GONE LIKE YESTERDAY

You're asking me where to go to get the best pasta in town while in Provo...well, I can't tell you and this is why:
I drove down historic Center Street to get a delicious plate of Gnocchi Toscana, which I have been craving for about 3 months, only to find a sign on the door of Ottavio's Ristorante Italiano that said they have closed for good. My favorite restaurant is gone like yesterday. Ohmigosh. Could my heart break any more?
But I suppose you can purchase their crowd pleasing creamy tomato basil soup at the nearest Costco store (beautiful wall murals, accordion player, and owner who walks up to your table and asks if you are enjoying your dining experience with his Italian accent not included).

EYE HAVE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER

It's true. As I wrote in the previous post, I decided to buy myself LASIK for my birthday. It was probably THE best thing I have ever spent a wad of cash on in my life (even better than the loaf of bread and jar of Nutella I bought the other day with my niece).
Things I learned from having the procedure done:
1) 5mg of Valium is about 10mg too much for me but made me VERY relaxed about the whole situation
2) stealing a cookie from the hand of a girl who can't open her eyes because of the aforementioned valium pill is not a good idea (especially if you try it a second, third, and fourth time).
3) big black shades are cooler than they appear or cooler than maybe you appear as you wear them
4) eye drops come straight from the Rx counter in heaven
5) wearing glasses or contact lenses is great to improve your vision but do not even compare when it comes to 20/15 vision from Dr. Hoopes.

It's as easy as that! If you've even considered it a little bit, go for it. Have it done...you'll never regret it! In less than 24 hours, my eyes have never been happier than they are today (and I couldn't have left the office happier with my souvenir mug of candy and chocolate chip cookie in hand).

BEST PRESENTS

It seems I don't get as many presents for my birthday as I did when I was a young girl, but I will admit the few I got this year were rockin! Besides the texts, emails, voice mails, and other various messages I received from loved ones across the ocean, I came home and got 2 of THE MOST AMAZING presents in my life.

1)Big Matt made me the proud owner of a brand new precision aluminum bodied, 15.4-inch LED widescreen display with 1440 by 900 pixels, 500GB, 2.8 GHz, 2009 3rd generation MacBook Pro. I'm kinda in love. I still need to name it, so I'll take your suggestions.
2) I decided to buy myself LASIK so these peeps can see the world a little more clearly with less corrective lenses.

Here's me enjoying the two best presents money bought me this year!

DRINKING FOUNTAINS

I had a fantastic summer in Czech. I got to hang with my Czech family, visit my Plzen branch members, tour around 11 countries in Europe, and partake of plentiful amounts of chocolate, cheese, sausage, and dumplings.

Upon arriving in the Atlanta airport (where I spent over 9 of my 30 hours of travel to get back home to SLC) I was reminded of something I am very grateful for: drinking fountains! And drinking fountains with cool, no gas, clean, free, drinkable water. I've missed you.

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, & WALES...OH MY!

So during my free week I took the 16 hour bus ride from Plzen to London (with a stop in Brussles for some Belgian waffles). After my arrival, I picked up my 7 day Brit Explorer hobo pass that allowed me to hop on any National Express bus within the UK at any time without a ticket reservation.

My first stop was in Oxford where I got to see my old pal Kristy from high school and meet her husband Miles (thankfully they let me stay an extra night at their cottage the 1 time the bus schedule didn't work out).

I then went on to see Bath (with Jane Austin girly stuff), Oxford again (pretty schools), Bristol (lots of Indian stuff and shopping), Cardiff Wales (home of the Welsh love spoon), Cambridge (more pretty schools), and stopped in Manchester (average soup but a lovely ferris wheel) where I met my friend Marc.

Marc and I continued on to Liverpool (new friends in the cavern with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields just around the corner), The Lake District: Kendal (home of mint cakes that aren't really cakes)/ Windermere (where I experienced fish & chips with mushy peas with gravy for the first time at the Little Chippy)/ Bowness (sitting by the bay with the largest swans I've ever seen in my life), Lancaster (no thanks), Morecombe (boats with no water, 2 star resorts, and very interesting people), and Preston (pizza hut buffet...need I say more?!).

The next day Marc and I talked the front desk workers at the local Travelodge into a free birthday breakfast and bottle of shampoo before heading to Nottingham (where we hung out with Robin Hood and ate many pasty from Gregg's).

Marc left and I continued on my journey through Conventry and Leicester to Birmingham (chips & curry) and then took a bus overnight to Edinburgh Scotland with a short detour to Glasgow. I got to be part of the Edinburgh Festival, hang with Braveheart, eat haggis/neeps/and tatties, and see lots of men in plaid kilts.

After that, I headed back to London on the overnight bus, had breakfast with the Queen outside Buckingham Palace, and then boarded my bus with the all-too-familiar smelly Czech friends back to Plzen.

SMACK BOTTOMS

I was thinking of inventing a game that teaches children good morals and builds character. You know, one that wouldn't contribute to "wasting their time" and will make them good members of society.
I've got it! Maybe I can put up two life-size twistable torsos and have them spank the booty as a music video starring Britney Spears plays in the background. I'll include in-depth instructions on how to twist and slap just the right way. That's it! And I will call it Smack Bottoms!
Was that thought really going through someones head as this console was designed?!