Behind us is the Salt Lake City Temple that we got married in. It was soooo peaceful inside...I couldn't have imagined a better ambiance.

With some of my best friends from New York. A couple others missing - will post more pics this weekend. :)

Jesse and I were blown away by all the "special" moments Joshua captured through out the day.  There are so many great photographers out there and a lot of which make the pictures look really fancy with photoshop etc.  but what Jesse and looooved about Joshua was how realistic everything looked but with a squeaky clean, crisp feel....I could go on and on about how much of a fan we are of his! 

Later that night was a dance party that was waaaaaaaaaaay too much fun! I could have danced the night away but sadly I was pulled away by Jesse to final make leave for our destination. ;) wink wink* 

One of my favorite things about that night as well was the photo booth we rented! I can't WAIT to post some of the photos from that this weekend.  There were some really great poses that I just have to share with you all!  

That is all for now..... way more pics to come.  I know I say that all the time on my blog, but life has FINALLY calmed down, I am getting back into my routine and have been crazy yearning for posting on my blog.  Ironically, part of the main reason for my lack of posting on this here lady is due to me now being on a pc computer.  My Mac went all crazy-like a couple months ago and so I now work solely [excluding work] on a pc.... for some reason it is sooo much more complicated for me to use. : /  annnnyways, have a good night. Till tomorrow morning! :-[) 

Two of my very good friends Jenny & Erin teamed up to redesign Erin's website Sodafine! It looks fantastic!  If you have a second, stop by and check it out OR if you live in the New York City area DO NOT HESITATE to go visit Erin personally in her shop in Brooklyn! I am a big supporter of shopping independent designers and Erin's boutique is always chock full of just that.  Some of my favorite pieces of jewelry and clothes that I own and ALWAYS get compliments on are from Sodafine!

For kicks, I found this photo of us girls at New York's first Renegade Craft Fair, back in 2005?  Good times....good times!

Here is what you can find online and in the store... but do make a personal visit if you want to shop more independent items.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, you can find beautiful handmade items from Erin herself... I love her small painted "not plants" plants. Would love to start a collection of these!

Back in the year 2000, I started nanny for two AWESOME girls, Annie & Emily! They were 7 and 9 when I started. Here is a photo of Annie and I...this was the night of her first dance, I made that top she is wearing for her "special" night. hehehe lol...oh the days of first dances.

This past January, Annie and Emily's parents flew out to New York for a Christmas present to hang out with them. One of the best presents I have ever received! This is Emily, me, and Annie at Cafe Lalo on the Upper West Side!

Annie and I are now hoping on our bikes to cruise around Salt Lake City for the day!!! I think I should start giving tours of this city/no?

I think flowers and bikes go perfectly together, like in this photo here of these two girls. The cutest. Found via corbis

Gosh....can you believe I have not posted in almost a month??!!! True Hollywood story! :( I wish I could say that I have been out to sea looking for one of my friends Salty Bear...but no... or that I hopped on a plane to Dubai  to snow-ski at the world's largest indoor ski resort [I recently heard about this amazing phenomenon] or that I have been attacked by killer ladybugs and am in bed with the polka dots... but none of these stories my dear friends is the reason for my absence... There are actually quite a few, and legit they kinda are!  I would say the main one has a lot to do with me liking a guy. And not just any guy, but a real good one! Even though I have a blog, and will blast loads upon loads of information about myself on this here thing...one thing I have been pretty discreet about is the guys I have dated since my divorce... I think for obvious reasons. But Jesse [the fellow I am dating] has won me over, so much so that I forget my blog exists some days... he is quite special...and I am looking forward to tons more adventures with this guy...which I will share on here from time to time. :)

Recently I mentioned my best friend Sarah coming to visit me....Which was a BLAAAST! Here are just a few highlights from that visit:

First day she arrived, we rode bikes to the Salt Lake City Arts Festival... Here she is about to get on my bike....

10 minutes later, I kid you not...she crashed! Even though that isn't a funny thing to laugh about...it actually was quite hilarious! In the process of crashing Sarah somehow broke her sandal and then twisted the handlebars....She is telling Jesse and I what had just happened...we all couldn't stop laughing. 

Later that evening, Jesse and I were doing some serious airplaneing! This game takes talent folks! That's right, TALENT! I don't wanna brag or anything, but i've been know around these parts as someone who knows her stuff when it comes to doing the airplane! Just saying....

 

The next day Jesse, my good friend Megan and I took Sarah on her very first camping trip in the Uintahs! It was AWESOME!! Before setting up camp, we made a pit stop at the nearby nudist ranch...that's right, we got our nude on! 

 

Later that night around 11 pm-ish...we took some fantastic photos with Jesse's camera...he did a long exposure which made the sky light up as if it was morning..but it wasn't. Can you see the stars in the sky? It was one of the coolest things ever! Plus, we got lucky and camped on a night with a full moon...it shone so brightly on our campsite that it kept me up most of the night!  

In the afternoon we drove around and did some sight seeing, found a lake [I forget the name] and Jesse attempted to do some fishing...but no catch..we think it was still too cold.

 

Here is a photo of me in front of Provo Falls [? correct] I post this just because my boss Allison had asked me to design her daughter's stake girls camp t-shirts! HECK YEAH MAN! So this was the design I came up with [they came up with the saying] and then the girls all tie-dyed the t's....so so cute!

So later that day we then surprised Sarah and took her to her first rodeo! YEE-HAW! [more pictures/video of this experience to come!] :-[) It was so neat! I love myself a good rodeo. I do I do!

The next and last day was spent up in Alpine at my mom and step dad's house. We took a scenic drive back to Salt Lake and got some wonderful photos of the Salt Lake valley and sun setting....

