Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

As some of you may or may not know, tonight in Orem is the concert event of the year. Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer will be performing together at the McKay Center. I haven't quite decided what I think about this, but I'm pretty sure it would be a super-lame, but super-awesome concert. I would be utterly disappointed if I went to this concert and Vanilla Ice didn't sing his possibly only love song, "I Love You." It has special meaning to Tony and me, as we shared it together when we were first dating. I'm pretty sure it's "our song."

Vanilla was on the news this morning and on a local radio talk show. He told Utah that he would be bringing back the old school as well as treating everyone to a bit of his new "rocker" album. I wish I could be at this concert, it would be hilarious and I could buy some Hamma Time pants at DI to wear.

Vanilla sure looked like an old man on the news, hopefully he can still cook MC's like a pound of bacon.



Go ahead, get down wit yo bad self! I sure did!

In-N-Out Burger

*Warning: if you are from California, do not proceed. This post may deeply offend you, and I don't want to ruin our friendship.*

Today on the news they released some "exciting" news! The owners of the California-based In-N-Out Burger have decided to build several restaurants in northern Utah.

Most of you who aren't from the west or who didn't attend BYU are probably thinking "What? In-N-Out Burger????" I know. I was once in your shoes. When I spoke of my In-N-Out ignorance to my Californian friends at BYU I was nearly killed. Everyone in California loves this darn place and swears it is the BEST burger joint you will ever visit. They cut their own fries. They use the freshest ingredients. They never freeze their meat! Wow, what a place.

For the longest time (since I've been at BYU...almost four years now...) I had never set foot inside the legendary In-N-Out Burger. I never had the opportunity because they are mostly in California. While in St. George, I noticed that there was one in town as we drove to Wal Mart. Tony and I decided that later that night we would do it. We would go to In-N-Out Burger. I was excited to try the burger of all burgers and see what this fabulous place had to offer me.

We walked into a jam-packed little restaurant and made our way to the counter. I looked up at the menu to prepare myself for In-N-Out's legendary goodness. There were three options. Wait? Three options? Are you kidding me??? Okay, maybe they're thing is keeping it simple. I can respect that. Plus, it makes choosing a lot easier, I guess. After we ordered our food we went to the car to eat it because there were no seats in the place. After we scarfed down our burgers and fries we both looked at each other, shrugged, and gave a little "eh..."

That's right. I said it. In-N-Out is a mediocre burger joint. I'm not sure what all of you California crazies are talking about, but I'm sure it isn't your fault. I'm almost 100% sure you were all brainwashed by In-N-Out Burger as young children.

I was severely disappointed in the averageness of In-N-Out. Everyone said it was THE BEST in the country. It wasn't bad food, it just wasn't something to wet my pants about like my colleagues would as they would describe it to me in my freshman year.

So, I'm not all that excited about In-N-Out coming to Utah county. I'd much rather they build a Steak 'n Shake. Now THAT'S a good burger joint!

Happy Valentine's!

This Valentine's weekend was the best! We made Valentine's last all weekend, and it was so much fun.

It started on Friday as I was scrambling around to make an appointment I had that morning. Tony had left the television on, and on my way out the door, I grabbed the remote to turn it off. There was a small lump of paper attached to the remote with a rubber band. I unwound it, and found a piece of my favorite chocolate (Dove) with a coupon for a free back rub anytime I wanted. I was then instructed to look in the Spaghetti strainer in the kitchen. To make a long story short, I was led to different places in the house finding a dove chocolate and coupon at each one. My treasure hunt ended in our "weight room" where I found tons of chocolate and a note in Bulgarian wishing me a Happy Valentine's. It wasn't anything big and expensive, but it made me feel really special.

You must be wondering if this made me late for my appointment. No, it did not. MY DEAD CARE MADE ME LATE. The night before I attended a Diva Night at a local running store and being so excited to come home and see Tony (for the first time that day) at 9pm, I left my lights on (see post before this for more information). It was okay though. I spent most of the day munching on my delicious chocolates and packing for our trip.

Friday night we headed off for St. George. Tony's parents have a time-share condo down there, and it just so happened that their time fell on Valentine's weekend this month. We were happy to get away to a warmer, sunnier place for the weekend.

My only request on Saturday for Valentine's was that I didn't have to go anywhere. I didn't want to have to wait forever to eat an overpriced dinner. You'll have to read Tony's blog to see what we did on Valentine's day. He is a much better writer than me and his post is pretty funny.

On Sunday we decided to head down to Las Vegas and find a Bulgarian restaurant we had read about online. When we showed up there (forgetting it is an hour earlier in Vegas) we walked in on a group of old, Bulgarian men watching soccer. The smells of the food, the cigarettes, and the body odor immediately took me back to Bulgaria. Tony hesitantly said "Hi, are you open?" The old men began talking to each other in Bulgarian, so Tony switched over and asked them again in Bulgarian this time. The owner came rushing in and apologized to us that the restaurant wasn't opening until noon. Since we had forgotten the time difference, we were there an hour early! We drove around and saw some of the strip, and returned to the restaurant when it was open.

