The Bachelorette: Epsiode 2

This may come as a shocker, but my head's not really in "The Bachelorette" right now. I just returned home from the most FANTASTIC 5-day vacation to Lake Powell EVER! And to be honest, I'd rather tell you all about my ridiculously AWESOME trip. Alas, pictures are not ready yet, so I will save the Powell post for another day and gab about the best two hours on television.

Since ALL of my Monday was spent in a car stuck in traffic on I-15, I didn't get to watch my favorite show until Tuesday afternoon. Lucky for me I have the kind of job that lets me multi-task. And by multi-task I mean working while watching "The Bachelorette: Episode 2." It was a productive day.

Anyway, my initial thoughts after watching this episode were: still Team Kiptyn, pilot Jake was smooth sailing on his solo date, David is a dirt bag and better watch his back, Juan is a homo and should've been deported, Wess is wacked, and Tanner P needs to get on his ugly feet and take a hike!

As for the men that were sent home tonight, who cares. They were all lame. I'm pretty sure Brian should've kept his you-know-what in his you-know-where, Mathue has way too much estrogen to be on a show like this, Julien was nice but NO, and then Simon, still not sure how he made it into the top 20, but whatever.

Okay, time to hit the hay and dream of houseboats with helicopters, hundreds of shooting stars, and wakeboarding the channels of Powell til my legs fall off. Get ready for some pictures!!!

I'm On A (house)Boat!

Today I'm off to Lake Powell for the best Memorial Day weekend EVER! Enjoy your long holiday weekend. See you when I return.

The Bachelorette: Jillian "Hot Dog" Harris

Guess what kids? It's that time again! Bachelorette season is HERE!!! Did you all LOVE last night's season premiere of The Bachelorette with Miss Jillian "Hot Dog" Harris? I absolutely LOVED it. All my girls and I crashed my parent's house for a special kick-off party for what is sure to be the best season of The Bachelorette yet!

We started things off with some hot dogs and all the toppings in honor of my girl Jill, and then passed out the MENus, complete with all 30 guys names and pictures, in alphabetical order of course. We like to play along and ex out the men as Jillian sends them on their merry little ways. We don't mess around folks!

Okay, let's get to the good stuff. So what to say about last night's episode? There is really so much I want to say about the hot and not so hot men this season, but I want to leave most of the commentating up to you guys on this one. But here's my two cents:

Tanner P, you and your foot fetish can just go home right now. No. Stop. Just go! Kyle, I'm not attracted to you and I realize that Jillian wasn't either, but your personality rocked and I would've kept you. Wess, get over yourself. You're obnoxious and should've left that guitar at home. Juan, what a disappointment. I really thought you had potential, but then you had to go and open your big Argentinian mouth. What a shame! Michael, you may be a total wigger, but I like you. If you don't go all the way, which we all know you won't, give me a call cuz I've got a girlfriend that I'm pretty sure will be he peanut butter to your jelly. You're welcome Tristen. Simon, I'm so sorry Americans are hard of hearing. I for one did NOT need the subtitles. And Josh, I'm sorry Jillian sent you home, but not really. I'll see you on the sands of Newport this summer. I'll be the girl in the water pretending to drown. I might need some mouth to mouth resuscitation. Wink, wink.

Oh, and and all I have to say is: TEAM KIPTYN! That boy's going ALL the way to the altar. Ok, your turn girls. Let's hear it!

Beauty School Graduate!

A few weeks ago my beautiful and talented little sister Kellie (on the right...as if you couldn't tell) graduated from Renaissance Academie De Hair in Provo, Utah. I am so proud of her for all her hard work. But I'm even more proud of her for landing a great job at an Aveda Salon called Sanctuary.

If you live in the greater Salt Lake area and need a cut or color, she's your girl. And don't let it scare you that she's fresh out of school. She's been cutting my hair for over a year now and I always get compliments on my quaff. I'd let her dye it too, but I don't dare touch my color until I start going grey. If you need her contact info feel free to email me or just leave a comment. Happy haircutting to you Miss Kellie Anne!

DHHS Junior Prom

My little brother Scotty is all growed up. Well, not really, but it's so weird to think that he's old enough to be going to Prom. It's kind of fun living so close to my parents so I can still feel apart of his life. This last weekend was his Junior Prom and his date was the ever darling Tawny Zambrano. They're the couple on the far right. Aren't they darling! If my brother reads this he's going to KILL me!

