Happy Freaking New Year!

This New Year's Eve was...interesting?  I went with my friend Becky to the "mid-singles" (and they use the term "mid" VERY loosely) dance called "Fire & Ice".  Let me just say, I miss YSA :)  I went from feeling really old in the YSA crowd to feeling really young in the "mid"-singles crowd.
As soon as we walked in, I knew that they really weren't enforcing the age limit. There were a bunch of old guys (probably in their late 40s or 50s) that kept coming up to Becky because she was having fun dancing.  One guy told her that she's not supposed to have that much energy.  Right, because in the nursing home NONE of the other ladies have that much energy.
Pretty sure Billy Graham was there too.  I thought maybe he was a chaperon, but turns out he wasn't.  He was there looking for his EC just like the rest of us.
Right before midnight they had everyone go outside to watch the fireworks show.  The best part of the whole thing was they had Mi Amigos catered food.  We decided to stay inside and eat some dinner while everyone else went outside.
While we were there eating, someone wheeled in this old lady in a wheelchair who was falling asleep sitting there.  For a second I thought maybe she was dead, but she was just sleeping.  COME ON!  I mean, they don't even need to check her id to know that she's above the age limit.
THEN a man came in and was looking for his camera so he decided to come over and talk to us.  He was wearing cargo pants, so he he thought he'd talk to us about cargo pants.  He told us how great they are, how you can put so many things in the pockets.  This is an exact quote, "I love cargo pants because you can put so much stuff in them. I like to pack my piece in them when I'm on my acreage." Piece?  Acreage?  SERIOUSLY!
Then as we were leaving, the cargo pants king found us again and since there were fireworks he thought he would talk to us about fireworks.  
Cargo Man: "Do you like fireworks?"
Me: "yeah, they are cool"
Cargo Man: "I remember lighting them in my front yard as a kid back before they were banned"
Me: "Really?  I thought they've been illegal for like 50 years?"
Cargo Man: "yeah, those were the good old days"
That was my cue to leave.
It was definitely a night I will never forget.  I actually did have fun.
Here's the thing...It's not like I think I am too good for these guys. BUT when you are 50 years old, what makes you think you should be hitting on a 30 year old (AND I don't even look 30)?  It's just wrong!!

Look at the bright side...my year can only get better from there, right? Since life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it, I choose to react with a sense of humor and be grateful for the lesson I learned.  Stay away from the mid-singles dances!  I can use this knowledge to help others.  I should start going to YSA Wards warning them of what lies ahead of them if they don't get their crap together and get married :)  Maybe Cargo  Pants Man will come with me, because if I am not convincing enough I am pretty sure he can drive the point home.

Handy Dandy

Hi, my name is Marie and I am addicted to Pinterest.  Yup, I said it.  I don't even want to quit.  It's AMAZING!  This addiction has gotten me thinking about all the things I can do to make all my old crap feel like new crap.

My first project was to paint my old kitchen table black.  It was a super light pine and I never loved it but I got it for $100 on craigslist and it's solid wood.  Couldn't pass up that deal.  It's like a new table!!!  I love it!

I thought I had a "before" picture so I didn't bother taking one.  Turns out, I can't find a single picture of it before.  So I just found a similar one online.  For this project, this is what I learned from Pinterest...use a liquid sander stuff instead of sanding the entire thing.  It was super easy to use & the paint went over it really well.

On to my next project!  I saw this on Pinterest: 

The entire plan is from this AMAZING website (I want to make everything on there). My sister and I decided we MUST have one.  SO I coerced my dad into helping me make one. He spent 3 days in his shop with me making this and my entertainment center.  He is the best dad in the world!  

I am in LOVE with how mine turned out.  Sara is still working on hers but it will be awesome too.

The picture does not do the paint justice.  I used Martha Stewart's Textured Metallic paint in Anchor Gray.  It's kinda sparkly and a rough texture...freaking awesome!!  We used the leftover MDF from my entertainment center (pictures coming soon) so the cost for this bad boy was $5 for the handle, $3 for the hinges, & $7 for the paint (I used a little more than half of the jar) for a total price of $15!!!

And my other project was my entertainment center.  Also on this website.  This is the one I saw...

