Thirty and Flirty and Thriving!

So I am officially 30. And if you have ever seen the movie 13 Going on 30, then you know where my blog post title came from. I love that movie. Makes me think maybe I should be more excited about 30. Hahaha. And even though I put the wrong day for my birthday on my blog, perhaps it is fitting, since I was celebrated for 2 days! And what an awesome 2 days it was! Following are pictures and tales from 2 grand days, celebrating the passage of The Nilla from the 20s to the 30s. And living to tell about it :).

Friday the 29th began like any other day. I got up, I got dressed, I pondered the deeper meaning in Julie's comment on my facebook status (which was "I got a rock.") and why she would ask if he went to Jarret's. And suddenly, comprehension dawned. Good one, Julie! I'm just slow. And then I went to work at the funeral home. It was pretty much business as usual. Had oatmeal with Rebecca for breakfast. Then headed to pick up Lea for library work. As usual, we conversed the whole ride down. And when we got to the break room to drop off our stuff, I was met by my library birthday decorations! Rona brings in balloons for everyone on their birthday (I had meant to bring them home on Friday, but I totally forgot to...).
And there was a banner hanging on the wall for me. I think it's funny I'm right up against the trash can. hahaha. Looks like I'm hugging it. While I was doing the mail run, I got a phone call from my former church leader, Ladonna (you may have seen her picture with me a few months back when she passed through here and we met up for a couple of hours to visit). She called to wish me a happy birthday, and I thought that was really sweet. She knew it wasn't on Friday, but she also knew it would be a busy weekend full or trick-or-treating and other stuff, so she called a day early.

During break, we got into my birthday cheesecake. Karen makes a cheesecake for everyone's birthday there. Mine was a pumpkin cheesecake, because she heard me say that I love pumpkin pie. Which I thought was really nice. Lea and I put a nice dent in this cake. Between the 2 of us, I think we ate almost a quarter of it... And it was delicious.

So we left the library and I dropped Lea off at home. Rebecca was ready to walk, but I wanted to run the piece of cheesecake in to my mom that I had brought for her. Well, that was not part of the plan, but nobody stopped me, so I walked into the funeral home offices and found my area decked out! And I'm thinking, "Okay, why did I decide this was a no make-up day!?! What a dumb idea!" Which is what I was saying right when my mom snapped this picture.

They also got me a cake. Of which I almost forgot to take a picture! But we snapped it at the last minute. They got me the princess cake because one of the decorations had princess on it as well... It was yummy. Though very very sweet. And maybe that's just because I'd already had cheesecake...

So here are a few shots of my desk area and gifts. Sue gave me a lip gloss/lip stick and a card. I got a snuggie from a bunch of people. Which is funny to me. They all signed the box, and it is hilarious. Please note all the cross-word puzzles strewn about my desk. This is because Bob and I always work on cross-words. Although, not as much lately, as there hasn't been much time!

And here I am posing with my birthday suit. Hahaha. Rebecca labelled it thusly.

And this was after I decided it was foolish to have not put on makeup, so I went to my car, got my make-up bag, and rectified that.

People wanted me to try on the snuggie, so I complied.

Even though the funeral home was quite toasty that day, plus we were busy, so I was warm from all the moving around... But this thing will be nice! I love to snuggle under blankets :).

And here I am holding my "crown" atop my head while I pose with Bob. Bob gave me a $5 card to a little coffee shop that sells these fabulous orange cream Italian sodas. I will look forward to getting one of those :).

Again, posing in the snuggie. That has hand pockets. Though I'm not using them...

I told Rebecca that, if I put on the snuggie, she had to pose with me for a picture. So she decided to pretend to give me a cup of hot cocoa since it was obviously chilly enough for a snuggie ;). I actually drink cocoa out of that mug every morning at the funeral home. Except for in the summer when it gets really really hot. Which is only for about 2 weeks.

And then we took a "for real" picture.

And then I put on my birthday suit, because everyone wanted to see me in it. And it was funny.

Rebecca even labelled it "birthday suit" in case anyone doubted...

And on last shot with me and Rebecca. That girl is a hoot! She has been an awesome addition to the funeral home. And on good days, we walk the park and get exercise.

