"nobody puts baby in the corner"

One of my best friends Ashley just had a baby last week!

He's adorable!

My brother's wife just had a baby this week.

He has lucked out with some stinking cute kids.

AND THE SUMMER OF BABIES CONTINUES:

• My friend Kristen at work is due in two weeks
• My sister-in-law Brook is due in June
• My other sister-in-law Ginger is due in July

new favorites

So besides the new grocery bags Brad got me for my birthday here are some of my other new favorites:

**An amazing apron from Anthropolgie. Kristin and Jenny gave it to me for my birthday and the picture does not do its cuteness justice. It might even be too pretty to cook in, I might just have to dance around in it Disney style so it never gets dirty.**This was kind of a present to myself, but this past weekend I got a waterbottle from our favorite local hiking store Out N Back (Plug Alert: if you are a camping/hiking enthusiast and you are ever in Provo you must visit Out N Back. Best place ever! It kicks the trash out of REI). It's a 32 oz bottle from Camelbak and I love that it has a straw you drink through and the top is wide enough to put ice in. My goal is to drink more water and having this guy around definitely makes it more enjoyable.

confessions of a twilight-a-holic

So I, Bridget, have a confession. Now it's not new information that I love the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer, but the first Twilight movie comes out this December and my number one guilty pleasure is obsessively reading all the updates on the making of the movie.

The movie industry fascinates me in general but when it's something that I'm already familiar with and extremely excited to see on the big screen it's adds an intense level of interest. The new trend among movies (especially those with a target audience of 12-25 year olds) is to have a direct connection between the fans and the actors. This is made possible with the thing they call the World Wide Web. Actors have been readily available for face-to-face interviews, written interviews, and live pod casts with the everyday jo-schmo fan sites. And Summit Entertainment (the company producing Twilight) has even put out a poll on the fan websites to ask them what kind of Twilight merchandise they would purchase. And this is just the tip of the Twilight iceberg!

It's an incredibly brilliant plan! They are connecting directly with the fans and getting them excited months before its release date and Summit Entertainment is getting free research for their upcoming marketing campaign. It's genius because it's working, especially on me. I check the fan sites almost everyday to see if there is new press photos released, interviews posted, or exciting clips of behind the scenes information. I'm continually giving updates to my friends about the status of the movie, which makes me a free advertisement for Twilight and a dream come true for Summit Entertainment.

In short, my fascination has led me to this final confession: I can no longer call myself a casual bystander in the Twilight machine, I have in fact become a "Twilighter" (what the internet community calls the die-hard fans) and I'm not ashamed to admit it! Some marketing guru just earned their ridiculously over-paid Hollywood paycheck, are you happy Summit Entertainment?

happy green birthday to me!

So, I am now 25 and although I didn't have a "quarter life crisis" as John Mayer would say, I did however start to think I should become more responsible in the amount of waste I produce. I don't agree with every aspect of the Green Movement (don't even get Brad started), but I think there are real things that everyone can do to make a difference. With that said Brad was amused to find out that what I really wanted for my birthday was reusable grocery bags. I searched the internet and found these excellent bags that meet my criteria for size, price, and cuteness. They fold up to about the size of a deck of cards so I can carry them around in my ginormous purse when they aren't being used. Can't wait to go shopping with them! Thanks to Brad for the fantastic birthday gift!

http://www.delight.com/ECO-DELIGHTFUL/Reusable-Bags-Bottles

graduation

Congratulations to the newest Carn graduate! This pictures was taken in front of the Clyde Building where he pratically lived for the last four years. Good thing his summer job has him working here or he might have shed a few tears on his last day.

I'm bummed now that I can't hold it over Brad's head that I'm smarter than him because I have a degree and he doesn't. Dang it! That was my perfect ending to a "who's wrong and who's right" conversation. Now I'll just have to play the "I'm older and wiser" card (even if it's only by a month).

Graduation was great, except that when they called his name they mistakenly took "Brad" clearly typed by a computer for "Bradey". So when they announced his name as "Bradey Carn" we all got a good laugh. In my opinion Brad is a far more common name and yet this has happend to him on a couple of different occasions. In the future when the alumni association calls Brad to donate to BYU he's going to ask "Are you looking for Brad or Bradey?" and then hang up.

By the way, enjoy the whiteness. You can see just how harsh the winter was here by our skin, yikes! Yeah we'll be taking care of that soon. Hiking and camping here we come!

Brad and his buddy Rich who is also going to Dental School this fall.

Brad & I, aka The Whiteness

if you graduate from BYU you have to have your picture taken here, it's practically the law

Brad's parents came in all the way from Chicago!

irondave

Bridget's dad is currently in China to compete in his 10th Inronman! This is the first official Ironman in China and David has always wanted to go on a vacation there so it was a perfect fit.

