2008, the Year of...

I have a new goal for myself.

You should probably know I had a old goal.

I wanted to set some "resolutions" for 2008 but kinda never got around to it. I wasn't too sad about that though because I'm always making new goals for myself in my head. Anyway, my goal was to make 2008 the Year of the Party. I have a list of fun stuff I want to do but so far, in 2 months, I've only had one party. My birthday party. So last night I was thinking I might want to change my plans a little. I think 2008 should be the Year of the Concerts. A minimum of one concert a month. This also helps me achieve one of the random goals I've set for myself in my mind. (A messy, scary place.) So far so good! January was Eric Hutchinson/One Republic. February (as of last night) was Ingrid Michaelson and Joshua Radin. (Alexa Wilkinson opened for them and was pretty good as well.)

I'm thinking this will be a great and actually achievable goal. I've got some ideas for March and April will be Jimmy Eat World. I'm excited. I think it will be fun to look back on this year and think of all the concerts I've gone to. My favorite part of going to concerts is falling in love with new artists. I didn't really know One Republic besides one song on the radio, I'd never heard of Eric Hutchinson, I downloaded Joshua Radin the night before the concert in preparation and someone gave me Ingrid last week BUT now I love them all. Seeing them live made them all so much better for me.

SO... If you know of a concert I should go to OR if you want to go to a concert LET ME KNOW! I am in no way going to limit myself to one a month. I would go to one a week if I could!

AND NOW... A recap of last night:


Alexa Wilkinson - She was good, not too stunning to me but still good. She sang three songs. I don't remember them. I felt sad for her because it took most of the crowd two songs to realize she wasn't Ingrid.


Ingrid Michaelson - She was awesome! In a perfect world she and I would already be best friends because I think she's wickedly funny and really beautiful. She sang quite well and I loved her actual songs but I will say my favorite moments were when she sang Creep by Radiohead on the ukulele and when we had a sing-a-long to a slowed down, piano version of the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.


I took a video of her singing Creep but YouTube hates me and says my video is too high quality for their standards so here's someone else's video:


(If you're demanding and want to see exactly what I saw, I uploaded it to Facebook.)


Joshua Radin - Also awesome. We did feel kinda sad for him because he seemed a little depressed and kept talking about break ups. Whatever produces his beautiful music though, eh?
I also took a video of him and it's just barely too big. If anyone would like to purchase me some video editing software we could remedy these problems.

He was attractive so I took lots of pictures.


All in all a good night with good company. Worth the drive and worth more than we paid.

A Good Day

I love days like today. Nothing especially exciting has happened today but it has still just been a good day:

• I got plenty of sleep last night after only racking up 4 hours each of the past two nights.
• I was getting a little worried about insomnia.
• Work has felt like I'm hanging out with my best friends.
• Not that I'm not working.
• I've just had many laughs and my face truly hurts from smiling.
• This is an improvement from yesterday when I kept sticking my foot in my mouth.
• The day has included funny emails from some of my real best friends.
• We played Rock Band during lunch.
• I got a surprise visit at work from some friends.
• I'm looking forward to tonight.
• Hilary, Heather and I are going to see Joshua Radin and Ingrid Michaelson play tonight.
• School's over for the week.
  

I hope your day as been equally good!

Cool links

I'm too brain dead to actually think of anything original to say but I thought I would share some things I think are fun.

Skull-a-Day - this cool guy makes a skull every day (hence the name) sometimes they're made of bike chains or a bunch of pennies or just paint but they're always cool

Indexed - funny little charts, graphs, and Venn diagrams drawn on index cards that make me laugh

Stuff White People Like - stereotypes of "White People" that are funny because they're all true.

Your Heart Out - This one's really only relevant if you're in northern Utah but they highlight restaurants, shops, shows, concerts and that kind of stuff that's happening in the area

That's it for now! Enjoy!

Oh, and I tried the eye pictured below and I'm a fan.

How do we feel about...

This...

But on me?
I love the purple underneath. Maybe not so much in the inner corner? Hmmm...

