OH, HELLO FALL COLORS

I have really enjoyed it being in the upper 80's & 90's all the way to October, but I think Mother Nature is ready for Fall. I went for a drive up Provo Canyon to say hello to the fall colors and this is what I found:






Pretty fall colors also mean rubber-neckers looking at pretty fall colors. Please don't drive stupid.

SALT FLATS

A gang of photographers
A few "models"
Miles of salt
Many different perspectives
and here's what you get:

ANNIVERSARY ROSE GIVEAWAY winner

WINNING COMMENT:
Keleigh, Cecilia and Family said...
of course i'm a follower already!!! even before you got so popular.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2010 2:47 PM

Big thanks to everyone who entered!

I KISSED A GHOUL...

A great eye treat to end my night:

Katy Perry would be so proud...especially after her recent Sesame Street mishap. Thank you, Wal*mart.

Speaking of Katy Perry...I'll be honest, if you send me a FWD email I usually delete it without even opening it. But since my brother never sends me anything, I knew this one was special. I don't know who this girl is, but it made me laugh so much. I'm still laughing.

Proof That Men Have Not Evolved All That Much

LINDON CANNERY

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (you know, the Mormons) is big on service and helping people around the world. One way they help out is providing food to those in need. They have a cannery nearby in Lindon, UT, where I was able to volunteer. The whole process was pretty amazing.


Peaches come from a can. They were put there by a (wo)man in a factory...
That woman was me last week!


My time spent there was just peachy...literally. Service is cool.

FAIR PLAY

Going to the Utah State Fair is like going to a Wal*mart in Utah County on a Sunday. I have no idea where these people come from...BUT I loved EVERY minute of it!

LOOK ALIKE

Not 1...not 2...not 3, but 4 people have told me I remind them of Zooey Deschanel this week.


I'm not sure if it's totally true, but I'll take the compliment because I think she is so darn cute.

ANNIVERSARY ROSE GIVEAWAY

Remember that last giveaway from Dakota's Personalized Gifts? Well, I've got another for you from The Anniversary Rose Gifts. You can find cute things to give as an anniversary or wedding pressie (for your main squeeze or as a gift to your grandparents). These are my personal faves:


There are gifts for him, for her, for both, and actual anniversary roses made from whatever the special gift is for each year (pictured are a dozen 1st year paper roses). Fun, right?!

The Anniversary Rose has offered a $50 GC to one lucky winner.
TO ENTER: (each is worth a separate comment entry)

1. Visit the site and tell me what you might choose if you win (you can change your mind later if you want).
2. Follow my blog via google friend connect (on the right side of blog)
3. List as many anniversary year presents you know by heart (no cheating). ie I mentioned year 1 is paper.

Last day to enter will be October 1, 2010. Winner will be chosen by random. Buena suerte!

PARIS

I went to Paris today. No big deal.


Of course, it was Paris, Idaho.

PRIMA PRINCESSA

Jacq and I got our tutus on for a morning of dancing fun with Prima Princessa Presents The Nutcracker DVD. It will be released September 7, 2010, but we were lucky enough to get a little preview.
The DVD features the best companies around the world performing the classic Christmas ballet “The Nutcracker” live at the theater. It is filled with snow fairies, waltzing flowers, and (our favorite) toy soldiers.
The first time through, the dancing queen was satisfied watching the performance with her little ponies.


And then she was ready to get up and try the moves demonstrated by students from the NYC School of American ballet as well as little dancers her age.


You can find out where to purchase this DVD or the Prima Princessa Swan Lake DVD for your own little dancer (as well as enjoy coloring pages and fun childrens games) at PrimaPrincessa.com.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE PAVEMENT

I don't show emotion in my blog very often. Unless it's about people driving really slow in the far left/carpool lanes. Dear Sir, sign says: no trucks or trailers in left two lanes. OK, don't get me started on that one.


