Ballet-ing :) I loved it.

Okay, the day after Halloween, Bonnie and I took some dudes (Rich and Brett from work) to Ballet West's Dracula. Both of their first ballet experience and they did really well. :) The second act introduced the lead dancer and they put him in purple tights to stand out from the villagers who wore brown. The best line from the night...when the lead came on stage, Rich subtly comments, "Oh boy."And Brett just looked seriously concerned. Bonnie and I were in stitches trying to cover up our laughs during the performance.

Then at intermission when the guy gets the girl, Brett turns to us..."I think she chose him because of his pants. The other guys didn't stand a chance."

"But Brett, you looked so concerned when he came out."

"Well...did he know that he forgot his pants?"

Needless to say, the entertainment on and off the stage was phenomenal. Thanks for being such good sports about the Ballet guys! :)

p.s. the Ballet was GREAT...loved the costumes, the dancing, choreography, sets, loved it all. Of course...my first true love is Classical Ballet...I am kind of a sucker for it!
This is how much we loved the show! :)
And what Rich thought about it. :)
One of our spontaneous celebratory events at work this week was our "1st Year Anniversary of being in this building" party. We moved from American Fork to Lehi 1 year ago and we LOVE our new building...and we love to celebrate. So Heidi and I put a little something together, including an orange wedding cake...that had a little accident on the way from the bakery to the office. A little traffic and some brakeage...and shoot. the cake went into the seat.

We salvaged it, and it was yummy. No big deal. It added to the party. :)

Friday was my roomie Leah's birthday...26!! We decorated and greeted her with happy birthdays in the morning, then we went out on the town with a couple of her mission companions for the evening. Mama Chus for dinner...she got toquitos, her favorite.
And here is the groupie for dinner...mmm, it was yummy.
Then after dropping off her cute friend who was feeling sick...aka vomiting out the car door at every stop light from Provo to Orem. She got out of the car and we all agreed that this story will be great when we're all best friends. Ha ha.

Anyway, Coldstone for dessert...mmm. Bonnie and I shared Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream with graham cracker crust and caramel. MMM.
And they loved their ice cream despite the eek faces...they weren't sure how they felt about the picture taking.
Saturday night I volunteered at the Ballet West GALA at The Grand America Hotel...LOVE that building. Oh my. I simply directed traffic and smiled at the guests. And then guided them to their tables in the ballroom. The event was AMAZING, and so fun!

And you can't see my earrings, but they were FANTASTIC...and my earlobes were down to my sides by the end of the night. But I looked great! :)

Catching up with High School friends and Momma

This week was good, caught up with some significant people and worked a lot. Tuesday night I went to the temple and there were about 6 people receiving their endowment for the first time, so the session was a little extra tender and made me think of my first time...

After the session I felt like I needed to go visit my parents and indeed I did. My dad cooked us up some midnight scrambled eggs with zucchini, then went to bed and mom and I stayed up til 1:30 am just chatting and catching up. I learned some things that I never knew about my mom. She told me the story of when she was in 1st grade and she and her sisters were singing on television at 3:30 pm and school got out at 3:20 pm. Her sister Annette came to pick her up from her class to hurry off to sing, but even though my mom's row was sitting with their arms folded and quiet, they were not being excused by the teacher. My mom was anxious and needed to go, but was not being excused and did not want to disobey. Well, it came down to the wire and she just had to go...she was singing on television...so she finally got up and left without the teacher's permission. The next day she was kept in from recess and punished for it...such an injustice.

Anyway, fun stories like that came out of the woodwork and we caught up on everyone and everything inbetween. Love my momma.

I was of course dead at work the next day and ate my way through the work day with chocolate...not friendly to the waistline.

Then Wednesday night I met up with my best friend from High School, Tishna Campbell. We met up at Magleby's and had a great dinner and caught up for 3 hours. It was SO good and SO fun. I was pleasantly surprised at how real our conversation was. It was so refreshing. We have been doing our own things for the past couple of years with just a facebook message or birthday wish here and there, so it was fantastic to get in and see how she is really doing and she is doing fantastic! Here we are after a night of yummy food and conversation. Love this girl!

Thursday night I stayed late at work supervising the installation of a wall graphic for a "Core Value" that we were launching at work on Friday. I went to the gym to unravel and read another chapter in "Leading Through Conflict". I love what I do at work so much that sometimes I just want to keep working, but taking a break is really good in those moments. This was one of those. Anyway, I felt really good about the Core Value launch on Friday, I was in charge of setting everything up and I was pleased with how it went. I am getting better at the details!

Friday night I met up with Wayne, my high school crush, for dinner before we met up with Tish and other friends for hot chocolate. It was great to catch up with Wayne, his life and his family and the latest from the past 2 years. Then we met up with Tish, Dave and Allison for hot chocolate at Denny's rather than frozen yogurt because it was freezing out side. Did winter come overnight...pretty sure it did.

Anyway, Wayne and I got the last 2 hot chocolates they had. So I came in cold and left cold. But the conversation and get together made up for it. It was fun to catch up with everyone, but on the whole I wish we were a bit more real with each other. We brushed off and joked about our single station in life and I am the only one graduated out of the group, so they laughed about their still being in school. But...who cares. I am interested in knowing what's going on in their life, but I couldn't get past the jokes. I am much better one on one, but a little disappointed that i couldn't steer the conversation to be more meaningful.

I crave deep conversation...have you met me?...but my family and roommate are always telling me to just chill and go with the flow. Sigh. I know it doesn't have to be deep and intimate every second, but come on, just a little bit? It's been forever. I obviously have to work harder at surface conversation...still not my forte, but I am working on it. :)

On the whole it was fantastic to see these people. Still the same great individuals. I think it was only yesterday that we were going on Marching Band tours and giving high fives in the halls.