After pictures at The Montage in Laguna Beach, Scott and his date enjoyed a short ride in Mom's speedy AMG to his buddy Ryan's, where the group took a limo to The Grove in LA for a night of dancing and mahem. I'm sure they had fun, but my little brother refuses to share details. I'm guessing that means it was good. Wink, wink. Love you little bro, even when I say I wanna kick you in the face. Smooches.

Disco Roller Skating

What do you get when you cross the San Clemente 5th ward with a couple of 70's wigs and some Old Skool Skates? One totally awesome night of Disco mania at the Roller Rink! I find it quite amazing what a little...or a lot...of afro can do for a girl. I think it's really working for me. No?

Adventures At Disneyland

Friday night my Dad and brother snuck out of town for a Father and Sons campout, leaving my mother all alone in a big house with no one to play with but our fat and lazy dog. So, after work I decided it would be fun for us to have a girls night out and dance our way around Disneyland one last Friday night before my pass expires next week.

We started out the night with our favorite ride, The Tower of Terror. I find it a little humorous that I love this ride because I am horribly afraid of heights. I sometimes imagine in my sleep that I am falling off tall buildings or free-falling from a bridge to my terrible demise. It's awful. I refuse to peer over the sides of tall things. Freaks me out. But, oddly enough, I really enjoy tower of terror. I think it's the seatbelt. Gives me this weird false sense of security that I'm okay with.

After surviving Tower of Terror, we were on our way next door to Disneyland, when my Mom pointed out an attraction I'd never seen before. It was a show called: Turtle Talk with Crush. You know, like Crush the turtle from Disney's Finding Nemo. It's a fun interactive show where an animated Crush who is in this so-called microphoned aquarium interacts with the audience and accepts questions from the little kids sitting up front on the lily pads. It's really quite cute and I highly recommend stopping to see it. It's one of those hidden gems, like Billy Hill and Hill Billys. Love them!

After CA Adventure closed we snuck over to Disneyland and walked down Main Street and straight into the corner shop to buy ourselves a Cream Cheese Filled Pretzel. If you still haven't tried one, you're missing out! With pretzels in hand, we decided on Space Mountain, another of our favorites. The line was over an hour long and provided LOTS of entertainment. We were in front of the MOST annoying little girl EVER, the couples in front of us would NOT stop making out, and there was a Kelly Slater look-a-like 20 people up that I kept STARING at every time our lines would cross. We were well entertained to say the least.

After Space Mountain were absolutely exhausted, and my twisted back was screaming at me to go home, so we called it a night. It was a great last "Hoorah!" at the happiest place on earth. I'll have to start saving my pennies so I can get another Annual Pass soon. I love me some Disney!

Ice Blocking Birthday

We had waaay too much fun celebrating Katie Hatch's 27th Birthday last Thursday night. For years she's been begging everyone to get together and go ice blocking and so this year for her birthday, we finally made that happen.

After fueling up on some Baja Fish Tacos and Sprinkles Cupcakes, we headed for the hills, well, one hill, and got our ice blocking on! What a blast! Thanks for a fabulously fun night Miss Hatch! This needs to happen more often!

Swimsuit Season Is HERE!

While I'm NOT ready for it to be swimsuit season yet, I MUST face the facts. In just a few short days I'll be leaving for the ever-incredible Lake Powell where I'll be meeting up with a bunch of young, single, lds strangers from Arizona and Utah to spend Memorial weekend basking in the sun on a couple of houseboats. How amazing does that sound? I'm soooo excited!

In preparation for my trip, I started going through my swimsuits and realized that most of what I own I've had since my BYU-Hawaii days, and some ancient dinosaurs dating as far back as HIGH SCHOOL! Yikes!!! Needless to say, I've had to do a little updating and recently purchased five new swimsuits for my trip. A little extreme? Maybe. But I got a really good deal on all of them. After doing the math, I realized that I scored five sexy suits for under $300. Of course I maneuvered my way around the internet to snag a 25% off promo code at Macy's as well as free shipping from J. Crew). But still, that's pretty dang good if you ask me. I think I'm ready to get suited up and head to Lake Powell now (even though I wish I could hide my extra holiday pounds under a nice baggy pair of sweatpants.) Dang it.

***And in case you were wondering. The green and coral bandeau suits are from jcrew.com, the brown & white polka dot and black halter top (not pictured) are from Old Navy, and the Red Ruffled Cut-out One Piece is Kenneth Cole from macys.com. Feel free to copy me. Modest is hottest.

