One World, One Dream

Can I just tell you how much I love the Olympics? It’s funny because at no other time during the year do I have the urge to watch swimming, synchronized diving, or sculling, but during these two weeks every four years, I find it fascinating. This of course does not apply to men’s beach volleyball, when my beloved Karch Kiraly was playing, but I digress.

So I’ve been slightly obsessed with Michael Phelps during this Olympics. Even though he has a really strange mouth and jaw area, I can’t help but find him strangely attractive, and have ended up watching most of his races. The commentators are quick to remind us that he is swimming in 17 races in an effort to obtain 8 gold medals. So, I have resorted to DVR-ing (is that a word?) the entire 5 hours of Olympic coverage every night so that I can fast forward to the swimming and diving portions. And you have not disappointed me Michael Phelps! Seriously, how amazing was the 4x100 relay race that the American’s won by .08 of a second? It makes me want to find a pool, and start swimming laps! But I probably won’t.

And how ridiculous is synchronized diving? Whose idea was this sport? I mean, first of all, jumping off a 3 story platform, while performing a 2.2 half tuck somersault by yourself is slightly crazy. But then, to add in a buddy who not only has to complete the same dive, but has to execute the exact same movements, all without making a splash in the water, is completely crazy. Sadly, I found myself saying things like, “Oh no. Johnny clearly pulled out his tuck 1.3 seconds before Tommy. And he was 1/8 of an inch short of vertical. There goes their chance for a medal.” Which is my sign that I need to sign off for a moment a la Bob Costas. But I’m thinking about trying this as well when I’m done with my swimming training laps, so if anyone wants to be my synchronized diving partner, I’m pretty talented, and London will be beautiful in 2012!

Favorite Snack

My favorite snack while catching up on the Olympics is definitely the Jolly Time Kettle Corn . . . 94% fat free of course. Kristen and Melinda introduced me to this quick popping delight while we were in St. George. And since then, I have discovered that all brands are not alike. The Jolly Time is definitely premium with its combination of sweet and salty ratio - but it's not available at all stores. When I've been at WalMart and in desperate need of some popcorn, I have erroneously picked up the Orville Redenbacher version and I also have the Pop Secret version retired in my pantry, which are definitely not the same. There is not enough flavor (or for me, the sweetness). So, make no substitutions with this one and enjoy!

And, speaking of the Olympics . . . I loved the Men's 4x100 relay where America came through in the end for the win . . . very exciting. On the flip side, I was disheartened that the men's gymnastics team didn't do better. I was reminiscing about the glory time in the summer of '84 (I know . . . it dates me) . . .with Bart Connor, Peter Vidmar, Tim Daggett, and of course, Mitch Gaylord. They brought home the Gold . . . and I was gripped to the TV. It was before DVR and TiVo where you actually spent the evening glued to the TV so you wouldn't miss a minute. And don't get me started on how we still need Karch Kiraly for beach volleyball. I think he could still do it . . . who's with me?!?

I Heart Google Reader

Thanks to Brent, one of my favorite things is Google Reader! I love to keep up on blogs, daily newspapers, entertainment news . . . all sorts of things. Previously I had everything bookmarked nicely and would scroll through and check everything, which can be very laborious, and also disappointing if there is no new information . . . especially with favorite blogs. Just like how I love new news everyday, I appreciate updated blog information that keeps me coming back for more. With that, the introduction to Google Reader is the perfect thing for me. I can load all of my previously bookmarked sites into the subscription area of Google Reader and then as one of my favorite sites is updated, the information is immediately downloaded into my Reader. Throughout the day, whenever I get the chance, I logon to my Google Reader and it tells me what has been updated for me to go through and enjoy. Just like I love an updated blog, seeing an abundance of new items in my Reader is exciting. As soon as you scroll through a new entry, it marks it as read. And, if there are posts you don't care to read, you can also mark those as read. It's great fun . . . and for someone like me that likes to keep up on what's going on . . . I love it! If you haven't given it a try, you should. -Julie


I'm going to be so excited to see this new post pop up in my Reader . . .

How Sweet It Is

I went to the James Taylor concert on Monday, and I tell you, that old guy can wail. First of all, he was lucky that I made it to the show as it was at Usana, and Julie and Kristen and I had an interesting experience there at the Def Leppard concert that made us all swear we would never return! Ask them about it!

Now, I knew that he would put on a good show, but I was surprised at a) how funny he was, and 2) what a nifty dancer he is. Also, he is very old. Which makes everything more amusing. He would ask the audience all of these strange questions, like, "Are there any Okies out there?" Of course, the rowdy drunks would slur/yell a response, and he would tell them not to admit that they were Okies because that's embarrassing. Random. Then, in the middle of his song, he would bust out a severe power stance, but then had a hard time standing back up due to his advanced age, and very snug jeans. But it kind of worked for him.

He played a lot of country songs that had been tweaked to not be twangy, which I so appreciated. And he also gets major bonus points for not participating in my biggest concert pet peeve ever--the encore. James just played his set list and called it a night. I absolutely hate it when performers insist on doing at least one, if not several encores. Why can't they just play their set list, including what would have been played in the encore? Because I am usually forced to stay for the encore, because they are always my favorite songs! But I digress. Good times were had, and you had better believe that I have Carolina on my mind!

