Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard to get her poor dog a bone. When she got there, the cupboard was bare...



We decided to clean out our pantry before our new roommate, Ali, moved in. We had a spider infestation in the bottom of the pantry and needed to clean it out. So we put all of our food on the kitchen counters and went to work. We filled half of the dumpster with expired and disgusting food and then went to work putting it all back into the pantry. I think it's safe to say that should something happen we'd be set for food for at least a couple of weeks.




Now our pantry is sparkly clean and filled with wonderful food, just in time for Ali to move her stuff in!

St. George Vacation

A couple of weeks ago I met up with some friends (Josh and Kellyanne) from Utah in St. George for the weekend. I unfortunately left on Friday afternoon and it took me 8 1/2 hours to get there due to horrid LA traffic. But I finally got there and it was a wonderful vacation weekend. We stayed in a "cabin" that was gigantic and had all the amenities possible. There was a pool, tennis court, 4-wheelers, etc. and I got to play some tennis, explore the grounds, eat a pomegranate straight off the tree, partake in a poolside BBQ, hang out in the hot tub after the freezing pool, and just relax in the beauty of nature. It was fun to meet some new people and just have a weekend away from life.

Halloween Murder Mystery

The week before Halloween one of my friends hosted a murder mystery dinner. We were all dressed up as different storybook characters. I got to be Katherine from the Taming of the Shrew, the man hating, woman's rights activist. I only got a picture of all the girls, but it was a blast and I didn't even commit the murder in the end.

Engagement

Nope it's not mine...My old roommate from the Missouri apartment, Heidi, got engaged a couple of weeks ago. Her fiance, Nate, told Shana and I that he was going to propose on a Wednesday night, the same day they went to Phantom of the Opera. So Shana and I met up with them in Hollywood at Bossa Nova for dessert to help them celebrate. Heidi didn't know that we were going to meet them so it was a nice surprise for her.

Downtown Light Festival

In October I went with a few friends to a light festival Downtown. There were many different exhibits all made with different lights. Here are a few of my favorites.







Plus a beautiful view of the city buildings.

Thursday

A couple of weeks ago I had the most unfortunate experience of participating in Thursday. Thursday turned out to be everything a day should not be. It is not yet Friday but you're so tired of the week that you wish it was. Work had actually been pretty good that week and I was feeling like things were going well. My last kid of the day has some feeding difficulties and so we're working on eating. I thought I was doing really well as she had eaten about 4 bite-sized pieces of chicken and was still eating more. Then all my hard work literally came back up. I'm not sure which is more disturbing, being puked on or it really not phasing me.
So after cleaning up and finishing up with her I got to come home. I walked in to the kitchen to see a note from Heather saying that she'd moved most of her stuff out and would be back some time to get the rest of it. She had told us the day before that she was moving next month, so it was a little bit of a surprise that she was gone. More stress ensues knowing that we'll have to find someone else to move in. And someone preferably not crazy, has a job, not an actress, is LDS and goes to church. So if you know of anyone looking for a place, we're still looking.
Then I look in the mail pile and pull out my credit card statement. As I start looking through it I notice about 20 entries for over $1000.00 in gas. Somehow I don't think I can use $1000 dollars in gas in one month or even in 6 months. So more stress. Called the credit card company who was very kind and said all the disputed charges would be removed and I would not have to worry about them. By this time Thursday had really taken a turn for the worst.
Thankfully Ali called and we decided that the best fix for Thursday was Yogurtland, which fixes everything. So after a wonderful heap of mango frozen yogurt and a couple of hours talking with Ali I decided to continue on to Friday and hope it all goes up from there.
So far my little throwing up girl has yet to throw up on me again and I've managed to get more food down her each time I've seen her! The housing situation is still up in the air, unfortunately. Police report made, new credit card number and all the charges removed has kind of taken care of that mess. And luckily Thursday hasn't been such a beast for the past two weeks.

Fall update

So it's been a while but I've done some really fun stuff and wanted to at least post some pictures before it was way too late.

Jessica and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Conference weekend. It was a lot of fun but I never knew that many women in LA owned cowboy boots. Pretty crazy. The effects were amazing. There were different backgrounds for each song that were projects on huge screens behind the set. She was really good live and it was just beautiful.





Back in June I bought myself tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. I'd always wanted to see it and it was coming to LA this Fall. So of course I didn't want to go by myself so I bought two tickets thinking it'd be easy to get a date for Phantom. Little did I know... After asking 3 guys and being turned down 3 times I asked my cousin who ended up being busy that night as well. So lucky Ali got to come with me. It was my first time at the Pantages theater which is beautiful! Great night, great company, an all around good time.



Last week Jessica's company had box seats for the LA Kings hockey team's opening game of the season. So I was lucky enough to tag along and experience my first time at the Staples Center and my first professional hockey game. It was a lot of fun. I don't know tons about hockey, but this was a good game and they ended up winning 3-1 which was a great way to open the season. Maybe there should be more trips to the Staples Center in my future!

