Rachel's Blog

What I've been up to...

2011-12-17T21:33:00.000-05:00

I've been a terrible blogger lately. Work and school have kept me busy! I just finished my EMT class and am getting ready to take more pre-med classes this spring. After the 4 tests I've had this past week, I am soooo ready for the Christmas break. I can't wait to see everyone. Since this is the first night I've had off in a long time I thought I'd share some pictures from the summer and fall.

The roomies and I took a last minute trip to the Jersey Shore! Yes, THE actual Jersey Shore. Seaside Heights. Such a fun way to spend labor day. We had fun eating and laying on the beach. However, I think the most fun part of the trip was people watching. We had a lot of fun people watching. Watching Guidos in Seaside Heights is my equivalent to Ron Swanson looking at hippies at Whole Foods... Yes, nature is amazing.

We also enjoyed some lovely fried goods... We ate an embarrassing amount of funnel cakes, fried oreos, fried reeces, and fried snickers.

We also made a stop in Philly for some cheesesteaks.

Halloween was a blast. Danny went as the Muffin Man and I went as a broken pinata. It was such an easy costume to make. I just chopped the pinatas head off and pinned candy and pinata parts to a bright dress. And no need to fear, Danny does not beat me. The black eye was drawn on with make up.

Sorry the update was so brief. I'll try to be better at taking pictures.

My Best Friend's Wedding

2011-08-19T16:48:00.001-04:00

I was lucky enough to go home to for a few days to help my bestie celebrate her wedding. The bachelorette party was absolutely hilarious. As soon as Mal gets back from her Honeymoon (on the beach... lucky!) I'll have to post them. Mal and I were in Delta Gamma together and her husband went to high school with me. I love them both and am so happy I got to be a part of their wedding party. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, the flowers were great and the food was yummy! She did a great job planning it. Don't they look so happy?

Just like every Utah wedding... most people refused to dance. However, those of us who did dance sure did have a great time!

Oh yeah, I caught the bouquet! I'm not 100% positive Mal didn't purposefully throw it in my direction :) What a great friend.

Day 9: Barcelona Beach Day

2011-08-09T09:18:00.010-04:00

We started the morning by going to a fabulous market and got fruit smoothies. Danny and I are obsessed. I got them the last time I was in Barcelona and I forced Danny to get one. For €1 you get a blended fruit drink. It was pretty much straight blended fruit. So amazing! We both got two and then went for a walk down Las Ramblas. We both wanted to buy paintings... Last time I was here there were so many more street artists. Danny got lucky and found a really great painting of a guy playing the saxophone (I'll post a picture later) I didn't fall in love with anything and left empty handed. :( We continued our walk and saw the pier again and then went to Starbucks and to write some postcards. We then made our way down to the beach...

The beach in Barcelona was my second favorite thing we did while in Europe. I absolutely loved this beach. Danny coined the phrase "beach economy" because people would come around with virtually everything you could want. I said "woah a massage would be really nice right now" within moments some Thai lady came by asking if I wanted a massage. This massage was the best deal ever. I ended up spending €10 for a very long Thai massage. Worth every penny. People came by selling coconut slices, Indian food (yes, seriously), fruit, beer, soda, water, towels, sarongs... just about everything you could desire was available. It was awesome. We really just relaxed on the beach for most of the day. I went into the water. A little cold for my liking. Read my kindle. People watched...

I must say... People watching on a beach in Europe is interesting. I saw a lottttt of boobies and a lot of men in speedos. I was just amazed at how comfortable people were with their bodies. I was self conscious wearing a bikini to the beach... but I could NEVER imagine going topless. I must say that it was quite the self esteem booster because I realized that if 90 year old women could go to the beach wearing virtually nothing... I shouldn't be embarrassed about not having a "perfect" body.

Day 8: Barcelona (aka the best city in the world)

2011-08-04T10:46:00.002-04:00

Ah. Barcelona. Best city on the planet. I don't know what it is about that town... But I adore it. I love Gaudi architecture.. I love the food. I love their lisp. I love everything. I took Spanish in high school. My teacher was a missionary in Spain so I feel like I understand Spain Spanish better than South American Spanish. Not that I speak Spanish very well... At all.

We started the day by going to Las Ramblas. It's a quirky and very touristy area of Barcelona. The last time I was in Barcelona there were tons of street performers. This time there were only a few. I had talked them up to Danny so much. I was sad he only got to see one or two. After that we went to lunch. At lunch Danny really wanted to try Paella which is basically just rice and fish. I got the same thing minus the fish. Mine wasn't anything to write home about...

After lunch we went to the Sagrada Familia. This was probably my favorite thing we did on the entire trip. The last time I was here the inside wasn't complete. This time it was (though the outside still has quite a few years of work left). We were nerdy and bought the audio guide. I'm so glad I did because I learned a lot about how it was built.

Nerdy Headphones

How he designed it. By putting bags of sand upside down. Weird dude.

Danny had a really tough time getting me to leave....

We then went to Park Guell, a very strange park designed by Gaudi. Lots of pictures below. Basically it's one big spiral. We started at the top and worked our way down.

After a very long day of sight seeing, we asked the receptionist at our hotel where we should go to dinner. She suggested La Dolca Herminia. I was shocked how reasonably priced it was, considering that it was a pretty nice restaurant with really good food. I had ravioli and Danny had steak. It was my favorite (well, maybe tied with those eggs in Paris) meal in Europe. Perfect way to end a perfect day in Barcelona! *I was so hungry that I didn't take pictures of my food. Whoops!

Day 7: London

2011-07-15T09:24:00.002-04:00

Paul was able to hook us up with a tour of the Westminster Parliament building. It's technically a palace. One of the girls from the SNP (Scottish National Party... the party I interned for while at the Scottish Parliament) was kind enough to show us around. Unfortunately, I couldn't take many pictures but I did steal some from off the web and have some fun facts about the building...

We started in the central lobby. It was absolutely stunning and had beautiful representations of Scotland, England, Wales & Ireland. *Fun fact: constituents are allowed to come to building and meet their representatives in the lobby to discuss legislation or issues. Hence the term "lobby your representative".

The Central Lobby via

We went to both the House of Lords and House of Commons chambers. I was shocked at how little each of the chambers are.

House of Lords

House of Commons

*Fun fact: Did you know that if you die Westminster Palace (where the Parliament is) they will change your place of death on your death certificate because if you die in a palace you are entitled to a funeral at royal expense...

When we left the building the girl taking us on the tour was nice enough to take a picture of us by Big Ben in the Westminster courtyard. We then said goodbye to Paul. He was working remotely from Westminster that day. It was so great seeing him.

After the awesome tour of Westminster we continued our quest to find me comfortable shoes. We made a brief detour to see the changing of the guards at the palace. I was underwhelmed. I mean, it was a bunch of guards on horses... I was hoping for more. In our attempt to make it in time to see the changing of the guards... I really messed up my foot. Running on cobblestone with flip flops was the worst idea in the world. My foot was in so much pain and it was in pain for a good deal after. I ended up having to wear a brace because of it. But ohhh well.

I eventually found a department store and bought a new pair of Toms. I now own an ungodly amount of Toms shoes. But the shoes did help my foot situation a lot!

After shopping we walked around Kensington and got lunch at a Lebanese restaurant and then took the tube to go see the Tower Bridge! This is the bridge most people think about when they think of the London Bridge. I saw it when I went with my cousins to London but I never walked over it. Both of us loved it! It also had a great view of the Tower of London.

After our adventure crossing the bridge we headed to the airport to go to my favorite city in the world... Barcelona!

Day 6: London

2011-07-13T09:20:00.003-04:00

Alright... Back to posting about our trip...

We flew out of Nice very early in the morning. I was so excited to go to London. Not only do I love the British people... but I got to see one of my best friends, Paul! Paul flew from Scotland to London to meet us and it was a blast seeing him.

We started out by going to the center of London and touring Westminster abbey. It was awesome seeing where Mary, Queen of Scots was buried. I did find it a little bit ironic that Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell were buried there... And yes, I did partly go in because I wanted to see where Kate got married. Sorta embarrassed about that. I was really upset that they wouldn't let us take pictures inside the chapel. So sorry, no pics to share.

After that, we walked around and saw the parliament building. We had a tour scheduled the next day so we didn't spend a ton of time there. After I went on my quest to find comfortable shoes and tour the city while we were walking towards Harrods. I loved Harrods, but I was unable to find shoes in my budget that were comfortable. I was SUCH an idiot and didn't bring normal shoes. I only brought flip flops. What was I thinking!? I would say I'm a pretty seasoned traveler. I know better... For some reason I thought I'd be sitting on a beach for most of my time in Europe.... That obviously didn't happen. SO moral of the story - if you ever go to Europe or anywhere with cobblestone... BRING COMFY SHOES. Not comfy flip flops. I made myself miserable in London because it was so painful to walk.

I met Paul working at the Scottish Parliament. He is a big supporter of Scottish Independence and really does not like the UK government being involved with Scottish affairs...

That evening we went to a pub and met one of Danny's friends from summer camp and hung out with Paul. After the pub closed, we went back to the hostel and chatted with the other travelers. I love hostels for that reason. You always meet the most interesting people...

Decor...

