Monday, February 7, 2011
Ally: Road trip.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
My road trip
Nancy here. I get to guest post. Woohoo! The power
Ok, guys, I know the slacking is happening, but I'm on this cute little road trip with my cute little choir, and I came to two realizations. The first is that for all the singing I've done in my life, I've never been on a choir tour before. You see, our high school choir was a mess I never wanted to reckon with and by the time I got very good in college I was practically graduating and couldn't get into the good choirs that tour. So here I am, 34 years old, and finally doing the road trip thing. Hotel rooms and meals paid for, riding on a but, finally getting to know the people I've been rehearsing with for so long, and singing in, well, basically its an arena. Its the college arena here, but its about the size of my high school's hockey rink. Big for a high school (especially one with only 700 students grades 7-12) but tiny for a college. Like I said, my high school was not someplace to be reckoned with.
My second realization is that I've never been this far south before. With the exception of an occasional layover in Texas or vegas, the
farthest south I've travelled is maybe San Francisco or Santaquin, or kansas? whichever is farther south. I've got the north half of the US covered, but my southern excursions are sorely limited.
But how can I complain, really, since I actually have been on the best road trip of all time. Let me tell you a little about it while I wait for these tech-y guys to hook up a giant organ.
See, I served my mission in Paris. The Paris. No Idaho jokes here. And after I got home, the salt lake olympics happened and my roommates and I discovered that a ticket to leave slc at the beginning of the 2 weeks and return at the end was really cheap. Like $300 to Paris cheap. And so armed with a few contacts and a good guide (me) :) we went to paris for 10 days and about $500 each. That's including hotel and food and souvenirs. We saw the opera at the famous phantom of the opera opera garnier for $3 a ticket, because I knew where to get student passes. And we went to the museums and saw degas and van gough and seraut and renoir for a few dollars because I knew how to get the universal pass for all the museums rarer than paying at each spot. We went to a late night movie and tried to figure it out in French and then we went to a crepe shop at 2 am and mingled with the cool people and we ate pastries and cheese and rode trains and caught pickpockets and yelled at drunk people and walked in parks and took our pictures in front of the Eiffel tower. Then when we came home and asked people what they did with the or time off from school they would tell us they slept for two weeks or volunteered to pick up trash after the opening ceremonies or something we just said "me? I went to Paris."
Totally the best road trip ever.
Until this summer, when I go on tour again, then the jury will be out. Maybe my cute little choir can top Paris.
But how about you? What was your best road trip ever? And what road trips do you still dream of? I know technically we did go on an airplane, I won't discriminate if you have to fly to your destination road trip. I just count it as a road trip if it is with friends, unplanned, and fly by the seat of your pants amazing.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:St George!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Ok, let's do it.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Anyone?
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Vacation Week: Ally
In my mind, there are two choices.
Is it BEACH?
Or European?
If you had to pick one right now, which would it be?
I'm thinking if you have kids along, go beach. Let them run around and play, rather than dragging them through museums...(although I guess it depends on the age of the kids and if they can appreciate it.)
And if you just have one week in the summer for a vacation, go beach. It's more relaxing in my mind.
But if you have a good chunk of time, or if you are just with adults, go Europe. Soak in the culture, engage your mind a little. I said a beach is more relaxing, but Europe might be more stimulating. Am I wrong?
Maybe the key is to do a European beach. Portugal, anyone?
All this vacation talk is making me salivate.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Vacation Week: Jessica
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Vacation Week: Emily
Monday, March 8, 2010
New Topic: Vacation!
I remember being a kid, and once I started waking up to sunny mornings I knew it was almost time for school to be out for summer.
And the best part of summer is VACATION! So let's just pretend for a minute.
-What was your favorite vacation ever? (It doesn't have to be somewhere fancy and impressive. It CAN be, but it can also be somewhere random that you just loved.) Tell us the places we NEED to go before we die.
-Where would you love to go one day?
-Where is that place that you go to in your mind when you think of summer...or when you need to ignore your to-do list and go to your "happy place"?
Friday, March 5, 2010
House Week: For the dogs?
They are DOG houses. Um, wow.
Found here .
I'm at a loss for words. Speak, girl, speak! Nope, nothing.
Monday, March 1, 2010
House Week: Emily
Saturday, February 27, 2010
House Week: Jessica
I have two dream houses, one that is practical and sensible, and the other that is frilly and fun. I’ll share both.
For the practical one, I have a pretty specific floor plan in mind. I want a ranch/rambler. You need to be able to come in through the garage, into a mud room and then into the kitchen (no carrying groceries across the house). I want a kitchen that is big enough to function in, but not too big that it is a pain to clean. I want the fridge, stove and sink to make a triangle in the kitchen. I’ve lived in enough houses to know that the triangle is the most functional kitchen design. The kitchen/dining area should be attached to a living room. There should be a front entry that comes into the living room area, but it has to be set up so that you can’t see the kitchen from the entry way. (I’m just not that good of a housekeeper.) Then, there should be a hall with at least 3 bedrooms down it. There needs to be a bathroom that is accessible from this hall. The master needs a bathroom attached to it, but the one in the hall can be the same bathroom. The bathroom attached to the master should have two rooms, one with the sink and counter, and one with the toilet and tub. This allows more people to get ready at the same time.
