JOB OFFER

Hypothetically, if you received a call from Switzerland at 7:30 AM on a Sunday morning offering you this job for 6 months working with a 4.5 year old trilingual genius child, would you take it?

a. Availability Monday to Friday
b. Weekly work expected 30-40 hours
c. Driving Child to school, lessons and other appointments or activities
d. Preparing daily meals for Child.
e. Laundry for Child.
f. General tidying-up of Child's bedroom, toilet & bathroom, and play-room.
g. Baby-sitting one evening per week and one weekend per month.
i. Additional baby-sitting subject to standard hourly wage
h. Preparing and cooking one family meal, per day.
i. Keeping the kitchen clean
j. Light household grocery shopping as required
k. Keeping the rules of the house and setting a good example.
l. Treating the family members and all their property, with dignity, respect & care

with these perks:

a. A monthly pocket money payable at the 28th of each month
b. Studio apartment provided by the employer
c. French lessons (maximum of 30% paid by employer)
d. Food (monthly) and selected household essentials
e. Vehicle provided for child transport
f. Mobile phone with prepaid card for work-related calls
g. 50% of total cost of return Airline ticket
h. 2 paid days off per month
i. Health, Accident and Damage Insurance paid by employer

FOE-TOES

I was on facebook and saw an ad for a photographer. Me...well, I like to take photos so I clicked on it. It took me to the site of a Utah photographer named Justin Hackworth. I looked at some of his stuff--it's fun and clever. Give it a look or check out his blog with daily photos here.
PS the photo above is one of his.

PUT LITTER IN IT'S PLACE

...and that place is not on the floor of my car. I hate it when I give someone a ride or let them borrow my car and they eat something then the next day I find the wrapper on the floor. Do you think you're in a movie theater or do I look like your mom?! For heavens sake, clean up after yourself.

BEN FOLDS CAN ROCK MY SUBURBS ANY TIME HE FEELS COMPELLED TO DO SO

I first listened to Ben Folds Five in 1998, when my friends Fred and Richard Donaldson and their gang of dudes introduced me to the band (yes, more than just the Brick song out on the radio). Turned out to be one of my favorites. I'd seen them live in concert at the X96 Bash and almost scheduled a flight back East to see a friend around a concert by Ben Folds solo style with a symphony. Well, last night Ben along with Ben Lee (and a couple other local acts: Mesa Drive, Chris Merritt, and Allred) played at SaltAir. The show was for a charity so I think along with the amazing piano hits by Ben I helped build a well in Cambodia by attending. He rocked that.... uh rocked our suburb as he told us what it's like being male, middle class and white. Sham on Mr. Folds.

MEN AREN'T FROM MARS...

That book everyone has been reading all this time is wrong. I saw this t-shirt today and it made me giggle. Hooray for teenagers and warped minds alike for creating/wearing such genius apparel. Amen.

THE PRICE WE PAY TO BE BEAUTIFUL

Good gosh. I was curling my hair to make myself look presentable for church today and as I was bringing the curling iron up to my hair, I totally hit my chin and burned it. Don't worry a nice red spot appeared within 5 minutes. The price we pay to be beautiful...
xoxoxo

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE?

Have you ever saved a voicemail on your phone...just to hear a person's voice that you might not see often? Or there is one photo on your camera memory card with someone special that you just can't bear to delete? Maybe you save a text message remembering a time when you were with someone and they made you smile? Not in a stalker way, but rather in a sappy I'm a dang sentimental fool way.
Well, I DID IT! I deleted em. Did it today. No use crying over spilled milk. You've moved on and so must I. Miss you and L-O-V-E you but it had to be done. Good times.
xoxoxo

EASY GIRL

I'm an easy girl. At least I want to be one someday. "Nothin wrong with showin a little boob," is a direct quote from the moms. But that's not the kind of EASY I'm talking about. My friend Dustin played this song for me and it's my favorite for the week. Give it a listen. Title: Easy Girl / Artist: Coconut Records
xoxoxo

