2009 = Selfishness

Once again, a new year is creeping upon us. Time to make some new years resolutions right? I have been pondering about the year 2009 for quite some time and this is what I have come up with: I am going to be selfish! Yes, 2009 is all about ME! And I can't wait! Here are a few of my new years resolutions:

1. Weight Loss: I have to start dieting again! No more excuses! I am so mad at myself right now because I have gained obscene amounts of weight in the last 3 months. Here I am, going to Utah to see friends I haven't seen for 6 months-2 years & I am heavier than I was the last time I visited. I only have 2 pairs of pants that fit right now. The sad thing is that a few months ago I had gotten down to a pretty decent number that I hadn't seen since I was probably 4 years old. Oh well! I hope my friends will still love me with my tight pants and protruding gut.

2. Excercising My Butt Off (literally): I have a gym membership and it's high time I started using it. I hope to wake up at the crack o' dawn and workout, followed by more sweating after work. Hard work it will be...but surely worth it in the end.

3. Spiritual Upliftment: It is no big surprise that I have made many a mistake in my life. My spirituality has taken a nose dive as of late and it needs to be lifted up again. I plan to increase my spirituality by reading the scriptures more, by doing a wee bit o' repenting and by spending more time on my knees.

4. Gratitude: One simple sentence everyday should do it. I have SO much to be thankful for...if I will only open my eyes to see it.

Oh how I love new years resolutions. It's all about finding myself and getting back to the Alayna I once was {just a skinny version}. I think a conversation I overhead from my dad really sums it up. He was talking to an old friend and telling him what his kids were all up to. When he got to me he said, "Alayna has a house here in Mesa. She's not married yet. Of course, she would LIKE to be..." At first listen I thought to myself, "Oh men...they have no tact" and I was all sorts of embarrassed. But really, that IS what it all comes down to. Who doesn't want to get married? Who doesn't long for that companionship?? My selfishness in 2009 is just getting me a few steps closer to that blessed day. How can one expect to be happy with someone else if they are not first happy with themselves? That is why 2009 is going to be all about ME!!!

{Happy New Year}

Who am I kidding???

There is NO WAY I can ever quit blogging. Who am I kidding?? Of course I have to blog about my merry Christmastime...

I must admit, I was pleased as punch this Christmas. I only had 3 things on my Christmas list, and I got every single one of them. But first, some Christmas fun pics:

this years' loot

me in all my Christmas glory
conquering and dividing
doing what I do best...

Now, can I get a drumroll please??? The three things on my list that I received are:

#1: MONEY (thanks grandpa, grandma, and Teresa)

{imagine a picture of money here}

#2: a mini hymn book

#3: Woohoo! It's an iPod!!

and it's pink...

Oh Christmastime, how I love thee. Here's to hoping your holiday was fantastic!

I QUIT!!!

I am putting in my two weeks folks. That's right...I QUIT!!! I quit this blogging thing {well, for two-ish weeks anyway}. No one reads my blog or comments anyway...

It is Christmas time and I really have nothing exciting to share, so I will just spend my days doing something better for humanity and will hold off on the blogging thing. Besides, I won't be working much and you all know that work is where my internet access is...

Then on December 31st-January 6th I will be in the frozen land of Utah, so I am sure I won't be blogging there either.

Enjoy your holidays! Even though my thoughts will not be written out for you to see, you will definitely be in my thoughts!!! Utah friends...here I come!!! Can't wait to see you all!!!

{Merry Christmas}

a strange day...

I have this overwhelming feeling that I cannot post a blog in the month of December unless it is related to Christmas. Today, I am overcoming that. Since I am a tad on the bored side, I thought I would fill you in on the strangeness that is today.

It all started when I decided to revert to my elementary school ways. You see, there is this boy, and I kind of like this boy. Ok, I really don't, but I try really hard to convince him that I like him. Being bored and giddy, I wrote him a little love note and had a pal deliver it to him for me. It's just one of those things...what can I say?

And then, after the whole love note deliverance, I had another pal {a girl} ask me to lay on the couch with her (eek!). I let her know that I wasn't all about spooning with females and didn't think the boss would approve of us relaxing so casually during work. Just so you know, she is married and would never want to spoon with me. Maybe she was just asking me if I had a spoon and I misinterpreted??

Anyway, that is my post for this lovely, partly sunny, mostly cloudy day. Peace out from your silly blogging pal in AZ.

my weekend job...

Click here to see what I do on the weekends for fun this holiday season...

{don't forget to push play}

I will never...

I will never be one of those people who has antlers attached to the side of their car, with a little red puff ball on the front bumper. I will never have a wreath attached to my front bumper either. I know you know what I am talking about...

p.s. if you are one of those people, I apologize if I offended you. But let's face it, you are just weird!

The waiting is over...

I introduce you to the Christmas Tour: Alayna style

Click here to see my YouTube video

Ignore the heavy pixelation and extreme darkness. My camera is a little under the weather, and honestly, this is the first time I have ever recorded much on the old camera. I hope the video is not as dark as it appears on this computer. Hopefully you can see it better. I may never post a home video ever again 'cause this has caused me all sorts of grief (I never claimed to be computer and/or camera savvy). But I still hope you enjoy it...a little. A prize to the first person to discover my favorite phrase.