2011-07-12T23:00:00.002-04:00

I emailed my mom today to get her opinion on a rug for my room. I realized that I never updated what my room looks like and how it has come together since last year... So here it is. Yes, it is a little messy. But you get the picture!

*Yes, I am aware that the paint does not go with my bedspread. I'm too lazy to paint. But if I were to paint, I think I'd paint it a nice creamy orange like "florida mango"or a different color of blue.

Also, if anyone has a good rug suggestion.. I'd love to know your thoughts! I am having a hard time finding a rug that would tie everything together... The floors are a cherry color, the bedspread is bright red and all of my furniture is black...

We're not very artistic....

2011-07-10T23:10:00.004-04:00

I've been terrible at updating on our Europe trip. I'll finish it. Eventually. Thought I'd share a few fun photos though... We joined friends Saturday for a fun art night through ArtJamz! They gave you a blank canvas and paint and let you go! There was DJ and food. So much fun!

Mine started out great. My sky and grass looked so cool... Then I added flowers. I kinda messed those up. But it was still a lot of fun and had a great time playing with paint! In case you can't tell, I drew flowers (tulips? haha) and Danny drew music notes (those are the small dots).

Day 5: Nice/Monaco

2011-06-23T15:09:00.002-04:00

Let me start by saying Nice is awesome! Monaco is awesome! This was such a fun leg of our trip. We left our hostel pretty early and headed out to the beach. We were going to go to this beach with a cool cave you can swim to. Once we arrived at the bus stop, we realized that have of Nice had the same idea. We were actually pretty close to the doors of the bus but realized that the line was getting a little rowdy and people started shoving others - even the bus driver got grabbed... it just didn't look like a fun bus to be on. So we decided that the normal beach was fine! I'm glad we did that because we got to walk through the city and see some really fun side streets. I absolutely loved the beach! It was exactly what I had in mind as relaxing. We sat on the beach. Enjoyed the water. Read my kindle. Perfect day!

After our beach adventures we grabbed gelato. One of our friends recommended a place called Fenocchio. It was awesome. Even though they had hundreds of flavors... I still went with my tried and true pistachio flavor. I'm so boring. We headed back to the hostel for dinner and then went to Monaco for the evening.

Monaco is a fascinating little country... We saw hundreds of yachts and expensive cars. We walked up the hill to the famous Monte Carlo casino and looked at the parking lot. Woahhh so many crazy nice cars. Just about every male was obsessing over the Bugatti Veyron. For any ladies out there who don't know what that is (I didn't really know what it was) it's only the most expensive street legal car available on the market today... All I really knew is that the orange color was pretty and I wasn't shocked to see that it had a UAE license plate.

We walked around and saw some more pretty cars and boats and headed back to the hostel.

*One thing I forgot to mention about Nice is the how hilarious the announcement system is for the tram. They would pretty much whisper the names of each stop in a really dramatic way with angelic sounding chimes. We couldn't help but imagine if DC did that for all their stops. Especially the not-so-nice stops in DC. The whole time we would whisper Anacostiaaaaaaaa... Foggy Bottommmmm... Columbia Heightssssss... If you go to Nice... I would recommend taking the tram solely for the reason that it is hilarious.

Day 4: Paris/Nice

2011-06-23T14:43:00.000-04:00

We spent a half day in Paris and then flew to Nice. Nate was nice enough to let us store our luggage in his apartment. His apartment is absolutely gorgeous. However, his amazing view came with a lot of stairs... Danny & Nate were awesome and carried my bags.

After we dropped our bags off, I made Danny go to Le Wilson again for awesome eggs. We then both decided to do our own thing. Danny went off to the Orsay museum. I was going to go to the aquarium but decided on going shopping instead. I walked down the Champs Elysees and checked out all the shops. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything worth purchasing... Though I did see this hot little number.

After shopping I met up with Danny and dragged him another shopping place at Galeries Lafayette. This place was like a mall on crack! Pretty much everything was designer (and therefore way out of my price range). I looked at shoes while Danny drooled over watches. I personally thought it was a fun place to spend the afternoon!

After shopping were off to Nice. We got to our hostel pretty late. The hostel was awesome - it was an old monastery converted to a hostel. They made the chapel into a bar which was pretty interesting.

Day 3: Paris

2011-06-21T09:11:00.012-04:00

After a good night sleep we started the day by meeting my friend Nate for breakfast. Nate and I did an internship in DC together. He is now pursuing a masters in Paris. Lucky guy. He lives a few blocks away from the apartment we rented so it was very easy to meet up with him. He suggested a great resturant called Brasserie Le Wilson. This was the best call ever because it ended up being my favorite breakfast of all time. I didn't know eggs could taste that good! I think they cooked the bacon (really more like ham) and then fried the egg on top. But I'm not sure... It was served with amazing croissants, bread, fresh squeezed orange juice and hot chocolate. Best way to start out the day! This was my favorite meal in Europe... Anyone who actually cooks.. do you know how to achieve this? Am I right? How would you recreate this??? I WANT THESE EGGS AGAIN.

We had a great time chatting with Nate. After breakfast, Nate showed us the apartment from the movie Taken. It was about a block away from where Danny and I were staying. Naturally, we had to take one of these photos... (Nate "taking" me)

We then went our separate ways. Danny and I decided to go to the Louvre (bad call on my part) and Nate went to work on his thesis. I say going to the Louvre was probably a bad call... because Danny and I have drastically different tastes in art. I love art. I try to buy art wherever I go. Danny was an art history major in college so seeing this stuff was a big deal to him. In my opinion, if you've seen one picture on Mary breastfeeding Jesus... you've seen them all. This art isn't exactly my favorite. Yeah, I get it, these pieces are masterpieces. I can appreciate it, but I don't enjoy it. Whereas Danny actually enjoys it. The Louvre is absolutely massive. And we hit just about every floor and every room. I think we were both a little exhausted by the end of it.

One of the fun things about having already gone to the Louvre and not being so distracted by the Mona Lisa... is that I can be amused by all the people taking pictures of the Mona Lisa. People were clawing their way to get to the front of the line.

After this point, I let Danny go off to look at more art (I was getting art-ed out) and I tried to find a bathroom.

I have a few issues with Paris... But I one of my main issues was the HUGE lack of public restrooms (and trash cans! - Paris, do you want me to litter in your beautiful streets?! Because you're sure making me want to!!!). The Louvre looks like it was recently renovated. What idiotic architect makes ladies bathrooms with 1 or 2 stalls in one of the most popular places in the world??? I'm still dumbfounded. The person in charge there must be a male. There were maybe 1 or 2 bathrooms on each floor and of course each ladies room had massive lines. So needless to say, by the end of the day I was pretty annoyed with the Louvre... I calmed myself down by enjoying an iced chi.

We then went back to our apartment and made dinner. Renting an apartment was a great idea in theory. But the bad thing about it is you never know how thin the walls are and how crabby the neighbor next door is... In our case, the neighbor next door was psychotic and the walls were sooo thin. At the time, I was annoyed with her and it was kind of putting a damper on the trip. But looking at it now, I find this story sorta amusing. We started dinner at 7. Running the water annoyed the neighbor she banged on the wall. Sorry lady. We then proceeded to eat around 7:30... We wanted to class up our night so we started playing classical music... of course, since we had no speakers this was playing out of Danny's phone and was (what we thought) very quiet... This also annoyed her greatly and she proceeded to bang on our door. We turned down Rachmaninoff. We decided that we had enough of the neighbor and went down to the Arc De Triomphe and Effiel Tower to enjoy the evening (photos below). We then went home and brushed our teeth (no talking at this point). Apparently, this wasn't cool with her either because she banged on the door and started screaming at us. Ohhh crazy lady.

Day 2: Paris

2011-06-20T14:20:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Paris around 1 PM. Our flight was less than comfortable and we didn't sleep much on the plane. We decided to take a cab to the apartment we rented. It was well worth the extra money because by the time we got to the apartment we crashed really hard! We managed to wake up for dinner and walked down the street to an amazing bistro. I had grilled lamb and Danny had steak. I was not functional enough to remember to take a picture! However, it was one of the best meals (Danny's favorite) that we had in Europe.

Our apartment was in a great area and was 2 blocks away from the Eiffel Tower. After dinner we spent the evening taking cliche Eiffel Tower pictures!

Part 1: New York

2011-06-19T16:57:00.001-04:00

Our flight to Paris left from NYC. We decided to go to NYC a day early and enjoy the city! Danny spent a summer doing an internship there, so he was familiar with the city and eager to get back.

We started the day by walking to Highline Park. The park is actually built on a suspended railroad track. The railroad lifted freight train traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the street. They stopped using it in the 80s. So they turned it into a park! It was a really cool thing to see!

I only wanted see one thing in New York: Obscura Antiques. I don't know if anyone watches the show Oddities on the Science Channel... If you aren't, you are missing out. I am obsessed! The show is about an antiques store that sells... well, oddities. Like pickled pigs, two-headed animal taxidermy, coffins, skulls, etc... Danny and I both love the show so we decided to visit it. I was hoping I could find a creepy little item to take with me... but unfortunately, I came out empty handed! But I did get to see one of the owners and we had a lovely discussion about a Tibetan decorated skull (see below) they had in the shop. I was pretty geeked out and excited!

After Obscura Danny took me to Grimaldi's pizza in Brooklyn. To get there, we had to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge which was really neat! The view from the bridge is really incredible.

