Updates

So its been a month since my last post and a lot has gone on so I feel like I should do an update of kinds just to touch base with my 7 besties and Grandma and Grandpa who read my blog ( hi Grandma and Grandpa!!! :D <---- that's a really big smiley face.) Work wise

I have two jobs now. I've been working both since the end of September and I really like both of them. The first is doing logistics/customer service this lighting company. I never thought I'd ever be involved in the lighting industry but here I am and I really like it. We contract with over 75 different manufacturers and maintain a very lovely website. Its a perfect balance for my personality I think. Its extremely technical, like people call up and need to know about ballasts and voltages and transformers and all this stuff and guess who has been scrambling to learn about electricity and wiring and all of this builders code stuff? That's right - Lizzie. So the incessant technical side of my brain is satiated. But also, I get to look at pretty stuff all day and help people decorate their homes an answer their questions and ask questions of other people and do logistics. All things I love and am very good at. Also, I sometimes have to deal with unruly people and I've had a lifetime of talking people off of ledges so I'm primed and ready for that. Also, I get to talk to some of the coolest people on the planet. My newest friend is a lovely woman named Barbara. Shes from New York, "Manhattan mind you". Shes Jewish, 75, sassy, and awesome. Shes called me about 16 times in the last 2 weeks helping her with her new torchiere. Now let me tell you something, if you can maintain a straight face while listening to a slow talking, geriatric, Jewish, New Yorker like Barbara saying "torchiere" every other word you deserve a metal. When I was inventorying what I needed out of a job to be happy "working with people" was at the top of the list and I sure as heck got it.

Better than the job are the people there. My bosses are stellar. I think this is the first job I've had where my bosses work harder than I do. They make me look lazy everyday and I like that. Leading from the front is how I was brought up and its really the only kind of leadership I respect and there they are. They're actually respectful too. Like, my boss comes up to me and says "Are you busy? Do you have a moment? Could you help me with this?". The first time I was approached like this I seriously think my mouth was agape. I had never experienced that kind of interaction with a boss. Ladies and gentleman, I am her to announce that manners are not extinct. They are rare though and my boss actually has a good portion of them. They're a really generous company too. They take us out to a fancy, like $20 a plate, lunch every month, we get bi-yearly bonuses, and comprehensive benefits. My bosses/the owners (they're on and the same) really seem to understand the concept of human investment and I'm still finding it bewildering. I have been very blessed with what I've stumbled on. I really like my coworkers too. Like, they're all amazing. We're all really bright, tough, sassy, but compassionate women. Doing customer service isn't easy folks. There is a balance of hard a**ness that you have to balance with compassion as well as making sure the company makes money and you don't get hustled. And you have to constantly be doing 4 other things while you're having these tough conversations. It takes a special kind of intelligence and K and T (those are the owners/my bosses) know how to interview/hire because everyone there is all of those things.

And this is something else that is weird - everybody there puts in a full day. Like, everybody! Everybody works as hard, if not harder than me. This is a new experience for me. I'm used to being the hardest worker and everyone else, essentially, kind of working, but everyone there, from what I can see, has the same work ethic that I do. Its good to feel equally yolked and on a team. Its a first and its awesome.

My second "job" is a tutoring gig and I've met a few of my students but between logistics and paperwork I've only met a few of my students so far so there isn't much to report. I adore the students that I have met though and can't wait for it to finally get in gear.

Love Life -
No news but what else is new? I kind of don't want to talk about it. I always get really down and negative and I don't like Negative Lizzie. She can be kind of nasty.

In Other News -

I'm still making the most of my Disneyland Annual Pass. We just finished the Halloween merriment and Christmas goes up November 13th and there are fewer things in this world that I love more than Disneyland at Christmas. I kind of can't wait. Like at all.

A few of my friends and I have decided to learn Latin. I know - I know.... I'm a raging geek. But I've wanted to do this and it seemed like an opportune time. My friend, A (who has her PhD in English, Linguistics, Chaucer and general coolenss), who is a college professor is on sabbatical this quarter and is getting a bit restless, AND there is another amazing lady in our Circle of Awesome, N, that is in the thoroughs of gradschoolness and has opted to test out of the Language portion of her Masters and has decided to take the Latin test. However, she has a limited Latin background, and then the other two of us, myself and the glorious W are just general informatiophiles and want to know Latin. So... we decided to form a group. The W.L.A.N. Latin Extravaganza!!! A went and bought text books even. She "couldn't help herself" and we are conjugating czars at the moment. Can I say anything yet or even put together a cogent sentence in Latin? Nay - am I having fun? You bet :D and that's what its about right?

