Adventures with Mal and Eric

Happy New Year

2012-01-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

So it is a new year and even more weird, I have been living in AZ for a year. In some ways I feel like we have been here much longer than that but in other ways I still feel like it is a very new place. It is starting to feel a little more like home and once we have a house to call our own I think it will start feeling a lot more like home.

Ez, Karl and I were lucky enough to have Dev and Beck come down for a visit. The weather here was amazing and so Dev was able to get in a lot of golfing which makes him happy and Karl was able to go on a lot of walks with Beck with made Karl happy. Beck is quickly becoming Karl's favorite person.

We were able to go out to restaurants and go shopping and have an all around awesome time. When they left I was defiantly feeling a bit home sick. The good news is now that up north is feeling a little cold and down here is feeling really nice we are getting a lot more people calling to get some warm weather and some MEK (Mal, Eric, Karl) time.

Tis the season,

2011-12-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

So Christmas is over and this Holiday season was a whirlwind. We started out by going on a red eye flight to JFK airport and from there off to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with Eric's Olson fam. We had a blast there. Hung out at the beach and the pool and enjoyed some wonderful weather. The best part? Being around family that we don't see so much since the move to Scottsie.

After 5 days of soaking in the sun we were off to our new destination, Salt Lake City. We arrived in the SLC late on Christmas eve, had a wonderful Christmas then approximately 48 after landing in we were off again. Time to head home.

It was a crazy holiday season filled with a lot of flying but we had such an awesome time and we were so happy to spend so much time with our family.

The only downside to this Holiday Season? No KARL!

Airport with Hailey and Michelle

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Ashleys Pregnant! Yay!

Hailey (sis) and Alyssa (step sis)

Birds and Lydia

Eric, Me and a guy who worked at the resort

Eating hot dogs at a street vendor in the Dominican Republic. We live on the edge.

Maxi Dresses

Hand stand. Impressive, no?

Hailey and me

Back were we started, Airport

Getting reunited with Karl. Yay!

T.G.I.F.P.T.P. (Thanks Goodness I Finally Posted Thanksgiving Pictures)

2011-12-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right? Being that it is almost Christmas, I thought I would finally post some Thanksgiving pictures.

So here we are, Thanksgiving 2011-Salt Lake City, Utah

Thanksgiving morning, pre-cooking with Karl, Maggie, Abbey and Sofie.

I am the Shepard and Karl is my sheep.

Becks with her first grandson Karl.

Eric (looking like he just got up), Me, Dev and Uncle Kent about to enjoy TG dinner.

Family portrait (doesn't Karl look great in his bow tie from H & M).

Lil' Sissy Abbey relaxing after a long day of eating.

Later that week, going to our Salt Lake fav Red Iguana for a machaca chimichanga.

So to wrap it up, thanksgiving was great. I loved spending time with family in Utah.
This week were off to spend more time with family, but this time in The Dominican Republic.
So as they say down south and in the Terminator, hasta la vista!

Two weeks ago

2011-12-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

So thanksgiving was two weeks ago and what a wonderful time it was. I will blog some pics of the actual day soon but for now I am going to post a few images from the drive, which, while long (10 Hours) and incredibly boring (listening to football) did offer a few lovely scenes that I captured.

Karl sitting on drivers lap, his favorite spot in the car.

Sun going down, somewhere in Nevada.

Amazing sunset, look at those colors (will stop there because I am dangerously close to sounding like Double Rainbow Guy).

Karl's 1st Birthday

2011-11-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

So Karl's first birthday is on November 24th which happens to also be Thanksgiving, which is appropriate because I am very thankful for the little guy. I have decided to dedicate this post to all the great Karls that puppy has to look up to.

As a big time Jazz fan I must start with the Mailman, also know as Karl Malone.

I love Karl Malone as any good Jazz fan should, I mean he was MVP of the league twice and took the Jazz to the NBA finals twice. His final season was with the Lakers but it is easy to forget that when you think Malone would have won a Championship for the Jazz if it wasn't for that one player, whats his name? Oh yeah, Michael Jordan.

Next Karl on the list is one of the biggest names in Fashion and total icon, It is Karl Lagerfeld.

If you have never herd of him you have probably heard of the fashion houses he has worked. Karl Lagerfeld oversees the creative direction of both Chanel and Fendi. He is a fashion icon and makes every other Karl out there seem a bit more fashionable.

The last Karl I will mention on my list spells his name with a C but I wont hold that against him, I also wont let the fact that he is a fictional character in an animated movie keep him off the list. It is Carl Fredricksen also known as the old man from UP.

Up is such a sweet movie and I absolutely love Carl in it. The montage of Carl and Ellie's relationship is one of the greatest movie montages ever. Love that movie and I love Carl in it.

So there you have it. There are some pretty great Karl's out there. Lots of people for our little Karl to look up to.

(Look at him in this picture, he looks so grown up)

Happy Birthday Karl!

Its getting cold in here

2011-11-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

Wow it has been a while since I last posted. Life has been about the same. It has started to cool down here in Scottsie. This has been a good and bad thing. Some days you walk outside and it is beautiful 70+ degrees with blue sky's and I think it does not get any better than this. Then other days you walk outside and it is cold and I cant help but think "Oh no, its not supposed to be cold down here, that's why people live here because it is never cold. I am not ready for cold weather yet. I still want to hang out by the pool and walk around without a sweater." Alas as we move closer to winter even Scottsie starts to get cold, I need to come to terms with that.

As the weather is changing, Eric and I are preparing for another change. We have started looking at house and are hoping to soon become home owners. We are really excited about buying a home and cant wait to move out of our apt into a place with a yard and a place for Karl to run around. I will keep you all updated with our status, we are just in the early stages but I will let you know when we get more serious.

Football and Royal Felines

2011-10-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

So last week was pretty busy but very fun. Mike (Eric's dad) was in town. He came down for the University of Arizona vs UCLA game. It was really fun having him visit. Below are a few pictures from above mentioned game.

The game was really bad for us UCLA fans. Arizona (which is NOT a good football team) was able to get ahead by more than 30 points, and this was before halftime. There was a couple things that did happen that were quite interesting that made the game worth it.

This happened:

Then right after this happened:

While I do not condone fighting, this was pretty entertaining.

On Saturday we took Karl to a costume party at Petsmart. Karl went as a mail man.

And I went as mailbox. I was the only pet owner dressed up and as you can tell from the below picture my costume ripped right before we went to the party.

They awarded the best dressed animals and Karl got third place. Second place was a Boxer puppy dressed up as Batman and first place went to a couple of cats dressed up as Prince William and Kate Middleton. Below you can see the Prince William cat and the Kate Middleton cat was in a bride costume.

It was so funny seeing all the animals dressed up and some of the pet owners were real characters and this is from the girl who dressed up as a mailbox.

Karl + Halloween

2011-10-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

As Halloween fast approaches I have been spending a lot of time looking for a Halloween costume for Karl. I have been scouring the internet to see what options I have out there to purchase. I would love to be super crafty and make an original costume but lets be honest, I really don't want to spend the time. Here are some of my favorite costumes I have come across:

Karl could be Bat Dog and I could be Cat Women.

Karl could be the Cowardly Lion and I could be the Tin Man, or the Scarecrow or Dorthy

Karl could be a Mailman and I could be a letter or a mailbox.

Karl could be a Dinosaur and I could be a Cave Woman.

You will have to wait to see what I choose but you can be certain that there will be pictures.

SLC Recap

2011-09-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Okay so my weekend in the SLC was great. I talked so much I lost my voice.
I was also able to go to some of my favorite restaurants just like I was hoping. I was able to make it to Red Iguana, The Park, The Dodo and Desert Edge (the pub). For those of you that do not live in Salt Lake, if you decide to visit, go to any or all of these places. You wont be disappointed.

I was also able to catch up with my friends and family. I got to spend time with my niece Sofie and the rest of the fam. Also got to see my friend Catherine's adorable baby Sam and catch up with friends that I have really missed.

All in all it was a great weekend and defiantly made me miss my home town. Its a good thing Iam going back for Thanksgiving and this time I get to bring the rest of my crew (including Karl which I am really Excited about). I am hoping there is some snow when I come back because I think Karl+snow could be amazing.

SLC Bound

2011-09-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

I am heading to SLC for the weekend. I am so so excited for the trip and I cant wait to get out of the heat (102 today, its fall for goodness sake).

I cant wait to see friends and fam, but I also cant wait to eat! I have quite a list of places that I need to eat. To fit all the resturants in I plan on having 5 large meals a day. I think that will work.

Random though that I would like to share with you:
I have recently got into a few Bands/Musicians that I would like to share with you out there.

1. Band of Horses, Hipsters have been into this band for ages but now that I have listened to their music, I am a big fan and I can see why the Hipsters like them (although now that people like me like them the hipsters probably think their too main stream and are totally over them).

2. Jessica Lee Mayfield. She is a singer/songwriter type and really good.

And that is all I have to say.

Cats

2011-09-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

I am not really in the mood to write anything, so enjoy these pictures.

I don't know what to say

2011-08-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

I feel like I need to blog but yet I feel I have nothing to say. So I am going to force myself into telling you a few thought.

1. No one was meant to live in Phoenix in the summer. Today hit 116, yesterday was 112, this is too hot for humans and it is miserable.

2. When you have two jobs, cleaning the apt goes out the window. Therefore with Ez out of town my apt looks like squatters have taken over. Bottom line, I need a Zoila, and if you don't know what that is, check this out.

