My Date w/ Stephenie Meyer

Hi All! Sorry for the delay in getting my story about Stephenie Meyer up but here it is!
So Monday evening Yvette (who is still yet to post anything...maybe we could all encourage her with a welcome, as she is new to blogging and says she's not sure what to write) and I headed to "The Tattered Cover" bookstore to try to get some good seats for the question and answer period that was happening before the signing.
Yvette and I

We thought leaving at 5:30 for the 7:00 event would be plenty of time!! WRONG!! We got there at about 5:45 and the place was PACKED! We sat at the back and could hardly see a thing! That was okay though cause we could still hear her and when it was time for the signing we got to be right in front of her! Anyway, during our hour + wait the people who work at the store kept making announcements. "She WILL NOT pose for you but you may take a picture as you pass by!", "She will ONLY personalize "ECLIPSE". Do not ask her to personalize "TWILIGHT" or "NEW MOON"! "You MUST get in line in order of your ticket number", etc. Now imagine these announcements being said in a very dictatiorial, snooty way and that's how they really sounded. I became a bit worried that Stephenie would be a bit snooty since all these announcements were snooty! But alas, I did not need to worry a bit! She was so down to earth, unaffected and real! She answered questions for about 20 minutes and then started signing books! It was hilarious to look around at all the people there. It was all teenagers with a few parents to chaperone...and then there was us...Yvette, two of her friends from Colorado Springs, Katie and Jill, our friends Tanya and Brecken and me. All of us in our 30's, all of us married with children and not one teenager with us! We were the adult mom groupies and felt like we stood out like a sore thumb! It was hilarious! But, the teens around us didn't seem to care and chit chatted with us about the books just like we were one of them (we felt so cool :-).
So, when it was our turn to go up to be herded through the line I started wondering if I should be cheesey and tell her that I was a BYU grad! Of course I'm my mothers daughter and couldn't resist! As she signed my books I mentioned I had gone to BYU too! She was soooo excited! She wanted to know when I was there, where I lived, if I took any English classes? Turns out we were there the same years, she lived in Heritage Hall, me in Helaman and no, other than English 101 (or whatever the number was) I didn't take any English classes! Anyway, she was really cool and it was fun to see that she hasn't let all this success go to her head! She's the type of person that would be fun to hang out with! Anyway, to any of you going to a signing any time soon, it's really fun and totally worth it! Say hi to Stephenie for me :-) Ha ha ha!
This is me (in the black) and Yvette (in the purple) talking to Stephenie. Tanya took the picture just as Yvette stepped in front of the camera! oops! :-)
Me talking to Stephenie about BYU!
Brecken and Tanya getting their books signed!

(So it just occured to me that the pictures of me are hilarious! You know the funny pictures you see of someone with a famous person only its the famous person and the person saying they are in the picture is way in the back, all you see is a head with an arrow pointing to it saying (that's me!) I'm totally LOL at myself because you can't tell that I'm even in any of the pictures!! However, I promise they are of me and I did meet Stephenie)

Introduce Yourself...Okay!

1. Full Name: Evonne Gayle “EGO” Ballard
2. Age: 30
3. Married/Kids?: Married to Beau, mother of two girls - Tatum: 2 ½ and Hayden: 1
4. Work: I'm a full time mom & work from home as a product coordinator for an up an coming company (watch for us October 1 in several Utah malls!)
5. Resides: West Jordan, Utah
6. Hobbies: I love being crafty – this used to include scrapbooking, but I’ve fallen out of the loop lately (need to work on that). In a former life I loved to read, but who are we kidding – I have two kids. I love spending time with the girls (both my own and my friends) and doing most anything as long as the company is right.
7. Loves: Stretch denim, VS lipgloss, 40% off at Roberts, the “Do Not Disturb” button on our home phone, nap time & my cute husband.
8. I am on this blog thanks to: Sharny P.
9. Dreams: I wish everyone didn’t live so darned far away from each other (family and friends included). I’d love for Beau to be able to work less strenuous hours and have more time for himself – the boy works so hard it’s unbelievable. I wish I could fit into my pre-wed jeans. Damn, I looked better than I thought I did. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.

I love this idea – thanks for the invite!

Halloween Boxes

I'm so excited to contribute! :) Here's the craft we FINALLY finished a little while ago. I love them!



