Today, I'm a Blog Pimp

My brother has a new blog, so I thought it was time to, in Cecily's words, PIMP some blogs.


Since his is the newest blog, let's start with Matt, or as he apparently wishes to be called in the blogosphere, Wilfjord (which was my Grandpa's name, only spelled normal). As you can see by the photo, Matt likes to put things in his nose and is a big 'ole DORK. As far as his blog is concerned, it's not really dorky at all. He's actually a really good writer and only stands to get better. He likes big words like theoretical, empirical, nomothetic, probabilistic, or causal -not casual, causal - all of which I found in an article called FIVE BIG WORDS. So, look up these words and try to use them in comments you leave on his site, he'll be like a kid at Christmas.




Then there is his wife Johnny. English is Johnny's second language, but you'd never know it, she speaks better English than ANYONE I know. She is a YouTube and CNN/MSNBC/Fox News/"any news channel out there" addict, and her blog reflects that. She's also an aspiring Photographer and I can't wait until she starts posting her photos, I think you'll love them too. And, as you can tell by this photo, she has the patience of Job.




Next, speaking of my family, there is my sister Emily. What can I tell you about Emily that you wouldn't know from reading her blog? Well, absolutely nothing. That girl is an OPEN BOOK! And, she's freaking HILARIOUS (her words...and mine). Her blog is titled "Does My Writing Suck?" and my opinion is no, her writing does not suck. She really is very funny and her writing is extremely engaging. She hooks you in the first line, the reels you in leaving you wanting more when she's done. Unfortunately, she "has a life" and doesn't update as often as most of us would like, but when she does, it's totally worth it.


Let's move on to friends, shall we?

How about Lara? Lara is the person in my life that I see most. She sits across from me 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday and goes with me to Symphonies and Ballets (often against our

will). Lara is doing her own version of the 365 project (she actually posts more than one picture a day) and her photos are really great. I love it when we take pictures of the same thing and get VASTLY different outcomes. She is often very abstract and is learning to embrace it. She updates everyday, so keep her site in your favorites. Lara is also one of the funniest people on the planet.

And finally, the person who needs a pimp the least, Cecily. Cecily and Emily are actually quite a bit alike (other than someone once thinking that Cecily was Emily). They both speak very freely about themselves on their blogs, and they are both excellent writers. She writes about real life and makes people feel like she is writing about them. Then there are her comments which are just as funny as her blog. The girl has a minimum of 25 comments PER POST, and they are hilarious. She also has 3 kids who are extremely fun to take pictures of, and the only time I can catch a picture of her is when I'm snapping her kids, and they're usually of her kissing on their faces. But hey, with a baby that sweet, who can blame her?

So there you go, five of my favorite people in the blogging world...actually, they are five of my favorite people period. The are by no means my only favorite blogs, but this post is getting way too long. I'll do another PIMP post at a later date with more of my favorite blogs.


Until then, happy reading!

Wordless Wednesday - Stinkin' Adorable Halloween Costume

Just doing my duty

Yes, I do feel it is my duty to educate people on the wonders that are U2.

Actually, these two posts are for Leslie...who said *sigh* "I've heard of them and I probably have heard of songs but don't think I could hear the song and say "oh, this is U2"..."

;-) Just taking the work out of it for you.

p.s. I just realized that I somehow deleted my last post ("Tagged!!!") hmmm... it's saved at work, I'll re-post on Monday. Oops...

U2 - I Will Follow - 1980

Ah the 80's

Sweeney Todd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy I can hardly breathe! If you haven't seen this musical...well, that's OK, there is a movie coming out. And while it may not be completely true to the musical, IT DOESN'T MATTER! This film looks AMAZING.

I have can't WAIT for this movie!!!

My own personal Soundtrack

I had it pointed out to me in an indirect and also a direct way today that people actually read this blog. Who knew?

Anyway, I decided that it's been too long and it was time to post. But what to write about? Posting photos on the 365 blog is easy, coming up with something to write about, not so easy.