Good Luck & Congratulations!

gandalf

So you know that episode of Friends where Chandler and Ross's friend Gandalf is coming to town and they get all excited because they always end up doing unpredictable and crazy things when he’s around? Well when Brad’ brother Charlie comes to town as part of his semi-annual recruiting trips to BYU it feels a lot like that. Just Provo style. This is the same brother that when Brad and I were dating he took me out to get ice cream so he could find out if I wanted to marry Brad.

Well this latest trip eclipsed them all. The first night he was here we started off at a refined restaurant with a group of candidates and by the end of the night we were at our apartment playing poker with another Carn brother Dave, a couple we had never met before, and our good friends Scott and Nicole.

The second night we started out at the Chemical Engineering Banquet and ended up going bowling, and then back to our place to play Settlers of Catan while simultaneously downing 5,000 calories worth of chips, soda, and chocolate. Charlie then passed out on the couch as we tried to watch Season 3 of The Office at midnight.

Good times.

Sadly this was out last trip from Charlie while we still live in Provo, but it definately was the best.

Charlie and his son Ethan

(Brook: I hope you don't mind that I stole this from your blog!)

Extreme Home Workout

Brad has a new love in his life... P90X. A home workout system. The idea behind this workout is "muscle confusion". Each workout introduced new routines and moves so that your body never plateaus and so you don't get bored with working out. The only equipment you need is a pull-up bar and hand weights. The workouts have you doing things like Cardio, Plyomentrics, and Power Yoga.

So about a month ago I walked in to the family room to find Brad completely engrossed in a commercial advertisement for P90X. He turns to me when it's done and says "I think I want to try that". Right then I knew I was in trouble, because let me tell you something about Brad: when he gets something in his mind he has to spend hours pouring over the details, researching meticulously to look for the faults, and crunching the numbers to make sure everything makes sense. He becomes completely obsessed and almost no rational speaking from me can talk him out of it.

Now let me tell you something about me: I'm a cynic and I buy in to very little hype, especially when a very tan muscle bound man is the one trying to sell it to me. But after Brad's research, hearing an actor with no agenda randomly talking about it in an interview, and one of my co-workers being the physical testimony to it's wonderfulness I think I'm sold as well.

So we have obtained the 12 "highly diverse and intense workout" dvds and the nutrition guide and we are ready to go. We begin our 90 day program this weekend and while Brad's goal is to get "ripped again" my goal is to "tone up". If our before and after pics are anything spectacular they will posted on the blog. Here's to hoping I don't end up looking like this:



More P90X Info: http://www.beachbody.com/product/p90x.do?code=GOOGLE_P90X

snoop dog converts?

This was one of the better april fools jokes I saw this year... it seriously had me going for a good 5 minutes. Who ever wrote this article was definately LDS because the quotes are pretty believable. CNN you almost had me!

http://cnnentertainment.co.nr/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/01



**Credit goes to Breanne for posting this link on her blog.

there's something about holidays

April Fools Day is actually a little sentimental for me because one year ago today Brad proposed. Who proposes on April Fools Day, right? It's actually fitting that Brad and I would get engaged on a holiday because a lot of the important dates in mine and Brad's relationship have been incidentally marked by holidays.

* Halloween 2005: We started dating
* 4th of July 2006: We flew to Naperville to meet Brad's family
* Thanksgiving 2006: Brad met my extended family
* St. Patrick's Day 2007: We looked at engagement rings
* April Fools Day 2007: We got engaged
* Four Days Before Brad's Birthday 2007: We got married (this one is a stretch but I just had to complete the entire relationship)

So now my guess is we'll probably have our first child on Christmas or Easter (DISCLAIMER: that is in no way a hint at anything, Brad and I are not pregnant!).

This one is for Chris...

I've received a demand to update the blog! Sorry, apparently our blog is here to entertain Chris while he takes "breaks" from his work day :)

So the funniest revelation I've had about Brad since we got married is that he talks in his sleep. He must be more stressed out than normal because not only does he talk in his sleep but he is both "physically" and "verbally" abusive while doing it.

Case #1. About two weeks ago Brad fell asleep before me while I was up reading. About an hour after he fell asleep he leaned up on his elbow with this huge grin on his face and said really loud "You are ready to be born!". So I started laughing and then he started talking gibberish; the only thing I could really make out is that he was talking about money and our finances. Then he got really mad that I was laughing at him so he said "If you don't stop laughing I'm going to kick you in your face", which only made me laugh more. With that he pulled his leg back to wind up and kneed me in my back! He swears to not remember anything.

