Hunger Games

My friends and family have been talking about the Hunger Games for over a year. I barely hear about it, and suddenly there's a movie coming out, and Hot Topic is teeming with paraphernalia. As always.

I've resisted for so long, but I'm finally coming around to the idea of it. So I go visit my parents one weekend. And what do you know, the books are sitting on the counter, all shiny and new. My lovely, wonderful father lets me borrow them.

I've been reading almost non stop. I went through the first book in a week, and the second in 4 days. I just finished it. Just now. Minutes ago!

We're going camping this weekend, and I plan to finish the third book before I return.

Candy Cigarettes

?!?!?!

For reals? Am I the only one who hasn't heard of these?

Source

The other day, before going on the maiden voyage of my parent's new trailer, we stopped off at a gas station to get drinks. My husband mentioned candy cigarettes, and was taken aback that I had never heard of them. Diane - the cashier at the gas station next to my work whom I see every day and is considered a friend - was  equally as shocked. Husband always jokes about me being so much younger than him (by 2 years and 1 month), but it's not an age difference. I hadn't heard about a lot of things until I got older. I was kinda sheltered as a child.

Even Ryan at work knows about candy cigarettes, and he's my age. He even said he got one a few months ago. Fortunately, I found a website that sells these things. Score!!!

Totally gonna buy some for my husband.

Hair

I've had my hair nearly every color under the sun. Except green, I could never bring myself to do green. You'd have to have specific looks to pull of green without it looking like leftover pool hair, or gangrene. Currently, my hair is black. It's a sort of blue-black, fading into a silvery brown. It's actually quite sad. But considering I've had my hair so blonde for so long, it's going to take a while for it to relax and keep the dark again.

I had a rainbow going on here.

I stumbled upon a cute blog, Dainty Squid, and she has the most exquisite hair diary of all time. I'm jealous of her ability to keep it a lovely color.

I'm itching to dye it again, but I don't want to damage my already sad short hair. I shall just suck it up for now and look at these lovely pictures :) 

Rasta

I'm kinda obsessed with Snoop Lion lately. I blame my husband, he's a huge Rasta nerd. Some days, I like to lay on the floor, listening to vinyls, burning some incense. If you haven't heard it, look it up. It's pretty much fantastic.

then i walk and i talk to this one
then i laugh and go to a better one
hey once you want to get the getty, getty,
and the problem will get real dretty, dretties

who feels it lost, and i suppose that you’ll never know
ohh, you’ll reap what you sow,
can’t let that come when that peace won’t fig row, nooo

la la la la la la la la la la, oh yeah
la la la la la la la la la la, oh yeah
la la la la la la la la la la, oh yeah
la la la la la la la la la la, oh yeah

see them hypocrites they come again
in my discrete dirty lies they might know my friend
though, a story like that happened
and the one who spilled on him will have a problem

hey, who feels it lose, and i suppose that they had me talk to stone,
hoo, you’ll reap what you sow but it the one well that you are bound to drop off

who feels it lost, and i suppose that you’ll never know
ohh, you’ll reap what you sow,
can’t let that come when that peace won’t fig row, nooo

la la la la la la la la la la, ooh yeah
la la la la la la la la la la, ooh yeah
la la la la la la la la la la, ooh yeah
la la la la la la la la la la, ooh yeah

respect! every time

 I made these for my husband, as wallpapers on his computer. 

Park City

Every year, my work has an annual Summer Party, usually at the end of the summer, right around my birthday. My first year of employment, we had the party at the Park City Mountain Resort. Second year was at Snowbird, third year was up Provo Canyon, and this year was back at Park City Mountain Resort. 

We only have two parties a year, so the bosses make it big. We had lunch at the bosses Park City home, with a jump house, raffle and volleyball tournament. We started the volleyball tradition last year, and my team failed miserably. But only because I had a broken nose from the night before (happy birthday to me), and we hadn't practiced at all. But this year, we had a fighting chance! Still lost, but not by such a large margin. We'll get 'em one day. 

After the lunch, we went back to the Park City Mountain Resort, where they provided us with tickets to the Alpine Slide and Alpine Coaster. We had done this my first year, so I was prepared for the ridiculously long line. My husband was not, however. But we still had fun.  

I am most excited about the Xmas Party! We have it at the Grand America in Salt Lake every year. Last year was my xmas with Husband, so we got a room at the Little America. The bed was uncomfortable, but the rest was really nice. Anyway. More on that later!