I was a Guinevere/Viking lady for Halloween and feel asleep appallingly early on both Friday and Saturday of the holiday this year. I'm turning into such weak sauce. If its past 11 my head begins to nod and I start talking in non sequiters. Its hilarious but not too useful on the social end of things.

I've decided to give the iPhone a try. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm not looking forward to AT&T in the least but the iPhone has become a machine that I can't keep ignoring. They're the closest things to crystal balls that I've seen yet and literally EVERYTHING is the world is on them. I'm all about device integration and the iPhone is just about everything. Its a phone, a computer, an iPod, a Kindle (which I kind of want too), a GPS, a mapbook, a TV sometimes, and a good paperweight when the battery is low. I'll make a full report soon. And I'm not going to lie, I've done some research on cute phone cases.

I think I've decided to dye my hair red again and its at that length that I'm really sick of it and all I do is keep it up in a loose sloppy bun all day. So I'm thinking this cut (its called a V-line, or an "angled bob"


and this color.


What do you think? Seriously, let me know.You guys are the ones that have to look at me.

That's honestly about it for now. I live a pretty boring life truthfully

My car needs an oil change

I need a new case for my Macbook.

I'm in the midst of a Disney flashback on the Netflix front. I've got The Great Mouse Detective and Pete's Dragon this week.

I'm truly in love with Aveeno beauty products. On top of their face wash, moisturizer, and amazing body lotion I'm using their shampoo and conditioner now too and am quite pleased. I've spent twice as much on half as good products in the past but Aveeno is some of the best stuff out there. Seriously. Get some.

Target has a new line of designer Remington hair straighteners that I bought for $20 and LOVE it.

I get to puppy-sit my friends dog over Thanksgiving, which I'm really excited about. I'm also house sitting in a big empty house for a weekend so if you're feeling a slumber party hit me up. I'll need some company.

My brother found a ringtone of Cartman singing Lady Gaga's Poker face and its been making my life quite funny

And that's truly about it.

I love you guys to pieces. That too. Tis the season to be grateful and I am. Hugs all around.

I have a few concert reports and such but I'll get to that later. Latin and homemade lasagna beckons me....

Important Numbers to Me Right Now

167 - days till COACHELLA 2010

15 - minutes of a traffic-free drive I have to work now

6 - awesome co-workers that I have, weeks I'm overdue for a haircut, and days till I see Snow Patrol in San Diego with L-Dubbs, days till I get paid

8 - feet my boss' desk is from mine

46 - days till Christmas at Disneyland starts

37 - days till Thanksgiving (that I'm hoping to cook this year)

81 - days till my little brother gets home from his mission and how many days I have to find a place to live

76- days till Christmas

56 - days till my nephew gets blessed and I get to see him again.

9 - the amount of healthy child bearing years I have left

0 - potential suitors I have vying for my attention, dollars I have to pay for grad school, and amount of patience left I have with EDD

1080 - miles I am from my best friend

60,000 - how many dollars I'll most likely need for grad school

5 - amazing Percy Jackson books I've discovered, times I've gone to bed before 10 this week,

43 - days till I see Joe Pug at The Mint with whomever enlightened soul wants to come with

43,456 - times I've been amazed at what a charmed life I've got

In Other News

I have a few more update type tidbits that I would like to share in a disjointed and unrelated manner:

- I'm currently obsessed with Eddie Money's "Take me Home Tonight"

- I went to a midnight party for Breaking Dawn and read the thing and was barely not under whelmed. On my Awesome Scale* it got a "thumbs up" and barely that. The highlight of the night was my friend winning a Twilight poster much to the verbal disappointment of a sea of teen girls and seeing him give it to a deserving awkward and grateful one.

- I'm still enamored with Greg Laswell's new album and Patrick and I are seeing him at The Hotel Cafe again this Friday. We're also seeing Mandy Moore on Saturday (don't laugh! her new album is actually non-cotton candyified and very good. She dated Greg for a stint too and he rubbed off. Thankfully.) and Rogue Wave next week if you're in town and game.

- Temple dating during the early stages is a bad idea. It gets you too close too fast and you end up saying things that you didn't intend or want to say and you both end up running a bit scared. Wait for a stint -

- I remain addicted to the Olympics but them Chinese are a bunch of cheating knaves. Nastia was robbed and gymnastics judging and scoring is BOLOGNA!! That Chinese girl,whatserbucket??... He - she is NOT 16! I'd put that on .... something valuable and meaningful.... my membership to the Huntington Library! Yeah!

