Extended Education

So it's not a secret. I've been a little under the weather the last few weeks. It gave me a little time to make some new friends. Basically, my new best friend is really small, and white and makes a really big difference in a girls life.

This post might be a little odd, so bare with me.






This post is yes, about Nasal Spray. It literally was amazing how one minute I would be choking,

starving for breath, dying

unable to breath. And then you spray this little piece of amazing into your nostrils....hopefully in a private, desolate location cause its kinda awkward to do, and BLAM you can breath. So I did a little research. I'm a nerd. I love to learn. So I'm going to share what I learned with you. This is how this little bottle works:

"If your nose is stopped up, these medicines will let you breathe again. They do this because they include an agent that constricts the blood vessels in your nose. When you're ill, these vessels become bloated and swollen. When this happens mucus starts flowing freely, and this combination makes it hard to breathe. When the nasal spray constricts the blood vessels, it sends a signal to the nasal membranes to stop producing all that extra mucus and the pathway to clear breathing is unobstructed."

Read more: How Does Nasal Spray Work? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4673284_nasal-spray-work.html#ixzz1BSYtrTha

Breath easy y'all.

Swiss Army Romance

Dear Chris Carrabba,

I was In the Venue on Tuesday, and I saw you from a distance. Don't take this the wrong way, but you are....

extremely attractive....

So attractive in fact that I didn't mind that it was only 5 degrees outside and we had to park six or so blocks away.



So attractive I actually made it through the complete total train wreck of the Steve guy that opened right before you. I try to never talk bad about people, but this boy was terrible.
You might not know this, so don't let it get to your head, but you have an amazing talent for singing. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that you sang all the songs on the Swiss Army Romance record




as well as some of my favorites... Stolen being the number one of the night.

I would marry you, yes.

(Did I just say that?)

Thank you for coming to Salt Lake City and putting on an AMAZING show.

Sincerely,

Your devoted Fanny

(Don't take that the wrong way, my nick name is Fanny)

P.S. Just because we have such an open relationship, where we tell each other how we really feel about things... You probably have every right to be jealous when you find out I'm going to see Joshua Radin in March.

The Great Divorce

First Official Meeting....


Tonight was the first meeting of our official book club.

We are going to read this fabulous book to the left and report back on it in a month. We could possibly eat small cucumber sandwiches and wear funny hats....that's still up in the air.


I'm also happy to report we gave people titles.



Melanie: President

Tiffany: Vice President of Operations

Kathryn: Quality Assurance (you know helping us censure out inappropriate material in our novels.. well and mostly helping me stop from saying inappropriate things. she did this successfully twice tonight)

Nick: Secretary. He's really excited about this role.

John: Treasurer. He actually has a better attitude than Nick.

On a side note. I'm not sure how many of you have heard about John Goddard. He's an amazing man, and one of my new role-models. When he was 15 (its about almost 11 years too late for me to start out that young), he wrote a list of 127 things he wanted to do in this life. He's actually almost accomplished all of them. Some of the items are so fascinating. It's inspired me to actually finish creating my bucket list and seriously start checking off items. I'm attaching a link to his life list: http://www.johngoddard.info/life_list.htm

MisHaP #1 of 2011

Warning: Cement is slippery

So...let's say I've started my triathlon training again. Nothing some weight lifting, cycling and a little of those precious swimming laps wont whip into shape.
Yesterday was Tuesday.
Tuesday is lap swimming day. I got a new swimming suit for Christmas so I had to put it to good use. I thought it was really random that no one was in the pool when I got it. I also thought it was really weird the water was so cold

After noticing for like the 20th time, after the 20th lap that people would come in and out of the pool room but no one got in the pool, I wondered if maybe I had forgot to wear my swimming suit. I wasn't wearing my contact so it took me a really long time to realize that there was a sign posted by the pool. It read:

Sorry for the inconvenience, maintenance currently being done to pool

oops.....

BBC Top Books

The BBC apparently says most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. Apparently I'm not as big of a book worm as I originally thought I've only finished 26/100. That's a solid F. I guess I know what one of my new years resolutions is....

