I went to Washington, DC

It was a really great trip.

The first day we went on a Segway tour of the city.


The second day we had Thanksgiving dinner.


The third day we went to the morning market and Georgetown then we saw August Rush.


The fourth day we went to Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial and all the other major sites.
The fifth day we went to the Smithsonian museums.
This an original poster for the feminist movement during war times.


The sixth day we went home.

Trip Highlight: One of the coolest things about Capitol Hill was this bookstore. Books were piled everywhere, even in the bathroom.

My tricky football singing pig brains sidewalk date

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...But there were some highlights I am sure you want to know about.

TRICKY
So Gina's roommate Michelle and her date Lucas doubled with me and Dave. (I couldn't remember his first name the entire date...) Lucas drove. He left the car on and left to walk up to Michelle's apartment. Well Dave had the brilliant idea to move the car so Lucas would be "so confused." So he moved it to the underground parking lot. It took a few minutes, and Lucas' face was not happy.

We went to Color me Mine, basically my favorite place in Utah that doesn't have food. They have ceramic plates, cups, bowl, figurines, toothbrush holders - anything you can think of, they probably have. Well you take this ceramic item and you paint it. Then a few days later you pick it up after they have fired the paint so it is pretty.
Lucas insisted that he and Michelle get the same large dinner plates together. Michelle asked "well what are we going to do with them?" and he said "I was thinking we could make dinner together and use these plates." This was all in Portuguese by the way, they kept speaking to each other in that language to flirt. They are so cute!

FOOTBALL
I picked a cup and taped a geometric design then painted the shapes between the tape using bright colors. Dave picked a football. the football is cut in half to serve as a container. Well on the inside, he painted his 3rd favorite football team's colors and letter on one side, his 2nd favorite football team's colors and letter on the other side, and a blue "Y" on the outside. It turned out pretty cool, considering.

SINGING
He sang a couple of the songs that were playing, and we are not talking about quiet, sing-along singing. We are talking about loud, performance singing, adding his own dynamics and notes singing.
And after Lucas, Michelle and I were done, he was being OCD about every little spot (I told him the glaze would melt over and even it out) but we waited 20 minutes regardless. And I was in love with the employee there. He complimented my cup and had the coolest shoes.
After all the spots were accounted for on Dave's football, we decided to go to Mimi's for Hot Cocoa. After we were seated and they gave us the bread, I took the whole un-cut loaf and cut a slice off in a reckless and crazy way. It took a while because the crust was hard and crispy and crumbs flew everywhere. Dave was behind his menu and did not see, which made it more satisfying - just the cute couple and me, laughing...at me.
I leaned over to Dave and said "I haven't eaten dinner, so I am going to get some soup. I can pay for myself." The answer I wanted was not what I got. I wanted him to insist that he pay, act like what I just said was outlandish. But he was fine with it. So I spent $9 on soup and hot chocolate. Idiot.

PIG BRAINS
So he ordered Pecan Pie, told us about a lady in his mission that served pig brains to him without telling him, and made everyone try the pecan pie, which did not look appetizing nor did anyone want more sugar after their hot cocoa.

SIDEWALK
Then we drove home, me first. He walked from the car to the sidewalk and stopped 20 feet away from my house as I approached my door. I was kind of confused, but I walked back to him and said thanks and he gave me a short hug. Hey, I would prefer a sidewalk scene, thank you dave bass.

The cutest thing happened after our date. Michelle called me and we talked - she is totally in love with Lucas. Then Lucas came over to talk - he is totally in love with Michelle. And they are both talking to me so I see both sides and it is going to be a great relationship, I can tell.
How come everyone is hooking up? How can I hook up? Where do I find the hookers? (The guys that will hook up with you)

I am going on a date with a Bass

I didn't want to tell you because I knew this would happen. I like a guy in my ward...well...LIKED I guess. His name is Isaac. and he is 6'5" and works at the MTC. and he is EQP. He is in my dinner group and last Sunday he let me wear his jacket while he sat next to me during sacrament meeting. So I thought things were beginning to bud between us...maybe even just friendship I don't know. but none of that can happen anymore because he recently got back together with his ex-girlfriend. So there you go.

