A good movie...in many ways!

On Friday night my sister and I went to see 27 Dresses. It was really good-i recommend it to anyone looking for a great chic flic. And an added bonus was to be able to see so many great....WALL COLORS! I chose this photo because I love the color of the walls here. I also liked the blue color of the walls at the newpaper writer's office. So if you go to see it-let me know what you think :-) I want to go bold with wall colors-not necessarily bold I guess-because all of the shades I like are in the muted family-but no one will be able to say "are your walls painted?" They will say "Wow-your walls are gorgeous!" :)

I used to think dark colors made a room feel small, but we have high ceilings-and this house is bigger and more open than the small apartments that awkwardly feel more like home-so maybe it will help it to feel more cozy. I am thinking about using a taupe color for the hallways.

And maybe a blue in the kitchen/family room--probably more of a mute slate blue than this photoAnd I love the way this brown bathroom looks-so maybe I could find a place to paint something like this.

All things political

One change I would like to make this year is to become more informed about all things political. However,-On this 27th day of the new year-I am realizing that I don't know how to reach that goal. I have missed every debate and news conference so far and the only first heard about the tax refunds hoping to stimulate the economy on saturday from my good friends Kirsten. So for all of you who feel they are up to date-please let me know how you do it. How do I hear about the debates before they are on TV? What is the secret source for all your political information? Should my resolution be to read the newspaper online every day? Should I subscribe to some sort of news headlines via e-mail (oh-that is a great idea! -does anyone have a good site they subscribe to?) Listen to talk radio? What am I missing?

I love sunsets! This one was from just a couple of days ago- I only wish my camera could capture it just as it was :-)

Rachel moved up into a new classroom yesterday, and she was a little nervous about having a new teacher and new friends, but it was nice to have a new outfit to wear to get her in a good mood today. Everything is easier when you are feeling cute :-) Thanks Grandma! :-) Rachel loves that it is pink but she especially loves that it is a skirt. She wakes me up every morning and says "Mom, can you help me find something beautiful to wear." When I suggest that she just find a pair of pants and a shirt she always says "Well...i just..don't really like pants." She is always trying to sneak a dress or a skirt on-to just about everywhere. She definitely didn't get this girliness from me--I think I can count on one hand the number of times that I wore a skirt to school in my K-12 days.

2 Very good questions--my reply

Missletoe made a good point...and I am not sure why-or which places I was going -but I still felt like I was pumping my own gas more often than having someone else do it. Now that I think about it I do remember avoiding them when I first moved there because I didn't know if I should be tipping them-or what hte deal was :-) I think I also noticed that some of the places that didn't have an attendant were a little cheaper-so I would scout those out. I will admit that in the middle of winter-no hands free pump can compare to being able to stay in your nice warm car -and only unrolling your window enough to drop your credit card-- and having a stinky gas guy do it for you. I wonder if someone would do that here in the middle of summer for me??

And for Kimmi --no we did not get a new car--when I finally convinced Rach to get out and take a picture of me standing next to the pump with my 'look no hands' excitement-I realized that I in fact was oh so unprepared and did not have the camera handy-and so I had to settle for the google image--so sorry to be misleading-i will try to work on being more prepared :-)

Cold...when i didn't have to be

50 degrees...feels like 44 degrees

I just got back from mutual where were were playing games OUTSIDE at a park. I had on a sweater and a jacket and my warm hat, however I couldn't find any gloves-and my hands were FREEZING!! I met a new friend and was trying to put her name and number in my phone--and my fingers were not working-they were so cold. Okay...I do live in Phoenix, and this temperature is the lowest it got-but just because it is not as cold as other places (Ahem-Boston)-does not mean that we should be outside after the sun has gone down for extended periods of time. Okay-It was nice that we had that option, and part of me loved having the chance to wear my jacket and my cute hat...but what I wanted to wear was my long winter coat, my scarf and my leather gloves--but had I showed up to the activity in that-I think think I would have been laughted right out of there. Some kids showed up in shorts-no joke!

