Dang, Gina!

Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It...

2011-04-23T17:33:00.001-07:00

My materials:

Fabric
Thread
Ribbon

My supplies:

Sewing Machine
Scissors
Pins

My mission:

To make a wearable Easter skirt in a few hours or less without using a pattern.

Mission: Accomplished

The Cat's Out of the Bag!

2011-04-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been over a month since I posted a picture of the fabric for my project, so I'm a little slow. But I managed to finish sewing the top of this awesome quilt together and present it to my friend Jenny for her birthday! I would have liked to have the whole thing done, but, well...I didn't. Fail. BUT...She said she really liked it, which is bittersweet for me. I'm so happy that she likes it, but I'm also sad that I'll have to let it go forever once it's finished. I suppose I can see it when I visit her. But first I have to figure out how to back it without having to buy a lot of additional fabric.
I also have a couple of other projects in the works...Okay, the truth is that fabric has been purchased, but has not been cut into yet. I'm making another quilt in some fun colors for another friend (I'll post pictures later since she has probably figured out that she's getting a quilt for her birthday, as well...if not, she knows now!) and once both of these are done, it's a quilt for me! I'm using the same pattern as the one in the picture to the left for both, and I'll let you in on the secret for the color theme for my quilt...the bricks are black and white fabric, and the "neutral" color for the squares is orange. I know, I know...it sounds Halloween-ish, but hopefully it doesn't turn out that way. If it does, oh well. I'm excited to see how it'll turn out. I'm already plotting to bind it in the extra black fabric, and I'll probably back it in orange. As my seester says, it'll probably be so bright it'll keep me up at night, but at least I'll be warm! Hopefully pictures are to come soon.

Surprise!

2011-03-04T18:46:00.001-08:00

100_2219 a photo by froggy_miss on Flickr.

I'm super excited about this fabric and what I plan on doing with it. It's a surprise, and the great part about it is that the person it's for probably has no idea whatsoever that it's for them! So I can post pictures all over the place and they'll never know! I'm super excited to sew it up, although I nearly had a panic attack when I started cutting into the fabric. My seester and my mom are the seamstresses of the family. I, unfortunately, did not get the sewing genes. Or if I did, they're stunted. The point is, I don't do nearly as much sewing as either one of them do. But I'm not letting that stop me from making something really cute! Speaking of, I should probably start cutting up the green fabric in the middle of the picture so I can get on with the actual sewing! I'll try to post more when I get more of my project completed.

You Know You Don't Post Enough When...

2010-11-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

...You can't remember the URL for your own blog. I had to go to my seester's blog and click on her link for my blog in order to refresh my memory. Okay, everyone, let's all say it together...Gina fails!
Anyway...so I'm in between projects to get done today, so I thought I'd give a bit of an update on what I've been up to lately. Some of it I don't really want to talk about or get into right now, so if you REALLY want to know about that part of my life, feel free to comment with your email address, if I don't already have it. But it's probably not as exciting as I'm sure you're hoping for it to be.
I'm currently working/planning on some Christmas presents for my family. I can't go into the specifics, even though the only presents that I have the ideas for are all for the nieces and nephews. I'm sure that most of them are too young to even care about blogs, especially mine. But for some reason I have this need to keep their present ideas from their parents...with the exception of my seester. I have to run my ideas past somebody, right? Anyway, I'm still trying to come up with some ideas for the adults. That's the tough part.
I've also got a few crafty ideas stirring in my head that I might try to sell at some point, if I can work up the ambition and the supplies. Some of it I already have, and I might just use some other stuff that I had been planning on sending to the D.I. I'm planning on making beaded lanyards (I've got one that I've been using that lots of people have commented on, and I would have posted a picture here, but I accidentally left it at my seester's house after the Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe I'll have to make a stop there in the next few days so I can get it. My niece was having a blast putting it around her neck and talking about how "pitty" it was. I also have an idea for some cute hair clips that should be fairly easy to make. Hopefully I'll be able to make some and post some pictures. But please don't look forward to it, because knowing my history, it'll be several months before anything else gets posted.
I also started last night with my church calling. I'm an indexer, which means I get to pull demographic information from old census and military draft records. It's actually kind of fun, and I already indexed about 170+ names just last night. Anyone can do it, just set up an LDS account and then go to indexing.familysearch.org and sign in! I'm excited to be able to help those that weren't able to hear the gospel before they died. And it's been fun as I've indexed some draft records to see where some of these people were born. So far I've seen names of people that were born in Italy, Poland, Greece, Russia, and Czechoslovakia. There may be more, but that's all I've got right now.
The other thing I need to do that absolutely needs to get done today is to put some music on an iPod for my Andrea friend. Some of my friends (and former roommates) have bestowed upon me the nickname of \m/(Rocker) Gina. I'm their go-to person when they need music for something, or if they heard a song on the radio and only remember part of the lyrics, and they need to know what song it was. I'm even considering buying myself a keytar (which is pretty much a portable keyboard on a guitar strap) and joining a band. I even have a name for said band, thanks to Andrea's mom (Mama Sayre)...Check this out...Rocker Gina and the Gene Pool. Awesome name, I think! What do you think?