But it's funny how maybe a few tears or hours of tears, long nap, and then a conversation with yourself (I'm not crazy) helps you think straight. My friend Michelle gave me some advice, in her own sort of way, almost two years ago. I was kinda like, "What's she talking about?!" and even had the "How Rude!" attitude of Stephanie from Full House.


But wow! today I realized it's time to wake up and smell the pavement!



I love you; you're my friend.

I'M COMMITTING MYSELF TO HIM

For those of ya'll who think I'm afraid of commitment, you read correctly...
I'm going for it.
I have decided to commit myself to a wonderful man.
A commitment I know will so be worth it in the future.


You see, this is what I'm told a normal curve in your neck should look like.


This is what mine looks like.
Thus, I have committed to 3 months with the entire staff at Lindon Family Chiropractic.
For all of you math nerds, you might have deducted this conditional statement:
If deanna has committed to see the chiropractor for 3 months, then she will be staying in Utah. Correct--Deanna will be in Utah for at least a 3 month time period.

TRUE BLUE

I was talked into going to a University of Utah football game tonight.
I attended, but I stood true blue among the sea of red that filled the stadium. (Luckily, no beer was thrown on me.)

WINNER WINNER

The Dakota's Personalized Gifts contest has ended.
I'd like to give a super big thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!
Here is the result:

And the winning comment is:
Molly said...
The Engraved Key To My Heart Necklace

winning things is cool!
Congrats, Molly.
xoxoxo

FOREVER

I went to a John Michael Montgomery concert at the Scera Shell with my friend Joe Saturday night and, first, I want to say it was fantastic! Mr. JMM has 20 number 1 hits that I personally LOVE to sing along with and he seemed so humble about it on stage. If you haven't heard his new song Forever, you need to.



During the first song, I did notice that his voice might not be able to hit all of the ranges it used to and this made me sad. I think sometimes I imagine super stars are supposed to stay young and awesome forever. I mean Dick Clark will never look a day over 35 and Betty White will always stay golden in my mind. It shocks me to see men turning gray and chubby with age or movie screen beauties get wrinkles. But it happens...as strange as it seems to me.

I PROMISE

You'll want to try these. I promise.


No, I did NOT eat the whole bag by myself!

WORTH IT?

7:30pm launch time.


Used 20 minutes trying to jump-start a boat stranded in the water.

Barely enough sun for 3 runs each.


Choppy water.

Arm already sore from donating blood earlier in the day.

Dent in forehead from face plant and board flying up and hitting me.

Towing stranded boat back to harbor.


1,749 mosquito bites while trying to dock the boat.


WAS IT WORTH IT??
You betcha!

EYE THANK YOU

Today, I had my 1 year follow up appointment from my LASIK procedure (happy anniversary). The doctor told me I am still seeing 20/15 which is a major improvement from my 20/400 vision before the LASIK. Yeah, I used to say, "I think that's an E" up on the wall and now I can almost read the very bottom line. They promise if at any time during the rest of my life, my vision drops below 20/40, they will do a retouch. INCREDIBLE!

I went to Hoopes Vision and for any of you who are considering LASIK, I say DO IT. It was THE best money/investment I have ever spent/made. If I had to do it again, I would-no questions asked.

It is SO fantastic to not have to worry about falling asleep with contacts in, be able to swim without hesitation, or even to wake up and be able to see the alarm clock. Eye thank you with all my heart, everyone at Hoopes.

CHIROPRACTOR

PS It's not covered by insurance so...anyone know a cute, chiropractor looking for a girlfriend??
...Just an idea.

BIRTHDAY BASH

I just got back from Europe.
Michelle, well, she's just got back.
We both have a birthday in August.
So we decided to celebrate with a birthday bash.

If you didn't come, you pretty much missed out.

I'M BACK...EAST

I returned to America and my family for a couple hours and then headed east to visit New England and Canada. Why? Because I wanted to. Here's a recap of the week:

NEW HAMPSHIRE

spent some quality time with family in Hampton, ate lots of ice cream in Dover, and experienced my first frappe in Portsmouth (in most normal areas of America, we call them milkshakes).

