Monday, April 14, 2008

A Belated Happy Birthday

To my beautiful sister, Stephanie! She turned 26 on April 11!

I already apologized to Steph for posting this late, but I'll explain to everyone else... last week I got really sick (more on that later) then went out of town (also, more later) while still sick (you guessed it, details to come). I was planning on doing her post early, but getting sick got in the way. Anyhow! Back to Steph!

I will not attempt to do 26 things about Stephanie. That would take forever! So I'll do 13... because 13 is half of 26.

1. Stephanie is an amazing dancer. Seriously. Her only dance training was dance team in high school and then dance courses at BYU and still her dance professors at BYU told her she could dance on Broadway if she really wanted to work hard and do it.

2. Stephanie has recently, thanks to Grant, taken up photography. She takes really cool stuff and her camera isn't fancy-shmancy and she's not addicted to photoshop, so she's got talent in that area.

3. She has a blog now! On it, she posts her photography! Check it out!

4. Stephanie and I used to fight like cats and dogs. It was pretty bad. Sometimes we'd both grab hold of each other's hair and pull until we were spinning around in a death-locked-hair-pulling-circle. My scalp is not very sensitive anymore, as I'm sure you can imagine.

5. Then my parents made us share a room, and after a year or so of fighting more intensely, we became best friends. At first when we were sharing a room, if my parents came into our room an hour after bedtime, it was because we were fighting noisily. After that first year or so, though, when they came to our bedroom, it was because we were laughing hysterically.

6. Despite the fact that Ryan and I (and Dan LaRoche) teased Stephanie about not having a sense of humor, she really is a very funny person and she's quick to laugh. But still, whenever she makes a funny joke, we say, "Stephanie, you made a joke!" as if it's a big accomplishment. I think it's out of tradition now, though.

7. I think Stephanie's got some measure of talent in just about every art there is. Her strongest talents are in dance and singing, but she's also practiced/done well in piano playing, photography, visual arts, acting/theater, and writing.

8. Despite the fact that she's a creative soul, she's also very smart and quite analytical. She minored in statistics (with a major in psychology) and seriously considered majoring in it. She can do calculus in her head (or could when she took it, lol).

9. Stephanie is one of the most generous people I know. Nearly every Christmas she's bought everyone in the family a gift... and with 10 other family members, that adds up. She's always willing to help you if you need it and she'll never hesitate to listen. That's why she should be a guidance counselor.

10. Stephanie really wants to open up a home for troubled kids one day. I think that's cool.

11. She's had at least 6 men tell her they love her. (There could be more... )

12. While taking psychology of gender at BYU, Stephanie learned that her personality is more masculine than feminine. Meaning: she's very ambitious, driven, and determined. She's good at sales and business.

13. Despite that, she's one of the most feminine dressers I know. She wears heels almost 100% of the time... even on girls night out to the movies when she's wearing a sweatshirt and jeans! And she always look amazing.

14. (I know I said 13, but this one is pretty good). Stephanie is indeed my full-blood sister. Not half, not adopted. Our ancestors come from: Sweden, Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Denmark, Cornwall, Wales, Germany, Belgium, ancient America (Cherokee indian), and possibly Israel. However, she's been mistaken for Brazilian, Spanish, Middle Eastern, and half African American.

I could keep going on with fun stuff about my sister, but I think 14 is a good number to stop on. So Happy belated Birthday Brazilian Stephanie aka the Devil! I love you so much (not to mention freaking miss you like crazy!!!!)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Tag, I'm It!

Four Movies I could Watch over and over:
1. Batman Begins


2. The Incredibles


3. Pride and Prejudice (esp. tapes 3, 4, and 6)


4. An Ideal Husband



Four Jobs I've Had:

1. Lifeguard
2. Lifeguard Supervisor (yeah, baby)
3. Bridal boutique sales associate
4. Front Office and Accounting Manager

Four Places I've Lived:
1. Charleston, SC


2. Provo, UT


3. New York, New York


4. ... ... ... ?

