beauty and the beast

So I realized today that I suck. It's the last day of September and I only did one post this month. Then I thought about the last 30 days and realized there's a very good reason for that. My life is boring. After San Diego and my first experience with Sea World, things went back to normal. I am still working at the Univeristy of Phoenix as a Finance Counselor and will hit my two-year mark with the company next month (in recognition of such I got a cool plaque and a pen engraved with my name). I am still plugging along in my Master's degree program (finished another class and started the next one) and will be graduating in December!! I am working on getting my yard (both back and front) put in and I finally splurged and got DirectTV hooked up. Welcome to the twenty-first century! DVR is my new best friend!

Last weekend my roommate, Katy, and I went to the Train/Gavin DeGraw concert and it was awesome! Probably the funnest concert I've been to. Not the best, but definitely the funnest. I completely forgot to take any pictures while I was there because I was having so much fun but here's a picture from the internet that someone else took...




Okay...so I guess there was a lot of stuff going on this month. I'm just a horrible updater. Last night, Katy and I did something kind of spur of the moment that was tons of fun. It went a little something like this:


Setting: 11:30am, Cheryl is sitting at her desk bored at work.


Cheryl's internal dialogue: hmmm...I wonder what time "The Social Network" is playing on Friday when it comes out.


Cheryl clicks on the Internet Explorer icon on her computer desktop and types in the address for the movie theatre in town. Once on the site she is distracted by a banner ad that makes her sit up and take notice.

Cheryl thinks: OMG. It's tonight!

Cheryl IM's Katy who now works in the VA department of the Apollo Group.

Cheryl: guess what?

Katy: ?

Cheryl: There's a special showing tonight of Beauty and the Beast in theatres...and it's a sing-a-long!

Katy: omg!

Cheryl: wanna go?

Katy: totally

Cheryl: really?

Katy: do you know me? What do I love more than a sing-a-long?

Cheryl: ok!

Cheryl buys the tickets for the special event online and then waits anxiously for the day to be over.

End scene.

Seriously, it was way fun! The theatre was mostly empty (there were probably only 12 of us there) but Katy and I sang along with every song! Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie. When it came out in 1991 I went to see it in the theatre with my brothers and my uncle who was living with us at the time and instantly fell in love with it. When it came out on video I got a copy and wore it out! I must have watched it a hundred times or more. I can remember coming home from school, getting my homework done and then going downstairs and watching Beauty and the Beast almost every afternoon. My brother J.R. made fun of me for doing that, but I didn't care. I loved it. I still love it. There is just something about the story and the music that just gets me. Every time.

The funny thing about sing-a-longs though is: you learn what the actual words are to the songs! lol...I learned what a few of the lines were that I always just mumbled through and Katy and I have been laughing about them all day. For instance, in "The Mob Song" when the men from the village are following Gaston to go kill the Beast, there were a couple lines I was caught by surprise with. Raise the flag/Sing the song/Here we come, we're fifty strong/And fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong/Let's kill the Beast!

Fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong?! Really? What about forty-nine? Fifty-one? Can those be wrong? Is it only right when it is EXACTLY fifty Frenchmen?

Lol...anyway, as I was saying, it was a lot of fun and if there are ever any other Disney sing-a-long events I am totally going!


P.S. You know the book that Belle sings about at the beginning of the movie? You know...this one:

[Belle]Good Morning! I've come to return the book I've borrowed!
[Book Shop Clerk]Finished already?
[Belle]Oh I couldn't put it down. Got anything new?
[Book Shop Clerk](Ha ha) Not since yesterday!
[Belle]That's alright. I'll borrow...this one!
[Book Shop Clerk]That one?! But you've read it twice!
[Belle]Well it's my favorite! Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise![Book Shop Clerk] If you like it all that much, it's yours.
[Belle]But sir!
[Book Shop Clerk]I insist.
[Belle]Well thank you! Thank you very much!

then later....

[Belle]Oh! Isn't this amazing? It's my favorite because you'll see. Here's where she meets prince charming. But she won't discover that it's him till chapter three.

