Hi, my name is Amanda and I have Design Paralysis

One of the things happening in our house right now is that we are thinking of doing some painting and getting new couches. This is an exciting event and I can't wait, but I have a problem-I have design paralysis.

What's that? you might ask. Well, basically I am so terrified of making a mistake in the decor of my home that I virtually do nothing with it. Don't get me wrong, I love design. I love to look at design magazines, I love bold color, I love when I go to someone's house and they do something really cool and imaginative. But, then when I get home, I just can't seem to get that to translate to my own life.

I particularly love modern design and would love to incorporate that into my house. But how? I wish I had tons of money and could hire a decorator. I think what I really need to do is just be bold and pick the pieces I love and hope that they all go together.

For March, my goal is to get those couches and do some painting. After that, I want to start thinking of other items I can add or other things that would work. I am going to be bold, throw caution to the wind (that's really hard for me to do), and see what happens. So what if I end up with a fuschia wall and yellow end tables-it will all be okay, right?

Last Month's Top Ten

I have been a slacker, but please forgive me. I have been very busy and I am still busy, so here are the top ten things happening at the Parry's this month.

10. Bought a beautiful (and completely gigantic) poinsettia at Costco-Can you say gorgeous?

9. Bought a new flat screen for our bedroom and now have HD in all areas of the house.

8. The University of Utah beating Alabama. I was in a state of shock and awe, and then total happiness. Go Utes!

7. New Year's Eve at The Red Butte Cafe. Delicious food and fun company-Spencer and Lilly!

6. The Yo Gabba Gabba Guitar: annoying to parents, but priceless to a funny 3-year-old.

5. Christmas Eve-Got to watch Mamma Mia! I love the holidays when you can catch up on your movie watching.

4. Buying tickets to see Adele on Jan 23. See, I keep my resolutions

3. Watching Lilly play with her cousins over the holidays. She's just adorable-in spite of a nasty case of bronchitis.

2. Lilly is finally almost potty trained! What a relief after a year of stressing about it. In fact, today is the best day she has had so far. She is learning to poop in the toilet and has already mastered going on the big potty. I am so proud of her!

1. The blessings of a wonderful family; I love you all!

Thanksgiving weekend in St. George

Over this last weekend, we went to St. George to spend Thanksgiving with Spencer's family. We were invited to stay at our brother-in-law's new house and it is really beautiful. Thanks to the Marshes for putting up with us! I am kind of into lists lately, so here are the top 5 things I will remember about this trip.

5. We had pancakes for 3 mornings in a row. This was mostly because I failed to bring any other breakfast food and the store is a few miles away. Luckily Jason is the master of the griddle.

4. I almost pooped my pants driving through Hurricane. Are there no gas stations in this town? Yes, that's a little gross to mention, but I believe in full disclosure. By the way, I did not poop my pants. Just so you know.

3. Waiting in line at In-N-Out. It was a long line, went quicker than I thought, and was totally worth it. Yum!

2. Watching the 2nd half of Hancock and falling asleep during Iron Man in the Marshes really dark basement bedroom that has a king bed. I did not see a full movie while on vacation but I really have not had better sleep in a long time.

1. While at the live nativity at Tuacahn my 3-year-old niece and my 5-year-old nephew argued loudly over whether Mary was on a horse or a donkey. "It's a HORSE!" "No, it's a DONKEY!" I know it probably stressed their parents out, but it was really hilarious.

The Stalker

Now that I am a famous celebrity from my little article in the Salt Lake Tribune, I officially have a stalker. I came home one day and Spencer said there was a message on the machine for me. I said, "Who was it" and he said, "You have to listen to it to fully appreciate it"

So I listened and it was a lady from Herriman who saw my name in the paper and read that I liked to run. Mind you, she is a complete stranger. She is apparently in need of a running partner and was trying to recruit me to become her new running buddy. Where did this person get my number? Creepy! My favorite part was that she said, "If you are interested please call me back. Well, even if you are not interested call me back either way."

Um, okay. I am not calling you back. It's just weird. I mean who calls random people they see in the paper to go running with them? Not me, so I don't think we would get along. When I told my mother-in-law about this incident, she theorized that maybe this lady was a lesbian. I would venture to guess that this is not the standard way that gay people look for dates, but I guess it's always a possibility.