100 things you may or may not know about me

1. My name is Jodi. Not Jodie, not Jo-dee and not Jody.
2. Anne with an E, please.
3. Before college I had only lived in two houses.
4. They were both in the same town.
5. I had braces for four miserable years.
6. I didn’t wear my retainers.
7. Now they don’t fit and I need new ones.
8. I think I know all the words to every John Mayer song. I’m pretty sure about that one.
9. I took voice lessons when I was in high school and I think I was pretty decent.
10. I still don’t think I could sing a solo in front of anyone.
11. In middle school I wanted a pager so bad.
12. I would sometimes convince my mom to let me wear hers and I felt pretty cool.
13. I bought a guitar with money from my high school graduation and I still can’t play it.
14. I absolutely love s’mores and I keep my weenie roaster/marshmallow toaster sticks in my trunk at all times. You never know when you will find yourself up the canyon and in need of a good stick.
15. My very first concert was NSYNC.
16. My favorite concert ever was John Mayer.
17. I have three actual birthmarks (aka not moles).
18. When I was young I wanted braces and glasses because I thought that would be cool.
19. When I got both I realized I was very wrong.
20. The only thing I did really wrong on my driving test was come close to hitting a pedestrian.
21. She walked out into the street and was not in the crosswalk.
22. I have become addicted to MAC cosmetics.
23. I feel naked without mascara.
24. I think my mom is the strongest woman I know.
25. Sometimes I feel like I will never be able to measure up to her.
26. I am a cheese connoisseur.
27. Happy cows are not from California, they are from Wisconsin.
28. That last one really wasn’t about me.
29. My hair is now naturally curly (it wasn’t until about, oh, puberty age).
30. I still haven’t quite mastered how to style it.
31. My favorite Disney movie is The Little Mermaid.
32. I of course know all the lyrics.
33. I love to travel but haven’t been able to go too far yet.
34. I went out of the country for the first time last summer.
35. I love Costa Rica.
36. My passport is now one of my most prized possessions.
37. The number one place to go on my travel list is New Zealand.
38. I’m also dying to go to Europe.
39. I carry my camera with me every day.
40. I try to take at least one photo a day.
41. I really would like to have a “real” camera and know things about photography.
42. I seriously love people.
43. I make new “friends” everywhere I go.
44. My mom is a nurse of the emergency variety.
45. My dad taught physics and advanced Spanish in a high school.
46. I think my future profession is the perfect combination of both of those: teaching and healing.
47. I’m going to be a Recreational Therapist.
48. I’m massively excited.
49. I’m also scared to death.
50. I’ve had some really random jobs.
51. I’ve worked in a banquet hall at a monastery.
52. I worked at a rafting company.
53. I’ve scrapbooked for money.
54. I’ve stripped wallpaper. I’ve cleaned offices. I’ve worked at a drycleaner. I’ve worked at a mom and pop burger place. I’ve done medical coding and billing.
55. I’m currently working as a receptionist/PR worker with a somewhat undefined job description.
56. My current job involves reading fashion and beauty magazines and I’m not angry about that.
57. I’ve got big plans for when I have lots of money someday.
58. I’ll probably never have lots of money.
59. I think I’ve seen Anchorman more than any other movie.
60. I once had a texting war using Anchorman quotes and we had more than 80.
61. I think chai tea, avocados, shrimp, cheese, sweet potatoes, olives and cream cheese wontons are all imported directly from heaven.
62. I spend more time reading blogs than I care to admit.
63. Your secrets are safe with me, it’s my own secrets that I can’t seem to keep.
64. College has taught me to push myself in experiencing new things. New food, new people, new experiences.
65. I went longboarding (skateboarding) for the first time on a Tuesday and bought my own board the next Friday.
66. I hadn’t been on a non-level surface yet.
67. Friday night I went down the canyon in the dark without a flashlight. I tore up my knee and almost got in a fight but I was hooked.
68. I later broke part of my hand.
69. I thought longboarding skills would easily translate into other board sports like surfing and snowboarding.
70. Not true. At least not without a whole lot of practice.
71. I learned how to Polynesian dance and danced in my school’s Lu’au.
72. I love playing games. Board games, card games, strategy games, you can count me in for all of them.
73. Sometimes I get a little too competitive while playing.
74. I am a night owl but I also hate sleeping past 10 AM.
75. I love to read. In the past I’ve mostly read fiction but in the last few years I’ve been reading more and more non-fiction.
76. One day I will own a small bakery/café. I’ve got most of it planned out in my mind.
77. I wonder if my face will ever stop breaking out.
78. I never had a Nintendo or any other video game console growing up.
79. I attribute my lack of coordination to this.
80. I just thought about, and got excited for, kite flying season.
81. I’m just going to come out and say it: my butt is really firm. You may see it in a picture (or in person I suppose) and note that it is large but you should also know that it is super firm.
82. This has earned me/it the nicknames of The Rock and Horse Butt.
83. I’m an only child, a middle child or the oldest child depending on how you define my family.
84. On one side of my family I have zero cousins and on the other side I have over 45. On the third and additional side I have 8 cousins.
85. I would say that my little sister is probably my favorite person.
86. She is often mistaken for my child.
87. I was not pregnant at 12 thank you very much.
88. I was about 14 years early on the whole “going green” thing. I used to tell my mom I was going to save the planet and I forced her to recycle.
89. I love to drive, not because I don’t trust your driving abilities but because I really do enjoy it.
90. I was an almost straight A student in high school but college has been quite a different story and I’m more than okay with that.
91. I want to find someone fun to play tennis with when it gets warmer.
92. When I was in my super high “push myself to try new things” phase last year I took a winter camping class.
93. I built and (kind-of) slept in a snow cave.
94. I almost didn’t go because it scared me to death.
95. People who wear socks with sandals BUG me. If it is that cold you should wear closed toe shoes.
96. If I could come up with a good reason to shave my head I totally would.
97. My two favorite pairs of shoes are my red stilettos and my Chaco sandals. Quite the extremes.
98. I’ve had some pretty unique roommates but one of my favorites was the 51 year old catholic Korean professor. She was awesome and Heather and I taught her to break dance.
99. Maybe the least favorite roommate was my roommate freshman year. She was the smelly girl and I hated being in my dorm room.
100. This list was difficult to write at first but now I feel like I’ve left so much off.