I've always wanted to read that book. I've looked for it and haven't found it, so....I decided I'm going to write it! I've got the first three chapters outlined (let me tell you...it was WAY more difficult than you would think to have a prince who was in disguise meet the princess but have her not know who he was until chapter three. That is a lot to fit into three chapters!!) and I'm going to hopefully get a start on it very soon. I shall keep you all updated! :)

san diego

San Diego is my happy place. This last weekend I went with Katy Smith and finally went to Sea World! I got a little sunburned but the weather was ah-maze-ing and I want to go back!

things i've learned

I've learned a few things the past couple weeks:

#1. There is a significant lack of spoons in my house. Apparantely I eat a lot of food that requires me to eat it with a spoon and they are ALWAYS dirty.

#2. You are never too old to need your Mommy. Had a rough and emotional week at work. Went over to my parent's house on Thursday night. A talk, a good cry, and a couple hugs from my Mom and I was able to put some things into perspective.

#3. The first "Twilight" movie is exceptionally cheesy. Almost to the point where I'm not sure if I can ever watch it again.

#4. Veggie lasagna is really good. I have the recipe if you're interested. It's easy to make.

diets and roommates

I stepped on the scale yesterday morning for the first time in a few months. Bad idea. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was still pretty bad. So, I am back on a diet starting Monday morning. I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to stock up on Slim-Fast and fruits and veggies and will be trying to lose weight for the next 4 months. I've given myself a deadline of 12/20. I'm not aiming towards a specific goal weight-wise. My goal is to be good and stick to the plan until then. 19 weeks. This blog may turn into my diet journal in an effort to keep me motivated.

In other news, I'm getting a roommate. One of my best friends, Katy (who was one of my roommates the year I went to Dixie State College in St. George) is moving to Phoenix in 2 weeks and will be living with me! I'm excited. It's going to take some time getting used to living with someone again (and having to share a bathroom) but it will be fun to have someone else to hang out with and be a geek with :)

one score and eight years ago...

This week I turned 28. It's kind of weird to me to think that it's been 10 years since I graduated from high school and that I only have 2 more years to go until 30. When I was 18, 30 seemed SOOO old and now, I'm almost there! I was kind of afraid of celebrating my birthday (since I'm not really sold on the whole "turning older" thing quiet yet...) but it turned out to be a great day! The girls at work decorated my cube and gave me Edward Cullen:



Kristy sent me Justin Timberlake:

And Katy got me the Jonas Brothers (this poster is now hanging in my closet):

Katy's present came yesterday in the mail as a late surprise. I told my mom about it last night and said, "I got all these cute guys for my birthday! Too bad none of them are real." To which my mom promptly replied, "Maybe you should get rid of the guys that aren't real so you can make room for the ones that are."

*pause*

Thanks, Mom. 'Preciate ya.

it all started with a post on facebook

So, I know I have been a little MIA recently and have been slacking on the updates. Let me do a bit of catching up for you....

I saw Eclipse last week on opening night with my friend, Stephanie, from work. Here are the thoughts I had about it:
#1. The gold contacts the Rob Pattinson has to wear make it look like Edward has a lazy eye.
#2. The scene where the newborn vampires come up out of the water at the lake was a little too "Pirates of the Caribbean" for me.
#3. 17 year old boys are extraordinarily cocky (in ALL meanings of the word).
#4. I kinda, sorta, maybe have a crush on Carlisle.

Katy came in to town for the 4th of July! We went antique and used book shopping, swam in the pool, watched movies, talked and laughed, I went to my first ever comic book store with her, and ate a lot of bagles! :) We drove down to Gilbert/Queen Creek to watch fireworks on Sunday and went and saw Toy Story 3 on Monday. The movie was good. I laughed, and almost cried at one point but Big Baby and the monkey were terrifying and I'm pretty sure I had nightmares about them the next night....

Back to work for a short week since we had Monday off for the 4th. Why is it that short weeks always feel doubly as long as a regular week? I haven't quite figured out that phenomenon yet....work has been kind of interesting the last couple weeks. The team I am on has had a change over in managers which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because the academic manager was a putz and didn't know what the hell he was doing and really needed to go. A curse because since both the academic and finance managers are new we are having to go back to the beginning on working on the problems that exist on the team instead of continuing on where we were. For instance, I had a one on one meeting with my manager this last week and I had to explain to him all the issues I have with the academic counselor I work with specifically. I have been applying for some different positions in the company, not because I hate my job but because I hate working with her and because she doesn't know her job and can't keep up with everything it is impacting me and making it so that I'm never going to get ahead in my current position. Hopefully, the new manager will be more willing to train and coach her where the previous one wasn't.

