The Second Annual Murdery Mystery Party

Last year me and my best friend Alana threw a fabulous Murder Mystery Party! It was so much fun and a ton of work for us! We really enjoyed it and I think are planning to make it an annual occurrence! Last year this was all the people who attended the party.

This year we are hoping for the same turnout, maybe a little more! So I would like to know who is interested in coming this year? If you are, let me know and get me your address by October 9th. Since this party takes so much work and preparation we are kind of strict on certain details. If I don't get your address by the 9th you won't receive an invitation, if you do not RSVP by the designated date you won't be able to attend the party, and you must not be late for the party! Some details you need to know about the party are that it will be held on November 20th and that the theme is the 1950's. So if you missed out last year and don't want to this year come! And if you came last year and know of someone who would like to come have them get in contact with me!

Inspiration

I haven't posted anything since my amazing trip to Seattle, but I was thinking the other day while watching the travel channel where my love of travel came from. Growing up as a child my parents took us on family vacations quite often. We used to go to Disneyland every summer as I was growing up, or it just seems that frequent in my memories of my childhood. I can recall a trip to Mexico we took with a bunch of neighbors, I think I connect this trip mostly with my eldest brother threatening to tie me to the luggage rack of our 89 GMC suburban, I was 4 or 5 back then and I just roamed the car, no rules of car seats for toddlers in the early 90's. I remember a family trip to the Grand Canyon where my brother who is just above me in the age line up threatened to push me in I believe I was only 7 and terrified of the Grand Canyon right up until I went for the second time in my life a few years ago. I can remember a trip to Utah to visit my sister at BYU, numerous trips to Flagstaff to see every home football game of my brother's for 4 years straight, this is the reason I fell deeply in love with Flagstaff and have always wanted to live there for a short period of time. Other exciting family vacations included Disney world when I was in the 7th grade, Washington D.C. in the 8th grade, and more recent ones have been San Diego a few times, Las Vegas, Disneyland of course, even as adults my whole family still loves Disneyland, and New York City with my sisters and mom! So as you can see I have been traveling my whole life but I never really became infatuated with it until I saw this woman on this network....

Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel

I just happened to come across a show called Passport to Europe and have watched every single episode since. This woman inspired me to study abroad and truly experience another country and what it has to offer! Before I even saw this show I had been to Canada, Mexico and Germany already. I didn't really appreciate this fact until I saw her show and her excitement for each new adventure she went on! I decided I am going back to Europe to truly appreciate it, I decided about a year and half before I actually did study abroad that I was going too! At that time I narrowed my choices down to France, Italy, and Australia. France because I took 3 years of french in high school, Italy because I had learned so much about its ancient architecture from interior design school, and Australia because of my aunt who is a native of there and I just adore her. Italy ultimately won out in the end as you know and I have this TV woman to thank for getting me excited about traveling! She also has passport to Latin America which I have also seen every episode of, and Passport to Great Weekends, which is traveling within the United States and Canada, and more recent Passport to Asia! They are all truly amazing! There are so many amazing places to see in this world it's so incredible! Thanks Samantha Brown for being my inspiration to travel!

Seattle!!!

Since my blog was created for writing about traveling adventures, I should probably write about my vacation to Seattle a few weeks ago! I had the chance to visit my friend Cassie, who recently moved to Seattle for culinary school, over 10 days. I arrived June 24th and came home July 3rd. It was such a fun vacation! It was just the right amount of mixing touristy with relaxing things. The day after I got there was Cassie's birthday, so me, her, and her roommate Julia went to Pike's Place Market and spent a good amount of time there. Julia and I decided we would tell everyone we came across that it was Cassie's birthday to see how much free stuff she could get! It was really fun! Julia even had a street musician sing Happy Birthday to her! That night we went out to dinner at this really good Mexican restaurant called Cactus. Being that I was in Seattle and visiting a culinary student, I ate a ton of food, which I don't regret any of it, well except maybe the fig bruschetta! haha. Saturday Cassie and I headed down to the waterfront to walk around and check some tourist shops out! I made out so good on this trip, I had a free place to stay (Thanks so much again Cassie and Julia!), my ticket was $30 round trip (thanks mom!), and Julia works at a souvenir shop so I got a sweatshirt and magnet for $14 (you rock Julia!) So needless to say most of my money went to paying for all the yummy food I tried! Well Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday Cassie had to work, so Sunday we went to the Fremont flea market and I was in heaven! It was reminiscent of a European market, which I miss so much! Cassie came to the market with me for a little while then had to go to work. I browsed through the market for a couple hours, and explored downtown Fremont. Then I made my way over to Ballard because there was a Farmers market going on over there as well, so I walked from Fremont to Ballard which took me over an hour, but the weather was nice so I didn't mind too much! I ate lunch at this really good Italian place called Palermo's in downtown Ballard. The next day my brother Danny and his girlfriend Megan were able to drive from Idaho and spend a few days with me in Seattle! This was so much fun! I was so happy to see my brother who I don't get to see very often because he lives in Idaho and finally meet his girlfriend! She met my whole family while I was in Italy! The first day they were in Seattle we went to the Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder, where the salmon make the trek upstream from the ocean back into the lake. We then hung out until dinner with her friends who all live in Seattle. It was nice because me and my brother were able to catch up a lot at dinner. The next day was my ultimate tourist day! Danny, Megan, and I bought a city pass and did the Space Needle, the Pacific Science Center, The Harbor Cruise Tour, the Seattle Aquarium and the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum. It was an exhausting day but a lot of fun! The next day Cassie had off so we all went out to breakfast together at this delicious place called The Dish in Fremont. Danny and Megan headed back to Idaho that morning and Cassie and I babysat her niece Maci. After we were done babysitting we went and saw Eclipse. Thursday Cassie had to babysit her niece and another little girl named Elvie, so we took them to the Woodland Park Zoo, which was also a attraction on the city pass, which Seattle's Zoo is pretty cool! They had some neat animals there! Friday we decided to do Theo's Chocolate Factory Tour, this was probably one of my favorite things we did! The tour was extremely informative and the chocolate was delicious and you get to sample a lot at the low price of $6! The actual chocolate bars are pretty expensive but sooo good! After the tour we headed over to Bainbridge Island just to walk around and check it out, the downtown had some cute shops in it and I got a really cute address book! The next day was my last day so I just relaxed and got ready to go home! It was so much fun seeing Cassie and meeting her sister, niece and roommate! They were all great! I had a ton of fun! It was a great vacation! Sorry this post is so long but I was there for 10 days! haha

Here are some pictures from my trip:

Cassie's birthday at Pike's Place

The waterfront

Fremont Market

Chocolate Tour

Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder

Space Needle

Pacific Science Center

Harbor Cruise

Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum

Horrible Depictions of Jacob and Edward

On the ferry to Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island

The Table Dance

Today on Ellen which is the other show I love, a few of the "All Stars" did a group performance and I got goosebumps seeing my lover Twitch again! I am so flippin excited for this season to start TONIGHT!! Neil is one of the all stars coming back he wasn't on Ellen today but he is in this video which is one of my other all time favorites! Love Neil, Love this dance!

Best Guest Performance Ever!

This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen! Its the league of extraordinary dancers! They did a guest performance one So You Think You Can Dance last season and it was phenomenal! Enjoy!

Contemporary Season 6

This is Jakob and Ellenore from season 6 doing a contemporary piece! It is so good! I love it! Jakob could pretty much do anything he was absolutely amazing!!

I Love Me Some Twitch!

This dance is from season 4 with Kherington and Twitch! He is so awesome I can't wait for him to be in this next season again! He is my favorite dancer of all time from the show!