Merry Christmas

The annual Alexander Christmas Party was at our house this year. It was a lot of fun seeing and catching up with everyone. I think my mom was excited that we have a house that everyone can fit in now, we just didn't have enough chairs. You had to be 40 or older to sit on a chair. We traded white elephant gifts this year. My dad got a great picture of Uncle Tim in his Uof U gear at a game. My mom got a Twilight poster. They were hot items among the family. Of course, Tim & Sheila won the hat contest. The kids got some fun gifts in the traditional fish pond game. I look forward to next years party. FYI: I just finished updating my entire Europe trip, so check out my England, France & Italy posts. (They are back-dated.)

Halloween

I have found my camera! After being lost for 6 weeks, I found it in my room, of all places. I hid it very well! So, here is my Halloween. I decided to make my costume this year, since it is so hard to find a modest one. I was a butterfly. Ashley & I made our skirts, wings and our attenae. I think we turned out pretty cute! I have to say, don't go to a singles dance with giant wings!!!

Here is my mom's costume. It came from her favorite place. Bailee was a cute kittie. Jen decided to be a butterfly as well. It was a bug theme this year.

This was Andrea, Ashley and I at Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. It was super fun and I would recommend going next year. We used our cute skirts and made hats. It was a cold and fun night!

FYI

So am I still updating and adding pictures from my Vietnam & Europe trips.I am back-dating them, so check my "old" posts if you want to see them. My camera is also missing at this moment in time, so I can't add anything new :(

TWILIGHT

I know there are many of you out there that love Twilight, so I know you won't think that I'm crazy for posting this. I absolutely loved reading the Twilight series. I love fantasy and romances, so you combine the two and I was in la la land. Not having a current love interest/crush I need to live vicariously through books & movies. So reading about Edward & Bella falling in love was a great getaway. It really reminds you of when you fell in love for the first time...aahhh memories.

I have to say the I wasn't in love with the cast when it was first announced. I was worried about the movie and wasn't sure I wanted to see it. I just have to say I LOVED IT! I am now in love with Robert Pattinson. He did such a good job! I want a guy to look at me the way he looked at Bella. And he can sing, play the piano, and play the guitar in real life- Yummy! I will end my silly post, but I had to add some pictures where Edward had some great facial expressions.

I am now selling Scentsy products. They are a wickless, smokeless, and flameless candle. They are heated with a 25 watt light bulb, so they are not a fire hazard. The wax does not get hot enough to burn children or pets. The wax also doesn't evaporate, so when the scent runs out you just dispose of the wax in your garbage. There are many different warmers and scents to choose from. The wax bar lasts 50-80 hours.

If you would like to host a party you can earn free and 1/2 off products. If you would like to have a "safe scent" party or sell this great product yourself, let me know. You can check out everything and order throught my website: www.scentsy.com/18118. If you would like to see a catalog or have questions, call me 910-9797.

I got tagged

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

8 T.V. Shows I love to watch:

1. The Office
2. Desperated Housewives
3. Brothers and Sisters
4. One Tree Hill
5. Gossip Girl
6. Heroes
7. Fringe
8. Grey's Anatomy
(Sadly I have more than 8)

Favorite Restaurants:

1. Texas Roadhouse
2. Red Robin
3. Happy Sumo
4. Spaghetti Factory
5. Cafe Rio
6. Chiles (for chips & salsa w/the girls)
7. The Magic Wok
8. Cheesecake Factory

8 Things That Happened Yesterday

1. Played with Bailee
2. Went to Target (gotta love that store)
3. Got my Scentsy starter kit (I am now selling it and you will all be invited to an open house SOON)
4. Took a nap
5. Watched my Tuesday night shows (90210, Priveleged, House and Fringe) but I fell asleep while doing so.
6. Went to Cafe Rio for lunch
7. Went to Harmons to get "work lunches"
8. Worked on my blog ( I am still figuring this thing out)

8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Christmas
2. Going to the Dominican Republic next Spring (hopefully)
3. Twilight movie
4. Finding my best friend/love of my life
5. Figuring out how to scrapbook online and work photoshop elements
6. Sleeping in
7. Thanksgiving Dinner
8. Going to Carrie Underwood on Nov. 19th

8 Things I Love About Fall:

1. Jacket weather
2. Halloween
3. Wearing warmer clothes
4. Cool breezes
5. Leaves changing color.....beautiful!
6. Good excuse to cuddle up in a blanket and read a good book (when the weather gets gloomy)
7. Did I mention the clothes: sweaters, boots, scarves, cute coats, mittens.....
8. It's my favorite season and I love the temperature, not too cold, not too hot.