THE GAMBLER

I've never really had the desire to gamble. Other people have offered to give me money to just try it, but I've easily declined. All of the sudden, since I've been waiting for the opportunity to see the movie 21 (and that's been a long wait), I'm so interested in how to play poker and gamble in other such games. So Danny Wilson and I pulled out the leftover Easter jelly beans to use in place of chips and he gave me a lesson in Texas Hold 'Em. Final hand, we were all in, I was bluffing...he called me and I lost it all. I stood up from the table and shook his hand. Lesson well learned -- I'll stick to playing Go Fish. BUT I'll see you Jim Sturgess on the big screen.

WASH ME

Before going to bed last night I promised to wash my car the next day. This morning I looked out the window and saw that it was raining...I loved it. Thank you Mother Nature for the free car wash and for letting me spend my $4 on a package of new hair bands instead.

HOL VOLT, HOL NEM VOLT, VOLT EGYSZER...

...a dear friend once told me that's how you start a fairytale in Hungarian. It literally means “where there was, where there wasn’t, there once was..."
A great way to share new beginnings and happy endings. So I'm still stuck at home on my movie kick and I've decided that sure it's nice to watch a show that ends predictably happy and full of romance blah blah blah. But I think at times we need those movies like Friday Night Lights where the whole town is passionate about football (they live, eat, sleep, and breath it) and then the big game finally comes; everybody is riding on the outcome and THE WIN is sooo important. But in the end...they lose...and it's sad...but life goes on...and another year of star players and season of games come and go...and the old players move on with their lives. Maybe it makes a good ending to a story too: “where there was, where there wasn’t, there once was, but NOW there is..."

A SUNSHINE STATE OF MIND

I've been stuck at home with a large problem (that'd be my face), but this has given me time to watch a few movies. One film I caught is Kindergarten Cop. That's right with Arnold Schwarzenegger and him saying "It's not a tuma!" to 6 year olds. Great show but it got me to realize Arnold is the man...he's done a lot of cool things in life:
(IMPORTANT: for those that are about to stop reading because of length just hit the bold words then move to final paragraph)

*First of all he was born in Austria so he has a great accent that automatically wins him cool points wherever he goes.
*I remember Muscle & Fitness magazines in the bathroom with his Mr. Olympia photos in them (I grew up with 3 brothers gimme a break).
*The list of hit movies: Conan, Terminator films, Red Sonja, Predator, Twins (you know the fact that he tried to pull off Danny DeVito as his twin brother is pretty funny), already mentioned Kindergarten Cop, and True Lies.
*The hot chick wife Maria Shriver.
*Has his handprints and footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
*Helped start Planet Hollywood franchise.
*Having a SNL sketch in his honor with the not so "girlie men" Hans & Franz and the role of President in The Simpsons Movie.
*Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports...an organization that aims to "promote, encourage and motivate Americans of all ages to become physically active and participate in sports". I remember this and I wanted this award...but I was too lazy to find out how to get it.
*And most recently, elected the 38th Governor of California.

So sign me up. How do I get to be so lucky? I think most girls move to CALIFORNIA, get in some nudey magazine, sing a song or get a role in a movie, win Miss America or some award, get award taken away for the nudey magazine appearance, star in movie, get own television show, then the rest is bliss. So, my question is...who is gonna buy my boobies???
ha ha it's a joke ma...for the most part. Unless I have some takers...contact me privately.

CAPTAIN AWKWARD TEXT

Have you ever acted a certain way or done something that you think you should apologize for or just maybe clarify a bit. But when you do the other person questions your reasoning for it because they weren't offended or bothered in anyway and then you feel like you shouldn't have said anything at all or even given it a second thought. Then that makes you feel like if you were a super hero your name would be Captain Awkward Text. Yeah that's right...to make it even more complicated, I did it in a text message. Awesome.

I DO NOT EAT RED M&M'S

Here is the reason why:

1976, due to public controversy surrounding a particular red food coloring, red M&M'S® Chocolate Candies were removed from the traditional color mix.

