Remember that time...

Its 130 and I'm not tired. Here goes nothing. I haven't done this since high school.

Thanks Karren for the email. Woop.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 730 am. darn early morning class.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Used to be diamonds, then I saw Blood Diamond. Now its pearls.
3. Single/married/committed? Single
4. What was the last film you saw at the theater? Dreamgirls
5. What is your favorite TV Show? Greys Anatomy. Its a soap opera but I'm all into it. Sorry I am 14 again.
6. What did you have for breakfast? Banana Strawberry Yogurt and a Granola Bar and an ice cold diet coke
7. What is your middle name? Elizabeth
8. What is your favorite cuisine? I love all of them. Really.
9. What foods do you dislike? Scallops weird me out.
10. Favorite Chips? I have pita chips, tostitos with lime, and whole wheat tositos in my kitchen right now.
ll. Favorite CDs? Too many to name. But, for whole albums, lets just say Achtung Baby by U2 never gets old.
l2. What kind of car do you drive? Silver 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, my pride and joy really
l3. Favorite sandwich? I'm loving tuna melts lately
14. What characteristics do you despise in others? Gossiping is my latest pet peeve
l5. What are your favorite clothes? I live in zip up hoodies and my lucky jeans.
l6. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Tahiti sounds fabulous right about now.
l7. What color are your eyes? They used to be brown. Now they are brown with a green circle.
l8. Favorite Fashion Brand? j.crew
l9. Where would you want to retire to? Where the grandkids are.
20. Favorite time of day? Dusk. Just right before the sun sets.
2l. Where were you born? Stanford, CA
22. Favorite sport to watch? I really love college basketball. Then football and baseball. Its so hard to choose.
23. Who do you least expect to send this back? I'm posting this baby on the blog.
24. Person you expect to send it back first? N/A
25. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke is my drug of choice.
26. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? I love road trips.
27. What did you want to be when you were little? the first woman in the NBA
28. What is your best childhood memory? skiing with the fam
29. Did you ever skip school? And then get caught? I did a lot my JR and SR year of high school. But mom let me.
30. Who was your best friend in school? Elementary: Georgia, Middle: Megan, High: Kelsey
3l. Piercing? Ear lobes
32. Ever been to Africa? Indeed. Ghana and Togo and hoping to go more places.
33. Ever been toilet papering? I did in fact TP this past Sunday night.
34. Been in a car accident? Yes.
35. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
36. Favorite restaurant? I love oak city bar & grill back home
37. Favorite flower? Roses. Lets be honest.
38. Favorite flavor of ice cream? Boston Red Sox Peanut Butter Nation
39. How many times did you fail your driver's license test? 0
40. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Katie Clifford
41. What store would you choose to max out your credit card? Nieman Marcus
42. Bedtime? 1 or 130 these days
43. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? N/A
44. Last person you went out to dinner with? 12 peeps...my brother, glo, carolina, mike, richard, lee, carin, amber, mel, meg, sarah
45. What are you listening to right now? Stellastarr*
46. What are your favorite colors? blue & orange
47. How many tattoos do you have? Zero
48. How many people are you sending this e-mail to? the world wide internet
49. Favorite movies? Fletch
50. Favorite book? The Poisonwood Bible, East of Eden

Break Up

Dear Charles,

We've had an amazing relationship over these past few months. I discovered you back in March and its been pretty much bliss ever since. When I first started to get to know you I could only see you for short amounts of time because of my law finals, but this summer my love for you grew by leaps and bounds.

This fall I even moved closer to you so we could see each other every day. I can't get over all the fun times we've had. The late night hang outs, the early morning get togethers, and the mid day lunch breaks. I've gotten to see more sides of you this fall as you let me see you everyday with the beautiful weather. Sure, there were other boys in the picture, but I always came back to you.

So, this weekend when I was in Montreal, I contemplated The Break Up. Seriously. I thought, there is no way I can survive this icy, rough, windy patch with you. Although it was so beautiful when I ran with you that day after it snowed, now that you have frozen over it is difficult to be with you everyday. My face freezes when I see you. Literally.

