Change of Plans

I guess we won't be going to the movies tomorrow, but Daniel and Heather will be, and this old Grandma will be babysitting. YEAH!!! That means another photo opportunity as I bought her an Easter dress the other week and a summer outfit and of course, Danielle will have to model and pose. I guess these will be her six month old photos, She seems to grow so much every time I see her.
I also have tons of boring mundane things to do like cleaning house, doing laundry, etc, so the movies will just have to wait until Monday or Tuesday. It's always nice to have something to look forward to.

Only 2 Days To Go...

...until I go to see The Other Boleyn Girl at the movies. I have a day off on Saturday and so Brent and I have decided to go and see this movie as we planned earlier on in the month. I tried to purchase tickets online tonight, but for some reason, the sale didn't go through. I don't think there'll be tons of people there though, so we'll just show up at the first showing in the morning and hope for the best.
I need to get into my Queen mode again. "Husband, thou doest vex me greatly. I warn thee, be careful, or thou shalt lose thy head!" (Giggle)

A Lovely Man

I just wanted to post this piccy of me and Jay. He is a lovely man, so sweet!
Sorry I look a little star gazed, it was the flash, honest!

We Want The Osmonds!!!!

Early Saturday morning, my Osmond chickie friend (well, in this instance she was, normally she's my Donny Diva friend) and I set off for the Suncoast hotel in Las Vegas to go see The Boys (not The Man!!). I think that my car is on automatic pilot for that place although it hesitated a little as we went past Tropicana Avenue and didn't turn off, instead going to Summerlin in NW Vegas.

We paid a little extra to get a room with a view, overlooking the jacuzzi area and the golf course, with the mountains in the background and quickly went to freshen up ready for the Meet and Greet with the Osmonds at 1pm. As luck would have it, when we went down to the showroom, there was only a couple of people there and the staff let us in to go and get our seats. As a "first come, first served" event, this was amazing good luck, so we actually got to sit in the front.

We were supposed to get a personal photo opportunity with the Osmonds as a group, but as they were just about pounced on as soon as they arrived in the showroom, they went VERY slowly around the room instead and had photos with individual fans. I really didn't think this was the fair approach because, as usual, there were those fans who totally monopolized them and many others (my little group included), who hardly got a look in and didn't get the photo opportunity that we were all promised. Other than that, it was an enjoyable afternoon.

The show that night was pretty much the same as all the ones I've seen over the last couple of years, with just a couple of additions. David Osmond (Alan's son) was in the audience, so Jimmy pulled him up on stage and he performed several numbers with them. At one point, they did a "Dancing with the Osmonds" thing on stage to honor Marie in DWTS, and Justin Osmond (Merrills's son) very happily pulled his latest girlfriend up on the stage and twirled her around and around. (Note: if she has half a brain about her, she'll snag that guy pronto, he is one HOTTIE!) As usual, Jimmy asked if there was anyone who had a birthday. Well, he knew that I did as we had spoken about it earlier and Jay had even written my name on his hand in Markie pen so that he'd remember. When Jimmy saw me, he said "There you are", asked my name and was it my birthday that day. Wayne asked me how old I was, so I told him I was the same age as his sister, 29!!! He laughed and shouted "Liar!!" It was pretty funny. There were a couple of others with birthdays and so all the Osmonds, including David, sang Happy Birthday to us and actually inserted our names, which was a lovely touch.

As usual, the show seemed to come to an end way to soon, and they didn't come out through the showroom as they usually do, so we didn't get that after show experience, but it was a great time nevertheless. They are doing their usual Christmas shows in Branson this year, but I've heard it is to be their last, so I might just need to look to see if going there is a financial possibility. I can only hope.

Jenny J, You're so Amazing!

Friday night saw me and Brent at the Ikeda Theater in the Mesa AZ Arts Center for a concert by Jenny Jordan Frogley and Alex Boye. Can you believe it? Not a single Osmond in sight!

I first heard Jenny in a couple of songs that she did with David Osmond and I was immediately in love with her voice. She's mainly a session singer who does music for TV, films and commercials, but she's also very active in the Salt Lake City area as a Christian (LDS) singer, so she can be found on lots of compilation CD's at Deseret Book, and the like. When she released an album of her own, I was in heaven.

Alex was born in London and knew my brother Paul when they were missionaries together, he sang at Paul's wedding too. He now lives in Salt Lake City and is kind of the Mormon version of Seal (if you know who that is!) although he is also a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

The evening started off with some brief excerpts from The Duttons, a musical/dancing family who perform most of the year in Branson, Missouri. They winter now here in Arizona so were advertising their upcoming shows. They looked like fun.