(P.S. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong when I try to embed things? It never works for me, so unfortunately links are all I can post)

Utah baby

I am SO SO excited! Southwest Airlines just ran a killer deal on flights from Phoenix to Salt Lake and I booked myself a ticket! So all my Utah friends, I will be in town December 31st-January 6th. Anyone wanna hang out with me??

P.S. The jacket IS red! No one believes me but it's true!!! I got the jacket several years ago from my bro (served a mission in Thailand and brought it back for me). In my little Alayna brain, I have always believed that the jacket was red. Then yesterday at work I was told to wear red for our Christmas party today at work and I told everyone that I didn't have anything red to wear. Then I looked down at my jacket and said, "I guess I can just wear my jacket." My cute co-worker Cheryl then looked at me and said, "Alayna, dear, your jacket is orange." It started a whole fiasco to which many laughs were directed at me. Most people at work said my jacket was orange. Perhaps it has just faded over time...but I promise, it was red when I first got it!!!

VOTE

Without peeking at any of the comments before casting your vote, and without giving you the background story into why I ask this question, what color is my jacket in the picture below??

phooson

Last Friday I had the privilege of going to a concert with my two pals Joey and Janalee called Phooson. It was quite an event. In fact, the show started at 5 and I don't think I got home until 2 am (the concert ended around midnight) so it was 7 hours of musical fun. I took a lot of pictures, but sadly they all turned out pretty trashy. So for better pictures, click here. These are just a few pictures I took for your viewing pleasure.

Me and my girls

Varsity Fan Club

The Academy Is (or atleast all I could see of them because the two girls in front of me were huge fans and had choreographed routines to each song...pretty comical)

Secondhand Serenade (slightly on the boring side)

Jesse McCartney (one of my favorite performances)

Katy Perry (dressed in a Christmas costume with her bandmates looking like Elves...also a great performance)

Tokio Hotel (with the freakiest lead singer I have ever seen...)

The sheer look of horror on our faces when we saw the lead singer of Tokio Hotel (can you say Transvestite?)

A surprise appearance by Paula Abdul

The Pussycat Dolls

Fall Out Boy

And, of course, Rihanna



It was a great time had by all. The person I was looking most forward to seeing, Rihanna, was the last performer. And sadly, by the time she came out it was nearly midnight and I was so so tired. Joey even fell asleep (don't tell her I told you that). But I was glad I got to go. Thanks for going with me girls!!!

latest happenings

This last week was very eventful to say the least. It all started on Tuesday when we had a cookie party at work. Everyone was supposed to bake 9 dozen cookies to be tasted and judged, then we each got to take home a dozen of each cookie. I do enjoy cooking at times, especially when I get to make cookies (judging by my waste line, that is all I enjoy cooking/eating). So I got out the old Kitchen Aid and some key ingredients to make the ever delicious Melt Aways. Mind you, I have only used the Kitchen Aid twice (once by me and once by someone else), so this tool is still pretty new to me (yep, I've had it for two years). Well, this is what happened when I tried mixing all the ingredients together:
The picture just does not do justice to the monstrosity of the mess. It was nothing short of a disaster! Flour, cornstarch, and powdered sugar {oh my} EVERYWHERE!! Yep, even all over my arm. Next time I use the old Kitchen Aid I will wear a plastic suit. Once the mess was cleaned up however, the cookies themselves did turn out pretty good. Here they are:
Pretty cute right? The festivities were fun and the cookies were pretty good, but my cookies didn't win anything. Not the prettiest, not the tastiest, not the best presentation...NADA! I was pretty bitter. Just kidding! Here are two more pics of the festivities:

Me and my pal Nikki waiting for the cookies to be revealed

Strange picture right? I do not post this picture to show you just how cool my boss is with his sexy leg-on-table pose, but to point out the celebrity {if you will} in the background that stuck around for our cookie party. All you scrapbookers out there are jealous I know. Yep, that's Tim Holtz! Everyone else in the world who doesn't know who Tim Holtz is, you are missing out. He is super talented! LOVE HIM!!!

The very next day (Wednesday) I was driving to work and had to slam on my brakes in rush hour traffic to avoid hitting the car in front of me. Apparently the person behind me had to do the same, but they weren't as lucky as I was. I watched the whole thing unfold in my rear view mirror and then calmly pulled my car off to the side of the road.

