Saturday, September 22, 2012

A Few Things That Have Made Me Smile

I've been a very "Negative Nancy" lately.  Clearly you would understand/know if you have been hanging with me in the last, oh say, couple of weeks, maybe a month or two...

But, remember how that is all changing up!  Well it has been changing because I have found a few things the last little while that have made me smile.

1.  Subzero Ice Cream.  Say what?  What the heck is Subzero Ice Cream.  It's this chain that just came to town, and for a while there I was eating their ice cream LIKE once a week.  LIKE seriously!  ONCE.  A.  WEEK.  It needed to stop because clearly I am not that rich, and number two I don't need any more weight to put on!  But it is SO good.  I can't even explain how good it is.  Yeah, yeah we get how good it is, but what is SO GOOD in comparison to other ice cream places?  Okay, so they like take this liquid cream and then they like mix in whatever your heart desires (butterscotch and Twix bars for me), then they like put it under this chemical called liquid nitrogen.  And then, within a few minutes it is like totally frozen!  Then you eat it, and the texture is like you are rubbing your tongue over silk.  Although that doesn't quite describe it - try rubbing your hand over silk.  It has a silk like texture, like do you get it now?  Anyway it's LIKE SOOO INCREDIBLY GOOD!  I finally got my mom to try it, and she was with a friend of mine and my friend was getting kind of werided out because of the noises my mom started to make when she was eating it.  This is just what my mom told me happened when her and my friend went and got their first Subzero Ice Cream.  Then I was like - MOM!  Are you for real?  Keep those noises to yourself, or at least the bedroom!  Come on now!  Gross!
Am I dribbling ice cream?  Sho nuff suga!
Can't get enough of this orgasmic silky cream!
2.  The song "Call Me Maybe."  I know right, this song is SO overplayed!  Yes, yes it is.  But, this song reminds me of my summer working on Grounds Dept., and the two lovely YOUNG girls I got to work with. (I just love how hearing certain songs can take you back to such good memories.)  As I spend way to much time perusing the internet I stumbled upon this YouTube video doing a rendition of this song.  Now I love this song even more, and have only listened to this new rendition like 10 times already - obsessed, yes!!!  And maybe you will be too!  How can you not?  If you don't like it then here's my number...call me maybe...Uh lame I know, but I couldn't resist!

3.  Pinterest!  I know, I know.  But seriously - I can't get enough of this website.  This website was made for me!  The people creating it were like sitting there one day just thinking of me.  And thought, I really think Libby would utilize and share testimonies of this website, so let's create it.  Do you seriously believe that?  Sho Nuff Suga!  Pinterest puts a smile on my face each day that I get on there and scroll through all my followers.  I also love how HELPFUL it has been in student teaching.  I have used so many things from all my boards and I'm not even a bonafide teacher yet!  By the way are you following me on there?  You should because I pin some of the coolest stuff EVER!  Eva, eva!
Follow Me on Pinterest
4.  A purple large pie plate!  I finally broke down and bought me a nice pie plate.  Yes I own several pie plates, but they are ugly.  Butt ugly!  I love making pies and it's about that time of year where I start popping out pecan pies like I'm some sort of pecan pie factory worker.  I really have to gear up for this season people!  So, I was hanging out with some of my married friends (Alisha and MinDee) last Friday night.  (Which was a blast like always, and much needed because of my attitude!)  We seem to always gravitate towards TJ Max when out on the town.  The minute I made it back to the home goods section a light cast down from the ceiling above and this purple large pie plate shined in my direction.  I figured it would probably be out of my price range, since I can't bring myself to even pay around $14.00 for a Paula Deen pie plate.  But, I picked up the purple large pie plate and saw the small price of $9.99, and would you believe it but my heart skipped a beat.  $9.99 ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!  I bought it, and am so proud of it!  Now I can't wait to start making pecan pies!
Won't pecan pie look beautiful in this?
5.  The Killers just came out (Sept. 18th) with a new CD.  Hello this totally makes me smile!  I know my cuz, Libby Sr. would TOTALLY agree with me on this.  Not only did The Killers release a CD, but another band, Imagine Dragons released a CD too!  I was introduced to them at the beginning of the year by a co-worker of mine who actually served his mission with the drummer.  (And his brother knows another guys dad from the band - the guy in the bands dad is his stake president.  Did that all make sense?  Oh well if it doesn't.)  How cool is that!  This kind of new group Imagine Dragons are so totally cool in my book, and have became very popular in the last couple of months.  I guess you could say that just music in general does such wonders for me and really puts me in a good mood, or puts a smile on my face.  (Oh and one last tid bit about music making me smile.  I try to be kind of spiritual on Sunday's and only listen to churchy musak.  I have this great love for Pandora, and they have this great station called "LDS Hymns of Worship."  They play hymns that are not sung by your typical MoTab - there is nothing wrong with that I just like more modern twists to the old hymns.)