After pizza we gathered up our stuff and got on our plane to Paris!

Top 5 reasons this past week has been awesome :)

2011-05-14T18:36:00.002-04:00

5) I got the most amazingly comfortable shoes in the world. I hate wearing shoes. So this is a big deal. haha. These are so comfy that I would almost rather wear them than be barefoot.

4) When I bought them on Zappos... They upgraded my order to free overnight shipping. This made me very happy... so I wrote back saying 'thanks this made my day'. I guess sometimes saying thanks can be beneficial... because they responded by giving me a Zappos vip account and I now get free overnight shipping forever. Score.

3) Hit the 'less than 30 days till I go to europe again' mark. It has been over a year. It is time to go back. I desperately need a vacation and nothing makes me happier than traveling. It looks like I'm going to be able to meet up with some old friends there too. The thought of being in these places in less than a month is making the slow time at work less terrible. It's great to have plans finalized. Feels much more real. :)

Paris via

Nice via

Monaco via

London via

Barcelona via

2) I had a lot of fun crashing a party with this handsome guy...

1) Oh yeah... Guess drinking all those red bull energy drinks I mentioned last November paid off because I am officially accepted into Oxford for my masters! I got hopeful news a little bit prior but nothing official. So seeing an official letter was pretty great.. I don't know if I will be going for sure yet. I still am waiting to hear back on some American schools.. But I'm really thrilled they think I could make it in the academic big leagues. :)

50 Ways to Cope With Stress

2011-04-16T20:23:00.004-04:00

-from here

DC Pictures....

2011-01-16T17:27:00.000-05:00

Sorry for my lack of posts lately. All is well. I have just not had a desire to blog. Over New Years I had a friend visit from Denmark. We had a lot of fun visiting around DC. Here are some pics of the trip! I know I look pretty terrible. To be fair we walked all the way from my house to the capitol which is really far.

This was taken on my first try!

Utah pride! WW2 Memorial

By the national holiday tree

Library of Congress

After a tour of the capitol....

These are from the national botanical gardens. I thought it was amazing!

Red Bull... Gives you admission to Oxford?

2010-11-18T23:43:00.000-05:00

Taking a small break. It's almost midnight. I have a red bull in hand (okay 3 red bulls in hand). And I'm no where near being close to done with my Oxford application.

I feel like I'm in college again. And I kind of love it.

It's going to be a longgggg night.

Halloween!

2010-10-29T00:48:00.001-04:00

I am so excited for this weekend. We're celebrating my roomie's birthday, celebrating the rally, and celebrating Halloween. In case you are wondering, I'll be going as Medusa.

I think my room mates might have realized the extent of my insanity when I put up our first Halloween decoration around September 15. If radio stations can start playing Christmas music October 1- more than two months before xmas- I can put up Halloween decorations September 15. Heather and I bought decorations early September and have been waiting to put them up for quite some time. . .

A few weeks ago I got a surprise package from my dad and step mom... Halloween decorations! They sent me an adorable streamer, bowl with candy (that was devoured by the roomies in about 10 minutes... so we've added candy corn) and a pumpkin witch!

My mom has requested that I do a little tour of my house. I will gradually do this. My step dad sent me an awesome family painting that I need to blog about as well... So the next photo batch will be my room.

I'd say we're pretty dang festive.

Rally Apparel

2010-10-27T12:16:00.000-04:00

Most people know that my contempt of Glen Beck is almost infinite… and similarly my dislike of the tea party is even greater. I’m sorry if that offends anyone, but this is my blog so I get to say what I want. :) I just a) don’t understand what they want and b) think their ideals are a little off.

Anyways, as I blogged about earlier I will be attending the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Keep Fear Alive. In preparation for this, some of my room mates and friends ordered some semi-matching special t-shirts for our very special day. Thought I'd share because I think it's funny. Sorry if you don't get it or hate it.

I can't wait for Saturday!!

My t-shirt will say:

My room mate Heather will be wearing this lovely little number:

Another roomie, Nur-E will be wearing hysterical shirt:

Nur-E’s sister, Big Nur-E will be wearing this:

And Nur-E’s Boyfriend will be wearing this:

Haircuts....

2010-10-07T07:30:00.000-04:00

I saw this picture of my sister giving my little bro a haircut on my aunt's blog today (you should stalk it... it's so funny!!).

My sister is a great hairdresser but Robbie's hair is always tough for her to cut. Now that I see this picture I'm questioning whether I should have her cut my hair... Is there a family curse??

Seriously though... Aren't they cute?

I miss my family!

My favorite picture from this weekend...

2010-09-27T12:43:00.000-04:00

I went to a polo match last Saturday. Dressing up for a sporting event was interesting- but I kind of loved it. It was a lot of fun and I would love to go to more.

But seriously... who tailgates out of the back of a Bentley?

"I disagree with you but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler"

2010-09-17T19:59:00.003-04:00

I have to agree with Jon Stewart's upcoming rally.

Watch and enjoy. I promise this rally applies to people on both of sides of the aisle. SOOOO funny and SO true. It is about time that the majority of American's voices are heard rather than the small crazy sections who often speak the loudest.

I really hope this gets more attendance than Glenn Beck's rally a few weeks ago. Enough is enough... Let's take it down a notch, America.

I think you all know where I'll be October 30th...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-16-2010/rally-to-restore-sanity

This is the invite...
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Who among us has not wanted to open their window and shout that at the top of their lungs?

Seriously, who?
Because we're looking for those people. We're looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it's appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. Or Charlie Chaplin in certain roles.

Are you one of those people? Excellent. Then we'd like you to join us in Washington, DC on October 30 -- a date of no significance whatsoever -- at the Daily Show's "Rally to Restore Sanity." Ours is a rally for the people who've been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) -- not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence... we couldn't. That's sort of the point.

Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; the Million Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest; or the Gathering of the Juggalos, but instead of throwing our feces at Tila Tequila, we'll be actively *not* throwing our feces at Tila Tequila. Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice. Or don't. If you'd rather stay home, go to work, or drive your kids to soccer practice... Actually, please come anyway. Ask the sitter if she can stay a few extra hours, just this once. We'll make it worth your while.

Keep checking back for updates and rally information.http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/
http://twitter.com/rally4sanitya

As of late......

2010-07-13T09:57:00.001-04:00

I wish I had more exciting news to post. I've just been relaxing and taking it easy here in DC!

Whitney's engagement party (middle black dress). Whitney used to live in the house I live in now. The other girls are my room mates.

Watching fireworks. Did you know there are fireworks every Friday during the summer in DC? The 4th of July doesn't have to end quite yet!

Whitney and Andrew's engagement cake. My room mate Heather planned this for them... She went to get the cake and it looked terrible at first and made them do it again. Needless to say we were a little late waiting for the cake to be redone.

Last week I went to my co-worker Rosemary's bachelorette party. We went to dinner on the Georgetown water front (my favorite place in DC) and had dinner.

The girls on the 4th of July. We had some girls from NYC come visit.

One Year Older.....

2010-06-29T08:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday!! I'm officially old maid status in Utah years! :)

To be perfectly honest, my morning started off kind of rough. I was a little pissed off for most of the morning. However, my birthday only went up from there! I was surprised by delicious cupcakes brought in by my awesome coworker and a very nice card from the office! My awesome coworker then took me to lunch at the Foggy Bottom Pub, a cute little resturant near campus! All of my old coworkers from FTMG had been harassing me about this delicious philly cart called Vitos in Bountiful. Our office usually bought that for my birthday. I was of course craving a philly cheesesteak. I ordered one, and while it was good, it doesn't compare to Vitos. haha. I just might have to go to Philly to get my cheesesteak fix..

After work my amazing roomies and some friends took me to dinner! Knowing my total and absolute love for Mexican food, they had found a Mexican restaurant and it was delicious! :) They even surprised me with my favorite type of cupcake from Hello Cupcake! Dinner was good and the conversation was great!

I'm so grateful that I have such fantastic roomies and friends! My favorite things: Mexican food, phillys, good friends and cupcakes can sure make any birthday great!!

A little late... But I graduated!

2010-06-27T12:22:00.002-04:00

My Foodie Blog...

2010-06-23T13:32:00.000-04:00

Everyone should know that I love to cook and I love to eat. So I decided to create a food blog of all the great stuff I am making. Hope you check it out and follow! :) Also, if anyone wants to add to it- let me know! I'm always looking for good new recipes. These are all recipes I've made or ate personally. Tried and true. :) If you do ever make something I post on it- you should let me know if you changed anything or would do something different- I love feedback! :)

http://whatracheleats.blogspot.com/

Best Shake Ever...

2010-06-18T14:16:00.000-04:00

If anyone watched Top Chef you might remember Spike Mendelsohn... He owns a restaurant in DC and it is fantastic. And unhealthy. The best shake on the planet is from there... The toasted marshmallow shake. It is seriously like a campfire in your mouth. This recipe was in the local paper. I made it last night. It was beyond easy to make. So I thought I'd share it.

It's supposed to be 99 degrees this weekend out here so I will probably be making this again in the near future. Hope everyone else has lovely weather!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

* 1 bag jumbo marshmallows

* 2 cups milk

* 1 Tbsp. sour cream

* 2 cups creamy vanilla ice cream

Directions:

On a medium-size cookie sheet, place 1/2 bag of marshmallows in a row.