8 Things On My Wish List

1. Meet a great guy, fall in love and get married
2. Own my own home
3. Continue to travel the world
4. Learn to scuba dive
5. Own horses
6. A one day unlimited shopping spree
7. Lose weight
8. Have my student loans paid off

I've decided to start a blog. I have been done with school since last December and I figured it was time for a new hobby. I believe it is a good way to see what is going on in each other's lives. Life is very busy and it can be hard to keep in touch with everyone. I love reading my friends and families blogs to see current photos and hear what is going on in their lives. So, here it goes! Some of my posts are going to be back-dated. I have gone on some really great trips in the last year and wanted to share them with everyone.

ITALY

The last stop on our trip was Italy. We took an overnight train from Paris to Rome. I never want to experience that again. There were 6 girls and all of our luggage crammed into one room. To add to the crowded quarters, it was hot and noisy the entire night. We had some good laughs though. Our first day in Rome we went to see The Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, & The Pantheon.

Another food collage. Gelato, gelato and more gelato. We couldn't get enough. I had to add pictures of Diet Coke. An Italian meal goes as follows: appetizer (ante'pasta), pasta dish, then the main course (meat, potatoes, & veggies), and then dessert. We went to 2 nice restaurants with our tour group and we were rolling out of there after dinner. It was so much yummy food. Of course we still ate more gelato after that. It is a good thing I walked everywhere to compensate for all the food I ate!

We went to The Vatican our 2nd day in Rome. I didn't know it was its own state, crazy! We saw St. Peter's Basilica, and to enter you have to have your shoulders and knees covered. (No problem there!) Michelangelo's Pieta is behind a glass wall because someone broke off Mary's nose already. Then we went to The Vatican Museum where I saw The Sistine Chapel. It was absolutely incredible! You are not allowed to take pictures of the chapel.

We went dancing at a bar one night in Rome and the music was horrible. We had fun anyway.

Our last day in Rome we took a day trip to Pompeii. The Romans built this incredible city and one day Mount Vesuvius erupted. It covered the city and killed everyone. The ruins have been uncovered and remarkably preserved by all the ash. There were brothels all over and "man symbols" pointed the way to the brothels so sailors could find them. Not everyone spoke the same language, so there were pictures on the wall that the men could pick which position they wanted. Look at the comfy stone bed. The Romans were so intelligent. They created the drainage system at The Roman Baths, and it still works. They added broken up marble in the road to reflect the light at night, so the road could be seen.

Our tour group went home after Rome, but we decided since we were so close to go to Florence & Venice. We only had one day in each city before our return home. Our hostel in Florence was at the top of a building and the elevator was creepy and only one of us could use it at a time with our luggage. If I ever travel to Europe, then I am only taking a backpack. And I thought I had packed light, but I got tired of lugging it around on cobblestone. I also got bedbugs at this hostel. On our flight home I started itching and then all these little red bumps started to appear on my arms & legs. Ashley didn't get any. I guess the bugs liked me better. We went to The Uffizi and saw Michelangelo's David. It is huge. We couldn't take pictures of the real one, but I took a picture of a replica outside in a square. I am eating ice cream in front of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. We also saw the Duomo & Baptistry doors. We took a train the following morning to Venice, and we almost took the wrong train. We were getting off the wrong train as the whistle was blowing for it to leave.

Venice was phenomenal! It is full of bridges that link everything together over the water. Our hostel was crazy. We got no sleep that last night because we shared a room with 20+ girls. Plus everyone else seemed to want to party to techno music the whole night. We went to Murano Island and saw glass blowing and all of the things they make with glass. I wanted to buy so many things, but then my suitcase would have brought the plane down. We saw St. Mark's Basilica, St. Mark's Square, and Rialto Bridge. We also took boat taxis everywhere. It was so surreal. It was an awesome trip. I am grateful for the experiences I have had traveling over the last few years. I hope to have many more.

FRANCE

We spent 4 days in Paris and it was mostly rainy while we were there. The Eiffel Tower was absolutely incredible. It is huge! We took 1 elevator to the first level and took pictures. Then we got in a long line, took a 2nd, scary elevator ride to the 2nd level and took more pictures. At night it is lit up, and they change the color of the lights during the year. We went to Notre Dame Cathedral, but we were too late to go inside. The first night we took a cruise down the Seinne River.

This collage is all of the delicious food I ate in France. The best food during the entire trip was in France, 2nd was the food in Italy. Pastries, crepes, baguettes, and even gelato was here.

We went to many different museums while in Paris: The Louvre, The Musee d'Orsay, & Musee de l'Orangerie. I have never seen so much art in my life. I got to see the Mona Lisa, which was awesome! The Louvre was the original palace for France's Kings before Versaille was built. The pyramid was added later and looks very modern against the architecture of the museum.