Friday evening found me shopping for ingredients. We had all the Halloween party stuff to make, as well as dessert and salad for Marvelous Monday Meals. And knowing my Saturday would be spent in Seattle, I decided it was best to do my shopping on Friday evening. I'm going to go ahead and say it... I'm not a shopper. At all. I have very little patience (and I don't care if it is a virtue, I don't possess it!). And so when I don't find what I need or whatever, I get pretty sick of the shopping thing pretty fast. And I was annoyed that it took me until 9 at night to do all that shopping. Because I was tired, people. And I knew I'd be getting up early to catch the ferry the next morning. But, I got what I needed. Except for strawberry sherbet. Which I tasked my mom with doing on Saturday, since I figured she'd have a little more time to find some. And so yeah, I got home, got a shower, read my blog and learned that I'd put down the wrong day for my birthday. Rectified that. Read just a little, and went to bed. Sometime around 1 in the morning. So much for getting a good night's sleep! (I might as well confess that I wasted plenty of time on the internet...).

So the following morning, I got up and got dressed for the day. Spoke briefly with my mom before heading off to Lea's house. Lea's husband took us to the ferry terminal. But first they made me open one of my presents. It is a banner that says, "It's only fun... when it's fun!" And it's awesome. And you will see pictures later one (if you haven't seen them on facebook already). And one day, one glorious day, I will have my own place and that banner will hang on the wall surrounded by pictures that prove that it is, in fact, only fun when it's fun. Because I have 30 years of life under my belt now. And let me just say that I have plenty of evidence that that statement is true. So Lea and I caught the 9:45 ferry and spent the hour boat ride chatting and laughing and telling stories. I explained to her about my blog title posts and song title posts. I explained to her the one entitled "Toot Sweet." And she laughed. Mission accomplished. My goal in life is to make people laugh. Hahaha. And sometimes I'm only the one who does. But that's good enough ;). So the ferry docked and we walked off. And we decided to walk to the Seattle Public Library, because Lea had never been there. This is seriously a massive library. It has something like 10 floors! So we explored a bit and then took a picture among the stacks. Because we are so cool like that. Lea even tried to get a paper with a Seattle Public Library stamp on it. Alas, they no longer had stamps. Lame. But I guess the proof is in the picture -- we were there at SPL. We really were.

Then it was back out into the rain. Because even though the weather was predicted to be only PM showers, it rained all day long. But it's Seattle. You might as well expect it. And so we just enjoyed the walk in the rain. Cold, but all part of the experience :). It was close to lunch-time by this point, so we decided to hike down to Pike Place Market and get some macaroni and cheese from Beecher's Hand-Made Cheese. This stuff was wonderful! And so warm and creamy. Unfortunately, everyone had the same idea and wanted to eat inside and that place really isn't made for a lot of people to stay and eat. So there were no seats. And so we took our mac and cheese (and breadzels -- bread braids with a lot (too much) of Italian seasoning -- which we didn't care for) across the street into the market proper and found a window ledge to rest by and eat. And we interrupted some random stranger to take our picture. And don't I look lovely all drowned-rattish with my wet hair?

After finising lunch and leaving Pike Place Market, we decided to head toward the Macy's, because closeby there was where the monorail would pick us up to take us to the Pacific Science Center. So we started walking again. And Lea pointed out a Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I love that store. And there isn't one closer to me. And this one was 2 stories (aka upstairs downstairs). And we thoroughly enjoyed just window shopping. It was exciting :). And I don't care if that's dorky :). So we finished looking there, and walked another block up to where we could see the monorail end. This was at Westlake Center. And then I remembered November 2005 when we had done this same thing! Funny the things you forget! I had forgotten about the food court in this big mall where the monorail picked up and dropped off! Worked out good for us too, because we were really thirsty. And thank goodness we found a place that sold lemonade! Because I mentioned that a place in there (back in 2005) had fresh-squeezed lemonade. And it turnst out, that place is not there anymore... And I was craving some lemonade at that moment! So anyway, we got our lemonades, got our tickets, and caught the monorail. And here we are, riding the monorail. (I look like such a tourist...)

