we talk about EVERYTIME.

Last week, he sat next to me and started the usual conversation with me. After about 35 minutes (no joke) with him staring at my "smartness" aka: not my face, he said, "So, your name is stephanie, right?"

"Ummm.... Not quite." Luckily, it was about this time that Matt came over, grabbed my hand and started to talking to me. The kid left shortly after.

Well, yesterday, he came and sat next to me in Sunday School. After talking to me througout the duration of class, he said, "well, we should hang out before you go out of town." I hate when guys say this, do they really want to hang out or do they want to go out on a date? I hesitantly said ok, but warned him that I was super busy at work and would probably be working late. He then assured me we could go for just a 20 minutes and get ice cream. At this point, I started to panic. He asked me if my number was in the roster, to which i lied and said yes (They STILL haven't put out a new spring/summer directory) and tried to leave. He then said, "well, just in case, can I get your number?"

I was very surprised that he was doing this. I think he is about the only person in the ward who doesn't seem to realize that I am dating someone (who also happens to be in the ward). I know I should have said, "Well, I don't think my bf would like it if I gave you my number," but like i said, I was taken back and panicked, plus, he didn't make it clear if it was a date or not. At that point my other friend came up and said she needed my number. I laughed and said, "Oh wow, everyone wants my number right now," as I jerked my head in the kid's direction hoping she would get the point and rescue me, but she didn't, so then I just said, "Oh man, we have to go to relief society!" and then followed the example of Joseph in Egypt (it was right after Sunday School) and ran away.

I feel kind of bad, but i didn't really know what else to do. I guess it didn't phase the kid (or hurt his feelings) too much though because he came and followed me around at ward prayer that night.

Sang as They Walked and Walked and Walked and Walked and Walked...

I drove to my parents' house today and saw several people walking around dressed as pioneers (and even a handcart of two!). I think it might be fairly safe for me to say that this is probably the only place that people not only own pioneer dresses, aprons and bonnets, but they actually wear them.

Gotta love the big UT! Happy Pioneer Day!!!

PS-- (can you have those on a blog?) Claire and Kristen, do people dress up as pilgrams where you live? What about sail around on old-fashioned boats while wearing their Puritan garb?

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music

I love playing the piano. I don't remember my life before I played (I learned to read music the same time I learned to read letters). Since I moved away for college, I have experienced serious withdrawals.

Well, I went to my older sister's house the other week and she was excitedly assembling her brand new clavinova (nice digital piano). Apparently one of the local piano stores was going out of business, and they were able to get a stellar deal.

Not wanting to be one-upped my sister (totally kidding!), I was immediately tempted to go and make a purchase of my own. I soon began to think through things though, and my extreme cheapness got to me, and I decided I better not make any rash decisions. (While there was a great sale, it was still a good amount of money for my nonprofit salary.)

After about three weeks, I still had that nagging desire to purchase my piano. Although I am still in a very transitional stage of my life, I wouldn't have a chance to get such a great deal, and who knows how long it would be before I could "tickle the ivories" of my very own piano?

So, I bit the bullet and did it! Sadly, I decided it wasn't worth setting it up when I have to move in a month, so it just sits in its box at my parents' home. I'm really hoping that wherever I end up next month has room for my new baby! Despite only being able to admire its box, I have yet to regret my decision (even though my bank account is quite a bit lighter). Hurray for my piano!

Oh Miley!

So I thought I would let everyone know what I did with my Miley Cyrus tickets. I obviously didn't attend the show since I was at the beach. Instead, I sold them to my sister's father-in-law. I never got around to trying to sell them for the "big bucks," and he kindly took them off my hands the night before I left. I tried to sell them to him at cost, but he generously even paid me a a nice little "bonus."

Surfing USA

So for the 4th of July, I went to the beach in California. We got off to an early start at 4 freakin' AM Wednesday and had smooth sailing until right after we entered California when we were stopped for "road blasting." Now, I've never really heard of blasting the road, but all I know is they shut down the Interstate for reasons we couldn't see/feel/hear. As annoying as being at a complete stop for that long was, it was kind of funny to be walking around on I-15 and playing frisbee in the median. After an hour, people started piling back in their cars, and we once again headed out.

Our next stop was Matt's almond farm. It's funny to me that people still live on farms because its such a foreign concept to me, but it was fun driving around on all the tractors and seeing such a different lifestyles.