1971, a Russian study linked cancer to Red No. 2, and consumerists in the U.S. stepped up pressure on the FDA to ban the dye.

1987, red was returned to the traditional M&M'S® color mix due to overwhelming request from consumers.

Sure, it's a different dye but I still don't trust em...epecially the Valentine's or Christmas bags. Yikes.

SPRUNG BROKE

Patrice, Steve, and I headed out on a roadtrip to LA for the Easter/Spring Break/whatever weekend.
2:20AM departure time from Provo. Arrive in Vegas to meet London Mike from Baltimore who was there for business. We slept from 7-9:30AM at the Palazzo room 9-833. Gorgeous. Woke up to swim and tour the hotel. Traveled on to Santa Ana, CA for little sister's Lacrosse game. Later that night it was off to West Hollywood to meet Dory for a party at Republic (happens every Friday and they're amazing).
Saturday we drove to Balboa Pier where we rode bikes at the beach, ate some cool treats, watched a bit of rugby, and ended the night with a bonfire.
Pacific Amphitheater was the setting for a sunny Easter service with live music and dance with my Biola U friend Peter. A quick stop for some ham with the fam and we were back on the road again to Utah while making stops at In n Out and Jack in the Box of course.
I'd give the trip a V for very, very, very entertaining.

EYE AM NOT SURE WHY

I've always been a pushover for boys with blue or light colored eyes. Only once...and it just happened this January...have I looked into the eyes of a dude with brown peeps and been taken back by how ridiculously good-looking they appeared to me. However, for some reason, the goggle tan line eyes are so hot right now. It all started with the shots from the 2007 Warren Miller's Playground film I saw like three times. I know...it seems strange.

SHOW OFF YOUR SHAMROCKS

It was St. Patrick's Day and what better way to celebrate than a night on the town with my girlfriends exploiting boys. So we set out on a mean green kissing scavenger hunt. These are just a few of the things we found on our list...

PHOTO FINISH

My hair has been less brown (I'll never admit to having blonde hair for some reason) for awhile and I'm a little tired of the upkeep so I decided to go back to brown. Here's my last photo with light and first with brown.

ROCKY CANYON

The weather was so nice yesterday I decided to go for a hike up Rock Canyon. It was just me and Beyonce (my ipod) headed up the trail. But I made it a solo journey after about two songs because I realized that when I'm out with nature I like to listen to and enjoy nature so the poder went off. Anyway, I started hiking up the trail even though it was totally covered in snow still. I went the farthest I can ever remember going up this canyon in all my times of trekking up it. After about 2 hours I realized I hate hiking. So I turned around and ran the whole way down. I really detest running in the rain because I don't like to get wet unless I want to, but I L-O-V-E running in the snow because it makes me feel like Rocky (I just forgot to punch my fist when I got to the parking lot).

I LIKE BIG AMOUNTS OF RANCH DRESSING AND I CANNOT LIE

I've decided it's time to admit it. I'm addicted to ranch dressing. And while it is a tasty habit, I'm not sure it's a totally healthy habit (out of 140 calories per serving, 130 are from fat). We had steak for dinner the other night and I noticed the steak sauce bottle was empty. What'd I do? Grabbed the ranch dressing. I like steak...I like ranch dressing...why not combine the two?! Gosh that sounds gross to me now. Too bad it's sooo delicious.

BE THOU AN EXAMPLE

So my talk in church three weeks ago was about perfecting the saints...I spoke about sharing your testimony through the words you speak, the example you set, and the way you live your life. Going to Ireland was such a fun holiday for me and Jenny because we met so many amazing people from all over the world (So 2 mormon girls walk into a pub...). The people all around us offered us drinks all night and when I said I'd take pineapple juice over guinness it got most asking questions. My friend Marc sent me this note:

'deanna your a sweet lovely lass. ive just got back from our weekly works get together and ive been talking to all the boys about our trip.its funny because i told everyone about you being a mormen the other day and today kirean who by the way is one of the more inquisitive members of the group took it upon himself to google it. So picture this a bunch of lads all the way from england sat around talking about your religion. bearing in mind on an average day the conversation dont get past more than motors sports and women. Suddenly we find ourselves deep in a converstion about the usa, deanna, salt lake city and mormen life. . so please be proud that even though you sit all those miles away from us you managed to keep a bunch of lads talking for a good while. least you know we think of you.'

