twenty-three

My lack of posting hasn't been intentional, our shotty internet just makes it difficult to use the computer for reasons other than solitaire (I am getting good!) and charging my ipod. I am officially one year older, and I think a little wiser too. It's funny, I've always wanted to be 23. In my mind it has been the no-fail age. If you have a career, cool. If not, no sweat. Married? You're not going to get the "but you're SO young!" And if you aren't, you aren't getting set up with every last single person that all of my friends and family know. It has always seemed like the perfect, no pressure, euphoric age. And here I am..


I feel 22 was a milestone of a year for me. I won't say that it was a great year, but I learned a lot and feel that the not so great things helped me to mature. I was talking to Erica on my birthday and she said that 23 was the year that she felt like she was finally an adult. That is exactly how I've been feeling lately and I am excited that I am feeling a litttle more grown up.


I am really excited for the rest of the year. Megan is getting married next weekend and I am really excited for her wedding, and her bacherlorette party this weekend. My mom, Eric, and Carly and Kelly are (finally) coming to Denver next month. I am excited to show them my apartment, the new salon, and this beautiful city that I live in. I am also trying to plan a trip to New York City. Julianne left this week to go back, and I can't wait to go visit her!! I am also excited for football, halloween, and eventually the holidays. I love this fall weather, and am getting so excited for the leaves to change.

a little bit of an update

I have had a lot of fun things to blog about lately, but we aren't paying for internet so the connection is pretty in and out. So here is a short summary of what's been up.

About a month ago Victoria and I moved into a new place. We're a lot closer to downtown and in a really fun neighborhood. There are a lot of cool restaurants within walking distance to us. My favorite cupcakes shop, The Shoppe is just a short walk up the street. It's open til 2 am, which is good and bad all at the same time. I think we are finally feeling settled but are slowly adding new decorations.

At the end of July, John(Moore) and I went to see David Archuleta and Demi Lovato. I love, love, love little David. It was a really cute show, and it was fun to hang out with John. I felt a little out of place being there, willingly, without accompanying a child but I really enjoyed the show.

A few weeks ago the SF girls went to Las Vegas for The Gathering, which is a Paul Mitchell hair show. It was such a blast, I really love Las Vegas. I love to people watch, and there are plenty of people worth watching there. We Stayed in The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. The whole tower is suites, so we had nice big rooms with double bathrooms. My favorite thing about it is that when you get off the elevator you're in a tranquil lobby (smells like coconut), rather than in a noisy casino. While we were there we went to a club called Pure. Luckily, the night we were there the rapper DMX was perfoming. I also got to meet the guys from Questcrew, from America's Best Dance Crew. One of the guys is on PM's karate team, so they performed at one of our general sessions. A few hours after we got there my friend Brittany from school drove up from St. George so we could catch up. It was SO, SO, SO good to see her!! We took a cutting class the first day, and got to see Angus Mitchell, Scott Cole, and Takashi rock out some pretty cool haircuts. The second day we took a business class with Robert Cromeans, and a business class with a guy named Brent Golden who is actually in charge of opening up the Denver PMTS. We learned some cool stuff from them, and got some great ideas from other sucsessful salons. We ate dinner at the Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay's restaurants, one night and the food was different but tasty. We also at at Olives at the Bellagio, and that food was fan-tastic. The last night we were there we went to The Foundation Room of The House of Blues. For those of you who don't know, John Paul Dejoria (the guy with the ponytail) not only owns Paul Mitchell, but he also owns Patron Tequila, and is co-founder of The House of Blues. While we were up there, John Paul came and sat with us and thanked us for coming to the show. I have had the opportunity to spend some time with him on a couple of occasions, and am always blown away at how down to earth he is. I am really excited to head back to Vegas for the show next year!

Other than that, things have been pretty normal. I've been really busy at work, and it's tiring but it's also really good for my paycheck! I am getting excited for fall, we've had a really weird summer. I can't believe it's already back to school but I guess that doesn't make a huge difference to me. Time is just moving by so quickly. I can't believe I've been in Denver for 2 1/2 years!

