MR. COOPER

Last Saturday I went and heard Anderson Cooper speak at a school in Salt Lake. He was invited as the guest speaker of the year hosted by the McCarthy family (they own the Salt Lake Trib) and he was amazing! Completely inspiring, both for his impeccable style and his powerful words. He has the most interesting background, and how he began his career is an intense tale. IF any of you don"t watch AC360 I seriously suggest you start! Or if you are really bored look up some of his background online because you will be impressed! After the speech we made our way up to the stage to be the annoying fans that blind your eyes with our cameras for a while, and I was so close to him I swear I could smell his Armani suit. 

I think he is looking at me in this one!

Thriller!

Friday night (Halloween) me and Jeff went with some friends to see Thriller! It was really good this year and we had a lot of fun...  Jeff is a good sport for going to a dance concert with me and saying he had a swell time. Then on Saturday we went down to St. George for a wedding reception of one of his friends. We took an impromptu to Vegas since we were so close, and had fun walking the strip and even riding a roller coaster! It was fun to get away, even if only for two days! 

We had to have different costumes for Thriller ~ I was Barbie and he was a professor!

Here's us at Jeff's flag football game the other night- wiping his sweat in my hair

MORE HALLOWEEN PICS>

Superman and a Beauty Queen... I thought it was quite indicative of our personalities...
Mandy, Mallory, Myself, and Aubrey ... or... 80's queen, jeanie, beauty queen and a cowgirl
At the end of the night Jeff put on my roomates hot dog costume... enjoy this and never tell him that I put it up here OK!

I Figure that no one really has time to sit here and read much about a silly halloween ward dance that we went to last night, instead I'll just post the pictures and let you enjoy those (we all know that that is all Brittanie looks at anyway...)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

What Halloween would be complete without carving a few pumpkins?...

Ladies Trip!

I realize that I am the worst blogger right now, but in my defense I am a single girl in college with nothing that exciting going on. Instead I will go back in time a bit and talk about the last girls trip I took in August with my three best friends! Just before Chels got married we had a short weekend in Vegas... short that is because of all the travel interruptions! Firstly, the Jetta gave out on us as we pulled into St. George. Luckily we were saved by a tow truck driver named Sterling (whom we now call the car after) and he drove us all the way to Vegas! It was quite the adventure sitting in the cab of his truck just chatting away like nothing had interrupted our fun... except now sterling's booming laughter at our mindless stories along with us girls! All in all though, it was a great trip... we even went to a DAUGHTRY concert! Much to Mallory's pleasure!!!

ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID!!!

Watching the happy couple leave the reception!
Their first dance together!

Her cake was real pretty... the flowers were the same in the bouquets!
Lauren, Kelsi, Becca, and myself
This is Nat and Zuriel leaving the reception
Guess who caught the bouquet!

Well Wedding number 2 of one of my close friends that I had the priviledge of being a bridesmaid of! Natalie Rascon got married last Saturday August 30, and had a beautiful reception at Le Jardin in Sandy. Hope you enjoy the pics from the reception!

Chelsea's Wedding!

All us girls waiting outside the temple! Britten posing with all of the Bridesmaids All our friends at the temple ....(my dress kept flying up Marilyn Monroe style)

On August 21, Chelsea Allred my best friend since before t

ime began got married! She was the first of our high school girlfriends to tie the knot and since most of us will be graduating college this year we are hoping she has started a trend!!! I am so excited for her and Britten and their life together! They had a beautiful sealing I was told by all, and their reception seemed to go flawlessly with so many friends and family there to wish them well! Just wanted to post a few pictures for everyone to see! 

I caught one leaf out of the bouquet!... Mallory tackled us all for the rest!

BACK TO THE US OF A

I have returned to the United States! I will be here to visit the family for a bit before returning to the depressing land of Provo (no offense to all its residence). I just thought it would be better to ease my way back into American life by starting out in the Woodlands! And Indie is absolutely adorable! I missed her funny faces and laughing at her sound effects! 

A brief update!

