CHRISTMAS MUSIC...."THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY"

For the past month or so, I have been listening to the "Sounds of the Seasons" on FM100 at work (about 8 hours a day). I do love Christmas music, but there are some songs that I definitely enjoy better than others, and there are also some that I can't even listen to that drive me crazy. I am sure you have your own favorites, but here are some of mine.

The Good

Contemporary

Christmas Shoes - New Song (The movie with Rob Lowe & Kimberly Williams-Paisley is also one of my favorites)

Christmas Cannon - TransSiberian Orchestra

Do They know it's Christmas Time - BandAid

Where are you Christmas? - "The Grinch That Stole Christmas"/Faith Hill

Unto You This Night - Garth Brooks

Traditional/Hymns

The First Noel

O Holy Night

O Come All Ye Faithful

Still, Still, Still

The Forgotten Carols (from previous post)

I Was Not His Father, He was Mine

Let Him In

I Cannot Find My Way

You Were Not There in Bethlehem

The Bad/Ugly (Can't stand - must change station)
Ave Maria - Barbara Streisand
Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney
Charlie Brown Christmas

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Little St. Nick (Beach Boys) - most Christmas songs by the Beach Boys

Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart

Feliz Navidad

Santa Baby

TEN YEAR.......NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH TENURE

When I arrived home from my mission my sister was working at an Engineering Firm in downtown Salt Lake City. She got me hired on to work there part-time as her assistant while I finished up school at the University of Utah. She quit when she had her first child and I basically took over as the "accounting department." In March I will have been with the company for 10-years!

We had our company Christmas Party tonight at the Little America Hotel downtown. Those employees that are coming up a 10-year anniversary get a watch at the party. It is engraved on the back.

DOMINION ENGINEERING

10 YEARS

TRISHA JORDAN

I feel so spoiled. Not only did I score myself a really nice watch, but they also gave out Costco Cash giftcards.

I feel so blessed to have such a great job, especially right now where there are so many who are out of work.

Along with having a great job, I work with some great people.

My four bosses (the partners) are fantastic and have been great to work for. Among many other perks, I never really have to ask for time off. I basically just tell them when I will be gone and as long as I get my work done, they don't care.

Karen, the receptionist, and I are the only females in the office, but we work with 25 other great guys. About once week we get a group together and go out to eat. We call it the "lunch bus." Karen is great to stay at the office and answer phones while I go out with the boys.

CHRISTMAS QUESTIONNAIRE

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Either. I do love hot chocolate, but never turn down egg nog. I do like to dilute egg nog just a bit with either milk or sprite.
Colored lights on the tree, or white?
White is really nice, but all of one color can look nice on a flocked tree, so I guess it depends....... but none of the multi-colored strands.
When do you put up your decorations?
Well, I don't have any up yet. I know, I know......It is just me here at my house and everytime I think about it it sounds like a lot of work and then if I don't put them up, I won't have any to take down and put away. Can we say LAZY! I usually do put them up although I only have one box. If it doesn't fit in that box, too bad. I don't have much room for storage. It really varies quite a bit from year to year, but I don't think they should ever go up before Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Cheese balls and egg nog. (Does that count?)
Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
Oh, there are many... but this one was memorable. There are 4 girls in my family and I guess that one year my dad was really tired of always shopping for barbies, dolls, etc. so they decided to switch things up a bit. We had a "boy" Christmas. Among other things we got 4x4 stompers, a racecar track & video games. We LOVED it, but we were not happy that my dad kept stealing all of our toys to play with. That had never been a problem in the past.
When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember for sure, but I think I was over at my grandparent's house and my older sister slipped and accidently said something that confirmed it. But I don't think that I was really surprised. I think I had suspected something.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We used to have the family party for my mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve or a day or two before. All the cousins drew names for presents and we got to open that present and any from my grandparents, etc. No I pretty much save them all for Christmas Morning.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
What tree?
Snow! Love it or dread it?
It depends.... I love it when it snows a bunch and then the sun comes out and dries up the roads. I think snow with sun is beautiful. I don't however enjoy driving in white knuckle conditions, but I don't know that I dread it. I do like my winter wardrobe better than that of the summer. I love layering with turtlenecks, sweaters, etc.
Can you ice skate?
I am going to go with a "no" on this one. If my life was dependant upon me straping blades to my feet and making it across a frozen lake, I could probably manage it, but no graceful triple toe loops or anything.
Do you remember your favorite gift?
Two that stand out were my two Cabbage Patch Kids......

