Very serious question.....

In the lovely little Christmas diddy: "Baby, it's Cold Outside" The story line goes like this:

A girl goes over to her beau's house for a nice little festive evening; she probably brought some cheese and wine. During their time together, canoodling on the couch (I'd imagine), it starts to snow outside. Like REALLY snow outside. Well, it starts getting late, and she decides it's time to call it a night. Naturally he comes up with every excuse in the book to get her to stay: there's no cabs to take her home, the snow is too deep, her lips look like waves on a tropical shore, she might get pneumonia and die.... you know, classic excuses. She's worried about her family and his neighbors thinking she's a floozy and that he may have slipped a little something extra into her drink, but alas, she stays for one last ciggy.

The finally of the song is the guy and girl singing in beautiful harmony that it's cold outside. (duh)

Now the serious question... Does she stay the night???

I wonder this every time I hear the song, and every time I come up with a different answer and reasoning. I'm just throwing this question out to the cosmos......

Woops!

I accidentally disappeared again.

Here are some small (and large) tid-bits of my current life...

-I now have the most AMAZING bedding from Anthropologie. If any of you ever go there, look for it, it's a dusty yellow with big stitched flowers. Oh, man. I. Love. It.

-I'm all about tights these days.

-The 8th-25th of May, 2009 I will be gallivanting around Europe with my dear sister and lovely aunt- and my 20 pound suitcase.

-Next week I am hosting a Whimsical Winter Dinner party, and have so far spent an outrageous amount of money and time to make it an event straight out of a Martha Stewart mag.

-I love black Friday now that I don't have to work in it (2nd year running, baby!). The bad news... I mostly bought things for myself. BTW- staying up all night is WAY better than trying to wake up at a ridiculous hour such as 4 am.

-It has been brought to my attention that I should document things more with pictures, and I intend to do more from now on.

-Did I mention that I'm way into tights? mostly ones with some kind of design. Today's are striped.

-Lastly, I worked on my abs at the gym on Wednesday, and today my body won't even let me sneeze because my muscles hurts so bad. It's very painful and still somehow funny.

Nice

So I know there are a million girls out there that take sexy pics of themselves, on their camera phones, to show off on their myface pages to attract boys... fortunately for you folks, I'm not one of those. In an attempt to repel any good looking or note-worthy men, I will post the awards for most awful pictures of myself from my recent trip to DW:


1st runner up:

2nd runner up:

3rd runner up:





Grand Prize Winner:



With an honorable mention to:

As clearly stated by the title of this post.... nice.

P.S. It is pure coincidence that the first two are on the same day, and the second two are on the same day. It's like un-photogenic magic! Obviously those were rough days.....

It's Official

Wanted:

An uncle Walt Disney.

Source of the most magical of magic, maker of world class movies, builder of the happiest places on earth, BFF of Mickey Mouse, freakin rocking-est man in history.

PS: He looks like this:

I LOVE all things Disney. Especially when my whole family non-sans Jessie get to hang out in Disneyworld for 10 days. How much greater can it get? Not much I tell you....

Drug Addict (Cont'd)

I'm in worse shape than I thought....

I listened to Christmas music all the way to pick up lunch and all the way back. And guess what.... I LOVED every minute of it!!!!

My heart was smiling!

Oh And....

Happy Halloween!

I'm like a drug addict

Instead of apologizing to all the non-readers of my blog, I will just start posting.

Last night as I was driving home I turned on the radio (which I hate) and gasped as I heard the first few bars of "White Christmas". I am convinced that there is not a soul on Earth that has a deeper love of Christmas music than me and even I was appalled at the earliness of this yule-tide cheer.

As shocked as I was, naturally I found myself listening to it, all the while feeling my heart swell with excitement and love for the coming holiday season. After the song was over, I made myself turn the station because I could only allow myself this one small fix. After a week or maybe just a couple days, I'll get another hit.

The onslaught of the merry tidings are nigh at hand.......

BTW

I am still alive.

Lacey + The Bellagio= LOVE

Me and the Bellagio are like Holly Golightly and Tiffany's. We just fit together. Everything seems right in the world when I am standing on my tired legs, watching the dancing fountains, swaying to the music, being misted by the water, and awed by their spectacular-ity. I could just stay there for hours (which I usually do). Not to mention all the fabulous inside parts of the place.