Jenny and I didn't do anything but be ourselves. And I guess that's good enough most of the time. It just makes me realize that people are watching all the time and I need to be all that I can be...always. (Read this funny story about my little nephew saying "what the hell!")It's great to share what we believe and who we are. Life is sweet. Love you all.

SUPERPIPE THAT HO!

World Superpipe Championship event Park City, UT highlights:
rock star parking spots in the parking lot, sharing snow pants, hiking up to the event, free cliff bars and gooey squares, photos with athletes, playing human snowboards, friends skiing with beer, snowball wars on innocent bystanders just wanting to get down the mountain, and making the Park City Mountain Resort picture of the day (see previous post).
xoxoxo

WE'RE PRETTY PHOTOGENIC

What would you do to get your photo taken?
Click here to see what I did.
xoxoxo

HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGY...

...at the Watson house? Two nights ago the moms told me she started receiving calls nonstop from 7pm to around 11:30pm about an ad on KSL.com for three dogs for sale that somehow had her number listed as reference. Ohmigosh this got me laughing. So the next day, I did my duty as her daughter and had other people call about the dogs at her home and work. AMAZING! I answered a few calls at the house, but the best was when Jenny Baum answered one and said, "Oh you're calling about the dog? Well, it died! Ok Thanks."
I think this prank was even better than the time my brother Jeff and I changed her AOL profile status to 'seperated and lonely' since my dad was away working at various airports and a few days later she comes up and says to me, "I don't know why but men keep sending me dirty emails with their photos saying they want to meet me." Oh God bless the cello man. Or the time we changed her profile pic to a photo of Beyonce and it took her a month to figure out how to change it back. Love you moms.
xoxoxo

WEATHER I'M READY OR NOT...

That's not a type-o above. People keep telling me the weather wants to turn to Spring so bad, but I feel like we have a few storms left. Plus I'm not ready for my bathing suit...I still have my winter coat on. Gosh. So I need your help. Next time you see me with that third piece of pizza in my mouth, tell me to be a lady and put it down. Then take me for a run. I beg you.
xoxoxo

RING-AROUND-THE-ROSY

I received a few flowers this month and I love them! They look and smell so pretty. The only problem I have is I appreciate them so much that I can't bear to throw them away. So I usually keep flowers until they are dry and moldy and most likely hazardous to my and those around me's health (those around me's??? that's gotta be correct because it sounds so good). Eventually someone else throws them out because they're tired of finding dead petals on the floor and can't stand the hideous smell the flowers are now emitting.
So I offer the alternative of digital cameras and laptops if you want to buy me things. Which leads to my next point...not enough people buy me things.
xoxoxo

HEAR YE, HEAR YE

The sound on my computer has been broken for the last week or so and it has made me really appreciate my sense of hearing. If I couldn't hear I would have missed out on hearing the free donut chant and dance my nephews and niece did after I gave them their Krispy Kreme valentines (check em out here),


our roommate Danny Wilson play at an amazing birthday party with his band Moneypenny,



mingling with new friends and mixed tapes and masterpieces up in the Cottonwood Heights,



Walking into the airport at the same speed as the guy next to me who was on the moving sidewalk while the Bryan Adams song Everything I Do, I Do it For You was playing elevator style wondering if this meant he was my soulmate. Then realizing that whole scenerio was ridiculously disgusting.