I had (still have) a boy with curly blonde hair (Timothy Spencer) and a preemie girl (Jeanie Jerri).

I also received a pair of white Girbaud jeans one year. No only did I think I was cool wearing Girbaud jeans, but they were the best fitting pair of jeans I have ever had!
What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Spending time with family and remembering the birth of the Savior.
What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Pomegranate/Cinnamon Jello salad with real whipping cream.
Candy canes! Yuck or Yum?
YUM!
Ever recycled a Christmas present?
Guilty.

"THE FORGOTTEN CAROLS"

Years ago I was given a CD of Michael McLean's "The Forgotten Carols." Although there are a couple of songs on the CD that I always skip (they kind of bug me), there are many that I love! I LOVE Christmas music and it was nice to have some "new" songs to add to my music library.

I also believe that music can bring a spirit that often words can not bring, try as they may.

Every year I kept telling myself that I was going to got to the performance of "The Forgotten Carols" and year after year, I got busy, never got around to finding someone to go with, etc. and I never went. So this year I was bound and determined to make it even if I even if I had to attend by myself.

This year I found a friend to go with and we went this last Thursday. It was a lot different than I had anticipated, but it was really good.
I am soooo grateful for people in this world that are blessed with great talent and that choose to share that talent with the world for us to enjoy. I would LOVE to be able to play the piano like Michael McLean.

GO UTES!! WE'RE GOING "BOWL"ING

Growing up I was never much of a football fan, I think it was mostly because I didn't understand the game; downs, rules, penalties, etc.

Then after 2 of my sisters got married, Debra & I were often the only ones at home with the parents on holidays. My dad and Debra seemed to always be watching football. At that point, I decided that if I didn't want to be left out, I needed to learn all about football, so that I too could watch and enjoy the sport. I apologize to all of those that I have annoyed by asking so many questions, often times in the middle of some intense plays.

FLASH FORWARD - 2008.............For a couple of years now I have really enjoyed watching football. I still don't think I can tell you who is a tight end and who is a wide receiver out there on the field, and I don't know all of the penalities etc., but for now, I know enough.

So the big game (BYU/Utah) was on Saturday and I had been invited over to a friend's house to watch the game with some other people. I showed up all decked out in my Utah red with my "red" licorice, but unbeknownst (I think that is a word) to me, I was the only Utah fan there. Everyone else had there BYU Quest t-shirts on and were all talking smack about how the Cougars were going to win.

I don't talk smack......I have been served some humble pie one too many times, so I just sat there and watched the game. I was definitely cheering when the Utes scored, caught some interceptions, etc., but I tried not to be too obnoxious. Needless to say I was thrilled with the outcome! 48 - 24

FAMILY BONDING

Last Wednesday my sister Debra flew in from Minneapolis to attend a friend's wedding down in Southern Utah.

I picked her up at the airport and we had a "sleep-over" at my house and then drove down to Richfield on Thursday. It was great to see her and we always have so much fun together. Spending time with family is the best!

I LOVE to play games (with the exception of "dating games" Ü) and do puzzles. My family will usually play games with me, but it is rare occassion if I can find anyone (other than my 6-year old niece, Carlee) to work on a puzzle with me. Well, this weekend, my parents introduced me to a new game, BLOKUS. It is very fun. It is unfortunate that while online getting a picture of this game I discovered a free online version. www.blokus.com. It is pretty addicting. There goes my productivity!