I think the Bellagio just might be my soul-mate. Who would have thought?

...Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Awesome

My sister Jessie recently spent some time in the UK. Her statement came for their rental car the other day and it was addressed to:

865 Clover Meadow Circus


Seriously so funny, and even more seriously true.

At least I'm good at something

August 6th......September 9th.... kinda close.

I'm sure the great, wide blogging world has been anxiously awaiting my overdue post, and I'm happy to report that the wait is finally over. And guess what... I have not one single piece of earth shattering news!

Life has been going on, as it always does, one day at a time. Laundry gets done, beds get made, faces are washed, gas is guzzled, nails get painted, sunburns heal, crises are averted, new outfits get purchased, ice cream is made, etc, etc, etc.

I'll quickly report on two of my favorite things that happened in the past couple weeks:

1- I finally found my much sought after plain black wool jumper. Seriously... so cute. (I wanted one so bad that I tried to fake my way into a children's size school uniform jumper. Embarrassing, don't worry, I know.) Thank you to Martin + Osa!
2- A few months ago I visited Scoopology and had some deliciously delicious coconut pistachio ice cream, and last week (with the urging from my aunt Paula) I decided to try my hand at duplicating it. Turns out that I am a black-belt at homemaking ice cream. It turned out SO good! And then I was nice enough to share some at a church meeting, so now I have to make more. oops.

This wasn't really worth the wait eh? whatev.

P.S. I filled up my gas tank with the car running the other night.... and lived to tell the tale.

Recollection Road

In honor of my wonderful father's 50th birthday coming up, my sisters and I have decided to chronicle his life via slide show video. It has been so fun to look through all sorts of old photos and have a good laugh or a very nostalgic moment. I'm sure there will be more to come on this particular project, but here are a few good photogs we have come across so far:

Seriously? So great.

HA HA HA, yes this is my parents, and yes my dad invented the "Blue Steel" look.

My dad's birthday, me- age-2

LOVE this picture, could that face be any cuter?. Jessie, Toddy, Lacey

This captures my dad so well... he loves his girls. Especially little snow bunny Mady.

I love going into people's houses and seeing old family photos, just to see the comparison and they are always so funny. So here is one of many embarrassing ones. The only reason I like it is because the smallest Johnson, McKell, looks seriously adorable.

See... happier times came after all. And I had a root beer float today at work, so my ice cream craving has been temporarily curbed.

Hope you enjoyed history boulevard!

Un-Bragging Blog

Lately I've heard all this talk about "bragging blogs" and personally I think it is a load of bologna. The reason we all started blogs was to publicize our lives, whether for our own personal benefit of writing things out, or for informing our friends and family of the goings on in our lives. If good things are happening to you, there is no reason on God's green and beautiful earth that you shouldn't share it. If people don't agree with your postings... well than stop visiting, and have a wonderful time reading sad and depressing blogs that make you feel a little less jealous. Now off my soap box to continue with my very un-bragging trend of posting:

To say that I am in a funk right now I believe would be a gross understatement... if you didn't already deduce from the rapid decline of cheeriness in my blurbs. Nothing seems to be working out for me lately (except that school is out and I am officially a graduate of Salt Lake Community College, which is invigorating). It's like one of those phases in life where everything piles on little by little and then one night when you are seriously craving a chocolate chip, banana, pecan milkshake from Take 5 (where you haven't been in years, and passed up a treat earlier in the day in the plans of partaking of one of their masterpieces) and you pull into the drive-up just 10 minutes too late, and it completely ruins your day. Then you resign from life with a Halls Defense Vitamin C drop and a movie in bed (naturally with no sheets on because the laundry isn't done). Silly piece of straw to break a camel's back eh?

I whine a lot, but I don't consider myself a complainer. I apologize most sincerely for the blandness and un-fun-ness of my blog, and invite you to revisit during happier times (which are sure to come). This really is mostly for me to write out my current qualms with life.