Then a young pianist/singer named Scarlet came on, she was very retro and whilst I didn't like her first song, her others were better and her piano playing was awesome.
Alex performed next. He has an amazing voice but puts too many quirky moves into his act for my liking. He has a great sense of humor and that shines out from him the whole time. I did enjoy his performance though.


Jenny was the one I had really come to see and I must say that she exceeded all my expectations. She was VERY cute, she played piano and she sang like an angel; much better than how she sounds on her CD's, and that is amazing. She also sang a couple of songs with Alex.
After the show, I had the opportunity to speak briefly with both of them; Alex was really amazed when I told him that I was Paul's sister and we spoke a little about him, and then Jenny was very sweet as we spoke about the resemblance between her and Valerie Osmond, how she loves Tommy Hopkins to play guitar with her and the fact that she is doing some work with Donny in a few weeks. This is the part of the conversation where I seriously let myself down. I should have asked if she needed someone to hold her bags or get water for her or perform any other mediocre task, but instead, I kinda said Wow, or something to that effect and lost my golden opportunity. Oh well, never mind. It was a phenomenol show.

Nothing Much Happening

Well, for those who read my posts, you'll notice that not much has been happening recently. As it says in my profile, I really do lead a rather boring life.
I took a couple of sick days off work this week due to some gastric problems but even despite that, I've felt kinda blah all week; very tired, lethargic and emotional. I did finish my book though, so now I am free to go see "The Other Boleyn Girl" when it comes out at the end of the month.
Brent noticed a nail in one of the car tires yesterday, so today I took the car in to get that sorted out and ended up spending nearly $400 on two new rear tires. I noticed that nearly everyone who went through the tire shop while I was there was female and yet the TV was on a sports channel and the magazines were either sports or news related. No Good Housekeeping or People!!! I did suggest it to the manager that he might like to stock them! We'll see.
I'm back at work tomorrow and then have a few days of excitement as I go to a couple of concerts and also celebrate my birthday. You can be sure that my camera will be out and there'll be photos to post next week.
See ya then.

The Best Laid Plans

It's funny how the best laid plans sometimes don't go according to plan. Today was one of those days. From getting up until now, absolutely nothing has happened how it was supposed to, how I wanted it to. Oh well. Nothing more to say than that.

Books, Books and More Books

This last weekend saw the annual Volunteer Non-Profit Service Association (VNSA) charity used book sale at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. I've been a couple of times before and picked up tons of cheap books, so I thought I'd go again this year to see what I could find. I read that there were over 500 long tables and over 8000 boxes of books! I can believe it. The place is HUGE!
Brent and I split off to do our own thing but arranged to meet in about an hour, so that gave him plenty of time to head over to health and wellbeing, alternative medicine and martial arts, his main areas. I went over to fiction and straight away picked up three James Patterson books to add to my collection and a few historical romance books. I was really looking for some Tudor history books by Philippa Gregory or Margaret George, but found nothing. Instead, I got a book about the Roosevelt family.
I was disappointed that I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, so we decided to go to a half price bookstore in Mesa that we have shares in! I had a little more success here and bought "The Queen's Fool" a novel set in Tudor times, by Philippa Gregory and "The Last Wife of Henry VIII", a novel about Catherine Parr and written by Carolly Erickson. I was definitely getting closer to what I wanted, which when I really thought about it was "The Other Boleyn Girl" so that I can read it before I go and see the new movie next month. There was nothing else to do but to go and buy the book new. Against my ethics, I know, but what was a girl to do?
First to eat though, and we stopped off at the new Cheesecake Factory at Superstition Springs Mall, right next door to Borders Books. How convenient! I couldn't decide between a burger or a salad, chose the burger and later wished I'd picked the salad. I brought half my meal home with me with a slice of key lime cheesecake. Delicious!
I found what I was looking for in Borders and also got another novel, "The Virgin's Lover" by the same author and an excellent reference book for only $6 about the Kings and Queens of Britain. I just can't get enough of history at the moment, I adore it and especially the Tudor's. While in Borders, I spotted some kosher history books about many of the key people of the period, you know, real biographies, not novels, so when I can afford those, I might be tempted.
As you can see, I am all "booked" for the forseeable future. What a lovely dilemma!

