I wish I were a commercial girl

While watching Revenge last week a Fruit of the Loom commercial starting Emmy Rossum came on (you know the girl who played Christine in the Phantom of the Opera movie?) and I couldn't help wishing I was her. See?

She just looks so pretty, and happy, and I need cotton! Yes, they pulled me in. If wearing cotton would make my hair like hers I will wear cotton every single day of my life.

And, another commercial person I wish I were:

(great dance moves, airport security was never so much fun)

Though if I had to choose a commercial personality, it's really a toss up between a Neutrogena girl and a Pantene Pro-V girl. Great skin or great hair? 

Wishful Thinking

I'm feeling frustrated with my life today, mostly my career, and feeling like I'm stuck in some kind of strange mid 20's adolescence. I have no idea what I want to realistically do.

BUT, unrealistically I'd love to live in Europe and visit cute shops and cafes and museums to my heart's content.

oh happy day

Dear Life...

In Her Shoes Blog via google images

 I thought about searching for lots more but decided I should stop and stop procrastinating and work. I'll just dream about Europe this summer, and work of course.

Registry

It's Spring and that means a large handful of my Facebook friends and Facebook acquaintances are getting themselves engaged. This became really irritating the other night while I was in Sur La Table looking for a spinning cake stand and again while I browsed Bed, Bath and Beyond for a new, nonstick, better pot. I found myself looking at the KitchenAid mixers and Food Processors and beautiful pot and pan sets and thought to myself, (in a whiny voice too), "If I was getting married, I could put this stuff on a registry and people might buy them for me! Poor me! I want them all and have to buy them myself!"

So, here we go, if I was getting married here are the top five things I'd put on my registry.

1. Food Processor, one that has the attachments for chopping carrots, lettuce, cheese etc.

2. KitchenAid mixer, preferably one with a lift, not the tilt. (But the pretty colors come in the tilt...)

3. Really awesome mixing bowls. Like these ones from Williams-Sonoma. They have rubber at the bottom so the bowl stays put. If I had these I could just use a great hand mixer instead of having a KitchenAid.

4. A great set of pots and pans. I'm not particularly picky here. I just don't want any that involve the nonstick coating coming off and getting in my food. That's the problem with the current pots at home...

5. In in a fit of impulse registering, I would register for an ice cream maker.* Because that would be really fun for summer. You'd all be invited too. Fresh ice cream is the best!

Other things that would be handy to register for if I was indeed registering for home goods:

• hand towels in my kitchen's colors
• spice rack
• matching cooking utensils, like spatulas, measuring spoons, whisks
• towels in colors to match the bathroom
• softer, better bedding
• a spinning cake stand
• a tent, you never know when you might want to go camping

Other practical things I should "register" for?

* During picture searching, I found that KitchenAid has an attachment for an ice cream maker! I should probably get the KitchenAid after all...

IF

If there is indeed a shutdown next week I have a couple things I'd like to do:

1. Cook a good and delicious meal that all my roommates can eat when they get off work. I'm thinking something that it somewhat difficult, but I'm having the entire house to myself so I'm looking forward to having the time to turn up some music, or listen to an audio book, or maybe even turn on a movie to watch while I cook. Cooking with people is more fun. But cooking by myself is therapeutic.

2. Hang the pictures up on my wall. Though this might be a little too difficult to do by myself.

3. Go shopping, because it's so much more fun to shop in the middle of a week day since there are less people. BUT since I will not spend money on anything but the essentials during the possible furlough, I will not do this one.

4. Take a nice run/walk along the Potomac. It's supposed to be 75+ on Monday and it would be so fun to get out and enjoy the day off.

5. Sleep.

If you had a possibility of an unknown amount of days off work what would you do?

Hawaii

My family is currently spending their time at a gorgeous hotel resort, sitting on the beach, eating delicious fresh Hawaiian banana bread, and taking day trips to Hana. And yesterday they were in Laie. I'm so jealous and I wish I was there too.

Instead, I will sit at my desk here at work and eat the banana cake I made last night. Not quite as good as the Maui bread, but good for now in the 40 degree weather. And at least the sun is out and I can see that from my desk window.

Princess

I should have been a princess.

When I was little and we lived in Germany, I remember walking around castles with my sisters pretending we were princesses. I think the game was instigated by my visiting grandmother to have fun with us and to help us behave ourselves. I remember trying to walk down stairs without moving my head, we'd practice our British accents, because obviously princesses (even German princesses) spoke with British accents.

When I got older (like 13) I was convinced that if I met Prince William he'd fall in love with me. Oh the delusions of a teenie popper.

Now I realize I should have been a princess for the bling. Check out the ring on Kate Middleton's finger!

Yeah, that should have been mine.

Picture from People.com. And watch this video for more details, and more views of the ring its huge!