A couple weeks ago, his roommate approached me and asked if I would set him up with my sister's best friend Michelle. So I said, why don't we double and you set me up. So I described his roommate Isaac without using his name when he asked what kind of guy I wanted him to set me up with. And he said he knew who he would set me up with and it turned out to NOT be Isaac. His name is Dave Bass and he looks like a woman with short hair. But that is not his fault. He is also crazy. And that is his fault. So I am going on a double date with a guy in my ward, my sister's friend, and Dave Bass. Wish me Luck!

PARK CITY!

Park City was a blast of all explosions. I loved where we stayed and we spent most of our time just hanging out and bein silly.

There was a pool right outside our sliding glass door (and everybody else's staying in that hotel) It was outdoor and heated. So refreshing.

We came out of the water to test the steam evaporation. We are steaming hot.

Their real hot tub was empty and we refused to let that get in the way. When no one was in the hot tub, the water was only 5 inches high. When we all got in, it almost overflowed. So you can imagine how much space we were filling in that tub! haha

being silly again...with gummy eyeballs

We went to the outlet mall and a cute bakery, then we hit up Main St. I really enjoyed Park City!

When we arrived in our Condo and discovered the fridge to be empty, we went to the grocery store. I wanted cheese puffs, but no one else did. So we had to fight about it to get what I wanted.


She is kind of hiding it, but Alyson is holding a Diet Dr Pepper in her left arm. When my Aunt Renae saw that we had it, she was kind of appalled. Which made it so much more fun to drink. We stayed up pretty late and found some shot glasses in the cupboard. Boy what a burning sensation--drinking a shot of that in one gulp.

SORRY I don't have it

The pictures from Park City. Please don't kill me. I will have it soon!

I am sick. coming down with something. I looked down my throat this morning and there were spots of blisters all over the back of my throat. My dentist wrote me a prescription for antibiotics for a mouth sore I had 3 weeks ago and I was like "I am not taking antibiotics for that lil thing!" So if this gets really bad and doesn't leave me alone come Washington DC time, I have no choice but to take antibiotics.

This weekend was good because my family is in town for Alyson's farewell. She is going on a mission. I will really miss her. It is going to be hard to have one less real friend in my life. I only have a handful of those. I will dedicate an entire post to her after she leaves, because I don't miss people and things until they are gone. and it hits me like a brick wall that they are gone.

This week is going to be the hardest week of this semester and then finals will come and that will beat me even harder. So I guess I am taking this week to prepare for a hard beating. Why will it be a hard week hallie? you may ask. well I have 2 research papers (a total of 20 pages) and 2 tests. And all this ward stuff. parties, FHE, sleepovers, and a temple trip to Manti. I am really excited, but why during the hardest week of the semester? WHY?

It's okay. It's alright. I am sure I will still pass my classes and that is all that matters. Oh and if I learn something too. Because I am not paying for the degree, I am paying to learn. mmhm.

I got back from Park City yesterday

movies, pictures, and a brief recount coming soon...

milk face stinky cheese smelly sausage katherine

This morning, Katherine asked me: "is it weird if I have a quesadilla for breakfast?" I was just waking up when she asked me that, so I imagined a flour tortilla with cinnamon sugar and reassured her that it would not be weird. Well she made a cheese quesadilla with a corn tortilla. so I called her stinky cheese katherine. Then I was being kind of crazy and laughing at everything...I am almost too much of a morning person...anyway so I put my face like 4 inches away from hers and started spooning cereal and milk into my mouth as fast as I could and she either didn't notice or didn't care and didn't look at me so in trying to stifle a laugh I sprayed out any milk that was in my mouth. The mist was so awesome looking and I had never done something like that so I ran to the other end of the room and fell to the floor in laughter. Well Katherine had milk all over her face. So then I called her "milkface-stinky cheese katherine" whoops. then a few minutes later I cooked sausage and she said "thanks, now I smell like sausage" So I called her "milk face-stinky cheese-smelly sausage katherine" It was a fun morning. haha I am laughing out loud right now.

Halloween

I was a witch at work


and Bellatrix Lestrange at night


I have to get a closeup of my tattoo on here...that was my favorite part! and I measured my wand and it is exactly the length of bellatrix's! So I really was Bellatrix!

