How did this happen?

I consider myself to be a very clean person. My mom would probably tell you that I am fanatical about having a clean house since I use Clorox cleanup all over the place. So I don't know how this happened in my bedroom.









I think the week just got away from me and suddenly my bedroom looked worse than it did when I was 15. I have been enjoying my weekends and week day nights now and cleaning became last on the list. I needed to get my priorities straight so I "sacrificed" my Friday night to stay in and clean my house. Okay, so I didn't sacrifice, I just didn't have any plans. Now my bedroom looks like this.








Aaahhh...much better!

Books and food

I love being in a book club, mostly because I love the people in my book club. I haven't been able to attend for awhile because of the election and my long hours but now I'm back. It was my turn to host and we read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is a book written entirely in letters so you get the story by reading people's correspondence with each other. I recommend the book.

In addition to the book and good friends, book clubs always have good food. I made fruit salad, bruschetta, and chocolate pretzels. Yum!

Simply the Best

I have this song by Tina Turner in my music library and I played it tonight. Every time I hear it I think of my brother. I once called up a radio station and dedicated this song to my brother, which hearing the lyrics now, is just a little weird. (Sorry Melissa!) Anyway, it's kind of an inside joke but we used the phrase "good, better and best" long before it was used in a conference talk. :)

Amy does the great outdoors!

Today I went snow shoeing with some friends. We drove up to Twin Lakes near Leadville, CO. As we were driving I was wondering if there was really going to be a place with snow enough for us to accomplish this activity. Sure enough as we got higher and farther into the mountains, we found snow. It was a beautiful day with the sun out and the scenery was great.









Chris and Dee check out the trail map








Me posing at the trailhead








Afterward we all went to Dee's house for dinner. It was an exhausting day but well worth it!

My day at the AFA

Today I had the holiday off work and I decided to go to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It's one of the places I really wanted to see before leaving Colorado. Several years ago I went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and I was quite impressed.

The scenery was beautiful. There was a Visitor's Center and several places to drive to in your car to see various aircraft. The most visible and well known feature of the campus is the chapel. It is quite impressive and it was open today. There is a Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist and Jewish section in the chapel. I just walked around for a little while because there was no guided tour and really, not that much to see.








The chapel








Me on the steps of the chapel. (It was quite windy!)









Some random aircraft. But see the mountains in the background?

Princess Leia has lost her head

For my birthday last May my nephews (Mason, Ethan and Sagan) gave me a Princess Leia key chain and an R2D2 key chain as shown in this fine photo.










This morning I went to get my keys where I had thrown them last night and poor Princess Leia is now headless.










Her blaster broke off a few months ago and honestly, I thought her arms would be next. I could have carried around an arm-less Leia, but a headless Leia is just a little too creepy. I will now put the R2D2 key chain on as a replacement. Mason, Ethan and Sagan: you can be sure that I used my gift and I enjoyed it very much!

Transmission Education

Today I took my car to the Mazda dealership to get a new bulb in my headlight. While I was there I asked them to take a look at the transmission to see if everything looked okay. I told the guy my story of 2 blown transmissions within the last 5 months and he couldn't believe it. THANK YOU, because neither can I. It was nice to know that someone who knows all about Mazdas and fixes them could say "there is no reason your transmission should have blown the first time and no one ever blows two." Again, thank you, but that doesn't take back the fact that it actually happened to me.

We looked back at my service log and the transmission was serviced at 30,000 miles and 60,000 miles. Who would have guessed it would blow at 75,000 miles?

So they said everything looks fine and I shouldn't worry about it. I asked, "How will I know if something is going wrong with it again? What should I be looking for as warning signs?" I was told that my engine light should come on. Well, two blown transmissions and I never saw a check engine light come on.

"What else?" I asked. They said the car would start to act up and have a hard time shifting. At that point I should bring it in. That actually DID happen but it happened 30 seconds before the car came to a dead stop on the highway in the middle of nowhere.

I guess I will follow the advice I've been given by all the non-car experts out there: "Don't ever drive the car out of Colorado again."

5 buck pants

The Gap has a really good racket going. I have a Gap rewards Visa card and I use it for everything (groceries, etc.) and I pay it off every month. The Gap sends me reward cards almost every month because of what I spend on the card (though not necessarily at the Gap.) It's a little incentive to get you into their store and buy something with your "points." Well, this time I got them! I found these pants that were $68 on clearance for $5.79!