The Other Boleyn Girl

As a postscript to my last blog, I saw this movie advertised to be released on February 29 and I can't wait to see it.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Tudor history and whilst I haven't read this particular book by Philippa Gregory, I have read a couple of her other ones, and enjoyed them.
From what I've read, there are some historical inaccuracies in the book and movie, but who cares? It looks like a great film, full of drama, romance and suspense, although I don't think it can be called suspense when I know the outcome of the characters. Watch out Anne!

Fools Gold

After running a few errands today, Brent and I decided to go to the movies and we watched Fools Gold, starring Matthew McConhaughey, Kate Hudson and Donald Sutherland.
After seeing quite a bit of advertising for this movie which made it look very appealing to watch, we were both actually a little disappointed. Well, it was okay, but not great, and definitely slow at times for a movie described as action/adventure.
What it was in my opinion, was a movie about finely tuned bods. I mean just look at them both! I'm sure that most men want to look like him and most women want to look like her.
Excuse me, while I go on the treadmill again!

Friends

I just wanted to post a quick blog about the wonders of Instant Messenging and it allowing me to keep up with friends in far off places. On Wednesday night, I chatted with Dave, my friend of 30 years (YIKES, I thought I was only 29!!!) who lives in North Carolina and then the following night, I chatted with Terri, my sistah (I love you enough to share!) who is from Wisconsin, although she was in Florida on business. Isn't that just phenomenol. I love the Internet. Anyway, now that I've mentioned both of them, I have to totally embarrass them by posting a piccy so y'all know what they look like.


Here's Dave in his butler's garb complete with shiny silver tray. I know my Mom will like this photo.














And here's a lovely photo of Terri.

Truth, or Lies?

Well, here in the US there is a new reality show based on exactly that. I've seen the trailers and based on what I see, I feel it goes just a little too far, so have chosen not to watch it. I do like this little video though, with my honey in it, as he is strapped to a lie detector. He looks good in red and it reminds me of that lovely red duffle coat he was wearing the first time I saw him in 1979. Check out that wink at the end.
Note to Mom...click on the arrow to watch the video!!! Love you!

Elections

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, the day when millions of Americans vote for the delegates who they wish to see as the Presidential candidate for their party. It's a long winded affair with TV ads and debates going on year round, it seems. John McCain or Mitt Romney. Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama. Republican or Democrat. Who will be the next President of the United States?

In contrast to the publicity and hoop-la surrounding the U.S. Presidential Election, today there has been another President named. It hardly got any TV coverage at all, there were no long winded election campaigns or political fundraising. Thomas S. Monson, was formally elected yesterday as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and ordained in a private ceremony inside the Salt Lake City Temple. He heads a Church of 13 million (and still growing) and when our beloved President Hinckley died, there were none of us who wondered who would be elected. In a simple fashion, the First Presidency dissolved and each counselor returned to their place in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the order in which they were called to it. How simple then, that the senior apostle, the one with the most wisdom and experience, should then be called as the President. If only the US Presidential Elections could be so simple.

Whilst I will miss the impact of Gordon B Hinckley, I am excited about the new First Presidency, particularly Dieter F Uchtdorf as the 2nd counsellor. I remember when he was called as an apostle and I first heard him speak. Wow, he had power and spirit. Anyway, in my humble opinion, this comparison just shows how the ways of man can be complicated, but the ways of God are oh, so simple.

Life in the Desert

I live in a desert and desert's are renowned to be hot, sunny places. Right? One of the advantages is that you don't have to think too hard about what the weather will be like at any given time, so outdoor events can be planned with some degree of certainty.
When I lived in England, I (and I presume most people) would wake up in the morning and the first thing I would do would be to look out of the window to see what the weather looked like for the day. Could I get away with wearing a T-shirt, did I need a sweater, a coat, an umbrella? Of course, anyone who has lived in England for any length of time, realises that really, looking out of the window to determine the weather is a complete waste of time, because the weather can change in an instant. It can be bright and sunny one moment, and raining the next.
But here in the Valley of the Sun where we are guaranteed 330+ days of sunshine per year, that isn't a problem, right? WRONG. Today it is raining so hard that my garden is covered with water like a mini lake. There isn't a single break in the clouds, it's cold and miserable. I had planned on having a "hot" date with Brent to take some items to the landfill, not very romantic, I agree, but a necessary part of my de-cluttering phase. The rain has put a complete halt to any of that! Visions of getting stuck in the mud, despite a 4 wheel drive, did nothing for me, so I decided there'll always be another day.
Life in the desert is usually warm or warmer, hot or hotter, but today it is simply just rainy.