Well, since last Thursday, I have had a #*@!% of a time getting songs out of my head thanks to my friend Cecily. So, turn about is fair play. Here's a list of the songs that have been playing on continuous play in my head since Thursday:

• The Way I Am, Ingrid Michaelson - because if you were chilly I'd definitely give you my sweater...if I had a sweater on that day.
• I Can Hear the Bells, Hairspray - because one day, I just might hear those bells.
• I Lived in Heaven, Primary - lived there and loved there with people I know, so did youuuu.
• Particle Man, They Might Be Giants - Thank you Cecily ... which gave way to...
• Istanbul, They Might Be Giants - because, well it's not Constantinople.
• I Cain't Say No, Oklahoma - because Mary hates me.
• Que Sera, Sera, Doris Day - hell, whatever will be, will be.
• Popular, Wicked - because that's Lala's song that pops in to my head every time I say her name (you know, the part that says la, la, la, la.)
• Shiny Happy People, R.E.M. - because of this.
• Your Happy Birthday, Primary - because, well Zipp-a-dee-ay and Heigh-dee-ho just might be the funnest two lyrics in the world to sing.

Wordless Wednesday - A Lonely Leaf

100 Things that make me Smile

The past few months I've noticed that I've been pretty cranky pretty often. So today I decided (having been inspired by Cecily) that I'd come up with 100 things that made me smile. I'm not promising that it will make me less cranky, but it made me happy today.

1. The Magic 8 Ball that Matt gave me for Christmas several years ago
2. The leaves changing in Autumn
3. My Primary kids singing
4. This face
   
   
5. The smell of my Grandma’s house
6. Sushi
7. My mother singing
8. Friends that I’m reconnecting with
9. Piano lessons
10. Museums
11. The first view of Deer Lake coming around the corner at Haney’s
12. Shanny memories
13. Blogging
14. Fried Oysters at Christmas
15. The feeling of relief when the Nutcracker is over
16. Sweeney Todd
17. Sarah’s Pumpkin Soup (and Brioche…hint, hint)
18. This face
    
    
19. My dad’s jokes (don’t tell him that though)
20. The Whale Story
21. When tulips bloom
22. Conference weekend
23. The Eiffel Tower at night
24. Popsicles
25. Hugs from kids
26. This face



27. Catching the perfect moment with my camera
28. Learning
29. When Emily laughs so hard she snorts
30. When Lara says something so randomly funny that I pee my pants I’m laughing so hard
31. Swiss Chocolate
32. Giving presents
33. Getting presents
34. Having a birthday month instead of just one day
35. When Dustin laughs at my jokes … because he’s the only one that ever does
36. Licking the beater when my Mom made a cake
37. Singing show tunes
38. This face




39. Bombing Mary
40. Chair day
41. Carrot ball
42. Mute day
43. The gas coupon when you use your Fresh Value card at Smith’s
44. When Hattie laughs
45. “These wonderful things are the… these wonderful things are the… these wonderful things are the…”
46. When Taylor cuddles
47. When Geoffrey tells me that he loves me to Pluto and back 3, 245,654 times
48. The Bellagio Fountain
49. Books on CD
50. This face
51. 
    
52. Making up words to the X-files theme song
53. Telling Erin stories
54. Seeing Butch play “Pretty Pretty Princess” with his girls
55. When Ellie runs out to greet me at my car
56. engrish.com
57. Calling Johnny Mexican, Indian (feather not dot), or Chinese
58. Two words: U – 2
59. Talking to Lisa for 3 hours at a time
60. This face
61. 
62. The Three Billy Goats Gruff as told by my parents
63. Camp fires
64. The sound of Crickets
65. Singing with my sisters
66. Thinking of things that make me smile
67. The sound of Thunder Storms
68. When Sammy says “I’m five” when you ask him how he is doing
69. When Emett called me Beelissa
70. Thinking about my Grandparents
71. Sold out shows
72. This face




73. Ice Cream
74. Picking up pictures at Costco (which I will be doing as soon as I’m done with this)
75. Hanging out with my family
76. When Baylee pulls faces at my camera
77. That my family cannot have a family portrait taken with out at least one shot of us picking our noses
78. This face


79. 
80. When Gracie says “cheeeese” as soon as she sees my camera (and I’m not even holding it)
81. Lemonade
82. The smell of freshly sharpened pencils
83. Falling asleep to the sound of rain hitting my window
84. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
85. When my family and friends succeed and I can brag about them
86. Flip-flops
87. Knitting
88. Good books
89. Warm soup
90. Finding a picture for the 365 project before noon
91. Breakfast on Christmas morning
92. This face



93. New friends
94. Musicals
95. The sound of the Ocean
96. Seeing Chloe’s picture plastered all over my Marketing Campaign
97. Max’s Smile
98. This face



99. Quiet Sunday afternoons
100. The fact that I finally have a brother-in-law
101. Have I mentioned U2 yet? Well, they deserve a second mention, they make me smile a lot
102. My Dad’s hugs
103. These faces

Wordless Wednesday - A Satellite Dish?