Jury Duty

A few weeks ago, I got quite the dreaded piece of mail. Jury duty. For a lot of people, this might seem like fun, or an excuse to get out of work for a few days. In the state of Colorado the ONLY way to get out of jury duty is if you are the primary care giver of an elderly person whose life might be endangered by your absense. You are allowed one postponement a year, but I didn't want to use it and then get picked for a day where I actually had something going on.

I showed up at the courthouse at asbout 8:30 on Monday morning. They offer discount parking at the city center, which is about a 10 minute walk. I waited in line for about 10 minutes for security, and made my way to the waiting room. Several people came in an took groups of people to court rooms to pick their juries. At about 10:30 the woman told us that there were over 300 people that showed up, and we would probably all be used at some point in the day. She offered us a 15 minute break, so we scattered for coffee and bathrooms. An HOUR later, she showed back up and called another group. Then another. Then my number got called.

We entered a courtroom, and 12 of us took seats. We had to read off answers to a list of questions. I purposefully tried to distract myself, because really, who wants a juror that isn't paying attention? When I answered my information she had me repeat my age several times, making it obvious that I was at least 5 years younger than everyone else. The guy on trial was very close to my age, which I think he considered to be a good thing. When the lawyers came over to drill us with questions I picked at my nail polish, played with my shoes, made myself to appear as unabservant as possible. I guess they've seen that trick before, because I was picked.

The case was over a guy who had gotten in a fight with a security officer downtown last summer. Does stuff like this even need a jury? He was being tried with disturbing the peace, interference, assault, fighting in public, and threat. He was with his brother that night, and supposedly was threatening to kill some people. His brother had a gun. We were told that the case would be over with by the end of the afternoon, but by 6:00 we weren't even ready for closing arguements. I was very stressed out because I had a men's cutting class on Tuesday at 10 and a client at 12:00. I missed the class, but made it back to the salon in time for my client. The second day was closing arguements and deliberation. We found him guilty on 3 of the 5charges, but didn't get to stay in the courthouse long enough to find out his punishment. I haven't been able to find any info obline either.

As stressful at missing work was, it really wasn't too terrible. Everyone on our jury was super super nice. The defense lawyer was terrible, so watching him was actually really entertaining. I can't say that I would really want to be on a jury again, but it was cool to experience. And now I can say I've fulfilled my civil duty for the year.

A little late...

For those of you who don't know, Salon Foushee is moving. And by moving, I mean it already moved. The original plan included us working through tomorrow, and moving after work. However, due to issues with the landlord we are completely out of the Coal Mine location and will be reopening on July 1st at the new Belleview location. I will post pictures as soon as we have everything into place!

While caught up in all of this craziness going on, I never made a Father's Day post! It is a little late, but I think it is only fair because Eric came into my life a little late! Just kidding Eric, but I love you tons! I am going to try and squeeze out 20 facts that I know about this awesome man.

1. He is great on the grill! I love his ribs, but he makes a lot of other great stuff on there too.

2. He loves the show According to Jim, and in so many ways reminds me of Jim Belushi.

3. dubbed the song Just Another Day In Paradise as our family song.

4. he can build/design/remodel ANYTHING,

5. his feet are pretty "damn" hot.

6. he doesn't like celery.

7. he gets along with EVERYONE

8. In highschool when I encountered a few minor fender benders, I always called him first because I knew he'd be calm and help me calm down.

9. He loves football, especially the University of Utah.

10. He served his mission in Tennessee. His younger brother also served in the same mission at the same time.

11. he does a great impression of "Bruce."

12. his pies are DELICIOUS! He once gave my sister Aubrie and our cousin Brittany and their dates pie making lessons.

13. he enjoys camping and fishing

14. once we went to St. George for spring break, and he created this awesome game that entertained us for over an hour. The game consisted of who could make it to the end of the hall without making the motion sensor light flash.