Note to Self...

2010-06-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Never say you're going to do something that you know isn't going to happen.

In my last post, I explained my game plan to blog more often. I said that each week, I would try something new and then report back the following week. Four months later, and I'm just now reporting on my Twitter experience. Feel free to award me with a big, fat F.

As far as Twitter goes...the jury is still out. I know, I know, I've been on Twitter for four months already (that's a lot of weeks, by the way), I should have a decent opinion by now. But I don't. So the best thing I can do at this point is to offer a few pros and cons of Twitter.

Pros:

Instant gratification. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing, with just a few clicks on my phone, I can check in on whatever is new with all of the people/entities that I follow. And in some cases, updates are sent to my phone as a text message.
Fascinating information. One of the entities I follow is full of the most interesting, if useless, facts. Did you know that a chocolate bar has an average of eight insect legs in it? And don't tell me you're surprised by that knowledge. I've never been inside a chocolate factory (although that might be a bit of a dream come true...Love me some chocolate!), but I'm pretty sure there are large vats of chocolate that don't have much of anything covering them...or maybe that's just how I envision factories, thanks to the years of my youth watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Cons:

Waste of time. While it is interesting to read up on and get updates on everyone that I follow, is it really imperative for me to know that so-and-so is putting out a new album, or that there's a giveaway tomorrow on a radio station program that I don't even get to listen to anymore, or that if you bite down on a Wint-O-Green Life Saver in the dark, you will see sparks? (The last one I already knew, but that one was for all of you who wanted to hear a random fact today) The point is that yes, it's true, my brain is full of trivia that's useful only when playing Cranium and the challenge is to guess what song is being hummed, and I'm such a nerd (particularly when it comes to music) that I know within about a dozen notes that the song is "Material World" by Madonna. Why should I add to the massive amount of useless facts already shoved into my head instead of learning something new that's actually useful?

So after all of that, for now, I remain a Twitterer (if that's even a word). To be honest, I'm mostly a follower because I'm pretty sure there's nobody out there that's that interested in knowing what I had for breakfast yesterday (french toast with a side of bacon) or what I did last Saturday (attended the Scottish Festival and discovered a great Celtic band, the Wicked Tinkers-you should check them out, and if you live near me, let me know if you're interested and I may let you borrow a CD or two so you, too, can marvel at how a band can merge the bagpipes and a didgeridoo and make fantastic, entertaining music).

Tweet Tweeter Tweet Tweet

2010-02-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, friends, here's the plan. In an effort to get myself to do more blogging, and to help make it interesting, I am going to try something different...for me, anyway. Once a week, I am going to try something new, and the following week, I will report my findings/opinions/comments/etc. This week's experiment: Twitter. Hopefully, most people that know me know that I am not the kind of person that jumps on the fad train just because it's there or because everyone else is doing it. Granted, I've been on the Facebook wagon for several years, but even with Facebook, it's been difficult to avoid the barrage of FarmVille invites (I will never succumb!).
I considered a few months ago signing up for Twitter, but eventually steered myself away because I didn't need yet another thing to waste my time with. And to be honest, this week really isn't the best week to be starting a time-waster. We've got some massive training starting this week, and I'm involved in the preparation for that. Wish I would have remembered that prior to coming up with my hare-brained plan, but when do I ever think all of my plans through?

Oh yeah, one more thing...if you want to follow me on twitter, here's the place to go...

ginarj

Enjoy!

It's official...

2009-12-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

I am terrible at following through on what I say I'm going to do...like my blog. I don't really have much of an excuse, other than always finding something else to do instead. Who knows, maybe I can make a New Years' resolution to do more with my blog, even though I'm essentially setting myself up for failure, just like my gym membership.
Anyway, here's a quick update on what's going on in my life, for the person or two that hasn't given up on this blog or me yet...
Work-Still do it, can't afford not to. Do I love it? Not necessarily, but it's a job, and I'm grateful for it and the fact that it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Home-Haven't found a new one yet. For anyone who doesn't know, the house I've lived in for almost two and a half years has been on the market for about a year and a half. For a long time, there weren't any decent offers, so the family decided to split the property and sell the house separately from the half-acre next to it. Well, shortly after the property was split, a couple made an offer on the entire property, and the owners accepted it. They've got until the 23rd to back out or for a loan to fall through, but the house is pretty much sold at this point. It's been coming for a long time, but it's still hard to comprehend that change is coming quite quickly. Anyway, I've got an option or two that I'm looking into a bit, but if nothing works out, I'll be back with my sister for a little while. Lucky her, huh???
Church-Still go, haven't gone inactive yet, so don't worry. Our ward was supposed to be going through some big changes effective January 1st 2010, which meant I would end up being in a brand-new singles ward. And I was super excited for the change and had started preparing myself for it. Unfortunately, we were informed a few weeks ago that the change is not coming about as quickly as anyone had hoped. Apparently you have to have your ducks in a row before starting up three new wards and kicking several family wards out of their building. So I'll be staying in the same ward, unless one of my housing options is a go. If I move back in with the sister, I'll still be in the ward I am in currently. I'll keep you updated...or not, knowing me.
Dating-Haven't done much of it...ever. Not that I'm complaining about it. Sometimes I wish that I could find that special someone, get married, and live happily ever after. And then other times, I think that maybe it's a blessing to be single, especially after witnessing some of the things that people close to me have had to go through, both dating- and marriage-related. I've got one or two people that have someone they're thinking of setting me up with, but I'm not worrying about it too much. Besides, worrying doesn't change anything, right? I hope that doesn't sound negative, because that's not my intention. I've just got bigger fish to fry right now.
I know, I know...I promised much more exciting posts for this blog. Sorry to disappoint you, but this is all I've got right now. Besides, I've got my ward Christmas party in about 15 minutes, which is bound to be an interesting experience...

