2012

I can honestly say that 2012 has been the best year yet. I have fit so much into 365 days. 1 US territory,  4 countries, too many airports and flight hours, new friends, old friends, started a blog, became a fan of Instagram, an insane amount of traveling, a growing love for outdoor activities, my first pair of colored jeans, my 3rd year of nursing, and a BIG move to a new apartment. To recap:

Went to my first Jazz game in forever. 

Spent a lot of time with this little lady and experienced City Creek for the first time. 

Meg moved away :(

Went on my annual trip to AZ to see these girls!

 Of course the highlight of my year was living on a ship in Southeast Asia for 3 months! I loved, loved, loved this summer. I met so many amazing people and made some great friends. 

USNS Mercy 

Spent 24 hours in Guam.

Indonesia 

My first helicopter ride. AWESOME! 

Never feeling so loved as I did in Indonesia. 

Making friends from all over the world. 

The Philippines. 

Vietnam 

Amazing, amazing sunsets. 

Cambodia 

Fell in love with a few sailors. 

Went to the best football game of my life! Go Aggies!! 

Somehow learned to love hiking. 

Went to Zions for the first time. 

Reunited several times with high school besties. 

Kayla came to Utah! 

Mercy Reunion. 

Disneyland 

Sea World 

An awesome Halloween costume.

A crazy miracle happened and I learned to like running.  I'm still amazed. 

12 hours of Twilight Marathoning.  

My first Coach purse. Yes, there will be more.

I'm pretty sure that 2013 will have a hard time beating 2012, but I'll give it my best!

Tuesday Tangents

1. First, lets do a movie review. DO NOT go see Playing for Keeps. It is terrible and insanely boring. Gerard Butler only took off his shirt once, which is just shameful! More skin may have saved the movie.

2. The Christmas episode of Downton Abbey season 2 (yep, I'm a little behind) was likely the best 1.5 hours of television I've ever seen. I LOVE that show! I informed my dad that I don't need a love life if I can live vicariously through Mary and Matthew's relationship. If my cousin was that hot, I'd marry him too! kidding My father is now very concerned that my love life will continue to remain dull. Likely.

3. The McRib should be outlawed. The commercials make me queasy, I can't imagine what the actual thing would do.

THERE IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD

Like everyone else, I can't get Fridays events out of my head. I don't have children, but the last few days I've noticed children in a different light as I think about those who were taken from this earth so early on into their lives. It's easy to get discouraged about the evil that is all around us and think that there is no good left to humanity. There is good, and I've chosen to focus on it. Friday night helped remind me of the good people in this world. I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert as I do every year with my family. I usually leave bursting with Christmas cheer excited to give and open gifts. This year I left comforted. They had a moment of silence for those affected in CT at the beginning of the program and for the first time that day, I had tears in my eyes. It was so touching to be among 21,000 people in a room full of silence and the spirit. I cannot describe it. Along with beautiful music, they told the story of the Candy Bomber who organized candy drops after WW2 for those deprived during the existence of the Berlin Wall. The pilot was a farm boy from Utah who saw a need and did something about it. Most of the people around me were crying, including myself. At the end of the story, a large curtain dropped and there stood a tiny 92 year old man...the Candy Bomber. I think that it was just what everyone needed. He was the cutest thing! We all needed to be reminded that there is good in this world. I personally have faith in humanity and know that there will always be good around me if I look for it. And just for kicks, let's throw in the word good again.

Tuesday Tangents

1. A couple of weeks ago, I spotted mini Hostess doughnuts in the candy machine at work. This particular machine is tucked away and I don't think many people visit it. When I heard that Hostess was  going out of business, I almost cried! I'm sentimental like that. I can't remember the last time I had anything Hostess and I actually hate Twinkies, but I felt like I hadn't said a proper goodbye to the company that helped contribute to a significant ammount high school weight gain. I remember eating almost an entire box of doughnuts during EdNet (college classes over the TV) during my sophomore year. Anyway, I had been fighting the urge to buy a package but on Sunday, I finally gave in. Yes, I spend money on Sundays if I work. It turned out to be a good move because Sunday required some emotional eating and those waxy chocolate lovelies were just what I needed. Thank you Hostess. I'm glad I could bid you farewell with while gaining 2 lbs. 

2. Don't you just love seeing trees strapped to the tops of cars? It just screams Christmas cheer! I've never bought a real tree but I really want to just so I can strap it to the top of my roof.