Friday night I went and saw Despicable Me with J.R. and Faith. It was hilarious! I was laughing through the whole thing and thought it was a great movie. I want a minion!! Faith slept over at my house Friday and yesterday we went shopping. I am in the process of finally decorating my bedroom. I haven't known what I want to do with it yet, until now. I am decorating it in blue. I got a new bed set from Target which I love, I am going to hang the Oregon quilt that Mom and I made a few years ago on the wall, and I need to find some pretty curtains. I also want to get a chair for my room but I haven't found the perfect one yet.

Last night I had the most ridiculous dream ever. I know I don't usually blog about my dreams but this one I think is worthy of being blogged about and hopefully it will make you laugh like it did me! :) It all started with a post on FaceBook (see....you were wondering why I titled this post that, weren't you?? lol). In my dream my brother, Steven, had posted that his Mission President (for those of you who aren't LDS, boys can go on a two year mission when they are 19 where they try and share our beliefs with other people. The Mission President is the adult leader who is called to oversee each area and help direct, guide and watch over the missionaries assigned to the place where they are) was coming home and there was a big meeting that was going to happen where the Mission President was going to be speaking. He put down that he was going to be attending this event and sent the information out to everyone else in case they wanted to go as well. At first I was like, I don't want to go. I don't even know the guy. But then I read all the information about what was going to happen at this meeting and who else was going to be there. The Backstreet Boys were going to be doing a couple special musical numbers at the meeting. (LOL). I was like, heck yes I'm going to that! So I clicked that, "yes, I'm attending" then I immediately forwarded the infromation to Kristy and told her she had to come with me!! The meeting was up in Utah, but I didn't care. I was going and so was she. Okay, day of the event comes and this is where things got crazy. Turns out I work in a bank (weird), and I had to negotiate getting the time off for this meeting. The meeting started at 7:15 (weird time, I know). I figured, I wanted to get there 15 mintues early and it would take about 30-45 minutes to drive over there (I don't remember where it was exactly, but I remember in my dream knowing right were it was and how to get there) so I wanted to leave at 6 to leave some time in case there was traffic. Pretty smart of me, huh? Yeah....so in my dream I get off work and then Kristy and I are driving over there. We get to the street where the church building is located but we can't find it. All we found was this random red brick building and a random cemetary. We drove up and down the street a few times looking, but couldn't find the church. Apparantly we gave up looking because the next thing that happened in my dream was that I went over to my parent's house later that night. My sisters were all excited because THEY had been at the meeting and everyone was asking me how come I didn't go. Then I got mad and told them that I tried to go, but I couldn't find the building! Turns out the random red brick building we saw WAS the church building. My sisters pulled me in and sat me down in front of the TV and showed me the video they had taken of the meeting. (Videos aren't really allowed in church, but for some reason they had the whole thing taped). I'm watching it and then all the sudden I start to REALLY freak out and get mad about the fact that I missed the meeting because not only were the Backstreet Boys there but Justin Timberlake apparantly made a guest appearance and sang a new song! Come on!! I missed JT singing?!?! Arg!!!! Oh, and get this...not only was he singing and performing a new song (a NEW song!!) but he was also ice skating.

*pause for audience laughing*

That's right, people, Justin Timberlake was ice skating while he was singing. I'm not really sure HOW they got an ice rink inside the church but they did.

And then I woke up.

LOL...it was by far the most ridiculous dream I've had in a LONG time.

quickest trip of my life

24 hours. I don't think I've taken a quicker vacation. It was an expensive, quick vacation but an awesome, expensive, quick vacation!

When I was 16 my family moved from Milwaukie, Oregon where we had been living for the past 8 years to Kaysville, Utah. Living up in Oregon we were away from both sides of the family and my parents decided that it was time to move back where family was. They were ready yet to move back to the oven that is otherwise known as Arizona, so they settled on Utah where my mom's family was (and still is). That was a very tough summer for me. Turning 16 is always rough--you've got all this internal drama going on and hormones that have you laughing one minute and wanting to kill yourself in deep depression the next. I remember I cried. More than once. Part of the crying came from the fact that I had to leave my two best friends behind in Oregon: Kristy Marchant and Laura Perisich. We had become "The Three Musketeers" over the last couple years and I was now moving 800 miles and two states away. I didn't know who was going to be my friend now. There are a couple things that stick out to me about that particular year.