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen YES
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien YES
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte LOVED IT! Read it many times
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling YES
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee YES
6 The Bible SOME OF IT--ONE DAY
7 Wuthering Heights
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell HATED IT
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES
11 Little Women - Louisa M. Alcott- LOVED IT!
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare SOME OF THEM
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier LOVED IT!
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien YES
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger DOES THE MOVIE COUNT?
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell DIDN'T FINISH
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams STARTED IT
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck SAW THE MOVIE
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol SAW THE MOVIE
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame YES
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens LOVED IT!
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen OF COURSE
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen BEST JANE AUSTEN EVER!!!
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis YES
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne OF COURSE
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell YES
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown YES
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery DEFINITELY
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood O
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan SAW THE MOVIE
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert X
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen OF COURSE!
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck THE GIANT REMINDED ME OF MY FAMILY W/ PETS
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas STARTED IT SAW THE MOVIE
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett SO SO MANY TIMES
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath LOVED IT!
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker STARTED IT
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White CLASSIC!
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad LOVED IT!!!
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint Exupery IN FRENCH
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas LOVED IT!
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare ODDLY, NO
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo STARTED IT

Christmas Celebrations

Its been a really l o n g time since my last post. Since I'm taking a huge leap and taking more than one day off of work, I finally have some times to get to the creative side of life. We had a fun little evening the other night when my family discovered what the application "Photo Booth" on my mac does.







We had a little chuckle on this one..... something about resembling those little house elves from Harry Potter.


I told them


to look

gangster....


hmmm

the

"DeWitt Gang"













Merry Christmas from the deWitts!

PS. We got to talk to Nicki yesterday. Not that we are counting down but she comes home on February 22nd. She sounded so happy and told us we were being to trunky, she has a lot of work she wants to do. Which makes sense since we was just called to be a trainer for the 3rd time, and is now learning sign language for her last transfer!

Ode to Home Depot

dedicated to sarah, and the rogers, and all those who doubt, with hopes that they too one day will appreciate the beauty of HD....

mock me if you dare, but i love Home Depot. within those walls

are endless possibilities...






you can buy wood to make decks and chairs, rocking chairs,






the wood smells amazing too.






i love to walk past the door section






and open all the doors, its like opening the door to a new opportunity.






in the garden center, you can find seeds.






seeds bloom into things.






nails, and screws and hard cement glue hold the minds creations together.






and really...can anyone actually count the number of paint choices?

Twelve Ways I Love Christmas

I hope Sammy appreciates my spin off of the "Twelve Days of Christmas," because we all know how I feel about that song...haha! 

Christmas is one of those special times where every moment is precious.  Time seems to speed up while moving in slow motion all at the same time.  As we move towards the beginning of a new year, I wanted to pause and list the Top Twelve moments from the 2010 DeWitt Christmas.  These are in no particular order.

1: The Christmas Tree

Every year we trek into the mountains and find the perfect tree.  I have to say, this year we did not fail!  Cutting down the tree is one of my favorites.  The sleepy drive to the mountains; the crisp air; rangers with santa hats and horses with sleigh bells....The only thing missing from making it perfect was Nicki and her ability to start mischief instantaniously.

2. The Count Down

Years ago my mom made this beautiful advent calendar and every year we put it up to start counting down the days till celebration time.  Notice the ordament missing on the 4th?  Nicki and I just might have had a slight tuffle in our past about who got to put that day up....

3. Ma Mere

There is no Christmas without my mom.  Literally.  She started working towards Christmas months and months ago.  She makes the house always seem a little brighter, warmer and more full of love.  Her laugh is constant and contagious.  It helps too that she is in love with Christmas.  As soon as the kids are home for Thanksgiving all the lights go up and plans start brewing. 

4. The Phone Call

Yay!! We got to talk to our wonderful missionary on Christmas Day!  Currently she is on the Oak Harbor island with her companion and two other elders.  The work is slow, but she is steadfast and pushing forward.  Hearing her voice after over 100 days brought tears to all of our eyes.  I'm so greatful every day for the wonderful example Nicki is to our family and for the sacrafices she is making to serve the Lord.

5.  Sammy

Stylish, seriously funny, and sweet all add up to my little sister Sammy.  She keeps the family on our toes with her bubbly personality and spunky style.  I can't believe they don't sell bright neon green high top converses in stores... trust me I looked for-EV-er to try and find her a pair for Christmas.  I'm so proud of all the amazing things she has done in such a short 16 years.  Currently she is the #2 student throughout her entire highschool.  Way to go sugar!

6. Sarah Jean

Sarah Jean has been my an amazing light in my life!  We have so much fun together and go on so many adventures.  Our last biggest idea was to take my Christmas gift down to St. George and visit Grandma Amy.  We can proudly say we did it in one afternoon and had a blast.  I'm so grateful for a friend like her to
add fun to each day.

7. LOVE

I just love how during this time of year everyone is just a little bit more loving.  People go out of there way to give.  I just wish we could spread some of the love, the love, the love....

8. Papa

Dad is hilarious.  He has a great sense of humor that he carries into all of our activities.  This Christmas was no expectiation.  We were laughing so hard all the time.  I love going to the gym with him and was so excited to be able to go to a spin class with him.

9. Food, Food, Food

Need I say more than FOOD!?!