3. Last night was my work's Christmas party. I helped plan a few parts of it including the superlative awards (most likely to, best dressed, etc). It was fun to collect and count the votes and see what we each thought of each other. The nice ones that you actually want to win such as: The nurse you'd like to take care of you or a family member or most helpful were hard to total up, because so many people were voted for. The winner of those categories didn't win by much. It felt good to see that my coworkers think so highly of each other. While counting the votes over the last couple weeks, I was noticing a startling trend. I was getting a lot of votes for one particular category. Some of the votes came from people who know me well and others not so much. It got to the point that I asked a couple of them if there was some weird pact to vote for me or something. I was getting votes for...wait for it...most likely to be married in 2013. What? I know, I know. I don't get it. It's no mystery to the floor that I don't date much, so I'm chalking it up to my coworkers feeling so bad for me that this is their effort to make it happen.

4. I loved Oprah a lot more before I started following her on twitter. Now she is driving me crazy. I don't understand most of what she talks about! I have a hard time admitting that. I had to delete her off my twitter feed. Sad day in my life.

5. This week so far: sporting an epic ugly sweater, 3 movie theater trips, a reuniting lunch with friends, 1 session of Body Pump, late nights (including this one),  & catching up on season 2 of Downton Abbey. To come: Dinner with a bestie, my first trip to Utah's first Trader Joe's, a couple of frostbite forming runs, the MoTabC Christmas concert, present wrapping, starting the 12 days of Christmas for someone who needs a boost, and planning a going-away party for a friend. Love this time of year!

Very Slow Jogging-Like Movements in the Great Outdoors

I am a self professed running hater. Because of this, I've found other forms of exercise. Spinning, a weight lifting class, and I even bought a road bike. About a month ago, a running-lover (don't you want to hate those people?) friend made a trail sound so tempting, that I decided to give it a shot. The picture below is the trail during fall time. I'd do just about anything to crunch leaves. The crunch crunch sound under my trodding feet made running those first few times more tempting. 

I don't think I'll ever say that I love running but aren't these blurry i-phone pictures beautiful? I'd rather die than run on a treadmill. I have the attention span of a small house fly so I need lots of distractions when I'm "running". The great outdoors provides this. The cold winter air is also helpful to cut back on the gallons of sweat that I usually dump out of every pore and orifice when exercising. Yesterday's "run" felt great. My lungs had plenty of energy, the sky was couldy, and we discussed important world issues such as Gossip Girl and online dating. Just what I needed.

Tuesday Tangents

1. My online social life is now complete with the addition of Twitter. Facebook, Pinterest (which I rarely look at anymore), a blog, and Instagram. I don't love Twitter but as long as Whitney W. continues to keep me entertained, I'll stick with it. Please Whit, keep providing.

2. Summary of my Christmas shopping: 3 presents for Aubrey, 1 to give away. 5 presents for Aubrey, 2 to give away. This is a problem. 

3. I love Christmas Music. I try to branch out but I always go back to Michael Buble, Josh Groban, and my all time FAVORITE Pandora station- The Christmas Song Radio. It's full of old school crooners like my man Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Burl Ives. I love everything on the station, but my favorites are the ones I like to refer to as "crackly songs". The recordings that are so old that you can hear the static and the old equipment clanking along. Oh, I love them. I want to dress up in a vintage sweater, drink hot chocolate in front of a flocked tree with a beehive hair-do. 

4. It's been a bit of an emotionally stressful week. Mostly tied to work and a couple of people who let me down. I need it to stop the stress soon because I have a full blown acne mess on my face that always happens when I'm under pressure. Fug.

5. I organized a beard contest at work last week. Yep. A beard contest. A doctor at work who is blessed with quite the crop of facial hair had the idea of ending Novembeard/No Shave November with a judged event. We had 3 judges, including a retired barber. It was awesome! I was impressed with the turnout and it was so fun! The prize was a $150 gift card to a fancy restaurant here in town. What did I get for organizing it? Nothing. Oh well. 

Tuesday Tangents

1. I just received an email saying that my November Birchbox has been shipped! If you haven't heard of Birchbox then Google it. I was on the waiting list for a few weeks and my time has finally come! I'll have to post about it later after I've tried a few of the products.