3. I have decided that I want to learn to make homemade doughnuts. First off I love doughnuts and second everything is better homemade, ergo homemade doughnut could possible be life changing. I also want to get an ice cream maker for the same reason. Life changing deserts for a girl who loves sugar, nothing could be better.

4. My last thought ends on a sad note, Karl has taken his first shoe victim. It was a wooden sole platform heel perfect for summer and very cute. He chewed the heel to a horrible state and there is no hope for saving it. I am sorry to see the shoe in this state although I have to admit they were horribly uncomfortable, so Karl could have done worse.

Back to school

2011-08-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

Its back to school time, not for me but for sweet Karl. Ez and I have signed him up for obedience classes and last Wednesday was his first. Karl is not the worst in the class but he is also not the best.

It is so funny to see how all the dogs interact. There is this Rottweiler puppy in the class that Karl was having a great time playing with because they were about the same size, unfortunately for Karl, I don't think the playing will be as fun when that puppy grows to be about 5 times his size. There is also this Pug that is so funny and neurotic. He would bark at Karl then go hide behind his owner and just look at him.

I think this training is going to be a very good thing and seeing how some of those other dogs act makes me appreciate how good Karl is. Even if he does chew off all the buttons on everything within reach(sweaters, jackets, etc.).

Hopefully by the end of the six weeks we will have whipped him into shape (figuratively not literally).

Oh and thought would add this cat+school picture for good measure.

Lake Powell

2011-08-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, Eric and I went to Lake Powell. We met up with Dev, Beck, Abbey and some family friends and spent the weekend wake boarding, tubing and swimming. It was such a great weekend. Lake Powell is one of my favorite places in the world so to be able to meet up with some of my fam and go there was about the best weekend you could ask for.

Also Eric and I went and saw Crazy, Stupid Love and I crazy stupid loved it. This is coming from someone who, in general, hates romantic comedy's so you can trust me. If you are a Ryan Gosling fan you will especially love it. RG has literally NEVER looked better, better than The Notebook, better than Breaker High(and if you are a real RG fan you will know what that is).

My kind of town, Chicago is

2011-07-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while since we got back from our trip with my family to Chicago, I had to compile pictures. Let me say one thing first, I loved it there. What an awesome city, the architecture is amazing and it has a great energy. Here are some pictures to document what a great time we had.

All in all we had a great time. I was very impressed with the city. Maybe if we had visited the city in February I would be slightly less enamored but the week of July we were there left me in love with the city.

Not Feelin so Hot

2011-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today I had the stomach flu and had to stay home from work. It sucked. I threw up and I spent the entire day on the couch, watching TV, napping and feeling generally horrible.

I get the stomach flu about every two years and it seems like it is always in the summer. The last time I got it was the night before my Grandpa's funeral, not the best timing. The time before that, I was in Prague with my family, not really wanting to spend a day at our hotel next to the toilet while I could be touring the city.

I don't know what caused my sickness this time but I am denying that it was food poisoning, mainly because I made dinner last night and I don't really want to think that I gave it to myself, plus Eric did not get it and he ate the same thing that I did last night. I am just going to say it was this bug that's going around and hope that Eric did not catch it.

Dust you sholders (and everything else you own) off

2011-07-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

So were back from Chicago and it was awesome, I will soon give an update. We got back from Chi town just in time for this though.

I don't know if you heard about the giant dust storm that hit Phoenix, but it was pretty crazy.

Eric and I were out at dinner and all of a sudden all these people were staring at our table. I was thinking, wow I must look really good, people cannot take their eyes off me. Then I realized we were right next to the window and a giant dust storm was going on outside.

The next day the entire city was covered in dust. No bueno. Oh and then a girl in my office found a scorpion on her desk!? Were do I live, Agrabah? Was this all a result of an evil plan thought up by Jafar? (In case you are thoroughly confused by these last few comments, they are a reference to the Disney movie Aladdin)

This Scottsdale place is crazy.

I'm Talking About Chi Town

2011-06-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

Ez and I are heading off to Chicago with my fam. I am very excited, I have never been there but some of my favorite movies are filmed there, the first and foremost being Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In honor of Ferris I plan on crashing a parade and dancing to the Beatles. I will be there over the 4th of July so hopefully they will have a parade for that I can crash. Fingers Crossed.

The next being The Fugitive. This movie is solid, when ever I pass it while channel surfing I cant help myself but stop. I mean your really not going to find anything better.

The last film I am thinking of is Home Alone. Macaulay Culkin was basically the cutest little kid ever and kind of (excuse my french) a bad ass. If I was home alone and two burglars were breaking in I pretty sure I wouldn't be balsie enough to have fought them off with house hold items and after they were thoroughly humiliated say "You guys give up yet? Or are you thirsty for more?". Yeah Kevin McCallister was a bad ass.

Anyways I am really excited about Chicago, and even more excited about seeing my family, but have no doubt I will give you a full report of my adventures when I get back.

I heart New York

2011-06-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my birthday. I turned 25 years old. A quarter of a century! In honor of the big day, Eric took me to New York. It was incredibly fun and probably my best birthday ever.

Here I am at my favorite presidents birthplace. In case you don't know who my favorite prez is or you can't read the plaque, this is the birthplace of Theodore Roosevelt.

Here is the front door. Pretty nice digs Teddy, at least from the outside.

Here I am at Serindipity consuming as many calories as possible. I had forgotten how good banana splits are, now I remember.

Eric and his frozen hot chocolate.

Central Park.

Rowing a boat in central park.

Eric did most of the rowing, mainly because I was not very good at it.

Were on a boat.
At Dylan's Candy Bar, a candy shop that has three floors. That is my kind of place.

Some of the other things we did that did not get documented in pictures was see Jersey Boys which I loved and Chicago. Cristy Brinkley was staring in Chicago which was interesting because she is not a singer or an actress. I mean but do you really need to sing to be in a musical (I am being sarcastic, you do need to be able to sing to be in a musical)?

All in all the trip was awesome. The only downfall was we could not bring Karl, oh and that when we got home it was 110 degrees. Yikes people weren't lying about Phoenix in the summer.

One Day More

2011-06-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Ez and I went to Les Misérables last Saturday. It was great, the music was amazing and it is a great story. When I was younger we had soundtrack to the musical, I would sing to all the songs but my favorite to sing along to was "Do You Hear The People Sing". I preferred this one because it fit my low vocal range the best, that is probably because it is sung by men.

After watching the musical I decided I wanted to read the book. I have started reading it and I am about 50 pages in, I only have about 1400 pages left. It will probably take the rest of the year for me to finish it but it is a good book so far and I am excited to get farther into it.

Eric and I are off to NY for the weekend and more musicals. Yea musicals!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-06-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

As the title of this post suggests, it is my favorite time of year, not because it is almost my birthday or because it is the beginning of summer (which I am learning is a bad thing when you live in Phx), it is because So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD if your into abbreviation) has started.

SYTYCD is my favorite show. For those of you that don't know the premise of the show, I would say the best way to describe it is like American Idol for dancers. the dancing and choreography is amazing and the only negative on the show are the drunk antics of judge Mary Murphy. I cant wait to see what they pull out this year but I for one am hoping for a lot of Wade Robson choreography.

Good News

2011-06-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

I have some good news. I got a new, full time job. I will be an administrative assistant at a law firm. I am excited to get started and it is super close to our apartment which is really nice.

That 70's show

2011-05-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

I have always been a fan of the 1970's decade. From the music to the fashion, the 70's had a very fun loving vibe that I totally dig. To prove I have always been a fan lets flash back to my 6th grade graduation. The theme was Saturday Night Fever and as you can see from the photo below I defiantly embraced the theme (PS how young does Dev look! I guess that was over ten years ago). That nigh I self appointed myself the dancing queen because I was dancing like I never danced before, and because I was a little self absorbed.

Lately I have been feeling that groovy vibe again and been putting that 70's vibe in my wardrobe. Below I will show you some of my 70's fashion inspirations.

This photo of Farrah Fawcett is probably the most famous images from the 1970's. Farrah is rockin' her one piece bathing suit. Lately the one piece suit has had a major comeback and I am loving it.

I recently cut straight bangs which I have previously stated I cannot pull off but now I believe I can. As you can see in the below image from French Vogue, this was a popular look in the decade.

And lastly, below the knee skirts along with maxi skirts and dresses were big in the 70's and have been popping up everywhere, which I love. These skirts and dresses are so sweet and feminine and I really love the look.

These are some few 70's styles that I am glad have come back in fashion. Now I have to go and do some karaoke to the 1970's classic I will Survive.

Two years

2011-05-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our Eric and my anniversary. It is crazy that it has been two years since we got married. Lots has happened since that great day; I graduated from school, I became a ginger, we moved to Arizona and most importantly we got our son Karl. Its been a great two years and I cant wait to see what the future holds for us.

Here kitty kitty kitty

2011-05-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have not have a cat post for a while. So here you are.

Running away to the circus

2011-04-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Last night Eric and I saw Water for Elephants. I had read the book and was interested to see how the movie turned out. As always the book was much better than the movie and some of the casting choices seemed really off, I did however fall completely in love with one of the characters. Her name is Rosie and she is an eight feet eight inch tall, 9,000 pounds, 42 year old female Asian elephant.

I had never wanted to run away to the circus and I actually always thought that sounded like a nightmare because Carnies freak me out but after watching that movie and seeing Reese Witherspoon riding on Rosie, I totally got it. Playing with an elephant all day sounds like as dream.

After watching the movie I have put a bucket list together and currently have one thing on my list. That one item is to ride an elephant.