So, we got right off at Seattle Center. And Lea shot this picture of me outside of the Science Center. Currently, the Science Center has a huge Harry Potter Exhibit. And so we decided we would do this. The one big downfall is that we were not allowed to take any pictures inside. Bummer. But we did go, and it makes me want to watch the movies marathon-style. For the record, I still haven't read the 7th book. And I've still managed to not have it spoiled for me. So don't tell me! I will be reading it before long, I promise. It's on my list. The list I am sticking to... most of the time :).

Grrr. In my haste to get moving on this (I've been writing this post literally all day long, and it's almost 11 pm), I was deleting and accidentally deleted my next picture. And it's way too much hassle to upload it again. Just imagine me and Lea as midgets (or little people). We stood in front of one of those distortion mirrors. And it was hilarious, especially Lea's little dance. And if you're friends with me on facebook, you can see it there...

Our next stop was the insect exhibit. Part of that had those things you can stick your head through. Only this one had a mirror on the inside (it was a box and each side of the box had a hole with a mirror opposite on the inside). And so here is the result. And we laughed so hard!

Also in the insect area was a staff member playing with a huge cockroach out of its tank. That was gross. He had it crawling all over his hands. Eewwww. We avoided him. But we did go into the Tropical Butterfly House. I've been in one before in Georgia (Callaway Gardens). But Lea never had been, so we gave it a go. Only got one picture before I looked at the time and saw that we had to hurry over to the Harry Potter Exhibit (we were scheduled for a specific time).

I do have to say the Harry Potter thing was pretty cool. They give a few kids an opportunity to sit on a stool and "wear" the sorting hat (they don't actually put it on the kids' heads, but hold it right above). We saw actual costumes and such that were from the movies. Those actors and actresses (the main characters) are short! That was my impression anyway. So it was pretty darn cool, really. Worth it to go one time. And we took a picture by this sign, because it was the best we were going to get...

We went back to the rest of the Science Center and saw Naked Mole Rats (they are ugly), touched a starfish or two (they do not feel squishy like you think they would), and tested reaction time, strength, and sense of smell (I kept smelling vanilla...). And then we were done. So we left the Science Center and asked another random guy to take a picture of us with the Space Needle as backdrop. I need to learn mor about photography. It would have been so much easier to get the majority of the important part of the Needle if we had been closer to the camera. Ah well... Live and learn. And hopefully remember.

So we got back on the monorail, went back to Westlake Center, and decided we would walk to the waterfront. We figured we would look for a place to eat dinner somewhere along the way. Only problem was, as we got closer and closer, we weren't hungry, and nothing stood out to us. Plus it was getting dark. And there are some freaks in Seattle. I'm just sayin'. So we decided we should just go to the ferry. But first we got another random person to take our picture in front of the Pike Place Market sign.

And as we walked along, we passed a couple taking pictures with this sea otter. And so we decided to ask them to take our picture. I don't know why. It's random. But that's part of it being fun :). And you can see we were pretty wet by this point. And it probably didn't even top 55 during the day. So yeah, cold too.

So we make it to the ferry terminal and sit and wait. Because we'd missed the last ferry by about 10 or 15 minutes. So we grab some turf in the mostly-empty terminal. And we sit there and chit chat. And these two security guards walk by. And one of them is cute. Though they are both wearing those dorky Smokey the Bear hats... And though we don't converse about it, we just happen to both be watching this guy walk by. And all of a sudden he stops and turns around and starts walking towards us. And he says, "Do you know whose bag this is?" Well, someone had left a bag a couple seats down from us under the seat. We hadn't even noticed it! We told him as much, he came over, took the bag over to the information desk. Lea and I proceed to discuss that he was cute. And we keep looking at him over at the info desk. And so when he looks our way (probably informing the others where he found the bag), there we are looking right back. Hahaha. I think we might have appeared suspicious. But we were only guilty of thinking he was a hottie. Anyway, so Lea is telling me I should smile and wink at him when he comes back by. Ha! I don't roll that way. And so she says, "You chicken!" And as we both happen to look back forward at that moment, he is like 3 feet away coming right for us! Gulp! So he says to me, with a slight smile on his face, "If that guy comes back, let him know his bag's at the info desk." Good grief, I could have crawled under a rock. Hahaha. Lea is like, "Girl, I think I was invisible, because he was only talking to you!" So we spent the rest of the time in the ferry looking at cute security dude. Who later came and leaned on the ticket desk with his back facing us. It was funny. And maybe you just had to be there... And just like that, according to Lea, I went from being just 30 to being 30 and flirty. Now to somehow figure out how to throw thriving in there, I'll be golden.