Shortly after our tractor tour, we headed off for the final 2 hours of our journey. We arrived at the beach house and immediately headed to the beach. I was really surprised by how different this beach was from any beach I've been to. The water was FREEZING, and I couldn't believe all the waves. It was still great to be at the beach though.

The next morning, we put on our suits and decided to take the boogie boards out. I've never really done this before, but thought, "Hey, how hard can it be?" Boy, did I underestimate the skill of boogie boarders. Let's just say after I got over the initial shock of the what felt like 30 degree water, I didn't exactly "catch any waves." The end of my boogie boarding experience was when I had a major wipe out and somewhere along the trying to come back up for air with the cord wrapping around my neck, broke the boogie board in half. When I realized what I had done, I felt bad for breaking the board and dejectedly walked back to shore. It was then that I was met by shocked faces saying the boards are essentially impossible to break. The boys even decided to try and break the board more, and they were unable to do so. I then told everyone that I just wanted to show them what would happen if you got on my bad side, i think it served as a good warning.

The rest of the weekend was filled with eating, parades, sleeping in the sun and fireworks at the pier.

It was a great weekend and a much needed break from crazy work. I love the beach!

What's a Girl to Do?

So my last roommate moved out yesterday morning. I worked until 8:30, came home, deep-cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, straightened my bedroom and finished at 9.

This is going to be a long summer....

Just Keep Swimming...

Summer is finally here! It's about time, but it finally got into the 80s/90s here, and I am loving it! Yesterday, after some coaxing, I decided to attend our ward activity, which was to go swimming. I wasn't very excited about it, but I gave in when I realized there was nothing else for me to do.

A small group of us went to the Scera Pool, which was so fun! It was definitely a blast from the past, and I loved reminiscing of the hundreds of miles I ran around Scera Park for lacrosse practice. The added fabulous bonus was I was finally able to get rid of my whiteness (another thing I miss about lacrosse, instant tan).

After a few hours with the big group, we made a Costco samples and chicken wrap run and headed over to good ol' Helaman Pool to visit my roommate Stephy who is a lifegaurd there. We spent a few more hours playing around and enjoying the superb weather.

A few tan lines later (wahoo!), we headed home.

Good day. Good times.

Go Fish!

A few Saturdays ago, a group went up to Strawberry to go catch some crawdads. It was a very fun/different activity, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with some people from the ward. After the long drive, we stepped out of the truck and into the 37 degree June weather (Yes, ,it was really that stinkin' cold in June). My favorite part of the evening was using my great new Barbie fishing net. The handle was a little short, but it sure got the job done! After we caught a few crawdads, (it is amazing how much those little guys love a hot dog on a stick), we went and built a campfire, ate dutch over cobbler and roasted a few roasted marshmallows. It was a good night :)

It's like Barrel of Monkeys, only crawdads!

After a successful round with my Barbie net

Me and my roommate Stephanie trying not to die from freezing cold


Geoff running down to take care of business

Oops, we accidentally ripped one of their arms/claws off. Sorry little crawdad!

Sometimes you just feel like you're an idiot.

Running just as Fast as We Can

Rihanna and I just got back from a run. I think i found myself a new running buddy.

Down at the Farm

So when I started working at UW, I never thought I would be doing so much at farms, but today, my coworker and I ventured out to Mona to visit the Lavender Farm (who knew such places existed?) of a big company that is sponsoring a fundraiser on my behalf. I had seen some pictures of the place, and it looked pretty cool, so I was anxiously awaiting today's appointment.

Much to my dismay, I woke up to a very gloomy, blustery day. When lunchtime came (right before we left) it was unfortunately still quite rainy. I debated changing from my skirt, ballet flats and nice top into a pair of sturdy shoes and jeans, but not knowing how appropriate that would be, I changed into my "Sturdiest" most rain/mud proof dress shoes, grabbed my umbrella, jacket and headed out.

The farther south we got, the more it rained. As we approached Mona (the little bit there is of it), it started raining horizontally. My coworker and I laughed as we pulled into the pond that was the parking lot. The tour we were supposed to take no longer seemed like the best idea.

When we stepped out of the car, our umbrellas did their best to stay strong, but they didn't little to shield us from the monsoon like rain. We ended up taking a very short version of the tour from the safety of a farm vehicle (We were informed if we got stuck in the mud, we were own our own).

