Popularity has its downsides

Monday night = Zumba time. The class has become increasingly crowded over the past few weeks and on occasion has felt like Bikram Zumba complete with foggy mirrors and none too pleasant odiforous neighbors. Alas, it's still fun and a dang good workout so my friend and I brave it twice a week.

Last week they cracked down on how many people are actually allowed into the room and tonight my friend and I arrived 20 minutes early to a really long line.

It reminded me of a time a few years ago where some friends and I headed out to a hip new hotspot while I was visiting LA. We got stuck in line and were very near the front, but the club promoter was mean and wouldn't let us in for hours (no joke). You might be asking why didn't you just leave and go somewhere else? Well a) we were hard headed and 3) we kept getting tempted by all the celebs we saw going in (Marky Mark, Jamie Kennedy, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Leonardo DiCaprio to name a few). Finally, the club's bouncer took pity on us and let us in (3 hours later). We happily paid our $20 cover charge and proceeded to dance our butts off for the last hour and a half that the club was open.

With a little persistence (and lack of pride) I could even make my way into an LA club, but tonight I wasn't so lucky with my Zumba class. We braved the line and were still 12 people back from making it into the room when they capped it at 90. A boo.

Why would anyone go through all that trouble for a dance class you ask? Because it's just about the most fun you can have........ unless you are dancing on a bar on New Year's Day in NYC (sober, mind you).


I really hope I don't make that face in Zumba, but I kinda think I do.

I know what boys like

While I won't regale you with all the reasons I enjoy Sundays, I will tell you that one of my favorites is the chance to dress up. Now, I hate dressing up any other day of the week because work dress up is just different than Church dress up. I can't make it all day in heels at work, nor do I like having to make sure that I sit like a lady all day while I'm meeting with clients, so my work wardrobe is definitely less flashy and way more functional.


Well throw those limits out the door when Sunday rolls around!


So, today I strutted into Church in my fun Sunday duds and new heels and caught a few male gazes. While it's usually the women who comment on my fashion prowess I thought maybe the guys were starting to catch on as well.

Yeah, not so much. Their gazes weren't drawn to my five inch heels, rather, what I carried in my right hand:

So to all the ladies who might be looking for a little luvin' from a man: Re-invest your shoe money in pizza rolls.

(Side note: No, pizza rolls don't play a prominent role in LDS church services. I brought them for a mixer we were having after church. That would make for a funny rumor though :)

Really?

On the way into work this morning I noticed the car in front of me's license plate: LBK 666. Now is this something that could randomly occur or did the person select this particular combination? Either way: weird.

Bizarre Protest

I broke no less than three nails on my trip back from San Diego today. A sign I need to up my calcium intake, or perhaps my body's way of telling me where it wants to stay?

The Vacation of Ugly Shoes

My Christmas break started with a trek up to Seattle. Luckily, I got into Seattle the day before the big snowstorm hit which closed down SeaTac. I actually spent two days in Seattle on my own before making my way over to PA. It was quite fun actually. I got a great deal on this cool, bourgie hotel on priceline. I spent my time wandering around the shopping district and caught two flicks (Nothing like Holidays-ok; Slumdog Millionaire-Awesome). Seattle was super pretty with all the snow. One of the nights while I was out walking around it started to come down pretty hard and they actually started shutting places down early, so it was a very peaceful walk back to the hotel in the white, near deserted Seattle streets.

The next day everything was still shut down and I had to get to the Greyhound station in order to catch a shuttle over to PA. Taxis were scarce, but luckily I was able to hail one down and we made the slip-slidey trek over to the Grehound station where I promptly got out of the cab and slipped on my butt. Gotta love that ice! Then came the scary part of my trek.

The Greyhound station wasn't running any buses in or out that day and so the place was full of people camped out on the floors. So, maybe I over-packed a little for my trip and was lugging a rolley suitcase, backpack, purse, and laptop. A nice older guy offered me a seat next to him and proceeded to talk my ear off for the next two years. It was probably a good thing b/c it kept me distracted. It's hard to describe, but the mood of the place was really unsettling. It seemed like the perfect set-up for being either shanked, mugged, or both. Everyone was disgruntled and didn't have the means to find another mode of transportation or a place to stay. Luckily, I ran into a few other people who were taking my same shuttle and we spent the last half hour waiting outside to make sure we didn't miss it. In reading the newspaper later, I found out that those poor people were stuck there for like three days.

Made it to PA without much fanfare. The vacation was pretty low key. We had a tremendous amount of snow out at the lake and spent most of the time indoors, which meant a whole lot of Ugg boot wearing for me. I even ventured out of the house in these horrible fuzzy-lined clogs b/c they were so cozy and I could get away without wearing any socks. They were my version of winter flip-flops.

I didn't get nearly as much reading done as I had hoped (the fun kind, of course I wasn't dissertating). I did manage to get some job application stuff put together though. I also read just about every fashion mag I could get my hands on and am now up-to-date on all of spring's hot trends (so, hit me up if you are needing any tips...no, Uggs and fuzzylined clogs were nowhere to be seen in the Spring line-up). Watched the entire season of Entourage and got hooked on "It's always sunny in Philadelphia" which in a review I read was compared to Seinfeld on crack.

All in all it was very relaxing. Now, I'm back in the LBK with all my job apps sent off, dissertating like crazy (at least for the rest of the week until I jet off to San Diego for Dan's wedding, a belated 30th bday celebration for Michelle, and a fun day with my little bro). :]

My favorite local rugrat..

..is in a competition for cutest baby photo. If Kate's picture wins, her cool parents Mike and Amanda get a a big ol' canvas photo of her.

Baby Kate is #14 (black and white close up of an adorable baby in a hoodie). You can vote @ Danae Hutson

Kate says, "Pretty please with a cherry on top?!"

Be careful what you wish for...

In a staff meeting before the holidays the question was posed, "What is one wish you have for Christmas?". Well I said to have a White Christmas and that's exactly what I got! I'm up in WA for the holiday with my mom and brother. The snow has been beautiful, especially out at the lake, but there's so much of it. I've finally started to brave driving into town on my own as it's melting and it's nice to get out of the house.

Tonight I'm getting together with some high school friends for Karaoke at Reggie's Tavern. It's a total dive and my brother and his crew might make an appearance as well. Should be good times!