Encore!

Karlenn posted some more (AND BETTER) pics of our night on the town with the girls. I had to do another post so you can truly see how friggin awesome it was.

These are the centerpieces we made. Sheree got them for her daughters wedding and packed them over to our ward building so we can use them. What a mom!

This is how we arranged the tables. Are you picking up on the killer lighting in the room? It was phenomenal.
Here's a view of the room. I am serisouly thinking of mailing all of this the New Era. Or maybe starting a business. I think there is some real talent here.

Here are the awards we gave. We ordered them off of Oriental Trading. 12 for 11 bucks! Dylan calls them Piston Cups. Karlenn made personalized labels for them. When the girls gave their "acceptance speeches" a few of them held these above their heads and thanked their parents, the academy, etc.






We even got the leaders to dress up! Don't they look killer?



Here's me. As Liza. Glam Queen. Super hot.

The Oscars

Last Tuesday was Young Women in Excellence for our ward. The whole program was handed over to me about 10 days before we were going to have it- with not even an idea on the board. That always happens to me! I think it's because people know that I am really bad at saying no. I felt like I was given this huge responsibility with literally no time to plan something good. I talked to Kar about it and, man, did we turn things around! She told me she would love to help me out and would do anything I needed. We decided to put my angry feelings aside and make a kick-butt night of it. The best dang YW in Excellence these girls have ever seen!
We all know coming up with the idea is the hardest part. But after only one day of extreme brainstorming we decided to do a Night at the Oscars and it sky-rocketed from there. We were going to give each girl an award for the project she worked on this year, there was going to be a red carpet, fancy dinner music, elegant appetizers, and, best of all, everyone was to wear formals. How many times do we get to dress up now that we are over 18. (Some well over 18.) I have to admit we came up with a million ideas and I didn't think we'd be able to pull off half of them. But, Karlenn and I put our shoulders to the wheels and didn't look up until it was done.
First... the room. We hosted the event in the Kodak Theater (aka the primary room.) We sent up 5 round tables with white table cloths for the girls to dine at with their parents while they watched the award show. Each table was divinely decorated with centerpieces (Thanks Sheree.) that included those white/clear flat marble things, a white candle, and gold or silver star garland. Then we had 5 fake trees decorated with white Christmas lights, stars of random sizes hanging from the ceiling, and strands of Christmas lights around the room to illuminate our evening. We even decorated the primary podium to make it seem more "real." We found these cool old film reels in the library and decided that they were there for our use so we hung one from the podium and draped the whole thing in red velvet. (It was really a red plastic table cloth... but totally could have passed for velvet.)
Then... our appetizers. We kind of went over board- but why the h not?! It was the Oscars for crying out loud. We had mini quiches, those cold deli swirls (from Sam's) that are Soooo good, and mini cheesecake squares. To drink, there was sparkling apple juice in champagne flutes. I'd say the cheesecake was the biggest hit. I gather this because there was not one piece left! We got 65 squares. We only have 5 girls. Yeah. Can't blame them though. Me and Kar sat at a table by ourselves and we scarfed down all 12 of ours no problem-o.
Finally... the girls. They looked fantastic. I loved seeing them dress up and get excited and act like movie stars. They needed a little motivation at first to get silly. Who better to provide that than me? I was told numerous times I looked like Liza Minnelli. I wore a short black wig and tried to make my eyes look really big via makeup. I had on a glittery gold pants suit with a white fur coat and tacky tacky jewelry. Karlenn wore what she has dubbed "The Chinese Dress." She looked great. It was long and tight and green and she had her hair all curled and topped the ensemble off with bright red lipstick. (I bet it was hard to keep Ben off of her! Wowzers!!) All of the girls really delivered. I thought the beehives were the cutest. We had some old formals for them to wear- but told them they had to be modest. I figured they would wear a little sweater or shawl over their shoulders. Nope! They both opted for white t-shirts UNDER their dresses. It was adorable. Every one looking smashing. Seriously, over the top.
It was night for the history books. It was a ton of work- but I really liked making it so special for the young women. I could tell it meant a lot to them (and their parents). Couldn't have done it without Kar.
Now I am just waiting for the next opportunity to wear my wig. It makes me feel like a different, "wilder" me.
P.S. Don't worry... I taught the young women how to suck the helium right out of those balloons. They thought they were "high" when we were through.

