Halloween

Halloween happens to be one of my favorite holidays. I enjoy the anticipation of creating a costume and then dressing up and being in character...I really should have gone in to theather or something like that.

In years past, I almost always have thrown my own Halloween parties. However, this year I left the party planning to others. I went to three different parties and of course, for each of them had to wear a different costume.

Friday night I dressed up as Princess Leia. This costume was inspired by a trip to Disneyland with my family a couple of years ago when I walked into the Star Tours gift shop and came across a Princess Leia headband complete with the huge cinnamon bun hair pieces. I knew that I could build a costume around this...and I had a total blast doing just that. I went to a thrift store down the street from my house and was totally amazed to find the exact dress and belt that I wanted. The dress happens to be an old LDS temple dress from the 80's or so, and the belt...well...I have no idea who besides a Jedi Princess would have ever worn this belt. It is made of metal and looks has a shield buckle on it. It was perfect!

Saturday night I was invited to a Zombie party thrown by a friend of mine who is famous for his parties...and it was not disappointing in the slightest. I didn't have time to get too creative with my costume for this one...but really almost anything goes as a zombie. So, I just put on my ugliest shirt (or prettiest for those of you who like sequence) put on a little white and green make up and ratted my hair as high as it would go. This party was so much fun! We played some really creative games, had dinner served and were even entertained when a few fellow zombies spontaneously performed Michael Jackson's Thriller dance. It was awesome!

After the zombie party, I went home and changed to go to another party. For this one, I chose to go as Wonder Woman...who happens to be my real alter ego. We went to a party that ended up being closed down by the police about an hour after we arrived. I know...you are probably thinking..."Melissa, aren't you a little OLD to be going to parties where the cops show up?" And the answer to that is "YES!" But...this is my life!

All in all, it was a very fun Halloween weekend and I can't wait to start thinking about what I will be next year!

Life Lessons

You know, everyday I try to be a good person. I know that I am no where near perfect and that I have many things to work on and many things that I want to change about myself and my life. I try to be kind to others, I go to church regularly, I read the scriptures, I say my prayers, I pay my tithing, and I try to serve others whenever I can. I do all of these things becaues it feels good to do them, but also because there is a part of me (maybe a BIG part of me) that wants to be blessed for my good behavior. So every night as I am kneeling before going to bed, as I say my prayers, I thank the Lord for all that He has given me and then I proceed to ask for those things which I would like to be blessed with.

I have to admit that sometimes I get frustrated because it seems like there are some things that I have been asking for for a very long time. There is a part of me that thinks that the reason that I haven't been blessed with those things that I want so very much is because I am not righteous enough. Or that I haven't been dilligent enough about reading the scriptures. Or that I said a mean thing about someone or did something bad so now I don't deserve those blessings. Or...the worst thing...that God just doesn't love me enough to bless me with those things that I want.

The Lord has said, "If you love Me keep My commandments." However, I wonder if what I am really saying to Him is "If You love me keep my commandments." Meaning that I think He only loves me if He grants me every wish of my heart....if He keeps my commandments to Him. And therefore if I don't get the blessings I want that He must not love me. How silly is that?

What it comes down to is this...I know that God lives and that He truly is in charge and knows everything. Deep down I know that He loves me, even if sometimes I have a hard time feeling that love because I have hardened my heart against it. I know that He wants good things for me. What I need to remind myself of is that because He loves me He has a plan for me and He knows the right time for every element of that plan to come to pass. He also wants me to have experiences that will make me a better person and that will teach me what I need to know to progress. Gosh...I hate learning these kinds of lessons!

Vegas Baby!

So for those of you who are wondering if I am still alive...I am! I have been really busy lately and haven't had time to do any posts. But the blogging drought is over and I am back!

Last weekend I took a trip to Las Vegas with a bunch of friends. We had a great time. The weather was beautiful and we were able to do tons of fun stuff! Of course we ate lots of good food, we saw a Cirque du Soleil show called Ka, we met Donny and Marie Osmond, we did some shopping, and of course saw some interesting and unexplainable things.

I think that Las Vegas has to be the best place on earth for people watching. You could literally have a seat for an hour or so and see more interesting people in that one hour than you could in an entire year in any other city. I saw Elvis and Michael Jackson...apparently they are both alive and living in Vegas. There was some big boxing match at MGM so we saw tons of celebrities including some NBA stars and a couple of rap musicians. I saw a girl who looked like she had forgotten to put on her pants...but it turned out that it was actually a dress she was wearing and it had ridden up in the back! Yikes!

