Ode to eating....

Just some of the things/places I ate the past couple of days while my brother, Keith, was visiting:

If I don't cut this ridiculousness out and get back to the gym soon, I'm going to have to buy elastic waist pants to grow into!

I am a Gigi

I'm sure there are quizzes out there somewhere that you can take to figure out which "He's Just Not That Into You" girl you are. But I don't need a quiz to figure that out...I can tell you that I am largely a Gigi. I identify with Gigi because of the way she is so "desperately" trying to find someone to love her. I'm sure some people thought she was just pathetic and needed to stop trying so hard. But she makes such a good point about herself when she tells Alex that she may do a lot of stupid stuff, but she's a lot closer to finding someone than he is. And that's the point about Gigi...not that she's desperate or trying too hard, but that she is TRYING. And it's frustrating when you are a good person with a lot of love to offer, but there don't seem to be any guys who want to take a chance and see what might be down that road. Which I guess is another reason that I identified so much with Gigi...why DIDN'T those guys like her?? She is cute, stylish, fun, smart, and had so much love to give. It is a frustrating place to be. But let's hear it for the Gigis of the world who are still trying, despite the frustrating, discouraging odds, to find the love that they deserve.

Confession...

I have seen A LOT of episodes of "Hannah Montana" on the Disney Channel. I actually like it...it's clean (you don't have to worry about smutiness), and I think that Lilly and Oliver (Hannah/Miley's friends) are FUNNY! It's gotten to the point now kind of regularly where I'll turn the show on, and it turns out I have already seen the episode that's on! Hey...don't knock it 'til you try it!

Denver adventures with my nieces...

I know...my blog has been post-less for awhile! I've gotten sucked into the world of Facebook, but that's no excuse! :) Here are some pictures from my nieces' visit to Denver after Christmas. They are SUCH cute girls, and it was fun to spend time with them!

Picking up the goods!

Game night eventually got off track...

The off track-ness continues!

Estes Park is LOVELY!

Crafty McCrafterson Jr. wearing one of the bracelets she made

A cute picture of my sister Lizzy walking to the game room

Gramps and his blazing fire!

Getting ready for some serious marshmallow roastin'!

Texty McTexterson in the flesh!

A glimpse of the s'mores/marshmallow yumfest!

Games and snacks (always food for the Johnsons!)

Grandpa ROCKIN' his pink 2009 glasses!

Two cute girls! (Notice Crafty McCrafterson Sr.'s tie-dye shirt she made in Estes!)

I LOVE this little girl!

And I LOVE her big sis!

Dropping the goods off! :(

It was so good to spend time with these cute girls! We ate (of course!), shopped, played games, laughed, chatted, cried, hugged, and ate some more, before we had to send them back home. They are such cute, cute, cute, cute girls...sure glad they're part of my family!!

The Alamo

Here are some pics from my trip to The Alamo:

It is a small little place, quite photogenic as you can see!

My first banana cream pie...

This Thanksgiving, I made the banana cream pie. Now granted, the crust was not homemade (that will probably never happen since I'm not much of a pie person myself...and anyway, why make it from scratch when you can buy a pre-made crust at the store?!), but I made the filling, and I was very happy with the outcome...the filling was smooth and tasty, and the pie looked good too:


I enjoyed every bite:

and so did Lizzy:

Who knows what I might try to make next...any requests??

Have you ever...

Maybe you'll learn something about me here...I've bolded the ones I have done!!

