Jayden Shae

A long long time ago, I was in high school. I had this darling friend named Chantell Jackson. Fast forward a million years, and she sends me this amazing video of her darling little daughter with a huge voice!  She is trying to get noticed, and possibly get her big break

SO

If you have any kind of connections that you want to share with her, let me know!  You are actually helping out by just watching this video because the more hits she gets, well the better it is!

Also, if you want to REALLY make her happy, you can click here and "like her" on facebook!

Go ahead, give this little sweet heart an early *free* Christmas present!

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Speaking of being famous and all that sort of stuff, I have a new famous friend.

I didn't even know she was famous until I just happened to find proof of it on her facebook pictures.  She contacted me originally on linked in and called to go to lunch.  I have never cyber dated before, but I thought I would take her up on the offer because I was so intrigued that she didn't know who I was, called out of the blue...and wanted to meet.  She told me her intent was to find out how I balanced life with seven kids, business, and non profit work.

Ever since our first meeting, it has been a whirlwind romance.  A match made in heaven.

She reminds me of one of my best friends in the world *Kori* that was my room mate in college, and THAT is a compliment.  Kori moved away from me just like most of my good friends, and I miss her.  SO, when I had a two hour long conversation with Heidi without either of us taking much of a breath,
I was very happy.  I was more than happy.  

So did you ever see the show "Just the 10 of Us"

   or "Rags to Riches" 

  Well, my friend Heidi is the cute littlest one with dark hair. Isn't she a dream?  The funny part is that the first time I met her I WENT OFF on people that name drop just to sound "awesome"  I can't stand when people do that....and here I am shouting it to blogger land.  I believe it is different when they are you actual friend though and not just whoever.

So I guess when she was about 13, she chose to go to normal public school.  She hadn't experienced that in her entire life, and she loved education.  So she left show biz and eventually ended up moving to Utah  and taught school for a while.  She recently became fed up with the public school system and quit teaching to pursue her dream, bringing the Arts back into education.
I guess that's where we fit together.Somehow, someway that I am not sure of yet.  A few weekends ago we decided to go to a formal networking thing together.  Because it was that same night, we were scrambling to find a dress.  I went to Nordstroms and found a perty little grey number that was comfortable and long enough for the below freezing chill in Utah right now.  I found a darling *faux* fur shall that matched it perfectly that warmed my tan-less shoulders just right.

 

After wrangling all of the kids, getting them dinner and  babysitter,  it was time for me to pick Heidi up.  I looked down at my phone, expecting a text because she was late and sure enough
 