- The Huntington remains to be one of my favorite places ever and I'm proud of myself for sharing it with people. I used to be a bit selfish in this respect but I've decided anyone who is willing should go and I will take them.

- Michael Phelps is - erm - how do you put it? Ah ---- HOT! Who else can go from absolute dork, to sheepish bashful, to fearfully fierce to flaming hot all within about 3 seconds? Mr Phelps, thats who. Love you Mikey! Thanks for being 'Merican!

- I'm still disgusted Pres Bush took the liberty of a bootie pat or two with the women's beach volleyball team. Head shaking disgusted.

- My car is making funny noises

- I, and a few others, moved NaToya down to San Diego on Saturday, sweated profusely for 7 hours straight (Seriously. 7 hours. Two gallons of water consumed. Didn't pee once.), put a table and bed together, and didn't break a single nail. Who is an awesome domestic and beauty goddess? Moi!

- My September Vogue got here last week and I am one happy kitten. I've been pouring over it and finding a lot for the "It Would be Nice" file

- I had a massive girl attack yesterday and fell in love with a ring. I think my unswerving 21 year devotion to my Tiffany ring might be compromised a little bit. I just glossed past the ad in my Vogue five days ago and yesterday the image came careening from the back of my subconscious and hit me square on the interior of my frontal lobe. I went home at lunch, found the ad, tore it out and it's currently in the file and out of drool range. I'll just say its a Caressa piece and looks Elvin. Buy the magazine to see. It's worth it.

- I'm liking Michael Kors and Gap of all things best this season. They have some new designers on the job and you can tell

- I went to the optometrist and my contact prescription for both my eyes have worsened by one whole point in the last year. If I don't get a non-computer job soon I will end up, not only childless but blind and bitter as well.

- I'm going wakebording for the first time in my life over Labor Day weekend with my brother in Utah. I'm excited. The only anticipatory images I have of the trip is me being dragged and skipping on my stomach behind a speeding boat and hanging on for dear life, burbling and trying to keep water out of my lungs as I go. It sounds sort of fun and I can't wait to see my brother. It's been 7 months. WAAAAY too long.

- I've transfered my records back to the single's ward. I was being teasingly accused by certain someones that I had given up on the YSA program by going to the family ward and after some thought I realized that certain someone was right. I've shied away from Institute and Firesides at a regular pace. I don't connect with too many YSA types and I'm constantly afraid of burning out the ones that I do. AND, on top of that, my interests go outside of movie nights, Denny's trips and volleyball and most YSAs don't. That's a grossly unfair generalization and I've realized that. I can't deny how much more fed and strengthened I feel after church in this singles ward as opposed to the family ward I'm in. So yeah - I'm going to make my last year go out with a bang.

- I've also decided to change my hair. Drastically. I've been debating this particular change since I was about 12 years old and I think I finally have enough gumption to do it. My beautician cousin will be doing the honors over my Labor Day Salt Lake City trip so many surprises will be found when I get home and I'm excited. Pictures to follow.

*pinkie swear promise*

* Liz's Awesome Scale
5 - Exploding High 5
4 - High Five
3 - Thumbs Up
2 - Thumbs Down
1 - Raspberry, very spit filled raspberry

Checkin in (7/31/07)

So I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the 22nd. I finished it again last Saturday, well the last 300 pages at least, and I cried again. Not openly wept and had to put down the book at key moments to calm down enough to see the text, but I did cry again and was moved and inspired anew. Its a beautiful story and a beautiful book. Thank you J.K. Rowling. Thank you for being a credit to the species, the gender and the craft.

My Nexflix excursion this week was a British indie that I loved called "Driving Lessons". Apparently Rupert Grint and Julie Walters found time between films 4 and 5 to make this adorable teen-coming-of-age-story/satire-on-British-new-age-Evangelism and it made me smile. Rupert has always been my favorite in the cinematic Harry Potter trio. He's the best actor, has the best timing, has red hair AND - to further endear the boy to me the first thing he did when he turned 18 and got access to his depiction-of-Ron-Weasley millions was to by an ice cream truck. Yes - he said if the acting thing doesn't pan out "at least he has the ice cream truck". Rupert - if you were only 10 years older....

I felt the need to watch 'Persuasion' for the squillionth time this week. Its the best depiction of a Jane Austen story in my humble opinion. The candle light is perfect and the imperfect non-Hollywooded hair and costumes also makes me happy. In turn, I have started reading the story again for the first time since high school and its still amazing.