PRAY FOR SNOW

What could a better day at work include besides sweet pow falling, snowboarding, and then a free lunch?! And I was getting paid for it all.
Makes me want to board more.
I'm ashamed to say I didn't make it up on the slopes once last season and this was my first time this year. Time for some make up work to the snow gods. Pray for a long season.
xoxoxo

INSIDE THOUGHTS

As I was going through the airport security today dropping a student off for work, the TSA guy took my passport, looked at the photo, stamped my escort pass, and made the comment "I liked you better as a brunette." To which I quickly took my passport back and replied, "I liked you better when you kept your opinion to yourself."
Who says that?!
It's like a cop pulling someone over on the road, looking at their license, and saying "Gee, this says you weigh 115 pounds but we both know that's not accurate now, is it."
Sometimes inside thoughts are meant to stay inside.

I HAVE A HEART ON...

I saw this Saturn commercial and it made me rethink the awesome things in life. Way to go on a rockin commerical. Here are my favorite things of the week:

My twin nephews had a 4 year old transformer birthday party. When I asked them whose party it was they both replied "ours" instead of "mine".


A little ironic to me...there was a 100 year old man working the express lane at Target.


My friend Shane hates Valentine's Day. After being told to buck up and be a good sport about it while at work, he disappeears for a few minutes to the back stock room, then returns pointing to a heart-shaped paper cut out taped to his shirt exclaiming, "I HAVE A HEART ON!" for everyone in the store to hear. GO ahead and say that phrase outloud to yourself if you didn't understand that laugh already.


Teaching my niece how to make fish faces and then asking for fish tacos from the cafe at an aquarium.




Witnessing the difference in cookies baked in the oven of friendship vs cookies baked in the oven of competition and contention. Aww geez this batch sucked. Jenny Baum & Deandra:1, Dads:0, cookie dough:2

WELCOME TO PROVO

After borrowing a car from his local neighborhood player, my friend Sean (straight from Maine) and I went out on a scavenger hunt to celebrate his first trip to the Provo/Orem area.

The first timer and I headed down State Street and directly to Krispy Kreme where he witnessed the awe of the donut conveyer belt. Being very careful not to get glaze in his moustache, he quickly munched on 2 free samples of the original glazed and 2 variety donuts and washed it down with a chug of 2%. The hungry fella curbed his sweet tooth all day just for this pit stop. While at the Krispy Kreme, we snapped some photos on our scavenger hunt list: with a b-day girl, eating a donut, and with a BYU student.

Getting onto the University Parkway and later Avenue, we continued our tour of Provo by passing the University and Provo Towne Centre malls, Movies 8 (home of 50 cent Tuesdays), the Provo temple, Rocky Canyon and it's park, the MTC (not empty sea), the BYU, UVSC, Wal-mart on Sandhill Road (perfect for late night student flirting), Neilson's Grove (where we rode the giant swing), Trafalga (ghetto putt putt), Geneva Steel (plug your nose), and the list/excitement goes on...

Our last stop was the Watson boarding house for some soup, a few more donuts, roommate time, and a movie.
Welcome to Provo Sean.

PASTA, PASSION, & PISTOLS

Saturday night, I was sent an invitation from my buddy Dan to attend a murder mystery dinner party hosted by our old friends Joe and Brenna Kennedy. Never done one of these before.
Here's the plot: Guiseppe(Pepi)Roni served up a mean plate of pasta until someone did him in. Now there's big trouble in Little Italy because 4 days ago he was found murdered in the kitchen of his renowned New York City eatery, La Sperenza. Pepi had been shot in the back with his own pistol. We gathered together to pay our respects and eat a feast of Italian food in his honor.

We were all instructed to dress up and play the roles of the devious suspects:

Rocco Scarfazzi: Pepi's twin brother, a tough-talking no-nonsense Italian business man. In addition to his vineyards and real estate holdings, it is rumored Rocco is in the 'laundering' business. He had no love for his brother Pepi but his reasons are his own ... capische?
Tara Misu: Rocco's vivacious young fiancé. She was just an upstairs maid in Rocco's villa until she swept him off his feet. Now Tara keeps a smile on his face and a firm grip on Rocco's assets. Tara is dressed to kill. She knows the effect she has on men and flaunts her charms shamelessly.