#1. Sean Leonard. He was this really cute guy from church (who also happened to live right across the street from us). He was sweet and funny and really nice guy. I remember always getting giddy and excited when he would sit by me in Sunday School and I was convinced that we were soulmates and were going to get married. Obviously, that didn't happen. I remember talking about him to Laura and Kristy in the letters we wrote back and forth (yes, I know it's hard to believe, but this WAS before email was really popular and available...). Laura came to visit at one point and was excited about meeting Sean. However, he happened to be out of town that week and so she was convinced that he didn't exist and I had made up this imaginary boyfriend! (I know I'm crazy, folks but I ain't THAT crazy! Come on!! lol)

#2. 6 months after moving to Utah I had to have my appendix removed. It was very sudden (as appendectomies usually are) and I have a lot of weird memories about waking up in the post-op room, being transferred from the rolling bed they were transporting me on to the bed in my hospital room, the nasty beef broth they make you drink and eating nothing by Saltine crackers for about 4 days afterwards. *Side note: don't ever drink orange juice and then take a bite of orange Jell-o. The flavors are NOTHING alike and it will screw up your tastebuds for about 12 hours.

#3. That was the year I bought my very first CD. Again, like not having e-mail, I know it's hard to believe since it wasn't THAT long ago, but CDs were the new thing then. I'm pretty sure I still had a walkman to play my cassettes into until I got a portable CD player that year for Christmas. Gasp! A portable CD player?! It was awesome! :) What was this very first CD that I bought, you ask? Well, to those of you who know me pretty well I'll give you 2 guesses. It's probably not going to come as too much of a shock to you when I tell you that my very first CD (that I bought with my own money) was The Backstreet Boys.

I listened to this first CD of theirs NON-STOP that year. I thought it was the best thing since....I don't even know. I would put it in my CD player, put on my earphones and listen to these 5 guys singing. I don't remember having a crush on anyone in the group in particular, I didn't have anything else except the CD (no posters on the wall or anything like that), and I never went to a concert but I was in love with them. The next spring their second album "Millenium" came out. I saved up my money and had my mom drive me to Target (or maybe I drove, since I had my license and Mom was just in the car with me...) so I could buy it the first day. Again I was in love. I still didn't have any posters on my wall, or sit in front of the TV waiting for them to make appearances on talk shows or go to any concerts but I listened to "Millenium" so many times that to this day I still know every song by heart. **Side note: I have every album these boys have released but "Millenium" is still my favorite and I still listen to it about once a week.

One thing you may be asking yourself is: how come you never went to a concert? The answer: I didn't know that was an option. I know you're probably laughing and rolling your eyes at me, but that is the honest to gosh answer. Going to a concert never even crossed my mind. I dind't know that that was something I was SUPPOSED to do. My parents were never big concert goers, I didn't have any older siblings to show me the ropes of proper teen idol worship, and I never had enough money to make a concert even possible. I am sad to say that I was a concert virgin until the age of 25 at which point I was the older sibling teaching my younger sisters the proper etiquete of teen idol worship by taking them to see this new band just starting out called The Jonas Brothers.Since then I have been to many concerts. What's that saying? "Once you start, you can't stop." I know it's about potato chips, but it applies in this situation. I love going to concerts. I think they're great! However, the 16 year old inside myself still regrets never going to see The Backstreet Boys in concert when I first fell in love with them. But this, dear reader, was the reason for my 24 hour, $285 trip to Utah. I was finally going to see The Backstreet Boys in concert!!

*insert fangirl squeal here*

The Boys released their seventh (yes, you heard me correctly: seventh) album at the end of last year. When people find this out they are always surprised. "Oh, are they back together?" They ask me. No, people. They're STILL together. There was never any reason to get BACK together because they never stopped. Unlike the other group I regret never seeing in concert N SYNC. But that's another story. And I'm not bitter. I'm not. Anways, back to my story...people are always surprised to find out that BSB (that's what I call them, cuz we're tight like that) is still together and going strong. To quote my mother, "That's amazing! That's got to be like...some kind of boy band record, isn't it?" Yes, mom. It is. I guess.

After "This Is Us" was released they announced they were going back out on tour.