My Weekend

was pretty good. I died my hair pitch black on Thursday. On Friday I went to the funnest Halloween party ever. It was just too cute. Scary movie in the basement, fire pit outside, pumpkin carving in the living room, cookie decorating in the dining room, caramel fondue and festively named food in the kitchen. (7-layer bean dip="6 feet under dip," "frog eye salad," "vampire blood salsa") hehe it was fantastic.
Then my roommate came home with her date who I have a fragment of a crush on and I talked to them about how much fun they had together.
Saturday I cut my bangs too short. So embarrassing. Then I watched Holley cut Katherine's Hair and it looks good and Holley fixed my bangs so they look semi-presentable.
Later that evening Kath, Veda, and I got a 10 lb pumpkin and carved 3 different faces on it. Mine was happy, Veda's was angry, and Katherine's was sad. We rotate it each night.
After pumpkins a bunch of us went to Humor-U Comedy--a stand-up comedy show. The majority of it was pretty hilarious!
Last night we had a scone party which was better than the last one because we didn't have to slave in the kitchen to feed the millions of people in our house. It was more low key and I was able to talk to my friends.

sooo that's that.

BOO HOO HOO TED

Last night I was celebrating my sister's birthday party at her apartment. I parked my scooter where I usually do...right next to the unpainted curb on the street, far enough away from parked cars or illegal signs.
Well I had leave to give my brother something and guess what was on my back tire? a BOOT. No, not a witch's boot or Santa's black boot. A sickly orange metal constricting BOOT.


It was two minutes before I came out that he put it on there. So if my brother had called me 3 minutes earlier I wouldn't have gotten it! I called the idiot dispatcher and waited 45 minutes for someone to come get this boot off--for a $50 fee.
While I was waiting, I decided that I would lie. I decided that the person who parked their car in the closest spot had moved my scooter from their spot because there were not other available spaces. I decided a lie is worth $50--that I would lie to win $50, why not lie to get out of paying $50? I started crying then. And I knew I couldn't lie. That I would be blessed for paying the $50 and not lying.


The boot man came and stayed in his truck while he got my information. I was barely able to tell him my phone number because i was crying. He finally took the BOOT off and waited to let me leave first. but my scooter wouldn't start. so i rolled the scooter down to the parking garage because i didn't want to be anywhere near the boot man and I wanted to park it correctly before he put another boot on it. but it still wouldn't start. The tow man left and I was pretty frustrated. A few minutes of pointless effort in kick starting the scooter, the boot man came back. he asked if I needed help and I said "It won't start." He told me that he had a dirt bike and would try to start it. Sure enough he forcefully kick started it and it worked. I was doing the kick start wrong the whole time!


I am just glad he came back. Yes I was embarrassed and I never wanted to see him again, but he was nice enough to think about me and help me. Don't you hate it when police officers and other enforcers are nice? yeah me too.

Offense, Drama, DTR, and the likes

I wish I could say what I feel and not have the other person be offended. I am talking about any kind of relationship--dating, sibling, friends, etc. And it isn't limited to whether they take offense, it is also the fact that I do not express my feelings and in the end I feel far away. Sometimes I let silly things bother me so I just let them stew over time and they go away eventually but I would feel lot better if I had spoken to someone about it. In my experiences of telling the person who has hurt me, I feel worse after telling them because I alone would rather feel those negative emotions and just forget about it. I look at the relationships I have right now, and they are so awesome and fun! I really love my friends and family. But every now and then things are hard and I just try and truck on through it without really expressing any concern about it. It is important to me that the other person is happy and feels the least pain as possible--no DTR, no drama. But if there is only happiness can we truly call it happiness? If there wasn't an opposite--a relationship with no pain and sorrow--then aren't we cutting short the greatest amount of joy we could feel? Man, I don't know where to even start to be better at this.

Gay Dumbledore

Oh man. Thank you so much, JK. and I don't mean "just kidding," I mean the author, JK Rowling. OK yeah I am kidding too. This kind of ruins Harry Potter for me.
But hey, thank goodness she announced this AFTER I read the series...
actually wait - I have to read these books to my children as an elementary school teacher! I am going to LOVE that. no, no I am not.
No offense Dumbledore, but just think - you and Minerva McGonagall could have had the most awesome secret relationship!

read more on this here

Overcoming the Peeves of the Pet

Alright, so I caught myself red handed. It just looked so good! And now I am convinced that it isn't as bad as I thought it was.

Oh, I am talking about Pet Peeve #1 and #2.
The word "sweet" and ":)"

Here is where I used a smiley face:
:) (mmm feels so good)

Here is where I used "sweet" in my formally hated context:

3:10 PM me: hey sorry

how are you?