"come get me at Nordstroms" I text back, "ok but don't buy a grey dress" It's every girls worst nightmare to find their best friend in the same dress, and although I am 36 years old, this hasn't changed.  I remember giggling at the girls that matched at high school dances years and years ago. 
It was obvious when she walked out of Norstroms *after I circled around the parking lot for 20 minutes* that she didn't get the memo, because she was wearing MY EXACT DRESS! Out of 300 dresses in the store, she bought MINE!  It was like something out of the movies.  I actually thought she was kidding at first, but then reconciled thinking "who would have enough money to buy an extra dress just to get a good laugh?" and "who would think it is funny to wear the matching dress for the kicks of it when we are 30 minutes late already?"
"HEY DORK!!" I yelled out the window. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO BUY THE GREY DRESS!!!""WHAT?!..... Oh my! We have the SAME dress!!!"(yes I feel comfortable calling her a dork even though I've known her for only a few weeks)
Yes Heidi, we have the same dress.  We decided there wasn't time for her to change it because it was already half over.  SO we went as a date, in the same dress.... amused every step of the way.  The people at our table stared and the couple in the elevator could barely hold in their sentiments, almost shaking from interior laughter.     h.i.l.l.a.r.i.o.u.s.   I wish I had a picture! Since that night, we have enjoyed many more conversations that cannot be repeated, but the best night was when we were invited to talk on 97.3 Kate Taylor .  Let me rephrase that.  Heidi was invited to speak on her talk show, but she felt more comfortable if I was along for the ride.  I DO believe in fighting for the Arts in education, but I am not a pro on the subject like many of her colleges.  
She called on her way to my house and said, "Janae, we need a land line to call the talk show, do you have any ideas?"  "Um...well we could use my office." I offered.  "It is quiet and we could link calls." (because she was planning on me sharing my story of music and dancing growing up)
"Sure Janae, that sounds great!"   So I explained how to get to my office and met her there.  She jumped out with only slippers on and ran into the office as she text.  When we got inside I introduced her to our VP and asked him if he knew how to run the phones, because I didn't know how to link calls.  The problem was, we only had a few minutes to figure it out before we were live!  Sure enough we made it work 2 minutes before the show started.  
Heidi was a wreck.
She was pacing back and forth, shaking and so nervous.  Funny coming from a girl that acted for so long.  I walked out of the office and into the adjoining office to try and connect both phones.  When I went back to click it over, she had shut and locked the door to my office.  
I couldn't get in!
I peeped through the blinds and cracked up watching her talk about the Arts.  She was so passionate and knowledgeable.  I decided to sit down on the table outside of the office and swung my legs back and forth like a four year old on an over-sized chair.  Ron, our VP walked over and said, "Janae, do you want me to unlock the door since your keys are locked inside?"  His face was all twisted up wondering why she had locked me out.  "Ah, no...she will let me in when she is ready." 
I pulled out my phone and started commenting on her facebook page things like"I am about ready to flick Heidi in the forehead for locking me out of my own office"  It didn't take long until her friends that were also listening to Heidi online where trying to teach me how to find the radio station and laughing at the situation with me.  
Next thing I knew, she busts through the doors and says,"How am I doing?  How do you think I sound?""Ummmm, well, if I could hear the conversation I would TELL you!""What do you mean?""Well, you locked me out before I could link the calls!""WHAT! I thought you were listening from the other office the whole time!""Nope"
and the next thing I knew she was back on the phone after the commercial break.  She did a great job.  So great in fact that tons of listeners were calling in and the owner of the radio show offered to pay for a documentary that Heidi has already developed for "Kids Need the Arts".  You can go to her facebook page and "like" her also if you want to support us for free!
Later Heidi told me that I was making her giggle when she tried to talk and was looking at me. That was not my intention, nor was the time I accidentally turned on the computer next to her and BLARE sound from it during her call.
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Sorry this update was SO long. I have been painting and decorating for Christmas.  My house is coming together nicely.  Maybe I will post a few pictures when I get the Christmas tree up!  The paint on my walls is kind of a robin egg blue.  This is the color my laundry room has been for 8 years and I LOVE it.  For the first few days it  made me feel like I had laundry to do everywhere I walked...but it is settling in!
Today Handsome grabbed my cheeks and pulled them down to his face, stared at me with those big brown chocolate eyes and kissed me right on the lips.  He didn't have anything to say, but it melted my heart.  He is growing up so fast and I plan on posting a video soon so you can see how well he talks.  It is remarkable.   

Happy Holidays! We had a great time at the cabin.  Hopefully I can post more pictures of that as well soon.  I feel so behind on my blog right now, but I can't let it bring me down or it is no fun anymore and I have to blog because it is fun and not because it is something I feel like I have to do.
xoxoxoxo

Own It: Black Eyed Peas

I'm on my way to paint several rooms in my house :) Not much time to blog, but wanted to say HI, Happy Holidays!! and go out and OWN IT!! I have this song on my running play list. xoxoxoxoxo

La Jolla Groves

Last stop, but SURE FIRE not least, was La Jolla Groves!

After all that shopping, I was famished!! OK, not really...we had been fed candy from Blickenstaffs, ice cream from Ikes, and homemade bread from Zions Mercantile BUT I was ready for some lunch kind of food!   

LUCKY ME! WE WERE VISITING MY NEW FAVORITE RESTAURANT in Provo Utah

LA JOLLA GROVES!

(And, I am not just saying that because they fed me like I was the queen of England)

although I would.

 

It was somewhat embarrassing as they were passing out every dish on the menu for us to try when I had to say "ooooooooo ummmmmmm I've tried that and I LOVE it" 

"Oh Oh, I've tried that too!! and it's so good"

  The blogger ladies around me were looking at me like I was crazy, but the truth is that every business person I know in Utah Valley eats at La Jolla groves for lunch.  Every time I am there, I see someone I know because, obviously, it is the best.  Brace yourselves as you get a load of what I ate that day!  I didn't waste one inch in my belly.  How often is it that you get to try EVERYTHING on the menu?

and this my friend, is the man behind the magic!

He is the executive chef, and someone I get to see on a regular basis.   I loved the way he described his restaurant as "A place where women can come to get the kind of food they want, cooked healthy and tastes great too! UNTIL, you get to the desert!  The desert is just so sinful, but so good!"

I couldn't have put it any better myself!