2. I went through the Taco Bell drive thru for a friend tonight and I didn't get anything for myself. Never in the history of my life have I turned down a fast food taco. Love me some cheap Mexi food.

3. In the next few weeks I have to make some major decisions about my summer. Do I continue to post-pone my career goal? Do I live up the single life of freedom for another year? Do I stay in the states and choose a fancy summer vacation? Do I go on the ship again to serve people who I will end up loving and jeopardize my job again? Ah! Decisions. But, I'm grateful that I have choices and the fact that I'm fortunate enough to do any of these things! 

4. Somehow I was put in charge of planning a beard contest this week at work to commemorate the end of "No-shave November" or as we call it on the 3rd floor, "Novembeard". Yes, I'm a beard-less female and I don't really care for facial hair in general, so how did I get roped into this? 

5. I went to my hometown singles ward on Sunday and I have never felt so old and out of place in my life! These are kids I babysat! And I'm not even that OLD!!! It was a long 3 hours. 

6. Aside from 3 awkward hours at church, I had a great 5 days at home. My moms cooking, bonding time with the sibs, morning runs with my sister, Christmas decorating, a motorcycle ride with my cute little brother, shopping, Chinese food, a short nap during the movie Lincoln, and being just being HOME.

Thanksgiving & Black Friday 2012

Thanksgiving: 7 immediate family members, my parents cooking, my first Thanksgiving not spent at work in 5 years, a very inappropriate session of the ABC's of Thanksgiving (why the Rees' cannot have guests over for dinner-we're a little crude), a good afternoon nap, dinner in sweatpants, a lengthy pre-turkey run with the sis, and my brothers amazing pumpkin cheesecake. Good Day.

Black Friday: I wasn't planning on going, but I was easily talked into it by my little sister. We headed over to the outlets in Park City along with a million other Black Friday crazies at 10 pm. We left 4.5 hours later at 2:30 am. I was exhausted and on the verge of being sore from lugging around shopping bags. First on our list was Coach. I have been pondering over a particular purse there for quite some time. Last night, I took the plunge along with about 150 Asians who clearly had more money than me because they were walking out with armfuls of bags. I have a hard time referring to the purse as a good deal because it still cost half of my soul, but it was significantly cheaper than the original price.

Fug picture sent to a friend for verification that this was a good purchase. Isn't she a beaut?

The goods. HEAVY.

Good purchases of the night:
Banana Republic sweaters: $15. Originally: $49.99
Gap shirts for Reag: $4.19. Originally: $22.99
Lots and lots of Bath and Body Works stuff: $42.54
Best deal of the night? Nike Bras. $3.97 Originally $30.00
Boom.

Yep. Bought 6 pink bras. Not all for me.

You go Glen Coco. (Thank you Mean Girls)

Tuesday Tangents

This week, I should be focusing on what I'm grateful for but the theme to be cops. Why cops? Because I've had my fair share of experience with Utah County Law Enforcement this week. 

1. Right now, there are 5 cop cars parked in front of my townhouse/condo. 5. I had no idea until my roommate and I took out the garbage together and we just stood there gawking like geeks at the group of cops 2 doors down. (side note: I had no makeup on, no bra, and I my hair looked like I was breeding something in it. Good thing it was dark) I HAD to know what was going on. We finally got up the courage to walk over and ask. I've heard that there is a legitimately crazy lady living there and she rents out the extra rooms. Well it looks like she is officially nuts. One cop was packing a larger than normal gun (like my knowledge of firearms?) and everything. They said that "there has been a dispute" and "she is thought to have owned a gun at some point and may own one now". Clarification: I do not live in the ghetto! I live in a nice place but right now I feel like I'm in the hood. EEEK! 

2. I have to be vague, but lets just say today was the best day of my nursing career. A patient was taken out in a dramatic fashion including handcuffs and 4 cops CARRYING him to the cop car because he was trying to escape. It was awesome! I was hoping for a little drama but it was out of control. Best day ever.

3. So, remember the hit and run that I witnessed on Friday? Well thanks to my Gossip Girl inspired skills, I stalked the Utah County jail website and found the culprit! I was expecting some college age freak but I found something very different.....an 18 year old barbie blonde! Looks like she got a little out of control with some illegal substances and took her car for a joy ride. Her mugshot is less than cute but I took it a step further-Facebook! She popped right up. I couldn't have been more shocked! She has 4 significant charges against her so I'm wondering if Mattel would consider making a Jailhouse Barbie? 