Despite the rain, I think the event is going to be great. The land is super pretty, the lavender smells great and to top it off, there is randomly a medieval village (this is the boys from the old ward's dream come true!) in the middle of the farm. They are apparently bringing in professional jousters and building a special stadium for it and everything! A little ways away from the medieval village is a western town with wagon rides and shootouts.

This is me and my coworker with our sad for being dressed up at a farm out in some of the craziest rain we've experienced faces.

Don't you love that I get paid to do this? (Another "Get me out of this weather face")Some of what we experienced driving back (don't worry, I was a passenger, not taking photos and driving)

And then I almost Died

So the other night, I walked into my room and set some things down on my desk. I heard a large crash and felt wind on the back of my neck as something came suddenly crashing down. I turned around and it was my light fixture! It just randomly fell off my ceiling. It was pretty weird, and I'm pretty glad it didn't hit me on my head. Hopefully we have it back securely in place.

Walking, Just Walking

I walked to work today. It was great. I love living so close! It was kind of funny, for a second, it felt like I was back in New York, walking down the street in my business clothes, in the heat and humidity (I know, amazing! It is about to rain, so there was actually a little tiny bit of moisture in the air). At one point, I even had to smile and hold my breath as I got a whiff of the wretched NYC stench as I walked past an extremely foul-smelling dumpster.

Then someone I walked past smiled and said, "Hello."

Nope, definitely not New York...

Recent Conversation

Some people were over, and I pulled out my phone to see what time it was. The following conversation occurred:

New Friend: Is that a Treo?
Me: Yes
NF: Wow-- I didn't know girls could have those phones
M: Umm, well, they can...

Apparently I have a manly phone. Who would have thought?

It's the time of the season...

It is present buying season right now. My dad kicked it off a few weeks ago, followed by colty, and then Cait just 4 days later. We had to celebrate Cait's entrance into the teen years a day early because of everyone's crazy-busy schedules. It was still fun though, a night filled with Red Lobster, cake, presents and American Idol. Happy birthday Cait!

Now we have mother's day, followed by a few weeks break before it all kicks back up again. Good times!

New Found Skill?

I've become quite the procrastinator. I always thought I would get so much done when I didn't have work, school and lacrosse, but it appears that is not the case. I guess before I didn't have time to procrastinate.

All I know is, I really need to get my butt in gear....

Eating Cow

Yesterday was my little bro's brithday. It was the big 1-8, and for his birthday dinner he declared that he wanted "Real" hamburgers. My family stopped eating hamburger probably close to 10 years ago when there was all the food poisoning scares, and we were on a particularly healthy kick.

While we are once again allowed to eat it, only a few of us (my bro being one of them) ever choose to do so. After my initial shock and anger about the switch to veggie burgers, I now have no desire at all to eat hamburger (besides meatballs, I don't know why, but they seem to be the only thing I can get down). The few times I've given in to peer pressure and eaten something with hamburger in it (The last time I remember eating an actual hamburger was at least 5 years ago), I haven't liked the taste, and I felt disgusting afterwards.

When we found out what we were having yesterday, we were all shocked, but in the birthday spirit, we went full out. When it was time to eat, I ate everything on my plate, leaving the burger for last. My little bro has gotta know that I love him because I then ate the whole thing. I'm happy to report that today I am still alive. Not only that, I only had a minor stomach ache this morning.

While I'm still alive and kicking, I don't know if I'll be returning to the hamburger lifestyle. I still can't seem to shake the thought of death by E-coli and clogged arteries. I think I'll stick to my veggie and turkey substitutes. The sacrifices people make for their loved ones :)

Thought

Sometimes my posts are super long. I apologize for this...

With a moo, moo here and a moo, moo there...

Because I work for a nonprofit, I have the awesome opportunity to be a jack of all trades. I'm of course responsible for all of the media things, including 3 weekly articles The Daily Herald posts for us. We have to send in a picture with one of the articles, and so I have become the resident photographer. The other morning was one of the days I had to go take a photo.

I arrived at the lady's home, which was a super cute, little farmhouse that is over 100 years old. It is actually a 3-acre farm in the middle of Provo. She is a certified Master Gardener and volunteers by helping people with their own gardens. I suggested we get some "action" shots of her in the garden. She agreed and took me out back. She said we had to walk out to the garden and asked if that was ok. Since I have always enjoyed walks, and it was actually a nice, warm day, I told her that wasn't a problem, and we went on our way.