I know it has been forever since i updated this thing; but yes i am still alive and in Europe! after leaving siena i stayed in roma for 4 days and then made my way to paris! the city never disappoints and i had a great few days there and then came to the beautiful town of marseille in the south of france! i have had so many adventures while here: too many to type on this french keyboard! but tomorrow we head off to london! i am so excited to be going back to england; it was about 1.5 years ago that i was living there and i can not wait to get back! this is all i have time to share right now; and sorry i cant upload any pics this time; but just know i am still alive and well! ciao! mandy!

Last Days in Siena!

Well my classes ended on Friday and by Saturday morning we were heading to Rome! I will miss Siena so much! I have had such a great experience there in both taking classes at Dante Alighieri and getting to meet so many amazing people! On our last day there we did the most touristy thing possible to celebrate our going away) that was to clim to the top of the clock tower in the main square Piazza del Campo, and it was beautiful! here are some pictures from up top of Siena!

bellissimo lacqua!
our first dip in the Meditteranean was cold!

Yesterday we went to the closest beach to Siena = Castiglione della Pescaia! It was so beautiful and we spent the entire day there just enjoying the sun and the people and the gelato of course! Unfortunately i came home with what feel like third degree burns that cover the entire front of my body... apparently the sun is more powerful in Italy than in the US .. it hurts, but it was still a good day!

Scuola

some of the girls in piazza del Campo
La Catedrale di Assisi
I am getting so sad thinking that my italian classes are coming to a close soon... they have been very challenging but i have loved them so much that i honestly would stay for months if i could! I thought id talk a little about the school and how it works! so my class is very small, just five of us now (four students left last week) There are people from all over the world that attend the Dante Alighieri so there are many cultures and languages to learn about within the school. One of my favorite people I have met is Vanessa, she is from China and obviously speaks Chinese. It is so funny that we can communicate and be friends through our Italian that we both struggle to speak! There are also many people from places around Europe- Switzerland, Norway, England, France, Japan, China, and a few other countries are represented in school and it has been an amazing experience to get to know all of these people! I hope i can stay in contact with them even when i return to the US of A!

Cooking Class!

Last Thursday we got to take a three hour Italian cooking class! it was so much fun, we did everything you would do for a traditional italian meal (about 4 or 5 courses!) We hand rolled pasta, learned how to make the most amazing chicken sauce thing and the dessert wow! so i am offering to share my newfound talent for italian cooking with all you women when i return!!! we will have an italian food night!

San Gimignano

Monday was a holiday for us italians... The day that Italy became a Republic! To celebrate this joyous day me and my friends Sabrina and Christine went to a neighboring town of San Gimignano! This is one of the oldest towns in tuscany and was the first town to have towers inside the wall! We had a great time walking around even though it rained for the mojurity of the afternoon (Italy has the craziest weather, it was 90 one day and then raining and about 50 the next)... it is a big tourist trap basically but we still had fun walking in all of the antique shops and visiting the Gellateria the won best taste three years running! io amo gelato!

Fulminare

Well I learned a new Italian word yesterday: Fulminare, which literally means electrocute! I suppose the story all started about a few centuries ago when Italy was creating its electricity system for the country. Things didnt work flawlessly so a few decades ago they changed the plugs in the walls from two small parallel circles, to two very small parallel circles, to fit in with the rest of Europe. This doesnt seem too problematic except for the fact that most homes in Siena have both kinds of outlet still installed inside their homes! To make this long story shorter, my European blowdryer needs to be plugged into an old school Italian outlet to make it work. And yesterday i had the pleasure of grabbing the plug out of the wall while the light that allows the electricity to flow freely was still on. It was my first experience being electrocuted, and hopefully my last... my arm went numb for a bit and a few tears escaped my eyes but by lunch time I was finally able to feel my fingers again! ha! All is fine now, i dont think that i lost too many brain cells in the electric current that surged through my body, but one never knows...

l'apartamento

Just a brief note about where i live in Siena!
me and my roomate Christine hit the jackpot as it were with our housing assignment! we live in the bottom floor of a house that is so cute and outside of the city about 15 minutes (on foot of course). Our landlady lives upstairs with her husband and one daughter. She is so cute but they speak little to no english so whenever there is a problem we get to have a great conversation over the speaker phone trying to look up words as fast as possible! but our bedrooms are spacious, the amount of bugs inside is very minute compared to other apartments and everything works properly in the kitchen! what more could a girl living in italy ask for?

