Honesty IS the best policy!

So tonight Di and I headed out to the Stake Center for the General Relief Society Meeting, which was amazing. For the first time I was the person they always mention watching the broadcast over satellite in distant lands (although still in the US-Virginia is about as far from Utah as one can get!) It was nice to think that although I am thousands of miles from all the sweet women in my family, we were still watching the meeting together! It was a great time...and my stake really goes all out-they passed out cute little bags of Lindt truffles to all of us, along with feeding us a yummy dinner. Pretty much a great time!

Anyways, we left the broadcast and decided to hit Wal-Mart (which is a rare treat out here-we hardly ever get to go) on the way home. We shopped around, got shave gel all over ourselves and the store, spent way too much money and then headed home. As we pulled up to our house, Di asks "you got my purse out of the cart, right?" I, thinking Di was playing a little joke on me, reply "uhhh no...I thought you had it." Oh no, this was no joke...Di's purse was in the front of the cart when I pushed it into the cart return. She of course thought I was smart enough to have noticed it...and I of course, was not. So with both of us holding our breath, feeling extremely sick to our stomachs, and praying with all our hearts for an honest person (I mean really, we DID go to the broadcast- that had to count for something!), we rushed back to Wal-Mart (normally about a 20 minute drive...I think we made it in 10). Di was extremely calm considering her entire life was left in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. I was frantically trying to get someone at Wal-Mart to answer the phone, while feeling like a total idiot for being in LaLa land and leaving her purse for any one of the crazy late night Wal-Mart shoppers to walk away with! Definitely some very tense moments-the ride was pretty quiet-which for Di and I is a rare occurrence.

Luckily about halfway to Wal-Mart someone in customer service finally answered the phone, and believe it or not, someone turned in a big, red purse! RELIEF! What a great feeling to know that people are still honest! We recovered the lost purse, with all its goods inside, and felt extremely blessed to have it back! Our prayers were answered and our hope that people are, for the most part, honest and good was renewed! So, to whoever found our big, red bag and did the right thing...thank you! And to everyone out there...remember honesty IS the best policy!

I'm it!

Jobs I've Had
~Kalli's Babysitter (my favorite ever!)
~Research Fellow at USU
~Lancome Cosmetics at Dillards (Pretending like I knew how to put on make-up!)
~US Senate...intern
~KSL Channel 5...intern again :)
~Staff Assistant for Senator Bennett

Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
~Two Weeks Notice
~Breakfast at Tiffany's
~Ever After
~Pride and Prejudice

Places I've lived
~Riverside, Utah
~Logan, Utah
~Saint-Joriox, France
~Arlington, Virginia

Favorite TV Shows
~Law and Order
~The Food Network...pretty much anything on there!
~America's Next Top Model
~So You Think You Can Dance
~The Office
~and of course, the News

Places I've Been on Vacation
~California
~Mexico
~Italy
~Switzerland
~France
~New York City
~Virginia

Favorite Dishes
~Chicken and Rice
~Lasagna
~Steak and Potatoes!
~Five Guys Burgers...greeeeeeasy!
~French Fries...with fry sauce of course :)

Websites I Visit Daily
~KSL.com
~Facebook
~Drudge Report
~Tremonton Leader (every Wednesday!)

Places I would Rather Be
~In Utah with the fam
~On vacation in Europe
~Shopping with my grandma, mom, and Kalli

I'm Tagging...
Anyone who actually reads my blog :) (mom this probably means you should start one!)

Metro Etiquette

Well, here goes my first ranting post...and the topic is PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION! What a blessing and a curse! The DC Metro does get me to work everyday...so thank you metro, but it also makes me late for work quite often...so no thank you! But that's all beside the point...I prefer to focus on the etiquette I feel everyone who ever uses a metro/subway/public transportation system can control! So here it is, my Top Four Rude Metro Riders (in no specific order of annoyance)...



#4-The Pole Dancer
Okay, so pole dancing on the metro is rare, but people that lean against the pole and use the entire thing to rest their sweaty behind, back and head on might as well be! Nobody else can steady themselves with the pole when someones entire body is resting on it...rude!

#3-Seat Hogs
I'm not a large person by any means, so I tend to keep my body within my allotted half of a metro bench fairly easily. I understand there are others out there who have trouble keeping within their bounds (I mean we are talking about Americans here!) and I totally don't mind if someone honestly needs a little extra space, but people that can keep their butt within one seat should make that effort! For example, the other day as I sat on the metro making my way home after a long day in the office, this woman decides to sit next to me. I'm all about sharing so that's great, but she decides to back into the seat butt first...okay not a big deal until she backs in and sits on my lap. This woman was a fairly fit looking woman...and yet she felt it necessary to sit sideways in the seat with her derriere on me! That's just gross-keep your booty and your body to yourself!