Well 10 minutes later, we were still walking. The garden was apparently on the other side of the farm. As mentioned before, I'm not opposed to walking, but I was dressed in my work clothes and a pair of new, open-toed high heel shoes, and the terrain was not exactly paved. During parts of it, I felt as though I was hiking Mt. Timpanogas or something. The very last leg of our journey was walking to a ridiculously steep hill. I felt pretty stupid, but because of my shoes, I had to hold onto the lady to avoid sliding down on my behind.

We finally made it to the gardens, and I started taking pictures as her animals took turns rubbing all over my pants and legs. Now most of you probably know, I don't dislike animals, but only as long as they leave me be. I absolutely HATE touching animals and HATE having them touch me.

After a few more pictures with the garden, her sheep angus, some of the horses and of course the goat and llama, I thanked her and trecked back to my car. My once brown slacks were no longer so because of all the hair, dust and dirt. My poor feet were COVERED in dirt and dust. And my cute little shoes had inches of dirts on the inside and outside.

When I reached my car, I tried my best to empty my shoes and brush off my feet, but it did little good. Well, I had another meeting that I had to attend but knew I was no where near looking presentable. My best friend from when we were about 10 years old's family lived a few blocks from the farmhouse, so I sheepishly walked up to their door with my shoes in hand to see if they would let me use their tub to wash my feet.

I knocked and the door was opened by a very surprised looking my friend's father. I don't think I have seen him for multiple years, and there I was, standing on his porch, dress shoes in hand, and filthy business attire. After exchanging pleasantries, I started to explain, "Well, this is really weird, but for my job, I had to go and take a picture of a lady who lives on a farm just down the road, and I wasn't planning on having to hike across dirt fields and my feet and pants got super dirty, and now I have to go to another appointment, and well, do you mind if I just wash my feet and shoes off in your tub?"

His face got more and more confused as he tried to understand what I had just explained to him. He very generously told me to help myself to the bathroom, sink or whatever else I needed. I was so glad he let me in, despite the fact that I was talking like a crazy person, and I'm pretty sure he had no idea what I had just told him. I cleaned myself up the best I could and went on my way. One of my favorite parts of the adventure was when the dad called out as I was leaving, "Well, feel free to stop by anytime you have a shoe.... shoe problem..." I again thanked him, and ran back out to my unfortunately farm-smelling car. At least now, a few days later, and lots of rolled down windows and open moonroofs, I can happily report my car smells normal again.

Gotta love my job!

The Shunning of Bloggers

The other day, I was discussing blogging and the possibility of an office blog with my boss and coworker. I was shocked when the coworker said he had gone out with a girl a few times and things were looking good. The girl gave him the link to her blog, but after reading her posts, he couldn't bring himself to ask the poor, unsuspecting girl out ever again.

I am so curious, what the heck could someone be writing about that would cause such drastic measures? I wanted so badly to find out more, but since we were in the middle of a meeting, it wasn't possible.

Bloggers beware! Who knows when your innocent post will be the end of a beautiful relationship...

New York State of Mind

My friend and roommate in New York Rachel has these lyrics from Billy Joel on the side of her blog, "No matter where you go in the world, you never really leave New York, and it never really leaves you." Everytime I go to her site, I see it and can't help but agree.

It's been a year next week since I went out to New York, and I've been home from New York about 8 months now, and even though I know I made the right decision in coming back, I still go through serious city withdrawals. It is funny, the first half of my time there, I really didn't think it was that great of a place. I left for the city with high hopes and thinking since I had lived in Vienna, another huge place, I would have no to very little acclimating. In reality, that was far from being true. I didn't like how disgustingly dirty everything was, how it takes 40 minutes to get anywhere or the famous "New York Attitude." It took some serious adjusting, but in the end, when it was time to go, I cried and wasn't sure leaving was what I wanted.

Like I said, I know I made the right choice, but I still have dreams that I am back, living it up, on a regular basis. Little things throughout the day remind me of my time there and I still am planning on going for a visit in the very near future.

I went to the Symphony on Friday, and it made me miss being in the center of all the cultural activities even more than normal. The warmer, perfect for walking weather has also made me miss living across the street from Central Park. In Vegas last week, I excitedly went to my favorite store H&M but was shocked by the small store compared to Europe's and New York's HUGE three stories of cheap but cute clothes. I definitely miss it every two weeks when I have to stop at the gas pump and drop a ridiculously large amount of money filling my car up.