Started your own blog (more than one!)
Slept under the stars
Played in a band (I'm fully counting the elementary school orchestra!)
Visited Hawaii
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity
Been to Disneyland
Climbed a mountain (part of one!) :)
Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo (5th grade...had a solo in our rendition of "We Are the World")
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris (oh...that's not referring to visiting the hotel/casino here in Vegas?!)
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Adopted a child (I've adopted several as surrogate nieces and nephews!)
Had food poisoning (pretty sure...and from a random veggie/melted cheese plate)
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Grown your own vegetables
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on an overnight train
Had a pillow fight
Hitch hiked
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (when I was in high school my mom excused me one day so I could go stalk Marky-Mark!)
Built a snow fort
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping
Run a Marathon
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Watched a sunrise or sunset
Been on a cruise
Seen Niagara Falls in person
Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (sort of...depends on the definition we're using of "ancestors")
Seen an Amish community
Taught yourself a new language
Had enough money to be truly satisfied (I agree with Jori...does that EVER happen??)
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing (it was at a Rec. Center in Arvada, CO, but still!)
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Sung Karaoke
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight
Been transported in an ambulance (when I was a baby...my dad likes to tell the story on my b-day!) :)
Had your portrait painted
Gone deep sea fishing
Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud (I don't have a specific memory, but I'm pretty sure we all did this!)
Gone to a drive-in theater
Been in a movie (well, it was only the goofy Universal Studios screen test thing, but it was on a video cassette, so it must count!)
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Taken a martial arts class
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold Girl Scout Cookies (no, but I've eaten my fair share of them!)
Gone whale watching
Got flowers for no reason (beautiful roses from an unfortunate college boyfriend!)
Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Bounced a check
Flown in a helicopter
Seen the Lincoln Memorial in person
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Broken a bone (several at one time by jumping off the roof of my house when I was 10-ish. It was my brother's fault...he offered me 85 cents to do it!)
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book (not yet, but I will!)
Visited the Vatican
Bought a brand new car (need to do that again soon!)
Walked in Jerusalem
Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible
Visited the White House
Killed and prepared an animal for eating (uh...do I live on a farm???)
Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life
Sat on a jury
Met someone famous (I LIVED with someone famous for a few months!)
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one
Had a baby
Seen the Alamo in person (a month ago I wouldn't have been able to bold this one!)
Swam in the Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
Owned a cell phone (uh...do we really need to ask that question in 2008?)
Been stung by a bee (a wasp!) :P

NKOTB...the aftermath!

Here it is...finally...the long-awaited post-NKOTB concert blog! I went through the many, many pictures that I took, and pulled out a handful of favorites to share. If you'd like to see more pictures and some videos, let me know, and I'll be happy to show you! Now hang on, and get ready for the NKOTB ride...

All "bluffed up" and ready to go!

Foofy in her newly acquired NKOTB shirt (yes, we're in a bathroom stall!)

The "Kids," doing their thing!

Wah-wah-wee-wah! Someone's been working out! (Jordan, showing off his assets!)

What NKOTB would look like in Heaven!

Joey is still my favorite!

The verdict...can you tell from our faces how we liked the show?!

The show was a lot of fun! I'm not sure how much longer these middle-age men can carry on the "boy band" thing, but they sure rocked the house in Broomfield, CO on November 14, 2008!

Davy Crockett

Okay, okay...I know I have some people who are antsy for a follow-up NKOTB post, and I promise that I will take care of that while I'm in Denver for Thanksgiving. But, in an effort to not let my blog stagnate for too long, here's a little quicky post.

I just got to Denver after a 5 day trip to San Antonio, Texas for the National Council of Teachers of English convention. I didn't get to see much of San Antonio, but I did make it out to The Alamo. It was interesting...I'm pretty sure I didn't know that Davy Crockett died at The Alamo...shows how much American History I learned in school! Anyway, the coolest thing I learned at The Alamo had to do with Mr. Crockett and his move to Texas. He was a U.S. Congressman, and around the time of his eventual defeat in his final run for Congress, he said "...you may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas." I wish I would have had that quote in my pocket BEFORE I left for Texas...I'm sure I could have made good use of it! Thank you Davy...for a great quote, AND for introducing that fabulous coonskin cap into our lives!