Case #2. Two nights ago I was up late reading and at one point Brad quickly sat straight up and starting saying "Where are the trumpets?" and proceeded to lift up the covers and crawl around the bed. Of course I am now familiar with his late night shenanigans so I started laughing. I told him to go back to sleep and he said "No wait, let me explain. You have money going in and money going out". This only made me laugh more at which point he said "Never mind, you are so annoying!". He was really mad at me and then turned his back on me. I told him that calling my "annoying" hurt my feelings and he said "I don't care". At that point I actually did get mad because I thought for a second: What if this is subconsciously what he really thinks about me? So I fell asleep and demanded an apology in the morning, he kind of remembers trying to talk to me about money but not much else. Oh, and he did apologize even though we both thought it was really funny.

What I've learned: don't laugh when Brad is talking in his sleep and Brad needs to stop reading all those financial books and start being nicer to his wife. Just kidding, love you!

swoosh, swoosh...

So after a few days of wonderful sping-like weather here in Utah I am currently looking out my office window at a blizzard. Greeaaatt. So that reminded me that I need to post pictures from our ski trip. Brad and I felt foolish for not taking advantage of the world class skiing that is literally 45 minutes from our apartment, so our big goal for this winter was to hit the slops! Our ski bunny friend Ellie took us to Brighton because it's the "easiest" of the resorts around here. I'm glad we had her expertise and I only had one big fall. After surviving the big day I can honestly say that I'm sad we didn't go more often. Plug Alert: Thanks to Outdoors Unlimited at BYU for the amazingly inexpensive gear rental.

I've been tagged by Kristin!

My friend Kristin tagged me to complete this questionaire, so everyone gets to learn a little bit more about Bridget, happy tuesday!

1) Where I was ten years ago:

* I was a sophomore at Clark High School. I was in Choir, on the varsity swim team and fighting for the affection of Tyler Moselle. Ha ha. Probably my least favorite year of my life thus far. I had just moved to Plano, Texas from Okinawa, Japan and I was a little shell shocked about making new friends and getting used to life in the States again. But it was also the year I met Kristin and Ashley so I guess “least favorite year” is a little strong :)

2) 5 things on my “To Do” list today:

* Finish Reading The Other Boleyn Girl (I’m a little ashamed to admit I read this, it’s a bit racy!) and start reading Little Women for my book club.
* Clean the bathrooms (At home, not work. Yeah, luckily I don’t work at Einstein’s anymore!)
* Go to the gym
* Make Taco Soup for dinner
* Watch American Idol

3) Things I would do if I became a billionaire:

* I would quit work and travel immediately before Brad and I have kids. I would study photography and get all the best cameras. I would hire Giada and Bobby Flay as my personal chefs so I could spend my time reading good books and exercising. I would have a house that includes an indoor and an outdoor pool, a mystic tan, a personal theater with every movie available, and a walk-in fridge filled only with Blue Bell ice cream. I would have that sweet closet in Clueless that matches up your clothes for you (except it would be filled with Ann Taylor and Anthropologie clothes). I would have a house in Paris, a sweet cabin in the mountains (probably Utah), and a home on the beach somewhere (next door to Kristin’s Balboa house). I would go to New York at least once a year to catch up on all the Broadway Musicals. I would go the Tony’s, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars every year. I would have life time tickets to the NBA finals, Superbowl and World Series… Somewhere along the way I’d pull an Angelina and give some money to the poor. From this it sounds like I’d be Saul from Ocean’s 11, “I want the last check I write to bounce”

4) Three of my bad habits:

* I unintentionally say mean things to people
* I speed big time on my way to work
* I never ever check my voicemail (On my cell phone or at work, for some reason I hate it! Luckily it seems important people I deal with at work always email)

5) Five Places I have lived :

* Newport, Rhode Island
* Madrid, Spain
* Indianapolis, Indiana
* Okinawa, Japan
* Monterey, California

6) Jobs I have had:

* Einstein’s Bagels food artist
* Swim teacher of 2-12 year olds
* Nordstrom sales associate
* Marriott center ticket sales associate
* Do whatever I want employee of InstallPro Inc.

7) Something Most People Don’t Know About Me:

* I love watching Poker on TV, especially the Main Event.
* I love the song Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley (As Kristin and I would say in jest: "Reggae and slavery, mmmm those are the best").
* I’m a little OCD because it is almost impossible for me to fall asleep with my closet door open.


After re-reading this I just realized what I have just shared with the world wide web: I am materialistic, I read trashy novels, and I break the law everyday. I promise I'm not really a bad person!

I'm tagging Brad so his will come in the next post!

bowling update

So in our two games last night Brad bowled a 191 and then a 199. After his brief celebration he suggested that I blog about his accomplishments. So here you go babe, congrats!

In other news, I bowled a 91 and then a 104 and thought I was the best bowler on the planet. Oh well, at least I can still beat Brad in scrabble every time.

In still more news, the girl in this poster is a bit scandalously dressed for a night of bowling, no? I do envy her cute red bowling shoes, I'm going to have to pick some of those up this weekend.

dogs.