MAINE

touched a light house and ate lobster...what else would I do there?!

VERMONT

Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory tour
lots of bridges, syrup, and trees

MONTREAL, QUEBEC CANADA:

This place is gorgeous. I think I said that about 1748 times. It's true. It's not like the "eh, hoser" Canada you think of most of the time. No, it's french Canadian and I LOVED it. oui oui.


MASSACHUSETTS

two words--(cream filled) Dunkin' Donuts.
We spent a day in Cape Cod. It was a little boring for me. I'm sure it would have been more fun if I was around 60 and liked to sit in the car, go for long drives, and look at trinkets in boutiques (not that there is anything wrong with that...there just wasn't enough action for me). But we did find a cool look-out spot and another light house.

RHODE ISLAND
Providence, RI, to more exact. I think my favorite night of the trip was spent in this little town with a man we met washing his clothes in the water who befriended us and acted as our personal tour guide. He told us the best restaurants to stop at, showed us the best views in town, and explained how to catch crabs in the poopy sea water. Thank you, Frankie Bones!


I barely survived the jet lag, pretty much falling asleep hard by 9:30pm every night and waking up at 6am (7pm and 4am MST back home...ugh).

DAKOTA GIFTS GIVEAWAY

I went to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins in New Hampshire last week, I decided to take a present for them to say thanks for letting me stay. I really enjoy personalized keepsakes, so when Dakota's Personalized Gifts asked me to do a review for them, I found the perfect thing...this engraved photo marble keepsake. I put a photo of me with them and my parents from our trip to Disney World earlier this year. It turned out fantastic.


The marble piece is beautiful and the photo showed up nicely.
They have other cute items that I enjoyed like this love canvas that allows you to have initials carved in the stone (cool wedding present)
Things for the house like family wall signs, welcome mats, and sheetsand gifts for him like money clips, cuff links, and key chains.


NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY

Dakota's is offering one lucky person a $50 gift card for a personalized gift of your choice.

To enter, you MUST:
1. Tell me what item from dakotagifts.com you would choose if you win (you can change your mind later).
2. You can get a second entry if you are a Google Friend Connect follower of my blog.
Good luck.
The contest will run until Monday, August 30th. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Tuesday, August 31st. Please include your email address in your comment so I can get a hold of you if you're the winner.

FLIGHT TIPS

I have made 5 flights in the last 2 days and I just want to give a few tips to help any readers to NOT be so annoying to fellow flyers.
1. Do NOT grab on to the headrest in front of you to help yourself stand up.
2. Do NOT move around in your seat so much in case the person behind you is trying to sleep on the tray table and you are causing your chair to whack them in the head every 10 seconds.
3. If everyone else on the plane (especially on long international flights) has their window shade down to block the sunshine from blaring in in order to sleep, please do NOT be the ONE person who keeps opening yours up (especially if you're sitting next me).
4. Do NOT keep your carry on items on the floor taking up all of your leg room causing you to put your bare feet near the person in the seat next to you.
5. Do NOT cross over the arm rest.
6. DO know how to use your own touch screen and seat belt and do NOT wake up the person next to you and ask them to do help you every 30 minutes.
7. Do NOT drink a gallon of water before the flight if you have a middle or aisle seat, causing you to stumble over everyone on your way to the toilet.
8. DO insist on taking a shower that day before heading to the airport, please.
9. Just because you have earphones on when you are watching an in flight movie, it does not mean that you can laugh so loud that travelers 5 rows behind can hear you.
10. Do NOT and do NOT let your children kick or put their knees on the seat in front of you.
11. If your child is crying and the plane has a lower level downstairs with bathrooms and where no passengers are sitting, please take them down instead of letting them scream at the top of their lungs.
12. Do NOT hit other people with your handbags/luggage as you get it from the overhead compartment.

I'm always surprised at how oblivious people can be.
Good thing I never wanted to be a flight attendant when I was little because I'm afraid I'd punch people.
Please and thank you.

This post just reminded me of this clip:



Does this count as annoying?