So there you have it.

last bite and quarter life crisis

There are people who eat their meals one food group at a time, first eating all their hash brown, second all their scrambled eggs, and finishing with the pancakes. Not me. Not only do I alternate foods, but I eat each one in equal measure so that there isn’t anything on my plate that is more gone than another. And to top it off, about half way through my meal I start thinking about what I want as my last bite. For lunch today the chicken went first, the rice second and last was the roll dipped in the sauce. Does this mean that I am psychotic?….possibly. Do other people do it too?…. probably. And what does this all mean? Maybe, that I am meticulous (usually to a fault) about not only the process of doing something, but the end result. Maybe, that I like to be in control…of EVERYTHING. Maybe, that I have a hard time making up my mind, so I avoid a decision by eating everything equally. Or maybe it just means that I don’t want the other food on my plate to get jealous when I eat something else more?

To make a short story long, this self-evaluation comes as a part my rapidly growing calamity which I fondly to refer to as my Quarter Life Crisis. Some women experience menopause early, some men bald prematurely, I’m falling apart a little in advance. Actually come to think of it, I think 88 is too old to live, so…. I’m at my 27.5% life crisis. Biggest issues: my life’s purpose and my diminishing self-worth. All in a day’s/week’s/month’s work I suppose.

But don’t fret….. more analysis to come!

Art, Shrimp, and Summer Evenings

On Wednesday I had a wonderful evening out with my mother, sister, and lovely Aunt Paula. We first went to the Monet to Picasso art exhibit at the UMFA. Learned some things, saw some interesting things, absorbed more culture, and fed my desire to travel the world (especially France to see places like Nice). Following the exhibit we took a little jaunt over to Market Street on 13th East. If you aren't familiar with the place, you are seriously missing out. A- it has FABULOUS food, and B- the restaurant building was once a fire station, so it has all sorts of vintage charm. Naturally we wanted to sit outside in the beautiful weather, and it couldn't have been more perfect. D.C.'s all around the table and some Chardonnay for Paular. Ate some wonderful breaded shrimp and french fries, and then totally splurged on dessert (always the best part). 3 words: Raspberry Almond Torte. delicious! Anyway, as you can tell, we had a great time, and even took a picture to document. Obviously this diggy pic was taken following dessert because I have a serious grin on my face. great times. I love summer evenings!!!

Plus, I'm really bossy...

I've recently come to the sharp realization of two big things about myself. They are:

A) I worry WAY too much about everyone around me, and more importantly how I compare to them. I get upset if someone is smarter or prettier or cleverer than me, like they stole my share of smarts, looks, and wit. I am now trying to come to terms with the fact that there is not a limited supply of talents and good qualities; for me... that is no easy task.

B) When I come upon a task that is a tad on the daunting/intimidating/overwhelming side (like... improvements on my character, trying to read all the books in the world, surfing all the great blogs, organizing my room, or sending "thank you" cards to all those who deserve it), I tend to just avoid it all together. Not such a good idea.... as it turns out. Note to self: take things a little at a time.

The good news is that tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully with a lifetime of tomorrows, I just might get my shiz together....


Oh, and happy 4th to all.

B-O-R-I-N-G!

I am sad to report that I have no sweet new diggy pics to display and nothing interesting to say, so to sum up my past week, I will use a series of single(ish) words:

sun bathing
swimming
Speaking
stupid homework
Sick
blah
tired
beat up
jeopardy
weak
thin!
fish lips
gatorade
nail polish
dirty room
surprises
using big words like I know what they mean
I Love The New Millennium
naps
AC!
birthday shopping
broke
weddings

And to top it all off, I'm going to the Oakley Rodeo tonight, and I couldn't be more excited!

Please Bless Air Conditioning!!

Earlier this year I upgraded from the basement, in what was very loosly called a bedroom, to what I fondly refer to as my "Big Girl Bedroom" (see photog). Even though it is literally a bed-room, because it really only fits my bed; it has it's own bathroom (not pictured) that I have LOVED!!!!! My one BIG BIG problem with this room is that I moved from the cement walled, dark, cool basement into a tiny upstairs room, directly above the heater, with only a dinky fan (that you can't turn up to full blast because it makes noises that hint to it's horrifying crash onto my sleeping body in the night). Where am I going with this?.... Stay tuned...

