Happy Halloween!!

The Hand

If you have a little boy obsessed with Star Wars you probably know that the little action figure of Anakin Skywalker has a removable hand, I guess for acting out that particularly gross part of Episode 2 were Count Dooku cuts off his hand. Yes, I do know that part not because I want to but because all things Star Wars have been thrust upon me since agreeing to marry my sweet-heart. If you'll remember we went to Empire Strikes Back in the theater on the day we got engaged and Adrian says it was the best day of his life for those TWO reasons. Nice. Back to the toy hand. The problem is that the little hand falls off all the time. In fact it is rarely attached to Anakin, but rather somewhere in our house waiting to be found (i.e. under the fridge, in Ben's closet, on the floor in the loft looking remarkably like a speck in the carpet until stepped on with a bare foot...). Now we have had this little figure for years. I think Ben has been way into Star Wars since he was about 3. He went from Blue's Clues straight to Star Wars. SO this little hand has been lost in 2 houses and a rental house and has been found every time. Is that not crazy?? I was especially surprised on Monday when I went to take a bunch of clothes out of the dryer and this little hand was waiting for me right on the lip of the lint catcher. I am convinced Anakin's hand is not your average little toy piece. It defies explanation. Well all explanation save one and the fact that I am saying this is a direct result of the brain-washing I've been going through since my engagement: it has THE FORCE. It must.

SYTYCD MD Trip '09

This past week I got to spend some wonderfully fun times in Maryland with friends for our annual SYTYCD concert festivities. Oh the joy!! It was fabulous!! And I must warn that so much of this is going to be for journaling purposes (read "super long post") so please feel free to skim or just look at pictures.:)

The flight there was fine. I pretended I was not on a plane, but instead having a nice long rest, zoning out, listening to my ipod. It worked pretty well except for take off and landing. I tell you who's idea is it to take away i-pod listening privileges during take off and landing?? Are they crazy?! That is when people like me need our ipods the very mostest! But I survived. Then when I got there I was greeted by Jann and her daughter Ashley. It was so very happy. Then I got to bask in the beauty of the tree lined highways that I miss so much on the way to my friend Corinne's. It was so very wonderful to see her too. She let me hang out all night with her and her family and there was much chatting and laughing. Oh how I have missed my girls in MD!

The next day, Thursday, was full of excitement as that was SYTYCD concert day! We had a lovely breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast eateries, Eggspectations, and I got to see Kellie! Then I went to the craptasticist movie I've seen in a while with Jann and her sister Julie, Fame. Now if you haven't seen this movie I'll just warn you now, it starts out with a sweet high school drama-queen auditioning for a place in a prestigious performing arts school with a dramatically serious and poignant monologue from the THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Really? Really. Now I know many of you may not know Rocky Horror like I do (and good for you, I can't believe I'm admiting to being a RHPS fan on my blog - only the edited version people), but it is a horrible B movie that should never ever be quoted seriously. Seriously. It is a cult classic because of it's sheer ludicrousy. So anywho I could not stop laughing when this girl was doing her monologue!! That was not the end of the craptasticness though, oh no, it just kept going and going with no detectable plot. At least we got to see half of Twitchington (Kherrington from SYTYCD season 4)! And we were laughing as we walked out of the theater so all was good, even though as Julie said, "those were 2 hours of our lives we'll never get back." Ha! Then all the concert goers and Kellie met up at La Madeleine for crazy good french dip sandwiches and soups and pictures and chatting and fun. It's so hard to go to all my favorite MD eateries because as soon as I get home I start to crave things I can't have! I want some La Mads soup right now darn it! After a great dinner we went to....

THE CONCERT! Woohoowoohoowoohoo!!! It was so great! I loved all the dances but of course some favorites were "Koop Island"aka "the butt dance" (poor Randi will always be known for that one), "Ruby Blue", "Eyes on Fire", and of course "Gravity" aka "the addiction dance". "Gravity" is so powerful. I can't get over the creepy face Kupono pulls off and just the overall heaviness of it. It really does bring tears to your eyes and they danced it beautifully at the concert. I must admit that there was not one dancer that I latched on to in this season, but Ade and Kayla were definitely favorites. (There can't be a Maaaaarrrrrkkkkk!!!! in every season I guess.) Oh oh and Phillip (also known as Special Guest Sock Monkey heee heee) did some great... popping? hip hop??... whatever it is he does. Fun fun concert times were had by all and I got to see Mendy and Tracy too who had seats above ours. I'm so sorry I didn't get to see you more Tracy! After the concert I stayed up late into the night talking with Cami and Jann. So wonderful.
Then Friday. I got to go to the hospital and hold Emily's sweet triplets. They are so beautiful. I think I got my baby fix for a good long while. I couldn't get over how tiny and perfect they are. It was weird to realize that my own cute Nina was once only a pound bigger than Emily's Alex when she came home from the hospital. What a tiny munchkin she was. I wish Emily the absolute best as she cares for her precious babies. So sweet and teensy. Then after that Jann, Julie and I were going to go to DC, but it was so rainy and dreary that walking around DC in the cold didn't sound fun. So what did we do instead? Why we had cheesecake of course! We went to the Cheesecake Factory and had some seriously good appetizers and cheesecake. I loved our nice leisurely afternoon - I think we must have spent a couple hours eating and talking. Then that night I went to an awesome game night at Corinne's house and saw so many dear friends (Mendy, Deb, Christina, Kellie, Mendy's friend Rachel, Erin, Brenda, Corinne, and Cami). We played fun fun games into the night ending with a rather spectacular game of Farkel. I love that game! But of course cracking up with friends was the best part.

Saturday. I was able to spend some quality time talking with Jann before heading off to Corinne's house for breakfast with Corinne, Cami, and Kellie. (French pastries from Bonaparte - I had a sheinke, croissant with chocolate and custard inside. Mmmm!!!) It was wonderful of course. The food, the conversation, the love. Then Cami and I were off to the airport. We were on the same flight home together (she had a layover in Denver before heading home to Utah). I can't even thank Cami enough for being my personal Lloyd Dobler on that flight!! She kept me talking and even though I had some heart racing moments I did not freak out and that's all down to wonderful conversation, Cami's awesome SYTYCD playlists, and some Flight of the Concords hilarity. Thank you Cami for being awesome and helping me out when heaven know you probably wanted some sleep after our whirlwind trip. We arrived in Denver safe and sound and I was greeted by my hubby and smiling children. Adrian had even done Nina's hair. He is awesome. Really really awesome. Adrian always supports me in these battery charging adventures I go on. I think he knows how important getting away every once in a while is. I come back refreshed and happy and that's just how I feel now. I can't go away from this trip without being reminded of how very blessed I have been in my life to know and be friends with so many amazing women. They have all influenced me for good and I love them dearly. Thanks girls for a wonderful time!!