Happy New Year my loves! I hope 2011 brings nothing but love, joy and much happiness to you all and that you celebrated the New Year in style! 
As many of you know, I spent New Years in Denver with Cassalicious! We had such a great time... even if we spent the majority of our time on the couch! I'll let you ask her about her hangover... Hahaha! I will be back with a recap of the trip when I get the pictures downloaded... I thought I brought my camera cord with me, but apparently I left it home.I had my 3 year Bloggerversary a few days ago... I believe I started this on 1/1/08... that's a long time, no? 630 some-odd posts later, I think the endeavor has been a success! I've not been in a blogging mood much lately, but I promise to get at least one post a week up, if not more!
While shopping with Cass in Denver we made a stop into Sephora... I happened to see a display of purse-sized roller-ball perfumes. My bloggy friend Saskia told me about Flowerbomb a while back, and since the smaller size was a bit more affordable, I decided to give it a shot. Let me tell you... this stuff smells divine! I want to take a bath in it! Yeah, that might be a bit much, but you get the idea! 
I saw the Tourist with Aurs the day after Christmas and loved it. It wasn't a movie that was on the top of my list, but I'm so glad we saw it. Very entertaining and pretty funny, as well. I definitely recommend it.That's about it for now... hope you're all having a great week and I'll see you soon!
'Round these parts we've been celebrating the Christmas Season over the last week and I've been pretty busy as a result. This was my tree before the dog decided to unwrap and unpack a few presents on her own. She thought she was being helpful, I suppose.
I recieved a ton of gorgeous Christmas cards from my friends and am only too proud to display them on my fridge! (I have to admit, when I saw 
This is what happened while I was doing dishes today... I broke a wine glass and it sliced my finger open. Auri was nice enough to come over and bandage me up (it's wise to keep a personal nurse on retainer for just these situations)... and make sure I didn't need stitches.
(That's Denver) To see her...
My Cassi!!! I get on a plane tomorrow morning to go to Denver and spend New Year's with Cassi and her family! I'm sooo excited! Watch out, Denver, we're gonna tear things up!
While the desk assembling was going on, the kids were watching movies in my room and all fell asleep. NeNe decided she wanted to snuggle, so she pushed Taryn off the body pillow and eventually ended up like this... She's so rude. I'm surprised Taryn could still breathe!
Last night I got my cushy new office chair put together. I only had one hiccup because I started by putting the arms on backwards... easy enough to fix! It's seriously one of the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in. And it's ALL MINE!!!
On Friday afternoon (2 weekends ago), my BFF Noelle and I packed all our shit in the back of her car (including her dog) and took off for Southern Utah to rough it. Now, y'all know I don't camp. Camping is not my thing. In fact, Auri got me an air freshener for my car for Christmas, and it says, I Love Not Camping. Very fitting. Anyhoodle, this was going to be my version of camping (aka roughing it) for the weekend.
Once we got to town we had to make our way to the gate on the property and I had to try and get it open. I dubbed myself the "Gate Bitch" for the weekend because I was always the one who got out and unlocked it. Once you make it through the gate, it takes another 5 minutes to drive on the winding dirt road to the house. We got to stay at The Rock House, named as such because it blends in with the scenery and cannot be seen easily from a distance. The outside of it is also made of stone (correct me if I'm wrong, Nellie). The pic above is the back side of the house.
This was the sunset the first night we were there.... isn't it gorgeous? I'm so happy Noelle's camera caught it so well! After dinner we hung around and watched a few episodes of True Blood from Season 1... and then headed to bed. I think I writhed around in a heat-induced psychosis for a good 2 hours before falling asleep. Not fun. In the morning we dorked around, ate breakfast and got dressed... and then Rose announced her arrival so we went to let her in at the gate.
Later in the afternoon we decided to get our Rooftop Pool set up. Keep in mind, this house is gorgeous, but has no air conditioning... it's in the middle of the desert. Even though it's pretty high in elevation (around 7500 feet, I think) it still manages to get pretty warm! Because of the heat, we had this fab idea to take a blow-up pool down there with us, so Noelle bought us a pool and even remembered to bring the electric pump! Pictures thanks to Hans (Rose) our photographer! He was Fahbulous Dahling!
We got it blown up and up to the roof (which is the deck), but then we had to figure out how to get the hose up there. I tried throwing it... that didn't work so well, so we tried to find some rope or twine to tie to it to get it up there. I grabbed the dog leash, jimmy-rigged it to the hose and Noelle pulled it up. I believe the words that came out of her mouth were, "We're fucking Girl Scouts!" We got our supplies (swim suit, towel and books) and jumped in. It was a bit nippley at first, but we adapted! Like I said, my kind of Roughing It!
After we chilled in the pool, Rose decided she wanted to go for a drive and I joined her. We left Noelle at the house to chill. We drove up through Capitol Reef National Park and looked around. Not much has changed since last Fall! I am utterly in awe of Rose. I'm amazed at the way she drives. The ADD is really fascinating. At one point we were going 60 mph on a curvy road, she was looking out the window at the scenery and then at her nails. As you might imagine, I panicked a bit. I convinced her to let me drive back (which may or may not induce it's own kind of panic as I'm not a pro at driving a 5-speed)!
