Post Christmas/Pre New Years Update

I hope everyone out there had an awesome Christmas. I am planning on taking pictures of the stuff I got and posting it on here but I still haven't done it. I should start off by saying that Paul is the BEST and he totally got me the phone I wanted!! I am now the proud owner of the Motorola Motozine!! I really love it. I haven't even had it a whole week yet and I've already been taking pictures and sending them to people. I posted pictures on Kylie's blog that I took with my phone. Check it out if you want.

Now that we are starting a new year I guess I should set some goals that I probably won't keep. My friend at work, Larry and I joked about walking on all of our lunch breaks over to the Olive Garden. I don't think that's the same as the Subway diet. Although, the Olive Garden is further away than Subway is. My biggest goal for this year is to get out of debt. We have been doing a pretty good job. I would also like to buy a house. We'll see how that goes. I hope everyone had a great year and I wish all of you the best for the year to come!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Crazy 8's (thanks a lot Kimi)

CrAzY EiGhTs

8 Shows we Watch:
-Heroes
-Big Bang Theory
-How I Met Your Mother
-Fringe
-Americas Next Top Model
-Survivor
-Rita Rocks
-Eli Stone

8 Places I like to Eat
-Cafe Rio
-Enjoy Chinese Cuisine
-Chipotle
-Noodles and Company
-Iggy's
-La Costa
-Taco Bell
-My parents house

8 Things on my Wishlist
-No Debt
-A House
-A puppy
-A Kitty
-Same job, more money
-The Motorola Motozine
-Acceptance of Paul by everyone in my life
-A fancy car (not that I need one but it's a wishlist right)

8 Tags: (I'll be checking!)
-Karri
-Amber
-Holli
-Meagan
-Brenda
-Michelle
-Micah
-Kathy

You know its Christmas...

when the crazy lady on the train wears her antlers...

Ski Biz Expo

Last week on Wednesday my department hosted the Ski Biz Expo at Club Elevate in downtown Salt Lake. It is a big event where ski related vendors set up booths and talk about their products. We spent months planning the event and it was a huge success. Below is a picture of the Tourism Team and the "Utah Snowflakes."

WEGE (pronounced wedgie)

Every year the "Bureau" holds a White Elephant Gift Exchange or WEGE. Anyone who wants to participate draws a name and buys that person a gift. Most people write a little poem or something explaining why the gift was given. Most of the time it is something funny. I bought a stuffed dog for the girl that let me follow her around like a lost puppy my first day. My boss Kaitlin drew my name and bought me a Baby Potato Head and turned it into the Tourism Edition. I like that she took the time to dress him up and make him a little sign. I work with the coolest people.

It's only taken a year

So Paul and I have officially lived together for over a year. We moved into our apartment the weekend after Thanksgiving last year. (But Paul actually moved into my apartment in Orem 2 weeks before that) We never hung anything on the main wall of our living room over the couch. Once we saw a collection of art at Target that I really loved but we couldn't afford at the time and then when we could they were sold out. A short time ago I found the art below at Target.com. I wanted to order it right away but again I didn't have the money. But we finally decided to order it and it just arrived at my office today. I am so excited!! I plan on hanging 3 brown 5x7" frames on either side with pictures from our year together. I'm very excited to finally be hanging art on the wall.

Thanksgiving

So I survived Thanksgiving '08. That doesn't really sound all that impressive until you hear the list of events of the day. The morning was relaxed after I made french toast for breakfast. Then Paul and I headed over to my parents house about 2:00 for the big event. The dinner was the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, yams, corn and cranberry sauce. Needles to say I was STUFFED!! My mom is getting very good at coming up with ways to tweek things so that Paul and my cousin Heidi can eat traditional food and still be vegetarians. My mom tweeked her stuffing recipe and made a small portion that Heidi and Paul shared. Below is Heidi showing off her control of the roll basket. Kylie wasn't there to monitor how many rolls she ate so she helped herself. After dinner at my parents we headed over to Paul's mom's house. There was a very long table set up in her living room and as soon as we walked in we were instructed to sit and plates were placed in front of us. Paul's mom makes turkey, rice and potato salad El Salvador style. It is really tasty and very different from American style. After eating at Paul's mom's it was time to head over to Paul's brother's to celebrate with his dad.

Luckily everything was running behind, as usual and we didn't eat for a few hours. Actually it was about 9:30 by the time we sat down to eat. After dinner we took Paul's tipsy sister home and then returned just long enough to cut out 3/4 of a pan of brownies and leave behind. We got home about 11:00 and went straight to bed. Paul had to work the next morning so we didn't get to do crazy early morning shopping.

Help me decide

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving!! Please visit Kylie's blog and vote on the poll.