Coldplay!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to see one of my favorite bands in concert-Coldplay! The show did not disappoint. Here are my observations on the evening:

• The opening act was super weird. At first I thought it was the bands intro, but after about 40 minutes I realized it was not. It was very techno. And not in a good way.
• They played my favorite song, "In My Place" and it really brought a tear to my eye.
• The bassist for Coldplay-Guy Berryman is very hot. I had not noticed. I just googled him and none of the pictures I found did him justice. He must have got better looking recently.
• Chris Martin like to say, "F**k it" alot. But with his British accent and the super great acoustics at the Energy Solutions arena, I hardly noticed and of course found him cute and charming.
• Their camera work was amazing! When I looked at the jumbotron, I felt like I was watching about 20 different concert films. Whoever designed their stage was a genius.
• These guys sweat a lot. Like from the first song they were dripping sweat. Sometimes it made them look like rock stars, and at other times it was just gross.
• I found myself wondering at odd moments, "I wonder what Apple and Moses are doing tonight"
• I had never really been a fan of their song, "Yellow" but after they did it for an encore, I really fell in love with it.

So that's it. After attending 2 concerts in the last few months, I have resolved to be a better music fan and go to more concerts. That's my New Year's resolution, so if you have heard of any of the following musical acts coming to Salt Lake, please let me know: The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, Jack's Mannequin, Adele, Matt White, or Jason Mraz.

Yeah, I'm famous

Believe it or not, but I am featured in the South Valley section of the Salt Lake Tribune this week. Although I like to think that I was chosen because of my growing Salt Lake fan base, the real reason I am featured is that a co-worker at my last job does some freelance work for the Tribune and was desperate for someone to write about. I told her to make me sound good; I hope she succeeded. Check it out for yourself:

http://www.sltrib.com/southvalley/ci_10975154

My new favorite show: Whatever, Martha

I was just sharing this with a co-worker today, and I thought the rest of the world would like to know about my new favorite tv show. Whatever, Martha is where Martha's daughter and one of her daughter's friends watch old episodes of the Martha Stewart show and just mock her. If you have ever seen Mystery Science Theater 3000, this show is just like that, only with homemaking. Sometimes Alexis (the daughter) and Jennifer (the friend) attempt to do the crafts that Martha is doing-usually with terrible and hilarious results. The great thing about the show is that Martha created the show and just lets them totally make fun of her. Check out this clip and you will see what I mean:

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

I don't know how to embed the video. If someone knows, please tell me.

Have you ever been kid dialed?

I just made up this term because it happens to me a lot. Kid dialing is when you think your friends or family are calling you, you pick up the phone and all you hear is their toddler making noises and your friend is talking way in the background. You keep saying, "Hello, Hello" but nobody picks up. The funny thing is when you hang up and the kid dials you back again. This once happened to me 3 times in a row. I think the reason that it happens to me a lot is that my first name starts with an "A" so I must be one of the first people in someone's address book. To those of you who have kid dialed me lately (Paige and Tiffany to name names), thanks for giving me something semi-boring to blog about. :)

Halloween

We had a very fun Halloween at our house. Lilly got tons of candy and she just had a blast. We ended up throwing most of it away and told her that Grandpa ate it. I think she has forgiven him.


Here's the candy that we gave out. It really looks orange in that bowl.

This is Spencer and Lilly on our front porch before heading out. If I could just get them to look at the camera at the same time.

I don't know why this is like this and I don't know how to fix it.

Lilly was so cute. She wished everyone, "Happy Halloween!"

It's Nashville, Ya'll!

About two weeks ago I took a trip to Nashville, TN for work and had a great time. The way I would describe Nashville is that it is like Las Vegas, with lots of music, entertainment, excitement, etc., but it's much less sleazy and disgusting. I have not really traveled a lot in the South, but I would love to go back. The people were sooo nice and that accent-totally charming. Another great thing about Nashville is that there is live music everywhere. Every restaurant has a stage for live music and the live music is goood. While we were there we had the chance to catch a Rascal Flatts concert and that was really awesome; they put on a great show. Here are the things I will remember most about my trip (Sorry, no pictures; my camera was broken):

• Bread pudding and sweet tea
• Elvis' white and gold cadillac
• The Hank Williams family exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame-Oh my gosh, those people were not sober-talk about dysfunction
• Rascall Flatts-The cute one is named Joe Don-seriously
• Charlie Daniels Band museum-how many times can you play, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"?Apparently, many, many times.
• Fried Pickles at the Crazy Horse Saloon-delish!