So I've decided that I'm the biggest nerd on the planet. I love the Westminster Dog Show! It's probably the writers strike (word on the street is that officially ended today) and the lack of nothing else to watch, but I was completely fascinated for all six hours. I found myself rooting for the Weimaraner because "she was so disciplined" and hating the poodles because "who likes poodles?" and I actually cheered when they named the Beagle best in show. Who am I? Along with listening to NPR I think I can now officially start going to the Opera and eating caviar.


This is the french bulldog I would now like to own...

This is the poster that I am currently searching on ebay for, love it...

Don't worry, I know am ridiculous.

give kids a smile

For the past six months I have been on the planning committee for the Give Kids A Smile event. It's an annual one day event where dentists, hygienist and general volunteers get together and offer free dental care to underprivileged children from local charter 1 schools. The children are chosen by social workers and school counselors who have recognized that they need assistance. Here in Utah our event takes place at three locations and helps between 200 - 250 kids with over $40,000 in donated supplies. Before you think I did this out of the goodness of my heart, the company I work for is actually their major sponsor and a co-worker and I were given the assignment to be the company representatives on the committee. Let me tell you, I don't think I could have asked for a better assignment. Getting paid to plan a charity event was pretty much the best of both worlds. Because of my PR degree they thought I would be a natural fit for doing all the PR work for the event. Which in theory makes sense except that I haven't done a lot of PR outside of the classroom. So since all the PR fell squarely on my shoulders I was under a little bit of stress to say the least. In the end, we made in on the channel 5 news, we had a Sunday article in the Deseret Morning News and the new Salt Lake City mayor showed up and took a tour of the event. All in all the event went better than anticipated and seeing how many children the event helped was so worth all the months of planning. I even convinced Brad to volunteer because we hope that after dental school we can be a part of events like this. I went home that night and Brad and I both fell asleep at 7 PM and didn't wake up until 9:30 AM the next morning! It was great to be a part of, but I am definately glad that all the anxiety is over.

go giants!

So for once the commercials and half time show were upstaged by the game. I love the anxiety of it all, Eli's face with 59 seconds left to go was priceless! I wasn't particularly attached to either team but I cheered for the Giants because who doesn't love a good underdog story? And let's be honest, who doesn't love a Manning? The other highlight of the night was celebrating America's second favorite sport: eating. Between french fries, chicken wings, veggie tray, chips and dip, little smokies, and cheese fondue (yes we made it classy) it's needless to say that Brad and I will be eating only salads for the next three weeks.

I shamelessy stole these pictures from ellie's blog, no remorse. I was too lazy to take pictures.

Rachel, Anthony and I before the stomach cramps hit

Ellie and Eli, can't you just see that on a wedding announcement? Too bad he's taken.

bowling for life!

Brad and I are in a bowling league with another couple, our friends Scott and Nicole. Together we are the amazing bowling team of "Spare Me". We even made shirts. We improved slightly over last week's numbers (we were ranked 4th from last, but two teams didn't even show up) so we are looking to get better every week. Nicole is our dark horse, she'll kick the trash out of most guys in know! Good times to come...

President Hinckley

I suppose it's the selfishness in me but I am really going to miss President Hinckley. I completely agree that this was his time and he is now enjoying the grandest of reunions with his wife, but I'm really going to miss him waving that cane whenever he entered and exited the Conference Center.

I took a religion class at BYU studying the lives of LDS prophets since 1901 and we spent about half the semester on Gordon B. Hinckley. As part of the class I had to read Go Forward With Faith (President Hinckley's biography) and I absolutely loved every page. It contains the most amazing stories and renewed my faith in not only President Hinckley but in the positions of modern day Prophets and Apostles. I'm sad he's gone but I'm also really excited for the church and the amazing groundwork that President Hinckley has put in to place for the coming years.

So I was reading what the national newspapers had to say about President Hinckley's death because I am amused at the way they word things and some of the factual errors they get wrong. The most interesting is that the Associated Press (it's the major source that many everyday newspapers get their articles from) is reporting that President Hinckley was the longest serving President of the church. Excuse me? Brigham Young, 29 years? Heber J. Grant 27 years? I checked on both lds.org and wikipedia to see how easy that information was to find and it took me maybe 2 minutes... maybe they got confused because he's the longest serving apostle (I don't even know if that is true)? Reporters are always good for a laugh when it comes to reporting on the church :)

it's time for an update

Seven Months:

Brad and I have been married just over seven months and a few weeks ago we ate the cake topper to Brad’s groom’s cake. We sang “Bear Down” as we cut it, and although Brad said it tasted good Bridget had a few respectful bites before she threw hers out (freezer burn is not her kind of scrumptious).

Our biggest news:

We are 98% sure that we are going to UIC. So it looks like come the end of July we will be moving our way to Chicago. We will be Midwesterners for the next four years at least.