All in all, we had a great time and were happy to come home...apparently a weekend in Vegas is enough for me!

Fun Lady....what?

So, now that I am another year older and another year wiser, I have decided that it might be time to start lying about my age.

I was speaking with a girl from work today. She just graduated from college and is the ripe old age of 24. She is trying to decide if she wants to go to grad school because she still hasn't decided what she wants to be "when she grows up". I told her not to worry about it because I am still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up too. She started laughing and told me that I am such a "fun lady".

Without her knowing it, she just called me the most offensive name I can think of. I am not a "lady"...I am still a "girl", aren't I??? Well, maybe not a "girl", but a "young woman" or a "young adult" at the least, right??? It is the same feeling I get when I go to a restaurant or a store and the clerk or waitress calls me "ma'am". I am not a "ma'am"! I am a "miss"! When did I get old??? I am not sure, but it is really kind of depressing.

Aaahhh...my birthday

So...today is my birthday. Every year it gets harder and harder to celebrate the fact that I am actually getting older. To make it a little more interesting, I decided to see what significant events have happened on August 25th in history...strangely enough, they are all connected to me in some way or another...go figure!

1768 Captain James Cook began his first voyage (He is the one who "discovered" Hawaii)

1916 The US National Park Service is created (I love hiking!)

1944 Paris is liberated by the Allies in World War II (I speak French...well...kinda)

1814 Washington DC is burned and the White House is destroyed by the British in the Battle of

1812 (I am going to DC for the first time in October)

1927 Althea Gibson is born. She was the first African American woman to play on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. (I heart tennis so much!)

1930 Sean Connery is born. (I know that I am destined to marry James Bond)

1949 Gene Simmons of Kiss is born. (I got all of my make up tips from him)

1961 Billy Ray Cyrus is born. (Wow! I have an achy breaky heart too!)

1968 Rachel Ray is born. (Thank goodness! Now I can cook a meal in 30 minutes of less)

1970 Claudia Schiffer is born. (I also do a little modeling on the side...such a small world!)

So, as you can see, August 25th is a very important day in history...and now you know something that I'll bet you didn't know yesterday! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! I am excited for the coming year and all of the experiences and adventures that await me!

The Best Worst Movie

Last weekend, a friend of mine Jason Steadman, invited us to the Salt Lake Film Festival to see a documentary called the Best Worst Movie. This documentary is about another movie that he was in that was filmed in Morgan, Utah back in 1990, the move is called Troll 2.

Troll 2 has got to be one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. Not only does it have absolutely NOTHING to do with Troll 1, but there aren't even any trolls in the movie at all. There are goblins however. The premise of the movie is that a family goes on a vacation to a town called Nilbog (goblin spelled backwards) where basically the entire population of the town are human-eating goblins.

The movie was intended to be a horror film, but it is in fact so ridiculous that it has unfortunately (or fortunately) become more of a comedy. It is so bad, in fact, that for a time, the film was rated the "worst film of all time" on the popular movie site IMBD.com. Needless to say that when it was first released all of the actors were a little emberrassed about it, however, over the past 20 years it has gained an astonishing cult following and is now quite popular. So popular in fact, that Jason travels the world and attends different movie premiers signing autographs to sold out crowds. They also go to movie trade shows where they sell Troll 2 T-shirts and other memorabilia.

The documentary, called "The Best Worst Movie", is being shown throughout the country at different film festivals and is quite honestly one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. If you ever get the chance to see "The Best Worst Movie" I would HIGHLY recommend it. And if you really want to live on the wild side or ever need a good laugh, go to your local video store and see if you can rent Troll 2. It just might change your life...or at the very least...you would know what to do if you were ever attacked by trolls...I mean goblins.

Summertime!

I feel like summertime has finally arrived!

Summer started off so wet this year, my softball games and rounds of golf kept getting rained out, so I was really beginning to feel the summer time blues. However, the sun has been shining the past couple of weeks and I have been taking full advantage of it.

This year has been the summer of hikes and enjoying the outdoors. Last Monday I went with some friends and climbed up to Ensign Peak in honor of Pioneer Day. It was my first time going and we planned to be there in time for the sunset. Needless to say that the breathtaking vistas overlooking Salt Lake City and the Great Salt Lake did not disappoint.