Hopefully I will be able to check off the one item on my bucket list before I die but I am pretty optimistic about my chances.

Keepin' it in the Family

2011-04-20T23:28:00.001-07:00

April has been a month full of family time and considering we have not had family time for months it is really nice. First we went to California and spent time with some of Eric family, then last week Eric's mom came to town and now this week most of my family is coming down to Phx. Abbey is here now spending time with her nephew (Karl). Baby Sofie will be here in a few days and I cant wait for her to meet Karl. That all for today, I am keeping the post short because I would rather spend time with the fam then in front of the computer.

California Love

2011-04-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

Eric and I took Karl on his first road trip ever to southern California. He was able to meet some of the extended family and Ashley and Rory were nice enough to let him stay at their apartment.

Below is a picture of Eric, Rory and myself at the Padres game on Saturday night. Karl was not able to come.

Here is Karl's first view of the Ocean ever.

Karl with aunt Ashley.

The highlight of the trip was taking Karl to dog beach in Del Mar. Here is the Olson family at the beach.

Karl checking out the sand.

Some of the dogs on the beach were a little bigger then Karl. He had a little incident at the beach were he got ran over by some of the big dogs. After that he was a little more timid as you can see in the picture below.

Ez protecting Karl from some of the big dogs.

The trip was great and Karl had a great time. We are already planning our next trip out with Karl.

The puppys new clothes

2011-04-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

I decided Karl needed a new shirt. I decided to take one of my old UCLA tees and reconstruct it for Karl. It started as my size so obviously much to big for Karl as you can see below.

Before:

Karl kind of liked the tee because he could do the sexy off the shoulder look. I told him no because he is not a floozie and he did not want the other dogs at the park getting the wrong idea about him.

After a little reconstruction I got it fitting quite well. It is still a little big but I am leaving some room for him to grow into it.

After:

Here is the new reconstructed tee (already with a stain on it).

Karl relaxing in his new look.

Karl is very deep. Here he is meditating in his shirt.

Well there you have it. I have to say I am pretty proud of myself and this new look I have given Karl. I don't think he realizes how lucky he is to have a stylist like myself.

An ode to Amy

2011-03-31T22:41:00.002-07:00

So I have mentioned some of my girl crushes in the past but I have decided to dedicate an entire post to my ultimate girl crush. I don't want to be like this person, I want to be this person.
Who is this amazing person you are thinking(the picture above is probably a good clue)?

It is Amy Poehler. Why is Mrs. Poehler so great you may ask. Take a look at her resume and you will see why she is so great.

First there was Saturday Night Live. If you need proof of how hilarious she was on this show, go into Google and type in Kaitlin on Saturday Night Live. You wont be disappointed.

Okay now the second reason she is awesome is because of her performance in Baby Mama. Just take a look at this quote below and you will see why.

Amy's character Angie referring to her significant other:

We met the summer after I discontinued high school, and we've been together ever since. He never officially asked me to be his wife but he never asked me to not be his wife either, so things are going pretty good.

Third reason she is awesome is her staring role on the television program Parks and Recreation. This is currently my favorite comedy on TV. The entire cast is amazing but Amy as Leslie Knope is really what seals the deal. If you have never seen the show I would highly recommend checking it out and if you are only going to watch one episode, make sure it is the episode titled 'Flu Season'.

The above reasons are why I love Amy Poehler. This lady has the key to my funny bone and this post is my salute to her.

Oh and the last reason why she is awesome, she is married to Gob Bluth (Will Arnett) for realsies. Photo below to prove it.

This does not really prove that they are married but I promise they are.

Back to the Future in Photos

2011-03-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

I was going through some the pictures on our computer and found some pretty great old photos. I thought I would share.

Eric with lil' sis Ashley. You would never think that my slightly racially ambiguous husband was a toe head as a baby.

Eric with his older brother Steve. Love those matching outfits.

Eric with his Grandpa. I love that smile.

My uncle Randy, his dog Bear and I. Look at that, I had red hair as a baby.

Wow check out that fur. Work it girl.

I love this picture. This is me with my childhood bestie Tyler. I am the one in the red. I know its hard to tell who the girl is in this pic.

Oh look what cute kids we were.

Mad for Mail

2011-03-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

When most people think of mail they don't usually get too excited and when they think of the post office some people get down right mad. I, on the other hand, love mail. To me, mail is like a little present delivered to your door. I love giving and receiving it.

I also love the post office, I know there are usually horrible lines but I love seeing what people are sending. I secretly would love to work at the post office just so I could see what everyone was sending and why.

It makes me a little sad that people are not sending mail like they used to. Obviously email is great and I love that it saves paper, but there is something that is so personal about a mail that I love.

So send a postcard to a friend and I bet they will be very presently surprised. It is a great way to show someone that you are thinking of them.

On one last note, I am refering to personal mail, not bills and junk mail.

Puppy Love

2011-03-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

We have had Karl for a little over a week and so far it has been going tremendously. Both Eric and I are a little obsessed with him. You know the scene in Raising Arizona, when they kidnap the baby and Ed starts to cry and says "I love him so much", well that is about how Eric and I feel about Karl.

It hasn't all been daisy's and rainbows though, we have run into a few problems, the biggest one being that when my hair is down he thinks it is one of his chew toys. He will latch his little jaw on my hair and wont let go. I can usually get it out of his grasp pretty quick but I cant help but think this tug of war with my locks must be giving me some serious hair damages, I mean most shampoo bottles don't say "helps protect against heat, pollution and your puppy". I am hoping that this is just puppy behavior and he will grow out of it but if not maybe I will cut my hair super short like Emma Watson.

Well that is all for now in Karl news, I will keep you updated and let you know if starts getting hairballs.

Best of the 2011 Award Season

2011-03-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

The Oscars were this last weekend and they were fine but kind of boring, Anne Hathaway as a host was more awkward than funny and there was really no surprise winners but this post is not a critique of the Oscars, it is a post about the fashion. One of my favorite parts of the Oscars and award season in general is the fashion.

In this post I am going to show you my favorite looks of award season, this will include the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, the Grammys and of course the Academy Awards.

I will start with the biggest and most important. This year I found the fashion at this Oscars to be a little underwhelming. The women looked gorgeous of course, but all the looks felt a little safe. Although I was not very impressed with most of the dresses, here are my favorites:

Gwyneth Paltrow in Calvin Klein. As I have stated in previous posts, Gwyneth is my girl and she is looking beautiful as always.

Celine Dion in Giorgio Armani Privé looked the best I have ever seen her, and she just had twins. You go Celine Dion.

Cate Blanchett in Givenchy Haute Couture. This dress may have made it into some peoples worst dressed category but I think it is a stunning dress. I love the back and no one can say that they have seen this look before. Also her styling is impeccable, gorgeous hair and makeup. Not safe and that's why I liked it.

Hillary Swank in Gucci Première. Sequins and feathers, sounds like the equation for for a Vegas showgirls costume, instead it makes a gorgeous, completely classy, Oscar gown.

Jennifer Lawrence looking smokin' hot in Calvin Klein. Maybe it looks a little like Baywatch but she is working it. I'll take her over Pam Anderson any day.

Next up is the Grammys. To be honest, the fashion at the Grammys never gets me very excited, maybe because most of the attendees outfits are so costumy, or maybe its because some the attendees don't exactly have the best fashion sense e.g. Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.

I did however think one Pop Star looked beautiful:

Selena Gomez in J. Mendel. I think she is adorable and she looked so gorgeous and so classy that night. Well done SG.

Next up is the SAG awards. There are so many award shows and it seems like the SAG awards are the ones that no one seems to care about, including me. That does not mean I am going to ignore it though because here were some beautiful dresses there.

Rosario Dawson in J. Mendel. I am a sucker for yellow and this color looks so gorgeous with her skin. Like a Lemon Meringue pie I am eating this look up.

Lea Michele in Oscar de la Renta. I think she looks beautiful and this gown looks amazing, I do however have one critique, could you please crack a smile Lea, this is not a Victoria Secret photo shoot this is the red carpet. You look beautiful you don't have to make the sexy face the entire redcarpet. Nuff said.

Last but certainly not least is the Golden Globes. Personally, I was most impressed with the looks from the Globes. One trend at the Globes that I loved was all the sleeves, strapless dresses are so popular but I feel like playing with sleeves gives you so much more opportunity for creativity. Here are my favorite looks (all of which have sleeves):

Angelina Jolie in Atelier Versace. I love the retro style of this dress, I also like the emerald color. One side note though, Angelina, you need to eat something. She is looking way to skinny these days.
Emma Stone in Calvin Klein. I loved the simplicity of this dress, the color was so fun and looks great on her. I think she looks awesome.

Eva Longoria in Zac Posen. This was my favorite dress in all of award season. This dress fits her like a glove, her body looks phenomenal and I love her minimal jewelry that let all the attention fall on her dress. Eat your heart out Tony Parker.

And there you go. My favorite looks of the 2011 award seasons. If you have a favorite look that you think I missed let me know I would love to hear your opinions.

Adventures with Mal & Eric & Karl

2011-02-26T12:17:00.001-08:00

It has finally happened, Ez and I have finally got a dog. His name is Karl, he is a French Bulldog, born Nov. 21st 2010. I am completely in love. We got him yesterday and we are very happy parents.

Being this is my first dog ever, I have learned that things I thought came naturally to dogs do not, for example, going on a walk. We start to walk him and it is like walking a cat. He will walk in what ever direction he wants and then just sit down and will not move unless you pick him up.

