does anyone know a vampire you can set me up with?

Seriously though. I want to date Edward Cullen. And have his half-vampire babies. Last night I went to see the midnight premier of Twilight with my two female coworkers for our last night in Anchorage. LOVED it. Yes the lines were just as cheesy in the movie as they were in the book. Yes I hate girls like Bella in real life who only define themselves by the men in their lives. Yes I hate controlling men like Edward in real life. But I care vehemently about these characters. Stephanie Meyer created magic in this series. The casting was fabulous and all of the characters looked just the way I imagined. Except maybe Rosalie, who I wanted to be more stunning.

We got to the theater a good three hours early (didn't want to risk getting stuck in line outside in Alaska). There were at least 40 people in line in front of us. I've never seen more "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" t-shirts in my life. There were obnoxious, screaming middle school girls everywhere. I do not miss anything about middle school. The group right next to me was particularly loud and, as they kept growing in numbers, one girl was practically sitting on my lap by the time they let us into the theater. Also, a group of moms were handing out 4-page Twilight quizzes they had put together for the occasion. Amazing.

There was a minute of panic as we shuffled into the theater and were not allowed in because we had tickets for the showing in another room. We had just spent two hours in the line the movie theater workers told us to wait in and then had to go to another theater on the other side of the building. We were about to get all "I need to see a manager" on this teenager but the other theater was not as crowded and we still got good seats. Luckily.

This morning I had to drop off some supplies we'd borrowed from the Anchorage office, then take the shuttle to the airport. I saw a moose on the side of the road on my way out of town. Finally. The big beast did not disappoint. Now I'm enjoying free wifi in the airport, in serious need of a nap. Tonight I will study for the CPA exam I am taking tomorrow. I am so under prepared. Like, way more than for the other three. So please send positive energy my way because I want to pass FAR and be done with the whole thing. And date a vampire.

100 things i hate

My friend Linsday created this new blog for people to post a list of 100 things he or she hates. I worked on my list some last night and finished it up today during work (shhh don't tell). I've e-mailed my list and hopefully it will be posted here soon. There are other lists you can read and see how many things other people hate that you also hate! Too keep my karma even, I also made a list of 100 things I love, which is posted below. I am happy to say it took me substantially less time to list 100 things I love than to list 100 things I hate.

100 Things I Love with all my Heart

1 Art galleries
2 Attention
3 Bamboo (for good chi)
4 Banana republic
5 Big hair
6 Birthdays
7 Blogs
8 Blue pens
9 Boating
10 Bobby pins
11 Britney (still, so what)
12 Business casual
13 Chapstick
14 Checking off to-do lists
15 Clueless
16 Cowboy boots
17 Cupcakes
18 Dancing
19 Dimples
20 Dinner parties
21 Dreaming
22 Dressing up
23 Earmuffs
24 Earrings with sweat pants
25 Expensive jeans
26 Faith
27 Family
28 Faux fur
29 Frosting
30 Girlfriends
31 Glitter/ sequins/ sparkles
32 Hair dye
33 Halloween
34 Herbal tea
35 Holidays
36 Hot tubs
37 Independence
38 Independent films
39 Jane Austen
40 Kissing
41 Laughing
42 Laying by the pool
43 Low self monitors
44 Magazines
45 Marshmallows
46 Matching outfits
47 Medication
48 Monograms
49 Mountains
50 My bedroom
51 My job
52 Mysticism
53 Naps
54 Natural history museums
55 New crushes
56 New shoes
57 Nordstrom
58 Old houses with character
59 Pajamas
60 Passing sections of the CPA exam
61 Pearls
62 Pedicures
63 Philosophy body wash
64 Picnics
65 Pink anything and everything
66 Portland
67 Presents
68 Random text messages
69 Reading
70 Sarcasm
71 Scarves
72 School uniforms
73 Seat warmers
74 Self awareness
75 Sewing
76 Shopping
77 Singing in the car
78 Smiles
79 Snow skiing
80 Sorry (the board game)
81 Speaking in church
82 Spontaneity
83 Star gazing
84 Sunday brunch
85 Tasteful nudity
86 Tender mercies of the Lord
87 Thank-you cards
88 The 80's
89 The girls' names: Lucie, Bridget, & Piper
90 The sound of sneakers on a gym floor
91 Themed parties
92 Therapy
93 Thunder and lightning storms
94 Tinkerbell
95 Trashy TV marathons
96 Traveling
97 Trying something new
98 Walks
99 Watching snow fall
100 Weekend trips

my new mantra

My mother sent me this awhile ago and I absolutely loved it. It goes along with my new perspective on my new life (OK well it's the same life I've always had, I've just added new activities and changed location). My mother raised me to be independent on purpose and I attribute much of my current happy situation to her influence.

Receiving Your Own Beautiful Life - by Tama Kieves

I have often had a restless spirit. I have often thought I should have scored higher, weighed less, bought nicer furniture, and did something with my hair. But I am working with myself to let go of this impoverished way of being. I hope you will join me in this crusade for true peace and abundance.

I do not want to be anywhere else.
These are words of luxury. These are words of mystery. These are words of quantum healing. Sit down on the pillow of your own good life and be still. Stop searching, demanding, aching, casting about.

I do not want to be anywhere else.
This is what it means to live all the days of your life. This is what it means to stop and receive. You are like a hungry bird and you cannot receive because you have rejected the source of nutrition. The only source of nutrition is your present life. It's not over there or under that. It doesn't come later and it doesn't get better. You get better. You get better by believing in the remarkable perfection and wholeness of your own life.

I do not want to be anywhere else.
Let go of striving. Let go of hatred. Don't push away your bowl. Instead notice the crack and let its jagged line stroke your heart with its innocence and determination. It has something to teach you. That's why it's there. Everything has something to give you.