I feel so lucky to have such beautiful mountins literally 15 minutes from my house. I bought a hiking book and am trying to systematically go through it and see all of the wonderful things that are practically in my back yard. On Saturday, we decided to go to Hidden Falls which is just a few miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We kind of prepared for a day of rugged hiking., but were pleasantly surprised to find Hidden Falls about 3 minutes from the parking area. For some reason we thought it was really funny and couldn't stop laughing about it. It was a good thing we packed our water bottles! We stayed there for a bit, and took some fun pictures, then we

got out our trusty hiking book and picked another hike.

And then finally, today I was able to go ATVing with the Hunts at Three Peaks just outside of Cedar City. We had a great time climbing on the rocks and riding the motorcycle and four wheelers. It has been such a fun summer so far and I can't wait to see what other adventures I have this year!

No Ka Oi

Today I had the priviledge of getting together with some Sisters from my mission. It was so much fun to laugh and reminisce about the time we spent together in Hawai'i. We talked about funny memories and spiritual memories. We talked about what we learned while we were there and what we have learned and experienced since we have been home. We talked about people who have joined the church and people who have left the church. We talked about babies that have been born and loved ones who have passed on.

What an incredible experience I was able to have on my mission. Not only did I get to go to one of the most beautiful places on earth, but I also got to meet and associate with some of the most beautiful people on earth. The women in this picture changed my life for the better and I am so glad that I get to call them friends for the rest of it.

There is a phrase in Hawaiian that means "the best", it is "No Ka Oi", in fact that was our mission theme, and I can truly say that these Sisters are No Ka Oi!

Independence Day

I love the 4th of July.


I admit that part of it is because it is summer and I believe that pretty much every celebration is better when it is warm and sunny than cold and wet. It was especially great this year since it was on a weekend.


This year I was able to spend the weekend with my family and good friends. It started Friday night with going with my brothers and their wives and nephews going to the Real Salt Lake soccer game and fireworks. Saturday I spent the day with my sister and her family playing an intense round of ping pong. Then Saturday night I went to the Oakley Rodeo with some friends, and finally on Sunday I enjoyed a barbeque with good friends in the beautiful mountains. Basically I was able to be a true American with fireworks, ping pong, cowboys and BBQ. It just doesn't get any better than that!

On a deeper note, I am so grateful for Independence Day and what it represents. Not only for the freedoms that I enjoy being an American, but also what it symbolizes in my life. Freedom to be the person that I want to be, to practice the religion of my choosing, to have a career that I enjoy and to change my mind whenever I want.

I Thought I Had Seen It All...

Last weekend I took a trip down to Moab. I have been to Moab several times, at least every year for the last 6 years. It is one of my favorite places to go because it is an easy get-away since it is only a few hours from home but is also exotic enough with the red rock and amazing arches. Because I have been there so many times, I thought I had seen it all. In fact, I was with two of my friends (both named Emily, oddly enough) who hadn't been and I thought I was going to act as experienced tour guide for them.

A couple of different times during the week leading up to my trip I had been told about a hike to an arch called "Negro Bills". I wondered how good it could be since I considered myself such a Moab expert and hadn't ever even heard about it. Well, we decided to try it out and I am so glad that we did. It was unlike any other hike I have been on in Moab. In a place that is definitely a red rock desert, it was actually quite lush! It is not in Arches National Park, which is probably one of the reasons I hadn't heard of it before. It has a beautiful little river that you follow up for about 4 miles until you come to the back of the canyon which ends with a beautiful black arch. I guess that is why they call it "Negro Bills"...even though we never figured out who Bill was we were sure glad he discovered this arch.

No Trespassing!

Sometimes I feel myself going down the scary road...do you know the one I mean? The scary road that begins with negative thoughts and has all sorts of pot holes and blind curves that lead to nothing but trouble? Thoughts like "I am not thin enough, not pretty enough, not fun enough...just plain not enough" OR "I will be happy when I lose weight, when I get married, when my butt stops jiggling when I walk, when...(fill in the blank)?

Well, I have decided that I am going to post a huge NO TRESPASSING sign at the beginning of that scary road. Fortunately, I have good friends in my life who can help me recognize when I have started down that path and can help me get off of it quickly and back on the road of happiness and contentment.

The mind is a powerful thing and I know that for me once I let negative thoughts start to pollute my brain waves those negative thoughts become toxic and start poisioning my life. No more! I am going to live by the "No Trespassing" mantra...I think I will have some T-shirts made! Who wants one?

