iT's aLL AboUt tHe woRdPLay

Jason Mraz at the E-Center was phenomenal. his live show is absolutely incredible--L-O-V-E-D it!

that's JM on stage in the background

here's a link to a video of one of my faves right now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrlhawRComo

i doubt it

really random drive-thru experience:

order speaker/employee #1: okay--your total will be $28.70
(we drive to window #1)
window #1/employee #1: (who happens to be wearing a jetson head set complete with red flashing lights and multiple buttons) ok, let me read back your order to make sure i got it right...
(reads order)
me: yes--but the one sandwich should have ranch on it
employee #1: ok, let me fix it.
(3 minutes and an employee huddle later)
employee #1: ok--your total is $23.82
me/mel: are you sure? you told us earlier it was $28.70
employee #1: yeah--since I messed up the order, i'm not charging you for the sandwich but you'll still get it
me/mel: are you sure?
employee #1: yeah
(we drive to window #2)
window #2/employee #2 (happens to be a 15-yr old pimply-faced boy): so we're not doing the roast beef ranch, right? you took it off the order...
me/mel: actually no, we need the sandwich. the girl at the first window said we didn't have to pay for it.
employee #2: well, she's a liar
me/mel: ok, well are we going to get the sandwich or not?
employee #2: I doubt it
(3 minutes and an employee huddle later)
manager (utah county mom with a permagrin): oh my gosh, we just forgot to have you pay for that sandwich so we're making it right now, but we need you to pay for it
me/mel: whatever--here's the card
(manager comes back to the window with the receipt and as if taken by surprise...)
manager: wow, you girls are beautiful. just really beautiful...
me/mel: um thanks?
(3 minutes and an employee huddle later we FINALLY get our sandwiches)

p.s. they put my pickle next to my cookie. i can't eat a pickle cookie.

grade: F for Kneaders in Highland.

The week in review

Here is the variety of happenings the last week or so...

last Saturday Kim and I went to a concert--Thriving Ivory--and had a great time. I highly recommend checking them out. We met Molly afterwards for some dessert and then Molly drove me home and Kim drove to her new place in Bountiful. This is a crazy long story but Kim got home, thought someone was in her house, her salt and pepper shakers kept mysteriously moving, Molly and I drove to Bountiful, picked up Kim, drove back home, drove back up to Bountiful, called the police, went up to the apartment, figured out what had happened, had a good laugh, chit-chatted for a while, got home at 4 AM. trust me, it's a really long story... Tuesday I went to Thriller (dance show) with Les and some of her girlfriends and had a great time. This venue is particularly difficult to park at but by some miracle, we managed to get princess parking after some guy with a cello strapped to his back decided to go home for the night. He could tell we were cheering and hollering when we figured out we could have his spot so he gave us the thumbs up :) Friday night, we went to Witches Night Out. We just sported witches hats but the crazy ladies were out in full force. It was pretty entertaining and some of the costumes were pretty impressive. We grabbed dinner afterward and had one of the WORST servers ever. I'm not sure what it was that we did to her but she had an A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E from the moment we sat down. I like to think I'm a pretty good tipper--if you do a decent job, I'll give you a nice tip. There were six of us-it was an $80 dollar bill. She got $6 which was still being generous. Saturday, was the Cougar game. I got some work tix which is a pretty good gig--lunch and snacks and coolers under our seats...parking pass...We did pull a W but it was close. Who knew UNLV could move the ball like that? Thanks Pferd for coming with....as an avid Ute fan, I know it was hard to come to CougarTown. I had an exciting evening with the fam at Ikea but I did some craft projects to spruce up my little office space. Last night the girls went to the Cornbelly's corn maze in Lehi for some fall fun. We had a great time and there was quite a bit to do--I don't think any of us realized how big this place was and all the things they have set up. Kim and I inadvertently wore the same outfit and we had a minor scare when we realized Molly had dropped her keys somewhere in the corn maze but due to a friendly pumpkin head who lent us his flashlight keychain and a compassionate Jason, equipped with a chainsaw, we were able to find them. crisis averted.

Costa--days 5-8 and 15

I definitely have a tendency to get really excited to post about my trips and then I get halfway through and lose excitement. I did the same thing with Belize. So, I guess it times to post the rest of the story about costa....

