So You Think You Can Dance

So You Think You Can Dance has started up again and I am SOO excited!!! Call me lame, but something about this show inspires me. I love the emotion and power behind each routine! Here is a clip to one of my favorites from a few seasons ago. Stay tuned for more updates and clips of favorites from this season!

Talent Seeking

Ever since I was young and asked the question, "What do you feel are your talents or strengths?" I always had the hardest time coming up with something to say. I would usually say that I'm friendly and always try to take a positive outlook on life or that I work well with and love little kids. Call it low self-esteem or whatever, but I'm convinced that I got ALL of the bad genes in my family. However, today I discovered one of my hidden talents! As part of an incentive at work, a small group of us had the opportunity to go to Sakura (a sushi restaurant) and got paid for it! While we were there, the guy cooking our food on the grill in front of us asked who wanted to catch an egg. None of us had any idea what he was talking about so there were no volunteers. Well, we didn't get off that easy and he picked on me. Little did I know...he expected us to catch it in our mouth. So he continued to chop up the "scrambled" egg and tossed it in the air. Low and behold it landed right in my mouth! A little embarrassing...okay, A LOT embarrassing. But, how's that for talent?!

Date Night...With the Library

Weekends are a big deal around our house. We really value the time that we have to spend with each other, even though it seems to get shorter and shorter as our lives get busier. This past Friday, while I so would have rather spent some quality time with my husband, I spent a good amount of time in the library studying for midterms. I sat down, logged into the computer and got things all in to place before I finally had some time to take a look around me. Not surprisingly, I was one of very few people in the LRC. As I glanced around I noticed that not one person in there was doing homework. The guy just a couple of seats next to me would switch between some computer game and chatting with a friend. Another guy, I noticed, as I walked by him had "Addicting Games" across his computer screen before he shyly minimized the screen and then looked over his shoulder to see just who was walking by. As I was leaving the library, another girl was reading some Japanese comic online. I just can't understand why so many people would CHOOSE to spend their Friday night in the library for such unproductive reasons. Any ideas?!

The Living Planet Aquarium

Meet Jackson and Elli...two of the five and a half world's cutest nieces and nephews! Abe and I recently had the opportunity to spend a little time with them without Mom and Dad and we had a blast (not that Mom and Dad are boring or anything :) )!! We visited the Living Planet Aquarium in Draper and it was a first for all of us. Though we were a little disappointed in the aquarium compared to others that we have visited it was so fun to see everything through the kids’ eyes! Jackson was fascinated by anything and everything that moved, and even those that didn't move for that matter. He asked tons of questions and I was so grateful that Abe was there to answer all of them for him! Elli, on the other hand, would occasionally give a very loud, high-pitched scream or shrill, which would then scare Jackson, which then caused Jackson to get mad at Elli for screaming so loud and scaring him. With time, however, Elli warmed up and was soon just as interested in all of the creatures as Jackson was (although she still maintained her distance for the most part). I’d have to agree with Jackson’s statement made in the car on the way home: “We should do this more often!” Mandi, please let Jackson know that we’re sorry for not taking him and Elli out on more “dates” more often and that the second “date” is already in the makings. Here are a few pictures highlighting our big adventure:



Jackson actually took all of the pictures of the penguins himself! I think he's got a career!




At the end of the trip, Jackson and Elli just couldn't part from these furry friends! Jackson had to have the longest, scariest snake and to no surprise Elli chose the pink and purple glittery sea turtle that she insisted was a frog :)

Childhood Favorite

Abe and I frequently get on the topic of some of our FAVORITES when we were growing up. This can range from favorite memory, favorite game to play, favorite snack foods to get in our packed lunches, favorite outdoor activities and so forth. We had never talked about favorite childhood books until in my media class I was assigned to do just that. Looking back, there aren't a ton of books that stood out in my mind. Not that I didn't enjoy reading when I was younger, in fact I don't really know why this was such a hard task for me. The one series of books that DID stand out to me, however, is the Berenstain Bears series! I just loved reading these books and looking at all of the pictures. As I contemplated what it was about these books that was so intriguing and entertaining to me as a child, I again hit a brick wall. I honestly think I didn't read the books for any purpose other than just that: entertainment. Looking back I would like to think I read the books because they were so easy to relate to. Here are just a couple of examples: The Messy Room, Too Much TV, Too Much Junk Food, Learn About Strangers, New Baby, Go to School and you get the idea. I love each role the characters play and how even though their family is not necessarily always the ideal family they always work to solve their problems as a family and don't ever give up until the problem is solved. With such great lessons to be learned from these books I'm beginning to think that I should start my collection now for my own future children to read someday.

Sugarland Follow Up

The Sugarland concert was just as amazing as I thought it was going to be! Definitely the best concert I've been to yet. I sang along with every song and spent the majority of the concert on my feet DANCING! Not to my surprise, the lady sitting next to me with her beer in hand, would always follow my lead. Though her dancing at times may have been a little too close for comfort I couldn't help but think how amazing it is the effect that music can have on people. Here's a complete stranger, who only knew my husband and myself for the brief time before the concert we had to talk and the little comments here and there being yelled over the loud music, and yet as we sat there at the concert we had this twisted connection; something in common that we could share and enjoy with one another. Granted, the large amount of alcohol she had consumed probably influenced the majority of her behavior, but the music itself was enthusiastically shared by all in attendance!!

Sugarland

I am SOO excited for Friday! Sugarland is in town and I've got two tickets and a hot date to their concert this weekend! There's just something about their music that makes everything more enjoyable - doing the laundry, cleaning the house, getting ready for the day - it's just the "feel good" kind of music and is GREAT for dancing in the car with the windows down and the music up! Aside from the toe-tapping beats, I've decided that a big part of the reason why I love this duo is because they seem so down to earth, unlike an increasing number of various artists now days, but that's just my opinion. I can tell they truly love what they do and it appears the big bucks that come along with it are just an added bonus. So we're saving our voices for the big night and our cowboy boots are all ready! If you haven't heard any of their music, I strongly suggest you at least give them a try. Some of my favorites...Joey, Already Gone, Baby Girl, All I Want to Do and Stay...but they're all good.

WARNING: COUNTRY MUSIC. It must be the Texas girl in me :)