The Last 10 Years

So, after my last post I realized what an ugly leg I have and started feeling bad...so to cheer myself up I decided to follow some advice from my friend Rachel and think about the top 25 things that I have done or have happened to me in the past 10 years...here goes:

1. Served and returned from a wonderful mission in Hawaii
2. Graduated with a B.S. from Southern Utah University
3. Got a passport (aka a ticket to the world!)
4. Moved to Australia
5. Moved back to Utah
6. Moved to New Mexico
7. Moved to Arizona
8. Moved back to Utah
9. Realized it wasn't very fun to actually move, and decided to just go on vacations instead :)
10. Got my insurance and securities licenses
11. Started an insurance agency
12. Traveled to Egypt
13. Went on 4 cruises (3 to Mexico and 1 to the Carribbean)
14. Experienced my first hurricane on the Carribbean cruise...and was subsequently stranded in Florida for 4 days.
15. Traveled to Guatemala.

16. Traveled to Cancun.
17. Left insurance to enter the world of banking and investments.
18. Traveled to Europe (Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia)
19. Bought a condo
20. Realized I have wrecked 3 different rental cars...I recommend ALWAYS getting the insurance.

21. Lost 98 pounds...still a bit more to go!

22. Gave birth to triplets...if you are confused...see the previous post below from February

23. Am officially the last single still standing in my family...but it's ok...I have 18 wonderful nieces and nephews and 6 fantastic brothers and sisters in law.

24. Realized it's time for another vacation.
25. My passport expires next week...it's time to start again!

FORE!

I was recently enjoying a day on the golf course with a friend. We were on our second hole which was a long par 5 and I had just set up to hit my second shot when from out of nowhere a ball came from behind us and hit me in the leg. I was completely shocked at first and my friend jumped out of the cart and started asking me if I was ok. I was. In fact, I immediately started laughing uncontrollably. Apparently a group in back of us teed off because they thought we were further up than we actually were. I thought about the odds of being hit like that and it really seems quite remarkable. To be in the exact spot on a huge course where a small little ball can find you and inflict bodily harm is simply amazing. I have been hit with many types of balls in my life and always thought that a golf ball would have to be one of the most painful since it is so hard, and what I learned is that it isn't as bad asI would have imagined. However, because I am a little proud of my battle wound, I had to post a picture. You can see the little red circle where the ball actually hit and then the HUGE bruise around it. It is totally awesome!

I wanna be a Rockstar baby!

So...a couple nights ago I had a very interesting dream. I dreamed that Guns 'N Roses were coming to town to perform. As part of their visit to Salt Lake City, they were also putting on a special concert for Wells Fargo employees who had won a contest. The only caviat to the contest was that it was at 5am. Axl Rose decided that he didn't want to sing at 5am, so he called me and asked me if I would fill in for him. Of course, I accepted. The only condition was that it had to be a secret that it was me, I had to dress, act, and sing just like him so that nobody knew it was really me. I got all dressed up, got into character, went out on stage and totally pulled it off. Nobody knew it was me wearing that red bandana singing "Sweet Child of Mine".

The next morning, I woke up with a smile on my face thinking about how funny I am that I had such a dream. Later that day, I was sitting with a client in my office when "Sweet Child of Mine" started playing over the radio. He stopped our conversation and told me how much he liked that song. I immediately started laughing and told him about my dream the night before. When I finished, he proceeded to interpret the dream for me. He thinks that it means that I feel like I am not being recognized at my job for good work that I am doing, like I am in a disguise or something. I was surprised at his interpretation since I just thought it meant that I had a deep rooted desire to be a rockstar.

I wonder if I should tell him that a few nights later I had a dream that it finally came out that I am the one who really wrote the song "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and that Def Leppard has totally ripped me off!

Another New Experience

I had the opportunity of going to the Draper Temple Dedication on Sunday and though it was a long day, I had a wonderful time! We had to be on a bus to ride to the temple at 11:30am even though our session didn't start until 2:00pm. We had to sit in the chapel of a Stake Center until it was time to go into the temple. Fortunately my friends and I planned ahead and packed enough treats and water to feed the entire congregation, which was a good thing because it turned out to be a great way to make new friends.

When we got in the temple, we were seated in one of the sealing rooms and with a couple of flat screens in front of us. Even though we weren't in the same room as the Prophet and other General Authorities, the Spirit was still very strong. There were several excellent speakers, and as always, President Monson's caring personality shined through as he made personal comments and greetings to members of the congregation with him in the Celestial Room.

How fortunate I feel to have so many temples so close to me. I was thinking about it and there are literally 5 temples (soon to be 6 with the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple) within 25 minutes of my house. I love it!

You don't know what you don't know...ya know?

