Christmas Eve Table 2009

So last night Tigan and I went to Keys on Main in downtown SLC with our friends Clay and Jen who were down from Logan for the day. When I was looking for something to do I earlier in the day I saw that there was this guitarist with a weird name playing at keys on main so I thought it would be fun to go see. Turns out the guitarists name was Orianthi and she's kind of a big deal, she was hand picked by the late Michael Jackson to be the guitarist for his new tour, is from Adelaide Australia, and has a song on the radio right now entitled According To You. I captured some video from the concert and it was pretty freaking amazing what this 5 ft nothin girl could do with a PRS (that's a brand of guitar) and she can even sing pretty well... Enjoy the bootleg videos!

Our down stairs neighbors are probably going to kill us for this but as many of you might not know I made the Kiss Me Kate ensemble at RMT. (I know I said I didn't but I think someone dropped out so they asked me to fill in) I am really excited to be in the cast however when I auditioned someone forgot to mention that this is a pretty major dance show! DANCE!!!! AHHH!!!




I know right!

And who better to help me step up my dancing talent than my very talented husband so... we pushed all the furniture out of the living room.


And danced until we could dance no more!

So long ZERO dancing ability and HELLO...

* Also there should have been a stylist on set to tell me never to wear a turtle neck and that I should never turn my face to the left and look down because it makes me have a double chin!

Need I Say More!

This past weekend we had the opportunity to watch the Salt Lake City Children's Choir sing at The Cathedral of The Madeline. The concert was free to the public although I'm not sure very many people knew about it since it didn't seem extremely well attended. Anyhow we really enjoyed ourselves and if we are still here next Christmas we'll defiantly make it a tradition.



We also finally got some of our Christmas decorations up and I actually got to use some of the decorations I have been collecting for the past couple of years. (sorry the pictures are kind of crummy)




Also if you noticed I have a different Nativity. I sold my other Willow Tree Nativity on KSL and used the money to buy the bigger version that came out last year. I liked it not just because of the size but also because Mary and Joseph were a lot more colorful and seemed just a bit happier. This version doesn't have nearly as many pieces but I'm hoping the artist will add more as the years go by.



Oh and I bought the stocking hangers at Target but I haven't quite yet decided what to put in them. Any thoughts?

xoxo,

On occasion Toulouse tends to get a little constipated. Which generally wouldn't be much of a problem besides the obvious discomfort for Toulouse. However his run of the mill constipation commonly in tales ear splinting shrieks and while we do feel just awful for him think of how it makes ME look.

I go out to take him for a walk and every 2ft or so he screams so loud that the neighbors come out of their houses to see whats the matter. When I tell them he's just constipated they stand there looking at me in disbelief until mid-conversation Toulouse lets out another terrible screech completely untouched.

I know it seems a little bit insensitive to post the video but I promise he's just fine now. Plus when is the last time you can actually say you saw a dog SCREAM. This was this morning after his walk. He decided he was still a bit constipated and put HIMSELF in the bathtub for a little private time.



* I tell him to get back in because.... well, he made a mess and I didn't want him to get it o the floor. I know I'm such mean pet owner!

I'll right I'll admit it I bought my New Moon tickets about a month ago. I'm really not that crazy I just wanted to be able to see the movie in a timely manner and since every other Twilight fan has been logging on and Fandangoing away all the good seats I had to step in and take matters into my own hands. I have read the books but in a non crazy Edward you can bite me and take my soul kind of way. Personally I think that Stephanie Meyers isn't a very good writer her excessive use of adjectives like rock hard and granite in reference to Edwards chest tends to be a bit annoying but as stories goes I think she tells a good one. And as movies go New Moon was pretty entertaining as well! I'm not going to go into details about the special effects or the differences between the book and the movie because frankly I really don't care that much. But the one thing I really did have a problem with was the supposed most beautiful man/vampire in world Robert Patterson's complete lack of muscle tone! If you don't believe me I will now show you visual proof.

For most of the movie your eye candy needs are suppress by this thoroughly lovely bronzed beauty
And then out of nowhere in all of it's high def glory this supposed 100 some odd year old mystical "granite chested" vampire god steps into frame with his nasty sallow sparkling grandpa skin and fake air brushed abs... Are you kidding me? How much are they paying this guy? When this image appeared on screen I wanted to scream out while writhing in pain form what my eyes had just beheld. BRING BACK THE WEREWOLF! ( I refrained) I'm sorry girls but your vampire hottie is a vampire nottie!

Blake and I are traditional Black Friday participants. In years past we have even gone just for the fun of it. Ya I know CRAZY!!! But that's how much I love getting a good deal. I attribute my extreme deal hunting skills to my grandma.

When I was younger my Grandma would take me out every year shopping for my birthday. I was given the allotted $50 and told I could get whatever I wanted as long as it fit into my $50 dollar budget. I always got the same thing... CLOTHES. While the merchandise of choice never changed the amount of clothing I came home with did.

The first year I bought the most beautiful pink skort and plaid blouse and as my wanting eyes waited for my grandmother to hand over my nifty birthday fifty she warned that while the outfit was trendy and cute it was only 1 outfit and would cost my whole birthday allowance. I then distinctly remember telling my grandma that I didn't care how much it cost because it was the most perfect outfit in the whole world and despite its singular oneness I would wear it until the day I died and therefore it was worth every penny. SHE LET ME BUY IT and I wore it until skorts went out of style which since most of you probably have no clue what the heck I am talking about wasn't very long.