Grrr

I Went to Winger's in Provo for dinner on Friday night and our waitress was pretty pathetic.
When she brought my check it said 11.48.
I slid my shiny debit card in and when she brought the check back the new total was 20.19.
To get this corrected I had to find the hostess so she could find the waitress.
The waitress told me she pushed the wrong button.
Gee thanks!
The new check said the correct ammount so I signed on the dotted line and left.
Later that evening I decided to check my account online.
I was charged the 20.19 not once.
Not twice.
But three times.
Plus the original 11.48.
My meal was nowhere near the quality I would expect for an over 70 dollar meal.
It's now Tuesday evening and the charges are still on my account.
Grrr.

At least I ended up with some stellar photos of my friends.

Too lazy to write a real post

How cute is this guy though?

Also this is the reason I hate driving here:

Yes, this man is to the left of the double yellow line. Trying to turn left. In the lane I would like to drive straight in. Much honking ensued.

Saturday Adventure

Why are there no songs about Saturday? There's songs about Monday. There's songs about Friday. Hmm.

Saturday I called up the trusty Hilary (sorry for waking you up friend!) and asked her to accompany me on an adventure. We traveled a few miles up the freeway and ate some lunch at Cafe Trang which serves some pretty delicious Asian food. ("Asian food" because they had Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese on the menu, not because I didn't know.)

We then headed across the street to Cactus and Tropicals. Holy cow. There were so many beautiful plants I think we spent close to three hours there. We also found a new boyfriend, Shane, who was not afraid to get dirty. I made a succulent garden and found an awesome bonsai tree along with a few other random things. Hil looted the store and ended up with a cactus garden and a succulent garden and some other things. Seriously good times.

Then we hit up Ikea, which was a disappointment in the frame department, and Home Depot. Hilary bought a tree at Home Depot and it was an interesting challenge to get it into my car that happens not to be tree height.