Christmas Summary:

We had a wonderful Christmas with Bridget’s Mom here in Utah. Brad got two weeks off of school and Bridget took a few days off of work. With Brad pulling all nighters the last few weeks of Fall semester it was a much needed break. We received way too many presents, we were definitely spoiled this year! Our favorite presents were the Sonicare Toothbrushes (for the future oral surgeon family) and the large gift card to Café Rio (for the currently poor college family). Both have been used nearly daily, ha ha. Here is a summary of how we spent our Christmas day. This is Brad sleeping through brunch…

A few fun things we’ve done:

Before Christmas we went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Choir with our friends Kristin and Kristi. It definitely put us in the Christmas mood! The day after Christmas we went to see the Dallas Mavericks play the Utah Jazz (Bridget survived a verbal assault by an intoxicated Jazz fun, real classy Utah). The tickets were a great Christmas present from Bridget’s mom even if the Mavs lost. We also went with our friends Amber and Matt to see the Utah Flash (the D league team for the Jazz and Celtics that play at UVSC). We got excellent court side tickets through Matt and sat a few chairs down from the team. Here is a picture of Bridget’s favorite player James Lang, she nicknamed him Knuckle-Crusha because he looks like a football player (he’s 6.10 and 285 lbs!!!). Funny story: One of the players named Aleksandar Urgrinoski from Croatia winked at Brad, gave him the rock and also pointed at him at the end of the game. We are hoping he just thought we were in a position to give him some type of an endorsement deal, ahem.

With just a matter of months left here in Utah we are trying to get out and do more so we went and saw the Young Ambassador’s at BYU. The Broadway numbers were the best, Brad said performances of Wicked were almost as good (visually and vocally) to the professional version!

New Years Resolution:

Keep the blog updated better :)

BEST OF 2007: music

Since Brad has next to no interest in music this countdown is pretty much all from Bridget. The best songs were impossible to compile! After much obsessing this is what I came up with. Sorry!


Best female songs (no order)
Sara Bareilles – Love Song
Beyonce – Irreplaceable
Meiko – Reasons to Love
Tegan & Sarah – Call it Off
Feist – 1234
Alisha Keys – No One
Ingrid Michaelson – Keep Breathing
Fergie – Klumsy
Regina Spektor – On The Radio
Paramore – Misery Business

Best male songs (no order)
Muse – Starlight
Justin Timberlake – Love Stoned
The Shins – Phantom Limb
Maroon5 – Won’t Go Home Without You
Guster – Satellite
Angels and Airwaves – Everything’s Magic
Mika – Happy Ending
OneRepublic – Apologize (although I’m sick of this song, I still have to give it props)

Best cover of their own song
Rihanna – Umbrella (acoustic version)

Inexplicably addictive songs (no order)
Miley Cyrus – See You Again
Elliott Yamin – Wait For You

Best Use of a Song in a Commercial
Ingrid Michaelson – The Way I Am

Best music by the worst person
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (I’m sorry her album is awesome!)

Worst thing to happen to music…
Heidi Montag recording an album. (Come on! Was she trying to write herself into some SNL skits?)

The only music that Brad and I still agree on…
Michael Buble

Favorite Album I Bought This Year…
Colbie Caillet – Coco

BEST OF 2007: movies

disclaimer... we got married, bridget started a new job, and brad is a semester away from graduating so we didn't see our normal amount of movies this year, if we left something awesome off it's because we didn't see it. But give us recommendations and we'll try and catch up!

best action movie
transformers, live free or die hard

best drama
dan in real life

best comedy movie
blades of glory

best chick flick movie
waitress

best PG and under movie
august rush

best harry potter movie
harry potter 5


biggest suprise
enchanted, oceans 13

best movie they finally edited and aired on tbs
old school, love actually

movie bridget really wants to see
juno


best rented movie
little manhattan (actually came out in 2006)


biggest dissapointment
pirates 3

looking forward to in 2008
star trek (brad), mamma mia (could be awesome, could be horrid), dark knight, james bond, harry potter, twilight

BEST OF 2007: television

to commemorate this fine year I think we all need a look back at it's wonderfulness and not so wonderfulness... in the style of everything vh1 we will do this in a series of lists & countdowns, get ready!

(disclaimer: this is the opinion of brad & bridget, we encourage disagreements, outrage and plenty of witty remarks letting us know how wrong we are)

best show
The Office

best new show
Burn Notice

honorable mention
Big Bang Theory, Reaper

best show I missed the first time then caught up via dvd
Heroes

honorable mention
How I Met Your Mother

guilty pleasure
The Hills

honorable mention
Gossip Girl, So Think You Think You Can Dance

best educational show
Planet Earth

best show in syndication
Law and Order (I'm pretty sure we've seen every episode twice)

show that jumped the shark
24 (sorry jack I guess I now take your world saving abilities for granted, can’t help it)

show that almost jumped the shark
Grey’s Anatomy (when Izzy started doing CPR on a deer, are you kidding me?)

worst thing that happened to television
the writers strike

UIC

Woo hoo! We just got word that Brad was accepted to the University of Illinois at Chicago! We are thrilled! We won't make any decisions right away but at least Dental School is a reality, he really will be going to school next year, to at least UIC. It feels good to finally have the pressure over!

i scream, you scream

This might be the best news I've heard all year...