He is quite the character, but how could he not be with that face.

That's all for now but don't worry, there will be more Karl to come.

I am Flipping Out

2011-02-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

I have discovered something that I want to share with all of you out there, it is the television show Flipping Out. I mentioned that I enjoy this program in a past but I feel I need to explain why this show is so great.

Flipping Out is a reality show about Jeffery Lewis and his design company Jeff Lewis Design, Jeff is an interior designer and in the first season he flips houses (hence the name, Flipping Out) as the series progresses he does less house flipping and more remodeling and redecorating. Just seeing what Jeff can do to a house is reason enough to watch the show but that is not why I watch it, I watch it because watching Jeff and his staff interact with each other is one of the funniest things in the world.

Here is a list of some of the characters and why they make the show great;

Jeffery Lewis

Jeff is super talented but a little crazy and totally OCD. He is so funny although sometimes not on purpose. He yells at his employees all the time and has fired all of them at least once but usually lets them come back. That makes him sound like a mean person but he really is not, he just has really high expectations. I am slightly obsessed with him and would give my right arm to work for him, even if it means getting yelled at every day.

Jenni Pulos

Jenni is Jeff's administrative assistant. She looks just like Elaine from Seinfeld and stands up to Jeff when he is in the wrong. Jeff and Jenni make quite a team.

Zoila Chavez

Zoila is Jeff's housekeeper. She is always talking back to Jeff and always calling him crazy. It is a dream of mine to one day have a housekeeper just like Zoila.

Monkey Lewis

Monkey is one of Jeff's many pets, but he is my favorite. He is just a big fur ball and lays around all day. Look at how sweet he looks in that picture above laying in Zoila's arms.

Basically if you have Bravo you need to check out Flipping Out, I don't think you will regret it.

Take a Look, It's in a Book

2011-02-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

I recently read a book titled High Fidelity. The book is about a man named Rob who owns a semi-failing record store, the book is not specifically about the record store but more about Rob's life and his past and current relationships. The book is filled with, as they call it, "desert island, all-time, top five" list. I love lists (as anyone who has read this blog must know) therefore when I read this book chock-full of lists it delighted me.

In honor of Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity), I am listing my top 5 books read this year.

5. The Shining by Stephen King
This book is very entertaining. I found it more creepy than scary but if you are a bit of a fraidy cat you might want to steer clear because it is intense.

4. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Not only did this book inspire this post it also entertained me immensely. The book if funny, charming and a quick read.

3. The Hunger Games (1, 2 & 3) by Suzanne Collins
I am counting these three as one book because lets be honest you read one you will read all three. Great story that is gets you hooked right from the beginning. I must say that the third book was a bit of a let down but that does not change the fact that these books are a must read.
Oh and team Gale all the way.

2. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The book is about a group of students attending Hailsham, a boarding school in the country side of England. It has a bit of a twist to the story so I am going to give you any more information than that, but I would highly recommend this book. It is thought provoking and completely heartbreaking. So so so good.

And my number 1 book of the year is
1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I have already dedicated an entire blog post to how much I loved this book so rather than going into my love for this book again you can just read the post http://malanderic.blogspot.com/2010/07/mals-book-review.html.

If you like reading, or even if you don't, I would recommend all these books, of course you don't have to take my word for it (Reading Rainbow reference).

back in the 801

2011-02-09T18:04:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I flew home to see my new niece Sofia. The trip was such a success. Sofie, or as I like to call her Spider Monkey (Abbey hates this because apparently in the Twilight movie Edward calls Bella a Spider Money) is so adorable. I made a stuffed animal Owl for the baby in an attempt to be more crafty and to use my Christmas present, which was a sewing machine.

Here is the Owl I made. Ashley had a bird theme going on for the baby so I thought this would fit in perfectly also I thought this would be pretty easy being that it was basically a pillow with eyes.

Here is Baby with Owl. She looks a little creeped out by it, but I think they will grow to love each other.

Here is Baby with Auntie Mal. So cute.

And here is Baby trying to look intellectual. Before anyone calls child services because we are putting glasses on a baby, I will just let you know that the glasses are not prescription.

The trip was a complete success and it was great to see the fam, but I am happy to be back in 65 degree weather.

The Bruins and a baby

2011-02-02T14:45:00.001-08:00

This last Saturday, the Bruins were playing Arizona State in Tempe, so Mike (Eric's dad) came down and we all went to the game. I guess ASU does not have a very good basketball team so we were able to get amazing tickets for not very much money. Our seats were first row right behind the announcers.

Here we are at the game. You can see the ASU cheerleaders behind us, and no disrespect but they had the worst uniforms.

Mike and Eric, one enjoying the game, one nursing his iphone after it was dropped in a cup of soda.

Look at those two lookers behind the announcers. Mal and Eric on FSN.

It was a really fun game, it ended up being really close and went into over time but the Bruins pulled it out in the end.

Saturday had an even bigger event then the basketball game (hard to believe, I know). My sister Ashley and her husband Ryan had their baby.

Sofia Kristina Pedersen was born at 11:55 on January 29th. I am going to SLC this weekend to see the baby so there will be more info and pictures to come.

favs so far

2011-01-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

So we have been in the 480 for a month so I have decided to put together my list of some of my favorite things here.

1. 73 degree weather in January. I know everyone says wait til July and you will not be so happy but I am going to focus on the positives now. The fact that I can exercise outside, read poolside and wear only a t-shirt is some thing I am happy about.

2. Fiesta Burrito. This is a cheap little 24 hour Mexican restaurant that EZ and I love it. They have the best tacos and they are so close that they have become our fav.

3. Vista Del Camino Park. This park is right behind our apartment and it has a trail that goes on for miles. It is perfect for running or walking a dog (cant wait for that).

I wanted to make this list of all the good things about here because sometimes it is hard being in a totally new place, especially when you have spent your entire life in your home town. I know this experience is making me so much stronger as a person and I am happy to be here but sometimes change is hard.

Okay this has been a far to serious blog post (at least for me). I am tempted to add in a cat picture for good measure.

From AZ to CA

2011-01-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Eric and I went to San Diego (well more specifically Encinitas) to visit Ashley and Rory (Eric's sister and her husband). It was about a 6 hour drive, which is not bad but we left so early in the morning that neither of us wanted to drive because we were both so tired. To keep myself from falling asleep while I was driving I had so sing, very loudly, along with the random CD's in my car.

Its was awesome in Cali, mid 70's wether and not a cloud in the sky. We went to the beach and ate a lot of Mexican food. Overall it was a great weekend.

On Monday, driving home, we were on a rode in the middle of nowhere. All of a sudden we drive past this car that is on its side. We stopped and there was a girl standing outside of the car with suitcase in hand. She said an animal had run into the road and she swerved to stop it and that how the accident happened. We asked her if she was okay, she had a tiny cut on her arm but was fine. She had lost her phone in the accident so we called the police. The cops came and they called a tow truck and took care of everything but it was kind of a crazy end to the trip.

One last note: leaving southern California is a lot easier when you know you will be getting home to 70+ degree weather. Nuff said.

Its cat time

2011-01-13T21:10:00.001-08:00

I have not done any cat pictures for a while so I think these were over due.

Employment

2011-01-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

As I stated in my last post, I was a little nervous about not having a job down here in AZ.

Good news though, my worries have been put to rest, slightly, because I was able to transfer to Banana Republic store down here in the 480. The store I work at is huge and super nice and it has been going well so far and I must say, it is quite a relief having a cash flow coming in.

This job takes a little bit of weight off my shoulders although I still want to find a full time job, that is not retail. So the search continues.

Wish me luck, its a jungle out there, well actually it's a desert but you know what I mean.

Az Life so Far

2010-12-29T16:40:00.000-08:00

So I have been in AZ for about 3 days and I has been a big change. I currently have no job, this is quite a change being that last week I had 2. It has been 5 years since I have been in this situation and it makes me a little bit nervous. I have some things lined up and I don't plan on being unemployed for long but as it stands I have a lot of free time on my hands.

With this free time I have been working on organizing our apartment and discovering the joy of Bravo (the television channel). The past few days I have spent a lot of time enjoying The Millionaire Matchmaker and Flipping Out. I have not yet watched any of the Real Housewives series and am going to try to abstain because those lady's botoxed faces kind of creep me out.

So far everything is going well and I am enjoying the weather immensely (although as I am writing, this it is raining). I am struggling with getting around and figuring where I am half the time. I am hoping it will make more sense with time, and if not I will just hitch hike to get around.

Best of SLC

2010-12-22T22:57:00.000-08:00

As this post will most likely be the last I write living in the great state of Utah I wanted to commemorate my home state by listing some of my favorite places in SLC.

1. The Park Cafe, located just south of Liberty Park. The Park Cafe has the best french toast, and that is coming from a breakfast enthusiast so you know its true.

2. Moochies, Best Phillie Cheese steak in Salt Lake. Nuff said.

3. The Broadway Theater, shows all the indie movies I want to see and sells Jordan Almonds at the concession stand. Jordan Almonds!

4. Bruges, you want waffles, they got em. You want french fries, they got em. They don't only have em they have some of the best waffles and french fries in town.

5. Red Iguana, their Muchaka (spelled wrong I'm sure) chimichanga will change your life, and thats no lie.

That is my list of the Best of SLC. I know I am missing some things but it is late and I want to go to bed so I am ending the list here.

You may think the fact that this list is mostly restaurants is sad but I attribute that to my love of food. Truthfully, what I am going to miss the most leaving Salt Lake City is my friends and family. Love you all and when you are south of the border (Utah border) I hope you let me know so I can show you a good time AZ style.