10. The Animals

Angle and Kita definitely keep us entertained.  My favorite thing in the entire world is when Sammy leaves the living room and Kita attacks Angel.  Angel frantically stands up, panting hard and avoids making eye contact with everyone in the room.  As much as we all sometimes have a hard time being patient with our sweet dog, we really do love her. 

11. Snow Shoeing

It was so fun to traverse the wild, mountain side with my ENTIRE family.  We had so much fun and mom totally rocked it.  The day was perfect and warm.  I'm pretty sure it was the start of a lot of outtings. 

12. The Gospel

So much of the happiness I experience everyday comes from the gift of the gospel in my life.  I'm grateful everyday for all the blessings it has brought to my life and for my family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! This year is the year... lets make it the best one yet. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

The holiday season has officially begun....starting with the moment that my family and I went to cut down our Christmas tree (I will blog about this as well).  But now I'm back in Provo and far far away from the DeWitt Christmas House.  So my roommate Sarah and I decided to turn our apartment into "Christmas Land."

 

Believe it or not we got all of this from the dollar store.  To be honest, the Dollar Tree has become my new best friend.  The entire time we were there I felt like I child in a candy store...You mean I can get this for a dollar?!?!  We had a ton of fun decorating the place.

 

Hopefully, all of the decorations will be appreciated... ;) 

Breath of Fresh Air

Location: Colorado
Attendants: The Fam
Activity: Fun, Fun, Fun

Does it even matter what you do when you are with the people you love? Today I did the usual standard items one finds in the day-to-day agendas. Got up, after much proding from my sister, her cat and the dog. Grocery store, cooking, cleaning...and some serious mall time. Sounds routine right? Wrong. Anything with my family is fun. Seriously. My sister and I try to see how much we can annoy the other all day long, and trust me my parents love it just as much as they did when we were 8 and 3. There is nothin like family in this world.

Also, I went running today. This was an exciting, awesome moment in my day. I have been sick for the last month. Bronchitus sick. I got to a point where I swore I was probably never going to be able to do anything but get out of bed, go to work, get back in bed. Oh and eat. I was still able to eat a lot, especially fatty, sugary unhealthy items. And today I broke that, in beautiful Colorado I went running. I only coughed maybe twice. I feel great even now six hours later. I'm so excited to double my distance tomorrow, maybe throw in some weight-lifting or pilates. I have planned out "The 2010 Schedule of Pain" and its awesome. I'll post another blog with details, but I'll give you a few hints: many triatholons, a couple centuries, Ragnar and maybe a half-marathon are included. I just need to figure out when exactly I'm going to find time to train and where I'm going to get the race entry fees from.

Today

Today I remember I had a blog! Maybe I should start blogging more :)

So I decided to start blogging today. I have these random thoughts that sometimes I want to share. I was reading Amanda's blog earlier and was inspired. Thanks, Amanda.

Really, I wanted to share a fact. I have noticed that some of the best artists come from Canada. Wait before you start to dish out attitude about, "who am I to judge which bands are best?" I will clarify ... to me the best bands are ones that seems to speak to your soul at that certain moment you need it to touch you the most. Every person therefore will have different "best" bands at different times in their life. For me though....

Three Days Grace--I have days when Three Days Grace's anger and volume are exactly what I need to get me through the rest of the day. Today was one of those. TDG thank you for prompting todays juice.

Sarah McLaughlin--I went through a period where I was obsessed with her music in highschool. I can still sing you any one of her songs. I was watching tv and saw her commerical for the animals the other day.

Missy Higgins--Her song "Where I Stood" is absolutely inspirational. We all have had times in our life where we may have not been the person we want to be. I am going through a period in my life where I want to know who I am alone. Alas, I listen to her song at least once a day. I do believe it is my 2009 theme song. I am learning the piano to it. My roommate Jen is learning the guitar. Yes, we are going to start a band. You might also be interested in our new dance crew.

Bryan Adams--Oh baby, do I need to say more when it comes to love songs? Amen.

Michael Buble--I know no guy will admit this. But girls. Does any other male singer know how to make you swoon and sway? Anytime I'm in the mood to make a big dinner and surrond myself with people I love...I turn Mikey up and slide across the kitchen floor.

Nelly Furtado--I bet you didn't know she was Candian...I'm telling you...

Alanis Morissette--There are days when I still cry listening to her songs. My favorite movie is The Horse Whisperer. I have and will continue to watch the movie faithfully. The part at the county dance when Robert Redford asks his pretty red-head to dance to Alanis' song A Soft Place to Fall makes my knees weak without fail.

Shania Twain--Ok so you can mock me for this one later. Shania is family singer. Meaning when we play her in my house its filled with memories. She was every Saturday morning blaring out of the speakers while we scrubbed and organized and ultimately complained....She also was my first encounter with a live concert. My dad made chocolate waffles and we jammed out the entire way to the arena. It was a complete family bonding experience from the first time her voice filled our speakers.