Downstairs, I want a big family room, a food storage room, another storage room, and two other bedrooms, with a bathroom near them. The arrangement down here is not as specific.
I want a lot that is 4-5 acres, has two-three out buildings (one big enough to house a hoist, and the other to store farming equipment). It should have an established tree fence, a deck off the kitchen, an attached garage, and lots of good climbing trees. It should not be located on a highway, but I want it close to the school and town. To add to all this, my husband is a farmer, and I don’t want to be more than a few miles away from the main fields. We choose this profession so he could be around home more. I don’t want him to have to travel far to get to work. This leaves only a few houses (in rural areas, houses are few and far between). Most of these homes are two-story 100 year old farmhouses that are in the family and stay in the family.
Sounds impossible to get this house? Well, we just bought it, and it had exactly what we wanted. This list existed before we found this house; we were just lucky enough to find one that fit the list. It also had extensive damage due to a pipe burst, which meant we could afford it, too. Luckily, my husband has some good handy-man skills, so we are able to repair it. In a few weeks, we’ll be moving into this dream house.
But, let’s look at a little less sensible option. I would love a master bedroom with a waterfall in it. I want a walk in shower that is the size of a room. I want a huge, whirlpool tub in there, too. The master area would also have a small kitchen in it, so we can keep the food that we don’t want the kids eating there. Yes, that means a freezer stocked entirely with the best ice cream. I want a sewing room that has floor to ceiling shelving for fabric, and an organization system for that. Speaking of floor to ceiling, I want a Beauty and the Beast style library. I want to look up and see books, as far as anyone can see. Just for fun, I’ll put a secret staircase in there that goes up to our master suite. My husband wants to have a tiled kitchen that has a slight slant to the floor, and all the furniture on metal legs. Then, there would a high-powered water system on one end. With the push of a button, it sprays water and soap across the floor and mops the floor. He figures we’d have a scrubber to hit the bad spots, and then would run a rinse on it. Sounds good to me. For décor, I love fresh flowers. Fake ones bug me. So, I want a constant delivery of real flowers that match my décor. I’ll add some really good chocolates to that delivery, too, not that those have anything to do with the house, but I would love a constant delivery of fine chocolates. I like the frosty machine idea, too. That can go into our home entertainment room, which has a movie theater in it, and every fun arcade game ever made. I want a very fun hang-out spot for teenagers. I want to have the house that teenagers hang out at, so that I know what is going on my kids’ lives. My husband wants to include an indoor slide park in there, because that would be fun, too. Lastly, it has to have a music room, with a gorgeous grand piano and areas to keep every other instrument my kids may ever want to learn, and lots and lots of music books for them to learn from. I would say it needs an exercise room, but I’m not sure that I would actually use it.
I’m happy with the house we have, though, and I love it. I’ll save the second house for my mansion in heaven. That would be better, anyway, because I’m pretty sure a resurrected body can handle all the ice cream, fine chocolates, and frosties that it wants. Then, I can skip the exercise room, too. Do I have to do housework there?
Friday, February 26, 2010
House Week: Dream Playhouses (Ohhhh myyyy)
I was just going to put up a few pictures but I couldn't decide. So here you go. Prepare to be amazed.
Keep in mind these are PLAYHOUSES...for CHILDREN! hahaha I love it.
What's that? You are worried about the condition of the houses INSIDE? Lest you think these children might be roughing it, here are a couple photos:
I love these so much...and I can't stop smiling. Oops, never mind, I just saw the price tag on these babies.
House Week: Some sites
Martha Stewart Home Tours- Here you can look at 23 Martha Stewart-approved dream homes, as well as peak inside Martha's houses. I love to snoop around.
or the HGTV Design Blog always makes for good reading.
Are you traditional, contemporary, modern, romantic, cottage, mid-century modern, urban? If you aren't really sure what your taste is, find your own design style here: HGTV Design Style
(I'm eclectic, if you were wondering...)
Want to see some home makeover before and afters? Go here or here. Or here (I'm a little obsessed with before and afters, as you might've gathered.)
Finally, if you want to get inspiration for how you'd love your home to look one day, nothing is better than catalogs or online stores...Are you a Pottery Barn girl? Or does Crate and Barrel float your boat? Or would you do you house in ALL Anthropology if you could?
Have a little fun dreaming about your ultimate home and how you would decorate it, okay? Promise me!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
House Week: Stefany
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
House Week: My awesome sister
My sister Heather & her husband & little guy live in Des Moines, and their house is the first certified "green" house in the area! Watch the video to see how cool it is.
Check it out by clicking here.
The thing I love about their house is that it is so eco-friendly, but completely fabulous and stylish too. Looks like dream houses can come true!