My Favorite Chistmas Movies

2010-12-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

In honor of this Christmas season, I am putting together my list of favorite holiday movies. These are the movies that bring the holiday spirit and make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So without further ado, Mallory's favorite holiday movies:

1. All I want for Christmas
Many of you may have not seen this so I will give you a brief synopsis, the story is about Ethan and Hallie O'Fallon, two kids who live in New York. Their parents get divorced and all Hallie wants for chistmas is for her parents to get back together. Ethan loves his sister so he decides he is going to try and make this happen. I love this movie, it has just the right amount of tenderness and cheese to make it a holiday classic.

2. The Grinch who stole Christmas
I do not mean the Jim Carrey version, I mean the original cartoon version. I love the music I love the animation and I love story. Nothing gets me in the Christmas spirit quite like the Grinch and his heart that was two sizes too small.

3. The Muppet's Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is one of the greatest holiday stories of all time, and my favorite version of this beloved classic is with Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit. Michael Caine is a great Ebenezer Scrooge and I love the song"It Feels Like Christmas". Question, why do I never hear that song around Christmas but am bombarded with "Frosty the Snowman" covers?

4. Elf
Funniest Christmas movie period. After watching Elf, I get the desire to answer the phone saying: "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

5. Home Alone
Home Alone is such a great movie. Macaulay Culkin is perfect as Kevin McCallister and they managed to catch him before he got super creepy looking. This movie is just another classic from the great John Hughes.

And that is the list of my favorite Christmas movies.
Now keep the change ya filthy animal!

Favorite Quotes

2010-12-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

The title of this post is pretty self explanatory. Here are some of my favorite quotes, I wont elaborate on why I love these quotes but I think it is pretty clear.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Maya Angelou

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."
-J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
-Dr. Seuss

"Women are like teabags; you never know how strong they are until they're put in hot water."
-Eleanor Roosevelt

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."
-William Shakespeare (All's Well That Ends Well)

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
-Maya Angelou

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."
-Marilyn Monroe

If you have some quotes you love, please share.

Another reason why I love Andy

2010-12-03T22:13:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of Andy Warhol, I made that clear in my past post, 'Me an Andy love our Candy'. You also know that in my old apartment I had a bit of a shoe problem, I made this clear in my post, 'The Shoe Situation'. Well feast you eyes on this print by you know who:

This print, titled Diamond Dust Shoes, portrays my shoe situation so beautifully I had to share it. Give it to Andy for talking a shoe situation , similar to mine and making it beautiful.

If you have no idea what I am talking about when I say my "shoe situation" click here and it will clear it up.

At home with Dev & Beck

2010-12-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

As I previously posted, I am living at Dev and Becks house. It is a blast from the past being back here and there are some major pros to staying with the parents (beside the obvious free rent).

1. Dev scrapes the snow and ice off my car on snowy days. Awesome.

2. Beck's seriously good cooking. I tend to cook about twice a month, so a good home made meal from the likes of Beck is much appreciated.

3. Dev telling me about his new favorite show Entourage. Yes, you read that right, Entourage. They are playing reruns of it on Spike TV and Dev loves it. He tells me about his favorite charters (Ari and Vince) and why he likes them and then he watches an episode and explains the plot to me.

4. Last but not least, being reunited with my favorite napping spot in the world, the floor next to the heat vent. At Dev and Becks house some of their heat vents are located directly on the floor, easy access for a heat junkie like me. For nap time, I cozy up to the heat vent, cover said vent with a blanket and crawl in. It gets so toasty warm that I don't even care that I am sleeping on the floor like Cinderella.

Overall I am having a pretty good time back in my old crib, and it is nice getting some family time while I am still around.

The one major con of being at my parents house; being approximately 650 miles away from Eric.

Raising Arizona

2010-11-25T21:42:00.000-08:00

Eric and I have some pretty exciting news. We are moving to Phoenix, Arizona. Well technically Scottsdale but close enough.

Eric has gotten a got a job down there, so we are heading south. EZ made his way down today (long story as to why he left on Thanksgiving, but lets just say it has to do with the Bruins). I will head down at the end of December.

That means I will have a month of living with my parents like the old days and a month being away from EZ, which I am not to excited about.

The next month is going to suck but I am really excited about the move and the adventure.

Nonsexual Girl Crush

2010-11-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

So last night, as I began to watch Glee, I quickly realize that Gweneth Paltrow was guest staring in the episode, and after last nights episode I have officially developed a nonsexual girl crush on her.

Let me start by explaining what I mean by a girl crush,

Nonsexual Girl Crush: When you want to be just like a girl and also be her best friend.
Example: The movie Single White Female, except without all the creepy stuff.

I have decided to have this blog post be about some of my nonsexual girl crushes:

1. Gweneth Paltrow:

As I previously mentioned I kind of fell in love with her last night after her performance as Holly Holliday on Glee. She basically played the coolest substitute teacher ever, I mean she offered to have glee club at Taco Bell, nuf said.

Other than last night's episode, here is why Gwen is just so crushable:

She is a classy lady, which is hard to find today, in our Kardashian filled media.
She can pull off an English accent better than any other American ever.
She is a great serious actress but is also really funny at times. Case and point, The Royal Tenenbaums.

2. Frances Mcdormand:

You may think what a weird choice for a girl crush, I mean the lady from Fargo. Well, yes, exactly. Have you seen Fargo, it is very violent but Frances is amazingly funny in it. Here is why she is on my list:

Her performance in Fargo
Her performance in Friends with Money. Please just watch the trailer and tell me she is not hilarious.
Her performance in Raising Arizona

3. Taylor Swift

Crushable qualities are as follows:

She is a great singer/song writer.
She is so cute.
She comes off as a genuinely nice person.
I love all those sparkly dresses she wears to award shows (example available above).

So those are some of my nonsexual girl crushes. I have more, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I may have to do a Girl Crush Volume Two if I have forgotten someone important, but I will keep you posted. Obviously.

Lets celebrate with a Dala horse cake

2010-11-08T16:53:00.001-08:00

It was Abbeys birthday this weekend and for her big day Ashley and I made Dala horse cake. Your probably thinking wow that sounds gross, but don't worry, this is not some creepy meat cake, it is a chocolate cake shaped and painted like a Swedish Dalecarlian horse.

The Dalecarlian horse or Dala horse is a traditional carved and painted wooden statuette of a horse originating in the Swedish province of Dalarna. As proud Swedes we thought it appropriate to have Abbey's birthday celebration showcase our pride.

Real Dala Horse

Abbey in Sweden at a Dala horse workshops

Dala Horse Cake

We ended up with a couple versions of the cake. This was mine and even though Lil Sis openly told me this was her least favorite, I still like it.

I think i'm sick, I just know I have hypocindria

2010-11-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

I have discovered that I am a bit of a hypochondriac. It has been a somewhat recent development but it has started with me thinking I am pregnant about every other month. These thoughts are based on no hard evidence but I think that once I really am pregnant, EPT is going to have a serious drop in sales.

My most recent fit of Hypochondria came on a couple days ago and in a form other than pregnancy. I was getting out of the shower and noticed a mole on my back. The mole was not very big but the pigment was irregular and asymmetrical. I took a closer look and immediately went onto the internet and to find out if I was going to make it. Findings were that irregular pigment and irregular shape can be a sign of a cancerous mole. Shortly after that I burst into tears and started to think about what I was going to miss when I was gone. Then Eric got home and I told him the news. He told me everything would be fine and that we would just make a doctors appointment and that I should not worry about it.

The next day I was feeling much better and not so certain of my demise. I was at work, still planning on making an appointment with the doctor when I start getting all these text from Eric. The texts went as follows:

Have you made an appointment?

Here are a list of doctors you could go to.....

I made an appointment for you tomorrow.

Apparently I was feeling better about the situation but Eric was feeling worse.

I went to the Doctor and he said it looked fine but that another mole looked questionable so he removed it.

Overall the experience left me feeling glad that I went into see the doctor, silly because the mole he took off was not the one that freaked me out, aware that I need to take better care of my skin and lastly happy that I have guy like EZ in my life. Sorry that last bit is a little cheesy.

Some Random Thoughts

2010-10-25T18:47:00.001-07:00

Mallory's randoms thoughts:

When I was in high school I found some personalized confetti with my name on it, this was a rare find, so of course I bought it. I still have it and I am wondering when I will ever have the use for Mallory confetti. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

I am not a rom com fan, because of this I do not enjoy most of Kate Hudson's movies, I do however adore this cover of Elle Magazine. It is partly because K Hud looks stunning but mostly because of the Marc Jacobs dress she is wearing. Well done Marc, well done.

Ez and I are pretty busy, this means that our apartment often gets turned to the way side. It typically gets to hoarders status before we decide to clean up. It's getting to the point where I am seriously considering getting a cleaning lady. Would it be weird to get a cleaning lady for a one bedroom apartment with cinder block walls?

That's all for now.

If your going to San Francisco

2010-10-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Mikey (Eric's Dad) took Eric and myself to California to see the Bruins play Cal.

Our first stop was Sacramento to stay with Eric's Grandparents. I had never met them so it was so great to finally meet. They were such lovely people and such gracious hosts. I look forward to seeing them again.

Next stop was Berkley, home of the Cal Bears. Our first stop in Berkley was Burger Meister.

Then off to California Memorial Stadium to see the game.

Eric and I before the game started. If we had known how the game would have ended we might not have been so smiley.