I know these are the most random things that make me smile, but it makes me smile and that is what should matter.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Sho Nuff Suga! Nobody Likes a Whiner!

I'm a whiner...I'm a really bad whiner.

This needs to change.  And fast!

I wear on peoples nerves when I whine - who doesn't?  At this time I am seriously wearing on several people....do I dare say "this time" because it's been for a while now?  (Sorry all who have had to put up with me!)

Student teaching is making me whine...don't blame student teaching Libby!  YOU whined before that even started.

Once again...things are going to change around here, and they are going to change fast!

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Sho Nuff Suga - Starting now I will have a "no whining" outlook on life, and I'm not going to wait for people to tell me to put my big girl pants on and to SHUT-IT-UP!

Sho Nuff Suga - Libby is going to find all the great things she DOES love about student teaching (and life) and will focus on those "great things."

Sho Nuff Suga - She (Me) will carry an attitude of gratitude and be grateful that she is where she is today, and not look back on the past.  Learn from the past and MOVE ON!

Sho Nuff Suga - I will accept the changes that have been given to me.  Change is for the better, and with my experience it is always a better choice in the end.

Sho Nuff Suga things in life like attitude, outlook, and WHINING are going to change.  Because nobody likes a whiner, and I don't want to be a whiner anymore!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Two Weeks Down

Student teaching is going just about normal.

Until....the school I am student teaching at gets placed on a lock down for a possible bomb!  SAY WHAT?

Here I am in my clothing class.  My mentor teacher and I are helping the students sew a pillowcase.  The intercom comes on saying that the school is on lock down.  My mentor teacher thinks it's a drill and tells us to keep working, and that if this were real we would all go to the back of the room and crouch together in the corner.  This did not worry me seeing as my first day we had a fire drill.  About 15 minutes later the principal comes on again saying that this lock down is real and teachers need to keep the students in the classroom safe.  Yes, I slightly panicked - who wouldn't?  Some of the girls in the class got a little shaken up too.  What if there really was a person in the halls with a gun.  Gosh our world today has gotten scary!  We probably didn't do the right thing, but we let the students get out their phones and make phone calls - and they probably went to Facebook and Twitter too.  Finally after about an hour of not knowing what was going on they released the students.  I then found my phone and saw the text messages from friends about the high school having a bomb - via Facebook.  Oh gads!

School continued on, and I still knew nothing to what had happened during the lock down.  The next day the papers all read the same short article.  If you would like a good laugh about what really happened at the high school during my student teaching experience read this.  My boss at work the next day practically fell on the floor with laughter because of the object that detained us during our lock down.  What was the object since you didn't want to read the article?  It was a long circular cardboard box (like an oatmeal container) duct taped with pinto beans.  Can you imagine the disappointment when the bomb squad who were using a robot to open the package found a handful of pinto beans.  You made a big to do about that?   What about the poor kid who must have just dropped his homemade project in the school parking lot and now it is ripped to shreds by a robot, causing the school to go on lock down, and making my boss cry tears of laughter from the big to do "bomb threat? " I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

What can I take away from this grand experience during student teaching?  Well, I was glad I was in my clothing class (even though this class scares me more than a bomb threat) because it made it possible for the students to work on their sewing project, and even finish their project when otherwise they wouldn't have.