Look Who's Blogging Baby!

Hey everybody! Look who's blogging. If you are one of the two people who have regularly read this blog, you'll recall me mentioning my sister Emily a time or two (she's the one who just got married). Well I've been trying to get her to blog from the beginning, and now after years...ok, months...fine, weeks of "blog stalking" she has finally set up her own. You really should go check her out, she a very talented writer and extremely funny (and no, I'm not just saying that because she's my sister). ...and it doesn't hurt that she has excellent taste in photograpers.

Happy Blogging Em-cat!

Day 15 Graveyard

I think I'm going to have to change the name of this blog to "The Graveyard of Discarded Photos." Anyway, there were too many photos yesterday (again) that I liked to just choose one for the 365 Project. Eventually (obviously) I did, but I thought I'd give you a slide show of the ones I didn't choose. I think they're pretty great. I hope you do too!

Another Wordless Wednesday - Urban Decay II

Wordless Wednesday - Dance with me Papa!

I just couldn't decide

I am totally getting in to this 365 Project! It isn't easy, but it has been SO much fun. Today, I couldn't decide which photo to put up, so I've decided I'd post the pictures here that I didn't post there. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday - Mommy Love

Faces that make me happy

There are certain faces in this world that make me smile. Actually there are several. Here are just a few:

I have a New Blog

I've decided that after several years of amateur photography, it's time I define my style. So I've decided that in order to do that I have to get my butt in gear and start shooting. Not that I haven't been shooting, as you can see from this blog, I've definitely got the "shutter bug." My problem is that I don't know what I want to do with it yet. Sometimes I think I would love to do weddings, but then I shoot a wedding and think, never again. Then I think I want to shoot kids, and well, you can imagine the rest.

So I've decided to post on my new blog, 365 days worth of photos and see where it takes me. I figured that I'd post the first day here, but for the rest of them? You'll have to check it out.

"Visions from a Fountain"

Wish me luck!

My Day Yesterday

I had a very odd day yesterday. It started out crap and ended up crap, but there was good stuff in between. How did my day start out crap you ask? A cold shower. Not a pretty thing. Yesterday was the opening concert of our season at work and it wasn't a good day for a cold shower. So I grabbed my clothes, my shampoo and conditioner, and all the necessary accoutrement's, called and left a message for my landlord, and headed for my parents to shower.

Lara & Mary heading up to the concert

I got to work about 15 minutes late and the workday went just fine. In fact, at our first concert of the 2007-2008, Andre Watts Plays Beethoven with the Utah Symphony, we had the most people in an opening classical series concert since I've been employed with the Ogden Symphony Ballet Association (it's usually a pretty hard sell). Unfortunately, I was in the ticket office too long to hear Andre Watts play Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto.

View from the inside of a ticket office (yeah, it's kind of a prison).

So I wandered up to the roof of the Browning Center and took some photos.

The Northern Sky

The Western Sky

The Spaceship on the top of the Browning Center

So, once intermission came I went back to work pouring lemonade for the society big wigs who were just dying to meet Mr. Watts. That's what I call being a good Marketing Manager don't you? The intermission ended and I finally got to go in to the concert. Most people know this about me, but some don't, I'm a nerd when it comes to Classical Music. I absolutely love it! And I'm telling you, last night I wasn't disappointed. The Utah Symphony played Holst's The Planets and it was absolutely stunning.

How did my day end crappy? Still no hot water.

Grobanites are crazy!

Josh Groban, The Rave - a Film by Lara Deppe

You might think I'm kidding, but I actually went to a Josh Groban concert last night and had a great time! That boy has a golden voice.

The thing that was truly scary about that concert though? The "Grobanites!" Holy cow, these are some freaky women. If you look on Wikipedia, you'll see "Grobanites" defined as: "Grobanites are a group of Josh Groban's most radical, devoted fans. Grobanites come from all over the world and are male or female and of a wide range of ages. However, most Grobanites are female (might I add over 40)." Then you head over to thatjoshgrobanguy.com and you read this: "A "fan" sees Josh as a great singer, a Grobanite sees him as a great person who happens to have an amazing voice and a gift for creating beautiful music."