In honor of my short but loved time in Manhattan, here are some pictures of while I was there.

Heather and I at the first of many Broadway shows, "The Drowsy Chaperone."

Waiting to go see David Letterman. Too bad the guest was Michael Moore, who was so boring that I fell asleep.

My tiny I-House room. This is where I spent the first half of my time. That is how wide (the width of the bed) the whole room is. At least I had a sink.

My second day in the city involved a scavenger hunt, this was to show we were at Madison Square Gardens. It was taken with a cell phone and so isn't the best quality.

Best of Both Worlds

Last week my boss came into my office and announced he was going to be trying to get Hannah Montana Stadium of Fire tickets when they went on sale that evening at 5. He asked if I was interested in staying and logging on to help him get some and said there would be a reward of some kind if I got the tickets.

At 4:55, several of us logged on and got sent to the "Online Waiting Room." While everyone else waited there, i had the magic touch and at 5 p.m. exactly, was taken to the purchase tickets screen. My boss came running in and proceeded to buy as many tickets allowed.

My reward is some tickets to the show. It sold out in less than 30 minutes. I am trying to decide if i want to attend the show or become a scalper (don't worry, it's legal in Utah) of sorts and sell my tickets on eBay (they are currently going for a couple hundred dollars). In honor of my considering actually attending the show, I am posting this picture. What do i do? If i do decide to go, i suppose i'll have to go all out, so I feel like a part of the crowd of those little screaming girls.

Do you see the resemblance?

Viva Las Vegas

So I had my first business trip this past week. I got sent to Las Vegas with a few coworkers to attend the UW conference for the western region (although there were a few people from Massachussets and Vermont, I'm not sure where they learned their geography...). I have to admit, I felt pretty darn official.

The conference was held at Bally's hotel, and we knew when we were in for a treat when our taxi pulled up to our hotel, which featured a 10-story poster of the bottom half of a woman in some rhinestoned underwear. We made a team decision to skip the conference's first event, a party at the hotel's club Risque, right next to the topless-dancers show, and get some sleep.

When I checked in, i was informed that i needed to take the suggestion of the person and take a smoking room because the only non-smoking rooms were in an entirely different building than the rest of my party and conference and because it was by the elevators, which are noisy. I thanked her for the suggestion but assured her no noise could be bad enough to sleep in a smoke-scented room. She gave me my keys and sent me on my (wrong) way. It took me 10 minutes to find my room because she pointed me in the wrong direction. The funny thing is, one of my coworkers (who was checked in by someone else) started walking in the same direction as the rest of the group, and the lady who helped me chased after him and told him he was going the wrong way. Maybe i'm wrong, but i kind of suspect she was angry with me for not taking her suggestion, hence her helping him and then sending me on a wild-goose chase.

Well, i finally found my room and settled in for bed. It was the biggest hotel room i've ever stayed in and seemed quite nice. I climbed into the large bed (My very own, i don't think i've every had my own hotel bed let alone room) thinking i was in for a great night's sleep. Boy was i wrong... I had a hard time falling asleep because I could hear airplanes taking off every minute (i wondered if the noise could be the elevators, but it was WAY to loud to be elevators). I finally dozed off, and then i woke up because a man and a woman started arguing so loud that it sounded like they were in my room. They kept at it until well after midnight. This was one of the most, if not the most, intense fight i've ever heard. They were SO loud and yelling things my poor little ears never want to hear. Almost every other word was something i can't actually say, and they alternatively yelled for the other person to get out. There were several points that i almost called the front desk because it sounded like they were about to start beating each other.

After about 45 minutes, they finally stopped and i drifted off into a restless night of sleep and airplanes taking off. The next morning at breakfast, I tiredly commented on how i was surprised we could hear the airplanes and received several confused stares in return. Apparently those airplanes were my fore-warned noisy elevators. I am still shocked elevators could be so loud, but hey, i guess the little lady knew what she was talking about.

Between sessions of the conference, i switched rooms, and from there on out, had a great, airplane-noiseless experience. It was kind of funny to be in classes all day again, it is amazing how quickly your life changes. A year ago, I thought nothing of sitting in classes for 8 hours a day, but it was sure different now.