The game did not go so well. The bruins lost but it was still great to see Berkley's campus and to see the beautiful Bruins play in person.

Next we went into San Fran. I met up with my high school bestie Charity. She is living there and she showed me all the sights.

Above: a sign I liked.

BTW: San Fran is a really cool city and the weather in October is beautiful, or at least it was the weekend of the 8th.

Below: Charity and I in China Town.

To sum it all up, even though the Bruins lost, the weekend was a success. I got to meet Eric's Grandparents, see my old pal Charity and get reacquainted with San Francisco. Nuff said.

A new addition

2010-10-06T14:59:00.001-07:00

Eric and I have a new addition in our apartment, no it is not a French Bulldog puppy, it is a new mattress.

Dev and Beck had told us that they would get us a bed for a wedding present and in typical Olson fashion, we finally got around to buying it last weekend.

You are probably thinking, does this really merit a blog post. Well, when you love sleep as much as I do, an incredibly comfortable new mattress is a big deal, so it does merit a blog post. Plus the mattress we were sleeping on had been Eric's since he was 12, meaning it was extremely below par, so much so, that the preferred napping spot was our Ikea couch and not the bed. Nuff said.

So now I will share with you the things I have realized since getting the new bed:

1. Waking up in the morning is hard, especially now that the mornings are getting cold

2. The snooze button is a cruel lover that I keep coming back to

3. Pillow tops are one of the greatest creations ever, I put it right behind Pandora

Now I must end this post so I can go to sleep.

All my exes live in Texas therefore I reside in SLC

2010-09-29T19:25:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, when I married Eric I also adopted a college sports team, that team is the UCLA Bruins. To support our Bruins, the Olson clan (the other Olson clan) made their way south. All the way to Texas. The Bruins were playing the University of Texas, yeah those guys that played in the national championship last year. A bit daunting to say the least for our little Bruin bears.

Because of that we had to enjoy ourselves and ensure that the trip was not an entire bummer.

We spent time in San Antonio which was a pretty neat place.

Interesting fact about Texas in September: it is hot as Hell, but more humid.

San Antonio's River Walk, very jazzy.

Game Day in Austin. In from of Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium.

The marching band. Look at that T, well done guys.

Ez and i looking very happy, are the Bruins winning for real? THE BRUINS ARE WINNING!

The Bruins won! Just look at that UCLA section, so proud of that beautiful Bruin blue wave.

Bevo, Texas mascot. Sorry Bevo, it turns out in the battle between a Bruin bear and a Longhorn, the Bruin wins, who knew.

Steve, Michelle, Eric and I sticking around after the bruins HUGE win. I know many of you out there may not realize how awesome it was that UCLA won. Let me throw some facts at you to put it in perspective.

Texas was ranked 7th in the country, UCLA was not ranked.

UCLA was 1-2, Texas was 3-0

Texas was the 2009 Big 12 Champions

The last time Texas was beat at home was in 2007

Basically this was one of the best football games in UCLA history and we were there! Such a great weekend. Thanks to Mike for making it all happen!

P.S. The title of this post is in reference to a George Strait song. I do not in reality have any exes in Texas.

Ginger Hall of Fame

2010-09-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

As a red head (albeit a new one, hey I had red hair when I was a baby), I feel I need to stand up for my ginger brothers and sisters. Red Heads get the rep of being mean, ugly and having pasty white skin and all of these are a misrepresentation of the group (except the pasty white skin, that usually rings true). To prove the anti-ginger folks wrong, I came up with group of awesome carrot tops (Carrot Top the comedian not included. He is a embarrassment to gingers everywhere).

The Red Head Hall of Fame:

Ann Margret: Iconic Red Head

Conan O'Brien: Funny Red Head

Christina Hendricks: Curvaceous Red Head

Ron Howard: Oscar Winning Red Head

Isla Fisher: All Around Adorable Red Head

Shaun White: Athletic Red Head

As you can see there are some pretty great gingers in the world, so the next time you decide to put them down, remember this list.

Are you hungry?

2010-09-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

I consider myself someone who can appreciate good food. Whenever EZ and I go out to eat we compete to see who can order the better thing. I am usually the winner, because of this I am going to let my blog readers in on some pretty good eats.

#1 HI-CHEWs
I discovered these little jems while at the Asian market. You had to spend over $10 to use your card and I was at $8 so I just picked them up and I am so happy I did. HI-CHEWs are like Mambas but so so so much better. Try them, you will like them. P.S. I recommend Apple or Orange.

#2 Burnt Almond Fudge Milkshake
Okay this one takes a little prep time. Here are the ingredients you need;

Burnt Almond Fudge ice cream (sometimes hard to find, but don't think you can substitute it, this is a very important ingredient).

Malted Milk

Skim Milk

Mix together to your preferred consistency. You may not think this sounds so great but let me just tell you this, last weekend, Eric ate 2 of these a days and drove across town twice to get the Burnt Almond Fudge ice cream.

#3 Pop-Secret Homestyle Popcorn
I love popcorn and this is the best popcorn you can get without making it the old fashion way yourself. This popcorn has the perfect amount of butter and salt. For extra bonus enjoy with Milk Duds.

Another blog post about food. What can I say, I like to eat. Also shout out to Dan's Food in Foothill. All of the above items are available there (one of the only places you can find Burnt Almond Fudge).

Me and Andy love our candy

2010-09-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

The other day I was online and I came across this little tidbit of information:

"Andy Warhol would visit pastry shops daily, sometimes bringing home an entire birthday cake and eating it by himself. At sumptuous meals, he would abstain, explaining, ‘Oh, I only eat candy.' One time at an airport, his bag was searched at customs and found to be full of candy, chewing gum, and cookies. After his death, his collection of cookie jars was auctioned off for a quarter of a million dollars."

I had always liked Andy Warhol's work but after I read this, I was in love. "I only eat candy" are you kidding me, that is the coolest thing I have ever heard.

So anyways, in honor of my new favorite artist I am going to show you some of his works and share some interesting facts about the man:

Eight Elvises, c.1963 sold for 100 million dollars. This put Warhol in to the prestigious 100 Million Dollar Club, which includes Jackson Pollock, Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso

Grevy's Zebra, c.1983

Andy owned a Great Dane named Cecil. The stuffed dog is now on display at the Andy Warhol Museum.

Andy Warhol regularly attended mass at his church (St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Manhattan, New York) and was credited as being a very spiritual and religious man.

Guns, c.1981-82

Andy Warhol is the famed founder of the magazine Interview.

While in high school, Andy Warhol became ill with St. Vitus' disease, which is believed to be a complication of scarlet fever. The disease led Andy to develop into a hypochondriac, causing him to have a great fear of hospitals and medical doctors as an adult.

Dog, c.1986

Yes, the best for last, my beloved frenchie!

Meow

2010-08-26T19:26:00.001-07:00

More cats picture + one with a french bulldog. Perfection.

Summers coming to an end

2010-08-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

As Summer is quickly coming to an end I am having some mixed feelings. In the past when August would roll around I would get a dreading feeling as I knew school was quickly approaching and my care free days of summer soon would be over. Not that I am out of school and working, those feelings are gone and I am left a little excited for fall to start. I am not excited for it to get cold but here are some of the things I am looking forward to in fall:

1. Football (especially college). Come November I will probably be cursing football but as of now I am actually really excited for football to start.

2. (Continuation of 1) Bruin trips. Bruin trips are the vacations we take to see the UCLA football team play. This year we are going to Austin to see UCLA play University of Texas (probably wont go so well for UCLA but I am excited to see Austin) and Berkley to see UCLA play Cal. I am really excited.

3. No longer having to sleep in the hottest apartment ever. Our apartment is so hot and the AC does not reach our bedroom, this makes the midsummer nights a little unbearable. Not the best sleeping environment as you can imagine.

4. Fall clothes and not having to worry about sweating. Nuff said.

The Neistat Brothers

2010-08-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

Recently I was flipping through the channels and landed on HBO (expensive I know, but I cannot bring myself to canceling it). I became interested in a show that was playing. It was unlike anything I had watched on TV and after watching approximately 30 seconds I was hooked. The show was titled The Neistat Brothers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD1wcVIGwGE

I have attached the shows trailer above so you can get a feel for what it's about.

The show has inspired me to start documenting my life in film. Be prepared for some home movies to be posted. I will try to make them entertaining, but I cannot make any promises.

If you have HBO I highly recommend checking out The Neistat Brothers, if you do not have HBO, you can come over to the Fairlane and watch it with Eric and I, if neither of those options work for you then I say you are being quite difficult and I have given up.

An ecclectic grouping

2010-08-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

Eric and I have one of the most random selection of music. I get my love for radom tunes from my dad (Dev). Dev got an ipod about 3 years ago and has not updated his music selection since he added his 40 favorite songs. His music rages from Pink's Get the Party Started to Big Band to I had the time of my life from Dirty Dancing. He could listen to that random mix of music over and over till Beck goes crazy.

I must say I need more than 40 songs to keep me entertained but I do have quite the random grouping of music. Here is a list of some of the things you might find Ez and I listening at any given time:

Private Eyes by Hall and Oats
Spirit of the Radio by Rush
Ghosts N Stuff by Deadmau5
Don't Stop Believing by Cast of Glee
No Love by Eminem

That is s pretty random mix but the best thing that Eric decided to purchase was the soundtrack to Fiddler on the Roof. We get to enjoy If I were a Rich Man and Tradition when ever we would like.