2009-08-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that I don't post on my blog nearly often enough (I know what you're thinking, it's not hard to come to that conclusion...). To be honest, I tend to think that my life isn't exciting enough for other people to want to read about. Then I thought about my vacation the beginning of this month and thought, hey, I DO do interesting things. So I'm going to try to do a better job of posting on this blog...not necessarily just the weird and unusual things I do, but also my own personal music reviews (because of the love I have for music and the special place it holds in my heart) and just fun, random things that I do or that happen or that I come across. Hopefully in the process, I will be able to get into the habit of blogging. Here goes!

Gina needs...

2009-02-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

My Haley roommate suggested I try this...It's quite entertaining.

Google the phrase (including the quotes) "[your first name] needs" and write down the first 10 results.

1. Gina needs to change her self-talk.
2. Gina needs to be clarified.
3. Gina needs a drink.
4. Gina needs some new kidneys!
5. Gina needs you!
6. Gina needs an English tutor, please.
7. Gina needs many services- social services, financial services, mental health services, manicure and pedicure services (so true...)
8. Gina needs spiritual intervention.
9. Gina needs to speak her mind.
10. Gina needs to come out with an energy drink next.

So there are are a few ones that I skipped because they were really dirty, but I've still got some funny ones!

Open Your Eyes / Highlander / Dancing Queen

2008-12-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've written a blog, and I thought this looked like fun, so here goes...

JUST FOR FUN….
Feel free to do this yourself.

Directions:
1. Put your iPod, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the “next” button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY OR NON-SENSICAL IT SOUNDS

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
She's Too Much - Duran Duran

2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
We Apologize For Nothing - Fightstar

3. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
There's a Good Reason These Tables are Numbered, Honey - Panic At the Disco

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Does Your Mother Know - Mamma Mia! Soundtrack

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE PURPOSE?
My Blue Ocean - Kara's Flowers

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Happy - Natasha Bedingfield

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
So Long, Goodbye - 10 Years (Ouch!)

8. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Different - Acceptance (Again...Ouch!)

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Undone - Owsley

10. WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Natural Disaster - Plain White T's

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Drop Out-The So Unknown - Jack's Mannequin

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Heart Attack - Low Diamond

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Forever - Walter Meego

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Rise - Flobots

16. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Trigger Happy Jack - Poe

17. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Said You'd Be - The Panic Channel

18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
All Over You - The Spill Canvas

19. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Paint Your Target - Fightstar

20. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Request Line - Black Eyed Peas feat. Macy Gray

21. SONG THEY WILL PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Handlebars - Flobots

22. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Open Your Eyes - Fightstar

(Just because I'm curious to see what the outcome would be a second time, I did it again...it's interesting to see what obscure music I have and how most of these songs have less than nothing to do with the questions.)

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
Bloody Mary - The Panic Channel

2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Well Enough Alone - Chevelle

3. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
She Had the World - Panic At the Disco

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
What's Been Going On - Amos Lee

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE PURPOSE?
Your Man - Josh Turner

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N Roses

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen

8. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Tracy's Song / Only Time Will Tell - Nelson

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
My Own Summer (Shove It) - Fightstar

10. WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Hard To Say - The Used

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Super Trouper - Mamma Mia! Soundtrack

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Freckles - Natasha Bedingfield

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Silent Scream - Richard Marx

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GROW UP?
1985 - Bowling For Soup

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Franklin - Paramore

16. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Love Me Dead - Ludo

17. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
I'm Not That Girl - Idina Menzel

18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Someday - Plain White T's

19. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Yeah! - Usher

20. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Peace of Me - Natasha Bedingfield

21. SONG THEY WILL PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Shiver - Coldplay

22. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Highlander Theme - Queen

(Okay, one more time....)