It not only pays to shop at the Gap but it also pays to be a little bit chunky! You see, no one my size typically shops at the Gap so what is left on the clearance racks? Stuff in my size! So then I took my $20 rewards card and got a sweater I really wanted for half price. I always thought the Gap was way too cool for me but maybe they have changed their business model to entice 30-somethings like me to come on in and try to dress cool. Today when my statement arrived I promptly paid off my bill and put the $10 reward card in my purse. I'll go back next week and get the cute umbrella I have my eye on.

Bad car-ma

And now my driver's side headlight is out. What more can possibly go wrong with this dang car? Goodbye $66 dollars.

I got my car back and I got my house back...

It's like my life is a country western song played backwards! Ha ha old joke, okay?

Anyway, I flew to Utah on Saturday and got my car back. Has anyone else out there ever blown 2 transmissions in less than 6 months? I didn't think so. I didn't have to pay for the transmission but I had to buy a plane ticket and get a rental car so I am a little broke right now.

Driving on I-80 today back to Denver I was amazed that 2 1/2 weeks ago I was driving on snow-packed and icy roads. Today was sunny, clear and smooth sailing.

I also had a great house guest for the weekend who was here for a mutual friend's shower. She left this evening so now I have my house back.

One last ditch effort at the Christmas spirit

I dragged my friend Dave to the very last night of the Trail of Lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield. For some reason I really, really wanted to go since this might have been my last holiday in Colorado. I love Christmas lights but by January 4th, it just wasn't as magical as it would have been at the beginning of the Christmas season. Not to mention it was snowing (hence the big white specks in the photo) and freezing (after it was 65 degrees here yesterday!) I still contend that downtown Salt Lake is the best place to go for Christmas light viewing.

The Nightmare After Christmas

My Christmas saga began last August. Shall we take a walk down memory lane?

8/8/08 2:00 p.m.--My car breaks down in Salina, Utah after driving 7 hours on I-70 to get to my friend's wedding in Manti. Hysteria and tears ensue, a good Samaritan rescues me and I make it to the wedding disheveled and tired.

The rest of the story goes something like this--Transmission is blown, car is towed to Provo, I have a fight with the warranty company, I rent a car to drive back to Colorado, two weeks go by and car is fixed, I go back to Utah to pick it up, learn that warranties don't always cover everything and watch my money disappear. Seems like a simple story but it was a nightmare. Car is fixed, though and all seems to be well.

12/19/08--Major snowstorm hits Utah and Wyoming. All roads closed on I-80. Oh no! I am supposed to leave tomorrow! What if I can't get home for Christmas?

12/20/08 7:00 a.m.--Check of weather and road conditions indicate that roads are open but snow packed and icy in spots. I am caravanning with a friend and we decide we are going.

12/20/08 2:00 p.m.--Driving through Evanston, Wyoming wondering why on earth I decided to make this drive. Roads are terrible and visibility is worse. Luckily no one on the road but us, a few other crazy people and some truckers.

12/20/08 4:30 p.m.--Arrive safely in Salt Lake where the roads are fine. It only took 2 hours longer than normal. Time to hunker down for 10 days of fun!

12/21/08 5:00 p.m.--Macey Family Christmas party. 13 of 15 grandchildren attend (see photo). Nick and Amy both come from out of town! I haven't been able to attend since moving to Denver.














12/21/08 7:00 p.m.--Walk to temple square with Tony & family and Morgan, Madison and Hailey to see the lights.



















12/23/08 8:30 a.m.--Met Rozan for breakfast so we could complain about how hard our lives were during the election. I miss you Rozan!

12/23/08 11:15 a.m.--Teeth cleaned by Dr. Hanson. (No, I haven't changed dentists since moving to Denver.) No cavities!

12/23/08 1:30 p.m.--Hair cut and colored. No gray at this holiday!

12/24/08 4:30 p.m.--Christmas Eve party with my mom and family. We decorated gingerbread houses, acted out the nativity, ate dinner and exchanged gifts.




































12/24/08 8:30 p.m--Depart for Tooele for sleepover with Mason, Ethan and Sagan.