*insert another fangirl squeal here*

I watched the group's website and waited for Phoenix to be listed as a tour stop because (if you will remember and go back in my blog archive to November 2008 the Boys were playing in Phoenix and I had tickets. I was excited and all set to go, only to get the call as I was driving home from work that the show had been cancelled due to Nick being sick (THAT I am bitter about). I waited, thinking for sure Phoenix would be a tour stop since they had had to cancel the last one but....no such luck. The closest they were coming was Salt Lake City. I sat, I thought, I stewed, I budgeted. Could I justify going up to Salt Lake for the concert? Could I take the time off work? Was it even worth it? Then Kristy called me. Yes, that Kristy. One of "The Three Musketeers" Kristy. See, we've been friends (some might even say best friends or BFF's) since we were 14 and we drove carpool to seminary every day (for those of you who aren't LDS, seminary is a religion class that high school students can take as part of their curriculum). But I digress....Kristy emailed me saying she had bought 2 tickets to the show and did I want to go with her? The tickets were ON THE FLOOR! Row 22!!! Heck yes I wanted to go with her!

But wait. Could I afford it? Could I take the time off work? I stewed and debated and went back and forth on it for a few weeks. I told Kristy not to give up the other ticket to someone else just yet. I just needed another week to decide. I watched airfare, hoping and praying and crossing my fingers that some incredible sale would come along. Nothing did and finally I just decided, what the heck? This is a chance I'm probably never going to have again. Just do it! So, I bought my plane ticket, sent Kristy the money for my ticket, requested the time off work and hoped and prayed and crossed my fingers that Nick didn't get sick again thus forcing THIS show to be cancelled.

It wasn't cancelled.

I left work early on Wednesday to catch my flight to Salt Lake. (I hate flying by the way and have a huge case of flight anxiety where I can't eat for about 12 hours before I fly and feel like I'm going to throw up for the whole day before until I land at my destination...but that's a whole other story....) Kristy picked me up at the airport at 5:40pm and we headed downtown. The concert started at 7:30 so we stopped at McDonald's to get something to eat. I was still suffering from my above mentioned I'm-flying-and-feel-the-need-to-vomit-syndrome so I didn't get anything then we went and found a parking spot and headed over to the EnergySolutions Arena. (Okay, pause. The EnergySolutions Arena?! Seriously? Who the hell names these places?? Moving on...) We got inside and promply stood in line to buy a T-shirt and a lanyard because that's what you do and that's what I would have done if I had gone to the concert when I was 16. After standing in line and being all but mauled in people's excitement and anxiousness to purchase their BSB merch (yeah that's right, I said "merch") we went to go find where our seats were. They wouldn't let us in to the arena until almost 7:30, which I thought was kind of weird but whatever. We got awesome pink wristbands because we were sitting on the floor *insert fangirl squeal here* and we waited. Turns out there were a couple of guys behind us that loved The Backstreet Boys if you know what I mean. They were cracking me up with their antics and the declarations of love to Brian. There were actually quite a few good looking guys there but...they were either sitting next to their girlfriend/wife, drinking a beer and praying for it to be over already or they were like the two guys behind us and not going to be interested in me. At all.

Here's what was weird about the concert: there was no opening act. Apparantly, according to the girl and her mother sitting behind us next to the two gay guys, the opening act quit. So, instead of just starting the concert and having the Boys come out a little earlier than planned they had the DJ that plays for them up on stage come out and he was just up there on stage mixing songs and playing his bongos for about 20 minutes. After he was done he announced that the Boys would be out in about a half hour. A half hour?! Are you kidding me?! So we waited. What else are you going to do?

Here's what I loved about the concert: they played/sang all the old songs from those first two albums that made me fall in love with them in the first place! They did some of their newer songs which was great as well, but it's those oldies that I love. They did their set for the next hour and a half. We sang and danced and took pictures and basically had a great time.

I know it wasn't anything like it would have been back in the day, but I'm glad I went. Now I can say that I have FINALLY been to a Backstreet Boys concert. I have the T-shirt and the lanyard to prove it! If they ever decide to come to Phoenix I will probably go but I don't think I'll be flying anywhere else to see them again. They were my first boy band crush and I think deep down (no matter how much I love N SYNC and hope and pray every night for a reunion so I can relive THAT teenage experience that I missed...) they always will be. Brian, Howie, AJ, Nick, and Kevin (though he's technically no longer a Backstreet Boy) helped me get through a pretty tough year and for that, they will always hold a special place in my heart. Here's a little bonus trivia question for you: What was the first BSB music video I ever saw? "I Want It That Way"...