Grown Up Christmas List

Ok, so I just used a cheesy song title as a blog title... get over it. Anyway, on to my list:

Dear Santa,
I've tried to be a good girl this year. Here is my Christmas list:

A teapot (preferably of the metal variety that I can actually heat up on the stove)
The Fablehaven series (preferably in hard-back)
A ski/snowboard type coat
Grey or green sheets
Season 4 and later of Scrubs on dvd
Gift cards to Torrid, Joanns, Material Girls, etc.
Christmas dishes
Disney dvd's
iTunes gift cards
A renewed subscription to the Ensign, Better Homes and Gardens, or Family Fun
A puppy
New scrubs
Anything else you think I could use

Thanks so much,
Annicka

The Work Bestie

Ok, so I think it's time for another installment of my favorite people. This blog post will be dedicated to and all about my work best friend, the lovely Jill Whitney.

Jill and I met when she began working on the rehab unit with me as an LPN. She was a great nurse then and she's still a great nurse now as an RN. Anyway, Jill and I found that we had many things in common and that we were pretty well matched as friends. It really started with our shared love of all things Harry Potter, Fablehaven, and Twilight and pretty much grew from there. We even started spending time together outside of work, which is essentially unheard of for me. I generally like to keep my social and professional lives separate. Anyway, Jill's answers to the questions:

Where are you from?
Murray Utah (David Archuleta town, stacks for life, and if it’s good enough for Murray-it’s good enough for me) (Represent!)

What do you do for a living?

I am a nurse and a majority of the time I absolutely love it.

What is your favorite comfort food?
I love pizza-specifically Papa Murphy’s cowboy pizza, almost all icecreams, and I also love me a pork salad from café rio with the cilantro/lime vinegarette dressing. Any of these are a guarantee to make me happy. (Maybe we're friends because we like all the same food, eh?)

What color is your bedspread?
Aggie blue (navy blue) my favorite color of all time. (And might I interject that she has High School Musical sheets? Awesome.)

What book/movie has had a major impact on you?
Book is probably the whole Harry Potter series; Movie is Freedom Writers…this movie came out when I was getting my Sociology degree and just reaffirmed to me why I needed to take a break from nursing and become a sociologist first. (That book... and Kids Who Kill, right? Right?) And for fun the Play that has had a major impact on me is Rent, by Jonathan Larsen. This play seriously changed my life when I was in 8^th grade and it had first come out.

What is your favorite word?

Bueller. As in Ferris Bueller.

What is your best color?
People say magenta, coral, and teal are my best looking colors. I love these colors and own a lot of clothes this color, but I wear mostly navy blue. (Except your scrubs...)

What is your favorite restaurant?
The Pie pizzeria, and this little ghetto Mexican place in Bakersfield California. (Mmmm, ghetto Mexican food!)

What is one material possession you couldn't live without?
My Fiskar’s paper cutter. (Which reminds me. We still need to do a quilt/scrapbook skills swap.)

Which cartoon character do you resemble the most?

Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons…just kidding, but he is my favorite. I probably look the most like one of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty. (Flora, Fauna, or Merryweather? Ok, I just scared myself that I knew that.)

Why do you think I like you so much?
Because we are both extremely funny people…right? (Right)

What is the best compliment you could receive?
I like just knowing that I am needed and appreciated for it. (I appreciate you helping throw a baby shower that we weren't planning on throwing. And for assisting in the food costs.)

What is your favorite memory we have shared?
We have had a lot of good game nights with lots of laughter. (Why do they call it skip-bo?)

What 3 words would best describe you?
“loyal”, “random”, “creative”

So I'm sure you can all see why I adore this girl. She's just like me. Only nice. If you've never met her you should stop by the hospital some night and play a round of skip-bo with us. You won't regret it.

