Repeat After Me..

I CAN NOT spend $40 on a dress for Lucy... I CAN NOT spend $40 on a dress for Lucy.




But maybe my mom can??

I think this face is saying pretty please.

I would wear any one of those dresses myself. Scary, but true..

High School Tag - I'm it.

Dressed like skanks - ready to sneak out.

Senior Prom - Shera in a kimono - love it

LOOK HOW HIGH MY SHORTS ARE! Look at my 1 inch belly shot.

1. Did you date people from your high school: Yes - but only my senior year. Before that I was all about boys from Viewmont.

2. What kind of car did you drive? : In a life-changing stroke of luck - my dad's midlife crisis hit right before I turned 16. He went out and bought himself a Jeep Wrangler Sport with a soft top - drove it to work one morning and absolutely hated it. . . Long story short - I loved that Jeep - and my kids will NEVER drive a Jeep.

3. What is your most embarrassing moment in high school?: Honestly - its hard to narrow it down - but it was pretty bad when I fell asleep in Ms Barney's math class & Danny Flint (yes the Danny Flint that married your little sister Mer if you read this) tied the shoelaces of my super cool Etnies skater shoes to the metal basket underneath my desk. When the bell rang I went to stand up and crashed to the floor.

Oh shoot - I just remembered one that was worse... We won a playoff game in soccer my senior year and all the boys who would go cheer us on made a tunnel for us to run through and then all the rest of the fans were at the end cheering. I was the first to run through and good old SAM allen tripped me at the very end. I face planted in front of everyone and then all the girls fell on top of me. WHAT IS IT WITH BOYS TORTURING ME?

4. Were you a party animal?: Hmmm... not quite sure how to answer that. I definitely liked to have a good time - but not in an alcohol induced kind of way.

5. Were you considered a flirt?: I really don't think so. I was kind of insecure & shy - so I think I scared boys off. Plus I kind of always had a boyfriend.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?: Not musically talented.

7. Were you a nerd? : Everyone is a nerd in high school. No escaping it. I'm really glad I didn't know Trent in high school.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? : I played soccer and loved it - best part of my high school experience.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? : Gosh I wish. That would be a good story to tell Lucy. I was grounded throughout most of high school - my punishments were always parent driven - not school driven.. Like the time the dumb boys we hung out with blew up a mailbox - or how I snuck out every single Thursday of senior year to dress slutty and go dancing at Axis. Another thing my kids WILL NOT DO.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? : No one makes it past their sophomore year on the soccer team without doing a solo at least once.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? : GIBBS!!!!!! LOL. most HATED teacher. Mr. Thomas. He threw my assignment away because he didn't like purple pen. It made me get an A minus so I kicked over his garbage can. I had to clean the chemistry lab after school to work off my U.

12. Where did you sit during lunch?: Tasties, Taco Time, Quizno's - Jord remember when we accidentally left you at Quizno's - I just remember seeing you book it out of there and try to wave us down.

13. School Mascot?: DART

14. Did you go to homecoming and with who?: Junior year - Danny Flint and I went to Viewmont's homecoming with Jonny Jensen. Senior year - Spencer Bowman.. who asked me by having a brown bag delivered to me in class that had a specimen cup with actual PEE in it and said - I'm urining to go to the dance with you. . . AND I STILL WENT. Honestly that kind of stuff is why I blocked out most of my high school experience.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? : Only if I would know then what I know now! High school is tough because everyone is trying so hard and doesn't really know who they are. It's exhausting worrying about what everyone thinks all of the time.

16. What do you remember most about graduation?: Honestly not alot - I broke my collarbone 2 days before and was on serious painkillers so I could go. My major problem was with my arm in a sling under my gown I totally looked knocked up. The shame. I really loved my senior year.

17. Where did you go senior skip day?: Hmm. I think I would call it senior skip YEAR. We would go to the driving range, the mall or to breakfast. When you have a challenging schedule full of fashion board, two TA periods and one for bowling, its a tough life.

18. Have you gained weight since then?: Of freaking course. Probably not too much I would hope, but who knows - I never weighed myself in high school.

19. Who was your prom date?: Breton Jepsen and Spencer Lloyd. Both way fun.

20. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion?: If at all possible. I love my high school friends they are hilarious. I want to see all my guy friends, they are harder to keep in touch with.

21. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?: RELAX! I was a drama queen like all other high school girls. When I listen to my sisters talk I almost lose it - but I know I was WORSE!

I tag... Jord, Sara, Janae, Erin, Nicole - I WANT PICS!!

Miss Lucy Loo...has been busy

I had to copy Sara's post on her darling new baby Graham and do some polaroid pics of Lucy. I think my parents were in withdrawl so here you go! (This is another fun thing you can do with your photos at the website PicNik)

I really love my little family.

