PHOROGS?

Last night I was looking through all the pictures on my computer, which I tend to do quite often. I love looking through and remembering all the details of what was going on when each picture was taken. I tend to take A LOT of pictures, of pretty much anything and everything. And I have some good stories that go along with a lot of these pictures. So, since I can never come up with anything interesting to blog about I thought it would be fun to post a random picture and the story that goes along with it. Some may be a bit embarrassing, but I am willing to sacrifice my dignity for a good story. Thus, the phorog is born. My photo story blogs. (I realize that this is what one usually does on a blog...post pictures and write about them...but this is different because these are old pictures. Just go with it.)

This is a picture of T-Bag. For those of you who watch the show Prison Break, you know who I am talking about. For those of you who don't watch it, you need to. I was a bit obsessed with this show, and you will notice reference to it on more than one occasion. So...on the show, T-Bag is an evil, murderous man....much like this spider! I hate spiders. But even more, I hate walking outside of my apartment only to find this gigantic monster lurking above my door. (P.S. California has a lot of spiders. And this was not the only time I encountered such a beast.) It was so big and looked like it could jump down and kill you. Hence the name, T-Bag...very fitting. After we were done freaking out from the initial shock of staring T-Bag in the face, we decided the only feasible way to kill it was with a giant can of Raid (which was left over from a giant ant infestation). We could have just chopped his hand off, but PB watchers know that does not slow T-Bag down. We also could have just put him in a ghetto prison in panama...but again, nothing. So, Raid it was.

We in no way wanted to try and knock him down with a broom or anything, just in case he attempted to lunge at us. So we thought this was our best bet. Quick and easy, right? Just spray a little poison on him, and that will be that. Wrong! This monster would not die. Another good reason for his name. I kept spraying and spraying, and he kept moving and moving. After about 2 minutes of a constant stream of Raid....T-Bag finally bit the dust. SUCCESS! Or so I thought. He wanted to have one last hoorah and scare the crap out of me. He slowly started descending...coming right for my head. But I was too fast for him. He must have forgotten I was the one with the can of poison! As you can tell from the next picture T-Bag was finally a gonner.
While all of this was going on, we didn't notice that our downstairs neighbor had come out of his apartment to see what all the high pitched screaming was all about. He had a good laugh, that is for sure. We had one of our chairs from the kitchen out that I was standing on, in a skirt, squealing. Who wouldn't enjoy that, eh? From then on we were known as the spider killers by our neighbor. A couple of times when we were walking up the stairs we would hear him behind us calling us killers. And it made it even more comical because he was this big black guy who was all gangster. I don't know...maybe you just had to be there. Anyways, good times.

Pay It Forward

I don't know why, but I never really liked that movie. Do I not have a heart or something? What's not to like..."Young Trevor McKinney, troubled by his mother's alcoholism and fears of his abusive but absent father, is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet. The assignment: think of something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward--repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people. Trevor's efforts to make good on his idea bring a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his physically and emotionally scarred teacher, but in those of an ever-widening circle of people completely unknown to him." (thanks to IMDB)

I mean, come on. The cute little kid is trying to change the world. It has heartwarming written all over it! Just not for me, I guess. I think the ending ruined it for me. Anyways, even though I didn't care for the movie, I do think this is a great idea!

So....the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift/treat from me, or maybe even both! What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!

Sounds like fun, huh? And since there are pretty much only 3 people who read my blog this should be pretty easy! I think it will be pretty interesting to see where this goes! I hope you join in, because I make some pretty amazing things, and you will want them! And I am really humble about it. Just kidding, but really, I think this is going to be great.

Can you tell I am pretty excited for this?

America's Next Top Model

I LOVE taking pictures.
Especially of cute little kiddos.
Good thing I have such cute
nieces and nephew to take millions of pictures of!
Here are the latest photos of Lilia.
Looks like we have a little model on our hands, wouldn't you say?

Tyra would be proud!

Jack Daniels???

So, I am pretty much the best aunt ever....and here is proof!

Maybe we should just start calling him Jack instead of Zach.