Place under your burner in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes, until completely charred.

Take out of oven and let cool.

Repeat this step but only let the marshmallows toast, so they are slightly burnt.

Take out of oven and let cool.

In a blender, pour milk, sour cream, ice cream and charred marshmallows.

Mix for 5 minutes.

Pour in a large glass and top with 2 to 3 toasted marshmallows.

How I Saw Chelsea

2010-06-17T12:27:00.002-04:00

Since I don't have any real new material to blog about (well that I want to share at the moment :) ), I thought I'd post some of my older pictures I haven't gotten around to sharing.

One of my favorite people in the world is Chelsea Handler (CH). I’m slightly obsessed. Nothing is better than watching her show after a long day. Thank goodness my new place has a DVR because I will now never have to miss an episode again.

CH came to DC for a book tour and by some miracle I was able to get my book signed by her. I went to the book store a couple hours before the tour thinking I’d be one of the first people in line. Ohhh no. Apparently she’s really popular here. They were out of wrist bands which let you in. My friends Sarah and Micah came along so we all just decided to shop for books. Well, Sarah found me and said “I saw a person with a wrist band leaving and grabbed it for you,” and proceeded to give me the glorious wrist band. I guess CH was late and they didn’t know if they would even get to see her. I thought I’d take my chances and wait it out…

I go downstairs and hear that only individuals with blue, pink or orange wrist bands will be able to meet

CH.

Mine was yellow. I was super depressed. But determined. So I patiently waited until someone with a blue wristband came out and kindly asked if they’d give it to me. One person did. So I snuck in line… was this dishonest? Yeah, probably. But I’m not going to lie- it was worth it. I still sleep just fine at night despite my bad behavior.

Georgetown makes me happy.

2010-06-02T22:49:00.001-04:00

I'm all moved in! Well, kinda. Furniture is coming later this week and I think I might paint, but the lazy half of me is seriously just wanting to deal with it. But at least I have my clothes on hangers.

Most of you all know I had a love hate relationship with DC. I kind of grew to hate DC this past winter. In fact, I thought I would never live here permanently... But I guess life has a different plan for me. :) I love all the things to do and the shopping in DC... I just hate, well, I hate the metro, tourists, the humidity, cost of everything, bums asking me for money ever two seconds and me feeling guilty for not giving it to them, how long it takes to get anywhere, obnoxious people, the smell in some areas... oh did I mention tourists? you get the picture.

But I must say. I am in complete and utter love with my new home. Georgetown rocks. It is most certainly a redeeming part of DC. I feel so grateful- I lucked out so much with this house. I pay less in rent than friends who live in the ghetto, have a good sized room, and live in a beautiful house on one of the nicest streets in DC. How did I luck out like this?!

I can't help but have a huge smile walking home from work every day. All the houses are old and quaint. I almost feel like I'm back in Scotland. And that makes me so very happy.

I feel like such a lucky girl. Who wouldn't want to live here?!

John McCain

2010-05-31T08:07:00.000-04:00

Here's a picture of the most famous person I met in DC. I sure as heck don't agree with his politics, but he was a really nice guy.

Best Commercial Ever

2010-05-31T00:33:00.001-04:00

This is so my new favorite commercial. I can't stop laughing. Makes me miss home a bit. :) This goes out to all my peeps in Utah sportin' the mini van.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4

Spring in DC is Lovely... Cherry Blossom Photos

2010-05-30T23:10:00.001-04:00

Spring in DC is Lovely...

However, spring is over and it's dang hot.

It was nice while it lasted. Sigh.

I'm just now getting around to posting pictures. My dear friend Nate and I visited the cherry blossoms a while back. They sure are beautiful but they sure did make me sneeze.

Photos don't really do them justice. I wish nature could be captured on film better. [correction: I wish nature could be captured better on cameras that don't cost thousands of dollars.]

Who wants to come visit next spring!?

Decor Update!

2010-05-22T20:36:00.002-04:00

I think I've officially spent the most money that I've ever spent in one day.

Felt horrible but wonderful at the same time.

I went shopping today and fell in total and absolute LOVE with this bedding at Pottery Barn that thankfully was a little on sale. I'm glad I determined my bedding because I was then able to decide on my bed (plus mattress) and nightstand. Now I have to figure out the dresser situation but I think I'll hold off. I also need curtains, sheets, a rug and a lamp and I'll be good! :)

My new bed and nightstand. Sorry so fuzzy... It's a mix of wood and iron. I think it's quite lovely. And I think the price of $189 for the bed is even more lovely.

And my beautiful new bedding

I think I will paint my room the blue color of the flower below:

Can't wait for my new room! :)

Oh the Joy? of Children...

2010-05-22T02:00:00.008-04:00

Growing up one of my favorite movies was Matilda. And one of my favorite lines to quote is from the mean principle, Ms. Trunchball. "They're all mistakes, children! Filthy, nasty things. Glad I never was one."

I came across a little blog the other day. Pardon the cuss word in the title. But I think anyone who

a) is a parent, and

b) was ever a child (esp. a naughty one)

can appreciate it.

After compulsively going through all the pictures... All I can say is I'm sorry mom and dad. I'm like 92% sure I was one of these filthy, nasty children. ;) Precisely why I don't think I want kids for a while. I have some nasty karma coming my way...

A lot of people I went to high school with are starting to have children. Pictures like this make me think I'm not really missing out on a lot. I think I can wait for quite a few, or more than a few, more years...

So to the very few parents reading this blog, hang in there. I hear children grow out of this. But then again, I'm 'grown up' and still pretty messy... So maybe not?

http://shitmykidsruined.tumblr.com/

My two favorite things kids have ruined featured on this blog...

Pride? Vanity? (Look at the E in Mother)

Perhaps Clothing?

To all those who mock my plan to adopt children at an age when they can be reasoned with... Take a look at this blog. Yeah NOW try telling me I'm crazy. ;) I think I'll pass on the broken furniture, toilet full of toys, vomit, broken car windows, bloody teeth, holes in walls, urine soaked furniture, messed up car, wii remote through the tv, poop on the floor, cell phone snapped in half, scribbled walls, sticky messes everywhere business... For now.

Maybe in a few years. :)

I don't know how you deal with it, parents. But thank goodness you do.

Yay for not being homeless!

2010-05-19T22:59:00.004-04:00

So I found a place to live! I feel really good about it. The girls are nice, the house is nice, it's in one of the nicest places in DC, and it's not too far from work (i.e. I don't have to take the dreaded metro!). Apparently I get to use the community pool for g'town citizens. Awesome.

I visited my new 'home' today to grab a few pictures of my new room for my family to see... And most importantly to get an idea of how to decorate!! :)

Any good ideas? Keep in mind- none of this furniture will be mine. I have to buy everything. But I don't feel terrible. This place is $150-200+ per month cheaper than all the places I had looked at. I can't believe what a steallll this room is, especially for the Georgetown area!! I'm slightly excited.

I can paint if I want to. But I kind of like the aqua, though I'd rather paint my room orange...

Any suggestions?!?!

... and now for the grand tour...

So this is the closet. (small). I will need a dresser. To the right is the door into the room, and the left is there the bed is.

To the left of the mirror is the door to the room. (this is the wall opposite to the wall of the bed and desk)

I'm standing at the front of her bed. She has put her desk at the end of her bed and kind of made a nook in the corner...

This is the view from right behind the desk. The closet is to the right.

Quote

2010-05-16T00:48:00.001-04:00

So my frined is going back home for a visit and is letting me 'house sit' his place while he's gone 3+ weeks. I was asking him if there was any way I could pay rent, make him a freezer full of dinners, etc. He said I could make sure his plant doesn't die. When I asked him if he was sure there was nothing else I could do, he said this:

"Friendship is like an insurance premium Rachel... you pay your premium until you need to cash in on your policy."

Isn't that the truth. :)

PS. I'll write about everything soon. Short version: I like my job and I'm a happy girl right now. I still need to find a home. I'm just praying I find a place to live with nice people and where I'll be happy. I'm getting closer everyday. Thank goodness for nice people looking out for me. I hate being homeless. My job is great so far. I'm going to start masters classes this fall. It will be fun and a good way to make new friends.

Funny Brother

2010-05-06T23:38:00.000-04:00

After reading heartfelt graduation cards from my parents I read this from my little brother:

"Congratulations!!! Rachel. If everything doesn't go the way you planned... You can come live with me in my castle. Love, Rob".

Thanks for the faith, bro.

Good news and Bad News...

2010-05-03T16:52:00.001-04:00

Good news: I'm the newest employee of The George Washington University School of Medicine.

Bad news: I get to repack all my stuff and move back.... This Saturday.

Ahh. The joys of finding out about the job the DAY after you come home.

Bye for now, DC.

2010-05-01T23:04:00.000-04:00

All my bags are packed. I'm not ready to go.

:(

Moving every 6 months kind of sucks.

Visual depiction of how my final paper is going...

2010-04-27T22:45:00.004-04:00

Not well. Obviously.

Oh Starbucks, how would I ever graduate without you?

[ yes, I am aware I look like a man.]

