Pura Vida

Typically, I try to disappear when Niels has big tests so he can really focus on doing well. Apparently I am a distraction.

While I usually jet off to Utah to see old friends or go into the office I remotely work for during his crazy weeks, an opportunity presented itself to go somewhere a little further and little more exotic than Zion during his finals week in April.

Some friends have asked me to join them as their nanny on their trip to Costa Rica. I have never been and have always wanted to go, so I am pretty excited. It will be a decent amount of work, as the kids are . . . um, well very energetic. But, they are very cute and say and do the most classic things that keep me laughing.

So while Niels is pounding the books, I'll be watching three kids, ages 8, 6, and 2. That's a fair trade, right?

Please let me know if you have been before, especially with children and if you have good ideas of things to do/see!

Dr. Niels

So he's not a doc quite yet. In fact, he has one semester down and only nine more to go. Yee-haw. Nonetheless, he was "cloaked" last night at his White Coat Ceremony.

What does that mean you ask? Why does he get one now before passing boards or anything? Well, we are both still wondering the same thing. Nonetheless, it was a cool event.

Apparently, the WCC is a relatively new ritual in some medical, dental, pharmacy, veterinary, podiatric and optomery schools that marks the student's transition from the study of preclinical to clinical health sciences.

Niels' mom and stepdad came in from Arizona to attend. We had a great time.

Class of 2012:



Dr. Niels:







Playing dress up never gets old. His coat, my robe . . .

When Hell Freezes Over

That’s right. That's when she said she’d come visit me in Las Vegas after moving back here form Utah last August . . . when it froze over.

So when it ever so randomly snowed 7 inches here in December, you better believe I told her to pack her bags. It was the most snow this city had seen in nearly three decades.

My 40 year-old best friend, Becca, (well she’s actually no longer 40, but I promised her I’d stop counting after then) pretty much hates Las Vegas to put it nicely. Typically, I am bombarded with the usual comments/questions when I meet people that are intrigued to learn I grew up here.

Nope, not Becca.

To her, my hometown is right up there with Galgotha. She even jokes sometimes about The church not being true here.

This all being said, she decided to follow-through on her afore mentioned oath, and came down with her husband to celebrate my quarter-life. They literally drove down and back, for one day. They are crazy/amazing and they made me feel pretty special.



I figured it was about time I finally saw one of the Cirque Du Solei shows. So we decided to see Mystere. I thought it was pretty good and entertaininig for a freak show. We ate at Maggiannos in the Fashion Show Mall beforehand. They also have one in SLC at The Gateway. We chose to do the family style set menu where there was a flat rate per person but you got to try all sorts of different dishes, appetizers, salads, etc. It was delish, I highly recommend.



Thanks for a great B-day guys. I hope we can do it again sometime, and hopefully I won’t have to wait for this place to freeze over again.

Snail Mail

In our rapid world of cyber relationships through SMS, Facebook, Google Chat, emails, etc. , It is always refreshing to get a good old fashion piece of snail mail. Or, 25 of them.

These puppies arrived on the eve my birthday. Each postcard had a memory or a funny saying on it.

Verdict: One of the best and most thoughtful presents ever.

C is for Cookie

I'm not much of a dessert fanatic, but I absolutely love a good, fluffy, moist (I hate that word, but I don't know how else to put it) sugar cookies. Mmm.

I finally got the best recipe for them, and made 100 of them to give out this week. Unfrtunately I was told by the author that I am not allowed to give it out. I might have already broke that rule, maybe even twice, but just maybe. . .

I fell in . . .

With Target's Valentine line this year. It really is true



I had been waiting for them to go on sale the day after tomorrow, but luckily a great friend surprised me with them for my b-day. 



Don't have these yet, but ever so appropriately for Valentines Day they will "Be mine."

Dear Google, your new app scares me.

Dear Google,

You have improved my quality of life beyond measure, as well as the lives of all the other eleventy million people that use your clever applications every day. However, I feel the need to tell you that your new application is rather creepy and a bit stalker-ish.

Don't get me wrong, I love how I don't have to go on a daily wild goose chase to see if any of the sites I follow have new content. Google Reader is indeed a wonderful, and a time-efficient beast.

I also appreciate how I don't have to pay some 4-1-1 operator in a over-crowded call center in Dubai to tell me a phone number/address that I need while I am driving/running errands. I am betting all odds that I have used Text Google at LEAST once daily for the past two years or so. It's pure genius.

Google Maps - need I say more?

You know, I really like how I can securely store all my passwords, my budget and other juicy details in Google Docs and then I can selectively invite other peeps to access them.

And above all, I relish the fact that when I haven't heard of something, or I need to know ANYTHING about everything possible, I can have the faith that "Googling it" will never let me down.

You have so many revolutionary tools. But really, why did you create this one? Are you trying to be helpful to parents that want to manage the whereabouts of their teens. Or, perhaps as one article hypothesized, you built this so people would know if their spouse was cheating.

Well, whatever it was that made the light bulb go off in some executive Google app planning meeting last year - I just thought you should know that it gives me the heebie jeebies.

Sincerely,

Susie Jensen