Lifetime to do (Post 7)

I was talking to a friend today about how he liked my lifetime to do posts. Which reminded me that I've been neglecting those and my blog. (Actually, that's pretty presumptuous of me to assume that any of you actually want to read these either. But here ya go!) As I sit here and think of something to write and procrastinate filling out a taxi voucher for my boss I realize that what I'd really rather be doing here is the next post on my list.

Number 7: Be an art museum tour guide. 

(Or just tour guide somewhere cool.)

 
(Painting from Belvedere Museum in Vienna but I got the picture from THIS blog. Found via google image search.)

At BYU I took the docent class at the Museum of Art. I wanted to be a tour guide. Actually, I took some career test in a class my freshman year at BYU and it had a few options of things for me to be. Only two really stand out right now. 1.) Counselor 2.) Tour guide. I crossed counselor off that list within the first month of taking psychology. It was terrible. I hated that class so much. But being a tour guide has always kind of stuck with me. Yeah you'd probably have to deal with stupid tourists and people who don't really care what they're looking at because they're only at the National Gallery to see "that one famous painting that their coworker told them they should see" blah blah blah, but you'd also get people who love history or art, who are so excited to finally see a painting by Monet or DaVinci or see the chair George Washington sat in. (you get me right?) Unfortunately these jobs are volunteer. Meaning I don't want to work 40 hours a week and then spend my Saturdays volunteering. But I can't exactly quit my job either to do it. 

I don't love my job right now. I don't hate it either. It's kind of like, eh, it's my job. People don't always love their jobs. But I'd rather have a job that I love. But being a tour guide would probably get that way after a while too right? 

Maybe I can just quit my job and start making books again and sell them on etsy. Or maybe I could figure out how to be an event planner who specializes in weddings. (Do I even have the organization skills for something that involved? I don't even know.)

This is now a jumbled post. 

And if you want to see funny pictures go to Google image search: tour guide. For some reason all the Asian ones are extra funny. See:

But, I might have to wait to be retired to do this one. Makes sense why they always seem to be old...

Dream Jobs

If you've ever talked to me (or an female member of my family for that matter) as summer comes around you will know that we LOVE weddings. Seriously love them. I may or may not read a few wedding blogs daily and I have decided a few dream jobs for me would involve the wedding world.

Dream Jobs:

1. Wedding planner
2. Wedding inspiration giver (that I just made up myself, but it sounds pretty nice)
3. Art museum tour guide (obviously not surrounding weddings, BUT, people do have their receptions at museums sometimes...)

Ok, there is a few because I want to get to the most exciting part about this little blog post. Last night as I was driving home from the airport having spent the last seven hours of my day traveling from Portland Oregon back to Washington DC (and it was waaaaay past my bedtime) but, I got a text wondering if I was still up, I gave my answer, which resulted in a phone call from Liz telling me she was engaged! You can read the story HERE on Mark's blog (and I think you should. It's totally worth it).

(Thanks Mark for letting me steal your picture. I just can't resist a fantastic picture of my lovely Liz looking so pretty!)

Anyway, what does Liz getting engaged really have to do with my dream jobs?? Well, nothing. Except, LIZ, give me a few details (ie, colors, venue, date, you know, the usual) so I can start scouring the wedding blogs and fantastic other things online and I can feel like a really awesome wedding planner!

PS- A long long time ago in November I once posted a video created by a guy in New York who had taken my dear Liz out on a few dates. I posted the video with the comment, "Created by Mark Weinberg (who I don't know, but might someday...)" well, now he's marrying Liz. So maybe I should add Wish-Maker-come-true-er to my dream jobs. (Though maybe it would have to be my wish coming true... Any takers?)

First Weekend of April,

and I'm totally sunburned.

We went to my friend Shannon's lake house and took the boat out. I'm red. Like a lobster. But as Julie said, I'll soon turn into a Hawaiian Tropic Model. Here's hoping it'll happen over night!

Dreams do come true!

Snow is fantastic for a lot of reasons.

1. It's pretty.
2. It prevents me from getting to work tomorrow.

That's right, I HAVE A SNOW DAY TOMORROW!

And today church was canceled so we walked down the road to have a small sacrament meeting.



I took pictures as we walked home of the crazy amount of snow.



Tired of hearing about the weather?
I finally found/uploaded a few pictures from my latest New York trip. I'll write about that sometime soon. (This week maybe?)

(P.S. All photos taken by me with my new camera.)

Snow Day?

Ok ok, so we didn't get a snow day yesterday. BUT, we could have a partial snow day tomorrow. There is a major storm brewing up for the Northeast. Check it out, even CNN says so.

And my boss and the rest of the bureau administration seem to be planning on it too. (As evidenced by some emails in my inbox.)

So please please pleeeeease can we have an early release and a long-er weekend?

Thank you CNN for letting me use the picture...

Bill and Phil

I have a date with these two tonight.



And possibly a later rendezvous with the latest East Coast Storm.

Snow.


Day.


Snow.

Day.

Snow.
Day.
Snow. Day.
SNOWDAY!!

Please? Pretty pretty please?



