Our next defeat is scheduled for next Friday, 8 o'clock. *

Last night, Chris and I went to the VCU game.  I love that my work buys tickets for that because basically, I love basketball!  Baseball is cool, but it's long and boring and I don't pay attention the whole time (and they are the Richmond SQUIRRELS...gag me).  Basketball is something I can pay attention to - plus, there's the pep band.  I didn't take any pictures this year, I think I got about three last year (and by last year I mean February of this year).  The stripper boy from the Pep band was there, but his clothes stayed on - no patriotic boxers this year...darn.  Also - we didn't park in the Kroger parking lot like I did last time, which is good because they were actually towing cars this year.

It was a really good game - there were a lot of good plays but there was also a lot of sloppy playing going on by both teams.  Through it all I kept thinking, "basketball season is coming!" And then I got really nervous and realized that basketball season is coming!  It's been so long since I've played! I'm excited and nervous that maybe I lost all of my skill (assuming I had any to begin with). 

Anyway - The Rams won.  We were sitting next to a couple which I could just tell are season ticket holders because the woman knew all of the things the student crowd would yell (and she was quite older than them) - I've decided also that she was once a cheerleader.  It made it fun.  Chris and I kept trying to figure out what they said after a foul shot was made.  It was something like, "whoosh, VCU - garble garble garble" *Foot stomp*.  By the end we decided that they weren't saying words, only grunting, and that we should feel stupid for trying to figure it out throughout the whole game. 

I wanted to get a picture with Rodney the Ram but I never really thought you could, but Chris said he could get me one.  Then later, Rodney was in the stands taking pictures with people, once he was done with one someone else would call him over.  Chris kept looking at me like, "call out to him!" but I couldn't do it.  I get so nervous around mascots (I don't know if that is true, I'm making a generalization about myself here).  I can only think my nervousness stemmed from the debacle I had with mountain goats in Utah when I was 18.  Traumatized. Which actually reminds me of a poster a guy at work made and sent me once - I wish they had had things like this when I was younger, it would have helped a lot...

Needless to say - I did not get my picture with Rodney the Ram. Sad Day.

The game was really fun though.  It made me kind of sad that my college didn't have sports teams - I mean, don't get me wrong, being the selfish person I am, I'm glad that I got to play tons of sports instead but there's something about having that school pride.  But then I thought about it - how good would the Vikings have actually been? Team pride is easier when your team is kicking butt and made it to the final four at least once. So - I'm going to adopt VCU as "my school team" and hope to go to games for many more years.

Danny Devito, I love your work!

Sometimes I blame myself for product discontinuation.  Caramel Klondik Bars, Peanut Butter Twix, Dannon Raspberry yogurt (yes, I know it's still around - but I can't find them with JUST Raspberry, I find it sold in packs of four with blueberry - yuck), gingerbread man Ben and Jerry's. Green concealer (I had to throw in a non-food item).

The latest - some multi grain cracker I used to buy but stopped for some reason or another.  I've looked for them the last few times I've been at the store but they've either changed their packaging or are no longer made and the worst part is - I can't even remember who made them. 

I'm not in desperate need of any of these things and I can't quite explain why I think that I could have somehow stopped their demise, but I realized today that I do feel a little guilty.  It's probably why I buy double stuffed Golden Oreos and anything white chocolate every so often so that they know that someone out there appreciates this product. 

In other news - I randomly got the urge to find out whatever happened to Lindsay Lohan (maybe it's because "Rumors" came on my iPod...I mean...if I had that song on my iPod). 

She was apparently on Jimmy Fallon but didn't say a word and she's got some show or movie or something coming out on Lifetime (the victim network)....Liz Taylor...she will be Liz Taylor.

So then I looked up Lizzy McGuire (I know, I know, Hillary Duff).

She's a mom!

That's so crazy to me - but that's probably because I remember her as a little twelve year old.

I'm sorry to subject you to my random brain dump, my brain works in mysterious ways sometimes.

The other night I went out for tacos with 5 other people. We were evenly divided, three girls and three boys.  I sat across the table from the other two girls, with two guys sitting in the same row as me and one guy at the other end.  So in essence, we looked like two "L"s and I said, "this is cool, we're like two pieces fit together in a game of human Tetris". 

My friend laughed and said that she missed me and the way I think...I'm glad she appreciated it cause as soon as I said it I wondered if it was one of those things I should have kept on the inside...

This is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain*

18 - days that I missed my self-imposed deadline

10 - pages of my rewritten first story

2 - number of chapters

1 - Query Letter

So I did it - last week I sent my query letter and sample to another literary agent.  I chose to do snail mail this time - made it seem more official - of course, that means it will take longer than the last one.  This agent's list of clients looked promising, I seem to have a bit in common with them and have been told I write better than at least one of them. 