15. He likes chick flicks, and even watched Twilight with us last time I was in SLC.

16. In addition to all of the other delicious food he makes, he makes really great breakfast. I love, love, love his hashbrowns.

17. When we all lived at home and went to church together, after the sacrament he would pass out the flourescent green spearmint gum to our whole row.

18. He hasn't really figured out facebook yet and on his birthday thanked everyone for the birthday wishes signed in under my moms name.

19. he loves being a grandpa and his grandkids love how silly he is

20. And most importantly, he makes my mom so very happy! He is such a great husband to her, and such a great example to my little sisters.

I love you Eric, and I hope you had a great time on your trip!

In The Kitchen

I've talked a lot about food, but I have yet to actually show you anything that I've made. I have been semi obsessed with several food blogs lately, but one in particular. Cookie Madness... This chick is a trooper, she bakes something basically every day! Sometimes several things. She mainly bakes cookies, but she also has baked up some pretty tasty looking treats! I have been looking for an excuse to make a few of her items and finally got to try my hand this weekend. Last week sometime she posted her "Favorite 5." This includes her 5 favorite chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, brownies, etc. One of her favorite brownies caught my eye so I decided to put it to the test. They were a huge hit, and fun to make. Messy to cut, but mainly because of all of the toppings on top. Here's a picture of how they turned out, along with her recipe.



Caramel Filled Brownies

1 cup whole pecans (more or less, RR uses 1 ½ cups)
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate
2 sticks unsalted butter (8 oz)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (14 oz) bag of caramels
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more if you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pecans on a cookie sheet and toast for 7-9 minutes or until aromatic. Let cool. When cool, chop.

Meanwhile, line a 13×9 inch pan with Release foil or parchment paper. You could also just line with foil and spray the foil. Make sure to spray the sides so the caramel won’t stick to the sides.

Place chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and repeat until smooth. Let cool for about 5 minutes. While chocolate cools, in a separate bowl beat sugar and eggs on high speed of an electric mixer for 3 entire minutes. Beat in vanilla. Stir chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Using a mixing spoon or wire whisk, stir in flour and salt. Pour about half of this batter into the lined pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool for 20 minutes. While first layer cools, prepare filling.

Unwrap caramels (ack! Why don’t they make unwrapped caramels!) and put them in a saucepan with the 1/3 cup of cream. Heat on medium low, stirring often, until caramels are melted. Stir about half of the chopped pecans into the caramel. Pour the caramel mixture over the brownie layer.

Spread the remaining brownie mix over the caramel filling. It is kind of tricky, so do your best, but don’t worry about covering all the caramel. Scatter chocolate chips and remaining pecans over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for another 20 minutes or until the top batter appears set but not dry. Allow brownies to cool completely (this should take a few hours). I like to cool them and then chill them because it makes slicing easier.



I also made another recipe she has introduced me too. It's delicious, but a new concept. It is kind of a candy, like a toffee, but filled with trail mix like items. One of those items being Frito chips. Yikes! I know.. Fritos! But it's a sweet and salty candy, and the Fritos are more of an accent than a main ingredient. I left it in the fridge until we left today, and it got kind of gooey in the car even though it wasn't that hot. I think if I know it's going to be sitting out I would freeze it to make sure it really sets up nicely. Here's a picture, and read the recipe so you get the concept and don't just think I'm a total nut.



Frito Candy
2 cups of pretzels
1 cup Frito chips
12ish mini peanut butter cups (I used 6 big ones, they are a little gooey. Either way, you might want to toss these in the freezer ahead of time to make the chopping cleaner)
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 cups semi sweet/dark chocolate chips

Break pretzels and Fritos. Don't crush them, but break them. This will make breaking the candy easier. Chop peanut butter cups. Toss mix, and lie flat on a foil lined pan. You want it to be spread pretty thin. Melt butter, and add brown sugar. Bring to a boil for one minute. Pour evenly over mixture. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and scatter chocolate chips on top. Put back in oven for a minute or two, until chocolate chips are soft enough to spread. Spread evenly over the top. Cool, then refridgerate to set. Break into pieces.


