Dear Lovely, Darling, Fabulous Fed Ex Person,

Thank you!

Love,

Not Leaving My Room Until I Have Finished Reading

Mockingjay

Remember How My Boyfriend Chuck ...

also sings?!?!

I seriously love him.

Dear Mr. or Ms. Fed Ex Person,

I am sorry.

I apologize.

I am not sure what I am needing to apologize for,

but I figured you must be angry at me for something.

What other reason would keep you from delivering

my copy of "Mockingjay"?

Please forgive me for whatever I did.

Apologetically yours,

Still Waiting For The Copy Of Mockingjay That I Specifically

Pre-Ordered So I Would Have It As Soon As It

Came Out And So I Wouldn't Have to Fight With The Crazies At Barnes & Noble

AND I Seriously Cannot Wait ANY Longer To See Who Katniss Picks

Dear Mandy Moore (the singer, not the choreographer),

I've never really been a fan,

but I owe you a BIG thank you.

A few months ago I saw you on "The Bonnie Hunt Show".

I almost fast forwarded through your segment,

because as I stated earlier

I am not a fan.

But I didn't,

and for that I am REALLY glad.

During the segment you mentioned that you were obsessed with

Gain laundry detergent because of the smell.

I had never used it,

but was intrigued.

The next day while I was at Target

I popped a bottle open and took a whiff.

And I was transported to a magical place.

A place I never want to leave.

I.

LOVE.

THE.

SMELL.

OF.

GAIN.

It is serious heaven.

So thank you Mandy Moore.

I am sincerely appreciative.

So much so,

that I might forget what a jerk you were to

Mia Thermopolis

in "The Princess Diaries".

With Deepest Gratitude,

Can't stop sniffing my laundry

Happy Day!!!

Just wanted to give a shout out to my Bro

to say congrats on his last day of chemo!!!

He was feeling well enough to eat Courts veggie lasagna tonight.

So happy he gets to be done!

Please Don't Be Afraid Of Me ...

One of the many things that I learned at

Education Week today is that there is such a thing as

"Melissophobia".

Seriously,

it's a word.

Luckily, the definition is not

a person who has a fear of people named

Melissa.

(Although, I have been known to scare off a few people in my day!)

It is a fear of

BEES!

How ironic is it that I my name means "honey bee",

and yet I am allergic to them.

So next time you run screaming from a bee,

just think of me!

You Know That Feeling You Have On The Last Day of School ...

when you know you have the whole summer

ahead of you filled with endless

possibilities?

That is how I felt when I woke up this morning

knowing that at 2 pm today I would start

my 11 day weekend!

I have 11 work free days ahead of me with

NOTHING

planned!

The last 3 months have been jam packed,

overwhelming, and stressful

(except for that week I laid on the beach).

With being thrown into Young Women

and having youth conference

and camp,

house guests,

work,

and lots of busyness

I haven't had a lot of free time.

I am going to spend these days

enjoying the time and freedom.

I am starting with Education Week.

I have already been to a few evening classes,

and can feel my bucket being filled.

I love being able to spend the time learning

and reflecting on what I can do better at.

Then I am going to catch up on my stack of magazines

while enjoying the sunshine.

I am going to deep clean my room,

and my car,

and reorganize my drawers.

There will also be some serious sleeping in!

Dear Miss Snyder Wood,

This is my new favorite song.

(Shout out to Linds for introducing it to me.)

And every time I listen to it I think of you

because I can totally see it going on your "Boo Yah America" cd

and I can imagine the rocking dance moves you would add.

P.S. Please forgive the video choice.

The other you tube videos were kind of creepy ...

and, LBH, I can kind of see your 14 year old self making one of these.

Enjoy!

Back to Real Life ...

I have a lot to say,

and a lot of stories to share.

First,

shout out to Em (aka Wishie)

for her fabulous guest blogging skills.

She has such a way with words,

and I am REALLY going to miss her when she moves to the NYC

with her foxydoxy husband!