On a more positive note...Look! No hands! Oh how I have missed being able to use the latch on the gas pump in order to not have to hold it the whole time. Here are a few things that I enjoy doing...just because I can:

• getting back into my nice warm car
• washing the windshield
• cleaning out all of the trash out of my car (to help my New Year's Resolution to keep it cleaner) :-)

Some new friends

• We had some new friends from our ward over for dinner yesterday. I wowed them with my amazing cooking skills by making Chicken Cordon Bleu-and serving some delicious bruschetta for an appetizer. Sam was just shocked that I actually cooked a meal...let alone something more than hot dogs! I was remembering when Sam and I went over to Cody and Mer's house for the first time and that is what they made for us-it is actually sooo easy-plus it looks pretty and is delicious! It was my first time making the bruschetta. I tried to remember what I had seen about making it from the cooking shows then checked online to get some ideas on how long to cook it-here is what I came up with :


• 1 Baguette


• Diced Tomatoes


• Salt and Pepper


• some dried basil


• mix with olive oil


• Broil for 1 minute (FYI-two minutes is WAY to long-if you leave it in for 2 minutes you will be scraping the charred edges off of your appetizer before your rguests arrive :-)


• Add tomato topping and broil for 2 additional minutes-just keep an eye on it

Here are some pictures of Kirsten and Josh-I stole them from their blog-(YEA! She has a blog!) I hope she doesn't mind. The reason I love these pictures is because her husband is posing in a way that would make people think-he actually likes her. Despite my recent attempts to have some cute pictures taken of Sam and I --"Someone" refuses to put his arm around me or anything because he just wants to get it over with-and we are left with two people standing next to each other looking at the camera-Hopefully some of Josh's willingness to take cute pictures with his wife will rub off on Sam ;-)
A few things about Kirsten and Josh:

Kirsten is going to school for interrior design

1. She loves to read


2. She is a speed-reader


3. Josh is a Pilot

• Don't get him started on Dentists who buy their own plans and try to learn how to fly them!


• They already love Brian Regan


• They are new to Arizona...and wondering if there are any cool places to visit in Phoenix

Thanks for coming over guys-we had a lot of fun-and hopefully we will be able to show you around some cool places in Phoenix :-)

Sam's little sister got married

On Thursday night Sam's sister got married and here are the few pictures. Her dress was gorgeous and all the girls loved following her around and helping her hold it up--whether she had asked for their help or not. :-) Rachel spent the whole night playing with these fun little girls-they spent hours twirling in their dresses. Rachel was a little grumpy at one point and that was when she didn't catch the bouquet. The bride and groom thought they would avoid getting their car decorated by getting a limo-but the groom's brothers stepped up-had the limo driver hide-and had this truck in it's place-Congratulations guys-we wish you the best ! :-)

Cross My Heart

This new book that I am reading-is soooo good! I started reading last night when Rachel went to bed, and I read 175 pages in 3 hours. You know those books where there are tons of secrets-like two people love each other but neither one tells each other and years go by before they find out-only when they are both married to other people and it never works out-kind of like a soap opera. (That is exactly what Rosie Dunne was like if anyone else over read that one.) Well this book is not like that. There are lots of secrets which keeps it exciting-but they just keep getting revealed. If someone likes someone-it is only a matter of pages until they tell them. The narrator also lets you in on some of the secrets that the character doesn't know yet. I would think that the reason those other books keep everyone in the dark is so that they could keep you in suspense. But I still feel like I am hanging on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how they are going to get everything to work out. It has been very refreshing reading a book that is written this way-I am totally hooked and have already added it to my list of favorites--i just hope the ending isn't horrible!

*As for me locking myself out of things, it definitely started as my mom said when I locked my little brother in the car when he was about 2, I would have been about 8--the fire department was called to get it open...and I didn't confess that I was to blame until after I was in college. (and could no longer be grounded) :-) Then I definitely locked my keys in the car a lot in high school-but for the record-I am pretty sure Nicole did that more times than me. :-) Then I remember I was still locking my keys in the car in college-which I did one of the first times that I met Sam. And we can't forget when I locked Rachel in the house in Massachusetts while I stepped outside to grab the mail. She had just fallen asleep and was in her crib and so I wasn't worried-but it was early in the day and Sam wouldn't be home until evening. So I started to break in through the kithen window-which was the only one that was slightly open --but I was having a hard time, barefoot and climbing on the only thing I could find in the basement -which were some bars that go underneath a mattress on a bunk bed. So When I saw a cop car go by out front I figured I may regret it later if I didn't ask for a little help-like a boost or something because I still couldn't reach the window. His idea of help was a little different than mine-as he promptly called the fire department who showed up with sirens blaring and two other cops stopped by to check what was going on.

In case you are wondering I did get the Locksmith's card-I just hope there is some sort of Frequent buyer rewards program :-)