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
2 Minutes to Midnight - Glamour of the Kill

2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Rules and Games - Funeral For a Friend

3. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
Piece of Your Heart - Natasha Bedingfield

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
She Won't Last - The Panic Channel

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE PURPOSE?
The Days I Recall Being Wonderful - Fightstar

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Didn't I (Blow Your Mind) - New Kids on the Block

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns

8. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Grand Unification, Part 1 - Fightstar

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
99 - Fightstar

10. WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Silent Movie - Natasha Bedingfield

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Do You Know What I'm Seeing - Panic At the Disco

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Take Off Your Colours - You Me At Six

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Cry Baby Cry - Duran Duran

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Intro - Bullet For My Valentine

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You - Marc Cohn

16. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Blue Bruises - The Panic Channel

17. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Grand Unification, Part 2 - Fightstar

18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic (Live Version) - Paramore

19. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Miss California - Jack's Mannequin

20. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
The Poison - Bullet For My Valentine

21. SONG THEY WILL PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The Sweater Song - Weezer

22. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Dancing Queen

Okay, so I cheated by answering the questions three times...But I didn't skip, I promise!

It hurts, but not enough to break me.

2008-10-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've quite recently come to the realization that it is a complete waste of my time to try to convince people to be friends with me. I've done it pretty much the past 27 years, and I'm done. I don't need friends whose friendships with me are conditional upon what I do or don't do or believe or know, or who I do or don't associate with. I'll admit, it hurt me when a recently former friend decided to shun me because of my association with people that she hates. I didn't understand it at first. After all, what had I done to her? Then when we were in the same elevator and she refused to acknowledge my existence, things started clicking. I finally understood. This isn't a temporary thing, it's an end of a friendship of convenience.
Let's be honest, I should have seen it coming from the beginning. A leopard can't change its spots, right? It's a very difficult, if not impossible, feat to please any given person at any given time, so to attempt it every time you're in that person's presence, it becomes exhausting. And there are people in this world that will drain all they can from you and enjoy it all the way. These are the same kinds of people that will hold a grudge over the most trivial thing for as long as they can...forever, if possible.
Believe me, I knew that this former friend held these characteristics. Maybe subconsciously I knew that my friendships with these people that she hated would bring out these characteristics and her "wrath" in full force. Maybe I was the one that decided to test her friendship with me, to see if she really was a friend or if it just happened to be convenient for her. I guess the point is, she failed the test. And maybe I did, too. But I've sure learned my lesson. Has she?
I don't know if she'll ever see this. Probably not. If she does, I'm sorry that my friendship was no longer worth her time. I'm sorry that her expectations were so far from who I am that a lasting friendship between her and me would have been impossible. But it's her loss, not mine. I'm okay with it, and I hope that she's okay with it, as well.
So what exactly have I learned from this experience?
1. You shouldn't have to work to get someone to like you or to accept you. If they do, that's great. If not, was it really worth it to begin with?
2. Be yourself and know yourself. If you can't do that, does anyone else really know you? And do they really like you for you or for who you're pretending to be?
3. If someone's friendship is conditional, it's not a friendship, it's a convenience.
4. If the reason your friendship fails is weak and thin, it was doomed from the beginning, and there's nothing you could have or should have done to salvage it. And that's okay. We learn from our mistakes.
5. Who cares if someone likes you or not? If they don't want what you have to offer, someone will, maybe you just haven't met them yet.
That's really all I have to say on that subject. I've probably beat it to death, anyway. I just think that sometimes it helps to hash out your frustrations in some way other than just inside your head. The end.
In other news, if I stop being such a lazy bum, I'm planning on writing a few more blogs in the near future, including, but not limited to, some of the things I've been up to lately, like my two trips to St. George this summer, my job, and my current creative endeavor. Stay tuned!

Dear Blog...