I have always been one to sleep best when the temp is on the low side. Just enough that when you roll over, the half of the pillow you weren't just using feels refreshingly cool on your face. Ah! I love that! Anyway, this room has NEVER allowed for that. Winter nights spent (un-be-knownst to my tightwad father who would kill me) with the window open, only encouraged the heater more (which by they way has been taped up and covered with an old French text book to keep any heat from sneaking out). Showering in the mornings is a nightmare! By the time I've showered, blow dried and straightened my hair, I'm so hot that I'm ready to shower again. SERIOUSLY! Now to the point.... I have looked past the intsy space problem, the overflowing closet, and the noisy fan, but the heat was giving me serious grief. Today following a fabulous post-work nap, my wonderful father figure came into my room, untaped the vent and removed the textbook, and guess what.....!? Pouring out came the most beautiful thing... Air conditioned air!!!! SOO GREAT!!! I can't wait to go to sleep tonight!!!!!! Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the technology that made air conditioning possible! And please bless that I never sin so much that you take it away from me!

New Shoes

All I have to say to you is that you need to listen to the song "New Shoes" by Paolo Nutini, go out and buy a new pair and have a great day!

Yes, this was taken at work, on my desk.... shhhh. Aren't they so cute though?!

Aren't some people just great?!

Tonight I had something seriously great happen to me, and it's the second time this same thing has happened in recent history. I was shopping (something I do all too often...) and I ask the sales associate for a specific item. Like any good customer service person would do, she walks me to where the item is, and proceeds to look through them to find the right size. Both times this happens, the girl turns to me and says, "What size are you looking for? A (blank)_____, right?" She says a size that is half of what I actually am!!! And when I correct her (my least favorite part of this story), she gets this shocked look on her face, exclaims, "Uh uh?!" (hopefully you can understand that, essentially it means "no way") and looks me up and down, carrying on with the shocked face. Aren't some people just great?!!! I could have kissed both of these girls right on their cute little faces!

Needless to say, I spent more than I had intended in both of those stores... shame, shame.

I'm all over the place!

I googled my name today to see what other Lacey Johnson's were up to and I found that I'm a:

-News reporter in Georgia
-Teacher in Trussville, Alabama
-Avid Texas Longhorns fan
-Promoting citizen for a better fire station in North Clarke County, Georgia
-Man that fought in WWI and died in 1915 (who's father was also named Lacey Johnson)
-Member Services Specialist in Seattle
-Cast member of Napoleon Dynamite
-Pregnancy model in Arizona
-Player for the North Dakota State Women's Basketball team
-Employee at Celebrity Day Spa in New York
-Student photo contest winner in West Virginia
-Patron at the Ice Hotel in Sweden
and to top it all off...
-Barrel racer in Kansas.

Interesting huh? This has been what I like to call a "Mental Break" at work.

5 Things....

10 years ago: I'm going to guess that Melissa Bascom and Krysta Pecharich were my best friends and I was about to start Jr High.

5 years ago: I was a senior in high school, and naturally, I had it all figured out

5 months ago: December.... Excited for Christmas as usual. Had a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree at work. Thinking desperately what gift I should get Tyson.

5 things on my to do list today:
1) finish laundry
2) potentially do some homework
3) finish Step UP
4) get to bed early
5) eat some good food

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1) currently eating pretzels
2) rolls (mostly any kind of bread)
3) cookies
4) wheat thins or ritz
5) cashews and/or pistachios

5 things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:
1) get out of debt
2) help my family members get out of debt
3) travel like crazy
4) do humanitarian work in Africa
5) invest!

5 of my bad habits:
1) worrying too much
2) mothering
3) eating when I'm already full
4) not following through with good intentions
5) spending too much money

5 places I have lived:
1) Holladay
2) Murray
3) Dallas
4) Cleveland
5) Murray, again

5 jobs I have had:
1) Cold Stone
2) Diamond Rental
3) Argento
4) Wells Fargo
5) USBA

5 things people don't know about me:
1) I used to want to be the first woman president
2) I HATE feet (most people probably know that)
3) I'm a neat freak when it comes to my bedroom
4) I cry whenever I see someone else cry
5) I love frenching!

Fort Worth Water Garden

I tell Kalie that you can't have more than one post in a day, but if I don't put these up now, I never will. I just got back from Texas (the San Antonio and the Dallas/Fort Worth areas) and in downtown Ft Worth there is this beautiful "park" that's called the Water Garden. It was designed by an architect in the 70's I believe, and it takes up an entire street block. I've never seen anything like it, and wanted to share. If you ever get the chance, go see it.

