Spot the Utahn.

Whilst waiting at the airport for Ronan and Boyd, Asha and I were playing a game of spot the English
person.
 (the flight was originating from London)
You can tell an English man by his skinny legged suit or his stylish shoes, a female by her spunky hairstyle or classy coat.

.

 Then last night I noticed another look.
 The Utahn.
I was watching a guy on the voice from Provo Utah, Ryan Innes, incredible, gave me the goosies you should check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wxlKksuT7M
When the camera snapped his family, excitedly waiting in the wings, I thought HA! you can totally tell they are from Utah.

There used to be these "you know your from Utah" jokes about green jello and nephews being older than uncles but I have been thinking about an updated version. Some of these I have fallen into myself and will regroup.

 You know she's a Utahn when: 

 She has a $200 diaper bag but serves hamburger helper for dinner.


She has several maxi skirts with matching bubble necklace.
She loves to decorate with chevron or even wear it on a maxi skirt.
  ( I do like this color)

 Her handbag doubles as a carrier for her SLR camera she whips out at the park she drove to in her $50,000 minivan that could use a vacuum. Oh now I'm getting specific but I could count more than one of these moments just today.
 

 She wears an unfinished under shirt under a pretty blouse or flirty sundress.

Sorry ladies but I spot 6 in this picture, not including the ones hiding.

Her hair looks like this for 3 hours a week

but like this for the rest of the week

Any of this familiar?

She has a years supply of fruit snacks and marshmallows (there just always seem to be coupons for those and lets face it, in a disaster a marshmallow can be very handy)

She has a 4 year old  home that's she wants to move from or remodel because white is the new wood.

Man I could go on for hours but I need to dust around my color coordinated candy filled apothecary jars before browsing pinterest to plan my next child's wedding, oops I mean 1st birthday party that'll keep me so busy, I won't have time or money for a date with my husband. Ouch! That one left a mark.

But she probably won't be skiing or riding trax because it's too expensive or too slow or because she has so many kids/ bags to carry and has to be back for kindergarten pick up then carpool then homework then soccer then piano then drive thru dinner then idol then the activity she's in charge of then.......

So what do you think? Do you look like a Utahn?

Holidays

I know I've addressed this before but the whole holiday thing is a little out of wack around here. It seems we jump from one to another and really it is so much less about the actual date or reason of tradition but gifts. Can you see me being all grinchy, GIFTS GIFTS GIFTS. I have told my kids every year that there is NO EASTER BUNNY or leprechaun or cupid that decorates, sabotages or breaks into your house to stuff you full of sweets. In fact I traded with them at your birth for the chance to randomly do nice things through out the year by myself, thus surprising them with things like, vacations and craft parties. So when I do surprise them with things like, heart shaped pizza and pink donuts, they look at me like I'm being weird and unnecessary. Can we ever really win? When I am surprised with a fresh Lai to remind me of our "honeymoon" in Maui, I am ecstatic.( They say women are hard to please) Then there's St Patricks Day? I don't get it, is everyone in Utah Irish? I certainly wouldn't think so judging by how many people STILL stop and tell me all about their English ancestors. Unless they think it's the same place! Our Easter consisted of a great Sunny day, Tri-tip Santa Maria Style and of course an egg hunt which apparently, no one is too old for. So now that that is over with, I will enjoy spring for a little while until the next holiday which just happens to be MOTHERS DAY. Oh I do hope the Mothers Day Fairy comes who cleans your house and brings bacon to your bed and takes you clothes shopping and watches chick flicks with you and..and.. what do you mean, no such thing. GGRRR...

Alfie

No, I'm not talking about this guy, Although it was awesome to meet him and listen to him sing of course but I have to share some pictures of my new little puppy, Alfie, well you knew it was coming. Not sure if this was his bath or mine but he was so little in the sink without his fluff that I had to share. Plus he doesn't sit still long enough for a real picture. I just get this Or this But I do love my crazy speedy ball of fluff. He's growing so fast.

Lightn Up

I've wanted to make a change in a my bedroom for a little while now. I feel bedding and accessories are just like clothes and jewelry and I love to change them about with the seasons. It's easy to do when all your furnishings are neutral and you have a storage room to put the old stuff in. I find myself rummaging the buckets regularly as I switch things around on holidays, orange works for Halloween, red for Valentines or Christmas, teal for spring and lime green, well it has stayed the course but now that it is packed, may see the light again at Christmas. I kind of have a thing for stripes and I wanted to send a subliminal message to my husband by adding a pretty Tiffany blue. So I set too, making some changes. These are my before pictures. I wanted to get rid of the dark brown and add some accessories. I wish I could take cool pictures like the super bloggers but after an attempt at photography, I decided I didn't have the patience to set everything up for a shot, I prefer the "in real life" it looks better version in stead of the "wow, You don't look anything like your extremely well lit, photo shop version of yourself" shot. So these are my afters: I added some drapes, a duvet cover and some cool picture frames that hubby gave me for Christmas, a softer than fluff throw blanket and a cool chair. I recently vacated the basement of all my hair supplies as Boyd is planning a man room/office there and really only do family hair now :-( sniff sniff. So I got this cool little trolley to keep behind my door. A couple of towels and rug in the adjoining bathroom and I am a happy camper. I am happy with the results as it really has lightened up the room and the color messaging had it's desired effect and I got this little beauty for Valentines. Yes I'm talking about the box, that's all I wanted. I know it's supposed to be what's inside that counts (that was awesome too) but I really just always wanted the little blue box, I AM just that shallow. My whole room was inspired around this little box which now has its own spot on the shelf. and while I was in the mood for lightening up, I lightened my hair. I don't love it yet but it takes a couple of attempts to go from very dark hair to light without needing a wig because it all snapped off. It's a hard reality but I am getting old and have so much grey that I was seeing that skunk stripe within a week of coloring, the blond helps stretch the trauma out for a few extra weeks so I may have to stay this way until I switch to the blue rinse.

Believe

I realize I've been awol for a while but I have been mourning the loss of a computer I know how to use. I have finally given up sulking and am trying to get a grip on this new, ultra cool to nerds apparently, laptop/tablet thingy.I got it a super nice cover so that makes it pretty to look at, shallow I know. I have finally downloaded pics and had a blast looking through all the fun that's been had around here in the last little while. I will start with the coolest Mummy Daughter date ever!!! Asha and I went to see the Beebs in concert. It was a hot ticket apparently, sold out in minutes way back when but as usual I decided to go last minute, on a whim after watching his awesome movie. I managed to get a couple of tickets off KSL the day before. They were limited view since I'm a cheapskate and wasn't about to drop $300 a piece on them but would have to say, we scored. The seats were awesome, not only were we close enough to see everything but we got to sneak peak some backstage stuff going on. Like this! His show was awesome, he's a true performer. At one point he went out among the crowd, suspended and sang acoustically. He's a dang good little singer but I'd have to say I mostly like his message. He seems to know his crowd are all youngsters and he gave a few touching little speeches about, following your dreams and believing in yourself no matter what. It's a message we all need to hear from someone who literally sang on a street corner and has worked for it everyday since. Yep, he made a believer out of me.