I am the mother of a teenager

Lilly and I went for a playdate this week. As her little friend's mother was showing her a little toy that lights up, my little 3-year-old turned to me and said,

"Wow. That is so cool."

Some of Lilly's other favorite expressions include,

"Just chill for a sec."

"Chill, baby, baby"

and my all time favorite,

"IT'S NOT FAIR!"

We hope that she is not planning to start driving anytime soon.

I have also been meaning to post pictures, but the battery in our camera broke or something, I don't know what happened. Anyway, we finally got a new one and so I will post some pics of Lilly in her Halloween costume.

Why do they make it so easy for you at Amazon.com?

This is a rave/complaint about the ease at which you can purchase items from Amazon.com. All you need to do is type in just the teeniest bit of information about what you are looking for and it quickly appears. Their search engine must be designed by rocket scientists. Once you are viewing your itew, they then give you a list of all the other things you might enjoy. And guess, what? They are all definitely things you would enjoy! Once you have a few items, checkout is so easy, you don't even have to put in your credit card. In fact, I don't even remember that I told them to use this credit card. They just saved it. This is really really awesome or incredibly invasive.

The Office Returns!

It was another stellar episode of America's favorite show. The highlights:

Andy:
Andy Bernard does not lose contests. He wins them. Or he quits them. Because they're unfair.

Michael Scott:
I think you'll have fun because, men from Scranton are handsome and know how to show a woman a good time.
Dwight Schrute:
Not that guy who murdered his mother. He was not so handsome. Also, Kevin

Jim Halpert:
How much weight have you lost, Dwight?
Dwight Schrute:
I am hardly the problem, Jim.
Jim Halpert:
No you're definitely the problem

Kelly:
[looking very sick] I'm on the third day of my cleanse diet. All I have to do is drink maple syrup, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and water for all three meals. Um, I just bought some bikinis online too so.. I'm gonna look amazing

A Very Stubborn Illness

It's been an eventful week here at the Parry's. Last Friday, Lilly was diagnosed with a sinus infection, so we got her on some antibiotics and figured that was the end of it. Well, about Wed, I realized that she did not look to be getting any better. So, on Thursday I called the Dr. and he switched her antibiotic. Then on Friday, I got a call from our sitter that Lilly's eye looked to be swollen shut. So, I left work early and picked her up to get her into the Dr. Luckily, she still has just the sinus infection, but we had to switch antibiotics again. He also gave her some eye drops. I did not know that red, swollen eyes are also a symptom of a sinus infection. Did you? So, now we are on our third prescription and hoping this is the end. Oh, Spencer is also sick with a cold (just a cold we hope) so my whole family looks something like this:

What are you embarassed about?

Okay, one last post before I collapse with exhaustion. As I update my blog with my favorite TV shows, I sometimes pause and wonder, "should I admit to all my friends that I watch that show?" I mean I watch it, I even have it set to record on my DVR, but what will they think of me if I admit to it? My theory is that we all have tv shows, movies, music that we secretly like but don't want to admit to it. So, blog readers, here is your task. Upon reading this post, you must submit your guiltiest entertainment pleasure and why you like it so much. Observe:

I like to watch The Hills. I know this show is stupid, but I cannot help myself. Something about it is just appealing. Perhaps it distracts me from my real problems and helps me focus on the characters cute problems, like someone dissing them at the club or where to find the best black nail polish in Los Angeles. It's just so mindlessly enjoyable.

So send me your best responses! First prize is a coveted shout out on my blog.