Animal Magnetism

It's official... I read vampire books for the Werewolves. I didn't realize this until last night at work. I've been reading (ok, devouring... pardon the pun) the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I began to notice a theme: most of the vampire series I've read lately have had prominent Were characters as well, and generally speaking, I prefer the Were.

For example: Jacob Black. I've preferred him over Edward from day 1 of reading the Twilight series. I didn't find anything appealing about the character of Edward, and I loved almost everything about Jacob. And then they did the casting for the movies. Enter Taylor Lautner.I think he's the perfect Jacob, even before he packed on 40 pounds of muscle for the role. Yeah, you read that right: 40 pounds. Oh, and did I mention he's only 17? Well, he is. Still...And not only do we have one beautiful shirtless brown boy in New Moon... we have multiples. That's right, and whole pack of them. Animal magnetism at it's height, my friends.

Anyway, back to Sookie Stackhouse. I don't care for the main male character, a male vampire named Bill. Almost as much as I don't care for Edward, and that's a lot. I don't see the draw of vamps in general. So, last night at work I was reading Club Dead, the third book in the series, and they introduced a new character. Alcide Herveaux, southern gentleman, surveyor, and Werewolf extraordinaire. For me, it was love at first sight. Alcide (said Al-see) is described as being "...huge. His eyes were green. His tousled hair was curly and thick and black as pitch...He looked handsome and rough, though 'attractive' might be a more accurate word than 'handsome'." Anyway, my pick to play Alcide in the HBO series True Blood (based on the novels) is Jeffrey Dean Morgan: huge, dark, brooding, and a lot less serious than a vampire.
I think it's the warmth and humor that attracts me to Werewolves over vampires. They just seem so much more real. So... there you have it. The effects of animal magnetism on l'il ole me.

Nightmare on Murray Holladay Road

I've worked night shifts for a long time. When I first started out in the land of the night I had no problem sleeping. I could lay my head down in the middle of the shift and spend my lunch break napping. I could come home in the morning and sleep the day away. I could even sleep in my own bed on my nights off.

When I got married I had a hard time getting used to sharing my bed. I was used to sleeping smack-dab in the middle of my (glorious after years of twin) queen-size bed. I struggled with rolling over and finding a body there, and looked forward to sleeping during the day when I'd, once again, have the bed to myself. Unisom and Tylenol PM became my best friends for awhile. And then one day it changed.

I spent my first night alone sometime this summer when Steve went to scout camp. It was ok, I was more bored than anything. Then he began a new job last month. Now, more often than not, I spend the majority of my nights off alone. That was when the nightmares started.

I've always had strange dreams (they run in my family, just ask my mom and sister), but these go above and beyond. Throughout my life I've had the occasional nightmare, but nothing like this. This is beyond anything I've ever experienced. I now wake up on a regular basis with heart racing, muscles tensed, tears in my eyes, gut-clenching fear.

And I have no idea why.

I've had nightmares about everything from family being killed, to my house being broken into with me still in it, to Steve leaving me for his first girlfriend Kandice (who, by the way, is happily married in the real world). And these all occur after I've finally lulled myself to sleep. I don't like being home alone. I miss having a warm body in the other side of the bed. And there's nothing I can do but get used to it, because this job is most likely going to be a long term one.

But what do I do about the nightmares?

Foolish

Lately I've been a blanket making fool... with plenty more to come. I have several friends that are expecting babies in the next 9 months, so I've got plenty of little blankies to make. The first, though, is my sweet friend Kasi who has been trying to get pregnant for almost a decade. She is expecting little Ashton Allen in November. We threw a shower for her and this is the blanket I opted for.The quilt top

The finished project

I backed it in soft brown minky and put a sailboat in the middle to match the nautical-theme nursery.

My second blanket is actually for us. I bought this fabric around the start of football season and have been meaning to make a tie-edge blanket for awhile. Today I finally laid down the fabric, cut, and tied the edges. The whole project took me about 2 hours, but I think it turned out great. Plus it'll keep us warm at the games until the end of the season!