So we got back and ate dinner at this place called Fritz's. They are famous for their fries, and Lea's husband loves that place. We aren't sure why, now that we've tried it. It didn't knock our socks off. But we made up for that by going to Coldstone Creamery right around the corner. Because I had a free coupon for my birthday. And so we both enjoyed cake batter ice cream with cookie dough mixed in. It's the only way to go. And we enjoyed girl talk. And then Chuck came and picked us up. (We don't want to pay $8.00 for parking, which is why we didn't drive ourselves to the ferry terminal).

So we get back to Lea's house, and she has one more present for me to open. And it is awesome. It is a photo album and she labelled it with glitter stickers "Hila and Lea's Excellent Adventures" (to go along with Bill and Ted from the awesome 80s).

On the inside, she wrote "Hila's" and then glitter-stickered in "Crazy Eyes" and glued in some silly eyes. Because when I get passionate about something and get up on my soapbox, I usually get crazy eyes, according to her. I get passionate about a library system that spends between 11 and 13 thousand dollars to change it's logo. I think that is insane. Especially when insurance premiums are going up and we, the little people employees who don't work full-time, will get to eat the cost difference. Yippee Skippy! So anyway, here I am doing my crazy eyes look, hence the pointing finger. "And you want to know what else?..." Hahaha. A famous Nilla phrase when I'm really riled up.

And ah, the aforementioned banner. Because it is only fun when it's fun. Apparently Lea's husband, who knows the guy who makes these, got razzed for this statement. That's okay. That guy just doesn't know how cool the phrase is. One day, you're going to see it in lights ;). You just wait. And if you really want to know where the phrase came from... Well, that came from the genius (I mean scary) place called my brain. I was heading in to work at the library one day early on in our friendshop and it was a day when Lea and I weren't working the same shift. And I told Lea that it was a bummer we weren't working the same shift, because it's only fun when it's fun. I texted her that. And then I realized just how dumb of a statement I'd made. But you know, it stuck. And you want to know what else!?! It's true! And here's the proof!

So I left Lea's around 9ish, because I knew I had to get home and get a shower and all that. I also had my birthday presents at home I hadn't yet opened. So I talked to my dad on the way home. Then I opened my presents. This one is from Donna. I think it is so sweet! She sent me this pillow that says "We plant the seeds. God blesses us with the harvest." She sait it is to remember my first garden. Donna is one of the greatest people I have ever had the privelege to know. I'm so glad I got to work with her at Troy and that we have remained friends.

Julie got me a gift card to Best Buy. And they are having a fabulous DVD sale right now. And I love DVDs. So I may just have to go and browse the store this week and treat myself to some new movies :). Julie sure does know my love for movies :).

And April, Greg, Courtney, the bun in the oven, and the kitties all got me a box full of goodies. An 80s mixed CD, a packet of Ghiardelli double chocolate cocoa, mint chocolate moon pies, a Rainbow Brite notepad with pencils, a box of Retro 80s candy, and some 80s leg-warmers (which I wore for the Halloween party and you will see in some of my pictures in the near future... when I get around to writing it).

And of course, thank you to all who have emailed, called, texted, or wall-posted me on facebook and wished me a happy birthday (on both days ;)). It was so greatly appreciated. You are so important to me, and it is you who make my life fun (when it's fun :)).

So yeah, I'm 30 now. And it's a whole new decade. Let's see what kind of adventures await me now :).

Serious Edit

I couldn't figure out why so many people were wishing me a happy birthday on the 29th. And then I just re-read my blog post. And I'm a total dork. Or already starting to have senior moments. Either way... I'm not 30 until tomorrow (the 30th). I do, however, have serious issues, possibly incident to age... So, sorry for writing in my previous blog post that I would be 30 on Friday. I will be 30 on Saturday, the 30th. And Lea and I will in fact be going to Seattle on that day. Tomorrow. Good grief.