They'd Better Be Good

Julie loves Chick Fil A. Today we had an email conversation that made me wonder if she was on Chick Fil A's payroll.

Background: We're going to have a "So You Think You Can Dance" viewing party for the finale, and we were planning what food to bring. We'll pick the conversation up here:

Julie: P.S. I will bring a nugget tray ......yummm!

Me: Not to sound uninformed, but what is a nugget tray?

Julie: Oh man... Delicious, tender chunks of Chick Fil A chicken piled on atraywith your choice of sauce. Scrumptious!

That's our Julie, apparently moonlighting as a menu writer. Don't even get her started on the chicken minis!

More of Julie's Favorite Things

These are some of the latest things that I am loving right now . . .

The last couple of days I have been taking the young women to and from camp. Even though I wasn't actually camping, I was still in the hot sun sweating and feeling gross by the time I came home from being in the car 5+ hours round trip. So I came home and immediately showered to feel fresh again. I tried a new shampoo that I got at the hair salon the last time I was there - Healthy Sexy Hairs rehydrating line of hair products in Pumpkin! I love pumpkin . . . pumpkin shakes, ice cream, pie . . . on and on . . . so of course, I had to have this new product. Between washing and conditioning my hair with this spicy pumpkin blend and then using my previously mentioned new favorite body wash in vanilla . . . I was smelling scrumptious if I do say so myself . . . like a yummy little pie!

And speaking of camp, to help the time pass by I had asked Kristen - who knows all about music - to make me some CD's from her vast collection of music. She created 4 custom discs that I have played non-stop the last few days. The ones I find myself playing over and over again are, "Potential Breakup Song" by Aly and AJ and "Untouched" by the Veronicas. Many of the songs she picked were ones that are also from dance routines on "So You Think You Can Dance" which I loved as well as the young women had a fun time matching the song that played to the dance routine performed. Good times . . . thanks, Kristen!

When Brent came home from his mission to Italy several years ago, he introduced us to "real" mozzarella cheese . . . the kind that is kept in water. Who knew that all cheeses don't come in a hard processed block at the grocery store. He made a pasta salad and caprese' salad with this yummy cheese. This year for the 24th of July we had steak sandwiches with this delectable delight on top of the steak, peppers and onions . . . yum! The cheese is so soft and creamy I couldn't get enough. Thanks to Costco, you can find this cheese in two delicious logs in the refrigerated cheese section.

Because I am a late night putterer, but still need to get up early for work, I find myself VERY tired in the mornings. This little gem is one of my new favorite things . . . Benefits DePuffing Eye Gel and they also have a nice cream for dark circles as well. I put a little under my eyes in the morning when I'm getting ready and somehow it helps me look refreshed. That . . . and of course my morning Coke and I'm good to go!

My new favorite thing in my house are frames that I treated myself to - to go around my existing bathroom mirrors. Now, everytime I go in the bathrooms and see the mirrors, I am so excited by the transformation. Michelle at www.reflecteddesign.com has a big selection of frames in different price points . . . I love them and think the concept is brilliant. (See a little corner of my framed mirror in the shampoo picture)

And last are the PinkBench headbands. I discovered these at the "What Women Want" show at the South Towne Expo months ago. I always have trouble with headbands staying on my head. These have a genius design to tie in a cute bow under your head and they are secured underneath with Velcro . . . it doesn't hurt your head and the headband stays in place. I got a couple in different patterns that I love!

What are some of your favorite things?

Tight Security

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time remembering all of my passwords, user names and account numbers. It's gotten to the point that I have all of my information on one big Word document. So if I ever lose that, I will have basically committed identity theft against myself, as I will be unable to access any of my accounts and such.

One of my co-workers had a tough day today. Her cell phone died, so she started to pull up her cell phone account online to get a customer service number. Like most of the rest of us, she doesn't use that account very much, and couldn't remember what her login and password were. So the next step was to answer the secret question that she had set up for herself when she got the account. Normally, those questions are something like, "What street did you grow up on?" or "What is your mother's maiden name?" Her secret question comes up, and she starts laughing hysterically. Instead of the normal question, hers was, "What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?" She had no idea what her favorite flavor of ice cream was, and couldn't believe that she had picked that as her secret question. She tried three possible answers, and they were of course all wrong. She finally found a general customer service line without having to log in to her account, and was promptly put on hold for a half hour. She finally gets a customer service rep on the phone, and he asks her what her account number is. So she has to tell him that the reason she is calling is because she doesn't have her account number, and needs his help obtaining that information so that she can order a new phone. So he asks her if she has tried logging in online. She is starting to lose her patience at this point, and tells him that a) She had tried this unsuccessfully, which is why she was calling, and 2) Since she had him on the phone currently, it would be nice if he could help her. He said that he could do it, but that it might take awhile. So she waits another 5 minutes, and he tells her that he is going to send her account number to her cell phone via a text message. At this point, she lost it, and the whole office heard her say, "Again sir, my cell phone has died, I do not remember my account number, I am unable to answer my secret question correctly, and I only need you to give me my account number over the phone!" He then transferred her to the correct department, where the first thing they asked her for was... her account number.

What did I learn from this? I love Rocky Road ice cream, so I my identity is safe!