All they are is a set of three paper boxes (I got mine at Joanne's). I painted them black and then sanded them just a bit and stained them for that more rustic look. I found some cute chipboard letters at Robert's (already orange) and stained those to match. Add some cute ribbon and fun accessories and there you have it!

I'm considering making a small box for Christmas gifts for neighbors (same idea, much smaller scale).

Can You Believe?

So, I am just amazed at you all. I am amazed that I am friends with some of the most amazing, creative, strong, and faithful women such as yourselves. I love reading our blog; every day there are new posts, new comments, and new good stuff! You all inspire me and make me smile every time I read something new. And it's amazing that most of us have never met, but still feel that kinship with eachother through our loves of mutual wonderfulness! Kudos to you all!



PS...anyone who has yet to buy a pair of Mary Jane Crocs...They are awesome! I know Ang has the baby blue ones, and Mandella has the green ones, but they are heaven sent! I love my Chocolate Brown ones! I bought mine at Extreme Footwear.com and they have free shipping on all their Crocs, Teva's and Reef's. Great to do business with! They have tons of colors and styles, more than you can find in the stores.

Also, some of my other loves currently are: Colgate Toothpaste with Scope, my tongue scraper (if you don't have one...GET ONE!!!), Scribblers Popsicles - they are the perfect size for toddlers, and a good little treat for adults, my curling iron...I know I've blogged about it before, but it rocks. It totally waves your hair and stays in for days. $40 at Sally's!, and of course, Secret Clinical Strength...if you are a sweater...it works awesome...I am on my third stick!

My Turn... About Me

1. Full Name: Jocelyn Anne Kohler Staller
2. Age: 29 (I have less than a month left before I have to say I'm 30!)
3. Married/Kids?: Married to Ben and no kiddos of our own yet
4. Work: Well, currently I'm a full time stay at home wife. Does that even count? Since we got back to the US I have been traveling here and there and so... no job. We'll see how much longer the status of my employment/unemployment lasts.
5. Resides: Round Rock (Austin), Texas
6. Hobbies: Blogging, Photography, Scrapbooking, Traveling, Reading (I have in the past few months really started loving to read again, thanks mostly to Twilight and Stephenie Meyer!)
7. Loves: Ben, my family, my friends, vacations, chocolate, baking, my TV shows (lots of reality TV in there), yummy shower gel and lotion, photos, Thai food, pedicures, fresh laundry, chocolate chip cookies, my Mom's cooking, a clean house, my afghan blanket, and I (like Julie mentioned I think) also love acrylic nails but haven't had them in a long time, I think it's time I get them again. And oh Angie... I am right there with having my towels folded a certain way. In fact I just folded a large load of towels this morning and they look great. OK this list has gone on long enough.
8. I am on this blog thanks to: Shannon
9. Dreams: To be a mom. To live closer to my family. To go on vacations.
10. Addictions: Blogs, Google, The computer (although without the internet it gets boring quickly), DVR (especially now that there is nothing on I can go back and watch my favorite dances on SYTYCD... don't tell anyone). You know you're addicted when something happens in life (away from the TV) and you want to push the back button to skip back 7 seconds! This happened to me a few times when driving and listening to the radio. Scary. And I have to say that my husband is addicted to NOT watching commercials. If I let the commercials play (which I often do when I'm watching TV and on the computer at the same time) he can't help himself from telling me to FAST FORWARD.
11. Biggest Dislikes: Who said dryer lint? Ha! That was funny! I agree about that, yuck. Also... Bugs! Sick I hate them all! I do not appreciate the bull frog hanging out on my hose nor the geckos that sometimes get IN my house. Get me out of Texas!!

I LOVE our BLOG!!

So today has been one of those 'no good, horrible, very bad days' for me! Can't really pin point why but for a lot of reasons and no reasons at all I'm just kind of bugged by most things today! So I came home from taking my 5 year old to have 4 of his 8 cavities filled (one of the reasons I'm bugged today, the COST of dental care, ahhhhhhhh, but that's a different story), anyway, I came home, turned on the computer, logged on to our website and read that Kacey is reading Twilight and LOVING it! INSTA SMILE!! It totally brightened my day! And then I read about the berries, and then Ang and Mandy's get to know you stuff and I'm totally back on having a good day (though the cavities thing is still hovering)! Anyway, Thanks for cheering my day! I LLLLOOOOVVVVEEEEE that we all have eachother via blogger! It's so much fun!
Oh and I promise I'll blog about my date with Stephenie Meyer once I decide to take the time to find my camera and upload the pics!!!
I'm off to finish reading "Eclipse"!