"I TOLD YOU SO"

For those of you that have not been with my blog from the beginning......one of my very first posts was a disclaimer/warning that alerted readers of this very thing. Not only is my life not exciting enough to provide enough material for frequent blog posts, but I am not creative enough to fill in the gaps when life is boring.
I apologize to all of you who check up on my blog and are tired of seeing the same thing day after day with no new updates. I want to say that I will try to do better, and I will try, but I know myself well enough that despite my best efforts, it will most likely not happen.

"THE FIVE THINGS" TAG

I was tagged a while back by my friend Lara, so here goes since I just need I quick blog idea until I am creative enough to come up with something on my own.

9 Things (that was changed to 5, that I changed to whatever I had enough material for - in no particular order)

8 Favorite TV Shows (I love TV, and probably watch way too much).

1. Gilmore Girls (only on re-runs now), but I still love it and watch it every night that I am home!
2. The Biggest Loser
3. Law & Order
4. CSI (Miami, Vegas, New York) Doesn't really matter - Does that make me a bad person if I enjoy watching murders being recreated, investigated, etc.?
5. Numb3rs (more crime investigation....I am sensing a patter here).
6. NCIS.....well, you get the idea. You probably could have guessed that one. And, Mark Harmon is actually pretty good looking for an older man.
7. Raising the Bar - a new show on TNT that just happens to star Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack from "Saved by the Bell"). But he needs a hair cut.
8. My Own Worst Enemy - The new show where Christian Slater leads a double-life.

5 Favorite Restaurants

1. Anything Chinese (Absolute favorite)....Asian Star, PF Changs, Pei Wei, or whatever.
2. El Mexicano (Salina, UT)
3. Macaroni Grill
4. Market Street Grill
5. Tucanos

5 Things That Happened to me Yesterday (or that I did)

1. Went to lunch at Subway with a big group from the office to celebrate a co-workers birthday.
2. Washed my car
3. Went Visiting Teaching
4. Changed the template on my blog.
5. Read my book in bed before falling asleep. I am STILL trying to finish "Breaking Dawn."

5 Things That I am Looking Forward To

1. The Election to be over
2. My sister Debra coming home to visit for a friend's wedding in 1 1/2 weeks.
3. Getting paid tomorrow.
4. Visiting my sister Angela and her family in Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving with my parents.
5. Going to bed tonight (Sleeping is my favorite.....I look forward to that ever night).

6 Things on my Wish List

1. A boyfriend/husband. (I ask Santa every year and nothin', but I still have hope that one of these days (years) he will pull through for me).
2. My family to all live within 30 minutes of each other.
3. A BMW - I can't complain. I have a nice car, but one day I would love to drive a black Beemer.
4. A "newer" house. Nothing too elaborate. I love the condo thing as a single. I enjoy the ammenities without worrying about yard work, snow removal, etc., but I would love a newer condo with a little more space, updated features and a connected garage.
5. The Perfect Body. Still being able to eat whatever I want. See previous post on this. Click here.
6. Free Airfare for Life - It is a wish list right. Most of you know that I love to travel....especially cruises....in many cases that airfare is just as much as the cruise itself. I could travel ALOT more if I never had to pay for airfare. While we're at it. Let's make it "First Class."

THE LITTLE GRASS HUT

I just received this email from a wonderful friend and loved it so much I wanted to post it here in my blog.
Also, I am way overdue for a new post and won't be finding time to post in the next day or two, so I am taking the easy (lazy) way out.

The Little Grass Hut

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for GOD to rescue him, and everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements and to store his few possessions.
One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames with smoke rolling up to the sky.
The worst had happened! Everything was lost!
He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. "GOD, how could you do this to me?" he cried.
Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was
approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.
"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

Moral of the story:
It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because GOD is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain, and suffering.
Remember that, the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of GOD.

"All things work together for the good to them that love God"
Romans 8:28

I MIGHT NOT BE STUPID AFTER ALL!!!