Wow, another not so interesting post. Go me! Seriously though, Cactus and Tropicals is where its at. Word is their Salt Lake store is even better so we'll be heading up there soon for more adventures in dirt and leaves.

1. Due to several requests we're all moving to Costa Rica! Pack your bags, all you really need is a swimming suit, flip flops and sunscreen.
2. There is a move being shot in the Provo Towne Center Mall. They've transformed a boring end of the mall into a move set and it looks pretty cool. And by "it looks pretty cool" I mean it doesn't look like it usually does and there's moving making stuff all over. The creepy security guard I talked to (who got a little too much in my grill) told me the movie is called "The American Mall." I hope that's just the working title and they come up with something better but Security Man also told me there are no big name actors and the plot is somewhat like High School Musical, only it's in a mall. So my hopes for a better title aren't looking so good. (I wasn't supposed to be taking picture so excuse the poor quality.)
   
   
   
3. Yesterday we saw blue skies. For about five minutes. Then the clouds rolled in and it snowed some more.
   
   
4. This isn't a very exciting list.
5. This probably won't make any sense to you but I get my hours at work! I've been basically doing two people's jobs and recently they told me they only had 25 hours a week in the budget for me. That's some math that doesn't add up. But I've learned that the powers that be have approved my hours.
6. Friend Heather got her internship! Woo hoo!
   
7. Friend Heather's internship is in Texas. Boo hoo!
8. Tomorrow I might post about which of my limbs is in a cast because tonight I'm going ice skating. Cross your fingers for the left hand instead of the right!
   

That's why they're called business socks...

1. I love my major (Recreation Management/Therapeutic Recreation). I have a class on Tuesdays from 12-2:30. Yesterday we spent the whole class playing games and we'll be doing the same next Tuesday. Don't be fooled, we're still learning very valuable things which just reaffirms the whole reason I picked this major: You can have fun and learn at the same time.
2. If you've ever driven in a car with me for an extended period of time you know that I sometimes experience a healthy amount of road rage. What you probably don't know is that parking lots, specifically the ones on campus, are way worse. There is only one parking lot that is anywhere near where all my classes are and it is always full. There have been times I've spent close to 30 minutes trying to park and when there's snow it's ten times worse. When there is a season's worth of snow piled in the rows it becomes just plain stupid.
   
3. Not to get super political but if "Decision '08" comes down to a decision between Hilary and McCain I will be making every effort to move to Costa Rica. You are welcome to come with me. I know some good places to surf and I've got some friends at this sweet little restaurant, La Botana. If you don't feel like moving you are welcome to come and visit at any time. Here's some visual aids to help convince you to come with me. Yes, you can click on them to view them larger.
4. After looking through those pictures I feel like crying. Will it ever stop snowing in Utah? This morning when I woke up I was so happy to see that there was no new snow on my car but by the time I left there was at least half an inch. Here's a picture I took last night at a stop light to show how completely covered in snow the mountains are. (I realize this is a terrible picture but I think it still proves my point.)
5. I've seen this so many times but it never gets old:
   
6. Well, class is just about over. I'm headed to work where I plan on eating a breakfast BLT with pesto mayo. Mmm.
   

I love these guys...

I mentioned a few days ago that our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinkcley had passed away. Today his successor and counselors were announced. I was sitting in my classroom waiting for class to start when the professor came in, kind of frantic, and was trying to get online to show us the press report as it happened. The only problem for me is I didn't know what he was trying to show us. The last time a teacher ran in and frantically made me watch the news, I was in high school and it was 9/11. Luckily this time it was much better news. Pictured from left to right are President Eyring, President Monson, and President Uchtdorf.


They are all incredible men and I look forward to seeing them lead my church in the future. After the announcement was made they took questions. There were many thoughtful and important questions asked but this was my favorite:

"President Monson, according to my sources you have a certain affection for the following things: certain birds, burnt almond fudge ice cream, telling stories and the color yellow. Could you comment on any or all of those?"

"I'll start with yellow..." and then "... as far as ice cream's concerned, I like just about any kind of ice cream."

Maybe in print it isn't quite the same but I found it really funny at the time.