Auntie Mal

2010-07-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Right now in my life I do not feel ready to start a family, at all, I do however get really excited when people around me have children. Currently I have two nieces; Lydia and Violet. Lydia is almost 3 and so sassy, as you can tell from the picture, Violet is almost 3 months and so chubby and adorable. They are the cutest little girls and it is so fun seeing them grow up.

Recently I got some real jazzy news, my sister Ashley and her hubby Ryan are having a baby! This will be the first niece/nephew on my side of the family and I am so excited. I am also so happy for my parent because I know they have been wanting a Grandchild and the news has sent them over the moon.

Congratulation Ash and Ryan!

The Shoe Situation

2010-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ez and I's reside is a small, one bedroom apartment we like to refer to as the Fairlane. Said apartment is cheap and that's why we like it, but what we gain in our pocket books we lose in closet space.

My Grandma used to have a saying "a place for everything and everything in its place". It is when you don't have a place for everything you realize how important this saying is.

Our organizational problem is most evident in the bedroom with my shoe situation. I like shoes, unfortunately I have no real place to put them except for in a giant pile in the corner of our bedroom (pictures above). This picture could be taken strait out of an episode of Hoarders, luckily the rest of our apartment does not look this bad.

I admire people who are organized even in the most cramped situations. You see those people in NYC that have apartments smaller than a cardboard box that maintain a very organized existence, and that is impressive to me. Although that being said, I would like to see how many pairs of shoes they own in that cardboard box, probably only a couple pairs and home girl need more than a couple pairs of shoes.

Mal's book review

2010-07-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

I just finished a book that I loved so much I am devoting an entire blog post to it. The book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It is narrated by three different women all of which live in Jackson Mississippi in the 1960's. I will not go into great detail about the plot because I will not give it justice.

All you need to know is this book was beautiful. It was funny, heartbreaking and uplifting. Their were times while reading I would cheer out loud. I would get so into it that I had to talk about it with someone. I would explain the whole story to Eric just so I could discuss it with him. I didn't want the story to end and when it did I just kept on reading, I read the acknowledgment and about the author and I would of read the bibliography if their was one.

The author Katheryn Stockett is so talented. This is her first book and to be honest I don't know how she is going to top this.

I encourage everyone to read this book, even you non readers (Abbey). You will not be disappointed.

Happy Birthday America

2010-07-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July this year; Dev, Beck, Ashley (older sister), Ryan (older sisters husband), Eric and I went to Blanding, Utah. In case you do not know where Blanding is, please refer to the map above. Look to the bottom right, that star all by itself, that is Blanding. Now don't let that name or location fool you, Blanding is bumpin'. I mean it has a Subway and an A & W restaurant, what more can you ask for.

On the 4th Blanding does a big celebration which includes a pancake breakfast, a parade, a fair and an amateur boxing matches (and by amateur we mean 7 year old kids boxing as their dads cheer them on from the sidelines, and in case you were wondering, it is as weird and unsettling as it sounds). The day finishes with a firework show (of course) and, I must say, it is pretty impressive for a town that has a population 3,162 people. All in all, Blanding knows how to celebrate Americas birthday, and because of it, we had a really fun 4th of July.

In honor of the 4th, I would like to thank all the service men and women who risk their lives to keep our country safe. Thank you.

Step Class

2010-06-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

When you go to the gym and walk by the workout class room and see all these really intense women, I am one of those women. I love workout classes and I get really into them. My favorite class and probably the most nerdy is Step class. Step is where you do dance like moves around a step, and it sounds as silly as it is, but I love it. See picture above for mental image, just insert me front and center, looking incredibly sweaty and very serious.

aliases

2010-06-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

So recently Eric and I got into the show 'Breaking Bad'. The premise of the show is a high school chemistry teacher starts cooking meth after he finds out he has cancer, anyways, this said chemistry teacher uses an alias when he cooks and deals his drug.

This got me thinking, what would I use as an alias if I decided t0 turn to a life of crime. I have come up with a few and I think they are pretty good, so I am going to share them with you. They are:
Edith Greenly
April McQueen
&
Stella Wentworth

Probably not a good idea to post your future aliases like this but I don't see my life of crime coming to fruition in the near future so I think it will be okay.

Recent Events

2010-06-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have been quite busy lately:

1. Eric turned 28 on June 3rd. HAPPY BIRTHDAY EZ! Eric loved his birthday cupcake as you can see below.

2. Went to Vegas. So fun, saw O and Lion King and loved both of them!

3. Lots o' work, got back from Vegas and got to work at Fuel (the marketing firm where I work) and BR (Banana Republic).

4. So You Think You Can Dance has started, anyone who knows me knows that this is a big deal.

Never fear though, even with my busy life my blog takes priority, not first priority but somewhere in the upper middle, way above cleaning my apartment but below sleeping.

Kitty Cat

2010-06-02T20:20:00.001-07:00

I have not had a cat post in a while, your welcome.

May's Obsessions

2010-05-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here is my list of recent obsession:
1. Frozen Raspberrys. This is my favorite healthy snack. I eat a bag a day and love every second of it, the only problem is the red spots appearing all over our apartment.
2. Glee. I love this show so much and cant help but smile when I watch it.
3. My new Kate Spade bag. Its yellow, beautiful and makes me happy.
4. and lastly 70 degree weather, nuf said.

Resistance Bands

2010-05-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I do a weekly segment on Fox 13 in Utah called Workout Wednesday. I am the "fitness model" (loosest use of the term) and I demonstrate exercises while a trainer explains them. Anyways, today's segment got a little out of hand. Take a look.

Happy Anniversary

2010-05-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

One year ago (and a day) this happened.

May 12, 2009, Eric & Mal got married.
That was a great Day.
Love you EZ!

My recent food obsession

2010-05-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

I have a new food obsession, Cheetos Asteroids. They come in 100 calorie packs but I prefer to eat 5 packs in one sitting. If I could eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be these. Now don't get these confused with regular Cheetos because although they may appear the same, the taste of the Asteroid are far superior. They are so good!

I know an entire post about Cheetos, its a little WT.

Back in the 801

2010-05-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

So were back from the coast and as predicted I am sunburned, although not as severely as anticipated. In spite of the SB, we had a blast. Ashley and Rory were great hosts and showed us a really good time.

This trip I got reacquainted with some loves of mine that are not so easily found in Utah:

1. The beach, love just laying on the beach hearing the ocean waves crash.
2. H&M, nuff said.
3. Pro Baseball Games, the Padres game was great. The stadium was awesome, the hot dogs were amazing and I almost got hit in the face by a foul ball.

R & R

2010-04-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

Were going down to Southern California to visit Ashley & Rory (Eric's sister & her husband). So excited to visit them and hopefully get a little sun down there although anyone who knows me knows that a little sun usually means a blazin' sunburn.

Prints

2010-04-18T21:03:00.002-07:00

This season I have been seeing a lot of floral prints. I am really excited about this, I love the bright patterns that are flooding the market and I cant wait to get my hands on some of these pieces. Above are a few that I am a big fan of, compliments of Anthropologie and J Crew.

Alpacas

2010-04-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsession:

Alpacas

Alpacas are a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance (thanks Wikipedia). They are used for their fur much like sheep are used for their wool.

Anyways, I really want one. I think they are the cutest animals and I think an Alpaca would go so nicely with my little french bulldog. I could use the Alpaca's fur to knit my frenchie sweaters. Oh how sweet it would be.

If you have a fondness for Alpacas like I do check out this website http://www.mountaintopalpacas.com/Site/Home.html. You will not be disappointed.

Give me that fish

2010-04-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

So Eric and Dev are watching "The Pacific" in our apartment. Try as I might (lets be honest, I don't try that hard) I cant get into it. So while they watch bloody battle scenes I am write a post.

Okay has anyone heard the Filet O' Fish jingle on the radio? I love it, something about it makes me laugh and also just makes me happy. Check it out and tell me if I am completely crazy for liking it.

PS: This in no way means that I condone the eating of the Filet O' Fish sandwich, unless that is your thing then by all means carry on.

Happy Birthday Dev!

2010-03-31T21:31:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Dad, I love you! As I have said before, you're an American hero.

Straight bangs

2010-03-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

I wish so dearly that I could pull off straight bangs. As many of you know I am obsessed with Taylor Swift. Many a nights at the Olson home you can find me listening to my Ipod and belting out her tunes as Eric tries to ignore my off pitch singing. Anyways, recently I saw her with her hair straight and these straight bangs (pictured above) and I nearly fell off my chair, I though she looked so good, but then I try it and I just look like a kindergartner with a bad hair cut. I don’t know if it is the shape of my face or what but it always looks less then stellar when I wear strait bangs. Okay that is my little rant for the day.

Sports fan in training

2010-03-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

So Eric is a sports fan (understatement), because of that I have become a sports fan. In my quest to be a true sports fan, I filled out a bracket for the NCAA men basketball tournament also know as March Madness. I filled it out and me and Eric made a bet, who ever had the better bracket would buy the other dinner, and not just dinner at a T.G.I. Fridays, I mean a nice dinner.
I filled out my bracket with dreams of bracket perfection(impossible), then I went online and looked at other peoples brackets, like professional sport analyst brackets. I started to compare my bracket to the pros and my dream of bracket perfection came crashing down. I think it is safe to say I have one of the worst brackets of all time. We have not even made it to the sweet sixteen, and 3 of my 4 teams in the final 4 are out and my winner of the national champion lost in the second round (although I think nearly half of the people who filled out brackets put Kansas as the national champions). I think it is safe to say I am going to be taking Eric out. Just another bump in the road for a sports fan in training.