But, in a way, my birthday was today too. Because both the library and the funeral home celebrated my birthday today. And it was, in a word, awesome. So I will be posting all of the pictures tomorrow night (hopefully).

Geesh... I still can't believe I wrote my birthday wrong.

Toot Sweet

Sometimes I make myself laugh. Tonight, while pondering how to make this blog post title funny and fitting, I came up with something that makes me chuckle every time I think of it. And yeah, probably I'm a huge dork. But that's okay. And really, if you know this song, you know it has nothing to do with how I'm about to manipulate it to fit my purposes. But that's why it makes me laugh :).

So, as is the case with all people, my week has had its highs and its lows. And so I figured I would write some of both, but I wanted to categorize them. And I didn't want to be so generic as to label them "high" and "low" or "good" and "bad." Besides I have probably already done that in the past anyway. And so I came up with "toot" and "sweet." "Sweet," of course, is self-explanatory. Things that are sweet are good and fun and happy. So how does "toot" apply to unhappy or bad? Well, quite simple. Don't you know "toot" is a slang term for flatulence, gas, smelly things emitted from your hindquarters? Hahahaha. And so there we have it. The lows of my week will hereafter be labeled as toots. And the highs as sweets.

So here we go!

Toot:
Monday at work was crazy busy. Like totally crazy busy. And I feel like I didn't get much accomplished at the funeral home due to the fact I was working the reception desk quite a bit.

Sweet:
I house-sat for Bob and watched his 3 cats while he and his wife went to visit their daughter. So nice to enjoy a place to myself for a few days and have total control over the tv :). His cats are awesome. And his cat Max is particularly hilarious. I have never seen such a laid back cat in all my life -- and I've had cats, lots of cats, my whole childhood.

Toot:
I will be 30 on Friday. And I guess it's better than the alternative. Hahaha. But seriously, 30?!? That is a true toot. A big smelly one. Because according to my calculations, I should be like 22. Because that's how I feel.

Sweet:
Lea and I are going to go hang out in Seattle for the day for my birthday. And it's going to be awesome.

Toot:
We have had a lot of rain. It rained 3 1/2 days straight. Which means my floorboard is getting wet again. Yay!

Sweet:
The cold is coming in (don't think it got out of the 40s yesterday...) and that means snuggle under the covers weather. Which I love. And today was gorgeous. And we could see the Olympics today. And the fresh snow that has fallen on them. So pretty.

Toot:
I had an OB/GYN appointment this week. I haven't missed having those, since I didn't go when I didn't have insurance. I don't care who you are -- no woman likes that particular doctor's visit.

Sweet:
I'm officially as far away from that hideous appointment as I can be at this point, since I now have a year to go before I'm due for another one.

Toot:
While at the OB/GYN, they asked me the last time I had a tetanus shot. And I didn't lie. It's been since January 1998. So they said, "Let's get that updated!"

Sweet:
I'm now 10 years away from having one of those again, and I also don't have to worry about lockjaw. Also, I'm a lot braver than I used to be. I take the needles like a pro.

Toot:
My arm still hurts from that shot.

Sweet:
Had another marvelous Marvelous Monday Meal on Monday at Lea's. Such a fun tradition!

Toot:
I think my pedometer is whack. Because one day it tells me I walk 15,000+ steps, and the next day it says I don't even break 6000. And I know there isn't that much difference in what I do each day. I think it changes depending on the pants I'm wearing...

Sweet:
I talked to my dad and Julie this week.

I'm all out of toots. I feel so much better ;).

Sweet:
I got 2 packages in the mail. Haven't opened them, since they are birthday things, and my birthday isn't for a couple more days.

Sweet:
I have the greatest friends and family on earth. I love them.