At first when my friend Lara joined friendsofjoshgroban.com or as she affectionately refers to it "f.o.j.g.", I wondered if the stories she told were true. Well, wonder no more ladies and gentlemen, they are. I spent the night last night in awe about how these women swoon of this boy.

All in all it was a great concert (though not the kind of rock concert I'm used to) and I definately consider myself a fan. And as freaky as the "Grobanites" are, they are women with very good hearts. They have raised more than a half of a million dollars for the Josh Groban Foundation that is fighting Aids in Africa and you all know how I feel about that. :-)

p.s. The video is from the concert when he is talking about the glow sticks and paper hearts in the audience (from the Grobanites), and making a joke about how his next tour is going to be a rave. Can you imagine? Josh Groban and the Grobanites at a Rave? I'd definitely pay to see it.

Watch this...

I think it's kinda creepy.

Random Odd Questions

Every once in a while odd questions pop in to my head and I'm always very curious to know what people think about my odd questions.

So, I've posted some of them (and trust me these are not anywhere near the strangest things I think about.) and I'm dying to know what you think! So leave a comment and answer your favorite.

1. Is the world ready for a Mormon in the White House?
   
2. What would happen if Britany Spears, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan were banished to a desert island?
   
3. Is Snape good or not?
   
4. What would your life be like if you could go back in time and change one big regret?
   
5. Is there anyone in this world who grew up to be what they wanted to grow up to be?
   
6. Would you ever get a “cornea tattoo?” (Yes, there is such a thing, I just read about it.) And if you answer Yes, WHY???!!!
   
7. What are your thoughts on Global Warming?
8. Does anyone ever actually read this blog?
   
9. And finally (yes, we the last question is #9… this is random after all), if U2 didn’t exist, would life be worth living? Don't bother answering this one, I already know the answer is NO! :-)

And if you really are dying to find out who won the "competition" from the previous post... and I know you are :-) ... I had to call it a draw and say there wasn't a real winner, there were too many factors...and my Dad is a sore loser. :-) I'll write more on this another day.

Good Versus Evil - Harry & Voldemort? No, me & my Dad!

See? I told you I'm a big 'ole dork! As of this moment there are only 13 hours 51 minutes and 15 seconds until I can read the final book Harry Potter series. And then I am taking the next 4 days of my life off! ALL I am going to do is read (and maybe do some laundry). I might think about spending some time with my family, but that's a big old maybe. I really only need 2 days to read, but I'll need the next 2 to recover.

For the last month and a half or so, my Dad has been picking fights with me over who dies and who is evil and who isn't. While I won't say which side either of us is on, I will say that I can't WAIT to see who is right... and I really really want to be the one who is right. Because I'm telling you NOTHING in this world is worse than when my Dad gloats! He is the KING of Tease!

And Dad, if you are reading this (and you will be, because I'm calling you in just a minute), I have something just for you, Ecclesiastes 3:3 (you can read the first two verses to catch you up). SO THERE!

I'll keep you posted on the progress of competition (I promise, NO SPOILERS).

Happy Reading!

If you are in NYC...

You must see the revival of Les Miserables! Robert Hunt has taken over the role of Javert. I'm telling you, I've seen this guy in this role, and he is AMAZING!!!

I have actually seen Les Mis a couple of different times with a couple of different people playing this role, and I he is the best ever! When he sings "Stars" it will be like you've died and gone to heaven.

So, lets recap:

• If you are in New York, see Les Mis and make sure that Robert Hunt is playing Javert!

Got it? Good. And if you do make it to the show, wait for him at the stage door and tell him how great he is, he'll love it. And don't forget to tell him hi from Melissa, he is my friend after all.

...I love it when I can brag about my friends! Especially when they deserve it as much as Robert does. :-)

22 Days and Counting!

I can't even tell you how excited I am about this book coming out. The only thing is, I have serious reading problem. The problem is that when I find a book that I love I obsess over it and don't get ANYTHING else done until I have read it. I think that my record for a Harry Potter book is Book 6 that I finished reading on Sunday afternoon, the day after it was released. See what I mean? It's a problem!

A Beautiful Day

May 25, 2007, was a beautiful day! Not only did I lose a sister, I got to take the pictures. :-) Next stop Cali!

If you are interested in seeing more of these, go to my flickr page.