Just the joys of student teaching.  I've got two weeks down and ten more to go.  I can and will do this!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

I Not Late


I always seem to be running late!  I am most likely going to be late for my own funeral.  I hope that as I am floating around on the other side I can some how pop the tire of the Hurst driving my casket to the funeral.  Why would I want to do this?  Because I WANT to be late to my own funeral.  As everyone is (sadly - I hope) mourning my loss I will suddenly bust up laughing (just in spirit - my body will be lying there dead and will not be able to laugh). Let me remind you why this is so funny...because, lo and behold, I will have made it possible to be late to my own funeral!!!  Check that off my "to do list!"

Enough of my childish behavior...  Let me begin by sharing a few stories of my tardiness with you, the reader, so that you can have a better understanding to my calm, cool, and collected attitude I have towards being on time to things.

Example 1
Several years ago I was on a Hawaiian cruise.  Each day of the tropical cruise, the ship would stop at the different islands of Hawaii.  One day we were at Oahu, one day at The Big Island, one day at Maui, and one day at Kauai.  Each day we would depart from the boat with a time given that we would need to be back on the boat by.  On this particular day we were docked at the beautiful island of Kauai.  As soon as we departed the boat we took a taxi to the nearest car rental, and rented a car so that we could see as much of the island as time allowed.  We saw a lot on this particular day.  We went to the "Grand Canyon" of Hawaii (also known as Waimea Canyon), saw a very rare blow hole (Halona Blowhole), and then with the time remaining we went swimming in the warm turquoise waters of Hawaii.  After some time swimming we decided it was about time to head back to our ship.  But, before heading back we had to have an authentic Hawaiian snow cone.  With the popularity of snow cones in Hawaii it seemed very fitting to end our day with an ice cream on the bottom-shaved ice-tropical flavors-sweet and condensed milk-whipped cream snow cone.  As we were enjoying our cone, we were kicked back relaxing "Hawaiian style."  That means we took our sweet time because nobody ever hurries in Hawaii.  Suddenly we noticed that it was almost time to return to our cruise ship.  None of us seemed to be in much of a hurry, so again we took our sweet time.  We of course, were thinking we had more then enough time.  Finishing our snow cones we finally made our way back to the car rental, got a taxi back to the ship, and continued slowly to the cruise ship.  Just in the nick of time we happen to arrive just as they were pulling the planks from the platform.  HOLY COW!  WE ALMOST MISSED THE SHIP!!!  If you can imagine myself and three other girls, in flip flops, sarongs, and heavy bags we took off running like a scary clown with a bloody knife was right on our heels.  With moments to spare we jumped the plank and hopped on to the cruise ship.  In the end, we were greeted with many laughing passengers up above on their balconies clapping and yelling for our safe arrival.  Needless to say, I was grateful we made it on time.  Even a few months after this incident of almost missing our cruise ship I was surprisingly on time.

However, being on time did not last long....

Example 2
Many spring breaks ago my sister, my friend Holly, and I decided to go to the most magical place in the world, Disney World.  Upon arriving it was very touch and go.  As we were leaving St. George on a late night to catch our red eye flight to Florida I received a phone call from Delta letting us know our flight had been delayed.  Well a delay to me means, we have time to party it up before arriving at the airport.  I suggested we eat at the Cheesecake Factory.  Everyone happened to agree, so we went and ate some good food before boarding the plane.  (Some people get drunk in Vegas - not I; I go there to eat! And to eat well!)  After our very late dinner we decided we would head on over to the airport.  As our late night carried on we had lost track of time, and realized we should've been at the airport sooner.  With a very small window of time we parked our car (which happened to be in the most EXPENSIVE parking area - don't even ask how much we ended up paying at the end of our trip) and took off running for the ticket counter.  As we checked in we knew we were pushing our luck in making the flight.  We checked our bags, and I suddenly had a very strange feeling that I probably would not see our luggage anytime soon.  (Sure enough our luggage did not make the trip until our 3rd day in Florida.)  As soon as the luggage was checked we took off running through the McCarran Airport in hopes we could make our flight.  Since Vegas happens to be a city filled with luck we just happened to be lucky enough that night to make our red eye flight to Florida with only a few minutes to spare.  I don't remember much of that experience, but for some reason I can still remember the few lonely late night fliers wandering the corridors of the airport giving me, my sister, and my friend Holly some of the most biazzar looks.  If the tables were turned I probably would be giving the same looks.