Sorry for all of the updates.....this is just me thinking out loud.

I have received a couple of messages from people that are actually having the same problem with slide.com and today my 2 posts are working. I can't figure it out??? Enjoy the pics while you can, I don't know when they might disappear. Maybe.....and let me stress the MAYBE, I might try to post the remaining ports this weekend.

Check below for posts from my trip.

OKAY, I GIVE UP!!

I have spent probably 4 or 5 more hours tonight trying to fix my blog and just when I thought it was working.........I was actually viewing the working slide show on my blog and next thing I know it is showing that the slide show is empty.
I logged back onto slide.com and all of my pictures are there so I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how the slide show is empty????

It is now 12:49 am and if I plan up waking up to go to work in 5 1/2 hours from now and being at all productive, I HAVE to go to bed.

I have some great pictures that most of you will never see because I don't know if I can bring myself to spend another 5 hours on something that I am too stupid to figure out. Maybe I am just a complete idiot, but Blogger and I aren't not friends right now. Nor am I friends right now with slide.com. I am hoping that one day we will be friends again, but I am going to need some time.
Sorry, but I needed to vent. This is NOT how I wanted to spend my birthday, so I am just going to go to bed now.

UPDATE ON POSTING FOR MY EUROPEAN CRUISE

The only conclusion that I have come to is that maybe my pictures were too large and there was too many of them for one post.
I have compressed all of my pictures and have decided to do one post per port city. Maybe I will even get them in order, but you probably won't know if I don't. (Give me a couple of days to get everything re-posted).

I think after two weeks back at work I have finally found my desk underneath all the piles that accumulated while I was gone, but it was all worth it.

GREAT FOOD

Among the prime rib, filet mignon, and king crab legs, there was a fantastic fettucini alfredo that they would top with whatever. I opted for the grilled chicken. It was served in a parmesean baked bowl.....Oh, I am hungry just thinking about it.
However, sad to say, but my favorite part of the cruise might possibly have been the "LOVE BOAT PRINCESS DREAM" dessert. It was to die for. It just happened to be on the "always available" menu and I believe that I ordered it all bu 3 of the nights on the cruise. I have to get that recipe! You will see my glass of milk that our waiter's knew they had to bring me each night with my dessert.

GREAT PEOPLE

(Left): My friend Sheri and I (Right): Jackie and her mom Mayumi from Hawaii shared our table with us

GREAT FUN

They had late night "Movies Under the Stars" on the Lido deck on this big screen. They covered the deck chairs with a cotton chair cover, passed out blankets and popcorn and also brought around a warm cookies and milk cart.
It doesn't get much better than that!
They also played movies during the day. We caught a few of them on our days at sea.

FLORENCE, ITALY

We docked in Livorno and took a bus 1 1/2 hours into Florence, or as the Italians call it, Firenze. Originially we were going to go to Pisa & Florence, but we ended up deciding to skip Pisa so that we would have more time in Florence. It was about $100 less and we decided we could use that to shop. We had a tour guide on the bus that talked to us the whole way about the things we were passing as well as explaining points of interest on the map for once we arrived in Florence. Her name was Patrizia. She was fantastic. We got to pet the Boar's nose that is supposed to bring good luck, see the Statue of David, Ponto Vecchio (the old bridge), visit the Duomo as well as many of the other cathedrals/basilicas, and last but certainly not least......we sat on the steps at Santa Croce Square to enjoy some gelato while listening to the music of 4 Italians in the piazza.

ROME, ITALY

Once again we had about an 1 1/2 bus ride into Rome. Our tour guide on the bus was Francesca. We were doing Rome on our own, like we did in Florence. The bus dropped us off at St. Peter's square. When we got there the Pope was out speaking to a large group. From there we took off towards the Spanish Steps, then to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and then back to St. Peters Square. At St. Peter's square we got in line for tickets to the Vatican museum/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's Basilica. It was neat to see, but I felt like a cow in a cattle shoot trying to move through narrow corridors surrounded by thousands of others. Good thing I am not clautrophobic. I even got a picture of me by what I thought was the "Mouth of Truth." Rome was fun because I love the movie "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn & Gregory Peck.