Mama Rosa: Pepi's grieving widow. For 25 years, Mama Rosa cooked the pasta while Pepi greeted La Sperenza's dinner guests. In all the years they were married, not once did they argue. Had something finally boiled over in Rosa's kitchen?
Marco Roni: Pepi and Mama Rosa's only son, Marco was expected to take over the restaurant after his parents retired. Marco hates waiting tables. His goal is to play on a World Cup soccer team but his papa has been keeping him permanently on the bench.

Bo Jalais: Cousin of a cousin of Rocco's, Bo manages the Scarfazzi vineyards. Bo comes from a long line of French wine-makers and no one knows 'ze' grape like Bo. An important man in the Scarfazzi organization .... what could Bo possibly have to whine about.
Angel Roni: Pepi and Rosa's beautiful daughter. It was Pepi's dream that his 'Angel' would marry a good Italian boy, have children and carry on the family traditions. Angel has a few fantasies of her own though and one of them is that hunk, Bo jalais. Mama-mia!

Father Al Fredo: An Italian priest and long-time family friend of the Roni's and the Scarfazzi's. The good priest has heard their confessions and knows their sins.
Clair Voyant: Rosa's best friend and astrology advisor. Clair's talents include an ability to communicate with the spirit world and see into the future.

Who done it? I cannot tell you. But I will say it was a blast to play. My character was Tara Misu. I had an affair with my fiance's twin brother, a rendevous with Bo at the restaurant, and an alibi the night of the murder with an old boyfriend. Everyone at the table said I was the perfect person to play that part...didn't know if I should say thank you or question them on the role of the flousy. Everyone's a suspect when murder is on the menu.

MY PERFECT BOYS

In honor of Valentine's Day, LOVE, and all that shiz...

BOYS: Take notes from these dudes
GIRLS: Find these guys and don't ever let them go

AVOID THE CLAP

Brian, an old country dancing friend, invited me to go with him to Kingsbury Hall last night to enjoy an evening of Riverdance. It was a spectacular show filled with a live band, singers, flamenco soloist, tappers, drummers, russian ballet dancers, and of course the riverdancers.


While performers were on stage, they would start clapping encouraging the audience to clap along. Great...that's fun...get involved in the show and feel the energy. Most of the old people would continue to clap for the entire piece even after the majority of the audience and performers have stopped and they would start clapping in the middle of a performance. Now I know sometimes there is a break after a person is dancing and doing something extraordinary so the audience can clap, but these people were going crazy and clapping so much that they were ruining the purpose of listening to the stomps on the floor of the dance (that sound is what makes you realize they are moving so incredibly fast). Or some audience members were clapping during the solo making it so I couldn't hear the jamming. HELLO--you're kind of ruining the show. There is a time to clap and a time to listen. Please be wise in choosing when is the appropriate time for each.
xoxoxo
PS this show made me miss Ireland. sigh.

FUNNY BOY

To end my Sundance experience I went to a Best of Fest film in SLC Monday (thanks again Jimmy for the tickets), finally hung out with Sean at the Porcupine (weed smell and Ebay lessons included for free), and went to a comedy show at Wiseguys in West Valley where my new friend Brian from the newfrontier performed a bit. Check out his stuff at homelesscomic.com.

The headliner of the comedy show that night was Jeff Dye, a ridiculously good looking seacocks fan from Seattle, WA. Listen to him...he's funny and stuff. We searched fields for clovers, sipped Starbucks, shopped for manly hair product, and celebrated black history month/Kwanzaa with black movie night together.
In between the fun, I went with Brady to Shoots for Chinese burritos (good gosh those are delicious) and my second round of PS I Love You. Made me miss Ireland, but I've received news that some English lads might come visit soon.
The point of this blog...I'm not sure...I just had a good week. Click on the links and listen to the funny boys.
xoxoxo