For: Tiffany

Tiffany is my cousin-in-law and she always comments about how much she likes to read my blog. It makes my day. Because, deep-down, doesn't everyone love being blog-stalked? Plus, Tiffany thinks I am funny! I does put a certain amount of severe pressure on me. But I thrive under pressure. I live on a dead-line. I dedicate this tag to Tiffany.

NUMBER TAG

1. One word to describe yourself: Driven

2. Two shows I love to watch: King of Queens and Wheel of Fortune. Do you know that the lightning round starts everyday at 6:49. Not 6:48. Not 6:50. 6:49. On the dot. Pat gives the wheel it's final spin.

3. Three things that attracted me to Brett: I don't know Brett all that well. Tiffany thinks he has a nice smile, writes good poems, and he is real easy-going.

I can say why I fell for Ken: He is incredibly ambitious, he's got the cutest baby-face under that scruff, and he's affectionate even when he'd rather not be.

4. What is the fourth picture in your fourth file?

This is my father in law. We were coming down off Table Rock and I couldn't seem to get my camera to work. He was ready to help out. He always is. He's an extrordianry man.

5. Five things that happened yesterday: Got to hold Micah through Sunday school, visited Phyllis, talked to my mom, watched Christmas Vacation, planned our New Years Eve Feast.

6. Six things you can't do? Wiggle my ears, watch shows about murders, watch scary movies, ride a unicycle (but I bet I could if I kept trying), cook, fit into size 10 jeans.

7. Seven people you tag?Ronald Weasley, Edward Cullen, Hermione Granger, Jack Sparrow, Princess Fiona, Lightning McQueen, and Carrie Bradshaw

8. Eight things you are looking forward to? Our trip to Boise, getting my next NetFlix, my special Christmas trip with Andi, being done with work for today, Heather's 40th birthday party, New Years Eve... alone... with Ken, finishing school, buying our piano.

There you go Tiff. I love being a part of the Poulsen family. You are friendly and fun and very warm. Thanks for being so sweet to me.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

A week ago we visited our Rexburgian friends- Sean and Rachel. In their defense, neither are actually from Rexburg. Sean is from California and Rachel is from Ohio and once upon a time we all met at Ricks. Ken and I la-hove their company. They have really strong minds. I could probably take either of them in an arm-wrestling challenge- but a spelling bee? trivia pursuit? heated debate regarding the future of our country? They've got me whipped. Me and Ken for that matter. And they are more persuasive than even they know! When we were there Sean said they don't turn their heat on until Thanksgiving. That way they have something that they are really grateful for. (I'm sure they are grateful for many other things as well.) So... life goes on and I didn't think much of it.
I was walking around my house and just couldn't shake these chills! I put on sweats and tucked my pants into my socks (excellent insulator). Still cold. So I put a sweater on over my sweatshirt. STILL cold. I put a ski hat on. STILL COLD! I walked around covered by our huge love blanket but, the temperature didn't seem to phase Ken. He continued walking around in his basketball shorts, an un-matching T shirt, and black socks. Happy as a lark. For 4 days I froze. Then I checked the thermostat. 55 DEGREES! The heat had "mysteriously" been turned off. I cranked that puppy up to 80 and waited for Ken to get home. He wasn't two feet in the door when that cock-eyed son of a gun said, "Why is the heater on?" "Because it's 30 degrees outside!" "We're not turning it on until Thanksgiving!" "Hells Bells we're not! I'm freezing." "If Sean and Rachel can do it- we can do it too! You need to learn to be grateful." I spent the rest of the evening cold- with no heater on- trying to convince Ken I was grateful for heat and I would be even more grateful if he would let us use it. But, no.
I think somehow this is his way of getting one up on those two. So, a special chilly thanks to Sean and Rachel. You have reduced our utility bill- but caused some serious Popsicle toes.

Wherever there is injustice, you will find us.