Cupcakes, Oceans, Eggs & Sleepovers

2010-04-25T21:13:00.013-04:00

I wish I had something more interesting to blog about. My latest photos to share with you involve my random outings. DC is a trendy place. And right now the biggest food trend is cupcakes. We have literally been eating our way through through the cupcake scene. The last two weeks we've tried two places- Georgetown Cupcake and Wired. My review: Georgetown Cupcake by far had the most hype and I was disappointed. The line was large and the cupcake was small. My cupcake was (I can't believe I'm saying this) too sweet. Wired was by far my favorite. I got a coconut cupcake. It was a nice size and not too sweet. Just right.

Enjoying our cupcakes on the boardwalk. Kennedy Preforming Arts Center behind us. I am an idiot and left my work badge on all night. Awesome.

Friday my friend Ricky and I saw the move Oceans. My review: it was okay. They had some amazing shots. Did you know whales sleep upside down? Yeah, me either.

Saturday we went to Eastern Market for breakfast. Eastern Market is one of my favorite areas in DC. I got eggs Benedict (naughty, I know) and thoroughly enjoyed bit of it. I did not enjoy the 1 hour wait in line for breakfast. I guess good things come to those who wait. Literally.

After we went shopping and I bought a new necklace. It had a bird and thistle on it. One of my nicknames is Rachel-bird and the thistle has a special place in my heart because of Scotland. :) It was $8. Gosh I love Nordstrom BP.

Saturday night we decided to have a girls night sleepover! (except we all slept in our own beds in our own house... haha). Painted nails and watched Across the Universe. Loved it! Our friend Sarah had the coolest red toe nail polish. It was sparkly. My toes look like Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz.

What is more girly than nail stuff, gossip girl, diet coke and women's health??

Sarah, Julia and me

Like I've been saying for a while, DC really is a lovely place when it isn't snowing. :)

Vinařská Roomie Reunion

2010-04-25T00:23:00.008-04:00

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to see a very dear old friend of mine, (inside joke) Ms Tiffany Alexander-Baker. She was my room mate in the Czech Republic and I know that she was my roomie for a reason. I know I talk about the Czech a lot. But it was by far the best time of my life. Happiest time of my life certainly.

Tiff and I found each other on FB before and ended up booking the last leg of our flight to the Czech Republic together. We somehow managed to find our way to the town we lived at and made it to our 'lovely' dorms at Vinařská (which, mind you, was 3 hours away from the airport... We had no Czech money... Tiff's credit card wouldn't work... Didn't know a word of the language.... And had way too much luggage...It was a miracle we made it to be honest).

My first "room mate" happened to be a Greek man who smoked cigars and thought my bed was an appropriate repository for beer cans. A little unnerving for a girl just off the plane from Utah...Needless to say me and this Greek fellow weren't room mates for long. The front desk lady thought this situation was entirely appropriate and didn't want to move me. Thankfully, tears and Tiff helped me get into a new room... Hers :). The rest is history.

A few of my favorite memories include:
*Mrs/Ms debates
*Banging on our ceiling because of 'loud' neighbors "I can HEAR you! Stopppp!"
*Pretending to be paleontologists
*Tiff being inappropriately dressed for every trip (climbing a mountain in a dress, sundresses in rain, hiking in high heels... you get the picture)
*Our child, Flat Stanley Alexburger
*Our diet consisting mainly of Zlate cookies
*Dressing up as the hilton sisters
*Our failure at making Mexican food on our little hotplate
*Wearing a shirt as a dress
*Throwing pots out the window
*Telling everyone Tiff was pregnant on April Fools, going to a party, and watching everyone look at Tiff in horror while she drank a pivo (beer)
*Rather than taking pictures of people, filming them and seeing how long we could get them to do a "long awkward photo pose"

Needless to say, Tiff or T-itty was fun in '08 and she's still fun in 2010. Seeing her was a blast.

My step sister Sara had a quote on her blog from some time ago that I wrote down. It really struck a chord with me. You know you have a great friend when you can go without seeing each other for 2 years and strike up a conversation... like it was yesterday.

"All of us should strive to have friendships that are deep and solid - so solid, for instance, that if they were interrupted, the unfinished conversation could be resumed months later almost mid-sentence, just as if we had never been apart"-Neil Maxwell

Anyways, here are some pictures of our little tour of DC.... Enjoy!

Thomas Jefferson was a babe. I agree, Tiff. :)

Tiff was nice enough to take a picture of me pointing to a quote that I firmly believe in. :)

Tiff being Tiff.

Side story: My favorite Tiff story involves guns. Not why I took this picture, but I thought I'd share anyways. So Tiff was explaining to us why in HS she was always nice to the scary kids. She said "WHEN they go crazy and start shooting everyone I want it to go like: ratta tat tat... [pointing to her] you're cool... ratta tat tat".

I love tourists.

She's still more tan than me.

My favorite.

You should watch my boss on American Idol tonight...

2010-04-21T10:35:00.003-04:00

So my boss will appear in a little clip on tonight's American Idol Gives Back episode.

Check out our Surgeon General in action tonight on... gulp...Fox [cringe] at 8/7c.

Oh yeah, wanna hear about my bargain of a lunch? One orange and a Dole Cesar Salad kit = $2.00. There's a guy outside our office who sells produce. Now I have enough salad for at least 2 more lunches. Including my orange the cost of my lunch for the next two days is $.67. Not too shabby...

I discovered...

2010-04-20T09:57:00.004-04:00

I've been on this 'loosing weight' kick for some time now. In case you are wondering I hit below the 120 mark last week! Wahoo! However, eating salads for lunch every single day gets a little mundane. So last night I switched it up with a "modern waldorf salad". I was put off when I saw it called for grapefruit. Grapefruit and I have a shotty past. When I was little I remember my mom having them and I hateddddd them. Like a lot. I remember my room mate Alyson in Scotland eating them everyday and being disgusted. What kind of mad person would like something that bitter?

Well, my friends, after taking the grapefruit out of the little case I discovered..... I like it. It really isn't bitter and gross once it is out of the case. Ah I must be growing up.

Here's a recipe for a Modern Waldorf Salad. I added chicken cooked with the Cajun seasoning because apparently, protein is good for you.

The traditional apple, walnut and chopped celery salad is updated with a yogurt and low-fat mayonnaise citrus dressing, pine nuts and Cajun seasoning.

Dressing

1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

Salad

1 head romaine lettuce
1 grapefruit
1 firm but ripe Bosc pear, peeled, cored, diced
1 tart green apple (such as Pippin), peeled, cored, diced
1 cup seedless grapes, halved
1/3 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Instructions

Mix mayonnaise, yogurt, orange juice, orange peel and Cajun seasoning in small bowl to blend. (Dressing can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Line large bowl with large outer leaves of lettuce. Chop enough remaining leaves into bite-size pieces to measure 6 cups (reserve remaining lettuce for another use). Place chopped lettuce in another large bowl. Using small sharp knife, cut off peel and white pith from grapefruit. Cut between membranes to release grapefruit segments. Cut segments in half. Place in bowl with chopped lettuce. Add diced pear, diced apple, halved grapes and chopped dates. Add dressing to salad and toss to coat.

Transfer salad to leaf-lined bowl. Sprinkle salad with pine nuts and serve.

What I've been up to...

2010-04-18T16:31:00.004-04:00

The job interview went ok. Not great. Not terrible. Hopefully things turn our alright and I get the job. Keep keeping your fingers crossed for me. I'd love the job.

Last week Julia and I had a couple friends over for a game night. Here's a fun picture.

I've been super sporty lately. I love having so many sports team in DC, even though they suck. We went to a Nats game last week. Everyone was rooting for the Phillies. The Phillies won. Last night I went to a DC United soccer game. Guess what? They lost. Still a fun game! Here are some fun pictures from the Nats game.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.....

2010-04-14T15:31:00.005-04:00

Interviewing for a awesome job Friday.

:)

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Because this little girl needs a job. And this little girl would love a job with tuition benefits (grad school).

Tagged

2010-04-12T07:38:00.003-04:00

Darling Mel tagged me today on her blog...so here goes...... I am tagging Ally, Auntie Michelle, Sara and Tiff!

7 Things About Me:
1. I only like pear flavored jelly beans.
2. I hate cleaning so much that I'd rather have a maid and live in a small house than live in a mansion and drive expensive cars.
3. Some of my favorite memories are cooking with my dad. I love to cook.
4. Whenever I watch 30 Rock I find more and more similarities between me and Liz Lemon. Which scares me.
5. I want a teacup pig SO bad. Seriously, how cute is this little guy? They are cleaner than dogs and are super affectionate.
6. I do not want a diamond engagement ring when the time comes. I did a report on diamonds last semester for a class and cannot morally justify letting someone buy one for me. I'd rather take an amazing trip instead. :) Fun fact: did you know there are enough diamonds in the world to give every man, woman and child in the US a cup full?
7. I plan on naming all of my animals after presidents. Clinton for the flirt, Kennedy for the showdog, Regan for the old dog I'll adopt, Jefferson for the smart one, Nixon for the naughty one....

5 Things That Make Me Smile
1. My family and my friends
2. Traveling
3. Walking out of my freezing office into sunshine
4. A good book
5. Gingerale

My cat likes to immitate art...

2010-04-09T12:57:00.003-04:00

Comment on Richard Tremblay: The development of youth violence: An old story with new data

My cat likes to imitate art...

So my aunt has the cutest blog. She takes a photo of the day virtually every day. A couple of days ago she took one of my cat imitating the cat on the mantle. How cute is he?