Rescues

Guest Post by Casi @ Build a Universe about Yours Truly:

The apartment building looked as though it’d been relocated to the middle of hell.  It was surrounded by cement blockades, burnt out cars, bodies in various states of decay, trash and blood.

He’d only known Sarah for about a month and a half but their relationship had gotten serious very quickly.  When shit hit the colloquial fan, all Jac could think about was her.  His mission became clear within hours of hearing the first reports of attacks on the news.  He only had a few weapons, but he gathered what he had, loaded them into a backpack and at the first rays of daylight he left for Sarah’s apartment.

He reached her apartment quickly, it was only a couple miles away.  He encountered one creature on the way.  He dispatched it quickly.  Perhaps too quickly, he thought as he surveyed the path he’d take to the apartment building entrance.  Desperate times call for desperate measures but Jac was suddenly uneasy with the complete lack of care he’d taken in killing the creature.  He shook his head, quietly hoping it would shake the images out of his mind’s eye.

His heart was racing, he’d seen enough movies to believe this would be the real challenge.  The lack of creatures encountered on his way over had him terrified that this would be the hotbed.  He was utterly shocked when he made it to her door unscathed.

He let the adrenaline from the run up wear out of his muscles a bit before knocking on Sarah’s door.  Each rap of his knuckles on her door pushed it open a crack at a time.  This spelled trouble and the adrenaline flooded back into his system as he pushed the door the rest of the way open.

“Sarah?”

He heard a groan from the kitchen and raised his gun in front of him.  As he rounded the corner of the kitchen door, his heart leapt into his throat.  Sarah was on the floor, pressed against her cabinets, her eyes barely open.  Her bare body was wrapped in her geometrically patterned shower curtain.

“Sarah!” He called, “Sarah are you ok?  Talk to me please.”

“It came in while I was showering.  I killed it, it’s in the bathroom.”

Jac lifted Sarah up and carried her into the living room.  He laid her onto the couch and held her face in his hands.

“Oh Sarah.  I’m so sorry, I came as fast as I could.”

“Oh stop!”  Sarah laughed, softly.  “I know you did.  I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.”

Jac smiled and kissed Sarah.  Overcome with emotion, Jac pulled Sarah up and led her into the bedroom, the shower curtain falling away in their wake.

—-

As Jac stood to  put his clothes back on Sarah rolled onto her stomach, a smile melting her face.  Jac’s heart dropped.  As his eyes moved over Sarah’s body he was quickly drawn to the gaping bite mark on her back.  How could she have not noticed the bite?

“I’ll be right back” He said, his head tilted to the side as he left the room.  Once in the living room, he picked up his gun and checked to ensure it was loaded.  He tucked it into the back of his waistband and returned to the bedroom doorway.

“Sarah?”

“Yes sweetheart?”

“The bite mark on your back.  It bit you?”

She stammered a response but his ears were deaf to it.  He’d seen her the day before and she’d been bite free.  He knew when it had happened.

“I’m sorry, Sarah.  Really sorry.”

Sarah rolled onto her knees and just as her hand stretched out in protest the shot cracked through the space between them.  A single drop of blood inched down Sarah’s forehead.

“It was just too good to be true.”

Jac pressed his back against the door frame and slid down to the floor.  He laid his head against his knees and stared at the body slumped over the end of the bed.

Tattoos

I have tattoos and piercings. My hair has been every color under the sun - except green, could never bring myself to try that one - so before opinions are made, let me explain why I do the things I do.

BECAUSE I FUCKING WANT TO.

I got my first tattoo when I was 18. My brothers had them, it was just the thing to do at that time in my life. I was out on my own, had a nice place, nice car, nice job. I feel like getting a tattoo is part of every kid's rite of passage into adulthood. The difference for me was that I enjoyed it way too much. Well, not even too much. I really enjoyed it. I got it at a shop that offered free touch ups for life, so I'd go back and get it touched it every once in a while just for that feeling again. Color me addicted.

Now, funny story about my second tattoo. I was living with my best friend at her dad's house. It was days before my birthday, and he randomly decided that he was going to start tattooing. He rigged a machine at home, and we drew up a design for her back, and one for me as well, and two hours later, we had new tattoos. Prison style, if you will.

