i am thankful for...

I am thankful for the miracle of modern medicine. I had minor surgery on my thumb in April and my nephew had open heart surgery in October. Although you can't compare having a thumbnail removed to having your heart operated on, I am grateful for doctors and medicine and the miraculous procedure that has made it so my nephew will have a heathly, happy life.

I am thankful for best friends who get me and put up with my idosyncacies and faults. I know I'm not often the easiest person to love or live with but I appreciate all of the wonderful friends I have in my life who love me and who I know are there for me whenever I need them.

I am thankful for my family. I know that I am extremely blessed to have been given the family I have and I try very hard not to take any of them for granted. We may not always get along and we may not always see eye-to-eye on things, but I love them and I don't know what I would do without them in my life. They are some of my best friends.

I am thankful for my house. The last 5 months of home ownership have been interesting. More bills, more responsibilites, and more stress but it's worth it. I love my house and I feel very blessed for being led to it and for being able to buy it. I know that this is where I am supposed to be right now and I'm happy.

I am thankful for popcorn. It's one of life's little joys.

I am thankful for Mint M&M's. They only come out this time of year and they make me happy.

I am thankful for music. This past year I've been able to go to three concerts: Honor Society with my sisters, Backstreet Boys with Kristy, and Train with Katy. Each concert was great for different reasons and because of the people I got to share them with. I was also able to purchase a piano this year which has allowed me to once more play the music I love.

I am thankful for education. I started my Master's degree program a year ago March and I will be done Decmeber 20th! It has been an interesting, frustrating, stressful, insightful experience but my journey isn't over. This is just the first step. Next year will begin step two and I will keep you all informed as the process unfolds.

I am thankful for so many other things, but these are the big ones that stuck out to me as I was reviewing this past year. I am thankful for each of you in my life and I hope this holiday season and the upcoming New Year will bring you peace, hope, and love.

wind damage

Yesterday an unexpected microburst/hail storm moved through the Valley of the Sun. Caught all of us desert rats by surprised and did some significant damage in places. There are even rumors of a funnel cloud or two that were spotted in the area. The drive home was exciting as the majority of the people who live here in Arizona have no idea how to drive in the rain, giving those of us who do (I took Driver's Ed and learned how to drive while living up in Portland, Oregon) something to laugh about. It was also very entertaining watching the 10 o'clock news last night and hearing about everyone's "near-death" experiences with the hail and how they "weren't sure they were going to survive" the three feet of water that they decided to drive their car into on the freeway. No joke, one guy last night said he didn't know what he was going to do because it was "ice cold water." O_o

Uhm...do you know how to swim? No, strike that. Do you know how to WADE? It's water!!!

Unfortunately, we were not spared over here on Boston St. I came home to find my shed tipped over in the backyard and half of my neighbor's back porch awning hanging over the porch and into my yard.



Katy and I were able to get the shed back upright, but the neighbor's roof is still hanging over the fence. The pool was FULL of leaves and Wall-E (that's what my niece named my pool vacuum) is out there working overtime right now as I am typing this. Also, I'm not sure if the tree that was hit by the roof is going to make it. We'll have to see.

I am thankful that the damage wasn't any worse than it was.

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.