Pop it, Lock it, Polka dot it!

What would you say if I told you I saw "Hannah Montana: The Movie" on Wednesday night, and that I saw it with Miss Paula who's seen it twice in the theaters now, and that we were the only ones in the entire theater, and we sang and danced and cheered and clapped the entire time?

What if I told you it just so happened to be the best movie I've seen all year, and that my favorite song on the radio right now just so happens to be "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus? And what would you say if I told you Paula and I are going to be learning the Hoedown Throwdown so we can wow all of our friends with our incredible dance moves? Amazing!!! That's what I hope you'd say.

A Whimsical Wedding

Last weekend I attended a wonderfully unique wedding reception of a long-time childhood friend, Tess Blackwelder, now Barlow. I was so bummed I still don't own a camera (r.i.p. cannon powereshot) because I really wanted to take pictures of some fun things I saw. Lucky for me, there's this blessed thing called Facebook that allows me to snatch pictures from everyone else.

Her cake is what excited me the most. While I myself would never even dream of having a mushroom cake at my wedding, it was just so Tess! I think that's what I liked about her reception. Everything was so her! Tess is like this incredible mushroom scientist or something and so it was only fitting that her cake be covered in these tasty little mushroom meringues.

The rest of her wedding reception was just as whimsical. The tables were lined with clear glass plates, antique napkins, garden flowers, and air ferns, with firefly lights overhead, and a few gnomes scattered about. Her colors were these gorgeous shades of raspberry and chartreuse, grounded with linen and a bright white. It was definitely something different and got me thinking about my own style and what my wedding reception will look like someday...that is, if I don't elope.

The "Incurable Optimist"

Did anyone else watch Michael J. Fox on ABC Thursday night? I just love that man. During his Primetime Special "The Incurable Optimist," Michael traveled the globe to explore the enduring strength of hope. It wasn't anything life changing, but it definitely made me stop and think.

Most know that Michael has been living with the degenerative disorder known as Parkinson's Disease since detected in early 1991. Since then Michael has been learning to accentuate the positive and encouraging all around him to see the good in life. No matter his trials, his triumphant spirit and positive attitude have stayed the same.

During the one-hour special the actor and head of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research travels around the world, interviewing people from all walks of life, searching for the answer to one question. Are some people just more optimistic than others? And if so, why?

Throughout the show we go with Michael as he meets seven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong to discuss what keeps him striving. He catches up with TV star and Chicago Cubs loyalist Bonnie Hunt at Wrigley Field, home of the hopeful team who has never won a World Series. He travels to the Asian nation of Bhutan where "GRS" or gross national happiness is a priority. He plays golf with famous actor Bill Murray, guitar with the talented Ben Harper, and even a man who hands out free newspapers each morning outside a busy New York subway station.

It was fascinating to follow him on this journey and learn more about the way people think. I realized that while I may not be an optimist, I am trying to become one. Medical experts explained how some of us simply think differently than others. It's not that I see the glass as half empty, it's just that I tend to focus on the fact that it's not all the way full. I see the potential for more, and that doesn't make me a pessimist. I'm content with hoping for a better future.

Michael put it into words much better than I can. "Optimism isn't about hoping for the end result. I'm content to enjoy the hope, without needing to be assured of the outcome."

If you missed this amazing special you'll be excited to know that he recently published a best selling book that I'll be purchasing this weekend. It's called "Always Looking Up: Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist." I'm looking forward to reading it and infusing my mind with more of his contagious optimism.

NEW BLOG for De La Rose

I always knew I'd find a way to blog and get paid for it! As the Marketing Director for De La Rose, I recently took the liberty upon myself to start us a blog. It's been an exciting way to introduce De La Rose to the residents of Orange County and show everyone what we've been up to. I hope to keep it up-to-date with our recent events and latest creations, and eventually link it with our website (if that ever gets up and running). You can visit our new blog at: de-la-rose.blogspot.com. Be sure to tell your friends about us and check back often for special discounts and promotions.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I love my home office, but sometimes it's nice to spend time in the flower shop too. This weekend I took off my Director's hat to play floral designer. It was so fun creating arrangements for a birthday celebration, an engagement dinner, an anniversary, and more. I thought I'd share a few of the creations with you:







And speaking of flowers. (Hang on...I need to put my Marketing Director hat back on...ok, proceed.) What are you getting your Mom for Mother's Day? What could be more thoughtful than a beautiful floral arrangement, right? To place your Mother's Day order call me at 949.542.9754 or send an email to aubrey@de-la-rose.com. But hurry, it's THIS Sunday. And if you mention this blog post we'll take an additional 10% off your order.