Since my dad is a woodoworking genius, we were able to make a few modifications to make it exactly what I wanted.  I wanted it a little taller than the original one and a little narrower.  Plus I didn't want any drawers, I wanted them all to be doors with false fronts to look like drawers.  I also found online a paint style that I wanted.  I painted it with Behr Dove Gray then spray painted it with a metallic silver spray paint, THEN went over it with Valspar Antique Glaze.  I still have some more work to do, but this is a picture of the progress before I added the glaze and before I drilled holes for the hardware.  I can't wait to finish it.  LOVE IT!  The total on this one probably ended up being around $150 with the hardware and paint, and MDF.  Which isn't bad for a custom entertainment center.

Ketchup

Okay, so I suck at Blogging...but pretty much everyone does and now Facebook has taken over. But since I use my blog for a journal then I feel like I need to at least post every once in a while.

Memorial Day weekend my mom, Daniel, and I went to my cousin Chris' wedding in Palm Springs. We drove up on Friday after work. I got pulled over for unsafe following distance. Luckily I got off with a lecture on safe following distance and a warning. It was a good weekend. This is the first time in at least 14 years that I've seen my cousins. I also got to see my Uncle Steve for the first time in maybe 16 years. Chris' wedding was great and his wife is so sweet. I found out that my cousin Michael, who is a few years older than I am, has 2 step-grandkids! AND THEN his dad, my aunt's ex-husband, got remarried and has a 4 year old daughter. So to recap...he has a 3 year old daughter, two 3 year old step-grandkids, and a 4 year old half-sister! KA-RAZY!

My super exciting news so far this summer...I learned how to hem my own jeans and keep the original hem! Woohoo!! I was pretty proud of myself.

I broke a tooth while at my cousin's wedding. The dentist fixed it without having to do a crown...blessing! Then a few weeks later I got a toothache and went back to the dentist. Yeah, that tooth is cracked now. I have to go to an endodontist now to see if I have to have a root canal before they put the crown on. This is not helping me get out of debt :(

Here's a picture of my bruised thumb. I think it's funny that I bruised my thumb. I was helping Christi put together a bookshelf and was using an allen wrench and got a bruise. Further proof that I really do bruise like a peach.

4th of July weekend I got to go to Utah. Marie was going there to hang out with her sisters so I was going to join them. Then it turned into a Slade Family reunion, which was fine by me because I love that whole family. I got to see Amy for a teeny bit, she picked me up from the airport on Thursday and we got to hang out until Marie picked me up on Friday afternoon. It was so good to see her! The Slade Family reunion was awesome. We stayed at Marie's aunt Debbie's house. 15 kids running around like crazy is pretty good birth control. But I love those kids and I miss them so much. I can't believe how fast they are growing. We went to Stadium of Fire @ BYU and sat outside the stadium in the grass to watch the fireworks show. It was awesome. I love fireworks. Then we went to the Provo Parade. Lynn's father-in-law gets like 50 dozen donuts and reserves a huge area for friends and family. It was a long parade but it was fun. We just chilled the rest of the weekend and I got to see Amy again on Tuesday afternoon before I went to the airport. BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!

Then on the drive home from the airport, this is what Christi and I saw...a HUGE wall of dust was closing in on us.  It hit us about 5 minutes after I walked in the door.  Thank goodness my flight landed when it did because not long after that, they were sending the planes away because of the storm.