The top exhibit is my favorite. You have to walk down stairs into the gully to get to it. The walls all around it have pools of water at the top that spill down the insides of the walls (its own attraction if you ask me). It's so serene and beautiful.

The steps in the lower one are for people to climb down into the waterfall. It is gigantic and once you get down to the middle you can hardly hear anything because the water is so loud. I just love it. Climbing out on the steps felt kind of like a video game where you have to run across the tops of the mushrooms or whatever before they fall over.

(these pictures were taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lyncca/with/2484960562/)

My lover.... Blogs

I just wanted to quickly post how much I love blogs right now. This has absolutely nothing to do with my own of course, because it potentially ranks in the bottom 150 of cool blogs. I love that everyone can be so clever and witty on their own pages and posts. I love to read what is important enough, to my favorite people, that they write a blog about it. And the best part about that last statement is that in most cases, it is never grandiose or earth shattering, they are normal events and feelings. It's just great.

I know, I know... shut up with the deep sentimental business, it's getting boring.

Done and done........ for now.

ABC's

Generally, I think these things are a tad on the Hokey side, but here goes:

A- Attached or single: Attached to lots of things, but currently without a BF
B- Best Friend: Jessie, Kalie, Cassie
C- Cake or Pie: Both...at the same time.
D- Day of the Week: Friday, starting a weekend is a good feeling
E-Essential Item: Chapstick
F- Favorite Color: Mostly whatever, but when it comes to candy, I generally like all things yellow
G- Gummy Bears or Worms: Lame, but I'll say bears
H- Hometown: Murray
I-Indulgences: Something sweet after every meal
J- January or July: January could possibly be the most depressing month of the year, so July
K- Kids: Mostly I can't wait for my own
L- Life is incomplete without: Laughter
M- Marriage Date: I'm hoping soonish, now I just need to nail down who the groom will be...
N- Number of Siblings: 4 and Gooch
O- Oranges or Apples: Do caramel apples count? I'll take one of those.
P- Phobias or Fears: I don't think it is a phobia but I loathe feet...
Q- Quotes: "Look after my heart-- I've left it with you"
R- Reason to Smile: School is almost over for the semester!
S- Season: Spring for Flowers, Summer for Sun, Fall for Color, Winter for Christmas
T- Tag Seven: I only have an assumption of what this means... so I'll leave it
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I'm ticklish on the top of my feet
V- Vegetarian or Meat Lover: Yes, meat and I are lovers... ha ha
W- Worst Habit: Spending too much money!
X- X-ray or Ultrasounds: X is really a pointless letter for these activities. I like Xylophones personally
Y- Your Favorite Food: Treats!
Z- Zodiac: Sagittarius

And there you have it... Me in the alphabet. Ta Da!

Magic

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a weekend in Disneyland this month and instead of focusing just on the magic of that place, I'd like to talk about magical things in general. When we feel something magical, the memory of it sticks with us, and recalling that specific instance anytime after can usually generate a similar feeling; how lucky we are to be able to experience it more than once! Magic makes my heart swell, lightens my body so much that I could float, and sometimes it even brings me to tears. I love the feeling of being so small compared to this incredible feeling. I have had many magical experiences over my life time and plan to have many more. I hope the same for you.


Please see Kalie J's blog for some diggy pics of The Happiest Place on Earth.

Jeans

Today I put on my most favorite pair of jeans. They are the ones that I have had for years and years, the ones that always fit just right, the ones that would get me arrested for indecent exposure because of all the holes if I were to wear them in public. I love them and it has been far too long since my good friend and I have been together.

Spring

Yesterday... or maybe another day when it was sunny, I opened the window in my office and listened to the birds singing in the tree right outside. It made me realize how much I love the change of seasons. Whether it's moving from winter to warm, sunny, green spring or cool brisk fall into beautiful, christmasy winter, I always get excited. It's so great to always have something new to look forward to. I love spring.

Hello Blogging World!

As my first official blog post, I'd like to pubically announce my dislcaimer that I generally lead an uninteresting and dreary existance, so... when reading my blogger, don't expect anything too exciting or entertaining! I've started this in the hopes that while I'm looking for things to write about, stuff will start magically happen. Likely?.... I'm not sure.