I am wishin', and hopin', and thinkin' and prayin'

that she will start her own blog

so that I can read about my favorite city through her eyes.

Em, I love you!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts,

and I have now added

laying in a down comforter filled tent eating Mumsies pancakes while listening to the rain

to my list of things to do before I die!

I have a lot of other things to tell,

but right now I am trying to assimilate

back to real life,

and the fact that I am supposed to work 8 hours a day

AND

go to the grocery store and buy my own food

when really I just want to lay here ...

drinking Diet Coke and reading all day.

I am having a difficult time.

Tut Tut

Okay, so let’s take a moment for a true confession. Every time our dear friend, Melissa Suzanne leaves on a vacation (in search of bluer skies, celestial fro-yo, and perfectly arched California waves), I realize how truly codependent I am. It’s not like I’m oblivious to this fact at other times; it just becomes more relevant when Miss is “off the grid.” (You feel me, right? You’re missing that consummate wit and wisdom just as much as I am.) At any rate, Miss asked if I would bless LLS a la besitos as a guest blogger while she digs her toes down deep in the sand, unearths this summer’s frothiest beach read, and bites into the tastiest fish tacos on the pier.

So, because I’m as honest as Abe, I will tell you I racked my mind for things to share in my dearest friend’s absence this week. If this were my blog, I could bore you all to death with my delight in how often the candy dish at work had Rolo’s in it, or how often I procrastinated packing with boxed sets (will that Gilmore Girls never get old...) However, as I intend to honor LLS and its great blogmaster, I’ve chosen instead to share a few thoughts about the weather (more specifically, the rain--tut, tut).

Every time the weather turns drizzly, gray and thunderous, I get twitchy and excited—like a kid on Christmas Eve. I don’t know how I became so twisted, or why I suffer such irony (except for the ever present discovery that I am, in fact, twisted and ironic). However, part of me knows my love of watery weather comes from my terrific mother. As a child, my mumsie would build a tent in the middle of pouring rain (it was an Alvin and the Chipmunk’s tent and it was awesome.) Then, she would make pancakes, stuff our fort full of down comforters and read book after book to my older brother and me. Time stood still in the magical world of our tent—I loved the sound of raindrops pounding on bright red plastic above my little head.

The day Miss and I became the dearest of friends we were designing a perfect Martha Stewart moment on a Florida beach. We had flown out early to prep the St. Petersburg campus for the next onslaught of great youth. Naturally, after a summer of EFY, we were ridiculously tired and felt the need to rejuvenate in a manner Oprah would condone. So, we drove to the nearest supercenter and bought two nautical striped towels, two matching straw hats, and two matching straw bags. With our Martha-like loot, we felt equipped for prime Floridian real estate and a dose of inappropriate tanning behavior (dear Lindsay, we do not tan this way anymore…promise. xoxo.) Approximately three minutes after our arrival, we fell asleep. This was not the kind of beach snooze that one generally enjoys. In fact, we both slept so deeply, that 3 HOURS LATER we awoke to a sky so dark that waves were lapping at our ankles. The once crowded beach abandoned us, stepping over our dead bodies and prim Martha Stewart Living setup to save themselves from a violent torrent. Awakened by warning drops, we considered our lone option—to haul ourselves out of the downpour, save our beautiful straw hats, and run to the nearest pasta shop (which, by the way, happened to be called “Life, Love and a Lil’ Sauce”—and, if I remember correctly, the sauce guy—mixer of noodles with marinara—was, indeed, quite saucy. Then again, I looked like a drowned rat in a bucket of straw. So I’m quite sure he thought the same of me.)

