Friday, December 31, 2010

party

On December 23d, I was invited to a "Festivus Party" at my friend Phil's house. I was not going to go but at the last minute I decided to go with my friend Elaine. My hair has been doing this thing lately where if I don't wash it EVERY DAY then it looks SO OILY on top. Elaine previously had watched a YouTube video about how to apply hair powder to make your hair look less oily. She applied some hair powder in my hair that smelled like honey suckle and I was good to go!

We drove over to Annandale. It was a COLD and WINDY night. There was NO WHERE TO PARK where Phil lived and we had to walk a couple of blocks.

In case you are not aware Festivus is a holiday that was started on the TV show Seinfeld. you can read all about it on the Internet I am sure. I think that most people have forgot about that or don't really care. Elaine and I brought some pretzels because on one episode Kramer says these "pretzels are making me thirsty" and we put a post-it by them that said "pretzels that will make you thirsty" We also brought some rye bread, Jerry in one episode steals a marble rye from an old lady...don't worry he gets his comeuppance for it.. We put a post-it by that that said marble rye that Jerry stole from an old lady. We also put some dip out and said " don't double dip" because George double dipped at a party once.

Justin was there and we had a nice time talking with him and other people.

It was really nice of Phil to invite us!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

party

In December Justin and I had a white elephant gift exchange party ( I like to have one every year).
We planned it for December 18th. Several people said they were already out of town then which surprised me. I thought wow it must be nice to take THAT LONG of a vacation since most people want to be gone Christmas and New Years when they go....
We did have about eleven people show up though. I guess no one wanted to be the first person there so the first people started coming about an hour after the party started.
I made monkey bread which Justin LOVED!!!! I mean LOVED... :) and I made peanut butter fudge that one person there thought was soap... Elaine brought sausage dip that she put in tortilla chips, Kelly brought a nut mixture and devilled eggs with sausage in the mix DELICIOUS!!!
We had a great time doing the gift exchange here is what everyone got:

Katie: got a calendar that says "porn for women" It has men fully clothed doing household chores or just simply listening to women. she also got a cute notebook that says keep calm and have a cupcake. She remarked so much about how she liked it that I don't think anyone wanted to steal it from her.

Jason: got a re-usable bag from a funeral home. It said funeral home and crematory but at first I thought it said funeral home and creamery I thought wow where is that, that is an interesting combo for a business. He also got a clock. No one stole it from him Justin did kind of want the clock but changed his mind.

Amy: got a "fuzzie wuzzie" which is a fake snuggie, but it got stolen from her by her roommate Shelly. So she ended up with a Monopoly card game.

Phil: got tic tacs with a catapult but they got stolen from him by Kelly he ended up with a copy of "leading the charge" a book that Justin's dad wrote about Orrin Hatch If you would like a copy please let me know.

Shelly: stole the "fuzzie-wuzzie" from her roommate Amy, which got stolen from her by Justin so she then got some church books and two seasons of CSI and a season of 24 which got stolen from her by Carrie. She ended up with a candy bar and some antlers.

Patti: got The Office board game which was stolen by me, (of course) and ended up with a Davy Crockett lunch box that I had tried to sell to antique stores, and on ebay and on Craigs I hope she has better luck.

Justin: ended up with the "fuzzie wuzzie" and it could not be stolen anymore times. He has all ready used it a couple of times.

Elaine: got a scanner that might or might not work... Harry took it home with him to see if it does, we have not heard back from him.

Paul: got the seal shaped like a candle that he left there. Justin put it on the heater in his dining room and it almost melted but I saved it...and I saved myself from cleaning up melted seal.

Carrie: stole the church books and DVDs from Shelly.

Kelly:stole the tic-tac catapult from Phil

Harry: got a cool homemade pottery that is a stein or cup or mug. He also took the scanner home

Keli: I got a book called Breathe Right which Eric stole from me and I took The Office game.

Eric: got the book Breathe Right.