Don't Be Jealous

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I don't know why, but I sure do get a kick out of things like this.

1986

What a great year...because it was the year I was born. Here is a look at what I would have looked like in 1986 if I were 22! Looking at this picture really makes me think I was born in the wrong decade. I obviously would have rocked the 80's!

Better than Dad's???

...so I've been told. The source shall remain nameless though. Lately I have had an addiction of looking at food blogs, which is starting to turn into a real problem. I am finding so many good looking things to make, all of which are full of fatty goodness. That's where this Mac 'N Cheese recipe comes in. I have only made homemade Mac 'N Cheese once in my life, and I didn't have a recipe, so it didn't turn out so well. But when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. And so I must share it for all to try because it was so delicious. And I have to admit I liked it better the next day! I had to do a few alterations to the recipe because Wal-Mart is limited in the cheese department, but that didn't seem to matter, it was still delightful! The recipe seems lengthy...it is, but well worth the effort. The picture doesn't do it justice.

LunaCafe OtherWorldly Mac & Cheese

Pasta
12 ounces, short, dried, tubular pasta, such as garganelli, maccheroni, mostaccioli, penne, tortiglione, or ziti **I used a whole 16 oz. box
2 teaspoons sea salt

Breadcrumb Topping
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups stale white bread crumbs, coarsely crumbled ** I used stuffing mix ground in a food processor...lots more flavor
2 clove garlic, pressed or minced

Cheeses (15-16 ounces or about 5 cups total cheese)
6 ounces (2 cups) grated, aged cheddar cheese
3 ounces (1 cup) grated Swiss Emmanthaler or Gruyere **Couldn't find
3 ounces (1 cup) grated, mild-flavored melting cheese, such as Jack or Asadero
3 ounces (1 cup) grated Italian Pecorino Romano (aged at least 9 months) ** I used a combo of Romano, Asiago, and Parmesan
optional: 2-4 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (1 ounce) **Couldn't find

**I just added more of the cheesed that I had to compensate for the cheese I couldn't find

Béchamel Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups minced yellow onion (8 ounces or about 1 large onion)
2 cloves garlic, peeled, and minced or pressed
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk (or a mixture of half milk and half cream or sour cream, or a mixture of half cream and half chicken stock) **I used half milk and half cream
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Optional Extras (choose one or more)
½ cup, stemmed, seeded, diced jalapeno chilies (add while the onions are cooking)
½ cup cooked, crumbled applewood smoked bacon (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)
1 cup roasted, peeled, seeded, diced poblano chile (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)
½ cup roasted, peeled, seeded, diced jalapeno chile (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)
2 cups sautéed, chopped shitake mushrooms (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)

Prepare the baking dish

1. Coat a 6-cup capacity, ovenproof casserole with vegetable spray or a dab of butter. Reserve.

Make the breadcrumb topping

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, bread crumbs, and garlic. Reserve.

Cook the pasta

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil, add 2 teaspoons of salt, return to a boil, and add the pasta.
2. Cook until just barely tender with a bit of chewiness remaining.
3. Remove the pasta pot from the stove and carefully pour the water and pasta into a large colander to drain. Run cold water over the pasta to cool it to room temperature. Add pasta to a large mixing bowl.
4. Toss the pasta in the bowl with all of the cheeses and reserve.

Make the béchamel sauce

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, add the onions, and slowly cook until onions are softened but not browned. Add the garlic and stir to combine.
2. Stir in the flour, and cook without browning for two minutes.
3. Slowly pour in the milk and whisk constantly while bringing the sauce to a simmer. Simmer, whisking continuously, for 2 minutes.
4. Pour the sauce over the pasta and cheeses in the bowl. With a large spatula, fold to combine.
5. Spoon into the prepared casserole, mounding slightly at the center.
6. Sprinkle on the breadcrumb topping.
7. Bake at 350º for 30-40 minutes until heated through and bubbling. Broil for a minute or two to finish browning the top.

My Prince Charming?

So I have been spending a lot of time with a boy lately, and tonight we went on our first date. Before I go into too much detail about the date, let me weigh out some pros and cons about the boy and our date. Just to give you an idea of who he is.