It's been quite a week with the men in blue! 

This Week

This past week was so much fun! I only have 2 insta pics to share, oh well. Wednesday I met up with my bf Jocy for our usual Zupas dinner chat session. Oh how we love Zupas. Oh how I love that girl. We rehash my lame life and catch up on recent facebook news or drama. She hadn't seen Pitch Perfect yet and I had to change that! It is seriously the funniest movie I've ever seen. We laughed the whole time and she even started crying cause she was laughing so hard. I can't wait to see it again! On Thursday I went to the gym early because I knew I'd have a sedentary day at the theater. I had talked my friend Celeste into an all day Twilight marathon at Thanksgiving Point. It started at 12:30 pm and ended at 12:01 am. We had tons of room in the theater and vegged out for 12 hours with our blankets and treats. I looked super ghetto as manifested in these pictures but I was all about comfort! The marathon flew by and before we knew it, the premier was on. I loved the new one. It was crazy intense for a bit. After it was over, I felt a little pit in my heart because a stage of my life is over. Bittersweet. I will miss my Twilight premiers. 

Friday, we had planned the ultimate wintery day. We started out with a short run on our trail in Spanish Fork. I thought I would hate cold weather running but it is actually perfect for me! I sweat more than the average obese male so the cool weather slows that process down. After a de-sweating shower, we hit up the brand new outlets at Traverse Mountain for their opening day. I scored at Under Armour with 4 things for $65. The other stores had lame sales but I was pretty satisfied! Side note: My Spanx are not near as tight as these pants! Under Armour is all about squeezing your fat so tight that it feels buff. Maybe if I wear them enough, my fat will magically turn into ripped muscle?!? Pressure works on rocks to make diamonds so why can't it work on my thighs? We ended the day with making an apple pie (did not help with the whole muscle creation). I'm no Betty Crocker but between the two of us, it turned out really good! I also was introduced to Duck Dynasty while we were waiting for it to bake. I will never be the same. Great show. Great camo. Great beards. Great example of southern hick.

Not such a good part of my week? I witnessed a hit and run! Long story short, a car sped past me going crazy fast, did not slow down enough to turn, barely missed a motorcycle, and hit a car at an intersection. I was able to turn around and make sure everyone was okay. The speeding car had already left the scene (after totaling the car it hit) but don't worry, I'm stalking the police website to see what this gem of a citizen looks like. Everyone was okay and only one lady had minor injuries. I filled out a police report and was on my way! I was so upset by it that I was shaking like a leaf. Scary! Also sad, none of the paramedics or firemen were cute! Such a letdown!

Tuesday Tangents

1. I whipped up a practice run of some guac tonight and I'm pretty sure my breath and hands will smell like purple onions until the end of time. I'm a real catch. Who wants to kiss me?

2. People post too much on Facebook. I'm not complaining about the initial posting (cause I'm a lover of observing drama) but the rants and raves after you realize you don't want everyone to know your business. YOU are the one who posted it on there. Little hints or clues to how bad your life sucks or how much you love a secret someone falls into this category too. If you post it, own it.

3. Tomorrow night, my high school friends and I are getting together for one of our monthly meet-ups. I sure do love these girls. Some people don't dig our "pose" friendship, but they are just missing out! We will always be friends and I'm looking forward to taking group pictures for the next 60 years (side story). So onlookers, enjoy! 

4. I bought some cold weather running gear tonight so if you see a blonde in her 20's off the side of some trail dead from exposure, please return me to my parents. 

5. I'm in the 5th season of Gossip Girl and I admittedly spend a little too much time watching it. Chuck Bass has won a large portion of my heart. Perhaps my left ventricle. He gets better and better every episode. A favorite scene? When he is crying on his bed, cuddled with his dog after he finds out that Blair's baby is not his. I teared up too! I may have been crying cause I wanted to be his dog at that moment. 

Favorite Things

First a random picture (pardon the iPhone quality...eh) that I didn't have when I did my Halloween post. There is a particular doctor at work that I just adore! He is crazy particular about everything and drives me crazy in the process but he has a heart that I love! He never gets mad, just flustered. So, for Halloween I lied to him twice to get a head-shot picture to make these masks out of. I was so proud! When he came onto the floor we all held them up! He became a whole new level of ultra flustered but I knew he loved it inside.