I think Dave was attempting the Thunderbird hand motion...no idea. We had to remind him what to do in pictures.

Here it is...The Thunderbird in all it's glory. :)

Dave was sporting the crocheted beanie...ha ha. His style choices sometimes crack me up because he is so not stylishly stuffy, he's just Dave.

He was practicing his romantic moves the whole night...of course all of them were accompanied by this kind of face or roaring laughter. He kept the whole evening light.

Then Tish and I crashed at my place with The Proposal and laughed like old times. We of course analyzed the dinner and talked through our thoughts. So fun.

Saturday I didn't get up til 11:30...so nice. Then I stayed in bed most of the day preparing my sunday school lesson, journaling, planning, pondering, and just being creative. Ah, I love those moments. I had all the time in the world to do what I love most and it was absolutely juicy.

I finally got up and hit the gym and then ran some errands.

I found some dynamite shoes for Rosey's wedding. Magenta/purple peep toe booties! Slightly more purple than magenta, but I think they will work fabulously. All I have left is deciding on accessories...you know, earrings, necklace, hair pin...I must decide what to wear. :)

Today I taught Sunday school for the first time as part of my calling and it went well. I procrastinated a little long, so I didn't get into knowing the scriptures as much as I would have liked. It was on Paul's epistle to the Hebrews and I got kind of jumbled when I was reading it. Anyway, the gist was that Paul was moving the church members from practicing the Law of Moses...to...the new and higher law of Faith on Jesus Christ. Part of my lesson was outlining the story of our faith...since Jesus is the "author and finisher of our faith". How our faith goes from belief....to...testing, hoping, trusting...to...knowing. Anyway, I could have involved more discussion, but I was so focused on setting the stage. Always learning about how to teach better.

And now I am looking forward to relaxing for the rest of the Sunday and reading more in this fantastic Leading Through Conflict book....I am really loving it!

Catching Up...

Wow, it's been a while. I have just been so busy dating that my blogging has taken a back seat. ;) That's right. Dating. Who knew I would actually enjoy this and bump it up on the priority scale. :)

Anyway, a brief update on what's been going on...

Work: Still love my job at One on One. I feel that I am moving and growing to the next level, I have been zeroing in on my relationship with my boss, adding in a little more personal touch to the business talk so that it is enjoyable for both of us. I know, weird that I would struggle with bringing warmth and personality to a relationship, but I am hypersensitive to making efficient use of his time and our conversations...almost too much as I see, so I am coming back into better balance. I am currently planning our Christmas Party, preparing presentations and meeting agendas, and leading out on most of our giving back initiatives, we just finished a 7 day food drive and gathered 5086 lbs. of food, so great! Anyway, needless to say, I am learning a lot and growing tons which is my number one that is nonnegotiable in my work.

Love: My dating/social life has exploded and it's actually really fun. I have had a few girly get togethers with sisters in my ward and it has made the biggest difference in feeling that I am part of a ward family. My singles ward lacks a cohesion that I am so used to and it has been a big disappointment to be part of...and yet a blaring opportunity for me to create some, I know that's why I am in this ward and am working on stepping up to the plate in that regard.

I just got called to Sunday School Teaching (Hooray!) and released from VT supervisor, so I am excited to create some unity through that vein as well as continue my VT efforts, attend activities, and create some of my own to bring people together. I am a people person and Heavenly Father knows that. Shoot. It's time to step up. :)

Okay, so the juice on the dating scene. I have been working the online dating scene (eHarmony and Match.com) and thanks to my brilliant roommate Bonnie, who is a PRO at online dating, I have had a lot of success with meeting and going out with lots of different guys. It feels very much like kissing frogs at times, but on the whole, it has been a lot of fun. And I learn ALOT about who I am and who I am looking for. It's GREAT practice and it feels very much like a 'Dating Lab"...haven't found the ideal partner, but plenty that are willing to do a little experimenting ;)...to be continued...

Home Life: Still love my roommate Bonnie and we got another roommate, Leah, from Tennessee with no accent because as a vocal performance major, she worked with a diction coach to change it. She does still say "Y'all", so we can believe her that she is indeed from the South.

But life is good. Bonnie is the best roommate I could have ever asked for, one of the greatest blessings for me in my life right now. Not only has she shown me the ropes for online dating ;), but she is a great confidant and coach on professional performance, wardrobe, and other critical questions...:) Love this girl.

Church: I know I touched on my callings, but I just wanted to include an interesting experience. I finally found (well, her dad called our Bishop with her correct contact information) a sister that has been on my VT list since January. I stopped by and finally after a few months caught the current residents home with their dogs and they had no idea who I was looking for. It was like having a lost lamb and not knowing the first place to go look. It was frustrating and very cool at the same time to feel the stewardship and connection to this sister. I admit that I semi gave up until further notice. Then this past month I was handed my VT assignment and an updated phone and address was next to her name. Unbelievable joy and excitement rushed over me. I saw her that night and learned her story...and alls well that ends well. She is coming back to church after 3 years and expressed that "it's like Christmas!" Wow! Going to Sacrament Meeting is definitely not like Christmas for me every week...but talking with her freshened up my perspective for sure.

And that same day that I saw this sister coming back, I met with another sister who is leaving. No hard feelings, just pursuing another path with God right now. Super interesting to talk with her...and a great experience for me. Thank you Heavenly Father.

I am looking forward to Rosey's wedding at the end of this month to celebrate with everyone. Weddings are one of my favorite things in the world because it means time with the fam, and dancing the night away...what else is there? Honestly.