"Good news for ice cream lovers: A recent Swedish study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that women who have at least one serving of full-fat dairy products a day gain less weight than women who don’t. Researchers aren’t entirely sure why, but it’s believed that a compound in milk fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) may aid weight loss."

two down & eight to go

Well Brad finished his interview with Southern Illinois yesterday. He said everything went well and he really liked the 'small town' feel of Alton. We should be hearing back from both schools before November 30th! We still haven't heard anything back from any other schools, but that's two down and eight to go! It feels good to have a few schools completely out of our hands.

gone baby gone

So brad is gone for the weekend for his two dental school interviews for the University of Illinois at Chicago and Southern Illinois. He already had the one at UIC and at the end of his second interview they told him "Well I don't see any reason why we won't see you here next year". Who knows if they say that to all the applicants, but we were still pleased. They told us that we would most likely hear back from them by Nov. 30 so we will keep you updated! Well since Brad is gone I don't have a lot going on, but here are some random thoughts...

************
My book club is officially up and running! Our first meeting is on December 6th from 7-8 PM. We are reading "Twilight" to start things off non-offensive and easy. Anyone interested in coming is more than welcome! It's at my apartment and I promise there will be some delicious vampire themed food :)

************
My mom finally moved in to her house in Lehi, so while Brad is out of town I will be spending all my time helping her unpack and get things ready for the holidays. Hopefully by Saturday night we can a have a few beds set up so I can just sleep there instead of driving back and forth from Provo.

************
Brad and I are desperate to go to the BYU/Utah game next Saturday (but not desperate enough to spend a fortune). If anyone knows how we can obtain reasonably priced tickets we are very interested! Hey, we'll even take free tickets :)

************
Brad and I tried to make a list of things we want for Christmas and it was next to impossible! We could barely think of three items between the two of us. Remember the good old days when you would just list everything in the Toys R Us catalogue and call it a day? That thing was as big a phone book! Come on, it was incredible. I'm sure I could do the same thing with Pottery Barn, but my point is Christmas isn't the same wonderfully shallow holiday it is when you are a kid. When you are older it's all about family and Christ and giving! When did this happen?

************
I've been conducting an experiment at work called "dress for the job you want". Apparently when you wear heels and skirts in a professional environment all of sudden you become taken seriously. Weirdly enough it's seriously true.

************
The Mavs have now beat San Antonio and Golden State! Cuban Nation can now take a collective sigh of relief. I feel like we might be on to something good here. By the way this picture is amazing, but cracks me up- the slogan "New Heights" and a crate? Doesn't matter, Avery is the man.

help!

Okay, so I know the intention of the blog isn't normally to generate discussion or solicit feedback but I am desperate! I (Bridget) have been assigned the calling of running the Relief Society book club... yeah this produces both bad and good feelings in me... but that's a whole other blog post all together. What I really need help with is coming up with book ideas.

This is the list I have so far, and I just need some suggestions on appropriate/interesting books. If this were my own independent book club I could come up with a million books to read but I'm riding the fine line here of pleasing everyone and no one at the same time.

In summary: can anyone see of any of these books being possibly inappropriate and also any other suggestions? I'm looking for 4 more books to add to the list knowing that half of them will probably be cut.

Life of Pi- Yann Martel
Jane Eyre- Charlotte Brontë
Man’s Search for Meaning- Viktor Frankl
Rebecca- Daphne du Maurier
The Secret Life of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd
Little Women- Louisa May Alcott
Girl in Hyacinth Blue- Susan Vreeland
My Name is Asher Lev- Chaim Potok
1776- David McCullough
Orson Scott Card- Enchantment
A Girl Named Zippy- Haven Kimmel
Peace Like a River- Leif Enger
These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine- Nancey E Turner
Crow Lake- Mary Lawson

1776: I'm worried about this one because it's a little dense and some might not be in to this genre.

I haven't read: The Secret Life of Bees, but it came highly recommended by another book clubber I talked to.

Rebecca is also really long and talks about adultery... but she is portrayed as the evil character and the adultery is never romanticized or condoned.

mmmmm.... this might all be a lost cause. HELP!

may the force be with you

our nephew was yoda for halloween, how sweet is that?

the finer things club

Jim's irish accent on the office last night had both brad and I wishing we were in the Finer Things Club... if you know what I mean...

By the way, that was the best episode so far this season. Here are some quotes to re-live the magic again and again. ALL GOLD.