Spring

2010-03-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

These past few days in the SLC have been so beautiful it is getting me very excited for spring. Utah is notorious for having unpredictable weather in March and April but when it is nice outside it gets me so energized for the days of constant sun shine and blue skies, when you can take walks at 8:30 at night and it is still light outside. I can't wait!

The Mallys

2010-03-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

In honor of the academy awards being this weekend I have decided to put together my list of some of the Best Pictures of 2009. I now present you with the Mallys, you may have never heard of them, but they are basically the most coveted award in Hollywood.

In the category of "Best Girls Night Out Movie"

The Mally goes to:

He’s Just not that into you. In general, I hate romantic comedies. They all have the exact same story lines and usually end up being heavy on the clichés and light on the comedy. However this romantic comedy I loved and how can you not LOVE Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) in it.

In the category of "Best Movie you did not Want to see but your Husband Dragged you to"

The Mally goes to:

District 9. Okay going into this movie I was not excited, I thought it was going to be some dumb alien movie. I was wrong, this movie is about aliens but it takes a totally different approach to the typical alien movie.

In the category of "Best Date Movie"

The Mally goes to:

500 Days of Summer. This movie is so cleaver and enjoyable. At times it makes your face go numb from smiling and then at other times it makes your heart break. Plus it has my favorite movie scene in cinematic history, if you have seen it you probably know what I am taking about, all I can say is take Hall and Oats and add in the UCLA marching band and that is going to be cinematic magic.

In the category of "Best Music in a Movie"

The Mally goes to:

Crazy Heart. This movie, about a down and out country blues musician, is so good. The music is so wonderful and Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake is nothing short of perfection.

And lastly, In the category of "Best Movie that put a Smile on your Face"

The Mally goes to:

Julie and Julia. After watching this movie I wanted to be just like Julia Child. Her no one can get me down attitude and charming personality made her irresistible to watch and made me realize why my bestie Sarah did a biography on her in 5^th grade when everyone else was doing theirs on pop stars and historical figures.

So those are the Mally winners of 2009. If there are other movies from 2009 that you think should be added to the Mallys, I am open to suggestions, and if I agree with you I will add some winners to the list.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Big Sis Maggie up in Alaska! Hope it was awesome and a present is in that mail for you as we speak!

Kitty cat

2010-02-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

CATS!

Ta Dah

2010-02-13T11:22:00.001-08:00

And now I present to you Mallory with red hair.

Dogs on my mind

2010-02-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

Lately more then ever I have been longing for a dog. It consumes my thoughts. It doesn't help that I watched a 2 1/2 hour dog show yesterday or that I DVR every episode of Dogs 101. I guess I should lay off the Animal Planet and switch to Food Network. I mean our apartment doesn't have a rule against cooking. Watch out though, my next post might be about how I want a Paula Dean.

PS: Pictures of my hair are coming, but personally I am loving the red locks!

Ginger Mal

2010-02-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

So I am going to be making a big change this week. I am dying my hair RED. Some of you are probably thinking that this is a big mistake, well to that I say where is your sense of adventure? You only live once and I think I need to switch things up. I am really excited about the change but also nervous. Wish me luck!

A short disclaimer, if red hair ends up looking horrible on me, act like it looks great and lie through your teeth.

The Shooting Range

2010-01-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Eric and I went to the shooting range. I know what your thinking, how very white trash of them, well yes it was very WT of us but I had never been to a shooting range, or even shot a hand gun so I wanted to go and try it. I was excited to go but once we got to the shooting range I started to get a little freaked out. I mean these are guns were talking about, deadly weapons and I was not sure if I felt my carefree attitude would go well with a deadly weapon. Anyways I got past my fear and we started shooting some guns. Let me just tell you it is not like you see in the movies. In the movies you see them fire off guns like they had the power of a super soaker. In real life firing a gun is an intense experience. The guns have kick back so when you shoot them you can feel it through your hole body. When we finished I was glad that I had that experience but had no desire to do it again. I will have to give up on my dream of being a wild child gun slinger, and just stick with my non-violent ways.

My Bad Habits

2010-01-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

So its the new year and everyone is supposed to come up with new year resolutions. I have a come up with a few new year resolutions, one of which being I am going to improve my posture, but also I thought I would inform people of a couple of bad habits that I will never quit.
Okay my first and worst bad habit that I will never quit is chewing my finger nails. I know my self well enough to know I will never stop biting my nails. If you look at it from a Freudian stand point you could say I have an oral fixation. I have to have something in my mouth and most of the time it is my fingers. I have tried chewing on gum or a pen instead of my nails but nothing has worked so I have decided to embrace my bad habit and stop fighting it.
My other bad habit is my love and devotion to sugar. I love candy with all my heart and although I know it is not good for me, it makes me so happy and I will never give it up.

So there you have it. I think new year resolutions are great and we should always be improving ourselves but here are a couple of bad habits you will never see on my new year resolution list.

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

So its 2010, the oo's are over and it is a little bitter sweet. The past decade was a big one for me, I graduated from High School, College and got married! It was a great decade and it had some major milestones, the biggest being Justin Timberlake bringing sexy back. As we move into the future I say good bye to the millennium, we had some good times and some bad, but when ever I see a cougar moms wearing a Juicy Couture sweatsuits or I wear a pair of leggings, I will think of you and smile.

Christmas Time

2009-12-22T17:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas is only a few days away and I am very excited. I love Christmas because I get to see those people I love who live far away and because I get to see those people at the Mall wearing those amazing Christmas sweater. One thing I hate about Christmas though (I sound like the Grinch) is those sappy commercials and Movies about Santa Clause. Look Santa is great and all but stop talking about how magical he is and that every child needs to believe in him. Okay thanks for letting me get that out. Anyways I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah (although I think that has passed).

Winter, Bleh

2009-12-09T21:03:00.000-08:00

So I have to be Honest, I hate Winter. despite my hatred for the season I am going to be positive and write a list about my favorite things about winter.

1. Sweaters, sweatshirts, sweatpants and slippers. I love that in winter I have an excuse to wear all of these things (possibly all at the same time). Wonderful!

2. Hot Chocolate with mini marshmallows. I love me some hot coco and the best time to have it is when its really cold outside. But do not forget the equally important mini marshmallows. Hot chocolate without mini marshmallows is like a Tuna melt without cheese. Unacceptable.

3. Christmas. Christmas is by far the best part of winter.

So that was all I was able to come up with. There are more things I like about the season but I cannot come up with anything else right now. Its going to be a ruff 3 months for Mal.

Ashley and Ryans Wedding

2009-12-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

So big sister Ashley got married last August. The wedding was beautiful so I wanted to post some pictures of the big day.

Turkey for me, Turkey for you

2009-11-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

So thanksgiving is almost upon us and I am very excited. This year it’s just going to be lil sister, Ez and I at the parents. Big sister #1, Maggie, will be celebrating in Alaska. She will be having a traditional Alaskan thanksgiving consisting of Moose meat, Alaskan Salmon and snow. Apparently that’s how they celebrate up there. Big sister #2, Ashley, will be celebrating with her hubby Ryan in good old bean town (Boston). So that leaves the rest of us to be celebrating with Dev(father) and Beck(mother). I am very excited, Beck is quite the cook so I am sure there will be a absolute Smörgåsbord (spelled correctly!) of delicious foods and treats. So to wrap up, have a happy Thanksgiving everyone! Oh and be safe, I just read an article saying thanksgiving is the most dangerous driving day of the year!

The cat and the cop, a match made in heaven

2009-11-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Okay if you want to see an amazing video about a cat, you must check out the video
"Cat befriends Cop". It is so great, any cat enthusiast would appreciate it.

Top 5 guilty pleasures

2009-11-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

So the other day I was listening to the radio and they were asking listeners, what are some things you love but you know are crappy. I thought I would indulge the readers of my blog by giving you my top 5 things I love but shouldn't because they suck.

5. The movie Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, starring Lindsay Lohan as an eccentric teenager. I know this movie is bad but I love it anyways and don't care what anyone says about it. P.S. Its like Megan Fox's first movie, but I hate Megan Fox so I don't know why I advertised that.

4. The Gossip Girl Books, I read the books long before the show was around and they are total potato chips for the mind but just like potato chips they are SO good. They are the most entertaining books and I love them.

3. Cup of Noodles. I still love these bad boys even though they are so bad for you. They taste so good to me but I swear they should. Also they are SO convenient.

2. Us Weekly, Us Weekly is so bad but so good. It is like the equivalent of a picture book for adults, but that's why I love it, you can browse through it quickly and be totally entertained, then if you have a little more time you can read the two articles they have in it.

1. And the winning spot goes to the music of the teen sensation Miley Cyrus. The Climb, Party in the U.S.A., and I cant wait to see you again, they are all musical masterpieces. I love her but I know I shouldn't. When I am in the car and The Climb comes on I belt it out so loud, all the other cars within a mile can hear me. But do not be confused I do Not like Miley Cyrus or Hannah Montana. I only love her music, but I really love it.

Happy Birthday Lil sister

2009-11-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

Today Abbey Mekenzie Olson aka lil' sister is turning 21! Lil sister and I are the best of friends and in honor of her birthday I am putting together some of my favorite AMO pictures. Pictures include; Abbey as Dobie the house elf, Ghetto Fabulouse Abbey, and baby Abbey, where she looks adorable but the boy/girl? in the bottom right corner is not so adorable, oh wait that's me. Well anyways, happy birthday Abbey, you are one of my favorite people in the world and the best sister money can buy. Love you!