I'm All About Goals

I love to make "to do" lists and set goals. What can I say, I'm a goal oriented person. Six weeks ago, I set a very lofty goal. And when I say lofty, I mean time intensive. The goal - Watch all 7 seasons of The West Wing between Thanksgiving week and the New Year. That's a lot of TV. How much TV, you may be asking? Well, 154 episodes, or approximately 6,930 hours of TV. Now you may be thinking, Impossible, but I beg to differ. All goals require planning. As you may recall, "A goal without a plan is just a wish." So, I made a plan. I divided up my 6,930 hours of TV. Over a 6 week period, it was approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes of TV a day. Now, that doesn't seem too outrageous. Now to be realistic, there were going to be some days I wouldn't be able to watch any TV, but there were also going to be some days were I would watch more than my allotted 2 hours and 45 minutes, especially since I only worked 3 out of the 6 weeks. Well, I'm proud to report my goal is complete. I just completed the series finale. And what can I say, I love The West Wing. In the next few days, I will be posting on why it's one of the best TV series ever. Stay Tuned.

Christmas Chimes

My Grandma broke out the Christmas Chimes again this year. Just like last year, the kids were interested in them for half-a-second, but us adults played and played some more. Here we are trying to perfect our craft:

Here's one more with the kids and the adults making some sweet Christmas tunes:

Christmas Time

My Fantastic Family

Me and Amelia in our matching PJs.

Amelia in her Christmas PJs and a cute bow.

My only Christmas Present

Me & Megan in the big chair.

Me & Jackies in the big chair.

Sleep Over

On the night before Thanksgiving, I had Zack and Mitch sleep over. Zack has slept over tons of times, but I'd never had Mitch stay the night. Luckily, everything went well. I didn't take very many pictures, but here are two of us making train cupcakes.

I love this pouty face of Mitch. I told him he couldn't eat any more Good & Plenty. They're his favorite. He calls them the Spicey Candies.

Zack wanted to use my camera so he took this picture of me and Mitch.

Day Dreamer or Liar

Yesterday when Jeanine and her family came over for dinner, Mitch was wearing sunglasses. My mom noticed them and asked Mitch about them. The conversation went a little like this:

My Mom: Mitch, it's dark outside. Why are you wearing sunglasses?

Mitch: 'Cause we went to the beach today.

My Mom: You went to the beach today? (said with surprise and raised eyebrows).

Mitch: Yeah. And a crab bit my toe!!

He then pointed at his toe, became distracted by toys, and ran into the toy room. My mom and I looked at each other and laughed. Later on at dinner, I thought I'd bring the topic up again. This time, the conversation went a little like this:

Me: Mitch, did you go anywhere fun today? Like the Beach?

Mitch: Yeah, I went to the beach and a crab bit my toe.

Me: A crab bit your toe? Were you swimming in the water?

Mitch: No, I was just looking for sea shells and I found one this big. (stretches his hands as wide as they go).

So you decide, Day Dreamer or Liar?

Halloween

Me as Rosie the Riveter.

Amelia as a Gnome, or as we like to call her, "Gnomelia."

Me with an angry Gnome.

Me & the Fruit Loops . . .
I mean, a vampire and a jedi.

Pumkins & Pizza

On Friday night my family held our annual Pumpkins & Pizza night. It's pretty self-explanatory, but we ate pizza and carved pumpkins. Here are a few pictures of the festivities.

Me & a couple of Fruit Loops with the carved pumpkins.

Louis & Mindy

Carlos, busy at work.

Zack & Jeanine (seriously, what's up with Zackie's face)

Me & Mitch goofing around.
We finished our pumpkins before anyone else did
so we were taking silly pictures. What a goofy face.

My pumpkin & Mitch's pumpkin

Of course, we had D-Backs Pumpkins.
Louis' pumpkin & my dad's pumpkin.

Carlos' pumpkin.
This one of Michael Meyers is my favorite.

Dougie's pumpkin of Stewie is my second fav.

All of the pumpkins. We're quite the family of artists.

Potty Training Tale

Mitch is almost potty trained. He's been going on the potty for several months now, but still needs a little assistance now and then. Today everyone was at my mom and dad's house carving pumpkins. Mitch had to go pee so my mom went to help him. He went pee and grabbed a little toilet paper to wipe the last few drops. After doing so, my mom told him to throw the toilet paper into the toilet. He replied, "I have to wipe my nose first." My mom screamed "Noooooo!" and tried to grab the toilet paper from his hand, but too late. He had already wiped his nose with urine laced toilet paper. The funny thing is, he didn't seem to understand why it was a big deal.

Book Club

So I joined a book club and I love it!! I know it may seem odd that I'm so excited to spend my free evenings discussing books. I do it all day long, after all. The big difference is that my book club is with adults and we read books written for adults. This past week we read "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay. Two thumbs up - I highly recommend it. Next on our list - "Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks.