The Awesomeness of Gmail

So last night I was wondering about April's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. A random thought, yes. But with Marvelous Monday Meals being a new tradition for Lea and me, we are always thinking of yummy dinners, desserts, side dishes, and vegetables. And so far, we have mostly come up with only winners. Granted, she didn't like the ultimate chicken fingers. Well, she did like it, but she didn't like making it. And granted, my chocolate layered dessert looked more like chocolate marbled dessert (since it was pretty much ice cream soup when I put it in the freezer...). But we really haven't been disappointed taste-wise at all. This past week we had sloppy joe casserole, which was yumm-o. We had baked beans from a can, and we had parmesan crusted asparagus. And that was really really good! And I don't generally like asparagus. And for dessert, Lea made a taffy apple pizza. Which was bomb. Anyway, so that's why I was thinking about April's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Because I was telling Lea about them. And so I wondered if I had ever gotten the recipe from April. And so I did a search through my gmail. What a cool feature! To be able to search all my emails. Well, I didn't find the recipe, but I did find a conversation between April and me wherein I mentioned said cookies. And so I proceeded to read this 2 and a half year old conversation. From back in the day when April and I were suffering through Research Methods at UA. And oh my gosh how I laughed as I read that email! Made me miss those days. Not the school part. Definitely not the school part. But the memories of sitting in class and making friends with April. Of monthly sleepovers at either April's or my place that was full of yummy food. Of taking pictures around Tuscaloosa with Bear Bryant and at Vulcan in Birmingham. Of driving to April's and racing the massive storm that was brewing -- and conjuring up the kind of weather from which tornadoes are born (we even had hail coming into her house while we were safe inside). So yeah, sometimes it's fun to delve into the archives of my email -- and my past. And to laugh.

And that's all I have to say about that :).

[I] Can Dance if [I] Want To

This song is easily one of my favorite songs ever from the 80s. I never get tired of it :). It's possible I've used it as a blog title post before. But since I can't remember if I have or not, I will use it again! Just, if you listen to it, be prepared to have it in your head. It's that awesome.

So it was a busy week. A busy, busy week. And here are the highlights:

Monday was work all day at the funeral home. Rebecca and I have started walking around the cemetery grounds for about 15 minutes every day. Our cemetery is very hilly, so this should prove to do us good. I left around 4:30, because I was in charge of the main dish for Marvelous Monday Meal night at Lea's. And technically it was already mostly done, because I used the crock pot for Chicken Taco Soup, which I love. I used homemade Rotel to make the soup. My mom and I made that over the weekend last Saturday. Very fun to make such use of my tomatoes!! I definitely learned a lesson, though... Not such a smart idea to transport a crock pot full of soup on the passenger floorboard of your car. Especially in a hilly place like where I live. You end up with a red spot on your floorboard. At least it doesn't smell like chicken soup in my car though ;). It occurs to me that I should have put the crock pot in a box or something... Live and learn. And it was totally delicious and there were no leftovers. So it was a hit. I took my homemade salsa too. And there weren't any leftovers of that either. And Lea made no-bake cookies -- one of my very favorite cookies ever. And there weren't any leftovers of that either! And we finished watching the first season of Scrubs. Except for 2 episodes, because the disc kept freezing. Which was annoying. Especially because it is brand new! Arg! But at least we got to see the season finale. It's a funny season finale.

Tuesday was work at both jobs and then walking with Sue. And then I went shopping at Target and Walgreens. I was trying to find a brain mold at Target, but they didn't have any. They were sold out. Boo! I got a few other things there, though. I also went to the Dollar Tree to pick up some small things for a service project thing they are doing at the funeral home. Then I went and tried to find a specific thing at Walgreens for Christmas presents. I need to take inventory of my Christmas present purchases. But I feel like I'm doing pretty well with it and have bought a lot of Christmas presents.

Wednesday I worked and then went looking at 2 more Walgreens stores in an attempt to find a specific present. No such luck... And then I came home and helped make an apple crisp for work. And mostly chilled for the rest of Wednesday, which was nice.