Word to the wise.... always be a few hours early to the airport.

Example 3
A few weeks ago my friend Kyle called me up one evening inviting me to the Broadway play, Wicked.  He was going up to Salt Lake City to see it and had asked, myself, and my two other friends, Erin and Lisa.  Out of our little group of friends Kyle and I were the only two who had not seen this play.  Erin and Lisa had seen it previously, but were still delighted to go see it a second time.  The plan was to leave Saturday morning and arrive early enough in the afternoon to go shopping, eat, freshen up for the play, and then spend the evening getting cultured at the theater.  Lisa had a previous engagement Saturday morning, but as soon as it was over she would head up to SLC and meet up with us.  Our ringleader, Kyle, had given Erin and I the very specific instructions to meet at his house at 10:41am.  (Random time, I know?  However, studies have shown that when you schedule odd times people are more likely to BE on time.  Don't I just sound so smart?  That's what Kyle told me, so if you don't believe me you can take it up with him.)  Well there it was, 10:41am and guess who was right on time...ME!  Shocking!!!  (Another side note - Kyle threatened/scared me about being late...)  So, we loaded up his car and were on the road by about 10:50am.  Not bad, not bad at all considering the play starts at 8:00pm.  Or does it?  As the three of us are driving north on the I15 corridor we pass through the small town of Fillmore, Utah.  Time given at this town was a little after 12:00pm.  As we are passing through this town we get a phone call from Lisa letting us know she is leaving, and on her way.  She would be only about two hours behind us.  After the phone call we start talking about the play, when one of us asked what time the play really starts.  Kyle pulls the tickets from a compartment in his car (where they had been sitting the last couple of months) and we take a gander at the tickets.  Soon Erin notices that the tickets read 2:00pm.  No!  This can't be so!  Kyle is shocked - he was told the play was at 8:00pm!  (I guess it pays to look at the tickets rather than take someones word...)

Long story (kind of) short!  Kyle calls Lisa and tells her the play is at 2:00pm - NO JOKE!  Lisa knows there is no chance of making the play, so she turns around and heads home.  Kyle and I try calling the ticket office to see if there is anyway we are mistaken.  No luck getting through.  Kyle calls a few friends in SLC, and finds one who is willing to come to the play with an hours notice and will meet us at the theater.  Me, Libby, needs to use the bathroom around Nephi, Utah but knows there is NO CHANCE!  This girl really had to hold it! As we are just past the point of the mountain (a term used on I15 to indicate leaving Provo/Orem area and entering the SLC valley) the gas light on the car flips on.  Panic kicks in a little strong for Erin and Kyle.  Then there is me, well if you haven't noticed running late does not phase me one bit.  I just kept reassuring everyone that we were going to make it, and being a few minutes late was just fine.  To add to the tension building car drive I look down to see my comfortable traveling attire - a pair of Chaco sandals, Capri jeans, and a T-shirt that reads, "I not late - I run on Hawaiian time."  (I was planning on changing into a very dressy outfit, but that obviously was not going to happen today.)  At this point of gaslight turning on, having to hold my blatter, and the play already starting, I say to my sweet friends, "We are going to make the play, yeah we're late, but just think of what a funny story this will make.  And by the way, did either one of you notice the shirt I just happened to be wearing today?"
We arrive at Capitol Theater; Kyle drops the two of us off as we run into the theater.  I hit the bathroom (which happened to be closed for cleaning, of course); Kyle parks the car, and we all meet up to be let in the door just after the first number had finished.  Wicked was amazing!  I think I might have already mentioned that in a previous post.  And, I cried three times! Not only because we made it to the play, but also the story just tugged at my heartstrings!
Lesson learned, always check your ticket time a few days before.