THANKSGIVING INVITE:
I'm not going home this Thanksgiving so I decided to have dinner at my place.
I don't know how I feel about being in charge of cooking the bird.... but we'll see how it goes!

Love the colors, space and design for these houses and decorations.
I think I am a minimalist at heart.

Annual Halloween Kickoff

Conference Weekend. Park City. Shopping at the outlets (JCREW) with megs, and then hit up my fav bookstore and had dinner at Main Street Noodle. Halloween Party with the fam (we missed dad, marn + brett and chad + katie). Nelma and I dressed up in our Halloween get-ups had to go pick up our pumpkins at Macey's (and yes, we got some good stares)! Kristin's amazing chili, ghost treats, homemade root beer, pumpkin carving and lots of picture taking, are some of the festivities and traditions that occur. Conference. Met up with Jmill and Jess for the morning session. Hung out with Ames and family, man do I ADORE those kids. Girls night out me + mom + meggie, went to the Witch Farms place and went to dinner. Conference Sunday: went to the afternoon session with mom. Very fall-ish weather drizzling with rain. Got to use my awesome zebra umbrella. Alpine loop. Beautiful fall colors. Hot chocolate with megs + steve-o up at Sundance. Lunch with my dad. Watched the sunset at the cemetery on the hill, Read Treasure Island. And had a wonderful fall trip.

Labor Day

Pinetop. Trish's cabin. My 2 man tent that held THREE (packed like sardines). Horseback riding. Lightning, thunder and rain storms. Reading Huckleberry Finn in the hammock. Hearts (yes, I did SHOOT THE MOON)! Croquet. Bike rides. Homemade ice cream. Good friends. Great weekend.

{Greece }
THE SKINNY....

Flew into Athens
Lost taxi driver, miraculously found a small Latter-Day Saint church branch
Figured out the metro in downtown Athens
Found a hostel — dorm style with communal bathrooms/showers
Toilet paper does NOT go in the toilet
First and best Greek salad (minus the tomatoes)
Walked ALL over trying to find the hill to get up to the Acropolis
Took a night ferry to Mykanos
Hostel with turquoise doors and shutters
Windmills
Gelato — Yummm
Best crepe ham and cheese breakfast
Colorful white houses, cobble stone roads and bright splashes of color on the doors, shutters and trim
Beautiful bright pink and orange bougainvillea blooming everywhere
Rented ATV and drove out to the “Quiet” beach = Nude beach(OPA!)
Santorini
Volcano
Old village
Sailboat out to hot springs
Donkey ride up switchback mountain
Sunset into the ocean
Green Olives (delicious!)
Black beach — volcanic beaches
Naxos
Explored island on ATV
Got lost…
And Found, more naked beaches (man alive, they are EVERYWHERE, those Europeans… sure love basking in the sun)
Found old ruins in the middle of nowhere
Beautiful wheat grass fields, olive tress, blue skies and white washed houses
Town, with all the fun restaurants along the marina, sailboats and white lights
Homemade waffle cones and gelato
Sailing from Naxos to Paros
Captain George
Snorkeling
Ate octopus tentacles
A little bit of rain
Beaches galore
Clear turquoise water
Paros
Fishing village
Read: The Red Badge of Courage, Pride and Prejudice, and The Deerslayer
(Working on my 200 Must Read Classic List)
Food: Gyros, gelato, tiziki, green olives, French fries, salty and savory crepes, nutella, lamb, and fava
What more could I ask for — it was a perfect, relaxing, fun filled, beautiful adventure….

Summer Extraordinaire

Ride the Z I P P E R
Play croquet
Go fishing
Have a picnic
Hit lots of bucket ‘O balls
Watch lightning storm from lookout
D-Back’s games and watch the fireworks after
Symphony
Play tennis
Go to the Drive-In
BOWL 150 (life time goal)
Drink horchatta
Fly kite in the park
Make M. Studio business cards + print 'em
Make homemade popsicles
Read five books
Mow a lawn (It will have to be someone else’s since all I have in my back yard is dirt and spider webs)
Go to an outdoor concert
Eat chocolate covered strawberries
Float the Salty Dawg river
Have a read-a-thon (and eat Doritos) YUM
Go hot tubbin’
Orange dream machine
Drive the Alpine Loop
Thai Basils
Check out the sand dunes
Park City (go to my fav book store and eat at Main Street Noodle Co.)
BBQ
Go backpacking
Watch Alfred Hitchcock movies
Make sushi
Swim as much as possible
Paint
RODEO
Make zucchini bread with chocolate chips
Watch an old western film
Get in shape
Bonfire and roast samores
Play badminton
Ride the mechanical bull
Road trip to San Diego
Pay off car
Find a great new restaurant
Do 30 push ups in a row
Buy a new Perfume for ’09 (celebrate MY year, a scent to remember...)
Read a Louis L'amour book
Yoga
Read Believing Christ
Mexican restaurant off of Riggs with light bulbs
Have the best BIRTHDAY ever!!!
Dark Chocolate Godiva Cheesecake
Fill food storage water barrels
Lake Powell
Watermelon + Cinnamon
Go to the archery range
Desert shooting
Full Moon Extravaganza’s
Wake skating
Sell something on Craig’s List
Shaved Ice (Bahama Mama with Crème – my fav)
Hike Flat Iron
Go to a Free Style Motocross event
Slip-n-slide
Watch mutton bustin’
Go on a Hot Air Balloon ride
Enroll in a web design class
Eat Kielbasa
Night swimming
Country dancing
Float in da pool and read
Jump the wake (life goal)
Go camping
Farmers market
Golfing
Make tin-foil dinners
Eat Filet Mignon
Watch a meteor shower
Sedona – camping/road trip
Go wakeboarding
Ride a dirt bike (Jmill, I am counting on you for that one!)
Hit 5 balls in a row in pool (life goal)
Make my salmon dinner
Breakfast at Crate & Barrel (Cracker Barrel) Cheesy hash browns, yumm
Golf at Hobble Creek
Hot pots
See a play at the Hale Center Theater
Learn to make a new delicious dish (add to my 10 things list)
Run the ‘hood without stopping
Check out Dove of the Desert
Buy a cookie jar
Play Hearts
Go on tons of bike rides on the cruisers
Paint house
Eat at the Farm
Buy Napoleon Dynamite
Write Gramps a letter once a month
Learn a line dance
Take a Spanish class
Read my Photoshop for Photographers book
R E L A X.... take it easy