12/25/08 7:00 a.m.--Loved Christmas morning seeing the kids open presents from Santa. They were thrilled with their new gameboys. Aunt Amy realizes gameboys are more fun than she is and leaves after breakfast. Thanks Callee and family for the fun night!

12/25/08 5:30 p.m.--Christmas dinner and games with Joel, Katy and family. I played Rockband for the first time and we had fun playing Apples to Apples and Buzzword. The evening was cut short because it was snowing pretty hard. Will it ever end?

12/26/08 8:30 a.m.--Breakfast with Margaret and Jorge in town from Las Vegas. Margaret is a dear friend from high school and we haven't seen each other for many years. Spend rest of day shopping with mom. Bought the cutest green clogs EVER!

12/26/08 5:30 p.m.--Meet Tony and Melissa and traded cars. Amy takes kids home to Eagle Mountain in their car and Tony and Melissa take my car to go shopping. We watched the Grinch, played games and I saw all the things Santa brought.

12/27/08 5:00 p.m.--Meet Jennifer and Melinda for dinner. I love my high school friends. Got to see all the kids too.

12/28/08 2:00 p.m.--Leave for Richfield for dinner with Stephanie and Phil. Finally get to see wedding photos from the aforementioned wedding on 8/8/08. This was good because I don't remember much of that day since I was either bawling or on the phone with the repair shop. Nice to know that it was a great day for them!




















12/28/08 6:00 p.m.--Depart for Cedar City to spend the night with dad. Note: at this point I have put over 1000 miles on my car and driven through many bad roads, snow storms and wind. What could possibly go wrong?

12/29/08 11:30 a.m.--After breakfast and a few other errands, I depart for the 4 hour trip back to Salt Lake. Roads are good and everything looks great for a drive back to Denver the next day.

12/29/08 1:00 p.m.--17 miles from Nephi I can tell that something is wrong with the car. Yep, it's doing the same thing it did back in August. I remain calm, slown down, shift in to a low gear, and call my mom. Conversation goes like this, "Hi mom it's me. My transmission has blown again. I can make it to Nephi but can you find out the shop in Provo that fixed it last time? I think it starts with an A. Okay thanks. I'll make it to Nephi and call you from there." That was it; no tears, no hysteria. Joe at Action Transmission directs me to May Automotive in Nephi to have it checked out.

12/29/08 2:30 p.m.--The Foreign Service picks TODAY to have the federal investigator start my background check. I am doing and interview on my cell phone from May Automotive in Nephi.

12/29/08 4:15 p.m.--Tony and family drive from Eagle Mountain to rescue me. I cram all my stuff in their car and we meet mom at Cafe Rio in American Fork. I come to the realization that I am not going home on Tuesday as my car is towed to Provo.

12/30/08 3:00 p.m.-- Action Transmission calls and the transmission is of course covered under warranty because it's less than 6 months old. I am EXTREMELY fortunate that after all the driving the car broke down less than 1 hour away from the original repair shop even though I live 500 miles from the shop. The bad news--it will take 5 days to get a new transmission in. Okay, NOW comes the bawling and hysteria. Canceled and declined all New Years invitations realizing I was stuck.

12/30/08 4:30 p.m.--Exploring my options about what to do. I need to get back to work and other things and I can't stay. My mom asks, "What do you want to do?" I say, "I want to go home now."

12/30/08 4:45 p.m.--I kiss my Christmas bonus goodbye by buying a plane ticket out that night and renting a car. I didn't bring a suitcase (because I just threw all my stuff in the car) so I borrow one from my mom and begin throwing what I think I need into it. Now realizing that I left a bunch of stuff in Utah and it feels like I'm just "on vacation" in Denver until I can get back there in 10 days and get my car and the rest of my stuff.

12/30/08 5:30 p.m.--Depart for airport after dinner at Robintinos.

12/30/08 11:50 p.m.--Finally home in Denver after a delayed flight, rental car pick up and drive home. Exhausted.

12/31/08 8:00 a.m.--Surprise everyone by showing up at work after telling them I'd be staying in Utah. Not really in the mood to try to reinstate New Years plans after I canceled them.

12/31/08 9:30 p.m.--Feel guilty and break down and go to church singles dance because it's at the church 5 minutes from my house. Still on the fence about whether it was worth it or not. A little preoccupied and onery.

01/01/09 3:30 a.m.--Get home from after dance party. Sleep for awhile.