2008-06-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've seen you. It isn't because I've been neglecting you. I just haven't had much free time to talk to you. But now I can tell you what I've been up to the past few weeks! So here goes...
On the 28th of May, my sister was going into the hospital to have her baby, so I took the day off from work to watch Nathan. After my parents left Kristina's to go to the hospital and Nathan had his nap, he and I went to see everyone I work with. Everybody thought that he was the cutest little guy, which he is, of course. He even had some fun playing with the lighted buttons outside of the rooms in the clinic. I had the hardest time pulling him away. We then went over to the hospital and had hot dogs, then we went to the hospital where my sister was because I had gotten a text message telling me that the baby was here and what room they were in.
She didn't have a name at that point, but I'll tell you what, my new little niece was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. She had a head full of dark hair that had been put into a cute little faux-hawk. Everyone had been slightly nervous about how Nathan would react to the new baby, and it wasn't too long before we found out. With his dad's help, he held his new little sister but quickly got tired of having her on his lap so he tried to push her away so he could get up. Then later, he raised his arm and smacked her in the head. What a great start.
The next evening, she was given a name: Audrey Aline. I didn't go to the hospital that day because I had a few things that I needed to do that evening, but after I made an appearance at the YSA council activity and got dinner with the roommates, I headed over to my sister's house and spent a little time with Nathan and my parents.
On Saturday, my sister had been told that she and my niece were cleared to be discharged from the hospital, so she and my brother-in-law had gotten her and Audrey ready to go. Then they found out that Kristina had an infection and the doctor was afraid that it might be something serious. They were told that my sister might need to stay in the hospital for a few more days. They were also told that Audrey could only stay under the hospital's care until the following day and then she would need to be discharged. Audrey would be able to stay there, but she would need to have someone there 24/7 to take care of her.
I missed church on Sunday in case I needed to help with Nathan. Luckily, shortly after I arrived, Kristina called and said that they were both getting ready to come home and would be there in a little while. Turns out that the infection she had was only on the skin and could be treated with oral antibiotics instead of an I.V.
Nothing too exciting happened the next few days, but then my birthday was on June 4th. My roommates took me to Cafe Rio for dinner where a few other friends soon joined us, and then we came home and had apple pie from Marie Callendar's. Yum! My Haley roommate has pictures, so those may be coming soon. It was a pretty low-key evening, just the way I would prefer it. I've never been one for a massive amount of attention.
The next evening I went to dinner with a few coworkers and their kids. We went to Mathilda's at the Jordan Commons. It was Australian food. I thought it was pretty good, but one coworker said she wouldn't go back, partly because they don't do anything for birthdays. I was okay with not having a big birthday hoopla, but they all thought the restaurant should do something.
The next night was something I had been anticipating for at least a month: my fourth Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand concert! Yay! Before the concert, I went to Applebee's for dinner with my friend Nora, her friends Gretchen and Misty, and her sister Megan. It had been a while since I had gone to Applebee's. I was quite pleased with my options and had a difficult time choosing what I wanted. Finally, I decided on this chicken dish that also had garlic mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. It was delicious and I ate every bite! At that point, I was stuffed to the gills but decided that although I usually decide against dessert, I ordered a dessert shooter. Good stuff! We were going to pay and leave, but we soon discovered that our waiter had messed up three of our checks, so we were there for an extra ten minutes or so.
Finally we were able to make it to the Sandy Amphitheater, where the concert was taking place. The guy that opened for the band, Cary Judd, was alright...the only thing that entertained me about him was the fact that he was essentially a one-man band. He would record drums and loop it, then he would do that with all of his other instruments. While he played, my friend Jay finally came. Then the concert started! I've been to quite a few concerts, and they were all entertaining to different points, but Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand are by far the most entertaining bad I've ever seen. They were slightly subdued due to the fact that Ryan Shupe had just had his appendix taken out less than a week earlier, but they still managed to get into quite a few antics.
The next evening was a Black and White Birthday Bash in Lehi, and everyone was supposed to dress in semi-formal black and white. No, it wasn't for me, it was for the two people hosting it, although one of them told me that the party would be for me as well. Interesting that I wasn't told that the birthday people got to wear colors and that I wasn't one of the people sung to. I didn't really care that they forgot that it had been my birthday too because I was kind-of expecting that they would, but I didn't really want to stay for too long because the whole party wasn't really my kind of thing. I was pretty glad when the opportunity to leave presented itself. Our friend Ryan showed up and we found out that his friend Luke and some other people were planning on going on a night hike up Provo Canyon. Haley and I followed Ryan to Provo and met up with the group. They lent Haley and me some pajama bottoms for the hike and we were on our way...in the dark, with only a few flashlights. It was fun, but it was quite cold.
The next few days were pretty uneventful except for visiting my buddy Nathan and my cutie Audrey. Then on Wednesday afternoon I found out that I was to start training to do some data entry with the new system we're going to be billing through, so that's what I have been learning the past few days at work. Friday evening was my ward's Relief Society social, and it was held in our backyard. We had a delicious meal and good company.
This morning I went to the Gateway with Haley because she was manning the Utah Food Bank and selling Creamies at the Chalk Art Festival and I thought it sounded quite entertaining. Some of the art was quite abstract and odd, but there were a few amazing ones, including an Indiana Jones drawing. And then we came home and I took a long nap then did a bit of grocery shopping and then came home to eat my Ab's chicken sandwich, and here we are!
So now that I've updated you, hopefully it won't be too long until my next post!

A week in the life...

2008-05-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

This week started out fairly crappy. Monday morning as I walked out to my car to leave for work, I noticed that something about it was not right. No, it wasn't the fact that there was a West Valley police officer walking across the street to my car. It was the fact that my headlights were bright blue. Yes, someone spray painted not only my car, but also the cars of two of my roommates. And guess who got to tell those two roommates that their cars now possessed bright blue squiggles down the sides of their cars. What a fun day that was. Well, my roommates went to work late, but I had to leave as soon as I gave my information to the police officer because it was my day to open clinic.
Thankfully, I didn't have to tell my insurance company because apparently that could have raised my premium. I stopped at Home Depot on my way home from work and found something called Lift Off that magically removed the paint from my headlights and the areas where it was actually on the car. Now, my roommates were able to remove the paint from their cars with Windex and a trip to the car wash, but because the paint had set all day on a warm day, all the Windex did was smear it around a bit.