Now that you're hungry, I'll talk a little bit about today. Today the girls from Salon Foushee drove to La Jara (outside of Alamosa) to bless Neva's headstone. I have been dreading this day.. but knew that it was something I needed to do. Everything about it was making me nervous. I bake when I'm emotional, which explains my over the top treats. I stood in front of my closet for what felt like hours this morning. What do you wear to something like this? Peri and I left my apartment, and I told her that I didn't want to go. She didn't want to either, I don't think any of us did. Because I wasn't able to be there when the burried her (they also had a closed casket funeral), it still has seemed a little unreal. Seeing her burial plot, and her headstone would make it feel a little permanent.

We met up with the girls in Castle Rock and left from there. As we were getting into Colorado Springs we were routed off the freeway because of an accident. As we went over the overpass we could see the remnants of a terrible accident and the car grew quiet. The images I have engrained in my mind of Neva's car hit me like a brick.

We got into La Jara after about 4 hours and met at the cemetary. What a green, beautiful place. Her headstone was beautiful. They put her picture on it, and there was a sweet poem on the back. A Catholic Priest gave a sermon, and read from the Bible. How lucky I am to have such strong faith that I will be able to see my dear friend again. It was a comfort to be surrounded with her family, and to visit the home she grew up in. We are lucky to have each other at work. I think of her every day. She left an incredible impression on me, and everyone that knew her. I am so lucky to have known someone worth missing so much.

Momma

Happy Mother's Day! I hope everyone is able to appreciate their own mom today, and will continue to do so for the next year. I am going to snag Jacque's fabulous idea and tell you 25 things about my mom.

1. She is an amazing cook. She makes delicious homemade bread, lasagna, chicken spaghetti, cakes, Christmas treats, and THE best peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches.

2. She likes to camp and fish.

3. She loves limeades.

4. In Texas when people would call and talk to her on the phone forever, she would have us ring the doorbell so she could pretend she had to go. The door we used to enter/exit the house didn't have a doorbell, but whoever was on the phone never seemed to make that connection.

5. She works as a Special Education teacher, and is very passionate about giving those kids a great education, and great environment to learn.

6. She isn't afraid of PDA, "No making out in the kitchen Mom!"

7. She tries hard not to hurt your feelings
me: Mom, how do you like my new hair cut?
mom: Ummm... well.. what look are you going for?

8. She is afraid of heights, and I have inherited that same quality.

9. She loves babies and kids. And they love her too.

10. She is good at planning stuff. Everything has to have a plan, and she's great at delegating it.

11. In highschool she didn't care if I skipped classes as long as I had A's.

12. She is sensitive to all of her kids different needs and wants.

13. She has style. She tries hard to do her hair like I do it, and doesn't use cheap make-up.

14. She is madly, hopelessly, in love with her husband.

15. She loves playing games. Canasta, Mad Gab, The Fruit Game, Poker.. Even is some of them make her look silly.

16. She likes everyone to be included, and goes out of her way to make sure no one is left out.

17. When I was little she would pay me money to rub her feet and play with her hair. She had this red round brush that would always get tangled in her hair.

18. She went to BYU (twice) but is a huge U of U football fan.

19. She doesn't really like cereal, but when I was little she would eat this cereal called Raisin Squares. I loved it too, and still put raisins in my shredded wheat cereal.

20. When we lived in Texas she loved garage sales, and had several of them at our house.

21. She always wanted a house that had a wrap around porch, and a cocker spaniel. No porch yet, but when she and Eric got married he had a cocker spaniel named Dennis.

22. She used to take us to Longview shopping ALL day long on Saturdays. We got to go to the mall, Target, and Sam's club. Such a treat.

23. She stayed up late checking my math homework for me all during elementary school.

and for my 2 favorite things about my mom...

24. She LOVES getting good deals. If you tell her you like her shirt, she tells you where she got it and how much it costs. She loved coupons when I wad little. She loves the clearance racks. I make fun of her for this, but have inherited that same quality from her.