If you want a fun blog to stalk you should check out my auntie’s blog here. She has such a fun and unique perspective on life and is an excellent writer/observer of the world!

I love lovely weather...

2010-04-08T07:47:00.004-04:00

Ahhh.

I'm lovingggggg the 80+ degree weather we've been having in DC.

It makes me not want to leave!

Congrats on your fake engagement, sister!

2010-04-02T10:59:00.005-04:00

My sister is hilarious.

I got a text of this:

Followed by a convincing phone call from her and her "fiance". Followed by "Why can't you just be happy for me, Rachel!?" comments. I'll admit, I'm sometimes pretty gullible. She almost had me going with a text/call from my dad... But I want it known: I did not fall for her shenanigans this year. Oh no. Nice try, sissy.

Congrats on your fake engagement, sister!

Bowling at the White House... Not something you do everyday...

2010-03-20T21:24:00.006-04:00

On St Patty's day I had the unique opportunity to go bowling at the White House! Now, I hate bowling. With a passion. But it was tolerable. Becuase it was the White House. Who could pass it up. Seeing as how it was bowling though, you will find that not many of my picutres involve bowling. I only bowled twice. That was enough for me. Still- very fun!

laughing and dancing with our bowling bowls

White House bowling league

the alley. kind of ghetto. esp. for the white house.

rather excited to bowl...

sarah, leslie (back row), me, sarah and julia

all the Utah girls. minus lucy as she's from England and can't go to the white house. :(

The Capitol Dome Tour

2010-03-07T18:42:00.012-05:00

I had a very neat experience which most people, D.C. residents or otherwise don't get to do, last week. My friend Brady works for Congressman Chaffetz. Two people from the US Marshall's office asked for a tour of the US Capitol Dome. In order to go on top of the dome of the capitol you must be escorted by a congressman or senator. As it is hundreds of stairs up, this doesn't happen very often for obvious reasons. Brady got to pick 3 friends to come. He picked my room mate Julia, one of his room mates Ricky (who I work with in HHS), and me! :D I feel so lucky he let me come. Needless to say, there were some very jealous people...

Congressman Chaffetz has a bad foot. He is friends with the tour guide who was going to take us up, so he was able to leave once he escorted us to the staircase to go up. We started the tour at the bottom of the stairs by a model of the capitol dome. We then proceeded to climb TONNNNN of stairs. Either I've gotten in better shape or I was highly caffineated because I honestly didn't break a sweat going up them, which was mildly shocking and somewhat refreshing.

at the bottom of the stairs

We stopped halfway through to see the hatch. There are tons of hatches. If you look at those pink hexagons, they aren't even for decoration. Each one is an individual hatch. He opened one up and let us peek out. I was kind of scared he was going drop it and I'd be beheaded. That'd be quite a surprise for the schoolchildren below...

the hatch

Congressman Chaffetz mentioned that his favorite part of the capital was the writing on a glass pane. I guess a bunch of old congressman scratched their name on this window pane in the early 1900s.

After that we made it up to the first balcony.

view from the first balcony

Then we made it up to the very top to see The Apotheosis of Washington painted by Constantino Brumidi in 1865. I saw it from the very bottom but my vision is so poor I didn't really see it. It was a whole other experience being so close I could jump up and touch it if I wanted to.

From there we went up even more stairs to the top of the dome and got to see the city.

Brady, Natalia (Brady's co-worker), Natalia, and Ricky

the library of congress

the washington monument

the building i work at. i think it looks like a waffle... also to the right, the US botanical gardens.

the very top of the capitol building

As you can see... it was a windy day. We proceeded down the stairs and took a few pictures of the bottom. The mural doesn't compare from the bottom huh?

the whole group. the two on the right are the US Marshall people.

I got to meet an astronaut yesterday.

2010-03-02T16:56:00.003-05:00

I had a fun experience yesterday. My friend in our HIP program, Yandry, works for a non-profit called The Latino Leaders Network. They put on luncheons every quarter featuring an inspiring & notable Latino leader. She was nice enough to invite the people in the program, however I was the only one who could make it and I'm quite glad I did.

The event was downtown at the Hilton. Prior to the speech there was a cocktail reception. Anheuser-Busch was the sponsor so naturally there were 'beer inspired' cocktails, which as interesting as they looked, I didn't try. I don't think anyone did. I believe it's frowned upon to return to work drunk... The reception was kind of awkward for me. Since my endeavor to learn Dutch, I haven't kept up on any Spanish. I've never felt like such an outsider. I thought I was okay in high school but man, if you don't keep up with it, you really loose it. It also didn't help that they were talking a mile a minute. I heard a 'nosotros', 'hola', etc. here and there. But that's about all I got. haha.

Anyways, during the reception I met a couple of interesting boys from Mexico. They asked to take a picture with me. How flattering.

The astronaut was Jose Hernandez. A lot of his speech was in Spanglish (which I can't complain about as I was at a Latino leaders conference). However, his speech was absolutely fantastic.

It's funny how you're given lessons at the exact right time. He spoke about perseverance. His life story is one of perseverance. He set a goal. And spent YEARS working to achieve it. He knew he wanted to be an astronaut.

Did you know that 4,000 highly qualified candidates apply to the NASA Astronaut program each year. Of those, 200 are chosen to undergo background checks. Of those 100 go to NASA to undergo interviews. Of those 40 get disqualified for medical reasons and the list is narrowed down even further.

If I recall correctly, he applied like 8 times. Was interviewed half of those times. Could you imagine interviewing for your dream job, go through horrible tests, etc. to not get a job and apply for it again and again. Undergoing the same thing each year. He eventually accepted an engineering position through NASA to help himself get noticed. Eventually, all of his perseverance paid off.

I need to stop being so scared of rejection and keep trying. Sometimes I find myself being scared (yes I know, not very typical of me) to apply for things. I guess I could try even harder to reach for the stars.

All and all. Fun day. He was nice to sign a photo of himself for me.

My apartment...

2010-02-20T09:33:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone!

I thought I'd give you a little tour of our apartment. Except the tour will be really little and limited to my room. Our kitchen is constantly full of dishes... It doesn't matter how hard I try to clean up, it seems like 5 minutes later there's a sink full of dirty dishes. I now know how my mother feels... But anyways, now for the [not so] grand tour.

My nightstand. Here's the story of the bunny. I was the first to arrive and I walk in and on our coffee table I see this bunny wearing glasses staring right at me. I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or what but I started laughing hysterically. It kind of reminds me of my mom. She loves rabbits. Except I don't think she'd necessarily put glasses on any of the bunnies in our house. I honestly don't know why, but I love this bunny. I think it's sweet Armani glasses. Yeah that's it. Such a stylish rabbit. I don't have a name for him quite yet. Any suggestions? Anyways, once my room mate Julia came, she didn't like the bunny in our living room and he spent some time in our hallway closet... We were going through the closet and I found him. They were going to throw him away! I simply couldn't let this happen. So I adopted the bunny and he now has a good home on my nightstand. I still smile every time I see him. I think he's going to come home with me. I'm selfish. He's not staying for the next batch of interns to enjoy. Sorry.
That's my bed. I'm very glad I brought a thick quilt and my warm fur blanket! I was debating buying that fur blanket... Best $20 I've ever spent. I am constantly freezing, as I sleep next to the window... We keep our apartment very warm (like 80-85 degrees warm... 90 if Lucy's in charge of the thermastat haha!) but my little corner is constantly freezing!

Our closet... Thank goodness we got the big room. Both Julia and I brought way to much stuff. (Yeah, me, overpacking? surprise surprise)
Our "lovely" bathroom. I can't complain because I pay nothing in rent, but the people who lived here last time. . . . . GROSS. It was covered in mold. They switch off boy-girl apartments every semesters so the girls can clean up after the disgusting guys.

This is my jewelry tree I got for Christmas from my mom. It sits on top of my half of the dresser. I was so surprised that I got it. You know my obsession with Etsy... I found this tree and instantly fell in love with it. I sent it as a suggestion to my mom. I love it. Most of the jewelry is my mom's too.

Also, notice the perfume. My new favorite sent... Laugh with me Lee Lee.

Anyways, that's the grand tour.

Snow snow go away...

2010-02-10T19:31:00.003-05:00

I'm dying.

This snow is killing me.

Wanna hear what I did today? NOTHING. I couldn't because I was literally snowed in.

And guess what.

No work again tomorrow.

It's like a vacation where you can't go anywhere and there's no pool. And no cable.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35281444/ns/weather/?GT1=43001

What our room mates do on a snow day...

2010-02-09T21:20:00.007-05:00

So for Christmas Santa was nice enough to bring me a wii. I brought it out here so that people would hang out in our apartment and I wouldn't have to leave. haha. In the Czechy Tiff and my apartment was the most popular cause we were on the first floor. I really liked not having to leave the comfort of my apartment.. Like ever. These boys we're downstairs come up and play it a lot... So we thought we'd take the liberty of making us ALL wii characters.

I'll do a comparison for ya! Yes, I DO have a lot of time on my hands seeing as how I haven't gone to work in... Well, a long time! Oh and in case you're wondering, I have another snow day tomorrow.

mii!

Here's a comparison of my roomies and our actual picture!