I was reminded of this moment (hence this post) just last week on the Brooklyn Bridge. My husband (aka foxy Doxy) and I had polished off a pizza at Grimaldi’s and gone in search of gelato. Further, because we’re prepping to take Manhattan this fall (just like the Muppets), and because Dox is crazy as coconuts about running, we were searching the terrain (prospective runs for him and baby runs for me) on our gelato walk—did I mention my inclination for irony above? That night, however, our travels took us over the bridge. And, being happy little westerners, we didn’t once consider the looming clouds in the distance (because, really, clouds often mean nada in Utah, right?) On this particular night of nights, however, the faraway wisps transformed into a WATERFALL OF HAIL (no, this is not innovative cursing. It was sheets of actual rain, sleet, cats, dogs…you get the idea). Furthermore, foxydoxy and I were stuck midway between Brooklyn and New York with visions of sugarplums in our heads. Okay, the visions were more in my head. But a girl will pretty much walk over bridges through a tornado for her gelato. So, we did just that.

You may wonder why I’ve proceeded to guest blog, fairly randomly, about the rain. Honestly, as this week our own clouds have threatened to spill over (and sometimes even have), I’ve felt that little girl, Christmas Eve feeling, and remembered how the rain ushers the best parts of life. (Ok, so I wasn’t a Primary devil child. I did catch the lesson about rain growing spring flowers) But sometimes the obvious principles can have the most prolific effects. So really, it was just a moment last week, halfway between Manhattan and Brooklyn that I looked over at foxydox with huge water droplets streaming down his grinning face and knew moving to NYC would bring good things for us—even though, at that point, we had no apartment, and seemingly little direction for such a large scale life change. Furthermore, in that moment I remembered what it felt like to be a toe-headed little girl, safely tucked away in a plastic fort with my mums and my brother while storms pounded down on our heads. And, I remembered the day several years ago when I met my dearest Miss and together we battled Florida’s finest conditions; since that day she has taught me so much about weathering life’s unpredictability with grace and generosity. In fact, when it comes to “rain,” Miss is the Morton Salt girl. No one sings in the rain with better style. The girl has estilo! In fact, J. Crew may have stolen the wellies from her. ( But LBH, we all know where they got the straw hats). Plus, I feel I can say these things about Miss as the guestblogger this week, even though she’ll hate it. (And to Miss, I promise next time I’ll besito the blog with my opinions as to why Sephora should replace Starbucks on every corner. Because really we need more Belle.)

And finally, regardless of whatever storms are falling in life—whether it’s trekking to NY or Boston (J), having a child, a husband or not a husband, dealing with illness, or just enduring the daily grind of work or school, I honestly hope I will rush into rainstorms like the Morton Salt girl…or at least an Audrey (yelling “cat, cat” while raindrops splash on my Maybelline lashies and I pledge to give up “the mean reds” for watery kisses by the pawn shop while Moon River plays softly behind me…p.s. I feel ashamed to clarify that said Moon River passion is with darling husband, NOT the sauce guy from Florida…) So, now, as foxydoxy has informed me that our basement is currently flooding (really, I’m not kidding), I will have the opportunity to try out my new “rain” philosophy. I’m not getting the Christmas Eve feeling as much with this one, but I will still try to be a Morton Salt girl. Miss, hurry home so I can borrow your wellies, please!

Loves,

Em (at least one of them…)

Reunited And It Feels So Good ...

Yesterday I reunited with many of my favorite things.

First,

I hopped aboard a Jet Blue flight.

I love Jet Blue!

And yesterdays flight inspired me to

write the following haiku ...

Jet Blue, how I've missed

you and the fun times we've had.

I think you're the best.

(Shocking that I don't write poetry for a living.)

Next was a pit stop at Pinkberry.

Can I just say that the new watermelon flavor with pineapple

and raspberries on top ...

equals perfect swirly goodness.

Then a quick stop at Trader Joe's

just to take in the ambiance

and beg and plead one more time

for them to bring their store to Utah.

I then hopped in the car

with this crazy lady,

and we were off to San Diego to see ...

and can I just say

seeing it in San Diego

in a theater full of Latino people

is a lot different experience than

seeing it in New York.

It was fabulous!

and enjoyable!