(Image coming soon)

I got my third tattoo a year and a half later. I was living with a girl friend, we had both gone through break ups, we were both Virgos. So I drew up a virgo symbol and we went to get it tattooed. I got mine on my lower back, she got hers on the top of her foot. (Really? That's the worst place to have ink, except during the few hours you're outside in the summer, and then the sun fades the ink. So yeah. Bad place.)

It wasn't enough for me, it was just a small tattoo in the middle of my wide back. Back to the tattoo shop for me! This time, I drew up something reflecting more on my sense of style and what meant a lot to me, and I came up with the stars and moon and sun with rays. Only the idiot at the shop traced my drawing (which was shitty) and slapped it on my back without redoing anything about it. I was pissed. I ended up going back to the owner and having him fix it. *(It's ridiculously hard to get a good picture of your lower back by yourself, so I'll have to have my husband take a picture and upload it later. Stay tuned for more awesome tattoo pictures!)*

Next up is my leg piece.

It's a backwards tribal 'S' with 5 stars. In the middle is an explosion. It represents that life is never as good or as bad as you may think. It can always go either way. It gives me something to look forward to, and feel grateful about at the same time. My friend's husband did this one in his living room. This time with a real tattoo machine. Yay for legitimacy.

Also, try really hard not to stare at the stupid hairs on my leg.

One summer, a friend of mine was working as a piercer for a tattoo shop and they were having a celebration, doing small tattoos for cheap. I jumped on the wagon and got 5 stars on my left wrist. I have a thing for stars. I also have a thing for 5. That's how many siblings I have. Because I love my family.

Which brings us to my last piece (for now). I am currently working on my sleeve. My one and only. It's only a quarter sleeve, so it can be covered up if I need to. I have a stargazer lily at the center, representing myself. It is only an outline, which I shall keep that way for now.

Dragonfly represents my brother Michael. We've always been closest, and the dragonfly is my totem animal. When I see one, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Koi fish is for my brother Ethan. He has a koi fish in his sleeve, and it also represents family.

The blue star is for my brother Greg. He's always been a lone star, never got married, and stayed in Texas when we moved.

The flying eagle is for my brother Stuart, retired Marine.

The chrysanthemum is for my baby sister Abbi. It's her birth month flower. She's really into basketball, but who wants an orange ball on their arm?

The rings have my parents dates of birth in roman numerals on them. Intertwined to represent a unified being. I was lucky, in that I had two parents together during my childhood. I have two half brothers from my dad's previous marriage, but their mother wasn't involved.

To tie it all in together, I am going to add cosmic clouds. That is yet unfinished.

To all people interested in getting a tattoo, I suggest getting something that means a lot to you. Something that you'll look at years down the road and think "That is still awesome".

Also, give it some thought. The impulsive tattoos are the least awesome, I promise. Like my stars on my wrist. Yes, it means something to me, yes it's awesome, but I wish I had gotten it in a different place. One that is less on my hand, and more on my forearm, so I can hide it if I needed to.

Another thing, make it yours. I would never get someone else's symbol or logo on my body, it's not mine. All my tattoos have been my own design. Color, placement, size, etc.

I've got lots of experience with tattoos, if you have any questions, let me know!

Wedding!

I'm working on getting all of the wedding pictures put in an album and edited, but here's what I've got so far. Most of these are just my bridals, and some from the reception. Still waiting on the ceremony pictures.....

The Most Wonderful Kids

I am lucky enough to be step mom to two fantastic little girls, Frankie and Andie. They light up my days. I love waking up to their soft little knock on the door on Saturday mornings, and cuddling with them. That's my favorite part.

On the subject of step-motherhood: I HATE that term. Loathe the stereotypical "evil stepmom" persona that plagues ladies all over the world. No, I did not give birth to them, no I was not there the first 4 years for Frankie, and 1 year for Andie, but that doesn't mean I won't be there for them for the rest of their lives. Or that I don't love them just the same. It kills me when Frankie says "You're not my real mom, you're just my step mom." Granted, she doesn't realize how much it hurts me, but in her mind, she has one mommy and it's certainly not me.

Rant over. Look at these beautiful girls!
I asked Frankie Doodle to smile, she grabbed the canopy on my bed and posed with it. What a little model.

And here is the only normal picture of Andie Pants. The rest are her "cheese" faces.

  

I am so lucky.