NAPLES, ITALY

In Naples, we had signed up for a shore excursion to go and see the ruins of Pompeii. Our tour guide was Louisa. We had radios with earphones that we could hear her commentary while walking around. I learned alot on this trip.....you are probably smarter than I am and probably already knew all of this.
Pompeii was an ancient city that was burried in 7 meters (22 feet) of ash from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and then discovered in 1748. I think there are 66 acres of which 44 acres have been uncovered, or something like that. I loved that the busiest part of the ancient city was the Brothel that had erotic paintings on the walls. Most people could not read and so they had pictures drawn to show the patrons what services were available. Hmmmm??? And we wonder why the city was destroyed. Maybe not a coincidence??

MYKONOS, GREECE

After some pretty busy days we knew we would be needing a down day, so in Mykons we just signed up for a day at the Platis Yialos beach. We were on the Agean Sea and apparently the water was really cold. I didn't even test it. We only had about 3 hours and the weather wasn't real warm, but I got caught up on some reading and it was nice to get some R&R in.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Not only was our weather in Instanbul crappy, but so was our tour guide. He knew his stuff, but he was not a very good tour guide. He didn't seem to care if the whole group was keeping up with him or not.

KUSADASI (EPHESUS), TURKEY

ATHENS, GREECE

Amongst some shopping and seeing parts of modern-day Athens, including the Olympic stadium from 2004 we were able to go to the ACROPOLIS. I think it is amazing to see the massive structures that were builts centuries ago without the help of modern machines, etc.

DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES......

....The posting of my trip will have to be postponed.
I am soooo frustrated with that fact that I am not tech savvy. I spent hours yesterday uploading my pictures with my "dial-up" internet thinking that even with all the time that it was taking it would be worth it because I would finally have my post up.
I was using slide.com to create a mini slide show for each of the ports we visited. (I figured that would be easier than trying to fight with the blogger picture formatting for some many pictures). I created my slide shows and copied the "code" into my blog only to hit post and get all of these href & other error messages.
I will try it again tonight, but if anyone uses slide.com and has any tech support advice on how to resolve this issue, let me know.

Sorry for the delay.

LONG TIME, NO POST

I know, I know........ I need to update my blog.
Being out of the country is a pretty good excuse I think, but I will try REALLY, REALLY hard to get something up in the next couple of days, or at least by Sunday night.
Work has been crazy since I got back and I have been working late to try and find my desk through all the papers that piled up while I was gone. Then there is the laundry and getting my house put back together, luggage put away etc. that I have be working on.
Excuses, excuses.... I know, but that's all I have.

Stay tuned............

"A" FOR EFFORT

Okay, so only hours after my post, Andy Roddick went down.......but not without a good fight.
I knew it wouldn't be easy for Andy, despite his incredible serve, but there are quite of few of the guys that would have made it hard for him to go all the way.

Good luck though to Serena! I think she has a really good chance to win it all.

FAULT!!

Okay, so I know that I am WAY overdue for a new post, but it is not my "fault." (Pun intended).

I was suffering from some serious sleep deprivation due to the coverage of the olympic games. But upon their conclusion the US OPEN tennis championships began.

Due to some fantastic tennis matches, I have still not managed to get caught up on my sleep as I and continue to stay up late watching these great athletes. Man, can these people hit that ball, or what! That is some serious power and hand/eye coordination (AS WELL AS......I suppose, many hours of hard work and practice). I guess that is why they get paid the big bucks!

In keeping with the olympic spirit, I am cheering for the Americans that have made it this far through the draw.....Serena Williams & Andy Roddick. Good luck guys!