Alyson: oh good now

i was so worried when you disappeared

i thought deer creek dam had broken and taken out your office buiding

3:11 PM me: hahah

yeah that is the only thing that could take me away

Alyson: hahahaha........ha.................

that would be so sad

but I'd have a lakefront house

so would your parents

YES

3:12 PM me: sweet

hot dang

Alyson: speaking of natural disasters, i need to find out what natural disasters virginia is susceptible to

me: haha

yeah

you do that

3:13 PM Alyson: oh don't worry i will

and when i do i'll pass the info along so you know too

3:14 PM me: haha

k

3:15 PM Alyson: one is flooding

me: uh oh

3:16 PM those sea side states!

3:17 PM Alyson: i know

California; Corona Del Mar

I went with 3 elementary school teachers, so because they are so blasted busy they won't give me pictures from the trip so I guess you will just have to picture everything in your brain instead of having me make it easy for you.

Alright, I am no longer angry! Let's talk about my TRIP!

A week ago today at this very hour I was in the beautiful state of California. We stayed in a house just 3 blocks off the beach. Here is a picture of the beach.

It was at this very beach in the cave at the very bottom of this picture where I found a HUMONGOUS crab! and at the very end of the beach at the top left hand corner I found ANOTHER CRAB! I just started digging in the sand because I saw a lil divet. I hit something hard so I dug around the hard surface, expecting a clam. but it MOVED. And it stood up and started walking sideways with it's lil snapper trying to duel me. hehe I really loved that crab I have a picture of me and him but THE OWNER OF THAT PICTURE IS ANNOYING. so maybe I will get it and when I do I will put it up here.

I started digging a large hole right at the edge of where the tide ended and put my feet in it and waves crashed on me as I stood there in that large hole and soon I was buried in the sand. it felt so good against my feet. and my sister almost pushed me over which would have broken my legs in half.

That night the father of the girl I went with took us out to the CRAB COOKER.

The Crab Cooker is MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT. There is CRAB there to eat. so good. and her daddy paid for all of us! I had the KING CRAB KILLER CLAWS!!! so rich and succulent.

Then we drove around for an hour because we got lost. and that is okay!
Then we found what we were looking for: fashion island. This place is posh. We went to juicy couture where a t-shirt was $150. I didn't buy it though. and anthropology was so beautiful.

DISNEYLAND

We arrived at the park at the time it opened: 8 am and left at the time it closed: midnight. 16 hours PACKED with so much fun. My favorite ride was SPACE MOUNTAIN!! I laughed hysterically the entire ride! It is inside and really dark with stars and planets all around you! You have no idea where you are going and I love that feeling!

We also went to California Adventure where my 2nd and 3rd and 4th favorite rides are:
2. Soarin over California - you are sitting in mid air in the middle of a half a globe screen so it feels like you are flying. they show great sites of California and they spray scents to go along with it. like flying over the citrus trees smells sooo good like oranges.
3. California Screamin: a wicked crazy fast outside rollercoaster
4. Tower of Terror: just like it sounds

I also took the Disney character test--which compares you to every character disney has ever had--and I am DOT from "A Bug's Life" hehe cute huh? I am so cute. jk



We placed a reservation for the Pirates of the Caribbean Restaurant "Blue Bayou" a couple months ago, so we got to eat there. SOOO romantic...if only I had a man there. and 40 dolla dolla a plate too! yeah I had crab again. You can never have too much crab!

I really love Disneyland. I didn't want to leave.

On our way out, it was raining and the sidewalks were slick, so I started trying to slide on them. My soles were too rugged so every time I would try to slide I would trip and in my naturally ungraceful way would stumble back to a proper stance. Well unbeknown to me, a couple was watching me and remarked "She's DRUNK!"
With all the strength I had left I replied "I'M SOBER!!!"

And that was Disneyland.

Welcome to the World, Ryan

He's my 4th nephew.

DISNEYLAND

Gina and me and two of her friends went to California last week.

We got there Thursday at 1:00 and went to the BEACH. I saw a divet in the snow, so I started digging and thought i hit a seashell. So I dug some more and it MOVED! It was a CRAB! So beautiful.

HAPPY 50th!!

Congratulations, this is your 50th post.

What should I be for Halloween?

Bellatrix Lestrange










Tracy Turnblad from Hairsray












A disney villain with my roommates












Or a Golden Girl with my roommates

Welcome to the World, Lexi

I have a new niece. And her name is Lexi.