Thursday was work once again. And then I headed to Lea's where I ate my special burrito and then we headed to the high school where her kids go to school so we could see her daughter Morgan's Homecoming Coronation. Morgan was one of the Duchesses, and we spent a lot of time taking pictures afterards. One of the funniest parts of the evening was when the jazz choir (of which Lea's son is a part) came out to sing the Star Spangled Banner. The people next to us yelled out to one of the girls in the choir "I love you Chelsea!" And someone else said, "I love you more!" Lea and I kind of just looked at each other and grimaced like, "Oh great! Not these kind of people! Ugh!" And then, from two seats down on the other side, we heard, "I love you Bodie (their nickname for their son)!" Hahahaha... It was Lea's mother-in-law! Lea hung her head in embarassment. Oh but we laughed! So yeah, here's a picture of me, Morgan, and Lea after the Coronation.
Friday was another day of work at both places. I was exhausted by Friday, but started the day out earlier than usual, because my mom and I were cooking breakfast for the location (funeral home). Partially to celebrate one of the employee's 5 years and also because we had a lengthy staff meeting full of mock fire drills, etc. And, for the record, it has gotten COLD in Washington! I think tonight it's supposed to drop into the 30s! So anyway, we made breakfast casserole, and then had staff meeting and ate and then Lea and I worked the morning shift at the library. And our boss is out of town, so it's so much more laid back! And then it was back to the funeral home, where I walked with Rebecca. Then to pick up Lea to go to the mall and eat dinner with the people from the library (they were going to go to watch Fame, but we weren't going to since we saw it already, but we decided to eat at the mall with everyone). It was actually quite fun! And then I dropped Lea off at a football game where her daughter was going to be announced at halftime and I went to Brad's house and hung out with Tarylyn and the kids for a bit. Love those kiddos. Then back home to get a shower. And go to sleep.

This morning, I woke up at 8:15 and got ready to go to a Single Adult conference that was held in my Stake. Wendy came and picked me up at about 8:40 and we headed on to the church building. We had breakfast and had a spiritual message. Then we had worshop sessions. I went to one on being prepared for trials (particularly financial and economical ones) and one on survival tips, which was really good. Then it was lunch time and then we played some games and just talked and visited. And then two more classes: a basic dance class, and a "what color is your personality" class. For the record, I'm blue. But the dance class! That was awesome!!! I had so much fun! Learned very very basic steps. But I enjoyed it! And I've decided that I want to take ballroom dancing! It's on my "Nilla List" over on the right side here....(funnily enough, almost EXACTLY to the right...). Something I want to learn how one day. And there's no time like the present! Well, maybe the present of 2011. I do think I will wait until after the first of the year. But I know where they teach them. And it so happens that the couple that was teaching us today takes lessons from the same lady that teaches Xavier (Lea's son) his dance classes. So woohoo! I'm pretty excited about doing this :). Wendy and I stayed for dinner and then left, because she had another event to attend. And I didn't want to stay for the dance. From personal experience, these things are lame. So I came home and got my mail -- which included two $25 gift cards to Amazon.com! Woohoo! Yay for credit card rewards! I'm loving this new system of using my credit card for purchases, paying it off completely every month, and getting paid by the credit card company to use their card! Loving it! And so I will be buying some Christmas presents this way :). Yippee! And then I went shopping to buy ingredients for the next Marvelous Monday Meal! Where we will enjoy delicious food and beginning of a new and hilarious season of Scrubs (season 2 :)).

So that was my week. And tomorrow is church. Where I will be singing with the choir again and taking Desiree and Emily with us to church. I do love those kiddos.

Sometimes...

1. Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Sometimes when you hit a wall and want to gouge out your eyes and scream "What did I do to deserve this!?!" the reminder comes unexpectedly. Like when you go to choir practice for the first time in 3 weeks (due to vacations and conferences) and find out the choir will be singing a song that has always touched your heart. And then finding out the choir director wants you to sing the soprano part in a quartet of the verse that feels particularly applicable to you. And yeah, it could be coincidence....

But I don't believe in coincidence.

So, be still my soul... thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past... all now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Fame-ous Fun and More

For the record, the answer to the question (see previous post) is 42. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but that is the answer ;).

So today I woke up and it was really foggy. And it was really cold. By the time I was driving to the library, the temperature was still in the 40s. I think this means the growing season is over. Which is fine, because my tomato plants started rotting while I was in the deep South. So please excuse the pathetic brown things with red tomatoes hanging from them :). They are only my rotten tomato plants. Which are, as of today, down to only the tomatoes witch had no hope, because they, too, were rotting. Mostly green ones. But that's a shame. Oh well. I picked a plastic shopping bag full of tomatoes.
And because we had to figure out something to do with that many tomatoes, my mom and I had decided to make salsa. And let me tell you, it turned out fabulous! We used like half the hot pepper it called for (which came out of Sue's garden). And it is hot! And the more it sits, the hotter it's getting! Oh, and it only used 3 1/2 tomatoes. So yeah, we are having to come up with a different plan to use up the tomatoes! But below is the picture of our first batch of fresh tomato salsa! And so now my breath is oniony and garlicy. But that's okay. It is fabulous!