Before

After

Work this week...well, let's just say that it wasn't much different from every other week. Frustrating as usual, with all the twists and surprises and headaches as always.
Yesterday after work, I had an appointment with one of the P.A.'s I work with. Patrick used to work in a dermatologist's office before he worked at the clinic, and one day a couple of months ago he saw the marks I've had on the palm of my hand since I can remember. He said that it's a strange place to have such marks. He then asked if there was a history of melanoma in my family. Turns out there is, so he said that I would need to have them removed and he informed me that on Fridays he works at another clinic doing dermatology and that I should go see him and have him take a look at any spots on my skin that were of concern.
So I got up the guts and found a Friday that wasn't insanely busy and made the appointment. So I went in and had him look at some moles that I for sure want to have removed at some point, both for cosmetic and medical reasons. He also told me that I needed to have the spots on my hand removed and biopsied because there could be problems. So he decided that he would remove one and send it in to the lab. If it's benign, we won't have to worry about the other one, but if it's not, we'll remove the other one.

So this is what the palm of my hand now looks like:

So now my hand hurts like no other. I know it's not the best story as to why I have stitches in my hand, but I'm not sure people will believe me if I tell people someone threw a knife at me and I tried to catch it.
My roommates and I went last night to Game 6 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs between the Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets. It was an awesome game and we took turns sitting closer to the court because besides the tickets my roommate had procured in the upper bowl two rows from the top, she had also gotten a couple of tickets 16 rows up from the court behind the basket. My turn was during the 3rd quarter. The players all looked normal-sized, but I'm sure if I had seen them standing next to someone I knew, or if I had been standing next to them, they probably would have looked like giants in basketball uniforms...at least the taller ones, anyway. And if anyone is curious, Luis Scola (Houston Rockets) looks nastier in person, and Kyle Korver (Utah Jazz) looks hotter.
The only downside about the whole night was that I couldn't clap because of my hand, so you can imagine my excitement when at the beginning of the third quarter, they started handing out bam bam sticks, these long plastic tubes that you fill with air that make lots of noise when you hit them together properly. At last, I had a way to make noise and "clap" when there was an amazing play.
There was an annoying girl a few rows down from us in the upper bowl that kept screaming at a high pitch whenever the Rockets would make a good play or one of the players would make a free throw, but she got much quieter when she probably realized that there was no way the Rockets were going to come up with a win. Now, I'm not a violent person, but she was really skinny and I kept envisioning someone picking her up and throwing her down so she would roll down away from us and make the game even more enjoyable.
Other than that, it was an awesome game and well worth it, even though we didn't have the best seats. It was slightly surreal and it felt like I was watching the game on TV, kind-of like when you're at a concert and you're watching this awesome band and it feels like you're not really there. But it was great!
So now I'm going to rest my poor hand and try not to pull the stitches, which means I can't open my hand all the way because it really hurts when I do. Ouch!

Bridal shower fun

2008-04-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Today is just about the first time that I've had time and actually wanted to post something. The bridal shower went fairly well. The theme was "Firsts". We were small in numbers but we had a good time. We pretty much just sat and chatted the whole time. Yay for not having to play stupid bridal shower games!

Here's a slightly blurry picture of the advice jar Cristi and I made. I wanted to do something cute and Cristi had some rub-on transfers, so we picked this one and put it on. I later found the flowers to put both on the jar and on the lid, which, unfortunately, you can't see.

These were the delicious mini chicken salad sandwiches I made for the shower. Unfortunately, there was way too much chicken salad left over, partly because the recipe makes a large amount. And I couldn't eat any of it because I got tired of eating it quite quickly. But it was good!

Jami helped me out right before the shower by cutting up fruit. I thought she was just going to pile it on plates. She took it one step further and made a couple of fruit creations.

Another Jamie fruit creation.

By this point, I was done with making things look nice, so I just threw crackers onto a plate. Sadly, I failed to capture the store bought cheese ball on camera.

And finally, here's Jami wearing the bright green reversible hat that she received as part of a gift for "First trip together".

So much to do, such little time...And nobody to do it for me

2008-03-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've blogged, but there's not really much to say right now, so this will be a quick one. Here's all I've got in the near future: I've got less than 48 hours to pull together the first bridal shower that I've ever hosted. I've pretty much got the plans all straightened out and I know what I'm going to do, I just have to pull it together and make sure everything works. I've got some fun ideas, so there will be pictures to come.