Pro- He's got a lot of energy and likes to do most things. I had a hard time keeping up with him.
Con- He is a bit younger than I am. And by a bit, I mean quite a bit. That's why he has so much energy.

Pro- He loves singing, and maybe he will be a musician someday.
Con- He doesn't have a job now, so he borrowed money from his mom for the date.

Pro- There was a lot of holding hands.
Con- He is shorter than I am. Which probably makes it tiring for his arm to hold my hand.

Pro- He had a really nice red striped shirt on...he looked really cute in it.
Con- He decided to pair that really nice looking shirt with bright green boots.

Pro- I lost count of how many times he told me he loves me.
Con- Although he says he loves me, he never once opened my door for me.

Pro- He always comes up with random things to talk about...makes it interesting.
Con- The majority of our conversations centered around Halloween.

Pro- We went to get ice cream! I love ice cream!
Con- He had a problem keeping most of his ice cream off his face. Then ate half of my cone.

Pro- There were a lot of kisses.
Con- Most were slobbery.

So, he's got a lot of learning to do before his next date, I would say. But that's okay, because he still has 14 more years to figure it out. He will be a pro by then. So maybe you are thinking that I went out with some weirdo loser guy...but let me explain. I got to go out on a date with my nephew...who is 2. For being 2 we had a pretty great date. We went to McDonald's for dinner and he was very pleased with his race car toy. We named it Speed Racer. After dinner we went to Michael's Crafts...because the kid is obsessed with Halloween, and Michael's has a pretty decent spread. He loved going around the store looking for witches and pumpkins. Then we went next door to Petco to look at all the animals. This is where he went crazy running all over the place. He had to look at the fish, then run over to the hamsters, then to the snakes, and back to the fish, etc. Back and Forth a few times. When we had to leave the store he was pretty sad, so I used the old bribe him with ice cream trick. It worked until we got out to the car, then the screams started. He did not want to get into his carseat. People looked at us, and probably thought I was beating him or something. It was pretty cute though, because he had his arms around my neck and wouldn't let go then he looked at me and planted a big kiss on my cheek so I wouldn't put him in. That boy sure knows that kisses will make me do what he wants. Eventually he got in his seat and we went to a different McDonald's to get ice cream cones. You can't go back to the same one, so we had to find a new one and the whole way there we talked about Halloween. He was very excited to get his one whole ice cream cone. When I gave it to him he got such a surprised expression on his face and said "Oh, Wow!" After ice cream I brought him back home. It was a pretty great date. He was really cute in his bright green frog boots, and a face covered in ice cream.

Smarter than me?

Not hard to do. So I saw a link to this quiz where you have to arrange a bunch of color chips in order of hue. I thought I did pretty well with a score of 12, then I saw comments where people were getting perfect scores! I thought it was pretty hard...so I am blaming it on my computer screen. I am curious to see what you all get!

The Next Martha Stewart

So I needed a change of decor in my room. Everything on the walls has been in the same spot for almost a year, which might not sound so bad to some, but I am used to moving to a new place at least once a year. And with moving comes a new palette to put all of my decorations. Recently I have just needed some change. I have been thinking of projects that I could do for a few months now, and bought a few canvases and paint and brushes so I could do some cool painting project. I started, then realized that I am not a painter. Luckily I had only painted on one of the canvases, so they weren't all ruined. But then I just set my supplies aside and forgot about them for awhile. The other day I was in IKEA and in one of their display rooms they had canvases covered in fabric. I CAN DO THAT! No artistic creativity is needed. Just fold some fabric over a canvas...which I had! So I looked through their fabric and couldn't find any that matched my room, so I kept going and came across curtains! And they were perfect and so amazing! I brought them home and made such a cool project with them. Well, I think it is cool, but I made it, so I may be a bit partial. All it consists of is 5 canvases, curtain fabric, and brown paint...and tape because that is the only thing I had to attach the fabric to the canvas. I will skip all the boring details of how I made it and just go straight to the finished product!

T.G.I.......W.

