restaurant week

this shouldn't surprise you but here in dc, there is a fabulous time of year called restaurant week. it is when the fancy restaurants open their doors to the poorer folk and offer their cuisine at reduced prices. they give you a three course meal for $30.08. yum. so our dear friend jessi made reservations for us at bistro bis down town on capitol hill and it was delightful. we didn't want to take 2 cars so we (mark, ben, jessi, jenica, debby and i) all crammed into mine and jessi would duck when she saw a policeman. worked out well.
the restaurant was pretty good. i had french onion soup (delish) and pork tenderloin and some apple dessert. we also tried escargot (blech), beet salad(yum), veal, rockfish, creme brulee and other items it was a good meal with good friends. after dinner, i stepped outside to take a picture of the swanky joint and met a new friend.
i don't remember his name but he was a homeless man and a vietnam vet and he wanted to chat. he was so funny. we were taking pictures and mark was complaining how he hates pictures and how he never looks good and the man was like, "NO, you are a handsome man." or something like that and that started this whole tirade and then he told mark all about how to woo me. apparently he needs t o run a hot bath for me and jut rub me. also we learned about fore play. he needs to grunt in my ear and apparently then i will be turned on. it was funny and we learned a lot to put in to practice (heh heh). so he is in our picture and so is some random girl that walked by and wanted to join in too. fun times at the bistro bis. thanks jessi!

good time

i know i really need to blog but i have been lazy about the pictures so i will get blogging soon! we went to a gala for my work on saturday and here is a funny picture of how good of a time mark was having. i found it on our intranet. these are my friends kit and josh but check out mark in the background. best. time. ever. hahaha

dear olan

I remember as a teenager thinking olan mills was the place to get photos taken. it was so sophisticated and their photos were so beautiful. did anyone else feel this way? we never went there because it was too expensive so we went to the tres chic jc penney studios. but i remember in jr. high, my friend linnea got to have her portraits taken there with her sister and they were so beautiful. i really wish olan mills was still around and that my tastes in photography had not changed so much. here are some beauties for your viewing pleasure. for instance, olan mills does some great family shots. what prepubescent girl wouldn't want to be in a picture with her nude brothers? not awkward at all. this one captures every personality trait in the family...even the craziness shines through. raw talent olan, raw talent.
i wonder if olan mills did the make up on this lady. if so, it is AWESOME!

pedophiles are welcome too!
i like this snazzy couple. mustaches and a mullet mixed with jewel tones?......exquisite!
this one shows the drunk and sober sides of this gentleman.

i just liked the mullets here. mark has cut his hair into a mullet and so this is how i envision his future portraits to be.

seriously? why would you do that? there are enough greedy money grubbers already. i don't think they need to start this young.

and this is my favorite of all. not really. many of you know that i do not have a fondness for horses lying down. well, check out the background of this lovely senior picture. SCARY!!

the devil inside.

this picture was saved in mark's phone as diablo. i thought i looked so pretty(ha) and he thought i looked like the devil. sweet. this is the reason i hate cats, yes hate them. my eyes were swollen out of their sockets. so sick and painful.

near death

this shouldn't surprise you but i almost died today. i was sitting here at my desk minding my own business and sucking on a salty licorice candy when all of the sudden, i inhaled it and it lodged in my throat and i could not breathe one little bit. it was scary. i knew i needed help because i could not breathe nor talk. (sorry about the artwork, but i needed pictures)so i reached over into my bag on the floor to get my access card to go get help from someone and i leaned too far and promptly fell out of my chair.

right when this happened, the elevator came to my floor and someone walked out and toward my desk. and also i landed right on my elbow and the licorice candy flew out of my mouth and i had to take a big, noisy gulp of air. tears were running down my face from lack of oxygen and he saw it all. of course. so he helped me up and picked my chair up and dusted me off and i sucked it up but oh man, it was humiliating, but i am alive!! hooray for that and i can laugh about it now.

ps

my cousin mauri hates my blog header. she thinks it is creepy but i love it and think it is sweet. my little brother took this picture in thailand.

my sweetie

see this boy? i like him, i like him a lot. he is fun and funny and sweet and tough and awesome and spiritual and i am lucky. he had a birthday on january 1. he is now 28 which sounds way better for me than 27. what a great guy i get to hang out with every day who makes me laugh and likes to do fun things. happy birthday honey! (hahahahahaha)
i wanted some pictures of mark and i so matt obliged and mark agreed. it was a miracle.

family pictures.

we took family pictures out on utah lake. it was bitter cold and we thought the kids would be horrible and whiny but you know who turned out to be the biggest baby of all: dad. so we only got a few good ones but oh well. thanks mark for snapping these and matt. good job on the composition and everything else.

crazy faces, i like how millie looks so scared in the screaming ones. oh and max, not really asleep, just not wanting to cooperate. haha.

some "normal" ones.

brief utah recap

this shouldn't surprise you but i am finally getting around to posting about my vacation home. it has taken long enough. i left for utah on the 19. one good thing about flying home is that i usually know someone on my flight. this time was no exception. i saw amber and mei li at the airport along with other people from langley. it was great. when i got to slc, i was picked up by my friends in slc. i used to be their nanny when i was going to school and i lived with them for 2 1/2 years. they are great and it was so good to see them. asa, zev and ezra are getting huge. i love those boys.
i love kirstie and micah too.
i spent the night in slc and then we went o park city for a class and some lunch and then marnae and millie came to pick me up and take me to p-town. isn't millie so cute?
on the way home, we stopped at the salon to meet mama and get our hair done. i was not so happy with mine so it got cut again by nakole and i get tons of compliments on it so thanks koley!

the brothers are pretty fun to hang out with. we went to church and then had a birthday party for one of our favorite friends and honorary family members, jody. we love her. she has the greatest laugh/cackle of anyone i know.
christmas eve was delightful. we had dinner that was delicious and then we had our "christmas program". we read the story from the bible and sing songs and i always complain because we are such lousy singers but i really like it. then we open our pajamas and christmas books and read them. it is a good night. it was fun to have mike and matt there for a sleepover.
mike is so excited about christmas.
on christmas morning, we get up and drive to marnae's house to watch the kids open their gifts. it is fun to see them so excited. then we head back to mom and dad's for breakfast and more gifts. fun times. then a lazy day with food, folks and fun.
also during the break i got to see some of my awesome peeps. brant was home from san francisco so i spent the night with his family. they are so much fun. i also spent some time in price with mark and his family and he came to payson for new year's. it was fun to be with him in utah and hang out with families.

for new year's eve, marnae and dave had us over for good food and fun.the best part was that dave wore this sweet apron the whole time. awesome! ade and emily and brant and mark joined the festivities and it was a fun, low key night. mormons know how to party it up! we took family pictures but they are going to be another post. then all of the sudden my trip was coming to an end and i didn't get to see all the people i wanted to see but it was great. on my last night in town, we met kole and mauri and adam fro dinner. fun times. it is vacations like these that really make me miss living closer to family.