Kenner and I have made it a goal to watch all the good old movies that one of us has missed out on. It has to be rated PG or less. We sometimes get into funks where all we watch are really deep and moving shows.... or documentaries. And I just couldn't stand it anymore! I needed to break free! So, we logged onto our Netflix and got our queue going. Number one came this weekend. The Three Amigos. If you have not seen this movie get it! Ken thought I was sure to be the last person on earth who hadn't seen it. I called him a "son of a motherless goat." I was cracking up. Laughing! Right. Out. Loud. It is Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short as Dusty Bottoms, Lucky Day, and Ned Nederlander. They are movie stars who are out of money and try to fight the in-famous El Guapo and his banditos. I want this one for my personal collection. And, Santa, I've been a good little buttercup this year.

Scrooge-a-Rooney McPatty

So, walking Rusty Monday night and I was floored by the number of houses that already have their Christmas lights up! Don't they know that technically we are still closer to Halloween than to Christmas? I know that nobody likes to think like that, but it's TRUE! So, me and Russ try to rationalize this absurd behavior. And the only reason we could come up with is that they hired someone to put up their lights. (in some cases it was obvious they did not.) This is becoming much more popular in our neighborhood and I am sure nationwide. With the popularity increase the lighting company has to start booking earlier and earlier. Dare I say into the middle of November. No biggie. Every one has a right to earn a buck. Rusty thought he had me stumped. BUT (!) Just because your lights are up, doesn't mean you have to turn them on. Enjoy the holidays when it is time to enjoy the holidays. Pull a Clark Griswold November 28th. You should. At THAT time it will be Christmas. Hold off the 8 days okay? Just walk out, right now, and unplug the lights. Reduce your carbon footprint as they say. So, Touche, Ba Hum Bug, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Moving!

This weekend Rusty moved out. It was hard on us to hear that he wanted to leave and get his own place. We thought we were making it really nice for him in our place. We gave him all his meals when he asked, never made him go to bed until he wanted, and fed him lots of cheese. But, he wanted to have his own place to bring his friends, and do his personal Rusty stuff- and wanted to invited girl pups over and didn't want me always in his business. Teenagers!

Rusty's new address 2706 1/4

So, we inherited a little apartment for him from Ken's dad. It's nothing big. Just a one bedroom, studio-style apartment. It needs a little freshening up, but Rusty loves it. We wants to show everyone his new pad. He loves to run in and run out and run in and run out. He's moved all his toys in there and is insisting on eating in there too. I don't know if I should put my foot down on the eating or what. I crawled in to see how spacious it was and Rusty made it quite clear I was not welcome and this was his space and he doesn't go crawling into my bed--- at least not while I am looking.

Luckily, he didn't move too far away (he's under the back deck). So, he does come and visit us when he can, but we just have to face it... our little pup is growing up.

The Long Awaited...

I was looking at Kar's blog and then checking out who she checks out to see if I wanted to stalk anyone- and I saw "Ken and Patty- 1 week ago." How embarrassing! I'm so lame. But I have lots of fun stories and good news to share... let us begin.

My time off. I took last Thursday and Friday off work to be with my family that came in from Pittsburgh and Oregon. Really though, Thursday I went shopping. I got new shoes, jewelry, and a belt for the wedding. I thought it would be harder than it was but I was super lucky and found everything in like an hour. And then, my dear dear husband took me to lunch! At Puerto Vallarta. Which is pretty much the best Mexican in Idaho Falls. Yeah, pretty much. I crave it every day. The Vallarta Burrito Special is my usual. What I love (tell me if this is awful) is that they know my usual. When Ken and I go we always get the same server and before he even comes to greet us he has our Cokes with lime and guac ready. It's like coming home. Okay, enough of the shameless plugs. Eat at Puerto Vallarta.