Me and my coworker wanted to go see Phantom, but the timings just never worked out and we always ended up missing it by about 15 minutes. So, we ended up watching several Bellagio shows, walking up and down the strip and making a few purchases at the beloved H&M. If anyone sees the next Hawaiian Tropic video, be sure to look for me walking by behind the nearly-naked ladies who were taking up almost the entire sidewalk. One slightly creepy guy started walking by me and told me that i looked better than all of those girls. I told him it was because i was fully clothed and that clothes can do wonders, and then walked/speed walked away...

The actual classes were surprisingly good. I feel very confident and excited to launch the new marketing campaign now. I have some great ideas, and I think we're going to gain a lot of people's support.

Another exciting part of the trip was on the flight home. I was talking to the guy next to me, and was asked, "So have you started college yet?" I think i should start keeping track of the number of times i'm asked this.

Overall, I learned Vegas is not my favorite city, but i did enjoy my first official business trip. It was another big step in becoming a real adult :)

Charity Ball and Auction

A few Fridays ago, I went to a Charity Ball and Auction put on by a group of students that are affiliated with our office. It was an awesome, black-tie event that raised money for our initiative to help prepare children to succeed in school.

This was the second year the students held the event. The first year, they raised over $10,000. They really wanted this year's event to be even more successful. They had some huge auction items, VIPs including Miss Utah, Bryan Kehl (both of whom had evenings out with them auctioned off), LaVell Edwards and Congressman Cannon.

All in all, it was a great night and they raised over $21,000! It is amazing that college students were able to pull off such an awesome fundraiser.

I got into the bidding spirit and ended up bidding on more than I should have. Luckily, people out bid me last minute on a few of my items, so I didn't end up spending TOO much. I did get some Lagoon passes, dinner gift certificates, a gift certificate to the mall and an hour masssage, all for under $175!

I'm sad that we didn't get any pictures of my dress. It was a lot of fun to dress up like that again.

Moving On

So the Breakfast came and went. Over all it went great! There were a few very minor hic-ups (spelling??), but everything was easily fixed and only a small handful even realized what was happening.

The guy that we had play the piano while we ate was a UVSC student that is always playing in the hallway. My sister asked him if she could give me his number, and when I asked him if he would play he said, "Oh! I'm so excited, I just love anytime I can tickle the ivories for an audience!" My favorite part was when he got there and called me over. He then said he wanted to play me a song he just wrote. (Now remember, I met him about 30 seconds before). He got very into it and was moving all over, bobbing his head, arms and shoulders, and then, he started looking up at me while he played and singing lyrics such as "You're beautiful. I love your smile. Your eyes..." I know he didn't write the song for me, but man, it sure was awkward, sitting there while this strange kid sang me a love song of sorts. I quickly told him it was nice and told him I had to go take care of something on the other side of the room.

We had over 105 people there, so pretty good number. I was told the food tasted excellent, but I was so nervous that I didn't eat hardly anything. I felt like I was going to throw up until the last minute or so...

The good news is, the shoe award was a HUGE hit. Everyone was commenting on it. The bad news is, my intern aka: appointed photographer didn't take a picture of it :( The good thing is, my boss liked it so much, he wants me to get another one for our office. I'll be sure and get a picture of that one. I'm also going to try and get a few pictures of the event to post.

Breakfast is the Most Important Meal of the Day...

My Breakfast is in 9 hours. I sure hope I didn't forget anything.

Everyone in the office keeps telling me this is my "baptism by fire." I'm kind of nervous...

Question

Is there a difference between mashed potatoes and smashed potatoes? If so, what is it?

Dang! I Just Missed It!

When I got back from the before-mentioned meeting, everyone in the office seemed a bit worked up. Now our office is located across the street from a courthouse, so apparently, we occasionally get some exciting activities occurring outside our windows.

Well, apparently, just before we got back, one of the other girls noticed a woman sprint past our door. Thinking that was a bit odd, she went to my office and watched as two policeman chased after the woman. When the caught her, they tackled her to the ground, handcuffed her and pulled a gun from her pocket. All RIGHT outside my window!!

I can't believe I missed the action! I'm glad they caught her, but I sure am curious about what she did... Maybe my cop-brother-in-law can get the details and fill me in.

Packing it All In...