They even gave me a ton of the sweet potato soup for free from their bakery because I reminded them how much Jon loves it! He brings clients all the time to enjoy lunch and calls them each by name.  It is actually funny, because Jon knows everyone (especially people at restaurants)

Are you ready for the food tour!?!

Here we go!

And I was SO excited when they brought out my favorite dish on the menu, the salmon.  It's the option I chose when I at there with Jon, and every other person I have visited with.  I love it like an ant loves a picnic, like a bear loves it's honey, and like my girls love Justin Beiber!

I don't even like fish, THAT'S how good it is!

I wish I would have recorded the noises coming out of all the ladies mouths as they brought each dish out one my one!  It was comparable to the sounds you hear at a new baby's blessing or Christmas morning!  Let us move on to DESSERT!

 

And although it took me forever to show you this fabulous feast, it was worth it!  Isn't this something from a dream?  It may have been downloaded from my dream last night.  La Jolla Groves is, in my opinion, the best restaurant in Provo, Utah.  The also offer cooking demonstrations!  I wanted to attend their Thanksgiving demonstration "How to cook a perfect thanksgiving dinner" but it was already full.  It is on my calender for next year already!

If you are interested to learn more, you can find them on facebook!

And, my sincere thanks goes out to CBC for inviting me to such a fun event!  I loved meeting other crazy bloggers that choose to spend time writing like I do.  I also loved the fact that I came home with bags of free goodies, from places I actually do love to visit. And a special thanks to Bryce Olsen, for the beautiful pictures he took of the whole day!

Have a very beautiful Thanksgiving!  We are headed up to our cabin in my first time ever, NEW Suburban!  I have been driving Suburbans since I was 16, a total of let's see...the grey and red one, the all red one that looked like a fire truck, the black one, and tan one, and now my white one! None of my cars have ever been brand new, but this had 4 miles one it when I got it last night!  Usually you waste money buying new, but because we leased a ton of cars for our business, it made sense.  The only problem is that I have to let my kids in it and it will get dirty!

I also may have shed a tear as my jeep drove away this morning.  Someone offered to buy it for way above what we paid for it 3 years ago.  I am sure I will rebuild a jeep someday, but for now it's the Burb!

Zions Mercantile

Our third stop at Shops at the Riverwoods was the Zions Mercantile Store.  It is a store the originated in Nauvoo Illinois.  They actually hand picked this darling lady and shipped her to Utah to oversee the opening of their new store.  It is full of beautiful Mormon based paintings,  LDS books, and beautiful decorations for *my* house. 

Zions Mercantile hosted us bloggers so beautifully, offering many gifts including home made bread, and puzzles.  I enjoyed walking around and looking at all of the fun stuff.  One of my favorite people in the history of the Mormon church was a man named Porter Rockwell.  He was a colorful personality that took it upon himself to protect Joseph Smith, and was actually considered his body guard.  He carried many copies of the Book of Mormon around with him at all times and was even saved from a bullet killing him once when it hit the book instead of penetrating his body.  They sell reproductions of the event and other memorabilia that is really old collector things.

 

 

They even had a guest artist come and speak with us about his work.  His name is Robert Boyd.  I love to hear about the creative process different artist have because they are all so unique.  This picture is one of my favorite of the Salt Lake LDS Temple.

He said many times that the photo shoot just came together perfectly. As I listened to him telling stories, it was obvious that the lighting and composition were inspired.  His paintings are a beautiful reminder of a peaceful place. 

I couldn't help myself, and bought a beautiful painting of a little pioneer girl with blond hair.

(she looks like one of my little Pink Moss girls)

If you are in the area, I would definitely stop by and see all the treasures in Zions Mercantile 

 for yourself!  It was a fun step back in time in the middle of a modern day mall.

For more information, you can find them on Facebook 
and stay tuned for our last stop of the day, the yum yum yummiest high end restaurant in Utah!

Next Stop: Ikes Ice Cream

Next stop on our day with CBC at Shops at the Riverwoods, we visited Ikes Ice Cream located inside Provo Beach Resort!

THE BEST ICE CREAM IN UTAH!

What's that you say?

We are crazy to eat ice cream in the dead of winter?!

I guarantee that you would too, if you could taste the Blue Bell ice cream they serve there!  Temperature becomes irrelevant, heck, everything becomes irrelevant for that matter
*including calories*

It was the hardest decision of the day trying to decide what flavor to pick!

