hello again

I am embarrassed that I've been gone for so long but please forgive me because I'd like us to still be friends. So much has happened since March so I won't bore you with all the details but here are some highlights.

I went to Breckenridge with the MBA gals (Janice, Sarah, Julie and Kayce) and we had a grand time dog-sledding. And I mean to brag when I say I was pretty darn good with the sled.

I graduated with my MBA from BYU in April. Here is my last day of school. I was pretty excited/super sad that day. I LOVED my time in the program and already miss all of my school friends so much.

One of my best friends, Sarah (Mayfield) Shirley got married in June. I have no pics from her wedding but I love this one of us on from one of our temple excursions between classes. Love that girl!

I decided it was high time I replace my counter tops. Silly me, I was so excited to take pictures of the demolition that I never took an 'after' picture but I think they turned out great and just in time for me to move out...oh the sad irony of life.

Marlene and I decided to celebrate our decade birthdays (30! and 40! but I won't tell you which is which) by going to Paris (with a small jaunt to Heidelburg). We had a wonderful time wandering around Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, eating yummy food, taking a hot air balloon ride, road tripping, hiking to the top of Notre Dame and soaking in all of the loveliness at the Louvre. Such fun memories! Now we just need to plan 40 and 50...any suggestions?

This was our view from our hot air balloon ride...normally I hate heights but this just swept me away in the best way possible.

A vacation is not a vacation (or life a life, really) without delicious food. Nutella and banana crepe, yes please!!

I also had a short career as a landscaper this summer. My friend Janice and I decided to mow lawns for a few weeks since we suddenly didn't know what to do with ourselves after school finished. I had an older gentleman question whether two MBA gals could mow his lawn. And I just have to say his lawn never looked better! Aside from our 'cursed' Mondays (our BEST Monday resulted in 2 stolen gas cans and a broken weed eater) we had a great time driving around talking about life and mowing lawns.

I finally made my way to Cali in August. Janice was good enough to drive down with me. I packed up my belongings and headed to the Bay. Did you know that the song "We Built This City" is all about San Francisco? Well, it is and for good reason. It's awesome down here. I can hop on the train and head into the city or jump in my car and drive to Napa anytime I want to.

I love the people in my ward, I have a great job and awesome coworkers, and my roommates are the best. So, basically, life is grand.

PS Visitors Welcome!

Patience...check

Isn't there a way I can just hurry up and learn patience and get it over with?

Go Team(s)!

Loved me some BYU Football this year!

Supporting Jimmer and the Jazz...was a little emotionally confusing at times.

And for the record, we don't discriminate against boys...they just scattered when the camera came out.

Luck O' The Irish

Last week I went to Ireland for a field study through school. Five of us (Benjamin, Brandon, Chris, Mike and I) went to visit the Kellogg's headquarters in Dublin and then swung by Wales to visit two of their plants. Here were the trip highlights:

1. They lost my luggage on the way over and I had to go to headquarters on Monday in my jeans and no makeup. Not the best first impression I've ever made. BUT everyone there was extremely understanding and even more helpful.

2. I finally got my luggage just minutes before checking in to our flight to England. Whew.

3. The guys thought it would be hilarious to hide my luggage when we landed in England (at 1 a.m.). I was easily convinced and on the verge of tears when they confessed. "Aren't you so glad you have your luggage?" they anxiously asked, hoping I wouldn't kill them. Thrilled.

4. Love me some Irish and British accents.

5. I got to see them make Special K Cereal and snack bars. The plants smelled amazing! For three days I was craving bowls of cereal.

6. We went to an awesome dinner with leaders from both plants and had just the best time. They LOVED having us retell the luggage story.

7. Our driver Morris. He became our unofficial tour guide to and from the plants each day. Which was great because that was all the sight-seeing we got to do in Wales.

8. Mike pulled the red emergency cord in the bathroom thinking that's how they flush the toilet in Wales. Nope, that's how they set off the alarm. Lisa never let him live it down.