01/01/09 11:30 a.m.--Face the music with my budget. Turns out I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought and I get to keep the green clogs and clothes I bought after Christmas that I was feeling guilty about. Thought I'd have to return stuff.

01/01/09 3:30 p.m.--Start writing this boring blog post for all you to see. Now I'm going to take a nap.

Oh...and Happy New Year!

Disneyland Recap

Guess which of these things happened at Disneyland this week!

1. I overspent my budget by $150.
2. I went on Splash Mountain 3 times in a row with Kimball.
3. I ate cookies for dinner one night.
4. Kate pooped all over me.
5. We waited in line for 45 minutes to go on Peter Pan, even waiting while it was broken down.
6. I got pink flowers painted all over my face at the Princess Fantasy Faire and walked around with my face painted all day.
7. I had a blast running around to rides and activities with Tony, Melissa, Megan, Logan, Kimball and Kate.
8. I had breakfast with Minnie and friends.
9. I was so tired on the plane ride home I sprawled out across 3 seats and went to sleep.
10. All of the above.

If you said, "All of the above" you are right. We had such a great time. This is my 3rd Disneyland trip with my brother and his family. Now the kids are big enough to go on most of the rides. (Nice job, Logan, knowing how to work the 40 inches requirement with your hat on!) The only thing the little kids couldn't do was the Indiana Jones ride so we did some fancy swapping with the adults. Megan was very brave this time too.

Disneyland was all decked out for Christmas even though it was 70 degrees. We loved seeing the characters and the parades and going on the rides. Here are a few choice photos:















A little worn out but ready to watch the fireworks above the castle.



















With the always fabulous and entertaining Captain Hook!

In honor of Grandpa Naccarato

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked and my Grandpa Naccarato was there on the USS St. Louis. According to an article in the Deseret News dated December 7, 1968, my grandfather recalls, "'That we were missed by torpedos and other fire was undoubtedly due to the skillful handling of our ship. I remember the ship's dash down the channel as it zig-zagged violently...In the mind's eye of every man on the ship, a torpedo was headed our way.'"

Grandpa died when I was 15 years old so I never got to ask more about the stories from Pearl Harbor. One thing I do have from grandpa is the collection of coins he had from all the countries he visited while in the Navy. I love getting the coins out and looking at them to remember all the places he'd been.

My Grandpa Naccarato was very loving and very patient (he had to have been to live with my grandmother!) He wore dentures and used to entertain us by flipping them out with his tongue and then smiling with his teeth sticking out. Grandpa always smelled like cigarettes and Listerine. In fact whenever I smell Listerine, I still think of him.

Grandpa used to love to take us to the airport to watch the airplanes take off from the observation area. (I don't think you can do this anymore.) Whenever we stayed with my grandparents we always knew we'd get to go see the airplanes and I think he enjoyed it as much as we did.

Grandpa was always a hard worker. He spent most of his life working at Jordan Meat (which no longer exists) in Salt Lake. He spent the last years of his life working for Salt Lake City Water.

Love you, grandpa and thinking of you today!

36 Hours in Washington DC can change your life

I just got back from a very fast trip to Washington DC. I left Denver in a snow storm on Thursday and the flight was an hour late. My good friend Leslie picked me up in Baltimore and we went to meet Leslie's husband Tom and our mutual friend Bridget for dinner. We had a great time at dinner catching up on life and reminiscing about all our election monitoring experiences. (That's how we all know each other.) After dinner we hung out at Leslie and Tom's place for awhile. Leslie and Tom graciously offered me their spare bedroom for the night.















The next morning I was off to the State Department at 6:00 a.m. to take the Foreign Service oral exam. Tom walked me to the metro and somehow I managed to find my way to the building I was trying to get to with only a few wrong turns.

Ever since I was 16 I have wanted to join the Foreign Service. In order to get in you have to pass a series of very hard and exhausting tests. I took the written portion back in March and then I was invited to take the oral exam. I paid my own way to DC and took vacation time from work. I tried this several years ago and went to Chicago to take the test but I did not pass. At that time I decided that I'd try it again.

The exam was a full day with a group exercise, writing exam and personal interview. You are being watched and evaluated at every moment. It's very stressful. At the end of the day they tell you if you passed or not. Around 4:00 I was called into a room with 2 other candidates and we were told that we passed.