Because that means that it is Farmer's Market day! I have never been to the Sacramento Farmer's Market, but I decided to give it a try. So yesterday I was bored and got the grand idea of looking up local events in Sacramento and see if I wanted to go to any of them. And the Farmer's Market came up. I have been to a few Farmer's Market in my day and I really enjoy walking around to look at what everyone has at their tents. So, I decided that it would be a good activity since I never go anywhere in the city. So today I set out on my adventure to downtown Sacramento...by myself. I have to add in here that I don't do well with directions and finding my way around places that I don't know. So this really was an adventure for me. And I am proud to say that only once did I get on the wrong freeway, and that was on the way home, and it wasn't completely my fault. I was fully aware of the correct freeway entrance, someone just wouldn't let me over, so I had to take the scenic route. Anyways, when I got downtown I was a little nervous about finding a place to park, but luckily found a place just a block away from the market. One cool thing about downtown is that they don't have parking meters, so you don't have to worry if you have quarters or not. But they have little pay "stations" that you can use a credit card at and then it prints out a little sticker that you put in your window. I know that they have these in parking lots and such, but I have never seen them just along the street. I was very excited about these, because I have no quarters. So, I get to the Farmer's Market and it is great! It is so cool that there is just a park on it's own block right in the middle of downtown surrounded by buildings. But in this picture you can't even tell....that is why it is so great!There was everything from blueberries to popcorn, flowers to nuts, almost every fruit and vegetable you could want, herbs....I think you get the point. It was just so much fun to see all of the different booths and everything they had. It was hard not to buy a lot of things, because
everything is so cheap. But I had self control and only bought 3 things. And the total was under $10! I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers for only $5. Seriously, where can you get flowers for that cheap??? And I got a few delicious peaches for $1/lb. But I think the purchase of the day was Pizza Bagels. I remember buying this kind of bagel from the BYU Twilight Zone. So if you have ever had those, imagine a pizza bagel that is about 14 times better than that. Seriously. These bagels are just so delicious! I can't even begin to describe how good they are. And if you don't know what a pizza bagel is...then I truly pity you. The bagel itself has a bunch of herbs in it, then it is topped with pizza sauce and cheese. That description does not do them justice...just imagine. So that pretty much sums up my day at the Farmer's Market. I will definitely be visiting it again and will hopefully be able to get a few more things. I got home safely, and had a fun time trying to figure out all the one way streets and trying to figure out how to get to the freeway I wanted. Another thing I have had to get used to in Sacramento is that there is more than one freeway. In Boise you only take one freeway to get anywhere. In Utah I only took one freeway to get anywhere. Here we have to take 3 freeways just to get to FHE every week. But I am getting the hang of "Bigger City" life. Oh yeah...I made a homeless lady's day. I was walking past her and smiled and said Hello. Of course, she asked if I could help her out, unfortunately I don't carry cash so I didn't have anything for her. So I apologized for not being able to help, but she said that the smile and Hello were good enough for her. I thought that was nice of her to say. So in a way, she made my day too!

Mmmm......

I REALLY want this right now.

But we don't have any.

Charlie Bit Me!

This video is so freaking hilarious. We watch it over and over again. A few tears might have been shed because of how hard we laughed. This is definitely my new favorite video.

Mr. Lucky

So last night we were in a part of Sacramento that we have never been to before, and right there on the side of the road next to a light rail station was this special little Buddha troll statue thing. So after we were done with the YSA dance...feel free to laugh right now...and we were on our way home we couldn't pass up the opportunity to pose with this very attractive statue. And the funny part is when you get closer he has a name tag type thing on his neck that says "Mr. Lucky". And I must say, last night he was pretty lucky.

I was Tagged!