DOWN WITH DRESSAGE & MORE ON THE OLYMPICS

Thanks to the comment from my friend Amy, I would like to add Misty May-Treanor's butt to my anatomical wish list. (Actually, almost any olympians butt would most likely be an improvement over the one I am currently sporting). Most of the pictures I found of Misty May were too indecent to post, but I think this one is probably alright.

This brings me to the topic of the outfits (if they can even be called that) of the beach volleyball players. I don't think that a little more material would hurt their game, but would probably only hurt the ratings due to a decrease in male viewership. The male beach volleyball players seem to do just fine while wearing a significantly greater amount of material while playing.

I would now like to address the 10 minutes that I wasted that I will never be able to get back.

One night while watching the Olympics on NBC I decided to check out what events were being broadcast on some of the other channels. After seeing that MSNBC was broadcasting wrestling, I quickly changed the channel and went to OXYGEN where they were broadcasting the Equestrian event "DRESSAGE." WOW......if that isn't the dumbest "event" I have ever witnessed, I don't know what is? I was not "getting it" so I stayed on that channel to see if it was going to get any more exciting....jumping through flaming rings or something??? Unfortunately it just got worse and I can never get that 10 minutes back. I didn't know and for anyone else that doesn't know what Dressage (pronounced like massage) is I have provided a short description.

The French word for "training," dressage is a harmonious demonstration of the horse's three natural gaits (walk, trot and canter) and its ability to respond to the rider's commands as the horse performs a series of movements in prearranged order. Throughout the course the rider directs the horse to perform movements. They are also judged on the trot, canter, pirouette, piaffe and passage. Riders, who must memorize the test in order to guide their horses through it, may not use their voices throughout the competition. Riding whips are also forbidden in the ring, but spurs are required, allowing riders to demonstrate the ability to convey light pressure to the horse. In order to perform well in dressage, the horse must be calm, supple, loose and flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, showing a perfect understanding with its rider.

I am not saying that "Dressage" is necessarily a bad thing and that it doesn't require talent, but half of the credit should go to the horse and I think it belongs in a horse show NOT the olympics.

**I apologize if I have offended anyone with my disregard for Dressage. Maybe I need to understand it better to really appreciate it. Ü **

"I GOT THE FEE-VAA!"

........and it is killing me!

I can't wait until the olympics are over. I am addicted and have been getting NO sleep! Hopefully the last couple of days will have fewer events that I am interested in and I won't stay up until the wee hours of the morning with my eyes glued to the television.


These olympic athletes are amazing and it is very motivating in wanting to be more dedicated in my exercise & nutrition. I want the abs of Dara Torres, the arms of Kerri Walsh , the balance & flexibility of Shawn Johnson, & the legs of Nastia Liukin. Then I think about all the hard work it would take to achieve that and it just makes me tired.

Have you ever thought about if you were to win an olympic gold medal what event you would want it to be in. When I was little, I wanted to be Mary Lou Retton, but I think gymnastics is really hard on your body, so I have changed my mind and I now think my sport would be SCULLS (single, double or quadruple). I love watching them and think they must be in incredible shape! (as are all olympic athletes). I also wish I was a good swimmer. I know how to "not drown," but I don't really know how to swim......proper form, breathing, etc. Maybe one day.


Here's to the great olympic athletes that represent the stars and stripes of the USA and are keeping me up at night.

AND NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY(S)...........

Maybe you are wondering.........or maybe your aren't, but I have had a couple people ask me about two of my previous blogs, so here are the updates...........

As for the large random spontaneous dent in my car door... (For original post, see July 13th)

Larry H Miller Honda took good care of me (and my car). They sent it to DentMaster to get fixed and provided me with a rental car. It looks as good as new!

As for the Chacos... (For original post, see July 31st)

I ended up purchasing the single strap version in the basic black. I have worn them a couple of times. They are great, but I have developed a couple of blisters, so I am glad that I have a little over a month to break them in.

I am sensing a theme here...I guess black seems to be my color????