80's WHITE OUT @ Oceans

Whoever said you can't wear white after labor day was lame. This week we tried mixin' things up a bit on the dance floor with some all white ensembles. The outcome: pure awesomeness. April, upon her late arrival said this, "It was like walking into a sea of celestial beings. Everyone was glowing." That's what we like to hear. The Mormons causing a scene in Laguna once again.

Fiesta Pack Challenge

Did you know that Del Taco sells a Fiesta Pack? What's a Fiesta Pack you ask? A Fiesta Pack is meant to be a very meaty family size meal. Just $8.99 buys you 6-1/2 pound Bean & Cheese Burritos and 6 Regular Tacos. Can you see where this is going yet? Read on...

Monday night after the ward FHE at the beach I followed Katie Hatch, the trifecta, and friends, to the local Del Taco where Katie would be the lone participant in the Fiesta Pack Challenge. The challenge was that if Katie could scarf down an entire Fiesta Pack in just one hour, Tiffany would give her $100.

But was it worth the price? I don't think so. Katie started out strong and with a smile on her face. But about halfway into it, she started feeling the weight of the beans and began trying several creative techniques to get that food to sit still. There was sitting, standing, laying, pacing and all the while I was snapping pictures. I'm such a bad friend!

After 45 minutes of a more than valiant effort, she decided to forfeit the $100 and stop binging. And although she didn't finish the challenge, I was quite impressed that she managed to throw down 5 whole burritos and 4-1/2 tacos. Way to go Katie. I am also happy to report that there was a re-appearance of those 5 burritos and 4-1/2 tacos later that night. Katie is feeling much better now.

Spring In A Vase

Every home deserves fresh flowers...even during times of recession! I love that my favorite store, Trader Joes, has made it possible for everyone to enjoy beautiful springtime blooms for next to nothing. Since March I've been picking up these fantastic daffodil stems for only $1.29 a bundle. That's right! Only $1.29 for ten stems. They always have several varieties too. I usually pick up two or three bundles every time I stop at the store for a loaf of bread or carton of milk. I'm not sure how much longer they'll be in the stores, so hurry and get yourself a couple bundles before they're gone. The trick is to buy the ones that have yet to bloom. You may think they look dead and ready for the waste bin, but just bring them home, fill a vase with cold water from the refrigerator (warm water feeds bacteria), snip the stems about a 1/2 inch, place them in the water, and ta-da! Your blooms will start to open within 3 to 4 hours. Enjoy!

The HEART and SOUL of Lacrosse

Lately I've been trying to attend as many of my brother's Lacrosse games as I can. When I look back to my High School days I remember how good it felt to know my family was up in the stands watching me break my personal record in the triple jump or pound aces on the volleyball court.

I look back and realize how fun it was being the oldest child because my siblings were dragged to every one of my games. And then I feel bad for my little brother who doesn't have the kind of support I did. His sisters are all grown and living in different states, and I'm the only one around to show my support. Isn't it funny how the roles have reversed.

Anyway, because my brother is a junior on the Varsity team, he doesn't get nearly enough playing time as he, or the rest of us, would like. But I will say one thing about that kid. He's got more heart and soul on that bench than anyone else on his team. He is the first one up to congratulate a player on an awesome save, and the first to tackle the goalie at the end of a win. I think his blood definitely bleeds blue. Way to rock that field Scotty! We love you #16!

Earth Day 2009

Happy Belated Earth Day everyone. Hope you all found ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. I know I did a lot of walking that day and even skipped a shower to save some water (ok, so maybe it's b/c I slept in and was late for work.) Still counts, right?

The following day I went and saw Disney's newest Nature movie, Earth. Several years ago I fell in love with the series Planet Earth and hoped the movie would be similar. But what I didn't know is that it was the EXACT SAME THING! I was kind of bummed that I'd already seen the images before. Regardless, it was beautiful on the big screen and fun to see it with a big group of my friends. And did you know that for every person that sees Earth during the opening week, Disney will plant a tree in their honor? So I guess it wasn't a total bust.

I'm already looking forward to seeing the next major motion picture for Earth Day 2010, Oceans! I wonder what they'll do if we see it during opening week next year? Your guess is as good as mine.

Totally Awesome 80's

We'll never stop dancing! No, never!