This is a picture of an arc outside The Louvre and through this arc you can see a monument with a gold triangle on top. This is where Marie Antoinette was beheaded. This is the actual Arc de Triumphe. We walked THREE miles in the rain from The Louvre to see it. We didn't realize it was that far away. It made for a great adventure. We then walked to see The Sacre Cure. It is a beautiful church on the top of a hill. We climbed many, many steps to see this church. But you could see all of Paris from this hill. It was cloudy, but still a great view. We also saw the Moulin Rouge on this long walk. We did take the Metro in Paris, it was just more $$$ than the tube in London.

The Sacre Cure & the infamous Moulin Rouge

We took an hour long train ride outside Paris to go see Versaille. It was so beautiful!!! Pictures cannot even describe how lovely it is. We were there most of the day and did not have time to see all of the gardens or go see Marie Antoinette's cottage. We did get to go through the main palace of the Sun King. The Hall of Mirrors was incredible. If you haven't seen Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst then I would suggest doing so. It shows how beautiful this place is.

ENGLAND

Ashley & I met with a tour group in London. We took an overnight bus from Scotland, and it was not the best of our ideas (but cheap)! We spent our first day in London walking all over. We found platform 9 & 3/4 at the train station. We went to the Florence Nightingale museum, go Nurses! We then saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Trafalgar Square, the National Art Museum, and Westminster Abbey. That afternoon we met our troup group and went to see Wicked that night for 25 pounds ($50). We also rode the "tube" that night for the first time. Taking public transportaion was a different and fun thing to experience during my trip. It was an exciting 1st day in England!

We were lucky enough to see two broadway shows while we were in London. We saw Phantom of the Opera our 2nd night. I had to get a classic picture in the red telephone booth. We had some ice cream that had a chocolate flake on the top, I guess this is a English thing. We rode the underground and walked a ton! We had to get a picture of a smart care because they are everywhere, though I have started seeing them at home.

These pictures are from our cruise down the Thames River, London Tower (Castle), and the Tower Bridge, which I always thought was London Bridge. London Bridge is actually a very plain, normal looking bridge. There is also a picture of Picadilly Circus, Abbey Road, Buckingham Palace, and Ashley and I on the tube.

These pictures are from Bath & Stonehenge. We took a day trip outside of London to see the Roman Baths & Stonehenge. I am a huge Jane Austen fan, so I was looking forward to see Bath. This city is featured in some of her books: Northanger Abbey & Persuasion. She lived here in the later part of her life also. We saw Bennett Street and The Circus. We drank warm water from the baths. The Romans and English believe it has healing powers. The water wasn't as nasty as I thought it was going to be. Stonehenge was super windy. There is a rope surrounding stonehenge so you can't get close. It is amazing that they made this structure so long ago!

SCOTLAND

Scotland was our second stop on the trip. Edinburgh was my favorite place the entire trip. The city is old and has a great historical feel. We only spent like 36 hours of our entire trip here, so we had to make the most of it. I had to stop in Scotland because this is where my Grandma Helen is from. I want to go back and spend time in England and Scotlands' countryside when I have more time and $$$. We found the best hat shop. I wanted to buy the one I am wearing in the picture, but where would I wear it back home. We also found the Elephant House (by total luck). This is where J.K. Rowling started to write Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. It was close to the castle, and I can just imagine the influence that Edinburgh Castle had on her book.

We spent hours at Edinburgh castle. It is bigger than you can imagine. They built it on a rocky hill overlooking the entire city. It is quite the fortress! When we walked in they were taking down a ton of bleachers from some event. The great hall totally reminded me of Harry Potter and the hat sorting scene, the floating candles and all the crazy food they eat in the dining hall at Hogwarts.

This was my favorite
hostel the entire trip because it was the nicest. And we had our own room, but it was at the top of the hostel. So like in Vietnam, we had to climb a ton of stairs and carry our heavy luggage. (Ashley has video of me doing this.) Our room was decorated and had Ikea sheets. There was also a common room that had a million couches from Ikea. The bathroom was the best part. We had to share with the "Gents" to shower and use the toilets, but it really wasn't that bad. Look at the door carefully, I didn't even realize it until the 2nd day.

We took a day trip out to see Rosslyn Chapel. I was so excited, did anyone see The Davinici Code or read the book? It turns out that Rosslyn Chapel has nothing to do with the Knights Templar, they just used it in the book/movie. The chapel has also had a tent cover over it since 1996. The stone has been so wet over the years that algae was growing on the inside of the roof. This tent is helping the stone dry out. So, in the movie they had to use a mini model for the aerial shots. I couldn't take pictures of the inside, but the symbloism and all the carved stone was incredible! (The Davinci Code also had me excited to see The Louvre in Paris!)