The front

Back in Black. (Ha! I'm funny!)

More projects to come!

Stolen Ideas

So, I'm stealing the following idea from my friend Tara. She recently did a blog series on some of her favorite people. I decided that I'm going to borrow her questions and do the same. So, without further ado I bring you my favorite person #1: My bff, Ally.

The wonderful Mrs. Allyson Lundberg Bracken and I have been friends for a long time. We met in the 7th grade (chapstick soccer, anyone?) but didn't really get close until our sophomore year of high school. We've been together through thick and thin, and seen lots of good and bad times together. From living 300 miles away, to weddings 6 weeks apart, we've seen it all. Not only is she amazingly smart and dedicated, she's wonderfully talented as well. She plays the guitar and sings in a band, she loves craft hour, and she is a decorator extraordinaire. And now, a little about Ally from the woman herself.(All comments in a different color have been inserted by me at my late-night-influenced discretion)

Where are you from?
Murray, Utah (Heck yeah! Represent!)

What do you do for a living?
I’m a process engineer for Kimberly-Clark.

What is your favorite comfort food?
Mashed potatoes! It makes my day when I walk into the cafeteria at work and see they made mashed potatoes. (Amen.)

What color is your bedspread?
Right now it’s a dark orange but soon to be white with green, orange and blue stripes on it. I can’t wait to redo the bedroom while Shad’s out of town in a few weeks. Don’t tell him – it’s a secret! (It sounds delightful. I just hope Shad doesn't read my blog...)

What book/movie has had a major impact on you?
The Pastures of Heaven by Steinbeck. It’s not only one of my favorites but it’s how I knew my husband was the one. I brought it up on our first date for some reason and not only had he read it, but he loved it and we had an amazing conversation about it.

What is your favorite word?
Ideal. I blame Ashlee. I even have Shad saying it now.

What is your best color?
I love the color Lime green but it doesn’t do much for me to wear. I’d have to say light blue or red.

What is your favorite restaurant?
Faustina in SLC. Do you think if I beg the owners, they’ll open one in Ogden? (It's possible, just don't offend the waitress by calling the baked cheese fried. She doesn't like that.)

What is one material possession you couldn't live without?
My Iphone. I seriously don’t know how I did anything without it before. So many random questions answered, to do lists organized, email anywhere, all my favorite pictures, movies and music.

Which cartoon character do you resemble the most?
I’m going to say Josie from Josie and the Pussycats. (Meow)

Why do you think I like you so much?
Because we’ve always been there for each other regardless of the ridiculous situations we’ve gotten in. We help each other laugh through problems and even though we don’t see each other often, when we do, it’s like we just saw each other the day before. (True. We should make more of an effort to get together, however.)

What is the best compliment you could receive?
When someone tells me I made their day – got them to laugh or smile or something like that.

What is your favorite memory we have shared?
I don’t have a favorite. All the time we spent together is my favorite. Reading magazines, riding in Blanche, going to shows, laughing all the time, speaking without words, visiting you in the George, hating Las Vegas but always going, Butch!, awful New Years (Too many to count, really), harmonizing in the car, hating ----- (was that too true?)(Just a little, I edited out her name to protect how others see us. Selfish? Yes. But it's my blog, so I get to decide that.), our World History project (The 80's, when the mullett was created.), watching each other have goals and dreams and then attaining them. I’m going to start tearing up so I’m going to stop but I love you! (Don't worry, I teared up too.)

What 3 words would best describe you?
Quirky, energetic and sarcastic

Seriously, does anyone doubt why we've stayed friends so long? She is my soul-sister, no question.

Shout Out

Just wanted to send a few shout outs...

The first is to Lena, who is getting ready to have her last round of chemo.

The second is to Paris, who just had her first round of chemo.

You are both awesome women and such an example of strength and perseverance! Love you both!

And lastly, one for my little brother, Elder Hatch. He hit his one year mark last week. Way to go Zig!