That afternoon I went up to __________ (nat... where do you live?) to visit Natalie. She's been telling me about this show GhostHunters for a few weeks and she had a few episodes saved on her DVR. Now, let me tell you I am not into "ghost shows." I think they are lame. I think they are fake. I don't like being scared. But this one is really cool!! They go to people who call them and they try to de-bunk that there is actually a ghost. It's more like a mystery show. On one episode a hanger flew across the room and they were like "Oh my gosh. A entity just threw this hanger." And I was saying, Yeah right.... and entity called a camera man. I thought it was staged. Natalie denied it and said it was real though. But on this other episode the guys jacket was tugged three different times and they showed it from every angle (EVERY ANGLE!!) and no one was there. THAT was freaky. They tried to figure out if it could have gotten caught on his sound equipment but there was no possible way. No way. Fa-reaky! What I liked about the show is at the end they leave you with a good feeling. They show people what they found and assure them that it's probably a "friendly" ghost. Or at least, one that is not going to harm them in anyway. I give it 4.5 stars. It would have gotten 5 if it weren't for that hanger. This is me being "really scared"

Friday the real fun began. I went up to my mom's and spent the day with all my sisters, my grandma, and Uncle Victor. It was Victor's first time to Idaho so we took him to a potato cellar. C'mon- there aren't that many tourist attractions here. I had never been to one myself and was totally floored. I learned all about the proper storing of potatoes, and how a lot of the temperature and humidity control is done by computers now. (Who knew? Probably all you Idahoans did.) Then he took us into the actual storage part. Oh my goodness. I have never seen that many potatoes! It was like a vertical wall of starch. He said there were enough potatoes to fill 65,000 one hundred pound sacks of potatoes in there. In this one cellar! And he had like 4 of them!!! I think he must of thought it was real silly that we were taking pictures of his potatoes- but it was really miraculous to me. When the question and answer session came up I couldn't help but to ask how he likes to eat his potatoes. His response: Baked with butter and sour cream. Yummy. (FYI: My favorite is mashed. Mix in a little cheddar cheese, sour cream, Mmmm Mmm good.)

That night we all trecked over to the Marcum's. (Julie married into the Marcum family.) We had dinner there as a chance to let the families meet one another. Now the Marcum's are an original family of 10 and the Bradley's are an original family of 7- but with every one's spouses and children I feel safe in saying there 40+ people there. It was mayhem. I had a great time. Chris (Marcum) is from a family of mostly boys. (7 boys, 1 girl) and we are all girls. So after we all introduced ourselves- the Bradley's had a photo shoot and the Marcum's hit the buffet. Just further proves how different boys and girls are. We all got to mix and mingle and talk about how much we love Julie and Chris. And I do! I really do.

The Wedding Day was magnificent. In their sealing room those two could not quit giggling. I haven't seen two happier kiddos. They'd just look at each other and smile, then smile bigger, then giggle and shake a little, and then try to control their laughter. They were on a serious laughing jag. They giggled through the whole ceremony. And then the party started. We had a killer luncheon at Amici's and their reception was at The Legacy Flight Museum in Rexburg. Very unique. It was gorgeous in there. They served butter-nut squash soup, harvest breads, and apple cobbler. Totally beat dinner mints and dry roasted nuts in little cups. My favorite part was the dancing. Dancing doesn't seem to be a big thing at weddings out here- maybe because no one is drunk at weddings here. But Julie loves to dance. And it turns out Chris loves to dance. It was Julie, Chris, and the rest of the Bradley's tearing up a rug. But, slowly, one by one the Marcum's loosened up and the dance floor got pretty crowded. And- you Marcum's have some smooth moves! We danced for hours. We danced until they were turning the lights out on us. It was phenomenal.

I loved being with Grandma and Victor. I was so happy that Victoria flew out- I know that was a sacrifice for her. Nothing is better than spending time with family. And what a time we had.

Julie and Chris have been honeymooning in Jackson Hole all week.

Ken and I have been honeymooning in Idaho Falls all week. Just because we didn't just get married doesn't mean that sparks aren't there. Wink. Wink.

8 Ball

Why it's not 10, I don't know. These are in no order (unless otherwise noted.)

8 Shows I Like to Watch

1. King of Queens. I just love you Doug and Kerri. You're the perfect non-perfect couple.
2. The Office.
3. Ace of Cakes
4. Top Chef. Coming back next week! I love Tom Colicchio
5. Seinfeld
6. The Sopranos. I watch it for Paulie Walnuts and Syl.
7. Home Improvement. Occasionally they'll do a marathon on ABC Family or Nickelodeon. This show is hilarious!
8. Project Runway

8 Restaurants I Like...

1. Blue Hashi
2. The Outback
3. Caputo's
4. The Thai House
5. Eat n Park
6. The Great Hunan
7. Brownstone
8. Taco Bell (I love getting the #6- chicken nacho cheese style.)

