INSTAGRAM wednesdays: dustin's ANNIVERSARY PRESENT

Dustin's favorite musician is Melissa Etheridge.  He's seen her five times in the last four years.  Whenever she tours in SLC or a neighboring state, we get tickets.  She is an amazing performer, and if you're into concerts, you'd love seeing her live.  She puts on a great show.

Anyway, the last time we saw her was earlier this month - just two days after we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.  Obviously, the perfect present I could get Dustin was for Melissa to wish him a Happy Anniversary during her concert.

So, I went to Twitter because if you want something done, you tweet about it!

I sent maybe three or four tweets within a two day span.  Nothing major.  I wasn't really expecting anything to become of it, but at the same time I didn't feel like my efforts were all in vain.

So, the day of the concert, I sent one final tweet.  Once at the venue, we found our seats and had a KILLER view.  We were five rows back and the microphone was directly in front of us.  When Melissa came out onto the stage, she was so close I could see her fingernails.  It was perfect.

Then, during the show, someone yelled "It's my birthday, Melissa."  So, she, of course, said happy birthday.  And then she said, "I'm supposed to wish Dustin a Happy 10 year anniversary."

We were dying.  I couldn't believe she (or one of her "people") saw my tweets and actually followed through with my request. 

We immediately stood  on our feet and screamed, and since we were so close, she totally saw us.   She threw one of her guitar picks in our direction, but it fell short and the person in front of us caught it.

It was the coolest night ever.  I was so happy my crazy idea actually worked.  I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to give Dustin a better gift, so I'm calling it good for the duration of our marriage.

{#neverunderestimatethepoweroftwitter}

THINGS i've said. {LITERALLY}

I've been known to say a lot of stupid things.  I don't have "Foot-In-Mouth" disease {#gottalovejoe}, but on more than one occasion I have said things that make absolutely no sense and defy logic.

And, honestly, I can't think of a single reason why I shouldn't publicly share a few of the idiotic things I've said over the years with all of you!

...

While watching a TV show with my friends, during a commercial break and nearing the end of one of the commercials I said: 

"Next will either be the show or another commercial."

During our "Just Friends" stage, when Dustin asked if I had any tape {meaning packing tape}

my response was:

"Well, I have....tape {meaning, scotch tape}.
He knew exactly what I meant.

When mentioning the last time I ate, I said:

"I haven't eaten since....today."

When telling a story about my two roommates I said:

"Karen and What's-Her-Face were both there."

{Both of my roommates were named Karen}

And, in 2006, I resurrected the term "I don't give a care."
Thankfully, that only lasted a day.

 ...

I'm hoping my randomness eventually makes it way to one of my kids.  I'm guessing it'll strike Isabelle, but, who knows, LL could throw me a curve ball.

Either way, you'll be laughing!

MUSIC mondays: JAMMIN' in the CAR

I really, really hope my daughters learn to love music as much as I do.  Music is something that I feel very passionate about, and so I try to make sure the three of us always listen to music at least one time throughout the day.  Usually, we do this while driving in the car.  And, I like to listen to my music loud, and, thankfully, my girls do too.  Here are a few of our favorites!

Bad Blood by Taylor Swift

I'm not gonna lie:  I hate loving this song, but it's a good song.  It just is.  In fact, the girls and I love a lot of songs from this album.

Give Us a Little Love by Fallulah

This song was one of my Pretty Little Liar finds.  Luckily, I began watching that show otherwise I never would have found this song.  LL loves to clap along to this song, and I'm confident that one day she'll be on beat.

Skipping Stones by Claire De Lune

Another Pretty Little Liar find.  The best part about this song is around 1:52.  Isabelle just starts to belt out the lyrics.  It's awesome.

THINGS that made me SMILE this week

Most mornings, I wake up looking like this

Not only looking, but feeling beautiful and ready to conquer the world

However, completely out of the blue and totally random, one day this week, I awoke from my peaceful slumber looking a bit more like this

So, naturally, I ate a piece of cake for breakfast.

As I was enjoying my healthy breakfast, my two-year old daughter, LL, approached me with a smile.  She gently caressed my hair with her small hand, looked directly into my eyes and said, "You look so pretty, Mama!"

Is there really anything more to life than that?

Another day, my oldest daughter, Isabelle, found her set of toy instruments.  She began walking around the house playing the Triangle.  You know, the Triangle.  There's usually only one Triangle instrument per orchestra because there's no need for more than one.  One is plenty loud. 

Eventually, she made her way into the office where I was taking care of a few things on the computer.

Literally inches from my ear, she asked excitedly, "Can you hear me?!"

I immediately stopped what I was doing and reassured her that, yes, I could hear her playing just fine all while trying so hard not to laugh out loud.

...

And these, my friends, {#johnmccain} are just two examples of things that made me smile this week.

{TEN things} you NEVER KNEW you ALWAYS wanted to KNOW about ME

I love macaroni and cheese.  Be it homemade or from a box, it's all winning.

I loathe small talk.  Seriously, it's the worst.  Let's just jump right into all my personal problems, hopes, dreams and fears.

I'm a total hipster snob when it comes to music.

I love to make people laugh.

My love language is Words of Affirmation.

I really don't understand the point of celery.

The term "clean eating" makes my skin crawl.

I once wrote a book with my friend.  We were both in the 2nd or 3rd grade at the time.  It was about a magical land with a chocolate river.  I'm pretty sure one of the characters was a popsicle.

I wouldn't consider the fact that I have the song "Careless Whisper" stuck in my head at this very moment a weird and/or bad thing.

I dream of having a legit vinyl collection.  One day.

...

I hope whatever you do with this useless information makes your day better!

JULY memories {day 6: NEW YORK}

In October 2007, Dustin and I visited New York.  Hands down, my favorite trip on which we've been.

We did mostly touristy stuff (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Times Square), so next time I find myself in that neck of the country, I hope to explore lesser known areas.

I will live in NYC one day.  I don't know when or why or how, but I will.

JULY memories {day 5: TEMPLE tour}

Back in October 2011, Isabelle was especially interested in the LDS temples.  At the time, she could see the Bountiful temple just outside our front door.

Dustin and I had the idea to drive to Provo and take a picture of every temple we saw on our way back.  We did this in conjunction with one of the sessions of General Conference, and it was a great way to spend our time while listening to the talks.  Here are the temples we saw on our trip:

Provo City Center Temple.  Still under construction.

Provo Temple

 

Mount Timpanogos Temple

 

 

Draper Temple

Oqurrih Mountain Temple

 

Jordan River Temple

 

Salt Lake City Temple.  {I took this from the freeway, and I still think it's a decent picture.}

 

Last, the Bountiful Temple.

 

Even though this day was a few years ago, I still remember thinking how lovely of a time it was.  I definitely want to do this again!