Through Sepia-Colored Glasses

2008-03-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

The past two days have not been average in the life of Gina. Yesterday was an event-filled day, and today I almost died. Okay, not really, but the possibility was slightly there.
For the past several months I have been trying to get together with my friend, Jay, who lives in Provo. He and I met oh, so many years ago when he was a recently returned missionary and I had just returned from a summer and fall semester-long sabbatical from school. He and I were both at one of those new semester/new people getting-to-know-you activities and we happened to be in the same group, and we got to know each other. And somehow from that meeting, he and I became friends.
After several failed attempts at actually planning and executing a get-together, Jay and I concluded that yesterday was the best Saturday to get together. Because I had another errand that needed to be taken care of before too long, and because the best place to complete that errand was in Orem, I happily volunteered to drive down to Provo to meet him. We agreed to meet at his place at noon, he gave me directions, and everything was set.
My errand in Orem went off without much of a hitch, and after purchasing my bridesmaid dress for my friend Jami's wedding, I was on my way to Provo, and University Avenue as my journey would take me.
As I drove south on University Avenue, I realized that because I had taken a different exit from the one Jay had advised me, I was unsure of whether I was going the right direction or if I needed to turn around. So before I got too much further, approximately 15 minutes before our agreed meeting time, I sent him a text message asking him what direction I should be going. His reply was somewhere along the lines of, "You're that close already? I haven't even showered."
Because I did not receive my desired response, I told him that I could kill time if needed, but that I still needed to know the proper direction. His response to that was, "I'll call when I'm ready. We can meet somewhere else or we can meet here. I'll call."
Thinking that my wait time would be brief, I followed the directions that Jay had given me previously and found out where he lived because I figured that sometime in the future, it would be helpful to know where to find his living quarters. When he still hadn't called me, I found the closest Deseret Book store and wandered for a good 45 minutes and looked at the same books over and over again. Finally, I decided to purchase a book and kill a bit more time while waiting for him to call. So I took my new cookbook out to my car and perused it . . .twice . . .while waiting for him to call.
Then around one o'clock, I gave up waiting and sent him another text message asking him if he was ready yet and that I would go to his house and meet him, to which he replied, "I'm getting dressed, I'll call you in 5-10 minutes." Thinking that might actually mean that he would call me in 5-10 minutes, I looked through my cookbook once again, wishing I had bought something more substantial with which to bide my time.
Twenty minutes later, just as I was about to tell myself, "If he doesn't call in another half hour, I'm going to Pita Pit and I'm going home," my phone rang. I admit, I spoke to him in a tone that could have been misconstrued as bitter or rude, but I was slightly frustrated. After all, by this time, it was over an hour after the time we had originally decided to meet. But I figured all was well when on my way to his house, he called again and said in a joking manner, "Shouldn't you be here by now?"
A few minutes later, I arrived on his doorstep, and I saw my friend that I hadn't seen in at least a year and a half, since before I left Moscow. It was really good to reminisce about things that had been pushed back into the corners of my mind and to laugh about things that stayed the same about each other as well as the things that had changed. He related to me that his scatterbrained ways were the cause of his delay in getting ready for our lunch and joked that of all people, I should understand. And throughout the afternoon, I teased him about his tardiness and he asked me if I was planning on letting it go anytime soon. I then asked him if he had ever known me to let things like that go easily.
At some point, he and I had somehow decided that our lunch options had been tapered down to two, either Zupa's or Bombay House. I informed Jay that I had never eaten Indian food. He informed me that it was really good, but that if we wanted something sooner because we were hungry and wanted food, Zupa's would be the way to go.
As we were waiting in line to order our food, Jay said a name of someone I had known in Moscow and asked if that was who was standing behind him. He moved to reveal that person that I also hadn't seen in about a year and a half. I talked with him for a minute or two, and Jay and I continued on our way, eating our food and discussing the past.
After we were done eating, Jay asked if I wanted to see Javier, another former Moscow person living in Provo. I was up for it since it had been even longer since I'd see Javier, so off we went. He was in the process of moving into a cute little brick house that he had just bought, so we helped him move for a little bit.
Well, all good things must come to an end, so after concluding that he and I needed to get together more often, Jay and I parted ways and I drove home in the wind and rain, which quickly turned to snow.
I then went over to my sister's house to watch my nephew, and had a blast with that little guy. It seems that he saves the things he says for when I babysit him because later, when I told my sister that he said, "Uh oh, I broke it," she was shocked because he had never said that to her. That kid loves me. He cuddled with me until it was time for me to go to bed, and although I didn't want to make him go to bed, his mom's orders were specific. Of course, he probably would have fallen asleep on me soon after his appointed bedtime, but I thought I would follow the rules this time. Next time I might fudge a little and keep him up later than usual. Just don't tell my sister.
So shortly after I got home from my sister's house, I went to bed, planning on not waking up a minute before about 9 or 10 am. Little did I know that at approximately 7:21 this morning, my roommates and I would be rudely awakened by the smoke/carbon monoxide detector. Four out of five of us quickly emerged from our rooms, half asleep, trying to comprehend what was going on. Because we weren't sure exactly why it went off, some windows were opened to get some fresh (and cold) air circulating through our house and we were forced to stay awake until we had determined that the problem was not carbon monoxide-related. Good thing church didn't start until 1 pm.
In the meantime, Jenny, Cristi, and Haley decided to watch the Care Bears movie. Great. I was a little bit disturbed by the demon child obsessed by this evil magic book, but the Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousins were cute.