Ricky, Brady & Nate

Brady

Nate

Ricky

Julia

All of us

Another shot of our hot roomies

Thoughts on the snow

2010-02-09T16:19:00.004-05:00

So I have some thoughts on the snow here:

People here need a bloody snow day. I've never met more work obsessed people in my life. Maybe this is God's way of making them take a break and relax for once. Except we're going on like 4 days now... Even I am getting a little stir crazy. I telecommuted in to work today. And still, I feel so useless. If it's bugging me, this must be killing all the workaholics out there!
The people here don't know how to drive in the snow. A 15 and a half year old learning to drive in Utah drives better in the snow than these people. It's scary. If you ever come to DC during a snowstorm, take my advice: don't drive. I'm pretty sure you're chances of getting killed go up by like 1,000%.
To the IDIOTS trying to get their car out of the snow outside my apartment... Give it up already. It's not happening. Unless you have a snowplow AND 10 people digging out your car, just face the fact that you're not going anywhere. It's loud and annoying hearing you rev your engine on the ice. Stop it. Please. Especially at 3 in the morning. I like my beauty sleep.

That's all. I think tomorrow will be yet another snow day. It's snowing again and the weatherman is calling for another foot. Yay!

Another snow day!!

2010-02-08T20:38:00.002-05:00

Guess what!

I get another snow day today! And they're calling for snow tomorrow and Wednesday.

This is like a 9.2 outta 10 on the awesome scale.

I only have to call into a conference call and review papers.

Nothing too hard.

Sweet huh!?

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! It's turning into a 5 day weekend!!!!

Snow Days

2010-02-08T10:19:00.003-05:00

I have to say it.

I love snow days.

Growing up in Utah, I was forced to develop rather thick skin when it comes to snow.... I had 1 snow day ever growing up.

In the past 7 days I've had 2.

And they're calling for more snow. Glorious snow.

Finally, payback for all the snow days I never had growing up!!

DC'ers are weak.

Now off to Starbucks...

Quote of the day

2010-02-07T12:28:00.000-05:00

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everbody." -Bill Cosby

I think I needed to hear that today. :)

"The Bizzard of 2010"

2010-02-06T15:56:00.005-05:00

Don't know if word of the storm has made it back west. But it is madness here. Everything is closed. The trains are stopping. No cars. It has actually been decared a state of emergency. But it's not much worse than a storm in Utah... haha.

Julia and I read that there's a possibility we'll be snowed in for 5 days. So us, and the rest of DC, decided we should go to the store and stock up.... Yeah everyone did that.

Anyways, here's pictures of us going to the store. What an adventure. And the store is only a block away. haha! Thursday I went to whole foods up one metro stop up... My friend Nate and I were stuck there for 2 hours! 1 hour in line! MADNESS!

Our apartment building covered in snow.

I don't think those cars are going anywhere...

Or those bikes for that matter.

Isn't this dog adorable?

The building across the street.

The store... Plundered...
I honestly saw this. Yeah. 2 people! Cross crontry skiing across Connecticut ave. Insane.

Random Pictures

2010-02-06T15:52:00.003-05:00

Here are some random pictures... First is when me, Julia, Marko and Bas went to see Avitar. It was good. The other one is us again at a fun little place here called Wonderland. It is so funky. Total dive but always a good time. The crazy kid in the back is Greg, Bas and Marko's room mate. How funny. The last is the view from our balcony! From the other side is a better view. We have a beautiful view of rock creek park.

Jefferson Memorial

2010-02-06T15:46:00.004-05:00

So last Sunday I had been getting a bit of cabin fever. I had been sick and snowed in all weekend. We (Julia, Sarah and I) just decided let's go out to the monuments. Now mind you, me going to monuments with a bit of a cough wasn't the best for my health, but it was still a good time! We managed to talk our crazy guy friends to coming along with us.

It was freaking cold. That's all I can say. But I'm glad we did it. DC at night is very pretty. But boy it is cold.

I think the Jefferson Memorial is my favorite.

Roomies

2010-02-06T15:36:00.003-05:00

Me and Sarah
Sarah, Julia, me and Lucy

Thought I'd do a little post on my roomies! We took pictures the other night on our couch!

I lucked out.

That's all I can say.

They're all funny girls. And none of them are mean.

A few DC pictures

2010-01-29T22:02:00.003-05:00

Hello!

I'm a terrible blogger. But I'm alive and well. Work is busy but I'm learning a lot. Everyone is still being nice so that's a good sign. I'm so lazy when it comes to uploading pictures. So I stole some off a friend's facebook acct.

Brady, Nate and I visited Arlington Cemetery. I'm glad that we went the day we did. No crowds. Good weather. It was very nice. We ended up meeting up with people from our group. It was a fun day.

Swearing-In Ceremony

2010-01-18T00:12:00.007-05:00

Below is a clever map of all the neighborhoods of DC. I live in the Rock Creek part in the top corner of the diamond.

DC has been good this week. I love my job. It is stressful because I have a lot to learn about stuff I'm not familiar with. But it will get better.

{from http://www.orkposters.com/dc.html}

I had the remarkable opportunity to attend Dr Benjamin's swearing in ceremony my first day. Prior to the event, her small staff was a little stressed. So I stepped in and put together (not writing or anything, just putting the sheets in order and putting it into book form) the official script of the ceremony. I thought it was cool I got to read it all!

Since then I've been able to meet her and she was one of the nicest people. I wasn't expecting her to be so nice! I went to a small seminar about blood donation where she was attending. Then we both ended up in the elevator and she started talking to me. I told her that I was her intern and she was so nice and said well I'm delighted to be working with you. What a nice lady.

I'll describe the ceremony using some photos I found off google. It was a really neat ceremony! I forgot my camera (how stupid!) and someone I went with took some with his camera phone and will send them over. But for now, you get to see these

Here's how {I think} it went down.

So the whole ceremony part of it was cool. The Surgeon General (SG) is part of the military technically. So there was a huge military procession where they took in the flag, sang the national anthem. Every person on stage came out separately. The announcer guy would say their name and say ring eight bells, then a bell (sounded like a ship bell) would ring eight times. That kind of took forever but was still pretty awesome.

A few people gave speeches and talked about how awesome of a person she is. She really is a remarkable lady and has a wonderful story. If you're interested check out the link below:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/13/surgeon.general/index.html

So the Secretary HHS read the constitutional oath to Dr Benjamin.

Then there is a tradition that family members help place the patches and jacket on the SG. Since Dr Benjamin's parents have passed away her aunt and a long time friend who is a nurse. The first part of this they put the her right shoulder board with her rank on the sides of her shirts (see where they are plain above- they put stuff on this little flaps).

Then one puts on her jacket.
The coolest part for me was the passing of her crest. Every living SG comes to the ceremony (unfortunately, only two could make it this year) and they pass the SG crest. It is an anchor with the line in (signifying that a sailor is ill) with the medical caduceus connected to it. So they go in sequential order. The oldest gives it to the next oldest, to the youngest, etc.

During Dr Benjamin's speech she told a cute story about this guy. I guess he was a mentor to her. Once she saw him in his jacket and said "Hey! I like that jacket." and then said "Now I have one of my own!"

Secretary HHS and Dr Benjamin

It was a really cool ceremony. The SG has her own flag (pictured below). The guy told her to ask them to present her flags... So she gets up there and says kind of sassy-ly "Present MY flag!". I was by a lot of military people and they all bust out laughing when she said that! She was so excited it was adorable.

Anyways, it was a great experience!

My actual boss, Mary Beth, is awesome. She includes me in everything and actually lets me do stuff.

I feel like I lucked out... again... with my internship! Especially after talking to some other interns.

Well that's it for now!!

So far...

2010-01-08T09:32:00.003-05:00

So good!

I'm loving DC, from what I have seen so far. Today we're going to take a tour of the capital and walk around the city.

Before I left I met this kid Brady who is also a Hinckley intern at my farewell dinner. I knew who he was but had never talked to him. I brought wayyyy too much stuff, pretty standard, and he was kind enough to come help me get it all to my apartment.

My apartment is nice. I was the first one there so I picked the good room.

We had issues with the furniture in the other room, it had been broken and stuff. Had to replace the bed. Luckily everything is good though. I will post pics as soon as my room mate gets settled and our apartment looks cute!

The flight wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst.

My room mate came and dropped off her 7 yes, 7 pieces of luggage. Her family came with her to help. She stayed in their hotel last night. My other room mate Sarah is way cool. She brought her friend from Denmark and he helped us fix a lot of stuff that needed fixing in the apartment. I invited Brady over for some soup after he got off work and we all made Mel's famous taco soup last night and it was quite a hit. A bunch of the other interns came up to our apartment last night to hang out.

I will let you all know how today went!

Our intern group seems pretty cool (knock on wood). All the stuff last night reminded me a bit of my Czechy experience. I hope this is similar, as the Czechy was prob the best time of my life!

Off to the capital!! :D

My life is so rough ;)

Here we go again... 2 more days!

2010-01-04T01:40:00.005-05:00

Ahhh!

Few thoughts:

I'm dying from nervous excitement. I need to leave. Like now. I just feel like it's time to go, though that might be because that seems to be a habit of mine. As a friend says, I always get this 6 month itch... On the otherhand I'm kind of terrorified to go. How is it that I have virtually not fear of moving to a foreign where I don't know a soul and don't speak the language but DC, the capital of my own country, scares the crap out of me?