Homecoming 2010

Last weekend was the annual Los Angeles 1st vs. Santa Monica homecoming football game. We've started practicing in August and it all came to a head on Friday night. Due to a last minute change in the rules (or at least last minute to our ward) the girls got to play a whole lot more than we would have. We practiced 7 on 7 with 2 girls playing all the time but when we got to the game they told us it was 8 on 8 with 3 girls all the time. So I played corner the entire game since we only had 6 girls (3 for defense and 3 for offense). Sadly the outcome wasn't as good as last year with a 35-42 loss to Santa Monica. But we played well and I had a good time and I almost got an interception so I guess it was worth it. I'm just kind of sad now that we don't get to play football every week now. Jessica was my trusty photographer and here are some of the gems from the game.

Lobster Fest

Last Friday night was Lobster Fest down in San Pedro. I've lived here >3 years and never been to San Pedro but figured it was as good as any reason to go there. John and I had taken Shana and Steve to the airport right after work and hung out at Borders for a couple of hours before heading off to Lobster Fest. I must say that 2 hours in a bookstore flew by. I found so many books that I need to read.
We met up with a bunch of friends at Lobster Fest around 8:00 and since we were all famished we went straight to the lobster dinners. I'd never had lobster before and the fact that they just gave you a plate with a whole lobster on it didn't really phase me. We got them cut open and then the feasting began. The lobster was really good.





The remnants of my lobster dinner

After enjoying our taste of lobster, there really isn't that much meat on a lobster, we walked around and checked out the scenery. It was really a lot like a small fair with food stands, carnival games/rides, plus some live music. Martha had head this band on the radio and we went over to check them out. It was pretty good. Can't remember the name of the band now, but the music was fine.
After checking things out a couple of people decided they wanted to go on the twisty carnival ride (a recipe for puke if you ask me). The rest of us just hung out by the ride watching them with disgust as our stomachs threatened to turn just from watching them. But they had music on and we had our own little dance party there in the middle of the rides, so it was all worth it.
After deciding we'd had enough of Lobster Fest, since there really wasn't that much there, we headed off to Marie Calendars which turned into IHOP which turned into Denny's for second dinner. Or dessert if you're like me. Fabulous night full of friends, food and fun.

Fragile: Handle with Care

How ironic that the box on my desk read "Fragile Handle With Care" when that was exactly how I was feeling Sunday night. I guess it said that for the past year+ but I never noticed it until Sunday night. Sundays are always a Catch 22 for me. I love having a break from everyday life, getting a good pick-me-up at church, and hanging out with friends but most of the time I also have too much time to think about life and expectations and such. And somehow Sunday day always turns into Sunday night which equals the Sunday night blues aka I have to go to work the next day and start everything all over again. So from someone who doesn't hide my emotions well err on the side of caution when handling me while fragile.

Birthdays

Last weekend all but 3 of the Evans side of the family got together to celebrate Grandma's 85th birthday. It was a three or four day celebration. Friday night we all went to Farrell's down in Mission Viejo. David got the Volcano and ended up eating the whole thing plus his free ice cream sundae because it was his birthday. Aaron needed a little help making a pig out of himself by eating The Trough. But Steven was willing to help him out.

Saturday we all got together at Mike and Laurel's for a pool and pizza party. It was wonderfully hot and the pool felt great. I could have stayed out there on my little inflated raft forever, but managed to not get sunburned while being there. I caught a few minutes of college football between the pool and getting ready for the true birthday celebration. We all met up at Mimi's for dinner.
There were 27 of us there and it was a real party.

Only Catherine, Romney and Thomas were missing. After dinner we went back to the grandparent's house and did out "program". What Evans celebration would be complete without a program? or dessert?

Sunday was David's actual birthday and the Oregon part of my family flew home that morning. Sunday afternoon/evening we one of my favorite parts of family get togethers...hanging out around the dinner table and talking. Carolyn and I left to come up to LA that night.
Monday was Grandma's actual birthday. So Carolyn and I celebrated it by walking around the Promenade and Santa Monica Beach in the morning. Then we hit up LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits in the afternoon.
Somehow during that day I did something to my foot and it's been sore since then. Not sure what I did but some seem to think it was from wearing flip flops all day. I guess we'll never know. But I sure hope it goes away soon. I actually wanted to come home and work out today, probably due to immense stress from figuring out my schedule at work for 2 hours today. And on that note, it's gonna be a horribly busy school year for me. Way too many kids to see. Hopefully I'll manage to stay sane, but if I don't you'll know what happened.

Fall is for Football

One of my favorite seasons is now upon us...football season. I'm watching USC beat Hawaii right now and hoping they'll be able to hold it together this year. Saturdays will soon be graced with football, friends, and food. Now if only USC beats UCLA, BYU beats Utah and Oregon State beats Oregon it'll be a successful year for me. And of course LA1 needs to beat SM3 in our annual homecoming game here. 3 weeks of practice and we're looking pretty good!

P90X continued or again

My good intentions with P90X were squashed quickly. After one day I didn't follow through...the first time. But this week I decided to rededicate myself and start over. So far I'm 2/2 this week. Heather and I have already planned on it for today, so that'll make me 3/3. I can say that yesterday I was supremely sore. But it felt really good to know that I could get through it. I'll let you know how abs and arms goes today. I'm afraid that's going to be the killer.