I was in total shock. My dream is one step closer to coming true! We received lots of congratulations and well-wishes from the evaluators and then got down to business. There are no guarantees that I'm "in" just yet. I have to pass security and medical clearances and then I go on a "list" ranked by my score. My score is okay but I can earn extra points for language. I guess I know what I'm going to be doing for the next 2 months...Russian immersion. My Russian is so bad that it will take a lot of work to get it back to the point that I could pass a test.

It's so awesome to have made it this far on the journey. The process may be about a year and a half but at least I feel like I'm on my way. So now I wait.

I navigated my way back to the metro and Union Station to catch a train to Baltimore. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to do that while I was in a state of shock AND trying to text message everyone in my phone on the way.

Stay tuned...

Salsa Central Denver Holiday Party

Last night Salsa Central Denver held its annual holiday party. There was lots of yummy food, great dancing and, of course, my cool salsa friends. Dancing is so much fun and I am becoming a little bit better at cha cha each week. Here are my cool friends (the ones I spent Thanksgiving with).

Thankful for Friends

This is the first Thanksgiving I have missed being with my family in 13 years. Last time I was away was when I was on my mission.

I decided not to take a trip to Utah for Thanksgiving this year because I wasn't sure how the election would go and if I'd need to stay here anyway. Plus, I have a few trips coming up next week and then an extended stay with the family at Christmas.

Today I am very grateful to have friends here in Denver who were kind enough to invite me over. In fact, I had two dinners. Aerie (friend from church) and Santosh had a few of us over and after dinner we played games. Then I headed out to Jason and Theresa's house for fried turkey and smoked turkey that they did themselves in their backyard. This gathering consisted of our little group of salsa friends.

I feel very blessed, thankful and taken care of today even though I missed seeing my family. I am looking forward to some fun, relaxation and cleaning the next few days.

Happy 150th Birthday, Denver

Yesterday the museums were free in celebration of Denver's 150th birthday. I took advantage of the opportunity to go to the Colorado History museum because I had never been before. They had a special exhibit about Denver's 150 year history. It included everything from life in the old west (saloons, brothels, etc.) to the historic neighborhoods, to John Elway.

I was impressed with the rest of the museum which had lots of mining tools and mining exhibits detailing the booms and busts Colorado has experienced over the years. There was quite a bit of information about the Native Americans who lived and still live in Colorado. My favorite exhibit was the detail about the 10th Mountain Division who trained in the Rocky Mountains for wintertime combat during WWII. They fought a campaign in the mountains of Italy during the war. I enjoy learning about WWII and it was a story I was unaware of until yesterday.

It was a warm, sunny fall day and lots of people came out to attend the free events. Just one more reason I like living in Colorado!

Blessed to have served with...

One of the things I like about being a member of the LDS church is the opportunity to serve and get to know people that you might not otherwise get to know. I had such an experience serving the Relief Society presidency in my ward here in Denver.

Stacey, Becky and I served together as a Relief Society presidency for about a year and half. Lots of things were hard about this calling but we became good friends. Stacey and her husband moved to New Mexico about 2 1/2 years ago and today they came back to visit. I was surprised to see their family and shed a few tears of joy from the very brief reunion. I sometimes forget how much I love the people with whom I serve and how strong those bonds can be, even when you are not serving together anymore.

There's nothing like a difficult calling to create a bonding experience. (A shout out to Evonne, too!) As with most service opportunities, you think you are giving service but it turns out you are really the one being served by those who are working with you. I just need to remember this DURING the calling and not years later.

Luckily I had my camera in the car and captured the moment on film!

Relegated to the role of pig

Ever since I had my early morning seminary kids act out the good Samaritan story, they now want to act out everything. Yesterday we talked about the prodigal son and the first thing they wanted to do at 6:00 a.m. this morning was act it out.

One of my students assigned everyone a part. I was told to play the part of the pig in the stall where the prodigal son ended up getting his food. So there I am supporting my seminary kids by sitting on the floor snorting like a pig. They video-ed the play on their cell phones so as soon as one of them (and someone will) puts it up on You Tube, I'll add a link.

I don't know why the sudden interest in acting out the scripture stories. All I know is when they are acting they are awake and sometimes that is the best we can do. After the prodigal son, there was a very rowdy performance of the ten lepers.