Four of My Favorite dishes/foods:
1. Macaroni and Cheese
2. Pizza
3. Italian food
4. Cafe Rio salad

Four T.V. Shows I Love:
1. The Office


2. Arrested Development


3. Seinfeld


4. Iron Chef America



Four sites I visit daily:
1. Gmail
2. Facebook
3. Blogspot (mine, others')
4. Cnn.com

Four Places I have Vacationed:
1. Madison, WI


2. Mount Rushmore


3. St. Kitts


4. Key West



Four Places I'd rather be right now:
1. With Kurt


2. In Charleston/with my family


3. Snowboarding


4. On the Beach



Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:
1. Mandi
2. Alisse
3. M. H. B. Hansen
4. Stephanie

Monday, April 7, 2008

Latest Obsessions

Jessica Biel's body in Blade: Trinity. I want my body to be like hers. (Not to mention the fact that she's gorgeous, but there's nothing I can do about that, lol)

This dress from Shabby Apple. I adore it. I really want to get it for graduation, but will probably not (because graduation's expensive enough as is).

Fuze Slenderize drinks. They are delicous and only have 10 - 20 calories per bottle!! My favorite is Cranberry Raspberry, though Strawberry Melon and Blueberry Raspberry are close behind.

My new purse from Volcom! I love it! So cute and so red. Mm-hmm!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Videos, as promised

And now, the oh-so exciting videos of Kurt's trip.



Kurt's Adventure

Kurt had an adventure this last weekend: he hiked Mt. Nebo! I dropped him off at Outdoors Unlimited on campus at 11:30 on Friday night and picked him up (3 and 1/2 hours early) at 1:30 on Saturday afternoon. He doesn't really have time to write this blog himself, with finals coming up, so I'm just going to post the pictures. You'll know what's going on in them as well as I.

A few things he did tell me... there was a guy who was booking it super fast for the first few hours, but by the morning he was lagging behind because he'd spent all of his energy. There were 2 guides, one of which was way cool, the other was a bit of a "outdoors geek." He was the one who made them turn back 800 feet from the summit, hence why Kurt was done early. Kurt wasn't really happy about that because he didn't think the guy was right about needing to turn around. Still, he agrees that it's better to be safe than sorry. They glisaded down 3000 feet of glacier ice. That means they slid down the ice on their butts and when they got too much speed they'd dig an ice axe into the ice behind them to slow them down. When Kurt got back he crashed for 3 hours. Then he crashed that night. He actually made it through all of church, but crashed again when we got home the next day. Still, he says, it was worth it.
Enjoy the pictures and videos to come soon!!












Wednesday, April 2, 2008

La Cognata

Once upon a time my brother fell in love with a girl. He brought her home shortly after that and we did too. Her name was Amanda Marie Alleman, Mandi, and her birthday is April 2.

Mandi is freakin' great. When Ryan brought her home summer of '03 for us to meet her, I felt this need to entertain her constantly. I mean, I was always trying to be funny. When they were leaving for the airport, she told me, "Kristina, I just want to take you home and put you on my shelf so you can make me laugh all the time!"

She's got a great sense of humor (obviously... she thinks I'm funny, after all ;) ) and she has the best laugh. I don't know how to describe it, but when Mandi laughs at something you can tell she's really entertained. It's infectious.

She's the mother to the cutest little boy you've ever seen! And she's such a good mom--seriously, Mandi, you are so good with Chris. Not to mention how smart he is--which he gets as much from Mandi as much as Ryan. The three of them are such a cute family, and everyone is so excited for the next little boy, coming in July!!!

Here are some pictures of Mandi being an awesome Mom:



PS--she looks great in apple green.

Mandi's full of surprises. She did her hair all by herself for my wedding and it looked so pretty! She has great taste in movies (ahem, Once and Love, Actually) and TV shows (Arrested Development). She puts up with my family. Where my family is crazy and emotional, she's so stable and levelheaded, and yet still a ton of fun. She is the perfect match to my brother. Steph, them, and I hung out all the time my sophomore year and I remember going over to their house in the evenings on week nights and she'd be cooking dinner and I thought (and still do) it was so cool that she did that. Whenever I actually cook dinner on week nights, I think about that.

Mandi is a huge example to me. I've told her before how much I look up to her, but I don't think I could really explain just how much.

One of my favorite stories Mandi has told me about herself: Before she and Ryan started dating, she decided she was going to go on at least one date every month, even if it meant that she had to ask a guy out to meet that goal. Well, that's how her and Ryan's first date happened. And I'm so glad she had the guts to ask him out!

Mandi, I freaking love you!!! I'm so glad you're in our family. (I hope it's reciprocal ;) ).

Happy Birthday Mandi!!!