And here's a fun tidbit of information that G-Sauce sent me a few weeks ago, "Twilight was rejected FOURTEEN times before publication."  Then she threw in, "Keep on trying and you might end up a millionaire".

Thanks G-Sauce!

Weezin' the juice!*

I had a very humbling experience at the 7-11 the other day. My mom took my nephew and cousin to get slurped and I wanted one so I tagged along. When we got there I helped Tommy get one, I put the cap on and started to pull the lever. Wild Cherry slurpee started ooze into the cup, I slowed the flow a little as it reached the top and then I pulled slightly to get the last bit in. In my mind I was thinking I'd show Tommy how slurpee pouring was done.

But suddenly the slurpee surged and sweet, red, ice cold droplets flew through the air-mostly landing on Tommy's face. He looked at me and I looked at him, his facial expression unreadable, I couldn't tell if he was about to cry or laugh and I waited a moment to see how it would all turn out.  Neither happened - he looked at me for a few seconds and then he said, "it's really cold." I tried to find napkins but they apparently don't put those out by the coffee anymore.  The cashier must have heard the panic in my voice as I tried to find napkins to clean up my nephew.  Some of the slurpee had landed on my hand and I had gotten it off, but my hand still had little red stains on it and I worried Tommy's face was going to have red droplet stains. 

The cashier gave me some napkins and I got him cleaned up.  Then we got slurpees for those who didn't come with us and I had trouble still with the slurpee machine - not as bad as when Tommy was standing there, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.  I mean - it's not that hard to get a slurpee!  That's what I get for thinking I was going to show a five year old how it's done.

There's always gonna be another mountain I'm always gonna wanna make it move.*

This year has flown by and I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Which means that in my personal life, Christmas is allowed to pop up (I don't care if all I heard at the dentist the other day was Christmas music - it was too soon).  Once Christmas comes the end of the year, then my birthday and then the end of life...just kidding - I just couldn't think of what pops up right after my birthday.  I hope it's not death, I'd like to have a few things under my belt before then. 

Point being - it's Thanksgiving tomorrow and I wanted to do a post where I give thanks for some things.  I've been struggling with a lot this year but that doesn't mean that there aren't things to be grateful for.  Last night at Institute we had an awesome lesson on Revelations - one of my peers shared his thoughts from his personal study of Revelations and he asked if the world was growing more evil or more righteous.  Then he said it was both and explained the parable of the wheat and the tares.  So - I'm going to use that parable for 2012 - the bad and the good grow together, the presence of one does not mean the non-existence of the other.

So with that in mind - I want to focus on the tares.  Some things I am grateful for:

The gospel - numero uno - no matter what happens in my life, I know that the safest decision for me is to stick with the gospel.  Despite how I feel, any doubts I have, what I'm letting fall apart in my life, etc. I know that the one I can't afford to ever give up on is the gospel.  It's is my safety net, by sticking to the things I believe, or the things I struggle to believe but want to believe, I find answers, comfort and peace.  I struggle to know what the right thing to do is, but if I hang in there, I find the answer while sitting in church or institute or reading my scriptures or during my prayers.  You can't find a sufficient answer to most of my struggles by doing a Google search.

My family - a close second.  My family is fantastic! Sure, we have our quirks, just as any family, but this year especially - I realized how much I love my family and how grateful I am for them.  They are so supportive, they make me laugh (and cry - but not cause they are mean to me), and they love me no matter what. 

My boys - I've already written a whole post on them, but rest assured, they are some people I am most definitely grateful for and have leaned on them more than they know over the past year.  I honestly don't think I would have made it through the last few months without them.

Amber - I typically don't throw out one individual because then I feel the need to name other individuals and then I'm going to forget someone - it's a given.  But if we're talking about the things/people I am grateful for this year, she's on the list.  Amber knows my very worst and still thinks the best of me (I'm still trying to figure out how that works).  Amber helps to remind me to look at myself the way that Jesus and Heavenly Father see me (and frankly, the way she sees me).  She has given me my metaphorical slap in the face when I am being irrational, she helps to build me up and calls me out on my crap (in a nice way).  She reminds me to do the right thing and then believes whole hearted that I will do it.  I couldn't ask for a better supporter in my corner!

My job - yup - believe it or not, I actually do like my job.  It's changed a lot over the past year and I'm kind of excited about that.  I like the new responsibility, I like feeling as though some of what I do does matter (I still handle the lame stuff that I don't see the point to). 