9. Wearing hairnets. Pictures to come.

10. Everyone at the plants and at headquarters really went above and beyond for our visit. I may or may not have been a bit emotional when we had to say goodbye to everyone from Karen, Lisa and Chris to Aoife and Sam. Not to mention the other 70 people we met during our focus groups. We really did have the best time.

I Think I Can

I've spent much of the last 1.5 years of my life in the same building, often the same room (Tanner W208 to be exact). So last semester I decided that I needed to expand my world beyond excel sheets, business books and, more importantly, beyond the Tanner Building. And expand I did.

I started by taking ballet. I was quite excited about doing plies, learning how to leap more gracefully and improving my posture. Excited, that is, until I discovered that it required me donning some pink tights and a black leotard. I nearly dropped the class but then decided it was just part of the experience and I was going to embrace it. Well, I may have embraced the experience but the tights and leotard really never took a liking to me. Despite all of that, I loved it. So much, in fact, that I decided to branch out yet again.

Enter swimming class. Growing up I never had swimming lessons. I take that back. Becca (my sister) taught me how to back float and I think my brothers were trying to teach me how to swim when they threw me in the deep end of the pool. Thankfully I learned the back float before the latter took place. I still suspect Becca knew what was coming and taught me the back float so I wouldn't drown. I soon learned how to doggy paddle. This evolved into a rather awkward and inefficient stroke of my very own that has gotten me by all these years. Truth is, I love swimming. I love the smell of chlorine and being in the water. So, I thought it a good time to take a swimming class.

Day 1: Freestyle. You mean you have to put your face in the water and only breathe every few strokes? Gulp.

Day 2: Turning. Do a flip in the water and push off from the wall. Easy, right? I have to confess that something in me really believed that I could do a simple flip and I was going to nail this maneuver. Turns out, I can't. The poor teacher saw me struggling and came to help. I was not only embarrassed that I couldn't do a flip but also that I was keeping him from helping everyone else. I tried to let him off the hook, "I promise I'll practice this later," I said. Didn't work. He insisted I try to go deeper in the water. Then he told me to keep my chin down. Then he told me to try using the line on the bottom of the pool to keep me straight. After inhaling a couple of gallons of water and several rounds of pleading we were still at it. Finally he told me to just do a handstand in the water. I was skeptical but went down. Then my feet flipped STRAIGHT over my head and I popped up facing the right direction. Breakthrough!

Day 3: Butterfly kick. This should be fun. We sat on the side of the pool and practiced the technique. I have to confess, I was really good. Then we got in the water. Miraculously, Melinda can propel herself BACKWARDS while doing a forward butterfly kick. It's pretty amazing. I sucked up my pride (as if I had any left) and asked the teacher what I was doing wrong. After watching me kick several times he said, "your form is really good." So why am I somehow moving backward? It baffled even him. With some work I am happy to report that I can now move forward. I just haven't yet figured out the breathing thing.

Day 4, 5, 6: Breast stroke, dolphin kick, misc drills. I'm improving. Far from great, but improving.

Moral of the story: get out of your comfort zone and don't be afraid of looking like an idiot. It might be fun.

You Say Gesundheit, I Say Na Zdravi

I now have the sniffles...and the sneezes. I think I may be coming down with a cold. Tomorrow I will be picking up a hefty supply of chicken noodle soup, boxes of tissues and some cough drops (specifically Ludens Wild Cherry Drops which are more like candy than cough drops but they make me feel better anyway). However, tonight I will be retiring to bed early.

Last First Day of School

Today I'm in a bit of shock. I just finished my last first day of school. I am pretty confident I will not be pursuing a PHD so today marks my last trip to the bookstore to sell my soul for yet another stack of overpriced used books. I've printed off my syllabi, packed by school bag, charged my laptop (yes, for the whole semester, Macs are just that good) and am ready to go.

I would say that it was my last time purchasing school supplies but since I'm a sucker for post-it notes, highlighters, notebooks, staplers and the like there are plenty more school supply shopping trips in my future.

I don't have much time to freak out about the fact that this is my last semester because I have about 27,000 pages to read by Monday and 17 assignments due tomorrow. Perhaps I exaggerate but it feels that way. I just want to tell you all that I love you and will see you in April when I come up for air.