Chapstick.

Lawyers are funny people. Okay, maybe my beef is just with one in particular.

He gives me weird looks when he walks by and I'm talking with another staffer about something insignificant, like my apprehension in trying lipstick. I mean I've always been a chapstick girl. I've used it since I was young.. when I played in the sun until my lips burned like fire and nothing but a layer of chapstick every hour could cure it. You could say I'm addicted to chapstick. Most women put a little color on their lips for big occasions, like their prom and wedding day. I didn't though. I want to start wearing lipstick because I look at other friends who have taken the leap. They all look phenomenal but I know they have picked just the right shade. How do I know what shade to get? What brand to get?

Listen Mr. Lawyer (that's what we'll call him for the purpose of this rant), I realize my conversations seem full of things you deem insignificant.  I know that your life is filled with only ambitious and elevated (or pompous and pretentious?) thoughts. Allow me to indulge in meaningless girl talk from time to time, without being judged.

Seeing as the judgmental looks happen at least monthly, I would've ended my rant here, had I posted this one day earlier. But not 20 minutes ago, the aforementioned lawyer totally "geeked out" with another attorney over none other than... Harry Potter! Oh man. I died inside. I laughed. I need to hear him explain how upset he was by the ending, how he thought the series and movie should have ended, his excitement in hearing that J.K. Rowling is creating another book with more of an adult focus. He was totally geeking out, people! And that made me feel vindicated.

Today served as a reminder that everyone needs to have pointless, trivial communication once in a while.
But especially women.

keywords to our blog

Do you every look under your "stats" section of Blogger to see what google searches lead strangers to your blog? It's sometimes the most odd keywords that land random people here, in our blogworld.

directions to brothel pompeii pavement
Now, this one makes sense. They probably found this post of our time in Italy this past summer.

celebs with mustaches
sexy mustaches
hot men with mustaches
Mike is pretty proud that his post has driven in tons of random people who are interested in the same important things as him... namely mustaches. sexy, hot men, celebs... all these keywords that led to my husband. It's going straight to his head, y'all.

royalty riches
I could only guess that our humble little lives don't fit into what this searcher had in mind BUT they probably were led to this blog post... which is a dream home of ours, in a dream neighborhood.

carnival concession menu
Not a clue.

jordie's suits
Now this is kind of creepy. Mike's has a cousin named Jordie. As far as I know, Jordie doesn't wear suits. She's a girl. A beautiful girl.

alyssa kelsey
Me+sister. This one is logical.

germany chritsmas dusseldorf  (aww... someone can't spell Christmas)
I bet they found this post. Wow. Just looking past at that post made me jealous of myself. I want to get back to Germany stat. We loved it there, in Rothenberg ob der Tauber. I was giddy for 2 days straight.

girls night out
I like my GNOs as much as the next girl.

a reason to celebrate
Glad their search led them here. I feel like I'm always looking for a reason to celebrate something.

alyssa mike ward las vegas
I hope you find who you're looking for... I really doubt it was us.


Post your keywords! I'd be interested to read them.
Happy Friday people. I hope you have fantastic plans for the weekend. What with all the laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping I have planned... it's going to be a riot!

We'll call this a "filler" post.

January was a good month for me. I posted a ton on this here blog and I was really proud of myself

for documenting life... but then February hit. I haven't done a thing.

I haven't taken pictures and what's a post without a picture? Exactly.

In the meantime, I give you this "filler" post.

I apologize in advance for the ridiculous number of videos on this post.

Yesterday I spent a lot (possibly too much?) time watching music videos of Whitney Houston's on Youtube. I was never a big fan of hers... but it's sad she is gone. What a brilliant voice.

This has to be my favorite one. Maybe because of her hair. Maybe because it screams the 80's. Maybe because I remember singing along to "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" when I was a few years old.

This kind of childhood reminiscing lead to a whirlwind of music from my younger years.

Mikey and I showed each other the first music videos we ever saw and the first songs we remember

 hearing on the radio. I won't go crazy with all the videos (mostly because I know you won't watch them)

so here are just two of my favorites.

Don't Take the Girl by Tim McGraw- Did you cry? Tell me you cried.

Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel) by Billy Joel- This song is dear to me. My dad often sang me to sleep with this song.

Both are sappy songs. Mike is right... I must like to cry.

Also, has anyone else heard about the Color Run? It's a 5K extravaganza of color (like the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork but with running/walking) that takes place in cities all over the United States. You run into a different color cloud at each kilometer mark. They somehow skipped Salt Lake City and have one in every other surrounding city. I could be talked into going up to Boise for the weekend in August to do it. Anyone, anyone?

'bout time.

Just yesterday I did something BIG.

I bought ourselves airline tickets to TEXAS in May!

So maybe we did our taxes on Sunday and maybe we came into a tiny bit of money

and maybe I spent it before we even got it! But that's okay, right?

Mike has never gone to Texas with me and I am so. stinkin'. happy.

The purpose of this trip will be three-fold.

1. Most importantly- See my best friend from Texas, Ashley, and her hubby Jonathan

and their new baby girl due in March. I love it when besties have babies!

 Baby will only be 2 months old when Auntie Lyssa comes to see her. I'm so excited!!