I feel like my life has taken such crazy twists and turns this year. It almost feels like what I think I want doesn't matter cause my life path seems to be forming itself and going on crazy directions. Crazy but good. If you would have told me Jan 1, 2009 that I would be in DC this time in 2010, I probably wouldn't have believed you. And I definitely wouldn't believed you if you told me I'd be at the Surgeon General's office... I definitely didn't see that one coming. haha. But then again, if you would have told me a lot of things that happened this past year I wouldn't have believed you.

It's crazy how the most random people can set these things off in your life. Had I not gone to paralegal school in high school, I wouldn't have met Steph. Had I not met Steph, I wouldn't have studied abroad. Had I not gone to the Czechy I would have never gone to Scotland. Had I not gone to Scotland, I wouldn't have met my room mate who constantly talked about how amazing her internship in DC was, and I probably wouldn't be going to DC. Maybe all these things do happen for a reason and I've made the right decisions. I've been afraid so many times that I haven't made the best decision. I hope I did this time. I suppose it doesn't matter. I honeslty have nothing better to do. haha.

So I made a decision that this year I'm going to try my hardest to not expect anything from any situation or anyone. I'm going to do better at just going with the flow cause the way my life is going it seems that I just kind of need to go with the flow. Things have fallen into place in ways I didn't expect. Good ways though. I guess I just need to have faith that all the craziness in my life will lead towards something good and that everything will work out and be okay.

2 days and 17 hours until I'm on my merry way to this place...

Burrrrrr. Maybe I'm nervous because I'm not looking forward to the cold.

Yeah. That must be it. :)

Celebration Dance... Part 2

2009-12-29T02:27:00.002-05:00

4.0 GPA baby!!!

Kind of makes me wish I didn't had a boyfriend my entire college career... This whole not dating anyone thing has done wonders for my GPA. haha

Look at me! I'm doing my celebration dance!

2009-12-10T16:12:00.006-05:00

I can't even describe this feeling.

I'm DONE with class. I just have a few finals but it is ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE!!!

I can't even tell you how perfect this last day of college has been. Like I'm on the verge of tears! I got to have quality conversations with my two favorite professors of all time. It really was a great way to end my college experience.

I really have had a challenging and rewarding semester. I took 6 classes, 2 of which were graduate level courses. I really pushed myself this year and I've accomplished more than I ever thought. Not to jinx myself, but I'm pretty sure I'll get a 4.0 or a 3.9 at worst.

Let me tell you about my day, not that you care... So I made it into school traffic free. I was running 15 minutes late and yet I made it on-time! Which felt great compared to my 2 hour commute on Tuesday. I then went to class and had a final. I had this class with Dr. Yeagle. I can't even tell you how much this class totally changed my perspective on the world. I have honestly never met a more loving individual in my life. She was fantastic. She would give little warm fuzzys on all of my papers, tests, etc. But anyways, she had a great talk about being true to your beliefs... I needed to hear it. Love when that happens. I had a nice chat with her coming into class. She is crazy supportive of my crazy dreams. I'm going to miss her.

Then I went to study. I have a paper due Tuesday and I actually want to take it seriously. Yeah I know I've hit an all time low- I actually want to do a paper... It's a policy paper that in theory is supposed to be sent to President Obama. You bet your sweet socks I'm actually going to send it to him. . . And I might send it to Senator Hatch and Bennett just for good measure. haha.

Dr. Berik was holding open office hours instead of class and I wanted her opinion on part of my policy. Well only 2 people showed up to the office hours... Me and this other guy Randy. He's an adult student. We talked the ENTIRE class period- 2 hours! I had great meaningful conversation. I love conversations like that. It made my day. I got a new perspecitve on how to raise children from Randy. Learned about her home country of Turkey, and I now have an open invitation to visit her in Turkey during the summer. We discussed parts of feminist economics that we didn't go too deep in during class that Randy and I both were interested in. Just a great conversation. Dr. Berik's class was technically a graduate level class, it was pretty tough. But I learned a lot and I can now say I understand feminist economics pretty well. It was great to talk with her one on one. She said how much she enjoyed having Randy and I in her class, mainly becuase he and I were the only ones who would voice our opinions... I know... You are shocked that I expressed my opinions in a feminist class... hahaha

Really. Perfect ending to a perfect college experience. I don't think many people's college experience holds a candle to mine. Mine was pretty awesome... If I do say so myself. I did everything I told myself I'd do. I had experiences most adults will never get the chance to have. I made friends across many nations. I've seen things I didn't think I'd ever see. I have a totally different first-hand perspective of the world. As much as I've hated parts of my undergrad, like studying until 4 AM and taking a test at 7... Drama... Etc. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. :) I'm rather biased, but I think my college experience was the best of all time. ever. haha. Jk. It was cool though.

Anyways. Though this wasn't taken today... It's how I feel. And I did this dance in the parkinglot of starbucks today. I'm being totally serious. Thanks to everyone who has helped me make it through these past 3 years. I couldn't have done it without the support I've been given. I'm such a lucky girl.

Children of the '90s

2009-12-05T21:11:00.006-05:00

If you want a trip down memory lane... Czech out this blog! Oh my. I kind of miss the 90s

http://childrenofthenineties.blogspot.com/

Kids these days are missing out on the good, simple stuff.

Things I miss from the 90s:
Snap Bracelets
Fortune Tellers (paper)
Passing notes not texts
Poggs (sp?)
Oregon Trail
Pokemon
Rubber Poppers!
Clueless
I SPY
Shoes that would light up when you walk
Lisa Frank
Goosebumps
Bell Bottoms
Fruit rollups
Magic Schoolbus
Bop-It
Sabrina The Teenage Witch
GUSHERS
The Spice Girls, including but not limited to SPICE WORLD
Furby
The Girl Talk Game
Troll Dolls
Reading Rainbow
Mr Rodgers
Digipets
Boy Meets World
GAK
Orbitz- Remember those drinks with the little balls in it? So cool. That should come back.
My pretty pony

I could go on for ages.

Another Reason I love Google

2009-12-03T14:22:00.003-05:00

Happy St. Andrew's Day (yesterday). That's Edinburgh Castle.

Gosh I miss Scotland.

The Holy War "Classless"

2009-11-29T21:50:00.005-05:00

I'm sure those from Utah know exactly what I mean when I say "The Holy War".

For those who don't, the Holy War is an annual football game between the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. It's a fierce game. Like really fierce.

As Wikipedia says so well, "There are a number of elements that make the Holy War particularly fierce. As the name of the rivalry implies, religion is a large component to the rivalry. The long length of rivalry, in which the teams have always been in the same conference, is an element. The proximity of the two schools and the successful nature of the two teams also fuel the rivalry. Fans of BYU commonly accuse Utah of being drunks or alcoholics, even though many of Utah's fans are members of the LDS Church and are prohibited from drinking alcohol.Some non-Mormon Utah fans like to shock BYU fans by swearing or by drinking alcohol (or coffee), which are forbidden by the BYU honor code."

Pretty much it's a major clashing of culture... To say the least. I love the game. I LOVE being able to support my team... It is a fun game to watch and the intensity is awesome.

But some people are SO cruel about it. Now mind you I happened to 'like' a few comments last night such as, "I'd rather loose than be a Coug"... But BYU's star quarter back I think crossed the line...

BYU won last night. Though I don't agree with all the calls on Utah, BYU won square and fair.

I just have to put this out there... BYU's star quarterback is a huge... well I don't even want to say. The comments he made are an excellent reminder of how you can throw away your reputation with a few simple words. There is even talk that he might be suspended from the Mountain West Conference.

For me, it is a good lesson to think before I speak or say anything ill of anyone else. If a U player said this I would be horribly embarrassed...

Class, Max. Classy. Keep up the Christian attitude.

Here is what Max had to say after winning a game:

After delivering the winning touchdown pass in overtime Saturday, BYU quarterback Max Hall unloaded on his rivals.

Asked a rather innocent question about whether the 26-23 victory redeemed him for last November's five-interception game in a loss to Utah, Hall said, "A little bit, yeah. I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, I hate their fans, I hate everything."

His comments came in a formal news conference, in front of several television cameras and media members.

"So it felt really good to send those guys home," Hall continued. "They didn't deserve it. It was our turn, and our turn to win. We deserved it. We played as hard as we could tonight. And it felt really good, again, to send them home, to get them out of here, and so it is a game I will always remember."

Prodded mildly to elaborate, Hall asked, "You really want me to go into it?"

And then he continued, "I think the whole university, their fans and their organization is classless. They threw beer on my family and stuff last year, and they did a whole bunch of nasty things, and I don't respect them, and they deserved to lose."

Hall's comments are sure to become part of the rivalry's lore, along with BYU nose guard Lenny Gomes derisive prediction that the Utes someday would be "pumping my gas" after Utah's victory in 1993 and BYU receiver Austin Collie's suggestion that a fourth-and-18 reception on the winning drive resulted from the Cougars' being rewarded for "doing the right things," on and off the field.
(Source SL Trib)

...

I always thought I was classless... Thanks for the reminder, Maxy.

One facebook comment made me laugh my tail off.

I firmly believe Max made up the whole, "they poured beer on my family," story. No true Ute fan would waste a quality beverage like that.

Anyways, as Ron Burgundy says so much better than I ever could...