Current favorites:

#1: These stretchy pants that I've referred to more than once before. A big thanks to my friend Krystal who introduced them to me. They don't have a zipper or a button but they're not maternity! The lack of zipper is nice because I often forget to do mine up. Whoops! I took this picture in Disneyland to send to Krystal to show my thanks to her! Check out that stretch! I also showed my family a few Yoga moves in them and they were impressed that I didn't rip a seam with my larger than life booty. You can find them at Dillards and Nordstrom.

#2: Recognize the pen below? It reminds me of my childhood because it was my favorite type of pen as a wee tike. I use them when I work a charge shift to make different notes about patients throughout the day. I have quite the system. As much as I love this pen, I became intensely jealous when my good work friend Mandi brought a beautiful new version of it to work. Like all good things she owns, she purchased it in her native land of Canada. A few weeks later, she had a surprise for me....my very own green multicolored pen! Best friend ever! 

The old version. It will always hold a place in my heart.

Showing the proper way to write with our fancy pens.

What a beaut!!! I labeled it stat so no one would dare put their grubby hands on it. Punishment: death!

Look at these amazing Easter on steroids colors. Love it!

Yep, I just did an entire post on a pair of pants and a pen. Don't hate. Appreciate. 

Tuesday Tangents

1. Between the election and watching Taken 2, my heart rate is sustaining at about 120 beats per minute. And my left eye brow won't stop twitching.

2. I had a really good weekend which included but was not limited to: a very short motorcycle ride, preparing a lesson, seeing my friend's new baby, steak on the BBQ, seeing friends, a good session of Body Pump, a new trail that I actually enjoyed running on, no-bakes, and seeing my fam. It was real good.

3. Tomorrow I'm going to my dermatologist like I do several times a year only to hear over and over again how high risk my skin is for cancer. Every time he examines a new area, he says it again and again. Yep, he's sees every inch of this large mass. I walk out almost crying because I'm so sure I'm going to die at a young age. His tactics have worked, I stopped tanning 3 years ago. Now I'm pasty white, a connoisseur of good fake tanning lotion, and covered in scars from carving out "suspicious" areas of skin. 

4. I added another patient to my top 10 list today. This is prestigious. I like a lot of my patients but I only love a few of them. This 91 year old stole my heart today. I laughed all day. This is why I'm a nurse.

5. Speaking of old people. When I'm 91, I will be: covered in large jewelry including massive turquoise rings, my hair will be bright white, I'll have a little grandma belly, my boobs will NOT be droopy thanks to a plastic surgeon at age 50 (and again at 70), I'll be confused enough to be hilarious and oblivious to how sick or old I really am, sassy, a flirt with any male that is in my narrow field of vision, I'll toot whenever I want to and pretend that I didn't notice, a terror behind the wheel in my jazzy car, say inappropriate enough things to make those around me gasp, and I vow to walk as fast as my arthritis filled legs will take me. 

Halloween 2012

I love Halloween! I was scheduled to work this year and I was actually so excited! There was a fun group of people on the schedule and a lot of us dressed up. I contemplated what to be for a while and when I bought these sweet ears in Disneyland, I knew I had to be Minnie. The skirt caused me a lot of grief! I thought about sewing one, but I barely know what a sewing machine is, then I looked online and only found skank attire, so I decided to get my Martha on sans sewing machine. I went to Forever 21 and found a red mini skirt. I felt ridiculous even trying it on, but it worked! I cut out little dots from white glittery felt and attempted to glue them on. I quickly realized that the glue was a no go. (note: permanent fabric glue is not permanent when used on felt and cheap mini skirts) I quickly set about sewing a few stitches in the center of each little circle. 6 hours later, 1001 cuss words spoken, 6 episodes of Gossip Girl watched, I was done with those "damn dots" as I liked to call them. I loved the final result!

Notice the creepy floating heads in the background? More on that later.

Krystal (friend from the ship who now works in the ER) as a firecracker and I. Isn't that the cutest idea ever?

Some of the 3rd floor costumes. 

Krystal and Tilly (ship friends) in the ER. 

After work, my roommate and some friends went out to eat sporting our costumes. My roommate Steph had on some seriously creepy face latex and paint. It was NASTY.  We had a hard time keeping our appetites watching her eat. Sick.

Me, Steph (roomate), and Jenn.

The end!