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Michael: [dictating a want-ad for Stanley’s replacement] Wanted: middle-aged black man with sass. Big butt. Bigger heart. I can’t…do this…

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Dwight: The eyes are the groin of the head.

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Andy: The “Finer Things Club” is the most exclusive club in this office. Naturally it’s where I need to be. The Party Planning Committee is my backup and Kevin’s band is my safety.

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Michael: You cannot take the hilarious black guy from the office. Stanley is part of what makes this branch so extraordinary: the bluesy wisdom, the sassy remarks, the crossword puzzles, the smile, those big watery red eyes. I don’t know how George Bush did it when Colin Powell left.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

So the company I work for is obsessed with Halloween. Each department is given a cash budget to decorate their department in a theme. Outside judges are brought in to rate the departments and costumes and give prizes. For lunch they served Hot Chocolate and donuts and played the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Movie on all the TVs. Then for the last hour of the day everyone's kids came and trick-or-treated to each department. There are about 400 employees so there were a whole slew of kids running around. My department decided to go with the Wizard of Oz theme and I was assigned the role of Dorothy. While my costume was a little small (my aunt made it for her daughter when she was in high school) it was fun to see everyone get so in to it. The department that won the decorating contest did Nightmare Before Christmas (they covered everything in black, put black lights throughout the office and hand painted life size versions of all the characters and had the movie projected on all the walls). It was pretty incredible to see all the talent and effort that went in to everything.

After work I went over to Brooke and Dave's to pass out their Halloween candy while they took their kids trick-or-treating. Lauren was Ariel (kudos to Brooke for finding the awesome Ariel wig) and Scott was a Nay-Nay (his word for horse or anything horse related). Brad and Scott are best buds so Brad was especially said he couldn't be there to see them in their costumes.

Lauren: "Did Uncle Brad dress up as Toto?"

Bridget: "No, I think Brad dressed up as BYU student."

Lauren: "... That's not fun!"
Bridget: "I think Brad would agree."

zions + vegas = legendary

(R-L: Chas, JC, Kjell, Ellie, Rach, Anthong, Mattie, Bridget, Brad)

So last Friday our "Adventure Club" (so named because we supposedly go on wild adventures a few times a year) drove down to St. George to stay in the condo of Anthony's gracious grandmother. We got up early Saturday morning (not too early, we were still two hours behind schedule of course) and went to Zion's National Park to hike Angel's Landing. Now for the unfamiliar Angel's Landing is 5785 feet tall. The trail is a five mile loop with a 1488 foot increase in altitude. The trail is strenuous and littered with sharp drop offs and narrow paths. People have died while hiking the trail atop the steep narrow cliffs. However, the views from the end of the trail are spectacular and well worth the climb. This is a sign showing how not to accidentally walk off a cliff.

This is the end of the trail, four feet to the left or right and you'd sky-dive sans parachute 1500 feet.

This is a bridge at the beginning of the trail; Zion's has an amazing red hue in the rocks. The mountains are overwhelmingly massive but gorgeous. The other pictures is a little cave on the trail; we couldn't resist the disgustingly cute photo op.

These are our two "dangerous" pictures. That's me swinging my legs over the ledge, and Brad doing his best Spiderman impression, this looks a lot more dangerous than it was...

So after the hike we decided to do Vegas: Couples Style. We found it a little ironic that the three married couples chose to venture down to Vegas on a Saturday night while the three single people stayed in St. George to get fast food and play cards (reportedly they actually had a rip-roaring time and stayed up until 6:30 AM in an intense game of Tarot). What, you might ask, is there to do in Vegas when you are LDS, married, and poor? Not a whole lot. We went to the Cheesecake factory (yum!) walked around Caesar's Palace (excellent decor, they've really spruced the place up recently), and walked over to the Ballagio to watch the fountains (not running due to high winds). This is the best picture we came up with after we found the most non-camera-stealing looking person we could find to take the picture... :) The blurry effect really says a lot about Vegas.

All in all an A+ as far as Adventure Club trips go... next up we are going white water rafting on the snake river in the spring.

st. louis people

And they are finally rollin in... Brad just got a call from Southern Illinois and they want to interview him too (not one of our top choices but we'd still get in-state tuition). The school is down near St. Louis which reminds me of a story:

When Brad & I were on our way to Chicago last summer we flew Southwest. As most of you know you pick your seating when you board the plane. So at the last minute this family boarded and their kids had to be scattered all over in various vacant seats. Their seven year old son sat next to us and we enjoyed his lively conversation, he was hilarious. At one point he asked us (now I don't know how to say this the most pc way, but he was a little black boy from the city so imagine it in that kind of an accent) "Where you guys come from?", so we told him we were from Utah but we were on our way to visit Chicago. He paused for a moment and considered this and then said "Oh, I thought you was from St. Louis". We asked him why and he responded "You look like St. Louis people!", we laughed and hoped it was somewhat of a compliment. Now I don't know what "St. Louis people" look like, but at least we'd have the seven-year-olds fooled!