Traveling - I love that I can travel! From visiting the northeastern states back in May to Arizona in September.  I love that with a little time and saving and some impulse agreements with friends, I get around.  I love Virginia, it is where I lay my head down at night, it is where I have my family and am loved and have a life - but I love getting out there and seeing what else the country has to offer (since I haven't gone global yet). 

Nature - I've been on a lot of hikes this year, I've run a lot of miles outdoors, and I've worked on my yard quite a bit - basically, I've had a lot of opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors.  I love nature, I find it fascinating and an incredible way to communicate with Heavenly Father.  In a way, nature reminds me of the power of God and the insignificance of me.  As a license plate I saw yesterday said, "I'm little" - I truly am little, nature could wipe me out if she wanted, but despite how small I am or how prideful, the Lord still reaches out to me and tries to help me become a better person. 

I'm certain that I am missing a million things - but this will have to do.

You've got numb tongue?*

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

I had the world's longest weekend! I wish that were a good statement I just made - but it was long as in, completely exhausting! Physically, mentally, emotionally, grammatically.*

I was debating whether or not to break this weekend up into several post - but I think I can condense it enough into one...mostly because I didn't take a lot of pictures and my writing, while long winded, can be shorter if I need it to be.

Friday started off with an exam.  I've been taking an Intro to Property-Casualty Insurance course and Friday was the final exam.  I was incredibly nervous - do you know how long it's been since I've taken an exam that matters?  I had taken a million practice exams online but I was nervous that I had focused on that information too much and that the final would be everything else that I had forgotten sicne beginnign the practice exams.  I started the exam, answered the first question and then from 2 to about question 10 I just kept shaking my head and thinking, "you dirty rats." I had NO CLUE what the questions were about!  I didn't even have a vague memory from class about what they were asking.  Things got a little bettwe 11-44 and then the last 6 questions I knew that I knew them.  So I was confident with 6 of them, and I could only miss 15...so I went back through and tried to develop confidence in A LOT more of them.  Then it came time to finally hit the submit button.  I held my breath, clicked the mouse and....I PASSED!  I don't know by how much - I don't care, it just said PASS. 

From there I went to the eye doctor for another test.  This time...I FAILED.  He said my prescription had gotten better, gave me a sample set of contact lens and I popped them in.  When I left the place I couldn't read any signs or license plates! NOTHING.  It was scary.  I put in my old contacts, which are, you know old, and fuzzy but I can read things more than 6 feet away.

Then I went to lunch with Chris and Nick and Nick's friend Scott.  From there we picked up Ruth's friend Ellen from the airport. From THERE Chris, Ellen and I went Sam's club to buy the food for the regional activity.

Where do we put the rest?

Then I went to Joanna and Ben's to hang out.  The kids danced to some classics like Queen and ACDC.  Here they are dancing to TNT - I love all of it.  If you hear a small motor running while Ava is dancing - that is Olivia, she came over to sit in my lap for the show.  The last second makes me laugh every time - watch to see why (it probably makes me a terrible person).


Then I went back to the boy's house for a huge birthday party.  Then home to crash.

Saturday morning I woke up to a very nice message from a friend which helped to improve my mood.  Then I went and ran the Munchkins Run(5k) with Arianne...that's two races in one week - go us.

Then I came home, at lunch, tried to get a little nap and realized that I was running out of time so I took a shower and went to a double baptism at church.  I left from the baptism to go to Kroger to get the last minute things for the dance and then went to Chris' house to get ready.  I got partially ready and then Chris and I went to the hotel to set things up.  From there I finished getting ready.

Chris and I playing around with the props while we waited for people to arrive.

The dance was a lot of fun! Ben informed me yesterday that I out-danced him, he just couldn't keep up. 
 
To be honest with you - dancing is like a drug to me and I don't remember a whole lot about the dance itself except that when we got to 11:57 I was super sad that the dance was almost over.  I had one more slow dance and I danced that with Scott - but I couldn't slow down - so it was a medium-speed dance.

Chris did a great job as the Regional Committee President (though he keeps trying to say he's the co-chair and that I'm the other chair).  Whitney set up awesome photo props for people to take pictures and Ben did a great job bringing the Jimmy John's sandwiches and dancing with me (his two responsibilities for the dance). 

Cam smelled GOOD

So Friday night I learned that my nephews know and love the song Gangnam Style and that Tommy thinks the words are, "Hey, Chicken Lady".  So when that song came on Spencer, Caitlin and I sang it special just for Tommy.  Here it is. (p.s You can see Nick getting down to the music right before the chorus - that makes us happy).

So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light.*

Some days I just need some "pick me ups" - and a blog post.

Here are some random videos from my camera - but they make me smile so I thought I'd share.