habitat for humanity

today i got to do something really cool. the corporate team at work does PR for habitat for humanity, and as part of our office's pro bono work some of us volunteer to help out on the account. this week the jimmy carter work project (habitat's biggest build of the year, a weeklong thing that goes to one city each year and draws lots of celebs and stuff while the regular people build houses at various sites) is in los angeles -- two separate build sites, one in san pedro and one in south LA with various fix-it projects around the city -- and we've been pitching it for the past few weeks.

today i staffed the south LA site, working the media table. unfortch we weren't very busy as far as media (mainly because pres. carter and garth brooks were at the san pedro site) but i loved being able to go there and see all the people so happy to help. reading the stories of the families who will receive homes almost made me cry...habitat really has an amazing program. all these deserving families will get homes they need so much, and hundreds of volunteers get to help give it to them.

and i love my job, don't get me wrong, but i think one of the best parts of doing PR is being able to further the voice of a worthy cause, instead of focusing on the bottom line all the time. my favorite part of the auto team is working on toyota's philanthropy and community relations programs because i feel like i'm helping to give back. habitat allows tons of people to do that.

anyway, i got a little time today to take a look around the construction site...here are a few pics:

the rest of the day was totally nuts and i'm wiped out now. not to mention the 405 got closed down today so for some reason it jammed up every other freeway in southern CA and made me CRAZY. i'm going to monterey next week for work, so right now i'm trying really hard to get everything ready. but tomorrow is halloween and i'm excited.

and a side note...for those of you following the apt. 1 bathroom flood drama, here's the latest update: this week brandon took off the mirror (which hung on the wall that got wet the last time the ceiling leaked) because we noticed something weird going on, and we discovered this lovely mold deposit. YUCK. basically we freaked out. all is well though, i called the landlord ASAP and they came and fixed everything :)

one more for good measure

just because i like to share when i'm proud of baking things, here are pictures of the cutest halloween cupcakes EVER (thanks to my las vegas cupcake papers :)

they are chocolate-chocolate-chip with homemade peanut butter frosting (so good in fact brandon eats them for breakfast). mmm. my young women liked them.

in other [sad] news, the LA times did a story about the boy from our ward that died...you can read it here :(

beyond that nothing much new around here, back to work tomorrow. have a good week everyone!

a.n.n.i.v.e.r.s.a.r.y

so we got married on october 20, 2006. which is one year ago from yesterday. that means we celebrated ONE YEAR of marriage this weekend :)

my husband loves me.

our fancy hawaiian dinner at roy's (to commemorate our hawaiian honeymoon...get it?)

WHERE we got two fantastic desserts (one on the house)...and i kid you not when i say that molten lava cake is THE best thing i've ever eaten in my life

we followed that up with an oh-so-romantic trip to the adult session of the los angeles stake conference...what better way to spend the evening ;/...what can i say, i'm never too celebratory to skip a chance to uplift myself spiritually :)

then we came home to eat our eagerly-anticipated year-old cake top. i had started freaking out around 2 p.m. that afternoon that the cake would be covered in mold, disintegrated in a puddle, etc. etc. after i had been so looking forward to having another stab at my fabulous chocolate-mint wedding cake (made by my grandmother, who ran a highly successful cake-baking operation out of her home in north hollywood for 30 years...i'm not lying when i say i grew up on her frosting), but all was well. it was a little dry but i've already eaten two pieces ;)

and then we watched E.T. on tv because the nightmare before christmas was sold out at blockbuster.

and THAT, my friends, is how you celebrate an anniversary. <3

viva

so last weekend we went to las vegas. mostly to go to the byu football game but also to visit mike & angela!

on the way there we stopped in world famous baker, california...which pretty much creeped me out

that's where they sell alien-fresh beef jerky but mostly it was just scary.

when we got there we went to the "premium outlets" to wait for our friends to get off work, and had our first byu sighting of the weekend. jenna i-forget-her-last-name from our 421 class was there, apparently she moved there.

THEN we went to cafe rio!!! maybe that was the real reason we went to vegas, i'm not going to lie. of course it was fantastic.

we also visited "the strip", or basically the root of all evil in the world. all the porn, booze, cigarette smoke blown in my face, etc. made me sick. we did have a lot of fun though.

the next day was the BYU/UNLV game. which we won. of course. i also got to see tyna-minet, our friend and fellow group-member from 485. and yes, it's true everyone -- MY UTE-LOVING HUSBAND WORE BLUE. :)

we even got free food from a nice lady's tailgate. we continued my lifelong tradition of in n out-after-football-games and went back to mike & angela's to eat more pumpkin cookies. the next day we drove home! it was so fun to see our friends, get out of town for a while and be back with the cougars.

this weekend is our one year anniversary!!! everyone says the first year of marriage is the hardest but seriously it has been awesome for us. i guess anything is great compared to our engagement period ;)

then it's halloween, then another yamaha event for me, then i'm getting my hair did, then it's thanksgiving. so much to look forward to! hope you're all doing well <3

shh...

so i'm at work and i'll make this quick but hey it's friday and i deserve a break right? it's kind of cold for LA today but i'm still wearing flip flops (at my corporate office :) so i hope all my utah friends are jealous.

this has been a big week! i went to the dr. and got antibiotics for my little sickness (although i am not so good at taking it regularly, turns out). also that day i had my review with my boss and i am getting promoted! :) woo.

tonight we're going to rancho...yay. food from momma, golden spoon, and i'm getting my bangs cut. what could be better.

next weekend we are going to las vegas to visit our wonderful friends mike & angela rose...so hopefully i'll finally have some pictures to post!

the weekend AFTER is our one year anniversary!!! <3

and then...get this!...some of you might already know because i told you but let's just say if you happen to pick up an issue of real simple magazine in maybe march/april/may 08 you will see a picture of yours truly :)

that is all...have a lovely weekend everyone!