Change of Plans....

I decided Greece was more up my ally.
FOUR weeks and counting!

Fortune Cookie Says:
Do not rush through life, pause and enjoy it.

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ME. GRAMPS. WES. — ADVENTURE DAY: Breakfast at IHOP, included hashbrowns and orange juice. Drove to Grass Valley strolled around town, started to rain, got out my pink polka dot umbrella. Had hot soup and lunch at a quaint little restaurant and sat cozied up inside by the big window, watching people walk by. Checked out the art galleries, bookstore and some other fun shops. Bought my yoga bell and Nag Champa incense. Drove around town looking at picturesque houses nestled in the mountainside and surrounded by pine trees. Drove home listening to music with the rain falling, laughing and loving our conversations. Wes and I went grocery shopping. Made dinner. Went to the movies and then went home and ate rocky road ice cream next to our roasty toasty fire. PERFECT DAY.

P.S It was Gramps 88th Birthday on March 10. He is the cutest man alive. And I can't wait to see Wes and him in two weeks for the big TO DO — Chad and Katie ladies wedding!!!

Eat lots’o green olives
Buy dark chocolate truffles from David & Harry’s
Banff Film Festival
Christmas concert
Go sledding and drink hot chocolate
Fix the flat tires on all of my beach cruisers
Drink horchatta
Go to the restaurant on Riggs with the white bulb outdoor lights and eat on the patio
Motorcycle ride up to Canyon Lake and watch for shooting stars
Play croquet
Finnish my website
Make my holiday “Love Day” cards
Decorate a gingerbread casa
Drink hot chocolate
Build a snowman
Go hot tubbin’
Mesa temple lights
Drink egg nogg-igty nog
Go to a Christmas party
Hang up Christmas lights
Read by the fire
Buy a pet goldfish
Buy a Christmas tree and decorate
Donate to a Bell Ringer at a store (preferably Safeway, cause it’s my fav)
Get picture taken with SANTA
Make Christmas treats and deliver (only bake 3 times a year, Christmas, Christina’s Birthday and one other time during the year...)
Throw a Christmas party
Volunteer at a homeless shelter
Drink sangria with crushed ice by the fire
Roast mallows
Watch ELF
Go to the Archery Range
Watch a Christmas Story
Send someone I love a letter
Get a Manicure — RED
Eat a pomegranate
Eat at Thai Basils (my fav Thai place off of Mill)
Buy a gift from the Antique Shop in Scottsdale
Walk around Park City and go to dinner at Main Street Noodle
Eat Baby Back Ribs from Texas Road House
Make a homemade apple pie (so maybe four times during the year…)
Mint hot chocolate from the Coffee Shoppe
Go X-Country skiing
Watch Home Alone
Buy a new scarf and mittens
Make snowflakes
Buy an advent calendar – Christmas countdown
Kiss under the Mistle Toe
SLC temple lights
Drink hot chocolate
Go to the Mesa Arts center
Soup from Kneaders, Artichoke + Portobello.
Make a snow angel
Pool — Hit 5 balls in a row
Hike Flat Iron
Go golfing
Find a new talent (making snowflakes)
Taco soup from Café Rio
Go to a bon fire
Cook dinner for someone and deliver
Finnish reading Eat, Pray, Love
Bowl a 150

Here's how this works, I LOVE making lists — so for almost ten years now I have made a WINTER WONDERLAND list (for the fall and winter) and then my SUMMER EXTRAORDINAIRE (for spring and summer) it's just a list of a bunch of fun things to do. Don't ever get to all of them, but I do quite a few. So I am about ready to make my summer list and every year it just gets longer and longer...

Grams and Gramps
After every summer trip as we were packing up and getting ready for the long drive home grandma would say, “If you could have ANYTHING in the whole house to take home with you what would you want?” I honestly remember saying “You grandma…” (pretty stinkin’ sweet, eh)!? She would then reply, "if you could have anything else what would it be?" Then we would run around the house and look for our gift. I don’t remember what Chad and Marnie got but I always got a cabbage patch doll. And I LOVED them. Their name would be written on the back of their neck and I think it would say how old it was as well. I once got a little preemie boy, and his name was Aurty Aurther and he was bald.