I do not want to be anywhere else.
These are words like open sesame. Dimensions reveal their secret light, their guarded precious language. Everything has always awaited you like a bowl of fresh fruit. Only you wanted to sit at someone else's table. You wanted another moment. You wanted another life. That desire cost more than you know. Don't pay the price. Seize the only existence you have. Seize your blemished moment, your exhausting day, your confusion and your elation.Everything in the media trains us to crave and hunger. Commercials starve us with the promise that satisfaction is over there. It's impossible. Satisfaction cannot be where I am not.

I do not want to be anywhere else.
This does not mean I will not walk out of the rain into a dry place. It means I will not belittle the rain. I will not regret the moisture on my skin. I will move forward. I will go where I am called and where I belong. But not with irritation or deprivation in my heart. I don't want to miss a moment of my life. I don't want to be anywhere else.

This time in my life is a gift. Not every woman (and certainly not every woman in the LDS church) gets young, single working years to focus solely on her own growth and development. I do not yet have to worry about maintaining a happy, healthy relationship with my husband or raising happy, well-adjusted children; those things will come in their proper time and place. My only hope is that I can use this time to really develop the attributes and skills God would have me develop during this time. I'd hate to find myself at the end of this period reflecting back and have nothing more to say than, "Well, I did a lot of shopping." There will be plenty of shopping, mind you. But so much more than that. I need to pour myself into church, work, service, family, friendships, travel, health, learning, and fun.

God has put me exactly where I need to be and has placed everything that I need in my path. I truly believe that. One of my favorite all-time scriptures (also copied from my mother and the theme of an education week talk I attended with RZ this summer) is Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." I need this oh so badly at times. Quit crying, quit worrying, quit complaining, and for heaven's sake pick yourself up off the floor and be still and know that I am God. I'm thinking about having this printed in vinyl letters to stick on my wall. There's a perfect space just above my closet doors.

Today as I drove down the Seward Highway along the Alaskan coast I had a lot of time to reflect as I admired the beauty of the snow-covered mountains and the ice-covered water. I was struck so strongly that there was nowhere I would rather be at that moment. I could not be more thrilled to be on a business trip for a job I love and exploring an area of the world I've never been before. I love that I went to school at BYU and studied accounting. I love that I now live in Portland. I love my family. I love my friends. I love me. Thank you thank you thank you for this life.

my search for caribou barbie

Alaska is gorgeous. I miss the mountains in Provo oh so much and I am definitely getting my fill of mountains here. It snowed on Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday, the days are blurring together) so I got to experience my first snow of the season. I LOVE watching the snow fall from inside. And there's a good 5-6 hours of sunlight each day that I get to see from the window. It's pretty dark when we leave for work and when we go home. But I haven't worked a minute of overtime. I love interim work as opposed to year-end work. So much less to get done. I've been working on the same testwork for four straight days now and will continue tomorrow. It's much more monotonous than my smaller clients. And to top it off I'm in a cubicle by myself and the rest of the audit team is in a conference room together. Oh well everyone has to put her time in while on the way to taking over the world. :)

I have had the most delightful dinners while here. Fresh salmon and halibut 'til your eyes pop out. Last night I mixed it up with some prime rib. My coworkers are super fun and we've been having a great time. Two of them are going home over the weekend, one is staying to work, and I'm staying to play. I think I'll make the drive up to Alyeska ski resort to see the scenery and try another great restaurant I've heard about. And in every restaurant/hotel/building in this town there could not be more dead animals. Bears and moose just coming out of the wood works. And dead fish. Big ones. Amazing. Then Sunday I will venture to the Anchorage singles ward. That is if I can get the frickin' meetinghouse locator on the church website to work for me. Should be some glorious people watching.

Luckily I found a disposable digital camera at Fred Meyer so I can begin documenting my trip. I forgot to pack my camera, which has to be the worst oversight ever. I had better see a moose this weekend or sometime before I leave. I've given up the dream for a grizzly bear or even Sarah Palin, but the moose dream I will not give up. Wish me luck.

eat to live or live to eat?

Fall is officially here.  The crisp cool air, brightly-colored leaves, and wool sweaters all contribute to my love of this season of course.  But finding myself in Portland once again I can rekindle an old love affair with Burgerville.  It's a local burger chain that uses only ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.  They have amazing seasonal milkshakes-- the best are the blackberry featured in late summer, in case you were wondering.

Tonight, after deciding not to go out after a long week of work and a hugely long to do li

st for Saturday, I decided to have my Burgerville favorites for dinner.  The milkshake in season right now is the pumpkin spice and it's delightful.  But my real favorite from Burgerville is the sweet potato fries.  They're to die for.  And they help me miss Guru's in Provo a little less.  After my dinner of fries and a milkshake, I anticipate being in a food coma by 9:30pm.

it's a bit early for this

I've worked 11-12 hours each of the last two days.  And it looks like the trend will continue throughout the rest of the week.  I naively thought I would only work these kind of hours Jan-Mar.  Ha ha ha ha ha.  Not that I can really be sad today when I'm so excited about our next president.  After we get health insurance for everyone, I'd love to get rid of guns as well.  We'll just have to see what we can do.  Back to work, at least I'm still loving what I do and I'm working with great people.  And I've worked really hard to get here so I had better enjoy it.  I guess I'll just have to make the most out of my weekends.  Last weekend was fabulous and this coming weekend is looking good already.  Halloween deserves its own post once I get some photos to put on my blog.  Big thanks to RZ for my belly dancing costume.  I went to the church party to hang out with some of my awesome new friends.  They all dressed up in great costumes, actually danced at the party, then ended the night with a photo shoot.  These are my people.