I'm so glad I didn't call it quits because after coming back from Montreal, I realize that you are the only one for me. I can't go to the gym and I really cant find any better running routes that are close to where I live. Running around Boston just doesn't cut it. And the gym is lame. I think I grew a second layer of skin while I was up there because although it was 10 degrees outside when I was with you today, I still stuck with it and loved every minute of the sunshine blinding me off the white snow on your frozen cover.

I think we can get through this winter season together.

I love you Charles River.

Your hopeless romantic runner girl,

Whitney

Christmas time *was* here...happiness and cheer...

Before I start this post...one more pic from the roofdeck, taken December 2006.

Isn't that amazing?

So...this Christmas was simply delightful. There is nothing better than spending it with my family. My neices made Christmas so much more fun with their wonder and awe of the season. I was so thankful that I didn't get stuck in Boston after my flight was canceled due to Denver snow. Right when I got there I got to babysit and play with my neices. I could hardly function due to the 8 hours of sleep I had gotten in 3 days so it was funny when Sophie said, "Play with us Auntie Whitney" and I was like "I"m just going to watch". And she insisted again, "No, I need you to play Barbies with us." But then she didn't really get a response because I had already fallen asleep on the floor. (don't tell my sister!) haha.

The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party really got me in the mood for Christmas early since I had it on December 1st. I just had to post a couple more pictures. I was so proud of my little pine swag that Liz helped me put up the banister with lights.


The day I got to SLC my 5 year old neice Sophie played the violin for us.


Haley (3) playing innocent.
:)

A couple days after recovering, we all went out to see the lights at Temple Square. I think that last time I actually went to see the lights was when I was 6 or 7 so this was quite fun. It was SO COLD though.


Here is James and JB with his brother in law and Jame's cousin Jerad and Owen. James, my nephew, is the green bundle.

SLC Temple.



Purty lights.


Mom and Hales in front of the pink lights.

Me and Sophie.


Oh I miss her.


We took a bunch of pics of Christmas day, but Cam has all of them. I was so proud of my apple pie I baked for Christmas Dinner. It was beautiful and oh so good. I got really sick right after Christmas so I couldn't go skiing for a couple days...finally I got to go up with the whole fam.


Cam and I on the way up to Alta.


My favorite part about driving up to Alta/Snowbird is seeing all the trees caked with ice/snow. So gorgeous!


Snowbird and little cottonwood canyon have a special place in my heart because we went there every year for a week growing up. My favorite part of the drive up the canyon was seeing the HUGE rock with little sticks under it like it was being held up. People still put sticks there and its still funny to me after all these years.


Welcome to a piece of heaven on earth.



It was a perfect sunny day. A little cold but still perfect.


One of my favorite parts about skiing is the hiking up places to get fresh powder and skiing through the trees. For me the rush of going fast, going down steep runs, and dodging rocks is just as fun as stopping to check out the beautiful views and enjoying the beauty of all the mountains.


In the late afternoon fog started to roll in the canyon from the valley. So cool.


mom.



OK so I did a lot more in SLC than just ski a few days...but I have no pics to share...


Here was my favorite pic of the whole trip...my neices helping me leave.

Atherton Police Blotter

The Palo Alto Daily News, the free local newspaper, was always good for a laugh when browsing the police beat section. In high school reading the police beat section was one of my favorite pastimes. Yesterday proved no different when my mom and I laughed so hard we had to sit down on the sidewalk in downtown menlo park as passerbys commented,

"Its good to see two ladies laugh like that in public" and

"I've never seen anyone laugh so hard".

Here is what we encountered when we faced the police beat.

Atherton
MONDAY

Atherton Avenue at Alameda de las Pulgas, 8:01 a.m.: A woman taking her child to school in a red convertible claimed that someone in a blue Mercedes was tailgating her and yelling profanities. An officer was unable to locate the Mercedes.

200 block of Alameda de las Pulgas, 9:25 a.m: Someone illegally dumped a couch and numerous bags near a school.

200 block of Alameda de las Pulgas, 12:09 p.m.: Someone threw something at a woman's vehicle. The motorist told police she was "shook up".

100 block of Fair Oaks Lane, 1:42 p.m.: A poodle and a black dog were barking. The area was quiet by the time an officer arrived at the scene.