Four jobs I've had:

1. Day Care Worker-made me realize I will never put my kids in day care!

2. APX Alarm-I just talked to salesmen all day and entered in new accounts

3. Humanities Lab Assistant at BYU

4. Dental Assistant

Four places I've lived:

1. Boise, ID

2. Provo, UT

3. Sacramento, CA

4. I have only lived in 3 places...that is kind of sad.

Four movies that I love:

1. P.S. I Love You (if you couldn't tell from the previous post)

2. Zoolander

3. Never Been Kissed

4. Hook

Four favorite foods:

1. Potatoes-any way...you can never have anything gross with potatoes in it

2. Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream

3. Cafe Rio Pork Salad

4. The Teriyaki Burger from Carl's Jr.

Four weird things about me

1. I have only kissed one boy in my entire life

2. I can't wear socks when I go to bed...it drives me nuts!

3. I eat burritos with ketchup instead of salsa-I pretty much eat anything with ketchup

4. My roommate and I have the same birthmark

Four favorite TV shows

1. Prison Break

2. 24

3. The Office

4. Lost

Four places I'd love to go

1. Ireland-so I can meet a hot guy like in P.S. I Love You

2. Thailand because the food is delicious

3. France just because it is France

4. Heaven-but we all know I will go there anyways


I tag anyone who even reads this

P.S. I LOVE HIM

Tonight was GIRLS NIGHT! And it was a most amazing girl's night, I must say! We went to the movies and saw P.S. I love you...and it is my new favorite movie. Tears were shed, laughs were laughed, squeals of giddiness were squealed (yeah, that one is a stretch). But my point is, all of a girls emotions were covered in this movie. It was so GOOD! I just don't know how else to explain it! Oh, and if all of that wasn't enough to make you want to see this movie...the main guy in the movie, Gerard Butler, is gorgeous and has an accent! That pretty much seals the deal on how amazing this movie is. Seriously. And if you are at all skeptical on the whole aspect of Hilary Swank being the main character then rest assured. I am not a big fan of her, but again...this movie is amazing and there was nothing bad about it! If that wasn't enough to convince you to go see it then I might have to have a stern talking to you. Or you can just go see 27 dresses. Because it was amazing as well. That was last week's Girl's Night out event. And that movie is very highly recommended as well.

Here is just a little sampling of the glory of Gerard Butler. You know you want to see the movie now, don't you?

I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!

Well, not yet...but in about 5 hours! So I am sitting here in the Sacramento Airport waiting for my flight to take me home to BOISE!!! And I thought...what better thing to do than to write a new blog! (Since I am not so good at keeping up on it, if you haven't noticed.) And hopefully my battery doesn't die on me...because lately it doesn't last longer than about 20 minutes. And I can't find an outlet ANYWHERE in this darn place! But anyways, I am just looking around at all the different people in the airport, and noticing that there are people from everywhere! You are probably thinking to yourself "duh, Heidi...nice observation" but it is true! Last night I was at In-N-Out with a friend and I could not hear a word of English the entire time...except when David was talking to me. I heard a lot of Russian, some Japanese, and of course a whole lot of Spanish. I guess I am just a little sheltered, but it is weird to feel like English is becoming the minority as far as languages are concerned. Pretty much the only time that I would hear different languages at all in Utah or Idaho is when white boys were speaking them to other white boys who went to the same mission! Maybe that is a bit extreme in thinking...but you know it is true. Anyways, I guess that is just a random little tid-bit for you. Just something that has been on my mind lately...that is what blogs are for, right?

And one more thing...How in the world do you put titles on each post? I am a little blog stupid.

"Winter"

Where the heck did this year even go? It is already December, and Christmas is only 3 weeks away! In California it doesn't even seem like Christmas time. Hardly any people have Christmas lights/decorations up, there is NO snow (just tons of rain), it is still VERY green outside, we haven't had to turn our heat on yet, the other day I had the A/C in my car on, palm trees are decorated with Christmas lights...I miss Christmas time in Idaho. Normal Christmas time. I miss driving down the streets and seeing every house you pass have Christmas lights up. The other night we went to the Oakland temple to see it decked out with Christmas lights, and I felt a bit of normalcy (is that even a word) seeing all the lights and watching a Christmas program. Although, as mentioned before, it was very odd to see palm trees with lights on them. It was nice to feel the Christmas spirit once again, if only for a night. But I won't give up on it just yet, hopefully more people will get into the whole Christmas scene. And hopefully it will feel more like home here.