Which leads me to my newest most anticipated movie (since Transformers has been released and breathed new life into the term "phenomenally mind blowing") and that is the new Anne Hathaway flick "Becoming Jane". It's out in two weeks - right on my birthday weekend - and I am SOO excited. Not only because its about my Jane (who is the literary emotional equivalent of my mother) but her romantic interest is being played by Jame McAvoy who I desperately love too! He was adorable as Mr. Thumnas but he was breathtaking in "Last King of Scotland". You don't know how it brings me joy that hes getting work, AND that hes in a Jane Austen film AND that hes dressed up like a gentleman AND that he falls in love with saucy, slightly difficult, brilliant women. It just warms my heart (and gives me hope). Totally cannot wait

The Patrick saw "Sunshine" last week and has been abuzz since. I have been wanting to see it for a while - there were some fascinating banners on the KROQ website that bade me to follow and I was impressed with the trailer. It felt strangely familiar and then I realized that it was Alex Garland's latest creations and then it ALL came back and made sense! Ahhh - yes - Trainspotting in all its wonder still hasn't left me. :D Patrick is a Garland disciple so that's how he ended up at the theater but I am still looking for a moment to be able to join the praises. Patrick's reader's digest recommendation was "you don't see it - you feel it - it gets into you - its tactile. I'm still reeling from it". Its definitely on the to-do list.

I'm still trying to get away to Pasadena to see "Golden Door" and "The Waitress" but we'll see. I totally cannot wait till the Laemmle is finished in Claremont and I can have an indie theater 10 min from my house. The best coffee house for 20 miles and an indie theater on the same block? Will wonders never cease?

I didn't make it to the Gliss show but I have gone back to their album "Love the Virgins"about once a week since I saw them at the Roxy with The Patrick and they are continuing to rock my world. Placebo's "Meds" still has a solid spot in the car CD rotation and Greg Laswell is strangely growing on me. I recommend the song "Sing Theresa Says" as an entry point for the man. He's playing the Indie 103 concert at the Grove in a few weeks. I have half a mind to go. I've felt a strange need for a good Timberland fix this week. "Way I are" is highly enjoyable because not only does it gives you a good 3 minutes of unmitigated moral superiority because you recognize the grammatical laws that the title offends, but its a pretty addictive beat and somehow makes traffic slightly more bearable. I've also found myself in my old Erasure cds this week. "Oh l'Amour" stills got it. Long live British melodrama!

On Friday night me and a few choice few made our way to this 99 seater theater in Fullerton called The Maverick Theater for an adorable rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I love community theater on principle and because I pretty much grew up in one - but this particular production, honestly, was absolutely wonderful. I laughed to the black out point. The charming man unabashedly snorting behind me didn't help matters much either. Pretty much what a Shakespeare comedy experience should be. I fully intend to go back for their next few productions. One is called "The Complete Works of Shakespeare - Abridged". Its being billed as "a three man one wig romp through the 36 plays of The Bard". And if its anything like or includes any of the players I saw in Pyramus and Thisbe I will be the first in line. Totally can't wait. And the crown of the holiday productions is "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". Need I say more? I think not.

There are a plethora of amazing concerts in town too; Muse, Dave Matthews, Bright Eyes, The Cure, 311, and myriads more but the pocket book and I are still in negotiations. More than half of them are at the Verizon Amphitheater which is a farce of a venue that I usually object to on principle. That and its also in Irvine which is one of the fakest and therefore most disturbing cities in Orange County that I avoid as often as possible. But Muse would be amazing in any venue. I might just park outside hoping for a few wisps of awesomeness here and there *sigh*.

I'm also heading to Tennessee the day after tomorrow. I'm going to Nashville. No I'm not going to become a country star. Yes I am hoping to see Elvis. Yes I will sing "Walking in Memphis" when we pull in and I will take a picture under the Beale street sign. No I'm not running away - I'm my friend Lisa's birthday present. No I am not going to pop out of a cake. Yes that is a shame because it would be fun. Yes I will bring you a bobble head Elvis from Graceland if you ask nicely and yes, I am very excited to get out of Dodge for a few and watch 300 over and over and over again in Lisa's home theater with ample supplies of red velvet cake and the neighbor's southern bbq. Lisa lives in the same neighborhood as all the big name country music folk like Carrie Underwood and them. Maybe we'll see a few as we run off our red velvet. I'll keep you posted.

Loves and kisses

~e