Exercise or the lack thereof

Shana and I made a goal at the beginning of the year to play tennis every week. Well that didn't really work out for several reasons. But this Monday she and I were supposed to play after FHE. It has been extra warm here lately and summer evenings seem to be finally here. The downside of this is that all the tennis courts were full when we got there. 9:00 on a Monday night and they were all full. It's a first for us. So we made a rather rash decision to go running. It's been months to years since either of us have seriously gone running, so I'm not sure where this idea came from. But we decided to run to our friend's house which was a little over a mile away with the thought that they could take us back to our car when we got there (we're not that into running). So we ran there and rang the buzzer...no one answered. Rang again, still no answer. Good thing Shana had brought her phone, for this very reason. We called them and they were grabbing some food at a place about a mile away. So we told them to wait there and we'd be right over. So a mile later after many positive affirmations we arrived at the restaurant looking rather hot and sweaty. Somehow our short mile run turned into 2.4 miles. But I'm proud of us because I honestly didn't think I could run that far. I guess our aspirations of doing a mini-triathlon aren't totally out of the question.
Tuesday morning I woke up feeling pretty good. Somehow I forgot that the second day after is always worse. So when I got home Heather convinced me to do P90X with her. We had planned on starting together but I used the excuse of going out of town to not start when she did. Cardio P90X at 4:00 in the afternoon on a hot day is not a good mix. We were both ridiculously hot by the end. But it was a strange satisfaction that we made it through. Now if I can only keep up the motivation to go on to day 2.
Today when I woke up I wasn't feeling quite so good. My muscles were yelling about the torture they had been put through the past couple of days. But I'm determined to torture them yet again today as we have football practice. I haven't quite decided if I'll run to practice yet though or do P90X when Heather gets home???

Family

After not taking any pictures while I was home we decided to take one right before we left. So here's some of the family (minus Thomas-on a mission, Carolyn and Nathan-out of state, and me-taking the picture).



Kinda hard to get everyone smiling at the same time!

Oregon

Between summer school and when school starts again in the fall I got a week off. Partly because no one else has this time off and I didn't want to go somewhere cool by myself I decided to come home to Oregon. Oregon in the summer is amazing. It's actually been hotter here the first couple of days than it's been in LA all summer. But it was a nice dry heat when I got off the plane and really it felt wonderful.
I've taken advantage of the heat and relaxed by the pool each day, kayaked the Santiam River (class I rapids!), gone sales tax-free shopping, eaten food picked straight from the garden (blackberries, blueberries, peas, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, etc.), made blackberry and banana chocolate chip ice cream, caught up with a few old friends and hung out with the family. John decided to come home this week too so it's been fun to see him as well.
It's been nice and relaxing to not think about work or anything else. Steven was kind enough to shut my arm in the truck door Monday so that's been a pain, literally. But other than that it's been a great vacation.

Hello Goodbye

Red Velvet recently hit 80,000 miles and with that came a not completely unexpected set of problems. One night after tap class I went out to my car and it wouldn't start. After several phone conversations, some starter fluid, AAA guy banging on the gas tank it finally started. All was good until Friday night about midnight when it wouldn't start again. By that point I basically knew it was the fuel pump and wasn't all too happy. But since I was stressed enough with work and life at the moment I just couldn't add buying a new car into the mix. So I got the fuel pump replaced and had basically decided that I would just keep driving her until something else major went wrong. Well that next week when I was at the Keane concert I opened the trunk to get some blankets out and it wouldn't shut. This had happened before about a year ago and I had to get the trunk welded back together. So that was the last straw, Red Velvet had to go.

So the past few weeks I have been crazy busy at work, coming home and researching cars, test driving cars on the weekend. Finally it all paid off and I found my newest big ticket item, Martini, the 2009 Corolla. I don't usually name cars this quickly but while Jessica and I were sitting at the dealership the name just came. Some how we went from Red Velvet to Grey Goose Martini and the name just stuck. And since my Dad was running a crazy relay race the weekend I got my car I ended up doing the whole thing on my own (with Jessica's help).



So now I don't have to worry about if he's going to start, if the trunk is going to close, if there are any weird noises, or if the Velcro on the glove compartment is going to hold. It was a bittersweet goodbye to Red Velvet when I left her at the dealership, but I must say that I definitely moved up in the car world.

Concerts

The past couple of weeks I've gone to a couple of concerts here. Keane and Ingrid Michaelson came to the Greek Theater a couple of weeks ago and a group of us went for a great summer concert. I think I liked Ingrid even more than Keane. She was such a good performer.



Then yesterday was the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach and I went down to spend the day in the sun. John, Shana and I drove down and parked many many blocks from the beach since it was so crowded. But we caught up with Heidi and Nate, watched some surfing right from the beach, caught some of the skateboarding competition, and then were mauled by mobs of people as we fought for what turned out to be great seats in the sand for the Weezer concert after it was all over. Surfing, swimsuits, concerts on the beach, can't get much better than that for a summer Saturday in California.