The winner? I decided on birthday cake, (because it was my un-birthday of course!)

As I walked around Provo Beach Resort, I remembered all of the fun times my family has spent there!  Because Utah is covered in snow a lot of the year, we go inside for summer activities such as bowling, games, food, a ropes course, and my absolute favorite, {the flow rider!} when it is freezing outside.  I never had the chance to blog about it, so I thought I would put a few pictures of our fun day!

The Flow rider is an indoor wave to surf on!  And believe me, it is much harder than it looks.
There is a hot tub for those *like Jon* not interested in making a fool of himself, and even some bleachers to watch the people that are! *like me*
 
There are only three Flow Riders in the state of Utah, this one - one in Ogden- and at the Provo Beach Resort owners house! Now that would be fun exercise every morning before work!

 

 

And this is what I looked like..face first (and without a tan in the dead of winter)

I was able to balance for just a tiny second, and then shoot up the ramp and off the upper edge!  It felt nothing like surfing behind my boat, or snowboarding like they tried to tell me it did..

The kids enjoyed laughing at each others expense, because for the first time it was legal.
 Ella actually mastered (on accident) turning in circles as she surfed.  In fact, they all did a better job than I did.

SO, if you are ever feeling couped up during these long winter months in the Utah snow, take  a trot skip or jump on over to have Ikes for some blue Bell Ice Cream, enjoy the ropes course, surf the wave or ride the Merry Go Round! 

If you are interested in learning more about Provo Beach Resort, you can also find them on

facebook and Twitter!

PS: Stay tuned for our last two stops at Shops at the Riverwoods

Waking Sleeping Giants

 

I have been busy today waking sleep giants from my youth...

and then on to having lunch with Jeanette Bennett, author of "Utah Valley Magazine" because she is a sweet heart, later planning my Christmas party for the business, and then...I haven't decided yet.

Have a great weekend!!

Blickenstaffs: Utah's Finest Vintage Toy and Candy Store!

Have you ever wished you could work in a Toy Store, where playing with fun toys, selling games, and organizing colorful candies would be considered work? 

I have.  

Maybe my wish originated with the movie "Willey Wonka" or "BIG".  I'm not quite sure, but whatever the reason,  I was in heaven last Saturday when I was invited to BLICKENSTAFFS, a vintage toy and candy store in Orem, Utah to do just that!  OK OK, They didn't actually let me work there, but I did get to visit with a bunch of other local bloggers to browse their amazing store and share many tantalizing, eye candy riddled with goodness shelves with our readers!

YOU!

See what I mean?

And just wait until you get to see their candy selection! I wish you could actually taste it through the screen, because the strawberries tasted like strawberries,  and the snozberries tasted like snozberries!

Snozberries you ask?

Remember, as Willy Wonka put it perfectly...

"*WE* are the music makers, and *WE* are the dreamers of dreams."

 Do you believe that people and animals come alive in the toy store at night? 

I do.  

The store made my inner child come alive, and I dare say that for the first time, after visiting Brickenstaffs, I am in the Christmas spirit, even before Thanksgiving.

And the toys?

The toys were fabulous.  They weren't the basic run of the mill kind of toys you see everywhere.  They are the best kind of mix of vintage toys that I remember from my youth, and even before my time, up through the current most fun games and toys to play with.  I'm actually quite sure that elves themselves personally delivered their most prize masterpiece works of art.

Lucky for you, Blickenstaff's just started selling toys online AND has big plans for the Holiday season complete with the 12 days of Christmas free give-a-ways!

 I just knew that my girls would give anything to catch a glimpse of this little "Groovy Girl" section.

How do I know?

Well, this is actually the store I take my kids to on special occasions.  Their dad has actually sneaks them inside as well, using them for an excuse to take a step back in time.  He loves getting them a little treat and models to put together on weekends (especially conference weekend).

LUCKY ME!!

I won this game SPOT IT to take home to my kids, and they love it!  It's only $11.99! Seriously, it is a simple matching game but was a challenging for me AND my four year old.  I would highly recommend it, but still for the life of me can't figure out how there is a matching symbol  on any two cards you pick up?...

And finally, here is the group of bloggers that I got to party with!

Would you believe me if I told you that BLICKENSTAFFS was only our FIRST stop of the day? Well it was!  And at the end of the day, I was positive *as I already was* that it is the best vintage toy store in the west! Stay tuned to see the other fun places we visited...

AND, if you want to see all the fun give-a-ways they are doing during the holidays (now) you can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube