Adios

Hello bloggie buddies!  I started a new blog called jaimiesjargon.blogspot.com.  I sorta wanted to get away from the egocentric title of just-jaimie, and also the hyphen annoyed me.  Anyway a lot of words for something not that important.  Basically what I'm trying to say is that this blog is dead and I am now working on a new one. Hopefully this one will be a little bit more accurate as to who I am and what I am about.  It's still hard to identify life accurately through words, but maybe this time around will be a little bit better.


Loves!

Me gusta los pinguino

Remember how I watched Dora the Explorer one morning in Mexico? And remember how Dora taught me how to say, "I like the penguin" in Spanish? Well guess what, later that night my friends were ecstatic when they found me these little suckers at the market -

Yep, that's right. Penguin cupcakes. I told the cashier "me gusta los pinguinios" as I bought them and she laughed and nodded. Basically what this means is that she understood me. One star for awesomeness right there please. And get this, the next day I went to the zoo and asked if they had any penguins at the gift store by saying, "donde esta los pinguinios?" The cashier answered in the negative and said "no tengo pinguinos."

I think this means I am bilingual now. Thank you Dora.

Beautiful Mazatlan Mexico

I was surprised at how fast I fell in love with Mexico. My good friend used to tell me about how the culture there was extremely friendly and loving, but I had no clue truly how great the people were until I arrived. Everybody went out of their way to talk to us and be polite. Part of me says this was because we were the "rich" American tourists, but the other part thinks that people are just straight up good.

True Mazatlan has its share of crime and drug wars, but with our resort being in the golden zone, I felt 100% safe. I think that the people realize that their work and economy depends on the tourists coming in and being protected. This being said, it was the perfect trip because the town was deserted due to warnings from the US about traveling there mixed with a bad economy. This all resulted with us getting things for very cheap prices and having catered service. I would do it again in a heartbeat as well as recommend others to go. I'll blog more about our fun services and experiences, but for now here are a few ocean pics from the balcony at the Royal Villas Hotel.

Loves

I hablo Spanish?

Hello bloggie buddies!
Guess what? I'm in Mexico!!! The pictures probably won't come in until I get home next week though. The pictures will also be few as I forgot the battery charger for my camera. That's ok, it's not like i am a good photographer anyway.
So far while being in Mexico, I have found that 9th grade Spanish was actually somewhat beneficial. I was able to ask what my cab drivers name was, if he lived in Mazatlan, and tell him that he was a good driver.
Another big Spanish help was watching Wonder Pets this morning on Nick Jr. in Espanol. From this I learned how to say -

I like the penguin
Hedgehog
I planted the cactus
and Teamwork

My goal is to find a little shop and ask if they have a penguin for sale and tell them that I like the penguin all in Spanish. Maybe I will come home with some cool glass figurine now? I'm crossing my fingers.

Loves!!!

Awkward Massage

Get this, yesterday I went with my 3 bff's to UCMT to get a massage before we all leave on our Mexico trip tomorrow. To start out, the masseuse kept chewing on something that sounded like hard candy. Nothing like trying to relax with "crunch crunch crunch" in your ear. But whateve, I tried to let it go. Just as I was starting to get used to the crunching, I notice that the pressure on my beck kept getting lighter and lighter. After a few minutes of crappy pressure, I opened my eyes and looked up at the woman giving the massage only to see that she was asleep! I just laid on the table looking at her wondering what I should do. Finally I made an "uh" noise and she woke up and started to massage just as if nothing had happened. Did I bust up laughing periodically throughout the rest of the massage? You better believe it! Awkward? I think so.

And to all of your mommies out there, happy mothers day. You know what I love about mothers day? That my dad still gives me chocolate even though I don't have kids. Woot!

Loves yo

The walrus who sat on me

I have frequent shark dreams. Usually in these shark dreams I am swimming in the ocean and then the next thing I know, I'm looking face to face with a shark. It's awesome! Well last night I had a walrus dream that was a little less thrilling. In this dream, I was sailing on the ocean when all of the sudden a crazy bad storm hit. I fell off of the boat, swam to shore for what seemed like forever, and when I finally reached land I was exhausted. Now when I say exhausted, I mean the can't move, can't speak, can't do anything type of exhaustion. So when I tried to move every fiber of my being to get out of Mr. Walruses way, I couldn't because I was just plain old stuck. So what does the walrus do next? Well the little bugger sat on me. And in the dream, I was just like, "whoa, this sucks. I can't move at all." And then I proceeded to wait out the walrus sitting on me. But then panic sets in. How long can a walrus survive sitting in one place? What happens if I don't get food or water? Could he eat me? Now you think the dreams about the crazy ax man murderer chasing you are scary? Try having something that can weigh as much as 2,700 lbs holding you hostage. When I woke up it took me the better half of 5 minutes to not feel extreme walrus anxiety.

This dream may go down as the most bizarre dream so far in my existence.

I drew you an amazing artistic picture of the horrific creature so that you could have a visual of what this experience was like for me.

Done and Done

I was ready to sit down last week and write this big long "school is finished and I am a grown up now" post, but then I told myself that I couldn't blog until I cleaned my room. And then it took me like a week to get the gumption to clean it (am I divulging to much about my cleaning habits? probably). Anyway, this sorta resulted in the fire dying about the school thing. But with that being said, I am done. Finally done. Yep yep yep, I'm a grown up now.

So what does all of this mean? It's SUMMER! Oh. My. Heck. I'm excited! My Summer plans?

Asian week in Utah (I'll explain later)

Mexico

Asian week again

A little Boston for a couple of weeks

A little Montana for the 4th of July

Apartment hunting in Riverton (leaving Utah Valley and crossing my fingers that SLC will be better?)

Lots and lots of lesson planning

Reading

And what am I reading? Well, this.

So far my Summer list consists of A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations both by my man Charles Dickens, A little Leaves of Grass (one can never get to much Walt), My Antonia (maybe this will be the year I actually finish it?), and last but not least, the oh so famous Gilead. I also plan to read The Outsiders soon because that is the first unit I will teach as an 8th grade teacher. Gosh, I am going to be an 8th grade teacher. Wow, it still seems so surreal just typing it. But definitely a good surreal at that.

Do you have any fun Summer plans and a stack of books to read?

I quit

Today is the last day that I work at Lehi Legacy Center as a swim instructor. I quit my job two weeks ago because I wanted to spend my summer writing lesson plans and getting ready to teach 8th grade English. Oh yeah, did I ever tell you that I am going to be an English teacher this fall at Vista Heights Middle School? I might have forgotten to mention that small detail on here, oops! Anyway, I will miss teaching swimming lessons and especially miss stealing towels from the lost and found. From this picture it looks like I came out with about 16 towels (give or take, some are my own). Awesome. If you see any here that look like yours, let me know. They probably are if you swim at Lehi Pool and left a towel ;)

Loves

Shark Post - duh da. duh da. duh da duh da duh da

I have a freakishly abnormal obsession over the idea of swimming with great white sharks. If I could hitch a ride to South Africa and get in a cage where a bunch of these sharkies were trying desperately to eat me but couldn't because I was in a cage, my dreams would come true. So of course if I wake up at 1:30 in the morning and can't go back to sleep, I go straight for the shark videos on YouTube. Here are some of my favorites with my man Michael Rutzen. Cool stuff

Now if I could be a shark tamer like this guy, that would be pretty awesome too.

Loves

Some Easter Flowers For You

This Easter season I feel overwhelmed by the beauty of the world around me. How miraculous God's creations are.

Happy Easter :)

Loves

I like to take long walks on the beach

Yeah yeah yeah, I don't care if it's a little cliche - I still dig the beach walks.

And yes I did take this picture, thank you very much.

Tonight I was sitting outside on the grass looking at the ocean. It's such an eerie feeling to be so small and to see such a large magnitude of vast dark water that lies beyond the safe sandy shore. To realize that the edge of where I am standing marks the place where the sea begins. To know that the ocean covers more of the earth than the land. How small and insignificant we are in this big world that we live.

Tired Burrito

I'm tired. But I ate a burrito today. Awesome.

You know you gotta question the nutritional value of something when it's bigger than your arm.
In other news, I watched kids and did homework all day. And I sat behind Mitt Romney at church. I believe in America. And The Weepies. They are a cool band. The end.

Loves

As I sit here and think

Clearly I am avoiding homework once again. Clearly. But it's days like today that cause a girl to stop and think about what's important in life. So let me explain to you my inner reflections by first laundry listing my day:

1. Watched kids that I love

2. Watched kids that I love on the trampoline

3. Watched kids that I love at the beach

4. Brought a kid home for a nap

5. Attempted to go surfing and was advised by my man Mitt Romney that the waves were breaking to close to the shore and to avoid surfing if I wanted to keep my back intact

6. Body surfed instead

7. Ate dinner at the burger lounge

8. Answered my nanny kids question that yes, I am indeed single because I have not decided if I want to marry a man with a mustache or not (he's into mustaches lately and trying to figure out if he should have one when he grows up. he just figured that I am probably having the same dilemma. Cute)

9. Read Splat the cat

10. Put kids to bed

Honestly, today was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And then I thought about what I am doing with my life. Why is it that I choose to be a teacher and give up this life of luxury? It is simply this, I want to do something more with my life than sit in a pretty house and have nice things. I want to be a contributor to society. I sort of weigh it like, I could help 1 or 2 kids grow up or I could help many kids grow up every single day. If I can be a positive influence for good in the life of that one student who needs a helping hand, I will be satisfied. I guess I just realize that I can do more good being a teacher than being a nanny. And that is why I chose to teach.

Loves

Meet Liv

Yep, I named my camera Liv. Not only do I admire Liv Tyler's modern elegance, but if I were to declare a global objective for this blog it would be to not be afraid and live. It just seemed fitting to name my adventure capturer accordingly. Now only if I knew enough about my new friend to actually do it some justice. *sigh*

Ok ok, enough with the muck already. Onto bigger and better things. I am currently at the nanny fams in sunny California listening to the breaking ocean waves mixed with some Regina Spector while bloggin. Awesome. So as you know I was a little bummed when I found out I had missed The Bahamas and Hawaii all in one day, but coming to California and finding out that I was being sent to my favorite beach home ever made up for the sorrow. Meet my casa :)

Pretty little house isn't it? I love it. I love the spanish tile, the white walls and furniture, the clean linens, the fluffy couches, the big yard. If I could imagine Heaven, it would be this house mixed with all of the people that I love and never ending Nelson's Frozen Custard. Now I told you a lot that I love about this house, but I haven't told you the best part. The most magical thing about this place are the two surfboards located upstairs and the beach that is right out my back door. What am I going to do every morning before I go nanny? You guessed it.

Well blog friends, I talk big but really my reality is that I have 100 homework assignments to do this week. I shouldn't be on here but I really wanted to post some pics up for my mama and share a few thoughts. But reality sets in and I gotta do 800 years of homework and hangout with the homework boyfriend that I have been trying so hard to neglect. You know, I talk about how this place would be Heaven under the right conditions but having to do homework and not being able to enjoy it fully is like, well you know.

Girl Meets Camera

There comes a time in ones life where they realize that they don't have kids or a husband so therefore, they are perfectly justified to spend $450 on a camera. I mean, its not like I am a dude who got chewed out by Pres Monson for buying toys instead of getting married (See here for more details about Pres Monson). So yeah, it's totally legit for me to buy a camera, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too as I purchased my little Canon Rebel T1i (priced at $700 from Costco, but I am a big believer in buying stuff for cheap off of ksl). Here it is, see!

What this means is that this is the last time you will ever see pics taken off of my little mac. Woot! It also means that when I go to La Jolla on Friday, I will actually have a chance to capture some of the beauty around me and hopefully at least give it SOME justice this time around.

So I've been thinking about a few names for my new baby. I figure just because I don't have my own kids doesn't mean that I have to be left out of the naming world, right? I mean I have a few names up my sleeve that I like that need to go somewhere because they are just that good. Some names I'm considering (in no particular order) are:

1. Lola

2. Rogue - Like off of x-men. My camera would definitely be a yobbo (British term for thug) with a name like Rogue! Woot!

3. Kirk

4. Ramona

5. Liv - I really like Liv Tyler. And also the name is like the word live which means to exist. What better name to give this little sucker than something that symbolizes life. Yeah, deep.

6. Ferngully

7. Xavier

8. Rufas - The name of the first dog I ever owned. One day he got lost and we spent all day driving in the car to find him. It wasn't until years later that I found out my parents took him to the vet to be euthanized because he bit a neighbor kid in the butt.

9. Gretta (thank you hippyhames.com for that suggestion)

Don't worry folks (because I know you are sitting on the edge of your chairs), the name results will be posted later once I have reflected deeply about this issue.

I hope all of you are having a terrific Sunday. I know I will be looking forward to some family dinner and dinking around with (insert camera name here).

Loves

Oh yeah, oh yeah

It's Friday night and i'm at the nanny fams. Awesome. Ok, maybe not so awesome. But one good thing about tonight is that instead of doing homework, I may have found the coolest blog ever. Eeeever. This is it. If you get a chance, hop on over to her street art page followed by the about me page. Make sure to watch the movie about her at the bottom of the about me page (and here are some more abouts for your enjoyment in case you didn't get enough. aBoUt. AbOuT. aBOUt). Now if you don't feel as inspired as I do from this chick, then well maybe you're just not cool. maybe. Ok fine, you are still cool if you don't like her. I guess.

Next piece of information. Last week my nanny family said to me "Jaimie, instead of going to California this year, we might take a boat trip to The Bahamas." Well this was ok for me, I went to The Bahamas last year and loved it. Remember?

(The boat. Aka, yacht)

Or how about when I did this in The Bahamas

Ok so then this week the nanny fam says, "You know, instead of The Bahamas, we might go to Hawaii." Me, in Hawaii??? Yes please! I've never been to Hawaii before. I pictured that it would be something like this -

(Macs are cool little toys, yeah?)

But alas, I got word yesterday that the final destination really is just California. Now usually California would be pretty cool, but when you compare it to The Bahamas or Hawaii, its a little bit of a let down. I guess beggars can't really be choosers though. I will enjoy seeing chief Julie down in La Jolla and hopefully snapping some pictures of the beautiful masterpieces of food that she makes.

So bloggie buddies, who do you read that I should know about? Any favs that you have?

Loves

Pink

I dyed my hair pink because I wanted it to match my new blog colors. Plus, I never went through a rebellious teenage stage and I just wanted to make up for it. I mean, who wouldn't want pink hair?!?

So, whatcha guys think? Hawt, right?!?

Ok so I'm sure by now all of you who know me are like, "What the flip Jaimie" because lets face it, I am just not hardcore enough to do something that extreme, cool, and punk rockish. What really happened is that this -

Turned into this

-->

Yes, the Spanish Fork Festival of Colors turned my hair pink! After 9 hair washes, a lot of prayers, and a couple breakdowns about not wanting to go to church with pink hair, I still have pink hair. My best option? To embrace the look for the next couple of days and hope that it eventually washes out.

Now remember how I told y'all that I would post pictures about James Ray, the man with the shady name? Well I got one for ya.

So is he a keeper??? Unfortunately, regardless of if you think he is a hottie or not (I mean, from this photo who wouldn't be attracted to any last one of us here), I had to pull the reigns back on Mr. Ray. He was moving a little bit to fast for me and I am just not quite ready to jump into a relationship. Sad panda. But I must say that I was impressed by his skilz to pick me up and put me on his shoulders during all of the color throwing chaos. That was attractive.

Now my dear bloggie buddies, any suggestions as to what to do about my hair? I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to seek out professional help on this one.

Peace and loves

Konichiwa and Sushi

I made sushi on a date with a new boy. See -

Yes, I stepped out on my homework boyfriend for a night to go on a date with a boy I met last Sunday. I always get so nervous going on dates with new men. Nervous enough that I asked my friend Matt, "Matt, will you just marry me so that I can stop going on first dates?" I don't know how he could refuse a proposal like that. The boy doesn't know what he's missin! Anyway, I had legit reasons to be a little freaked out on this date. When I was telling Matt about it, he asked me what his name was. Of course I didn't realize the significance of his name James Ray but Matt pointed this out to me. To make matters worse, on the date James Ray talked about going camping at Death Valley sometime. Like I want to go camping at Death Valley with James Ray? Yeah right!

Ok but in all honesty any guy who teachers me how to make sushi is at least worth a second date. I think. Well, we shall see as tomorrow is the Hare Krishna Color Festival and he is coming along. I have to say one thing though, the boy met me on Sunday, texted me on Monday, asked me out for Tuesday, wanted to go on a date on Thursday and another on Friday. A little obsessive? I think so. But don't worry, I'll post pictures after the color festival so that you can tell me what you think. So thanks in advance for that one blog friends ;)

And finally the last topic of discussion. I am meeting up with some Utah bloggers tomorrow morning just for the fun of it. And I have to say that I am so so so excited! It's not like I have a big cool blog or anything that makes me official enough to meet up with fellow bloggers, but I do love blogging. Woot woot!

Loves for bloggers and sushi.

Some of those Awesome Memories at Sundance

Not much beats a good time snowboarding with great friends. Sundance ski resort is a small little place but still big enough for a lot of lovin. And boy do I love me some good times on the mountain with my amigos. Here are a few scenes from the weekend. And be warned, pics of me actually making a normal face are few and far between with this bunch :)

The fruit in the above pic was used in a fruit fight where Chantel and I dominated against the outsiders (the outside of the car people).

And to end the picture gallery, here is our fun group of friends up on the mountain. It was a beautiful day for riding.

Sadly, my homework boyfriend will be occupying my time this week. Don't be surprised if this blog seems a little quiet. It's not that I don't love you, it's that Mr. Homework is a little bit demanding of my time. He's a little selfish like that, the jerk face.

I hope all of you have a terrif week. Loves and peace yo!

Date with Phil - A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age or wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only (Dickens, 1)."

I went on a date with Phil. Yes ladies, I do go on dates despite my previous post. ha! Ok so Phil is a guy that was in my church ward before I taught English in Taiwan. I haven't seen him for about 2 years now until we got together and decided to go see the play A Tale of Two Cities at the hale in SLC. And let me tell you that the Hale Center Theater in SLC is 10 times cooler than the one in Orem. Here is a pic that I stole from their website of the Hale so you can see how cool it looks:

I didn't really want to bust out my camera with Phil there because what would I say? "Hey Phil, I have this blog that I like to write stuff about my life on so can we take pictures even though I haven't talked to you for a couple of years?" Yeah, that's what I thought too.

Now you wouldn't think that Charles Dicken's work A Tale of Two Cities would make for a good musical, but it was very Les Miserables in the storyline and plot structure. The Hale did such a good job with the production that I basically bawled through the second half of the play. Phil had to lean over and say to me "It's ok Jaimie, the cute guy doesn't really die in real life."

Spoiler Alert - You see the trouble is that this man - Sydney (yes, handsome Sydney), a smart alec alcoholic and lawyer sacrifices his life to die for another. To die for the husband of the woman that he has loved for years but never got to hold and love himself. He switches places with the man she is married to who is to be hanged because of love. The fact that he sacrificed his life because he had this hidden love for this woman and her family is so beautiful and touching. The characters go throughout the story thinking that he is a drunkard screw up, but love him despite his flaws, yet they never expect the greatness that he is capable of because nobody does anything that selfless. Especially an alcoholic.

Gah, I get teary eyed just thinking about how touching this play was. I was surprised at how much I loved it. I think part of it is due to the fact that Charles Dickens is my favorite author of all time.

All in all, it was a good date :)

self diagnosis

I have diagnosed myself with androphobia, or the fear of men. So if some guy says, "Hey Jaimie, do you want go out?" I can reply with, "No thank you, I have a bad case of androphobia" and move on with life.

So this tactic was going fine and well until ehow had to go and get all psychological with me by saying that "While many phobias can be relatively harmless and easy to deal with, a fear of men can really hinder possibilities in life and inhibit many opportunities for happiness and success."

Uh, do you get where I'm going here? Ehow is telling me that this phobia might actually stop me from moving forward and having possibilities in life. Uh yeah, that is no bueno. So I've been working on it.

Some steps that have helped me combat man fear in this past month include -

1 - I went on a good snowboarding date. I went snowboarding with a legitimately nice boy that I didn't know all that well. Unfamiliar men sorta freak me out but this guy was awesome. Kudos for meeting new cute boys who enjoy listening to Ingrid Michelson, appreciate ihops all you can eat pancakes, and share in my love for the ski resorts.

2 - Paper roses from Michael. My dear friend michael made paper roses for all of the girls in our ward on Valentines and attached a cute little poem along with them. Sweet huh? But of course I lost mine before it ever made it home. Finding out about this tragedy, Michael hand delivered me another and visited with me for a good while at my house. It was nice to catch up with him because Michael and I were really great friends over the Summer.

This picture is called, "Look, Michael's rose. But where is Jaimie's head?"

Followed by "Nothing beats smelling a fake rose"

(I really try hard to give you guys visuals on all of the posts if you couldn't tell by now)

3 - I've gone on 5 dates with 3 different guys in the last month. That is good for me because I have been avoiding dating like the plague. Like seriously avoiding it. But I realized its time to get over my androphobia and face life head on.

And the last thing to help my man fear. Drum roll please.

4 - Dane Hess, my very best friend in Taiwan. We left the country on not so good terms, of course it was my fault. It had been a couple of years since I've seen him until last month. We got together as a group and went to a restaurant called "Africa" in SLC where we ate Etheopian food with our hands. Nothing beats getting down and dirty while eating food. Anyway, it was really really good to see him again. All of the awkwardness felt after our parting was gone and it was just joyous to see somebody that knows me so well and that I have had so much fun with during such a big part of my life. Here is Dane -

Just kidding. That is some squid on a stick.

Here's Dane

And

(sometimes I made him braid my hair. Not because I couldn't, but because it was more entertaining if he did it. But he doesn't know that so don't say anything)

So I guess the point of this whole blog is that - I've had my share of loser men in the past but that shouldn't stop me from recognizing the good ones that are in my life too. I do not need to be afraid of the unknown and can trust the future because the majority of people are good. And to all of the great guys in my life who are helping me defeat my androphobia, thank you.

Loves