25. She is the most giving person I know. As busy as she was when I was little, she volunteered in my classroom. She helped out people in our ward that didn't have money. She bought me stuff when I complained that I always got me hand me downs, even when we didn't have the money. She is always happy to give to someone else, because she knows that there are always people that are worse off.



I love you Mom! Thanks for all that you do for me, you are the best mom ever!!

blizzard

Last Thursday started out as a pretty normal day. I woke up exhausted, but put on my gym clothes to head out for the gym. I could hear cars outside my window, and recognized the sound of tires on pavement- not tires sliding in slush. I peeked outside and let out a sigh of releif that we hadn't gotten the "8+ inches" the news had promised. Phew.

So I packed up my stuff (I get ready for work at the gym, due to it being 15 minutes from my house in the direction on the salon), and poured myself some Kashi. Shortly after I head that Cherry Creek School District had cancelled school on account of it being a snow day. But where was the snow? It certainly wasn't at my house. It turns out that the storm was supposedly delayed, and expected around noon. A storm big enough to cancel school, even before it had started? I got a little nervous. I headed to the gym (which is west, toward the mountains) and as I got closer there was a little more snow. The gym is basically all windows, so while running on the treadmill I could see that the wind was picking up and the snow was coming down. Within an hour it was coming down hard.. I got a call from the salon saying that all but one of my clients had called in to cancel. The salon is even further west, and they were already experiencing a white out. I haven't had a snow day since Texas, what a fun surprise! I continued to workout because really, a snow day means a lazy day with plenty of junk food. After over 2 hours of cardio, and watching the storm blow in I headed out.

I now understand what a "white out" is. I could barely see the car in front of me, and was dying of heat with my defrost blasting. Cars were all over the road.. hazards blinking, tons of cars stranded on the side of the road. My usual 15 minute drive turned into over an hour. I live at the top of a hill which was scary in itself, since that same hill takes you to the freeway and there was mass confusion due to stoplights without power. It turned out that everyone got sent home from work at the same time.

By the time I got home Victoria had found out she was off of work too. What a lazy day. We watched tv, surfed the net, took naps.. just about everything. I was highly disappointed that both Ellen and Oprah had been replaced with local news and the latest blizzard report. Around 8 we couldn't take the silence anymore. We called every restaurant within a mile to see if we could get out of the house. The only thing open was Old Chicago so we got to eat some delicious pizza and watch basketball. There was no one on the roads by that time so the ride was slow but not too scary. I can say I've survived my first (and hopefully last?!) blizzard!
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The T's and the P's

When I was about 16 my mom and I were chatting and (from my recollection)out of nowhere she suggested that I marry someone tan. Her theory on this was that though all of her brothers and sisters were pale, those with tan spouses had tan children. Now let me explain to those of you bronzed babes- this isn't just a vanity plea. I remember many blistering sunburns from the scorching sun. Sunscreen in my eyes at Six Flags and Lagoon. The older I've gotten the more I appreciate my fair skin. I like my freckles and red hair. I slather on sunscreen underneath my make-up, and know that my skin will thank me later.

I often get the question, "What are you looking for in a guy?" Now even though I am not sure I really know the answer to that question I have normally smile and respond with, "tall*, tan**, and temple worthy." I mean really, what else does a girl need? Actually, I just found out.

My boss recently heard some hullabullo on Oprah about a new book by Steve Harvey called "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man." In his book he depicts where women go wrong, and what to look for to know if your relationship is for sport or for keeps. I would recommend this book to all of the ladies out there- single, in a relationship, engaged, or married. So from this book I add to my list "looking for." In addition to a guy who is tall*, tan**, and temple worthy- I would like a man who will profess, protect, and provide. If you know a single gentelman who fits this criteria, feel free to send him my direction.






*I am 5'11" without shoes on, tall is considered this height or taller.
**due to my attraction for red heads, this is negotiable.