Tomorrow I will:

1. Go to the gym...treadmill for an hour, abs/arms/buns/legs to follow.

2. Tidy, dust, clean the mirrors, and vacuum my room...my aunt Janet is coming for Thanksgiving, and will be borrowing my room!

3. Clean my bathroom to get it ready for company (see #2)...cleaning my bathroom is probably one of my least favorite jobs in the world, but until I win the lottery and can afford a maid, it's a necessary evil.

4. Bake a Texas Sheet Cake...my boss/friend Jen's b-day is on Wednesday, and the girl wants a sheet cake! I'm on it!

5. Do laundry...I must wash the clothes I dirtied on trip #1 in preparation for trips #2 and #3!

6. Start packing...who else thinks it's going to be interesting to pack for a 10 day trip, especially since I'll be going from the San Antonio climate to the Denver climate?

7. Work on making a budget for myself...sounds fun, doesn't it?!

8. Go to the church and work on stuff that needs to get done there...I'm leaving the single's ward soon, and I have some housekeeping to do to get things caught up for my replacement.

9. Go to bed at a decent time so I'm not tired on Wednesday!

Tonight...tonight...

Tonight is the big night...the night that has been anticipated since the summer when the tickets were purchased and the plans were made. Tonight my sister Lizzy and I are going to see New Kids on the Block (aka NKOTB)! I have seen them before, when they looked like this:

Oh, how I loved them...plastering my room with their posters, and making a scrapbook page of what my babies with Joe McIntyre would look like! *sigh*

Now we're all older, the New Kids on the Block not-so-much fitting their name anymore. These days they look like this:

A little older, some of them missing a little bit of hair...but from what I hear, these guys can still rock the house! Tomorrow Lizzy and I will be a little tired from staying up past our bedtime, and our ears might be ringing a little bit from loud music and loud fans, but we'll have some pictures to share, some stories to tell, and a new t-shirt to wear!

Until next time, keep Hangin' Tough!

Lori/Amy adventure # ??

Last Saturday I had my friend Lori Wong (yes, THE Lori Wong, the photographer) take pictures of me. We headed out to Lake Las Vegas for another one of our Lori/Amy adventures. Here are a couple of the pictures she took...to see more of ME, and to see her other photo work, visit her blog. Tell her I sent you! :)

Thanks to Lori for a fun photo shoot and a generally good times night! On to the next Lori/Amy adventure...who knows what that might be?!

16 Things That It Took Me 50 Years To Learn

Generally once or twice a week I have to close the library, which means that I work from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm. My friend/co-worker Martin works until 10:00 pm, so on the nights that I close, we usually go to dinner together. Last night we went to Jimmy John's...I had never been there before, although Martin had. But this is all really beside the point of this post! Although, before I get to the TRUE point, let me say that I cannot recommend Jimmy John's with any kind of enthusiasm. My vegetarian sandwich was pretty lame...Jori and I used to make some ROCKIN' veggie sandwiches in college, and our version would have put Jimmy to shame! But I digress...now I'll get to the real point:

There was a poster on the wall next to our table that had this list from Dave Barry, titled something like, "16 Things That It Took Me 50 Years To Learn" (there are discrepencies in the title on the internet, and as some of you know, I have a TERRIBLE memory, so I couldn't tell you what the title on the poster was). Dave Barry is a funny guy, and this list is DEFINITELY worth sharing. Although, I have to say that I whole-heartedly disagree with #11...those of you who know me well won't be surprised!

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”

3. There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.”

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.).

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

16. Thought for the day: Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it’s up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Danger, Will Robinson!

I love Twinkies! Their yummy, moist yellow cake and creamy filling is a tasty treat! I don't eat them that often...primarily just when I'm on road trips. But I just went to the little Sidewalk Cafe that is next-door to the building I work in on campus, and they are now selling Twinkies! This cannot be good for stressful/cranky/long/boring days when I need a little comfort food to get me through. Next thing you know, they're going to start selling Luv-It Frozen Custard (Lemon, of course!).