I guess its my turn!

1. Full Name: Mandy Brooke Green;
2. Age: 34
3. Married/Kids?: Married to Mr. Incredible, Brent Green. We have three exuberant and wonderful children: McKenzie-7, Indiana-6 and Presley-2.
5. Resides: Orem, Utah. Hoping for a European address sometime in my life.
6. Hobbies: Computer whatever, READING, READING, READING. the world just about ended when I took up quilting and love it! Photography, scrap frames and books, playing with my kids, and talking to girlfriends about life!
7. Loves: Russian HONEY CAKE!!! Chicken Marsala at carabbas, my life, smelly lip gloss that tastes good, a beautiful moon, great poetry, a fabulous book, HOMESTYLE pop secret, laughing hysterically, silver jeans, shopping, and watching kids say and do funny things!
8. I am on this blog thanks to: Shannnon! The queen mother!
9. Dreams: OF COURSE TO SPEND A WEEKEND WITH STEPEHNIE MEYER, and then have her cast me in her movies, and then have her create a new vampire based on me. To finish the outside of my house and have a deck that is like Alice's tea cups at disneyland. To have my children avoid the really terrible things in this world, and to enjoy every moment of this beautiful thing called life!

Thanks for all of your posts. I love reading them, and it is great to feel connected to others and share being a woman with all of you!

Long lost Sista

Hi girls, you might not remember me but I'm ya'lls best friend and I've totally been MIA! Well, some of you I don't know but it's fun that we're all totally blogging together. I finally got a chance to sit down and read through blogs the other night and just about died when I saw how much I still have to read on this blog! I haven't read all the entries yet, but did see that everyone was introducing themselves, so here goes....

1. Full Name: Angella Rae "Hotpants" "Flash" Glenn Jimenez
2. Age: 29
3. Married/Kids?: Married to Philip (or Phil) mother of Marissa: 5 and Dylan: 2
4. Work: I'm a full time mom with currently nothing on the side (which is a little unusual for me!).
5. Resides: I live just north of Charlotte, NC in Mooresville - Race City USA
6. Hobbies: You know, I'm really boring! I read and 'stuff'. Of course I love shopping and I'm totally off with TV right now so I'm trying to find other activities to occupy my time. I'm starting to enjoy decorating and wishing I had a money tree to get it all done at once.
7. Loves: Let's see, I love: the beach, the beach and the beach. I love my car and my ipod. I love fake toenails (see previous posts!), pink grapefruit anything, black beans, Dish jeans, my new body pillow, and baby kisses. I love U2, lipgloss, mint chocolate ice cream, and key lime pie. I love my sister, a clean bonus room and my towels folded just so. I love a balanced checkbook, Ice Breakers Pomegranate Lemon-aid mints and my new sports bra. I think that should do it for now!
8. I am on this blog thanks to: Shannnon of course
9. Dreams: I'd love to open a Bernard Callebaut store here in town to keep myself busy, earn a small fortune and be able to get the devil stuff for free. I'd love my husband to find a new career that's exciting as the current one, somewhere close to my sister or best friends. I hope my basement is developed within the next 5 years. I'd love to be a travel agent so I could really tell if I was being ripped off everytime I want to go somewhere. I dream of a WSH reunion again this year.

Happy blogging girls! Hopefully I can get caught up soon. But I have had a copy of Twilight for over a week now and HAVEN'T EVEN OPENED IT! Sharn, you can stop swearing now. Maybe I'll get started right now :)

A Good Movie

For my first post on this site, i though I'd share a good movie. For those of you who have not seen this movie... rent it right away. This is a good thing for sure. My sister Shannon will vouch for this one. We love this movie in our house. All I have to say is Simon Baker anyone?

Let's Welcome

Yes, it's true...someone in my family has decided to start blogging! So far, none of my sisters have a blog until now. Everyone, my sister, Lindsay is a blogger! Let's give her a big welcome!