#2-Escalator Jumpers
Everybody (except tourists-gotta love 'em) knows to stand right and walk left on the escalator. Hence, the line to get on the left side of the escalator is normally a bit longer than the line on the right-but in the end you make the time up walking on the escalator, UNLESS people cut into the walking line. Don't sneek up in the standing line only to cut over onto the right at the last moment...we're on to your little tricks, and we don't like!

#1-Where's my Card?
To get ONTO the metro, you need to slide your fare card, and in order to get OFF the metro, you guessed it, you need to slide your fare card! Every metro rider knows this-so why is it so hard to have your fare card ready to go when your gettin' on or off? I've been there...digging through my bag to find that elusive smart card, but not standing right in front of the ticket gates! Move to the side!

The sights, sounds, and wonders of the metro are less than appealing, but if we all work together to change the little everyday annoyances the metro can be bearable-maybe even a pleasure (ok, that might be taking it a little too far)!

Chinese Food with the Congressman

Who could turn down Chinese food and the chance to chat with Congressman Chris Cannon? So after years of forming my opinion of Cannon from the media and the stories of others, I finally met the man for myself, and he made a good impression. He really likes shale oil (if he had to quit Congress right now-he'd get into the Shale oil business). He's very personable and he's quite intelligent. Overall, I'd say he's a pretty good guy...and that's not just the Chinese food talking :)

Oh my 22!

So I don't know when I started getting so old...but here I am, 22-years old! WOW-time really does fly! If my birthday is any indication of how the year is going to go-22 will be great! Some great co-workers/friends took me out to lunch at Capitol Brewery-yummy pulled pork sandwich, and the BIGGEST ice cream covered brownie ever! The celebrating continued at work, with a little office party-more brownies, homemade oreos, and Lofthouse sugar cookies...YUM!

My sweet roomies (including Shannon) threw a little pizza party that night, complete with more sweets-cupcakes this time. Then we got ready and hit the town...Club Ultra! Here's where Liz shines...she got us all in, without waiting in line, and for free-way to go Liz! So I love dancing, hence the clubbing, but I often forget how much I hate sweaty crowds of people...the club was fun for the night, but definitely not my scene! Anyways, 22 is going to be great-even if it is pretty OLD :)

I Heart NY!

"Popular...you're gonna be POP-U-LAR!" Di and I felt super popular after scoring front row seats to Wicked and meeting Glinda after the show! The most popular musical in the nation...and we got front row tix for $25 (okay $26.75 to be exact)! Diana "won" the lottery! What, you ask is the lottery? Well, you put your name in 2 hours before the show starts and 12 lucky people (out of the hundreds that line up) are drawn out to sit on the front row at a hugely discounted price (like $275 off)! All I have to say is AMAZING! It was well worth the wait...and we sure did wait to see it(I've literally been waiting YEARS to see this play)! We made friends with one of the ushers at the Gershwin Theater, and he showed us where to meet the actors after the show too...Glinda was beautiful in street clothes too!

Okay, so Di and I decided our weekend in NY should include Broadway...lots and lots of Broadway, so along with our Wicked good night, we got tickets to the matinee of Hairspray! It was awesome...if the new movie is anything like the musical, you can sign me up! Talk about a chick flick musical...it was so cute! It was heart-warming, funny, sweet, just an all-around good time (this coming from someone with a standing ticket-yes, I stood through the entire 3 hour production and still came out absolutely loving it)! Our NY Broadway fest was great! FYI-after asking a variety of NY tourists to take our pic outside the theater (to show us in front of the Hairspray sign), Di and I finally took this pic ourselves...its the only way we could get the Hairspray billboard in the background! Tourists may be nice, but they are horrible photographers!

We wouldn't be NY tourists without eating a dog off a street vendor! It was a pretty tasty meal...but if you're going to eat on the street, go for the gyros, much more filling and they are pretty darn tasty too!



Here's the beautiful Manhattan NY Temple! It's such a unique experience to go to church basically inside the temple! Bill and I ran into our good high school friend, Sister Anderson, who is serving her mission here! Its always fun to see friendly faces from home in the big city!



I "heart" NY! What a great tourist spot...Broadway, Rockefeller Center, Time Square, Fifth Avenue, street vendors, Chinatown, you name it, NY has it!

Atlantic City or Bust!

Welcome to the Las Vegas of the east! Okay, so Atlantic City is definitely NOT Las Vegas, but it's still really fun! Strolling the boardwalks under the bright lights, posing at Caesar's Palace and eating Denny's breakfast at two in the morning-what's not to love! We spent Friday night strolling the casinos of Atlantic City (dad-you'd be proud...no gambling!) and enjoying the new scenery!






Sleeping quarters were a little tight...but I couldn't think of three girls I'd rather share a king size bed with than my roomies!



We spent Saturday in Ocean City at the BEACH! Salty air, sand in our toes, and cool ocean waves...BEAUTIFUL! Fireworks provided the perfect finish to the perfect weekend!