Listen up!

2008-02-13T19:19:00.001-08:00

I had once promised myself that this blog would never experience comments or complaints about dating. But since this is only my third post with many more to come that will not contain anything about dating, and since this is MY blog and I can do whatever I want. So here goes.
I find it interesting that despite my insistence that I will not ask anyone on a date until I get asked out first, there are many people that think I should take the initiative and ask out anyone I might be interested in. I remind these people of my stance on the subject and include the fact that even if I wanted to ask someone out I wouldn't because I'm a big chicken, yet they must still think that one day I might say, "Hey, you're right! The next hottie boy that I see walk into this clinic, I'm going to walk right up to him and say hey, wanna go out sometime?" Okay, I understand that these people are trying to look out for me because they know that yes, I do want to go on dates. Yes, I do want to get married someday. But I do not want to nor believe that I should back down on my belief that it is the responsibility of the man to ask the woman out. I could go on about that belief, but I'll refrain because it'll only remind me of how irritated I get when the subject is brought up.
Another thing that kind-of irked me was the suggestion that someone made that I should start looking for men that already have children because let's face it, I'm not getting any younger, and apparently there are fewer and fewer decent single men in the world that don't have children. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing wrong with single men with children. I just think that maybe I still have at least a few years left before I have to start considering men that have an incredible amount of baggage that they would be bringing into a relationship. I don't even think I would be ready to get into a relationship with someone that would be bringing along an insta-family.
I realize that many may disagree with my comments, and I realize that some may even be offended, and if anyone does take offense, that's their decision and their right. But I hope they realize that what I have said is my opinion and my belief and my right.

Some of the best things in life . . .

2008-02-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

I wish that everyone had someone like this . . .

. . . around anytime things get rough and tough. My sister called me this afternoon needing a babysitter for my nephew Nathan. She had a dinner that she had to be at by 6:00, and my brother-in-law was stuck in construction in Ogden and it was anyone's guess as to when he would get home. So being the good sister that I am, I rushed as fast as I could in rush hour traffic . . .ha ha . . .(It's been a really long day and I'm tired. Humor me and laugh.)
I'll tell you this much, at times when you're feeling like there aren't many people in the world that are remotely happy to see you, it sure makes you feel great when you walk in the door and one of your favorite people flips out because he's so excited that you're there. I am loved.
So almost immediately after my sister left, Nathan, who will be two years old on St. Patrick's Day, kept saying, "Pocket? Pocket?" and shoving toy cars in my pockets. Well, I'm not one to discourage a creative mind, and being the favorite aunt, I let him. And then when he tried to get the cars out of my pockets, he had some difficulty. "Stuck! Stuck!" he said, so I helped him pull them out so he could put them back in. I am loved.
He also said (or at least tried to say) many words I had never heard him say. I'll admit there are a few things I miss about not living with my sister. Anyway, besides pocket and stuck, he also said his versions of the following words, in no particular order: frog, snail, flower, duck, duckie, piggie, Elmo, eye, nose, head, dog, bear, teeth, pillow, bed, book, ball, dinosaur (at least I think that's what he said), come on (okay, that's more of a phrase, but when he does it while cocking his head in the direction he wants you to go, it's pretty freakin' cute), help, and thank you. How many two-year-olds do you know that can say thank you without any prompting? I am loved.
Okay, so he had a few tantrums when I would take his crackers away from him because all he was doing was licking them and then trying to put them back in the bag or when he would try to convey what he wanted and I could not understand him. But how can I let that get to me when he cuddles with me for an entire movie and even flips out when his dad tries to take him from me? I am loved.
So as I was about to leave, I went to get my kiss and squeeze (if you ask him for a hug he ignores you, but if you ask for a squeeze, he'll lay his head on your shoulder for a minute, so I make sure I get my squeeze) and then I said, "I love you," to which he promptly blew me a kiss. Now, I'm sure that for a lot of people, that's not that unusual. But my sister and I were quite surprised that his immediate response was to blow me a kiss because he had not done that for months. I am loved.
You can probably guess how I felt as I walked out of my sister's house tonight. It's very comforting to know that even when things seem to get difficult, you're important to the people that are most important to you. How can anyone complain about that?

Experimentations

2008-01-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

Someday I would like to learn how to become a better photographer, although I sometimes like to think that I'm amazing. Some examples...

This is my roommate Cristi's amaryllis up close.

Some clouds I thought were pretty cool.

The Jordan River Temple Moroni

Possibly more to come if I ever find other cool stuff to take pictures of.