8 Things that happened yesterday...

1. Worked and got so much done
2. Planned Young Women in Excellence with Karlenn. It will be the bomb dot com.
3. Went to the Legacy Flight Museum in Rexburg
4. Voted
5. Saw my mom for 2 minutes
6. Watched the election footage
7. Made scrambled eggs for dinner
8. Cleaned the kitchen

8 I things I'm looking forward to...

1. Grandma, Victor, and Victoria coming tomorrow.
2. Julie and Chris' wedding on Saturday.
3. YW in Excellence
4. Lunch with Natters tomorrow.
5. Getting my laundry done.
6. Time off
7. Top Chef starting again
8. Christmas

8 things on my wish list...

1. New work pants
2. A piano
3. Scrapbook stuff
4. The Harry Potter series
5. Money to get my teeth fixed
6. Nintendo Wii
7. A finished downstairs
8. Porsche

Thanks for tagging me Jenna. This helped with the boredom of my lunch hour!

RED. It's back in style.

I am posting this in honor of our glorious leader and the socialists who voted for him. I'm working on the words so I'll be one up in the New World Order.

Sovyetler Birliği Marşı

Storing "Nuts"

I've got a bone to pick about the LDS church and food storage. I'm LDS. 100%. Through and through. Believe it with all my heart. In our ward we have a food storage specialist and once a month she gives a little presentation on a new thing you need in your food storage and gives us all the chance to order it at a discounted price. It's a great idea and I think it reminds people that they do need to be storing food. Here's my beef: What the hell am I going to do with 300 pounds of wheat?

I'm always hearing different standards that we are supposed to have. X gallons of water. X pounds of flour. X amount of yeast. We're not friggin' pioneers here! What are we supposed to do with 300 pounds of unprocessed wheat? Suck on it? Chew it? No. It just doesn't work for me.

My mom, Ginger, has the best food storage of all. There is not anything in there that I listed above. But there is all food we love to eat! All types of crackers, soups, sauces, pastas, popcorn tins, granola bars, and cookies! Now, I know this stuff doesn't have as long of a shelf life as flour or something- but if all we had was flour and wheat- we'd be out day one. AND! While all of you are eating your wheat and trying to make your own bread- we'll have our feet up eating Cheetos. She also buys those big Mexican candles they sell in the grocery store for a buck. Yeah, there is a picture of the Mother Mary on there- but they'll burn for days. I think my moms got the right idea. Store what you will actually eat. Do it!

Sunday with the Smith's

Last night Ken was out of town, so I secretly decided to dye my hair. My equally mischievous friend, Karlenn agreed to do it for me. She is just about the most giving person I know. Not only has she done a TON of research to figure out how to put "beachy waves" into my hair for Julie's wedding on Saturday- she totally invited me over for a night with the Smith's. It all started with a really good dinner. It was Ben's favorite casserole. Rice, ham, and celery, in cream of something soup and it was fantastic. I had 2 regular servings and then one mini one. Yeah- it was that good. Then we started the dye process. Her kids are hilarious. Sadie sat there across the table the whole time- pretending to dye her hair. And Dylan would randomly come in and try to say something nice. It would come out, "Your hair is looking blacker Patty" or "You got black stuff all over your face." He's sweet. Karlenn claimed I am "so brave" for dying my hair black. But, seriously. First- it's hair. You can change it right back if you hate it... and it grows. And then... my hair was pretty dark as it was... so I felt like it would just add some serious shine factor. And it did. I just feel younger.

After Kar dyed my hair (time elapsed 1.5 hours) she taught me how to make the beachy waves. I am completely uncoordinated at doing my hair. Those of you who know me know I have one style. Down. So She taught me how to make it look wavy. Hers turned out perfectly. Gorgeous spirally waves. It looked so easy I insisted that I could do it alone. Only to discover mine look crimpy and folded and... ugly. But I have a week to practice and I am going to nail it!

I'm putting up the before and after. In before pictures people always look sad and miserable and extra ugly- so I tried my best.... but you can only go so far when you've got my good looks!