There's Been a Murder

Yesterday I attended Alina's Clue Murder Mystery Party. It was a great Halloween party, based on the beloved child's game, Clue. Each party goer was to dress as a clue-like character. I went as Bartholomew Black - a mysterious gay party goer who prefers to go by the nickname "Tholom" (said with a lisp).

For all of you who have forgotten the Clue basics, here's a quick refresher course. The game consists of three decks of cards - the murder suspects, the murder locations, and the murder weapons. A card is secretly chosen from each of the decks and put in the confidentiality envelope. The remaining cards are then divided between the players. The players then use their cards and clues they are given from other players' cards to determine the murderer, the murder location, and the murder weapon (or the cards that were placed in the confidentiality envelope).

Alina had turned each room in her house into prospective murder locations. She had also assembled a cache of murder weapons, including the candlestick, rope, and revolver. She had taken photos of each of the rooms and the weapons to complete the decks for the murder locations and the murder weapons. All that was left was to complete the deck of the murder suspects. To do so, she took a picture of each of us "suspects" as we arrived. Once all the cards were completed, it was time to begin playing. We had a great time trying to solve the murders. I wish I had taken more photos. There were about 15 suspects and we all had great costumes. I wish I had pictures of all of them, but alas. Anyways, here are a few photos:

Me aka "Tholom" with his game card.

Jeeves and Senor Negro are behind me.
Notice Senor Negro is holding an actual kitchen knife -
This was not a weapon from the game . . . Scary.

The Hosts - Mr. & Mrs. Peacock

Miss Ruby, Ms. White, Mrs. Peacock, & Tholom
with our murder weapons of choice.

Snugglet

I couple of weeks ago I went to Idaho to meet Baby Amelia aka Snugglet. When Kyle and Megan had their first ultrasound, they thought Amelia looked like a chicken nugget so they took to calling her nugget (to view Megan's post about it, click HERE). Now that she's here, the nickname has evolved into Snugglet. She is a sweet, little Snugglet. Enjoy these cutie pics. To see some more, visit Meg's blog: Blah Blah Blog.

Look at that cute ruffle butt.

This is how I spent most of the weekend.

I love how suspicious she is in this photo.

Greek Festival

I love the Greek Festival!! I look forward to it every year. If you have never been, you must put it on your calendar for next year. On Thursday, Alina, Lesli, and I went to the opening night of the festival. We got there about an hour after the ribbon opening ceremony and already it was packed!! We had to wait in the food line for over 30 minutes, but it went really fast considering the large number of people that were ahead of us. The festival is always so well organized. Here are a few pictures of us after we've feed our faces.

Me and Alina.

Lesli and Alina.

Me and Alina cracking up over how funny we are when we get together.

Labor Day Vacation

Well, I'd been back at work for two weeks and was in desperate need for a vacation when Labor Day Weekend came along. When I went to work on Friday, I made sure that my bags were all packed. After work, I immediately left and headed for the airport. I jumped on my flight and an hour later I was in Phoenix. Sweet!! My dad and my grandpa picked me up and we went straight to Chase Field to see the Diamondbacks play the Astros. I'm not a huge fan of myself in this picture, but my sweet grandpa looks so great, I had to include it.


On Saturday I headed back to Chase Field, again to see the Diamondbacks play the Astros, but this time my mom came with me and my dad. My mom's not a huge fan of baseball. In fact, by the 7th inning, she's ready to go, and if it goes into extra innings she has a kanipshin. But Saturday she was very excited. Saturday was the 12th annual Hispanic Heritage Day at Chase Field. There were going to be mariachi bands, dancers, and the like throughout the stadium and my mom was excited to see it. But the biggest reason she wanted to go - Miguel Montero bobbleheads. My mom loves Montero. She thinks he has the cutest smile ever and she couldn't wait to own a bobbly-headed version of him. Here's a pic of me and my mom with our free bobbleheads.

Sunday was dedicated to a day poolside, but Monday I was back at Chase Field to see the Diamondbacks play the Giants. I was really excited for this game because I love Giants' catcher Buster Posey. I'd seen him play earlier this year, but really wanted to see him again. This time my cousin, Cody, joined me and my dad.

As soon as the game was over, I had to head to the airport to return back to SLC. Stupid work - it ruins everything.

Baby Amelia

So, I'm officially an aunt. Baby Amelia was born last week on August 30th. I can't believe my brother is a dad. When did we become real adults?! I know we're now in our 30s, but it seems like we've been pretending to be adults up til now. Well, he can't pretend any more. He has to take care of an another person. A little person. A beautiful, little person. A precious, beautiful, little person.

So, when Baby Amelia was born, I bought and sent her a Sock Monkey. I knew Kyle and Megan would love it and believed Amelia would too. She'd have to - it'd be in her genes.

So, Kyle sent this picture to my phone with the following message: "Aunt Mandy, Thanks for the sock monkey. I live it. Love, Millie." (Italics and Bold added for emphasis)

A few minutes later, I got a new message that said, "I mean, I LOVE it. Give me a break. I'm only 4 days old and this texting thing is new to me. Crap, I gotta go - here comes Mom." Hahaha - I loved it!!