I had a meeting in Salt Lake with all of the UWs of Utah today. It was a lunch meeting, and so we had CPK. I put in my order before hand and excitedly anticipated my yummy pizza. Shortly after we got there, the food arrived. One of the boxes was noticably larger than the rest. My boss made the comment, "Who ordered the BIG pizza?" No one fessed up, and we all went to collect our food. After sorting through the food, I embarrassingly realized the big pizza was mine. I don't know why, but for some reason, they decided to gift me with more food than the rest of the group.

Everyone commented on how there was no way I would be able to eat the entire thing and how I would have lunch for tomorrow. Well, I ate a few pieces and decided since everyone commented on the absurdity of me finishing it all, that i better stop.

On the way out, my boss gave me his two extra pieces (he didn't even finish a personal pizza!), and I carried my pizza back to the car. I gave a piece to my coworker who ordered a veggie salad that they forgot the veggies in (talk about disappointment, who wants a lunch of plain lettuce?) I'll admit, i felt a little guilty that she got such a lame meal when I was so blessed, but I did try to share the wealth and couldn't help that she only took 1 piece.

During the car ride back, I finished off the rest of mine and my boss' food. When we got back to the office, and I headed for the dumpster, someone made the comment, "You decided you didn't trust it afterall, huh?" You should have seen their faces when I told them the box was empty.

I can't help it; I'm a hungry girl. I wonder how they would react if they knew I used to eat even more than that when I played lacrosse....

Shoe Update

I went to pick up my glass slipper today. I opened the box to

Women in Philanthropy
"In her Shoes" Gayla

I guess some people just never learn...

Interview with the Boss

My boss asked me yesterday how the breakfast was going. I told him that I felt like I had it under control, and only the smaller things needed to be done. His response: "That worries me..."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I can kind of understand because I'm worried I'm forgetting something, but would he rather I was running frantically around feeling like there wasn't enough time to get things done? I guess maybe for the next one I should procrastinate a little bit more.

Shoe Update

Bad news-- I got my shoe back today. I took it back to my office, opened up its box, and pulled out the plaque proclaiming:

Women in Philanthropy

"In her Shoes" Gayla

Well, I guess they are going to be redoing that one...

Who has my Glass Slipper?

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella. I know many girls who are in love with the romantic fairy tale.

I'm in charge of all the event planning for my office. In two week tomorrow, I have my first event: the Annual Thank You Breakfast for all major donors and volunteers. It has been quite the experience to get thrown in have to plan such a huge event on my own.

I've had to do everything from invitations, to writing the script and creating a press kit, to deciding on the menu and decorations, but surprisingly, the most difficult thing has been finding the "right" awards. My predecessor had that dang creative gene that is so elusive for me. People have high expectations and the typical plaque doesn't quite seem to cut it.

One of the awards is going to our group of women who threw a fancy banquet last year and earned more than $40,000 to go towards helping children succeed. The theme of the banquet was "In her Shoes," so what we thought was a great idea was formed, get a glass slipper and have it engraved as the award! Well, for the past 2 1/2 weeks, I've searched every store that would possibly have some sort of glass shoe. I even tracked down the phone number of a couple glass blowers in the community, who said they don't do shoes. You would think the Cinderella connection would make this a fairly simple task, but boy was I wrong!

On Friday, I finally found one online, it is only 4" long, so I decided I would just have to mount it on something. Well, my glass treasure arrived today, and it is a beauty! It is small, but I think what I had done with it is going to look great. An awards store is making a special L-shaped plaque. The little shelf on it will hold the slipper, and then there will be a small plaque attached to the wood above it with the engraving. It is going to be made so it can be hung on the wall.

I'm excited that everything for my first big project seems to be coming together. I'm down to the last little bit and am feeling pretty good about everything. I sure hope I'm not feeling this calm about everything because I'm forgetting some major thing...

Why is it that I have nothing to blog about anymore?

Tribute to the Boy

So my family is made up of my two parents, 3 sisters, 1 me and 1 brother. The lucky guy is a few years younger than me and loves living in a house with all sisters :). He is a senior in high school this year and getting ready to make the big transition into the pseudo-adult stage of life. Although he often gets out voted on things, we all love him lots. He has accomplished so much in his life and recently had some great things happen for him.