It was amazing. Our waitress let us order in Bulgarian, and it was so authentic it was almost unbelievable. Tony ordered Musaka and I ordered Pulnani Chushki (stuffed peppers--one of my favorites in Bulgaria). It was delicious. Everything about that place was Bulgarian! As we were eating I said to Tony, "I think we just found a new St. George tradition!" He agreed.

Here are some pictures of the restaurant, Magurata:

The outside of the restaurant

We were greeted by two headless Bulgars dressed in their folk dancing clothes.

See? Doesn't it look like the places in Bulgaria??

MMMmmmm, Shopska Salata!!!

After our Bulgarian flashback, we decided to walk around the strip for a little while (mostly to burn some calories!) We saw some of my favorite things like the Bellagio fountains, and Tony showed me some of his that I've never seen before, like the errupting volcano at the Mirage. The volcano was really cool to see at night and when the fire came out of the top we could feel the heat from it where we were, which was on the other side of the street!

We also walked around in the mile-long mall they have there. It was fun because on all of the pillars they have different words like love, courage, hope, etc. in different languages and we found Bulgarian! I'm sure that people thought we looked pretty strange scanning the pillars up and down, pointing, and celebrating when we were the first to find the word in Bulgarian.

"Желание"

"Страст"

It was so fun to have a little mini-vacation! I'm sad it's over now, but I'm excited to visit Magurata again!

Doh!

This morning as I was leaving, my car wouldn't start. I hate my car because it doesn't make any little dinging sound if you leave your lights on. Last night I was so excited to get home and see Tony that I guess I didn't think about the lights. With no dinging to remind me, I left them on. ALL NIGHT LONG. Now, I am stuck at home! I feel like such a dork but I know that everyone has done this in their lifetime.

Luckily I took care of Valentine's day stuff yesterday :)

Taggedy Tag

I stole this from Shannon! "Go to Google and type in your first name and the phrase given. Copy and paste the first sentence/phrase you get that makes sense."

1. Type in "[your name] needs" in Google search
Result: "Hollie needs a new home."
A home would be super nice right now!

2. Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search
Result: "Hollie looks like broccoli."
Hmmm.....

3. Type in "[your name] says" in Google search.
Result: "Hollie says 'I love you.'"
Awwww, I'm so sweet!

4. Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search
Result: "Hollie wants the Miss Licolnshire crown."
Uh, heck yes I do.

5. Type in "[your name] does" in Google search
Result: "Hollie does the weather."
Watch on your local television station! :)

6. Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search
Result: "Hollie hates feet."
I swear, that's the first thing that came up...I didn't cheat. I REALLY hate feet!

7. Type in "[your name] asks" in Google search
Result: "Hollie asks Will what kind of anime he brought with him."
Umm

8. Type in "[your name] goes" in Google search
Result:"Hollie goes lightly."

9. Type in "[your name] likes " in Google search.
Result: "Hollie likes spending time with her best friends!"
Again, I'm not cheating!

10. Type in "[your name] eats " in Google search
Result: "Hollie eats the doughnut."
I swear I didn't! It wasn't me!

11. Type in "[your name] wears " in Google search
Result: "Hollie wears floral dresses."
Gotta love those big, flowery patterns!

12. Type in "[your name] was arrested for" in Google Search
Result: "Hollie was arrested on suspicion of carjacking and conspiracy to commit a felony."
Hahahaha

Well, that's it! I thought it was a pretty funny little survey. I tag...ALL OF YOU!

I've Been Tagged

Janet got me with this photo tag. How to do it: In your photos, go to your 6th folder and choose the 6th photo. Post it and give a little blurb.




This is kind of a boring picture, but it wasn't a boring game! This was my first Jazz playoff game! Tony and I somehow got lucky and scored some tickets to the first round of the playoffs against the Rockets. It was awesome, they had a big party in front of the stadium with bands and clowns and, of course, the Jazz Bear. For the pre-game show they riled us up with fireworks (they were SO loud!) It was a really fun game even though we sat in the very last row in the upper bowl. I'm not exaggerating...it really was the very last row!

The Jazz won, by the way. Eat it McGrady.



I tag....Jamie, Susan, Tiffanie, Dad, and Andrea.

Don't....Laugh.....

I have a confession to make. It's a very embarassing confession, so you all have to promise not to make fun of me.



I can't make hard-boiled eggs.



With all of the fancy things I CAN make, one would think that I could boil an egg. I've even looked up recipes. No matter what I do, I can't get it right! The yellow is always gooey! I sat here and counted up my failed attempts at hard-boiled eggs and the total is 8 so far. I bought all of the ingredients to make a yummy, healthy, cobb salad this week for lunch and as you know...that contains hard-boiled eggs. I don't want to screw them up again because I really want to have them in my salad!

How do you guys make hard-boiled eggs?


My life is SO hard.