First block of Ralston Road, 11:27 p.m.: A unknown type of "critter" was making a ruckus on the roof of a house. An officer was unable to locate the "critter".

That was the docket for Monday.

My favorite though was from my senior year of high school. I remember it clearly. "In Atherton" "A baby was allegedly found in a dumpster. Upon further inspection, it turned out to be a burrito."

I'm still laughing.

The Pats

I don't think they can beat SD, but I'm going to root for them anyway.

I love the playoffs.

Vacay

I can't believe I've been in CA for 5 days now. Its flown by although I feel like I've done nothing at all. A lil' recap for y'all on what i've been up to since I've been home in CA.

Tues night: Flight from hell, I was supposed to get in at 950, didn't get in till 1145. But thankfully I was picked up by my best friend Sara and we went straight to In and Out and I enjoyed a cheeseburger at 12:15.

Wed: Woke up early, walked the dish with Karren, Stacks banana-pecan waffle, and then the Haight for fun tshirts. Then down to Los Gatos for Chile Verde from David and banana ice cream which changed my life. After eating too much we settled down and watched Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2. Edited, of course but oh so good. This was pretty much an awesome day.

Thurs: Woke up late, went on a run around the neighborhood, picked up Sar in my mom's X5, went to In and Out, then went to the Pursuit of Happyness (highly recommended!). Then hung out at Sara's house and had dinner there and talked till my parents came home. As much as I loved having the house to myself I was so happy to have company, especially at night.

Fri: Woke up early, brisk walk with mom around the hood, up to UCSF to see my favorite endocrinologist who reminded me that life working at a law firm is hard, then off to Union Square in SF where we spent a lot of time at the Last Call Sale at Neiman Marcus. I scored big time. I found a pair of AG jeans for $57 that were originally $168. I also got a couple other things which I'm REALLY excited about. I got an Elie Tahari skirt, a white diane von frustenberg blouse, and a cute black and white Cynthia Steffe cardigan. After finding great deals we had lunch at the Rotunda restaurant.


The interior is stunning.


We had this amazing view out on Union Square.


The Rotunda serves you hot fresh popovers with strawberry butter. Oh so good.

I got the Beef Tenderloin Salad with organic mixed lettuce, asian pears, daikon radish sprouts, and spicy korean BBQ dressing. It was amazing. My mom had the seafood cobb. We were quite happy with our selections.

After lunch I poked around the cosmetics counter and then I was off to Niketown were I took back the jacket my brother got me and found a new running jacket that I cant wait to wear in Boston. It has a cool pouch where I can put my Nano and string my earphones through the sleeve.

We then went to Zara where they were having a great sale (one more skirt was purchased) and then we went to Burberry where my mom picked up a fabulous jacket.

Needless to say, our little morning trip to SF turned out to be an all day affair. We didn't get back till 630 pm.

That night I supervised Karren cleaning her room and I got to play elf for the night with her apartment gift from Santa.

Sat: I went down to Los Gatos for breakfast with Gordon. We went to Southern Kitchen which I had heard so much about. I didn't think it could live up to its hype but it really did. The hot chocolate piled high with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles was the perfect start to the meal. The denver omelette was SO good doused in hot sauce. I can't wait for a return visit to try the banana-blueberry pancakes.
After breakfast the Thomas' were generous enough to let me lounge at their place to work off the food coma. Lounging turned into an all day affair when David decided to make dark chocolate coconut macademian nut cookies that were to die for. I stayed until 530 chatting and giggling over a book about giant squids. Dont ask. Actually you should ask. :)
Sat night I watched football and Thank You For Smoking. (I dont recommend that movie, I thought it was really stupid).

Sun: I went to my home ward and the Stanford singles ward so I went to 6 hours of church. But I loved it. My mom's lesson was touching and really deep. I'm so excited to study the new testament this year. After church was more football and we had crab for dinner. Oh so tasty.

Now i'm off to game night at karrens. Im so glad I get to stay here another week. Does life get better than this?

Without Me, It's Just Aweso

Nuff Said.

January in California

Its 63 and one of the most gorgeous days ever here.

I mean I love Salt Lake, but c'mon, how do you beat this?

This is the view out my back window. And I have the whole house to myself :)



I'm so going to jump in that pool.