Lion King & Hocking Hills

Wednesday night we had tickets to the Lion King. OSU has the best program for students to get tickets to things they normally couldn't afford. For every single event, concert or festival that comes to town they provide a certain number of VERY discounted tickets. All you have to do is fight with all the other kids to get them before they are gone - so 4 hours in line later - Trent had us some Lion King tickets for $10! Not bad. It was such a great show - the costumes were unreal. Definitely one of my favorite shows that I have seen.

For the weekend we went down to Hocking Hills with some of our friends and rented a cabin for a couple of nights. It was a good time and so beautiful. Us girls went and ran the Hocking Hills Indian Run. It was a beautiful and scenic race but really tough. We ran the 20K which is like 13 miles and 13 miles of road running is not the same as 13 miles of trails - but we survived and got our arrowhead medals. It was nice to have a weekend away with no cell service and no distractions.

Our cabin for the weekend - nice and cozy.

The trail down to the lake

The running crew me, Leah & Nancy + Dani

How the boys babysit - Baby Einstein!

We spent a lot of the nights in the hot tub

Unbelievably pretty

Nancy, Jarin and McKade

We had a great time & can't wait to go back!

I Heart NY

My trip to NYC was absolutely incredible. It made me fall in love with the city completely. Especially the food! I was working a ton, but we were all over town and I got to see all of the different parts of New York that as a tourist I probably wouldn't. I just felt like I had to soak it all in because I know I will never go on a trip like that again. It felt like I was having an out of body experience the whole time.

Highlights...

The Hotel - we stayed at the Hudson Hotel right by Central Park. It was really modern and trendy (and if you watched Gossip Girl last week - Blair had her party on the Sky Terrace) anyway the hotel was way too cool for me, but it was fun to stay there. The bar there is one of the most popular in the city and every night there was a line out the door.

The view from the street - they are so cool, they won't even put the name of the hotel on the outside.. You are just supposed to KNOW its the Hudson apparently.

The lobby - isn't it gorgeous?

The Sky Terrace - on the top of the hotel is this huge garden with lounge chairs and a bar/cafe. It is so beautiful and you look out on the Hudson River and Central Park on the other side.

The Food - filet mignon, banana brown sugar pancakes, lobster ravioli, urban smores, green apple cotton candy. I can go on, but lets just say I am currently on a post NYC diet.

This is BLT fish - pretty much the best food I have ever eaten.

The Meetings - we met with the companies that are based in Italy that formulate the makeup for pretty much every cosmetic line in the US. They are on 5th Avenue and the offices were just insane. Insane. They even sent us to our dinner appointment in their company car.. Yeah that was a stretch Escalade limo.

The Shopping. H&M & Zara on every block, walking through Bergdorf's to check out Louboutin's.

People Watching - Girls in NYC have awesome style, and I love how people get dressed up just to go to dinner, it makes it special, more of an event. I'm going to attempt to bring that to Columbus!

Central Park - Gorgeous. It was so fun to see families and moms everywhere.



I also loved walking everywhere, the subway, catching cabs, eating dinner and having Barbara Walters walk in and sit 3 feet away from me at the next table. She ate with Cindy Adams (she writes Page Six the gossip column for the New York Post) and was much better looking in person.

I liked explaining Mormonism a little bit better to the people who were curious. I cleared up quite a few misconceptions like that we don't believe in arranged marriage and that I was my husband's only wife.

Trent did a great job with Lucy while I was gone. He is a great husband and so supportive of me. All in all, I loved my trip but I also loved coming home to my little family and our life.

And I'm Off...

This week my new job is sending me to NY for a beauty conference. I feel so torn about going because this is such a dream career opportunity for me, but I feel so intimidated and am having a hard time even thinking about leaving Lucy for a week. Balancing being a mom with pretty much anything else I'm finding is pretty tough. I have 3 days of classes, cocktail parties & dinners, here's to hoping that no one will notice my shade shirts underneath my Forever 21 dresses and that impress my new boss - Pressure is absolutely on :).

How can I last a week without...


Lucy's Paths of Total Destruction







The "stink eye" I get when I interrupt her fun

I love this little one. She is feisty.

Chuck + Blair Forever & Dear Stephenie Meyer

THANK GOODNESS FOR FALL TV!! So you Think You Can Dance can only take a girl so far when trying to survive the summer. Chuck and Blair have filled that giant hole in my heart left by Seth and Summer.. and I can't wait for The Office & Grey's.

Another thought..

Dear Stephenie Meyer,

I have officially started a petition and feel very strongly that when filming the sequel to Twilight - ahem New Moon - the part of Edward should be recast and given to...

Give it some thought...

Sincerely,

Jamie Richards and at least three friends.

Cool Website Alert - Picnik.com

I read about this website www.picnik.com and checked it out and it is so awesome, it is really easy to use to fix up your photos. (and its FREE!) You can do all of these effects and add text along with just the regular editing tools. I have been messing around with it this morning and loving it. I did the "60's effect on this pic of Lucy - isn't it cute?! I am going to be looking like a much better photographer now.