Something New & Different

This past weekend I went to Huntington Beach for a Mid-Singles Conference.  Thursday night my friend Alli and I drove up to Valencia and stayed with Trish & Matthew and then Friday we went to Magic Mountain.  Trish and Matthew and 2 of their girls met up with us after the girls got out of school.  It was so much fun!  I love roller coasters!!!!!  It was so good to see Trish too. 
Friday night we drove to Huntington Beach for the conference.  Friday night there was a party at someone's house.  We attempted to go to the party, but the house was literally packed full of people.  As soon as we got inside I felt the panic coming.  We were being pushed all over the place and our path to the door was completely blocked.  We shoved and pushed our way back outside and left.  Saturday morning there were some classes/speakers.  I am not usually a huge fan of speakers and classes...BORING.  But, these speakers were actually really good.  Pretty much the best part of the conference, although the boxed lunch from Honeybaked Ham was pretty good too.  After that they had beach activities planned which Alli and I both decided were not for us so instead we went to the Newport Beach Temple.  It was so pretty!  So glad we did that and not the beach.
Then was dinner which we thought would be nice and intimate and be able to meet some people on a smaller scale because we were split up into groups for dinner.  We got there and they were so backed up that we had to wait in line to be seated until someone came out of the restaurant. We ended up sitting at the "bar" which made it nearly impossible to talk to anyone.  We did meet 2 guys that sat next to us who were really nice and we were hoping to run into them at the Stake Center afterward.
That is, until we got to the Stake Center and realized it would be impossible to find ANYONE in that crowd.  I am not even kidding when I say every room was filled with people and I mean FILLED.  It was so loud that we couldn't even talk to someone sitting next to us.  I think we stayed maybe 30 minutes and then left.
I don't want to sound too much like a negative Nellie...I am glad we went.  I now know that I don't want to go to this conference again.  And Alli and I had fun, we got to go to Magic Mountain, I got to see Trish, and I got to go to the Newport Beach Temple.
One thing I did learn from this conference...attending this conference as a 50 year old is creepy (there were plenty of OLD people there and they weren't the "leaders").

Same OLD, same OLD

OLD being the operative word.  I turned 32 at the beginning of April (and I know, its not THAT old).  I don't know why but this year was a hard year for me.  I think I was just looking at all (well most of them) of my friends & siblings who are my age and younger  and they are married with kids some are even done having kids, some have had their first course and gone back for seconds (2nd marriage, which is fine - I am VERY happy for them).  But, I haven't even started.  My roommate from college has 7 kids...7!!!!  She said, "just think, you could have 7 kids."  And I said, "I can't even get a husband, let alone have 7 kids." 
I feel like no one really prepares you for this stage of life.  All growing up you learn about being a good wife and mother.  No one talks about being a good single person and how to be good at being alone.  Don't get me wrong, I have had fun being single.  I've been able to do a lot of things that I wouldn't have been able to do if things were different.  I have been very blessed.  I am lucky to be able to spend so much time with my nieces and nephews, I love them all so much, (including my Chesley niece & nephews) and I know if I were married things would be different.  Its been a good 14 years being a young single adult.  But I feel like I am REALLY good at this stage of life and I am ready to move on.
Things I've learned in my 14 years of being single...
1) I really don't mind being alone (like for the night, not for eternity)
2) I can kill bugs all by myself with the help of a vacuum cleaner
3) I can fix a leaky toilet
4) Even though I gag everytime, taking out the garbage isn't the worst thing in the world
5) Its okay for me to put myself first sometimes
6) I can change a flat tire
7) I can jump a dead battery
8) I can install hardware on cabinets
9) I can install a kitchen sink (mostly)
10) I can move really heavy furniture by myself, I just need a lot of time
Thanks to my single-hood-ness - I have learned to be very independent.

Bondurant Baby!

So, I think my favorite part of my job is planning the national sales meeting that is held once a year.  Last year was in Vegas @ Aria and I stayed in that massive room.  This year they were trying to save some money so we stayed here and had it at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale.  Not quite as fancy, but it was still tons of fun.  Everything went off without a hitch (of course it did, I planned it).   This year for our group activity we went to Bondurant School of High Performance Racing.  It was awesome!!  We had a track that was set up with cones and we had to weave in and out of the cones and see how fast we could go.  We drove brand new Corvettes.  We had 3 tries to go as fast as we could without knocking down cones (if you knocked down a cone they added 1 second to your time).  I thought I did pretty good, but I came in like 6th place out of 10.  Oh well.  Then after that we got to ride with a professional driver and he took us around a professional track going like 100 mph and drifting around the curves.  It was seriously awesome!  I can't wait to see where we're going next year.

Kim's Bachelorette Party

Last night was Kim's Bachelorette Party. We went to RigaTony's for dinner then back to Kim's house to open gifts.  Then our friends Pat & Ben came and "danced" for us. They were hysterical! Kim gets married next week!