Pisa!

So yesterday we took our first trip outside of Siena, and went to Pisa! Pisa is a smaller town, about the size of Siena i think and of course it is famous for the leaning Tower! It was so fun to go there, about nine girls from my group came and we had a blast! We had to take two trains to get there, so although it would normally take about 1.5 hours to get there, it ended up taking us three! All was fine though, and we arrived in Pisa just in time for lunch! we ate at a Pizzeria hidden in a cute alleyway and made a few random friends while there. Their names were Dario and Salvador, and although they may sound strange man were they authentic Italian boys! they both are in the Italian marine core and live in a small town called Livorno just north of Pisa. They decided to accompany us to the tower since they were conveniently heading there as well. I learned all of this through italian because neither one of them spoke any English, and I was the most advanced of the group who went so I became the translator! Hah! I am not sure which was more entertaining getting to see the leaning tower of Pisa or playing charades and guessing what two random italians were thinking all day! it was quite eventful! well that is all i have got for now, Ciao!

Well i have dropped down on the list of bloggers from entertaining muser to scarecly breathing, but i will try to improve those skills over the next six weeks! So i have finally made it to Siena, Italy where I am attending the Dante Alighieri school for Italian! Classes started yesterday and are very intense, no English is allowed to be spoken while in class so you can imagine that there is a certain level of stress that accompanies me for those five hours a day! But i am learning so much, already we have been in Siena for three days and I feel like I can always communicate what I need to say strictly in Italian! The city is beautiful, it is in Tuscany so there is green everywhere you turn, but it is incredibly old so the building are gorgeous to look at! I love the people here, they are so Italian... the classic laundry hanging out the windows, the old men smoking their cigarettes and drinking cappuccinos, and everyone eating gelato! Well thats all the time I have for now, Italy is incredible and I never want to come home (except to see all of you fine people whom I miss dearly!) Ciao, mandy

Europe Tour 2008

Well here I go again, on my way to foreign lands and foreign tongues! I will be much better this trip about keeping my blog updated with excited news (hopefully not too exciting right Holly...) Well I leave tomorrow morning bright and early and I'll arrive many many hours later in Munich, Germany! The plan is to travel around with my Grandparents for about two weeks and then meet up with my group from the University of Utah in Rome! We will spend a few days there before moving into our new apartments in Siena, Italy! I realize it's not very fun to read about future events, so I will stop this musing and commence when I have something of importance to say! 

Ciao-

Summer Vacations!

This summer was so much fun. Firstly, the fam was in Utah most of the summer which was unfortunate for them but very exciting for me and Britt! We had a great time lounging about the pool, loving Baby Indie, and of course taking our usual trip to California. Some unexpected goodness however, came from my trip with Danen to Lake Powell and our joint family vacation with the Jones's to Maui!
Lake Powell was so exciting for me because I had never been there before! Danen's family has a house boat and they go there for about a week every summer, so I was lucky enough to join the Radman's and tag along to the lake. We slept on a house boat and for three days did nothing but play in the water, attempt to skii, and get nice and tan! It was so relaxing and such a fun trip that I didn't want to come home. Fortunately for us, we weren't going home- we were heading to California to meet up with Holly and the gang!
Cali was fun as usual... it never dissapoints! We took Danen to all of our favorite places to eat: Ruby's, Coco's, Conca'Dora and other such treasures. We went to Disneyland one day, and had a great time there surprisingly the lines weren't too bad even though it was the middle of summer! And on Danen's 24th b-day we went to the beach to lounge about, and eat greasy corn dogs! It was a fabulous week!
Oh, Hawaii! How I love thee! We were in Maui for one week and it didn't seem like long enough. We sat at the pool every morning (well after mom and shelly had made us excercise!) We would walk down the beach to get a Haagen Daaz, possibly eat at Hula Grill, or Leilani's and then head back to the pool. What a week! The kids even took surfing lessons, and they did great at it! Dad, Gregory, Chloe and Me went Scuba Diving! It was so neat to go in the ocean... we saw crabs, giant sea turtles, all kinds of fish, and coral! I definitely was sad to come home from that trip, especially since I had to start school the very next day! But oh well, life goes on. Well that was the highlights of my summer vacations!