P.S. Did you know Phil saw his shadow today? Boo. I'm ready for Spring!

Some moments I'd like to relive

While Facebook stalking today I saw pictures posted of someone's sibling's recent return home from a mission. It made me realize I think I'd like to relive that moment too. So, here are some exciting moments in my life I would like to relive (and in no particular order).

1. Opening my mission call. It was excitement, fear and extreme emotion all wrapped into one. We waited about 30 minutes for my dad to finish up surgery and get home so that he could see me open it in person. I cried when I saw Poland Warsaw after saying incredulously, "Oh. my. gosh."
2. Getting home from my mission. My family had a banner, saying "Welcome Home Lauren!" spread out across the entrance into the Eugene Airport. Since I was the first one off the plane I ran through it like I was finishing a race. My mom hugged me so tight. And I'm pretty sure my dad cried.
   
3. The moment Ewa said she would be baptized. I could hardly believe that what I was hearing was true. I think I asked a couple times to make sure I wasn't getting my Polish mixed up. After she left the chapel my companion and I hugged and kind of jumped up and down. There was probably a bit a squealing in there.
4. Seeing the Pyramids for the first time*.I teared up. Everyone on the bus was screaming because they were RIGHT THERE. I have never wanted to see anything so bad my whole life. (Perhaps when I make it to Greece and the other places I posted in the previous post I'll have the same reaction.)
5. Finishing my very last paper in college. It was a mixture of sadness and extreme happiness as I walked out of the JFSB on BYU's campus knowing that I would never be an undergrad again and at the same time wishing I had a whole 'nother semester. (Maybe because I wanted to take Bookbinding yet again.)
6. Walking into the Celestial Room at the Portland Oregon Temple for the first time. Both sets of grandparents and my parents were in there waiting for me with big smiles. It was akin to coming home after being gone for a long time.
7. Holding our new puppy all the way home from her breeders. When we got Lizzie (our first dog, who passed away a few years ago), we picked her up on Christmas Eve because she was a surprise for my youngest sister Rachel. I got to hold Lizzie the whole way home. She was so cute and little. I remember asking my mom for a dog in Kindergarten. We didn't finally get one until 14 years later when I was already in college, but I was still really excited.
8. Standing at the top of Nevada Falls and realizing I did it. Last summer my mom, Rachel and I hiked Nevada Falls at Yosemite. I didn't want to do it but my mom talked us into going on that part of the hike instead of going half way up to just Vernal Falls. I wasn't totally physically up to the hike but I was glad I did it because it was really pretty.
9. Impromptu talent show at our grandparent's house in Orem. My uncle apparently had a bright pink cape (made by my grandma), a flamboyant suit, top hat and sunglasses that he wore to a church dance once and performed to Shining Star. He redid the dance for us and no one has ever seen it since. (Not even his kids who weren't there.) The grandkids sang, danced and played musical instruments too, but Uncle Craig's Shining Star dance surpassed everything and has now just become a legend.
10. Passing around treats in the car. I love treats. I think most people that know me know that. My family loves treats. We share them. And by sharing them that means we will buy anywhere from one to ten treats and pass them around the car, each person taking a bite and passing. Maybe you're a germ-a-phobe and this grosses you out. Well, we're obviously not, and we want to try all the treats. It's perfect.
    

In an effort to keep this post from being 20 pages long, I'm going to keep it at ten...for now. These are a few moments that I thought of this morning while I kept myself busy at work.

*Thanks to Peter I actually have some documentation of that. Not the crying, but the excitement. Go HERE. (I hope you can see it!)

Lifetime to do (Post 4)

Now, I stared this thing--Lifetime to do list--ages ago yet I've been very slow adding to it. So, here we go, two days in a row.

Yesterday as I read my friend Kristen's blog I had sudden jealousy for her life. She is getting her Master's in Art History from a university in Edinburgh, Scotland. That is a cool city. I would love to live in that city. (Oooh. Maybe I should have put up a picture of that one...) Anyway, she and her husband went on a trip to Paris and it looked so fun. So...

Number 4: Travel the world with my husband

(though really I suppose this should be Get Married)

(Chichen Itza--Mexico; Hagia Sophia--Turkey)

(Machu Picchu--Peru; Yosemite--California)

(Great Buddha Statue--Bodhgaya, India; Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood--St. Petersberg, Russia)

(Taj Mahal--Agra, India; Stary Rynek--Krakow, Poland)

(Trevi Fountain--Rome, Italy; Parthenon--Athens, Greece)

These pictures are of some places that I would like to go, or love and would like to go with a significant other. Some pictures just represent a whole. Like Poland for instance, I would like to go to Krakow again, but I really would just like to go to Poland. Or Yosemite too. It kind of just represents my desire to continue seeing new places and traveling around the United States. But I've only been to three of the places pictured, so I have lots more to see.

I want to live in New York

Created by Mark Weinberg
(who I don't know, but might someday...)