This Saturday, Sarah moves back to Lebanon where she is from.... I am going to miss her soooo much! :( I was just in New York this past week and a half and got to spend a short amount of time with her again before she leaves.  She was able to stay a night with me at my friends place... that was fun, as always.  However, I was trying really hard to keep myself from crying. I will miss her so much... and can't wait till we see each other again... Best friends are the absolute best! That is why they are called best friends! Ha! lol I am a cheese ball tonight - but it is 3:20 am in the morning right now and I can't very well expect myself to be saying hip things right now.  >>> Off to bed my friends...more to come, for absolute sure of the sureness! <<< Nighty!

One of my bestest friends [Sarah Hermez] is coming into town tomorrow to visit me! I am sooooooo excited to see her! It has been a whole year since we saw each other and I have missed Sarah desperately! I love having guy friends, but I love girlfriends soooo much more! Anyways... a lot is planned for 4 days she is here! So behind on blogging.... :( it has made me sad.. 1. because I have SOOO much to blog about 2. I have been trying to be really good about blogging consistently 3. I have been soo busy with work... and will continue to be busy... looking forward to the end of July when things will start to calm down and I will get my life back...kinda have forgotten what that is like.... mkay...hittin the sack now. ---- night-o-rama!

Unfortunately, Roxy’s internet has been in a state of disrepair for a about week now. I imagine there are hordes of you lying in a sleepless heap next to your computers with bags under your eyes and no idea what kind of broach you should get or what artistic thing you should look at next. I would have this problem myself, but every time I’m in need of a broach, I just call Roxy and ask for her advice. Now I have hundreds of the finest broaches money can buy. But for those of you without the luxury of personal contact with Roxy, I can understand what you must be going through. First, I want to put your fears to rest, Roxy will be back very soon. Today, I am your substitute blogger. I promise you, I am completely inadequate for the job. For example, Roxy is the type of gal who eats non-processed foods and hangs lots of nice-looking, unique things on her wall. Craig is the type of guy who eats chili dogs pretty much every day and has a Spider Man comforter on his bed.

I’m like that hip substitute teacher who would show up every now and then, and you’d have a great time for about one hour. Then, after the third round of team-building exercises, you started to realize you might have made a terrible mistake.

Anyway, my plan is to post one-hour’s worth of fun followed by a video of me singing “Girls Just Want to Have Fun." We’ll see how far into this plan I actually get.

                 

The other day, Roxy told me about two sections of craigslist I’d never really looked at before. First, the “strictly platonic” section: The best thing about the strictly platonic section is that it is mostly filled with suspicious men seeking "strictly platonic" relationships with women. Apparently, there are loads of men out there thinking, “You know what I need in my life? A nice girl who I can hang out with platonically…yes…totally platonically…in my house...alone.” For example, there is a guy from Salt Lake City who has tickets to see Paul McCartney and just wants a friend to platonically go with him. He very reasonably, and platonically, lists some of his requirements as “NO GUYS OKAY!!!??” “The lady must be nice looking,” and she must “wanna have a great time.” I imagine this platonic relationship is near full bloom at this point. They will certainly be best pals forever.

On the other hand, if you are a man looking to make platonic friendships with other men, no need to fear. There are plenty of men seeking to be platonic pals with you. For example this man, also in the Salt Lake platonic ads, who was wondering if you could “recommend a cheap hotel or hostel” and describes himself as a “Beefy Guy” who is “5'11 205lbs w/big hairy pecs.” If there is one thing I’ve truly missed in my platonic male friends, it is that none of them have big hairy pecs adequate to my taste. This man certainly brings something platonic to the table. And what’s more, he lists some other qualities: “I’m openminded and aim to please-sub or dom.” Oh, the platonic times he will have with his new friend.

The second section of craigslist Roxy recently told me about was the “missed connections” section: This section is for people who apparently had some sort of “connection” with a stranger, missed their opportunity to hit it off, and are hoping the mysterious target of their affection will see their ad and respond. I feel like these ads can pretty much describe anyone. For example, here is a man describing a guy he recently missed a connection with in New York City: “you just started in the office today, I think your name is antonio. you're hot. good looking and very discreet here. we made eye contact several times during the day.” If I had recently gotten a new job and my name was Antonio, or Tony, or Anthony, or Andy, or pretty much any name, I would be frantically searching the rest of my office for another man giving me the eye. Sure, I could answer the ad…or I could just wait until I discover which man in the office hates capitalization.

Another New York City missed connection ad calls out to the girl he saw carrying a stripper pole. I imagine this happens all the time. Guys are just lounging around, minding their own business, some girl with a stripper pole walks by and they realize she is the woman they've been looking for all this time. Still, this is probably one of the most successful efforts at being specific. If this girl is out there, certainly she will recognize herself as the carrier of the stripper pole. Then again, I’ve never lived in New York City. Maybe there are people carrying stripper poles all over the place. Those stripper poles aren’t going to get to their locations by themselves, after all. His final comment and request is: “you seem awesome. teach me how to pole dance.” Meanwhile, I have wasted my entire life trying to convince people I am awesome through other means. All for nothing. I plan on toting around a stripper pole from now on.

Anyway, I think that pretty much wraps up my substitute blogging. Again, I want to reassure you that Roxy will soon be back with all her wisdom. She won’t leave you artless for long. Until then, you can always make some new, platonic friends.

To read Craig Blake's blog ....click HERE :)

Allison reminded me today of New Cannan Connecticut.

A place I used to visit often with the girls I nannied for [Annie & Emily] + their cute grandma lives there. We would go up to New Cannan a couple times

a year to visit her.  Here we are one summer night

hanging out in the sewing room!  How neat is that wall paper behind us?

I have some pretty awesome memories of my time in New York. 

The majority of them consist of being with Annie & Emily. :)

I was pretty lucky!