So, I haven't met Baby Amelia yet, but I'm going to see her tomorrow!! Yay!! More pictures to come.

Phong Phu Restaurant

Yay!! A new Vietnamese restaurant recently opened near my work. I started back at work three weeks ago and that's when I noticed the big "Now Open" sign on the Phong Phu Restaurant. I was so stoked. So, last week I took Alina there for her birthday. The food and service were excellent. When we sat down, our waitress asked us if we'd like complimentary soda. Of course we said yes. She then brought us the free soda and she brought us free egg drop soup. Later on she also brought us free scones. The food was so great that I got take out from there again tonight. While I was waiting for my order, the hostess brought me another free drink. This will definitely become a once a week place to visit.

The menu has both traditional Chinese food items and Vietnamese items. I haven't ordered any of the Chinese items, but the Vietnamese items are delicious. If you've never had Vietnamese food, now is the time to do it!! The restaurant is located at 7640 S. State Street. It looks like a dive, but the food makes up for it. My recommendations:

• B7: Pho Tai (steak noddle soup) - this is my standard order whenever I eat at a Vietnamese restaurant.
• D6: Bun Chai Gio (egg roll vermicelli) - this is another standard, although the sauce can be a bit spicey.
• J6: Mi Ga (chicken egg noodle soup) - this is the free soup they gave us. Delicious twist on the standard egg drop soup.
• A1: Goi Cuon (fresh spring rolls) - this is a great appetizer. I've had better at other restaurants, but they're not bad. They were made with a lot of mint so if you're not a mint fan, you'll want to pass.

Be brave!! Visit this restaurant soon. I don't want to see it go out of business just to be replaced by another Applebees. If you need someone to go with you to walk you through the Vietnamese dining experience, give me a call. I could always use a good bowl of pho.

New Bag/Wallet

I have wanted to buy a new bag and wallet for a long time, but I haven't been able to find one that I liked. That was until today. Today I had to pick up some cosmetics at Dillards and as I was walking past the bags, this beauty stood out to me. I loved it!!


I then searched the wallets and found this great orange one on sale. Yay for sales!! They were a little pricey, but everyone who knows me knows that when I find a bag I like I keep it for years. With that in consideration, it's money well spent.

Blog Book

The Book Cover

A few pages from the book

Another page from my Blog Book

Because I use my blog as a journal, I've wanted to publish my blog into a book for a long time. I know a few people who had done this, but I wasn't quite sure what program/website I wanted to use. I finally decided on Blurb. I'm so glad I did. I couldn't have imagined a better book. The Blurb BookSmart program was so easy to use. I loved that I could edit the pages and layout exactly how I wanted to. I also loved that it wasn't too expensive - about $50 for an 80 page book, and that includes shipping and handling. Anyways, I think it turned out pretty darn good. What do you think?

My Annual Trip to PA

I just got back from my annual trip to PA to visit Ruth and Ryan. Although I had tons of fun, I only took one picture. I really need to start using my camera more often. Anyways, this picture was taken on our visit to the Indian Echo Caverns. It was way cool. We also visited Chocolate World and Hershey Park while I was there. Although I'd been to Chocolate World several times, this was the first year we went to Hershey Park. We went for Ruth's birthday and spent the entire time racing from one roller coaster to another. They have a lot of intense coasters!! Besides those fun things, we spent a lot of time hanging out and catching up. I love the Stewart Family and am so happy they invite me to come stay with them every summer. Thanks guys!!

D-Backs Update

Me and Lesli at Chase Field

I just got back from another week in Phoenix. It was great to see the D-Backs sweep the Mets. We also had tickets for the Giants series. Unfortunately, the Giants won that series, but we did get to witness Kelly Johnson Hit for the Cycle. My heart is breaking a little for two reasons. One, because the D-backs traded my favorite pitcher, Dan Haren, to the Angels yesterday and two, because I'm not going back for any games in August. I will rebound, though. I do have two trips booked for September to see games against the Astros, Giants, Rockies, and Dodgers. Yay for baseball!!

Highlights on the big screen of Kelly Johnson hitting for the cycle.
Sorry, the sound's not that great and you can hear Lesli and me talking in the background.

Mitch and Me at Mulligan's

Yesterday I took Mitch to Mulligans to go miniature golfing. The kid loves to golf. He's pretty good too. He was cracking me up (and everyone around us too). Every time he hit the ball into the hole, he stated, "That was a sweet ride." Apparently, that's his new phrase for everything. We played almost two courses of mini-golfing. We hadn't quite finished the first course when Mitch lost his ball into the water. We went and got another ball and played the entire course again. Mitch is pretty hard-core. He didn't want to leave and cried a little about going even after all that golfing. On our way out to the car, I noticed he had a blister on his finger. I'm telling you, that kid is hard core.

Mitch telling me about golfing and showing me his blister.