After the gift exchange some people stayed and we played Loaded Questions then Justin went to bed.
more people left and Kelly, Eric and I talked until 1Am or so...

It was a really good party :)


Thursday, December 16, 2010

field trip

So last Friday night I was at home browsing FB and I saw that Alex Summers had taken her brothers Chris and Dylan to see Washington Redskin player Chris Cooley at an art gallery where he sells his art that HE makes in Leesburg, VA. Chris Cooley is Justin's FAVORITE Redskin. He graduated from Utah State and I got him a Chris Cooley jersey for his birthday in November 2010. Justin has been wanting his autograph now for sometime. I called the gallery and asked them if Chris Cooley would be there at all the next day. They replied that he should be there between two and four.
The next day I told Justin that we HAD to go to Leesburg. WE HAD TO. So we drove up to Leesburg and went to The Cooley Gallery. It was so wonderful to see Justin's eyes light up and smile when he saw Chris Cooley. We went in and looked his art and the art that other local artists had made that is also for sale there.
I bought Justin a Chris Cooley mug/stein/cup type thing for Christmas he picked out one with the handle it is signed by Chris Cooley and looks very very very cool. We were told that the mug is fully usable but Justin is just going to use it for display. I said maybe it would look cool with some Redskin pens in it or something like that.
Justin and I got to talk to Chris Cooley and we got Justin's picture with him. We had a nice time walking around historic downtown Leesburg. We checked out a biker bar that we will have to go back to on Justin's motorcycle. We went to a thrift store where Justin got several shirts and a pair of pants and I got lots of goodies.
WE HAD A GREAT DAY IN LEESBURG,VA!!! I am now ready to go back again.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

field trip

Justin and I had the chance to go see the lights at The Washington DC temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We went with a couple that is in Justin's ward Shawn and Marcia. They are both converts to the church. There are a lot of converts in the mid-single contingent of the church. Justin drove his jeep down and we were able to see all the BEAUTIFUL lights. I left my phone/camera at Justin's him and Shawn took pictures I am still waiting for them to be mailed to me.
We were able to see the last little bit of a bell choir from another church in Arlington,VA they played "we wish you a merry Christmas" it was really cool. Marcia, Shawn and I walked around and looked at nativity sets from all around the world. Justin sat and waited for us on a comfy couch. Justin did take a picture of a nativity set from Hungary where his sister is serving a mission. We saw nativity sets from Mexico also where his brother is serving. I wish I could tell you which one was my favorite or most interesting but they all were unique in their own way. There were beautiful Christmas trees that people in different places around here had decorated and put on display. AND OF COURSE THE TEMPLE!!! " I love to see the temple I am going there someday"
after the temple we went over to White Flint mall and went out to eat at Dave and Busters we didn't play any games but we had a great dinner. Justin enjoyed showing us where his step-mom lived when she was in this area and where he went to the movies as a teen and where he had worked at PF Changs when he was a teenager.
We drove back home and dropped Shawn and Marcia off and went back to Alexandria.
we are so lucky to have a temple in driving distance from our house even though it is a bit of a drive and through a lot of traffic at least it is do -able some people even in the US have to travel for HOURS or even a DAY to get to the temple. anyone that lives near one is LUCKY

Monday, December 13, 2010

field trip

THE UTAH STATE AGGIES CAME TO TOWN!!!! all the way from Logan, Utah to Washington DC to play the Georgetown Hoyas.
Justin went to Utah State and he got his bachelors in political science from there. We went to an alumnai lunch at a restaraunt called Clydes in Washington DC and they had a brunch buffet set up it was really nice. We sat with the Pococks from my ward. There was a man sitting by me that had flew in on the red eye from CA to see the Aggies play. Justin really enjoyed walking around and telling people that his dad was Lee Roderick who works at Utah State in the political science department. We also talked to Tyler and Kristen Cooley ( Chris Cooley's brother) I exchanged emails with Kristen and told her that I would send her some recipes and craft ideas. Orrin Hatch came and Justin was excited to see him since his dad has wrote almost three books about him.
We walked over to the Verizon Center where we sat REALLY far up and had a fun time cheering on the Aggies....even though they lost by 20 points:(
It was a really fun day though.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