So...since my last post when I delivered my triplets I have been on a bit of a roller coaster of illness...actually it was less like a roller coaster and more like a free fall since there didn't seem to be any 'ups' only 'downs' on my health ride the past few weeks. It turned out that I had one more kidney stone still in my kidney that was more than double the size of the 3 others that I had already passed. That 4th stone started passing, but got stuck about a week and a half ago. Unfortunately, my doctor didn't think it was going to pass without help so I ended up having surgery this past week to break up the stone. Since then I have finally been able to pass the last stone! For me, worse than the pain caused by the stone was the nausea, dizziness, and fevers which accompanied it. I have been fortunate to have enjoyed good health for most of my life and what has surprised me the most the past few days is that I didn't know how sick I have been feeling until I started feeling good again. And I also learned first hand how priceless our health really is, I guess we really don't know what we don't know...ya know?

I had triplets!

I know that I am kind of springing this on all of you, because you probably didn't even know that I was expecting...well...neither did I actually...so it was a TOTAL surprise to me when I started having pains on Thursday night and checked myself into the hospital. Anyway...the little ones were delivered around 8:35am on Saturday morning....here they are....

These kidney stones! And they were the absolute worst experience I have ever had. And I am not a weirdo who saved these little guys for souvenirs, my doctor wanted me to save them so they could be analyzed….so I am not keeping them, I am giving them up for adoption and for science!

Talking, talking, talking...

So one constant thing in the life of a single person is the continuous conversations regarding relationships. It seems that eveyone (married or single) always wants to talk about who I am dating, who I am interested in, and what could possibly be wrong with me to still be a single woman at the tender age of 33!

With my single girlfriends I talk about the guys we know and how they ALWAYS seem to be interested in the girls who are totally wrong for them....if only they would listen to us!

With my single guy friends we usually talk about girls, mostly the "it" girls (since all the guys I know seem to like the same 5 girls). Of course by talking about this with them I am secretly hoping that they will NATURALLY discover that, indeed, I am the girl of their dreams and that all of these "it" girls are totally uninteresting and shallow...why can't they see this??

This tactic does not seem to be working...and all of this constant talking, talking, talking doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere.

Can Money Buy Happiness?

So...it's a weird thing to talk about and think about money all day, every day. One thing that I have learned is that there is A LOT of money in the world. The only problem is that it is not evenly distributed. This is evidenced by the fact that I have a client who just had me do a transfer for them for $25 Million dollars and I have about $25 dollars in my account. :) The US government recently injected $700 Billion dollars into the US economy under the TARP plan, yet there is still the same guy on the corner by my office collecting change by cleaning snow off of people's cars. What gives? I definitely don't have all the answers...all I really know is that I would like to take one for the team and find out once and for all if money really can buy happiness. Donations for this experiment can be sent to my home address.

Out with the old and in with the new

A very common occurrance this time of year is to make New Year's Resolutions...I actually don't like the word "resolution"...it sounds a little too cliche to me. However, I wanted to do something different to commemorate the turning of the page on my calendar from 2008 to 2009. So, I sat down, took stock of what happened in 2008; the highs and the lows, and what I want for 2009. And they say that one of the differences between a wish and a goal is to write it down...so here goes...





This year I want to take a writing class...and if you are reading this blog you are probably thinking to yourself...HALELUJIAH! Heehee! I've always enjoyed writing and decided to take advantage of the community classes offered through the University of Utah. I don't really expect to become a best selling author, however it would sure to be fun to hone some skills to improve something that I enjoy doing.



I also want to reach my goal weight this year...if you have known me for more than a week, you will know that the battle with my weight has been a life long struggle for me. And that the concept of "goal weight" is something that I personally haven't experienced since about the age of 4 or so. Even though this journey has been a long one for me, it has been only the past 2 years that my current path has been really working for me. As of today, I have lost 93 pounds and know that if I continue to work hard I will reach my goal weight this year. What an accomplishment that will be for me!


Something else that I really want this year is to get married. There are 7 kids in my family, and in the past 2 months the last two single members of my family have gotten engaged; excluding me of course! That makes me officially the Last of the Mohicans...or at least the Last of the Workmans. Oh...what a joy! :) Actually, I am really happy for both of my brothers and think it is just what they need. The problem with this goal, is that I feel like I have less control over this one than I do over the other two goals I have written down this year. So maybe the goal shouldn't be "to get married" but rather to put myself out there and be prepared so that I can be blessed with that opportunity. It's a much harder goal to measure, but one that I really want so am willing to put it all out there.

So...like I said earlier...here goes....