day 5:

after our VERY long roadtrip, we were excited to sleep in and just relax. We decided it was finally time to try surfing so we went across the street and rented surfboards. We literally had boards more than double our height. I apparently didn't look too steady and the shop owner just shook his head. The only way I could carry it was on my head--I guess that is how real surfers do it. My attempts were futile but Joc and Sierra both were able to get up a few times. We were exhausted after 45 minutes and decided to call it quits. The rest of the day was spent laying out and keeping up with the rest of the real world with US Weeklys and Peoples. Then me, Joc, Dave and Watty had to head back to Liberia to take care of the car stuff. The rental company asked us to come in and get everything straightened out. When all was said and done, our little adventure with the law didn't cost us a dime. The rental company didn't charge us for the extra car, to get the first car out of impound, or for the ticket. Wow--we were really lucky. The whole gang scooted off to dinner and in a last-minute move, me, K and J just kept walking straight when the rest of the group turned right. We had our own little dinner at this great place called the Coconut. A big birthday party came wandering in and made us join them. It was quite the evening. We met back up with the group and decided to head down this shady little place for reggae night. We ended up dancing all night in the rain--the locals thought we were, of course, stupid Americans. oh well.

day 6:

the boys and who we refer to as the "hot girls" went river rafting. Kelli, Marie, Sierra, J and I decided to do an ATV tour which was awesome. Our guides were ten (no kidding) and they let us do whatever we wanted. This was one of my fave things we did. We strolled through the ritzy hoods, the barrios, the backroads, mainroads, along the beach and back again. We all got pretty brave towards the end and gunned it for the big puddles. We were all covered in mud. It was awesome. We went back and got all gussied up and headed back to the cute spot we had found on our ride for dinner but not before a little photoshoot. It was the ONLY time on the entire trip we had made an attempt to look nice to we had to capture it...

day 7:

Andy, Marie and Sierra all left on Saturday which left just a few of us left. K, J and I took advantage of the little sun we saw on this trip and laid out for a bit. We hit a few shops and collected sea shells and decided we would go on a little boat tour up the river to find crocodiles and monkeys of which we found both. We had one last hoorah with the rest of the gang before we had to head back and get packed and ready to go.

day 8:

our last day in Costa. We had breakfast, loaded up the cars and took off. We had one more little minor run-in with the law (this time all it took was 3 minutes and $60) and with that we were back at the all-too familiar car rental joint and then on our way to the airport. two flights, one nap and 5 episodes of Gossip Girl later, we were back at home in good ol' slc.

day 15:

we couldn't get enough of each other so we got together for a little reunion. We gave out paper plate awards to each other, had chips and salsa and pina coladas and watched a dvd i put together of our pics and music and started planning our next adventure....Thailand anyone? :)

i've gone dark!

i'll have the crow with a side of embarrassment

oh dear--my poor, poor cougars. after that first max hall fumble, there was a small part of me that knew they would never recover, even though I hoped. there goes an undefeated season and a shot at a BCS bowl. woe is me.

TCU vs BYU

Tonight is a big game for the Cougars--playing a ranked team (24) on

Texas turf. It will be a tough game, but when we pull a W there, we will prove we belong. I think Big things Can happen for my CougS!

he didn't get his hot dog

Sister Kristen Oaks (wife of Elder Oaks-member of the quorum of the 12 apostles) spoke to our ward last night and I was thoroughly impressed. She is just the most darling woman and hilarious. I was laughing the entire evening. She came with her husband and was under the impression that the meeting started at 7:30 PM when, in fact, it was supposed to start at 7:00. Our bishop called church HQ, which in turn, immediately placed a call to Sis Oaks. They were at Costco and said they would leave immediately and come to the church. However, Elder Oaks was so disappointed he didn't get his hot dog due to the time constraint and the number of folks who recognized and stopped him (even though she tried to disguise him in a hat). In her own words, "Elder Oaks didn't get his Costco hot dog. It's been a hard day". Anyway, she is an excellent speaker and I was inspired at her faith and dedication during her 55+ years as a successful, single, LDS woman. Thank you Sister and Elder Oaks for your message--I LOVED it. PS-She has a new book out called A Single Voice, which I've heard is most excellent. I think I will check it out...

Pura Vida: Day 1-4

spotted: 20 of salt lake's socialites gallavanting around the beaches and towns of Costa Rica. J and I got HOOKED on Gossip Girl when we were in CR. She starts her blogs with "spotted" so I thought I'd give it a whirl :) We had a fabulous time in Costa Rica--many adventures--some unexpected, some involving the law, some involving the rain, some involving a volcano, some involving crocodiles, you get the point. I've tried to condense the stories but it was all so great--I could talk about it for hours...