Charlie had had it pretty early on so we had to turn around and take him home. After we dropped him off it started raining. Yes, rain. So what did I do? I took off my top and danced in the rain. It was quite the liberating experience. And since no one was around, it wasn't a big deal. Had there been neighbors, we might have had a problem! (The other two may or may not have joined me in my topless escapade)! Note to self: When we converge, it rains. If we take off our tops and dance in the rain, it will stop. 
This little effer was out to get me the whole time we were there! I have no idea what kind of bug it is, but it hisses ... and wants to kill me. Anyone know what it is and if I should fear for my life? Anyway, that night we ended up watching Chasing Liberty and What Happens In Vegas, both of which are really cute movies. Before we went to bed, Rose and I went upstairs to look at the stars... the sky was beautiful. The moon was a bit too bright, but it was still awesome!
I looked at the paper he gave me and asked what his name was because I couldn't read it very well. The man's name is Hiis (pronounced: hees)... and that's when the jokes began. Not because he was a jerk, just because we liked his name and it entertained us. I think Noelle was the first... "Hiis nice," (read: He's nice), and that's how it went for the rest of the night.
We had reservations at Cafe Coyote so we were sat right away. The drinks came out quickly and the dinner followed shortly thereafter. The food is good, the drinks are huge and the service isn't bad, either. Our server was really cute and brought Rose a flan then sent the mariachi band over to sing Happy Birthday to her. The candle on the flan was actually a strip of a tortilla chip they lit on fire... kinda funny.
After dinner we took a walk up the road and looked in a few of the little shops. I ended up buying shot glasses to bring to a few peeps at home (and after I got home I read the sticker on the bottom that said: Caution - This item contains lead and may be hazardous to your health - or something like that). Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? We called Hiis to come back for us and he drove us back to our hotel. I was fine to drive (apparently alcohol doesn't affect me anymore... I guess I'll just stop drinking) so we hopped in the car and headed to Rose's to grab the map for the marathon the next morning. Did I mention I love that Chrysler 300?
We decided to take a walk on the beach when we got back to Rose's because we didn't think we'd have time the next day... and if the sun isn't out, it doesn't really matter if you walk on the beach during the day or at night. For those of you who know me, I couldn't care less if I stuck my toe in the water or not, so the three of us walked down on the sand, but Rosie was the only one who went to the water. There's so much seaweed and crap on the beach in Cali that I didn't want to be standing in it. And God knows how I love when things happen to me in the ocean. I'll share those stories another time. This was our self-portrait on the beach. 
Noelle and I left Rose in her room and headed back to our hotel. We got all packed so we could head out first thing in the morning. Did I mention Sunday was reserved for marathon activities? We decided to be to the 13 mile marker by 8:30 so Rose came to our hotel around 8 (if I remember correctly) and we checked out and headed toward Maddie. We actually parked the car at the Mall and walked up to Friars Road right before the 12 mile marker but it all worked out. 
We waited for about 35 minutes and started getting nervous that we'd missed her. We saw all the crazy dressed-up people... there was a guy with a Nemo fish hat on, another one dressed up in a banana costume and a flock of Elvi. It was the Rock & Roll Marathon so we saw a lot of people dressed up as Elvis, but the Flock of Elvi was the best.... Maddie and her girls came running down the road a bit after 9 AM and we were sooo excited and happy to see her! We all got a little teary. We're a sad bunch, we know! 
I cropped the pics so you can see them a bit easier. After all of that she said she didn't see us. We were kinda bummed about it, but oh well, whatcha gonna do?! The three of us (who Maddie lovingly nicknamed the Witches of Eastwick) went to Starbucks to grab some food and coffee. Noelle had to wait in line at Sbux to use the bathroom. The dude in front of her went in with a ginormous backpack and a towel... and he didn't come out for about 20 minutes. We think he showered, shaved and got ready for the day while he was in there. Gross!
The finish line for the marathon was inside the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and we couldn't be happier to be surrounded by multitudes of sexy men! We got searched, hopped on a shuttle to take us further inside, and then made our way to our spot at the finish line. About 45 minutes later, Maddie crossed it! She finished at 5 hours and 32 minutes, but is accounting for about 30 minutes for water, snack and potty breaks. I couldn't be more proud of her, and I haven't even know her for that long!
We hung around there for a while, Maddie decided to head back to the hotel with her team, and we grabbed a shuttle back to the parking lot (hey, where was it when we needed it the first time?). While we were standing in line for the shuttle we saw a guy with a shirt on that said "I thought you said this was 2.62 miles." Noelle and I dropped Rosie at the airport and then headed to grab lunch and see Maddie after her race. The hotel they stayed in was great and we decided we should stay there next time! The plane ride home wasn't as uncomfortable as it was on the way down, so that made the evening a little more tolerable! 