Whoa! The damage is overwhelming right? Not quite, but still, it kind of sucked. Thank heavens the girl who hit me had insurance and was on top of things (I wonder if this had ever happened to her before?) because after the whole involving the police and exchanging information, and before I even got to work that morning, her insurance company had contacted me and set up an appointment for me to take my car to a body shop to be fixed. Right after work I dropped off my poor little car and got hooked up with this beauty:

That's right folks...I got myself a minivan! Ok, it wasn't quite as big as a minivan, but it was still motherly in appearance. I was so excited that I just wanted to get a big group of people, stuff them in my mini-minivan and go for a ride. Sadly, that never came to fruition. My car was fixed two days later (just in time for Phooson...to be posted tomorrow). Here are the end results:

Oooh...pretty, smooth, scratchless bumper! The best part was that the scratches that were in the bumper previously from my run in with a sign on the freeway, my backing into a small tree and my unfortunate incident with my garage door closing on said bumper are no longer there! Now, if only I could get someone to hit the front of my car to make those small scratches disappear too! (Note: I really am a good driver! I have never been in an accident that was my fault and have never ever received a speeding ticket...)

And finally, on Thursday I got to hang out with my little stud Luke to celebrate his 7th birthday. He wanted to go to Red Lobster {gag} for his birthday, so my mom and I took him there. He got some crab legs {gag again} and REALLY enjoyed them:

In fact, there were a few morsels of crab meat on the table where the crab legs were cracked open, so Luke did a good job of licking those up as well. Maybe I should call him Hoover or Dyson from now on...

LOVE THAT KID!!!

the many faces of alayna take 2

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmasy ME

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Depends on how lazy I am feeling at the time of wrapping. I prefer wrapping paper, but gift bags are so much quicker!
2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial fo’ sho’! I can’t imagine trying to keep a real, cut down tree alive. Knowing my luck, I’d probably burn down the house with the Christmas lights + dead tree… Although one day I think I shall try the real thing {he he}
3. When do you put up the tree? Day after Thanksgiving yo
4. When do you take the tree down? January 1st-2nd
5. Favorite gift received as a child? I’m too old to remember that stuff, so I’ll stick with more recent times. I once received a pink KitchenAid, pink pots and pans and a ladder. Oh such happy times! Upon further investigation, I do remember hearing stories about a Christmas in my younger days when I got extra excited to receive a box {yep, you heard me right…a box} from my grandpa. There was a doll inside…but really the box was my favorite
6. Hardest person to buy for? Any man…period.
7. Easiest person to buy for? Myself {who doesn’t buy themselves something for Christmas??}
8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep. My cutest grandma gave me one of her old sets and I love it! They look like little Cabbage Patch kids and they are special to me
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail {and usually homemade cards}
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can’t recall getting a present I didn’t like
11. Favorite Christmas movie? The Christmas Story {featuring my brother}
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? On occasion I will shop on Black Friday, but it’s mostly sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas…
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Can’t say that I have
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? In relation to Christmas foods or food only seen around Christmas time, I’d probably say the chocolate oranges {mmm…tasty}
15. Lights on the tree? Of course. But they have to be white lights…none of that colored crap
16. Favorite Christmas song? I truly enjoy the Bruce Springstein version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” but really, I like most any song that is Christmasy in nature
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel to Utah a few days before Christmas to experience REAL winter and get in the Christmas spirit, then stay home for Christmas day
18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph. That’s all of them right?
19. Angel on top of tree or star? Neither. I would probably choose a star though
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One present Christmas Eve, the rest Christmas morning
21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Those blasted bell ringers
22. What theme or color are you using? Not a fan of traditional red and green {the ugly red and green} but do have a lot of deep red and more of a brighter green {aka Parakeet…any Bazzill fans out there?}. I also like the pink and blue look. I don’t have a particular color style, but do have LOTS of snowmen. I think they’re pretty cute!
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We don’t have a traditional Christmas dinner. Ok, maybe we do {ham and potatoes}. But we have an awesome tradition of having Breakfast Burritos on Christmas morning. Yummy!
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? A man{tall, dark and handsome or short, squatty and ugly…I don’t really care…I’ll take what I can get}, an i-pod {a little behind the times…I know}, a mini hymn book {don’t ask}, someone to pay all of my bills {reference first item on list}, oh and health and happiness for everyone {thanks Joey!}
25. It would only make sense to have a 25th question because the number 25 is synonymous with Christmas, but there isn’t a question number 25. Sorry folks!

p.s. I just looked on someone else’s blog who has this little questionnaire up, and the missing question is this: Do you like Eggnog? To which I would promptly respond, “Heck NO!!” That stuff is WRONG in so many ways!!

it's christmas time!

{last year's loot}

i LOVE this christmasy time of year! it is by far my fave! love the music, love the lights, love buying presents for others, but mostly love decorating!!! of course, my house looks pretty dull in comparison to my parents' house (above). i have little space to decorate and my tree is a poor excuse for a tree. but hey, i am single and poor, so we take what we can get right? the minute I got home from the cabin (p.s. thanksgiving pics and descriptions were supposed to be posted, but i can't get the pics off the camera today...maybe another day...or maybe not), even before parking the car in the garage, i had to get out the christmas decorations. i was beyond over the pumpkins and thanksgiving decorations...it was on to bigger and better things. and boy was it fun! each year my collection grows and each year i wonder where i am going to put all my new things... i'll say it again: i LOVE this christmasy time of year!

soon to come...a tour of my house at christmas time.

{oh what fun!}