guayaquil, ecuador

hooray, i'm going to ecuador! i'll be gone june 13-22. i'm headed down with odie and some friends. one of my main purposes in going is to see if i can find these houses that google images so nicely gave me upon searching for "guayaquil." do the houses really look like this?

either way, i'm pretty exicted. time to start brushing up on my spanish...

mrs. laura pressley

last weekend noelle and i went out to salt lake for little laura lamb's wedding. it was a beautiful wedding for a beautiful girl.

the festivities included a bachlorette party friday night, tons of shopping with noelle (banana republic has far better sales in utah than dc), the temple sealing and the reception. though i'm lacking in reception photos, suffice it to say it was beautiful.

congrats, laura!


let the shopping begin...

noelle made this cute shirt for laura

we were all roommates once. turns out now i'm the only one not married.

beautiful

the girls

introducing...

Lest you think I’ve intentionally neglected my dear blog, tis not so. I have a perfectly good reason as to where all of my time has gone, including the time usually set aside for such blogging endeavors. And that reason has a name.

It’s Odie Ovard.

I’d like to introduce my dear Odie. Some of the basic stats include the following:
*His full name is DeWayne Spencer Ovard
*He is from Fredericksburg, VA
*He was born 2 February 1982
*He attended James Madison University
*He is the fifth of seven children
*He served a mission in Hawaii

Now, on to the fun details:
*He can play just about any sport freakishly well
*He’s amazing with computers
*He loves chick flicks (don’t hate me, Odie)
*He always loses at thumb war with me
*He has great break dancing skills
*He has an infectious laugh and shares it often
*He first met me at a Paulo Nutini concert last September

And most importantly, he and I have the best time together. I pretty much (along with my dear friend, Taylor) prayed him into dating me. No really. I thought he was adorable and in Thanksgiving started praying that he’d ask me out. Prayers really work my friends…

Here we are at JMU last weekend, my first time ever visiting.


Odie's favorite breakdancing move


The kite festival in DC


Kite festival part deux


I love this picture for two reasons. One I love that headband and two I love connect four. And I love Odie, so I guess that's three reasons why this is a great picture.

california

last weekend we (tyler, justin, taylor and i) went to san francisco. as some of you may remember, this was my first time visiting california.

some of the weekend activities included a trip down lunbard street (scary getting up there!), alcatraz (by far the highlight), a boat toar, walking on golden gate bridge, eating at fisherman's wharf, perusing sasilito and visiting chiatown.

enjoy the photos!

sidenote-we flew virgin to get out there. i HIGHLY recommend them. each seat has a computer screen in front of it that you can play games, watch tv, movies, order food, IM anyone on the plane, etc. basically it made the six-hour flight go by so quickly...


taylor looking pretty happy for being in a jail


al capone. look at how nice he seems...


the view of san fran from alcatraz


tay and me on our way over


wow. this is one sad looking picture


me in chinatown right as i got ripped off buying a t-shirt


i loved this wall


the boys on our way to alcatraz


me and justin


and last, but not least, the bridge

request for help

my dear sister, tabitha, has decided to do a walk for charity in may. below is an email she sent out. it's for such a worthy cause and i'm proud of her for getting involved. if any of you would be kind enough to donate, the links to do so are listed below. THANK YOU!

TABITHA'S EMAIL:
As some of you may know, I am participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on May 3rd and May 4th. This walk will cover 39 miles during a two-day period.

You may be asking yourself why on earth would I willingly offer to walk 39 miles in two days? Because I have a mother, and a sister and a husband. Because breast cancer is a disease that can affect any of these people in my life and in yours. And it doesn’t just affect women, but men too. The key to fighting this disease is early detection and the purpose of this walk is to increase awareness and help provide mammograms and other appropriate medical care.

So now the big question: Why am I contacting each of you? Because I need your help. As a society, we need to raise awareness of this issue. This walk will have several thousand participants. We will begin in downtown DC and will cover 39 miles walking through the city and into Virginia and Maryland. Volunteers will be on hand to make sure the event goes smoothly and family members will be on the sidelines cheering us on. To be able to participate, I have pledged to reach the minimum requirement of $1800. I cannot do this without your help. Please support me in this effort as I join hundreds of other women, men and children as we do what we can to put a stop to this terrible disease.

I have created a website titled “My Avon Walk” and you can visit it at http://www.walkingforcharity.com. I will be regularly posting my progress as I train for this event and as I continue to gather support. Please visit it often and feel free to make comments in the journal section and let your friends know as well.

If you would like to donate to my walk, just click on the “donate here” link found on my website (or click here: http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2008/WashingtonDC?px=3855800&pg=personal&fr_id=1430&et=Esvx26W6N-6c23p6HzT02w..&s_tafId=253816). There is no minimum donation and anything you can contribute will be very appreciated. And don’t forget that charitable donations are a tax benefit to you as well.

just finished...

it's amazing. after kite runner, i wasn't sure how hosseini's second book would fair, but it's just as amazing as the first one. but the storyline doesn't play off of the first book at all, which i wasn't expecting. it's such a gripping book (i finished it in two days, which rarely happens for me). any explanation i could give would only insult the quality of the book, so please, go read it and see for yourself.

new years

new years 2007. out with the old and in with the new. to kick off the new year, we headed up to nyc. the gang included my now former roommate, rachel (i moved out last weekend to a new place), brandon and jason.

ah, the beginning of our trip. this is rachel and me in the apartment we stayed in (thanks, adam).


our plan of attack was to stay at times square. we got there at 5 and it was already packed. to kill the time, we sent text messages to this big screen that was in front of us. this one is compliments de moi.


brandon asked to take this picture on the subway. i was thinking he had an artistic eye for the great colors in the frame. was not so. turns out i was sitting in the priority seating for those with disabilities. but you have to admit, it's still a cool shot.


everytime i'm in nyc i meet up with jamar. isn't he cute? this is us eating dinner at applebees.

i loved this clock outside the restaurant.


this is us around 7:30 or so, getting ready to leave. yes, leave. we had all intentions of staying until midnight. but then reality set in. we would have had to stand in our section (they block you off in sections) for seven hours without going to the bathroom (once you leave you can't get back in) and on top of that, it was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G. what would you do? go get dessert like we did? precisely. it was a valiant effort though, guys.


the things you do to amuse yourself when you're cold and bored...


heading to times square they were giving out full throttles to keep people awake. thanks, new york, for the boost.


post leaving times square, we went to galaxy diner to get hot chocolate then to little italy to get dessert. it was by this time that i was dying and tried to take a power nap, but to no avail. why is it that i can stay up til 2 a.m. easily but the one night i have to stay awake til midnight i feel like i'm 85?

after little italy we headed back to times square. it was swarming even more so with people and we couldn't see the ball drop. BUT we were in central park which was fun to watch the fireworks.

welcome, welcome, 2008!