In the years that followed I discovered that while trendy was fun it didn't last very long and it sure cost a whole lotta money and that if you bought items on sale you could not only get more for your money but the adventure of finding the best bang for your buck was so much more fulfilling.

Now when I go shopping I make a metal list of all the things that I like or want and assign them a vale of worth ranging form 1-5. If I really like the item then I put it in my cart and wheel it around the store as I browse putting it through my next mental list of requirements.

- How long has it been on the floor?
- How much is it really worth?
- Is it on sale?
- How many are left?
- Can I make it myself for less?

Before I reach the check out stand I make my final decision. If I really like it but it doesn't pass the test I leave it for another day and check back often until it goes on sale. I rarely ever buy anything full price unless the item is so very unique that I feel I may never be able to find another like it and my life might possibly be altered without purchasing that exact item (I'm just kidding LOL).

Anyways, WOW that was a really long story to get to my point of how I JUST PLAIN LOVE A GOOD SALE! And well, this Black Friday was no exception... so for your viewing pleasure a few Black Friday videos.






xoxo,

We spent our thanksgiving with family, full bellies and yummy desserts. I'd like to say we took a lot of heart warming holiday pictures but sadly we forgot. Which is a shame because Blake and I made some seriously masterful desserts. The only picture we acctually got was of me holding a vegetable tray.

LOL

Oh and a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Designer Tip #3: If the previous 50 years of tenants painted over the original decorative door knobs and face plates. By all means buy some paint stripper and give your antique beauty a little class. You might just discover some real treasures.


Ours turned out to be brass and after a little polish they sparkled like new! So if you happen to be in SLC any time soon stop by we'd love a visit.

P.S. We re-painted the kitchen. It's now a lovely shade of sweet pear!

Well, the results are in and... I didn't make the cut. You won't be seeing my name in lights for the upcoming RMT's Kiss Me Kate just yet. But don't you worry I'll be back for another try very very
soon! And so to help bright your day here's a little Broadway love from me to you!





xoxo,

Original


Blake & Tigan * Picture Credit: Chelsi Mae Photography

I know I promised How-To instructions but boy this was a lot more complicated than I originally thought. So I will just give you a little insight and point you in the right direction. At first I thought I could just use some existing clothes and then just dye and paint them for the desired effect.


So I got some Rit Navy Blue Dye.


And Dyed me some blue clothes.


For Blake's costume I thought I could just paint the stripes on like we did last year for our Wheres Waldo costumes. But alas imperfect stripes spoke to the perfectionist in me and.... So I scratched the whole idea except for one navy blue dyed shirt and bought some fabric. I cut up the clothes that I had originally bought from savers and used them as my patterns. So with several lengths of red ribbon and a couple days we had ourselves a...

By the way if you haven't noticed I'm a terrible speller. I'm also terrible with capitalization, punctuation basically all the grammatical forms of the English language. I wish I could say I was better in something cool like french or Spanish but... I'm not. I attribute all of these wonderful faults to a little thing I like to call Dyslexia. Now STOP I've had it since... well forever so no pity please. Maybe when I was younger but I've grown to except my little phonetic quarks. I've also grown to embrace them.

I've always loved to write but what floats around in my head never seems to come out just right on paper. Well without spellcheck that is. So when I thought about starting a blog I paused for just a moment to consider the impact my grammatical errors might have on the world. I mean I can think of numerous occasions when I have mis-spelled or mis-used a seemingly innocent series of sentences and had it turn out a little x rated, made me look a complete fool or been simply illegible.

I guess potentially it could mean I'm stupid but I like to think of it more as my own personal artistic adaptation. I write like I talk dot dot dots and all. I think it tends to make things just a little bit more spicy or exciting whichever you prefer. I really do try my best to add in capital letters at the start of sentences and i before e except after c's but more often then not I just throw what you do see in for good measure A capital here a few commas there what ever suits my fancy. However most of the time I really just can't see the mistakes at all. So you get whatever spellcheck and my series of 5 proof reads don't detect. I know English teachers everywhere are staring at their computer screens simply appalled but you get to a point in your life when you either cower behind your flaws hoping no one will notice or you tell the whole world that on occasion you even misspell the word cat and learn to embrace it.

I think things are harder the second time around especially if a significant amount of time has transpired since the last time that thing was done. A couple of months ago I got this wild hair and decided it would be fun to start trying out for musicals again. It's like riding a bike right?... WRONG!

Last night for FHE Blake and I thought it would be fun to do some service for of our elderly neighbors.

Enough Said!

My family hasn't had a recent family picture in who knows how long. And since I have been married for oh four years and Carter will be leaving at the end of this semester my Mom thought it was high time we took a new family photo.

So I picked out all of the outfits which was defiantly my favorite part. Carter and I search out great photo-op locations, Blake and I set up the shots and posses, we borrowed someones nice camera and between my Dad's muscle pulling antics and bunny ears we managed to get some pretty darn cute shots... well with a little help from photoshop!

xoxo,

Halloween Costume 09'




Stay Tuned for costume how-to updates!

xoxo,

I found this dress for our recent family wedding. Unfortunately it didn't come with any sleeves. (story of my life). This meant I would have to find some type of jacket or cardigan to go with it. One of my favorite places to find unique online treasures is ETSY. That's were I found this...


But it cost a pretty penny. So what is a girl to do?
Well after much thought I concluded that I can sew and my Grandma can sew and between the two of us we're bound to come up with something wearable. And as you can see...

THAT'S JUST WHAT WE DID!




Thanks Grandma D and I don't know any Romana Hall's who can sew a bolero quite like this one!

xoxo,