Book Review: Bright Lights, Big Ass

I love reading memoirs (see David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs for reference. If you don't know who these people are, shame on you.) and this witty author is a new personal fave. You have to love this book based on the title alone:

Bright Lights, Big Ass : A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? by Jen Lancaster

To explain the awesome, laugh-out-loud appeal of this book, here is a sample section. Enjoy! And if you don't like it I don't think I can be friends with you:

"Fortunately, I did finally convince her to pack away Sandy, the previous inhabitant of this room. Sandy was the doll my mom made me in fourth grade. She was life-sized and wore my brownie uniform and was one of the best Christmas presents I ever got. Unfortunately, Fletch [her husband] found her flat-out creepy and never slept well in the room because he was afraid Sandy was going to come to life and strangle him with her long, cotton-stuffed panty-hose arms."

Be sure to read Jen's newest book, Such a Pretty Fat : One Narcissist's Quest To Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, Or Why Pie is Not The Answer

So much, so much to say...

So, I know I promised all you blog readers that I would update you on our August happenings. I still intend to share pictures, but it's getting away from me so I thought a little update on our happenings would be good.

First thing, I have changed jobs! My former boss at Young Living called me and let me know that her new company was in search of a Marketing and Communications Manager and was I interested in the job? After much contemplation and thought, weighing the pros and cons, I accepted the position. It was so hard to leave all my friends at YL, but I hope I can do a good job of staying in touch.

Second, Lilly has a big girl bed! Initially she wanted Spencer and me to lay down with her when she went to bed, but that only lasted a few nights and now she loves it. We made it really clear to her that she cannot get out of her bed in the middle of the night and she took that to mean that she can never get out of the bed. In the morning, we often find her perched on the edge of the bed just waiting for us to come and get her. It's very cute. She is growing up so fast.

Third, football season has started! This is a major event in our house as most of our weekends from now until March will revolve around U of U football or basketball. The week before the first game we took Lilly to the U of U bookstore and got her new gear for the new season. Spencer has her completely brainwashed and she really loves to watch her Utes.

That's all for now folks!

I've been tagged

I have never done this before, but here goes.

THE RULES
1.Post these rules
2.Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
3.Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them (I don't wanna)

1. I have a weird thing about lettuce. I hate lettuce in things, like burgers, sandwiches, or burritoes. However, I really like salads. I just don't like the texture of bread against lettuce. Yuck.

2. I hate nuts except peanuts. I cannot have nuts in any baked good. Is that the most disgusting thing ever? I think so.

3. To scratch my nose, I flick it with my index finger.

4. I absolutely hate food or drinks in the bathroom. Spencer likes to bring a little Mountain Dew in the bathroom with him and it makes me hurl.

5. I have a panic attack if I experience too many loud people in a small space. Too much confusion is not good for me. I cannot think.

6. I skip ahead in books to the end and then go back and read what I just skipped over. The anticipation is just too much. I wish I did not do this as it has ruined many good books for me.

Road Rash and other misadventures

Yes, yes I know it has been another month since my last post, but cut me some slack, readers! August has been a great month for us. We spent some time in Bear Lake with Spencer's family and it was so fun. We also spent some time in Snowbird with my family. More on both of those with pictures later. And although I was headed to the Hamptons, the trip was canceled. More on that later also. It seems the only safe topic is Spencer's bike crash. Yesterday he was coming down our street, almost home, when his tire slipped on some gravel and he ate asphalt. He does have some nasty road rash on his arm and thigh, but otherwise he escaped relatively unscathed. Although, if you listened to him, you would think he has broken multiple bones and has internal bleeding. I am confident he will survive somehow. This isn't the actual picture of his crash, but I like to think it looked something like this:

Film Review: Becoming Jane

I am probably the last person to see this movie, but I just saw it over the weekend and I give it 4 stars. So good. I not a huge fan of Anne Hathaway. In fact, I really detest her in most things, but I ended up really liking her in this movie. I also have mad, mad love for James McAvoy. He is good in everything. He is not traditionally good looking, but when he plays the romantic lead in movies (see Atonement for further proof) he is phenomenal. He needs to be in many more movies. If he can make me like Anne Hathaway, he is a true miracle worker. My goal this weekend is a James McAvoy movie marathon. I plan on seeing Last King of Scotland, Penelope, and Wanted. This last one includes Angelina Jolie so both Spencer and I win. :)