He is quite the musician and can, as my dad likes to say, "play just about anything with strings." I know a lot of guys claim to play the guitar, but my brother is an INCREDIBLE guitar and bass guitar player. He is seriously better than anyone I know. He really loves music and has taken full advantage of the music room in our basement. When he isn't doing his school work, football, lacrosse, or taking care of all the manly house chores, he is downstairs "jamming" with his band. They have recently started recording a cd and have been invited to play at Muse Music on several occasions. The general audience at Muse is college students. Even though they have only opened for a few bands, during every show, his band had way more fans than main attraction band (at the show I attended, there was just shy of 100 people there). Did i mention they write all their own stuff?

Last week, he finally was awarded his Eagle Scout. When he first turned 12, he worked his little behind off and had everything done except for his project in just 3 months. Well, he was too young to do his project, and then who knows what happened. He finally finished it though, and we are so proud of him! For his Eagle Court of Honor, we had a really neat Indian-hoop dancer come and perform. It was a great night, and we are so happy for the brother!

I've loved being home and hanging out with my bro. It is fun now that we are both older, I feel like we are really friends and not just annoying siblings :) I love him dearly and am so proud of everything he has done with his life thus far. I know he will do great things (as long as he stays off of roofs ;)), and I'm excited to see how he will succeed in life! I love you Colty!!

New Project

Mission Bye Bye Muffintop

Wanna Be on Top!

I love the show America's Next Top Model. When in New York, MTV had a marathon of all the season on in the evenings. My roommates and I spent probably a little bit too much time watching all of these girls struggle to fulfill their dream of winning the show and never booking a job again.

Tomorrow, I have the opportunity to participate in my very own photo shoot! For work, I was in charge of putting together a professional photo shoot for the national organization's Web site. It should be interesting. Too bad I haven't had time to watch a few episodes so I could get a few pointers from Mr. Jay (I will be doing his job, too bad I can't be Tyra...). I have been practicing the squinty thing Tyra always has the girls do, so all of my models can be equally as fierce. Who knows, maybe it will be the launch of a mighty successful career!

Coincidentally, the new season of ANTM starts tomorrow night. My shoot will be a good warm up for the real thing that night! I can't wait!

Payday

I love my new real job :)

Appropriate Dress

So after I put in my 8 hours today, I will have completed my first week of my first "Real" job. So far, so good. As I get ready this morning, the only complaint I can think of is no Casual Friday :(

FYI

I have been trying to comment on people's blogs, but for some reason, it won't let me. I just want almost everyone (sorry if you weren't one of them, good thing there is no way to know) to know I have been trying to do better, blogger just isn't cooperating...

I went on a date last night with an old friend from high school. After graduating, we both moved down to Provo and would talk about how dumb it was that we were the only two of our friends who took the initiative to live on our own.

Well, when he asked me where I lived, so he could pick me up, I sheepishly told him I lived at home. I wasn't surprised when he promptly started "giving me crap" about still living with the parents.

When he picked me up, I yelled, "Bye! I'm heading out!" As we were driving back to Provo, my cell phone went off, I sneakily checked to see who was calling, and was surprised to see it was my mother. I apologized for answering during the date, but figured she would only call if it was an emergency. Our conversation went something like this:

Brenna: "Hi" (in a concerned voice)
Mom: "Hi. Have you left yet? We don't know where you are, so we were worried..."
B: "oh, well, I said I was leaving, I'm sorry you didn't hear."
M: "That's alright, have fun!"

I hung up the phone to my laughing date. Yes, I live at home....

Big Decisions

Well-- I finally made a decision on my job. I will start work with the UW of Utah County on Monday. It is a great, reputable company that has been straight up and easy to work with through the whole hiring process. I did my internship with them before I headed to PRSA in NYC and really enjoyed all the people and the atmosphere. I can't believe i'm taking such a huge step in my life and starting a real "big-person" job!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We've gotten quite a bit of snow in the past month. We currently have about 1 1/2 ft., and there are two more big storms on their way. As previously mentioned, this past Sunday, church was canceled because of a big storm. After Dad and Colt showed off their manly skills by clearing the sidewalks and driveways, this is how we spent our time.

My little sister Caitlyn put her protective wall to good use as she dodged snowballs.

Caitlyn gets Dad back...

Colton decided to help out Chico the Dog by building him a "Chic-loo." Too bad Chico doesn't seem to appreciate it and would only go in if bribed with doggietreats.

Sadly, although I love this kid, he is embarrassed to be seen with his nerdy, jobless older sister who lives at home, hence his anger at having it documented...