And to help you enjoy the following stories from the Nilla Life, you can listen to the theme song referred to in the blog title post by clicking here :).

So Lea's son does a lot of acting and singing. He has a lot of talent for it. And pretty much all summer, he spent a lot of his time rehearsing for his role as Joaquin in the play Fame. Well, it opened the weekend I was at Julie's, but Lea had comp tickets that could only be used the first 2 weekends of the play, so that meant she and I needed to go this past weekend so we could go for free. And so that's exactly what we did. We both worked on Saturday -- different shifts, so that was a bummer. But I worked and then ran errands to pick up all the ingredients for the Coca Cola Cake I made for dessert for our Marvelous Monday Meals! Came home, cut the grass (which was in desperate need of it), and then got a shower to get ready for our fun night. I met Lea at her house at 6, and we rode to The Big Apple Diner where I got a cheeseburger and a cherry coke (they make the best cherry cokes there) and we enjoyed good conversation.

We got the the venue for the play at about 7:15. We already had our tickets, so we were all ready to go in. And then we ran into this kid outside that does ballroom dancing at the same place Lea's son does. And he said he forgot his money to see the play, so Lea ended up paying for him to get in, which meant we had to stand in line for a good long while. And the kid was very polite. Very strange, but polite. And hilarious. During intermission, someone asked Lea if this kid was her other son, and she said, "No." But Jake (the kid) piped up and said, "I could be a son." Lea looked at him and said, "Don't push it." And we all laughed. And then Jake turned to the guy next to him on the other side (whom we didn't know at all and seemed to be there by himself) and said, "You could be my dad." Which made that guy laugh and roped him into conversation.

The play was really awesome. One character in particular was hilarious. Lea's son (Xavier) did a great job also. But his character wasn't meant to be a funny one. In fact, his character gets slapped in the face by the teacher for being rude. I'd go see it again -- and even pay for it this time! It was just so fun to see!

So, after the play, the whole cast went out to the lobby, so we went out and took a picture with Xavier: (Yes, that's really Lea's son. I know she doesn't look old enough to have a 15 year old son).

And then... Well okay, so the funny guy walked by us and Lea told me I should take a picture with him. I said, "Nah, that's okay." So Lea said, "Okay, well I'm going to come next week and I'm going to bring my camera and take a picture with him!" So I said, "Oh, well girl, if you're willing to do it with me, I will do it! I'm just not going to do it alone!" So she said, "Okay." And she motioned for him to come over. So apparently he pointed to himself and was like, Who, me? and nodded yes, so he came over. And so we got Jake to take this picture of us, after Lea asked him if he minded.

So afterwards, Lea said, "I'm sure that was strange for you." And he said, "No! It was really flattering! Thank you!" And he left and we were like, "Hahaha. Yeah right!" And it somehow turned out that I found out that Lea didn't know this kid! I thought she did! So that made it even funnier! And so we were laughing about him probably thinking it was weird to be taking a picture with 2 old ladies! So Lea and I went to the car while we waited for Xavier and Jake. Because as it turned out, Jake didn't even have a ride home. Which was a hilarious story in and of itself. Lea was like, "So how did your parents think you were going to get home?" And he said, "My parents are kind of like me. They are a little off some days." Hahaha. We laughed about that all the way to drop him off. That and the fact that the guy in the picture above actually was flattered that we wanted to take a picture with him! He went back to the dressing room and was telling people he got his picture taken! Hahaha. Lea was really specific when she asked Xavier: "Did he just say he got his picture taken? Or that he got his picture taken with two old ladies?" Hahaha. And then she asked if he knows she is Xavier's mom, and Xavier said no. It was so funny.

So yeah, we had a really fun night :). Full of great memories! And so we continue our motto: It's only fun when it's fun!

Deep Thought

What is the answer to the great question of life, the Universe, and everything?

:)