Day 1: we kicked off the trip with a dinner at the Gateway before boarding our redeye flight. I don't think any of us had any idea what we were in for. We had to sit in Atlanta for nearly 5 hours and being that it was 5 aM, it was not fun. Also, our section of the airport was about 45 degrees--no kidding. I eventually had to go buy a blanket at the Brookstone store that was constructed for a 2 year old. I curled up in my tightest ball and still wasn't entirely covered. Greg snuck off and found Delta pillows and blankets behind a gate counter and took them all for himself. Anyway, we eventually got to CR, rented our cars and made it to the Tamarindo Diria, our home for the week. We immediately threw our swimsuits on and the adventures began...lunch at Walter's at the end of the beach, the boys rented surfboards for the week, we wandered around town, got dinner, played poker, etc..etc...

selfish Greg and his pillows and blankets

lunch at Walter's
Nate RIPCURL Richins
a little Texas hold'em before dinner

Day 2: the rains came and stayed all morning. We played some more cards down by the pool and waited for the rain to stop. J and I laid out a bit with Watty and Greg and we started making plans for a little roadtrip...Two other girls showed up, Sierra and Marie (how they even got to CR, we are still confused. they were standby and it was quite the adventure they had just to get there. fave quote from a phone call we got: "We're coming. We've rented a car to Atlanta and we've got a guy. Gotta Go") We had a nice group dinner at Joe's and J and I opted out of ladies night at Aqua and watched a few episodes of Gossip Girl

J and A
J, G, N and M
view from our room Joe's. They claim to serve nachos bigger than your a**.

Day 3: We set out on our roadtrip. I had affectionately named our cars Pepe and Julio. Original plan: Monteverde zipline tour on Tuesday, raft the Pacuare River on Wednesday. back to Tamarindo on Wed night. Modified plan: try to outrun the CR police-unsuccessful--spent 3 hours at the police station, Dave loses his license. We had two negotiatiors that luckily got his passport back and they agreed to only impound our car and give us a reckless driving ticket. We sent the other car on their way while we waited for the rental company to bring us another car. We said goodbye to Pepe and welcomed Felix, which was way more deluxe than Pepe. Not a bad trade. So five hours later, we're on our way. The road to Monteverde was AWFUL. 2 hours of the bumpiest, rockiest road I've ever been on. We pull into Monteverde grumpy and hungry and find that it's pouring rain and there's no way we can get in a zipline tour before dark. To try and bring us back to civility, we ate dinner and determined our next steps. The group consensus was to stay in a hostel. J shed a few tears and I was on the verge but we sucked it up and were troopers. It could have been worse. I will say, though, that I do not recall a time when I've laughed so hard than when we were hanging out in our room at the hostel. it was four to a room so we had two and we had our own bathroom. a bonus, i guess, in hostel world. I'd like to not venture to that world again. It was an awful night's sleep but you can't have any expectations for $6. J and I shared a queen bed where we laid out all our towels. J used her rain coat to cover her pillow so all night it sounded like a toddler on protective plastic sheets. I once again curled up in my 2 foot by 2 foot atlanta airport blanket and hoodie...

the po-po station in CR

police station

the line-up of criminals

the road to Monteverde--before it got annoying

picture opp

welp-here we are in Monteverde. it's raining. i did not sign up for this.

the tree-house dinner

why do we have to stay here?

hostel living

the gang

Day 4: day 4 was probably my favorite day on this trip. we woke up early and headed to our zipline tour. this tour had 14 zips (some over 2200 ft long), a free rappel, and a tarzan swing. Marie and I didn't brake well on one of our zips so we had to go tandem the rest of the time. I was pretty bummed at first, but it turned out to be really fun. My guide, Rolo, would spin me around and flip me upside down when we were careening across the canyon so that was way better than sitting upright and the tarzan swing was sooooo cool. We decided to scrap river rafting and head to Arenal to the volcano. We had another couple hours of super bumpy rocky roads, but the company was awesome. We laughed the entire way. (Apparently the other car had deep conversations and listened to Greg drum every song they listened to on the dashboard) We got to smooth road and went around Arenal Lake to the base of the volcano. We literally stumbled upon a thermal resort called Tabacon and we had to go. We got a day pass to go around to their pools and hot tubs and natural hot springs all scattered around. It was literally one of the coolest places I've ever been. We also had a nice yummy dinner. We were a little nervous to drive back to Tamarindo late at night, but none of us could stand another night away--none of us had packed anything--so back to Tamarindo we went. It wasn't as bad as we thought and we were back by 1 AM.

funny moment: Since Dave had his license revoked, Andy became the driver of our car. A number of times along the way to the volcano, we passed signs painted on the street that said "ceda". Both Andy and I speak Spanish and he casually mentioned he didn't know what that word meant. I kind of spaced the conservation but a few mintues later, replied, "you know what, I don't know what it means either" and I guess I must have said it in a tone that implied this trip is over--I don't know what it means. So, I got ripped for it. They're all like, "well Nancy doesn't know--we better turn around and go home...." etc... etc..... Well a number of hours later on our drive back from Tabacon, it dawned on me what it meant and without thinking I starting yelling, "Yield, Yield". Andy freaked thinking I was yelling at him to yield. Anway, all was fine and crisis averted but minutes of laughing ensued...

100% aventura-Monteverde zipline tour

me & Rolo

the road to Arenal

the road to Arenal--and yes, it really was THAT green

Arenal Volcano

Tabacon Thermal Resort

Tabacon

canyon zip