2. Head over to Kingwood(Houston) to show Mike my old stomping grounds: my high school,

my carwash (yep, I worked at a carwash in Texas... don't worry. It was a cool thing.),

my old house, my favorite places to eat, etc.

 

3. Check out the business school at University of Texas and possibly

convince Mike to put it higher on his list of applications for next year.

I'm glad that we're finally taking this little ol' trip... Aren't tax refunds great?

Mikey lost his cell phone a couple weeks ago. Not sure where or how but it's gone.
He went 8 days without one & then decided life could not progress any further without a phone in his hand.
On Saturday we dropped everything. Found a good deal for a used HTC EVO online. Met up in a slightly sketchy situation. Learned that Mikey has NO bargaining skills whatsoever (zip.zero. zilch.).
I demonstrated my wicked awesome bargaining skills and got the phone for cheap.

My hubby now has a new toy to obsessed over. Hence, he spent Saturday night glued to that phone while I watched episodes of Dance Moms and Toddlers&Tiaras. I know what you're thinking.
This couple is lamesauce.
But ya know what? It was kind of nice to relax in front of the tv and just veg out with a pizza on a Saturday night. We try to keep busy enough and be socialites on the side, that one weekend night with nothing to do ending up being just want we didn't know we wanted. Funny how it can be refreshing to do nothing at all.

The little (good) things.

Today's highlights -so far- include:

-After a 45 minute call with the California State Bar I was finally able to check three things off today's to-do list. Do you start every day with a list of things you need to get done and a list of things you want to get done? I try to and there is no better feeling than crossing things off the list! Okay... maybe a couple things are better. But really, I love it.

-Mike and I are now proud owners of the beautiful 2006 Nissan Altima that I've been driving around the past 18 months! When we moved to Bountiful and soon realized my 17 year old BMW couldn't make it up the mountain, my Dad (and financial guru extraordinaire) suggested us getting a different car and paying on a car loan for at least 18 months to build "hard credit". This way it will be much easier when Mike and I want to be approved for a home loan (MUCH further down the road). Yay!

-Mackenzie, the Wells Fargo teller that I see every 2 weeks at the drive thru, knows my name! I'm not sure why I find this to be so exciting... but I do. She said "Hi Alyssa!" as soon as I pulled up. I'd say we're at the friendship level already. And no, that's not rushing things. (The last time I became friends with my bank teller was back in 2006 and that resulted in being set up on the longest, worst blind date of my life. So I'm a bit hesitant but I feel good about this.)

-I feel like I cheated the Chick-fil-a system when my total was $3.40! Thank you to a dear coworker who has introduced me to the ways of the Chick-fil-a kids meal! 4 piece chicken nuggets with polynesian sauce, substitute the fries for a fruit cup (because it's free for the "kiddos") and then you can change out the toy for a cup of their delicious vanilla ice cream and a small Diet Dr. Pepper! All for $3.40! I can't stop using exclamation marks!! No more spending $7 at Chick-fil-a for a good meal... it's all kids meals from here!

-I wrote on my blog! If you can't tell already, I'm trying to put forth a good effort to update my blog a few times a week. I just know that 20 years from now (since I'm horrible at keeping a journal) I'll want to look back at these things. No matter how silly they are.

With all of these positive moments, I'm chalking up today as a good day.

A Shining Example

For the past couple weeks I've been thinking, off and on, about my recent interactions with
President Eyring. I'm lucky to share a ward with him.

I'm sure he doesn't know my name but my favorite thing is that he pretends he does.

"Hey there!" "There she is!" "Good to see you." He acts like we're friends and I love it.

Little does he know that as a young member growing up in Louisiana and Texas, I adored
him more than most youth. When you grow up as a member outside of Utah,
general authorities are almost like celebrities, not your regular people.
We only see them on tv, never in the car next to you or shopping at the same grocery store.
He was the one general authority I sincerely connected with. Every time he spoke.

President Eyring speaks consistently with such compassion and emotion, I find myself relating
to this 80 year old man more and more.

When Mike and I moved to Bountiful, we moved into President Eyring's home ward, and yes,
he attends nearly every Sunday. I've been able to enjoy hearing his personal testimonies
on more than one occasion,
his pure joy when a member of his family speaks in sacrament meeting
 and quick greetings in the hallways at church.

The first Sunday in December church was cut short so that the ward could secure the area, as much as possible, for an expected windstorm. As I walked pass President Eyring, he looked at me with a huge smile and said, "Isn't this so exciting?", to which I responded with the first thing that came to mind.
 "Yes! Especially when you aren't very prepared for the primary lesson you were going to teach."
I look over at Mike to get a "you know what I'm talking about" look but he is just staring at me with a shocked look on his face. I could tell exactly what he was thinking. Uh.. Did you just tell a general authority- a member of the First Presidency no less- that you didn't prepare your lesson? That you aren't magnifying your calling? For a split second I regretted telling Henry B. the truth. I totally wasn't prepared and I was estactic that I was left off the hook for this one Sunday. To my surprise, President Eyring told me about several experiences in grade school when he hadn't done his homework and he prayed that his teacher wouldn't pick it up. He said there were many times when he was "let off the hook" and said that the Lord hears our prayers. Even the seemingly insignificant ones.

He will probably never know how he influences me and that's okay by me.
I simply feel lucky enough to know him.