field trip

Carrie and I had a great day in College Park, MD recently ( right now when Justin is reading this he is saying COLLEGE PARK THAT IS IN PG COUNTY!!!) Justin works in PG county and has seen it's seedier side. BE ASSURED that this museum that we went to was just fine.
After a nice drive with no traffic ALWAYS A PLUS in this area. We arrived in College Park. Carrie and I spotted a "disco turtle" outside one local business a turtle sculpture all adorned with disco mirror ball pieces. We were confused about why the building supply place needed a disco turtle outside their building until we realized that we were in The University of MD territory. Justin asked me why I did not stop there and get a magnet. I said that I can always go back there another day to get one. :)
We arrived at The Aviation Museum and were greeted by an elderly gentlemen and a really bored black guy ( I over heard him say he was BORED) the first guy showed us around some and then we were left to explore on our own.
Some of the neat things that we saw were:
a life size ROBOT of one of The Wright Brothers I have never seen a robot that looks this real. He could move and talk it reminded me of a Buffy episode where she is a robot and I thought they can't make robots that look that real...well THEY CAN!!!
we saw lots of old planes
we were able to climb in one plane and take pictures and move the wings etc.
we were able to play some video games
we could dress up like aviatrix ( I think that is the feminine term for aviators)
we made some aviation art work.
and all in all we had a great time.
I got myself a magnet and a little pink plane and I got Justin a plastic cup and a little blue plane.
on the way home we stopped at IKEA!!!! it was my first time going to Ikea. I now want to buy almost the whole store.... and have lots of decorating ideas.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

field trip

I went hiking on Sat. in Arlington,VA. My friend Carrie set up the hike. Carrie, myself, Spike and six or seven guys went. We hiked at a place called Windy Run or something like that. we started out and it was like every other hike that I have been on in Northern VA where there are houses in this case BIG house on one side and AMAZING nature on the other side. Then we went down some STEEP steps that were built into the hill and no more houses. there was a waterfall that came down by some rocks and we were right by the Potomac River. we hiked over lots of rocks down and up more steps and saw another waterfall. It was a great hike I had no idea that something like that even existed in Arlington,VA While we were hiking I saw some women rowing a boat crew style and on the way back you could see The Washington Monument in the distance which was kind of cool.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

holiday

Thanksgiving 2010 Justin and I were invited many places.
Weds. night we were invited to of to a pie night at Heidi's in Fairfax, VA I made an EASY banana cream pie. We went over to Heidi's townhouse. It looks great and was decorated nice. We had a lot of YUMMY treats.
Thurs. we went over to Carrie's in Alexandria, VA she had two tables set up. They were decorated nice and she had cute place cards for all of us. I kept mine and Justin's we went around the room and said what we were thankful for for different letters of the alphabet.
here is what I remember we said
G-I don't remember what Justin said.
H- I said hats because they are so cute and I love to wear them
P-Justin said he didn't know
Q- I said I loved how quick my brain thought of things
Y- Justin said he was thankful for Yankee's because they won the war and slavery is bad and we should all be equal.
Z- I said my grandma, Zettie Mae Arbutus, who went by Boots.
those are the letters we got when we went around the room.
After dinner we headed over to Angela's house. she had two or three tables set up and a LOT of people over there. We were full from Carrie's so we did not stay.
We then went over to My Aunt Diane's house. in Fairfax,VA we chatted with my family for about two hours.
we were so tired and so full after that, that we headed back to Justin's
he took a nap and I watched a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, a special about the Peanuts gang on the Mayflower and Elf.
then I went home.
I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and how much it has changed my life. I am so grateful to live here in VA even though I do miss Utah it is nice to have so many single friends. I am so grateful for my friends and family. I hope everyone else had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!