We'll keep you updated as we hopefully hear back from more schools!

dental school update

So we've been completely unnerved while awaiting any kind of a response from the 10 (yes 10!) dental schools we applied to in June. Too bad they take their sweet time because Brad and I have been on edge for the last month eager for good news. Well yesterday we finally heard from our top choice UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Brad has an interview! Not only is this our top choice it's probably one of the hardest to get in to of the ten. This doesn't mean he's been accepted but it's a great start, they only interview a small percentage of the top applicants. To us it seems like the hardest part is over (waiting) but I can tell it's only just begun. Hopefully we'll start hearing from more schools and we can get some of the interviews scheduled for the same trip.

UIC is our top choice because it's an excellent dental school and it has a one year (as opposed to two year) medical program that Brad will go through to specialize in after the four year dental program. Additionally, we'll be eligible for in-state tuition! Brad grew up in Illinois and though we aren't thrilled with the idea of being away from the mountains & our normal outdoor activities we are certain we can make it work. It will also be nice to still be close to family.

Brad's interview isn't scheduled yet, it will probably be within the next few weeks so we'd appreciate any available prayers thrown our way :)

bear down, chicago bears...

I don't know I must be in the football mood... my friend Ellie just convinced me to sign up for a girl's flag football team. Our first game is Thursday! I know there will be unintential comedy galore, we'll see. Apparently these chicks are intense, they have plays! Hmmmm...

So with football on my mind I came across this picture last night. This is all of Brad's brothers and his dad wearing shirts I made them. They say "Ditka, Polish Sausage, Bears". I for one thought it was a clever ode to SNL, and what better way is there to win over your new in-laws then with sports paraphenlia?

Left to right: dave, chris, charlie, ken, brad, ross

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By the way, while we are on the football track, it's probably appropriate I make a few shout outs:

--- To Chris for always providing us with a large screen viewing of the Bears games (whether in his own home or another)
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--- To Chris's dog maggie for the amazingly foul smells she produces from such a tiny body during the Bear's games
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--- To our sister-in-law Brooke (& Dave) for usually providing an amazing Sunday (and sometimes Saturday) meal for us... to prepare us for the Bears games
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--- To Griese for not making a complete fool of himself, Tillman for his forced turnovers, and Lovie for his awsomeness... the whole season is now worth it since we beat the Packers (sorry Favre!)

hail to the chief

So Brad & I took a quiz to see who we should vote for in the next presidential election. Pretty interesting results. Apparently Brad & I should vote for Fred Thompson. Yeah, that Fred Thompson. What? Loved your work in Curley Sue Fred! Mmmm we are addicted to Law & Order, maybe there's something there...

I'm just a little worried, does he know that if he's elected he'll actually have to be the president, not just play one?

Here's to you D.A. Arthur Branch... you've got two votes. Maybe.

vampires...

It's funny how I only learned to love to read when I was finished with school. College nearly ruined it as I was forced to read pretentious short stories and 'classic' novels. Not all of it was bad, but for some reason a situation where I was forced to read a so-called intellectual novel because it had an obviously existential theme and then forced to discuss it with a room full of drabbling idiots who liked the sound of their own voices while trying to impress our grad student of a teacher put a bad taste in my mouth. Funny how that works, huh? Now I can choose what I read (even if it's still the so-called intellectual novels, at least it's by choice) and quietly consider my own conclusions and deeper meanings. So my point is, now I really enjoy reading.

After recently finishing the marathon of a series on the life of Josephine Bonaparte I felt like I had lost a friend. That is until my sister-from-another-mister Kristin got me hooked on the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.

Now for those non-believers out there, yes it's technically written for the young adult crowd (but so is Harry Potter, so that can't be a reason not to read it) and yes the love story is a little over-the-top (that's completely true and I have no excuses), but there is so much more to enjoy! There is this whole other vampire world hidden from humans while they live among us, and just like Harry and the magical world, now sometimes I forget that vampires really don't exist. So, since I read all three books in about 8 days it's kind of been on my mind a lot and now it seems like everything reminds me of vampires. So here is some recent evidence that I came across last night. He's my own little Edward!

Point of this blog... I like to read, Brad looked really cute as a three year old vampire :)

sweet justice...

Dear guy who controls the temperature at work,

I'm not sure whether you think sitting at desk all day while 12 degree arctic air forms icicles off of my computer will inspire me to work more efficiently or if the power you wield has all gone to your head as you show us all who's really in control. Either way I defy you! I applaud your effort. Better luck next time.

Love,
Bridget




Dear Lasko Ceramic Heater with adjustable thermostat,

I love you!

Love,
Bridget