Motorola Motozine

I have been a long time fan of Motorola phones. They really won me over when they released the orange Pebl. I was in love for the longest time unti the spring that opened the cover broke. Now Motorola has done it again. They have released the new Motozine. It has a 5 mega pixel camera with Kodak technology built in. Just think how much cooler my blog could be if I have a camera phone like this. Unfortuneately it cost like $250 bucks and I can't afford it. I think it is time to start saving my pennies. And if anyone would like to contribute to a Make-Clayton's-blog-cooler-by-buying-him-a-new-AWESOME-phone Fund then I certainly would not complain.

Um, that's a problem

Up until today I have taken child-proof caps on pill bottles for granted. It's always so annoying to have to fiddle with the stupid little secruity devices just to get a little relief for a migraine. A while back Paul took me to a whole foods store into the natural medicine section to have me get some homeopathic migraine relief. (I think he thinks I take too many painkillers.) So I got this tiny little bottle of natural something that is supposed to relieve migraines. It works better for preventing them if you take two during the very early stages of a migraine onset. And the best part is that because it is all natural, it isn't harmful and there is no real threat of overdosing, so it doesn't have a child-proof cap on it. Well this morning I found myself with a full on migraine so I decided to go for the strong stuff and started searching through my bag for my Excedrin Migraine. I always just shove one hand in and search blindly until my hand finds the all too familiar shape of the bottle. Today however my hand discovered the tiny bottle of natural pills first and noticed a crucial part was missing...THE LID!!! I quickly emptied the contents of my bag onto my desk and the picture below is what I found. Yeah that's right. The entire bottle of tiny little natural pills lined the bottom crevices of my bag. So now there is a slight dusting of crushed homeopathic migraine relief on everything that belongs in the black hole that is my bag. I snapped a picture for blogging purposes and then proceeded to pick each and every dusty little pill out of my bag and replace it into the tiny little bottle that is its original home. And no I didn't throw the bottle away. Aside from a little lint there is nothing residing in my bag that would be harmful if consumed. So I think child-proof caps should instead be called keep-the-pills-in-the-bottle-and-not-in-the-bottom-of-your-bag caps. Does anyone second the motion?

FANTA FANTA!!

Everyone knows who the Fanta Girls are, right? If you don't that is just sad and you should google them or something. Here is the point of my post. When Kylie and I go to Disneyland we have to drink orange Fanta because they don't serve Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew. Everytime we fill up our cups with orange Fanta we sing the "Fanta Fanta" song. Kylie said in a tape she made for me that everytime she has orange Fanta now that the song plays in her head and she thinks of me. (Brainwashed? I think so!) So on Sunday at my parents house Paul was drinking his warm (I know, gross) orange Fanta and said, "Do you know what I'm thinking?" And I immediately knew he was referring to Kylie and me singing Fanta Fanta in Disneyland. So we decided to commemorate the moment (not like in the Sonic commercial) by taking a picture. Here we all are holding our Fanta cans.

And just in case you could tell what they were, here is the close up. Kylie, here's to you!!

"Fanta Fanta!! Don't you wanna Fanta Fanta?"

Worth the Pain

Yesterday I went back under the needle. I decided it was time to add my tribute to my cousin Stephanie and to my dad.
My cousin Stephanie battled breast cancer but lost. I remember being in the 4th grade when Steph was enlisted in the service and we would write each other letters back and forth. It was fun being her pen-pal.
My dad is currenly in remission from Lymphoma. His type of Lymphoma is not curable and will come back eventually. Hopefully much later rather than sooner. We like seeing him with hair while he can still have it.
If you would like to see tattoo #1 follow this link: http://claytoscorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/tattoo.html

Kylie Update!

Kylie's blog has been updated again. Actually I completely over-hauled it. It has lots of new pictures. Please check it out and tell me what you think.

Jackson Hole

Right now I HATE JACKSON HOLE!! Paul works as a personal banker for Wells Fargo and they sent him to Jackson Hole to train in a newly purchased branch. He's been gone since Sunday morning and I have been going out of my mind with out him. Sitting alone at home all the time sucks. And nothing is worse than a big cold lonely bed. I have resorted to sleeping on my side facing the wall so that it isn't quite so obvious that no one else is there.

On the bright side I think I am going to take a half day on Friday and make the 5 hour drive to Jackson Hole and then bring him home on Saturday. Technically he has a plane ticket for Saturday morning but he doesn't have to get on the plane. So by this weekend I might love Jackson Hole. Only time will tell.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween has come and gone and actually I'm relieved. Halloween is Paul's favorite holiday and so I wanted to make sure he had as much fun as possible. I suggested that we, along with my friend Karri, dress up as Lock, Shock, and Barrel from Nightmare Before Christmas. I spent tons of time stressing over and creating the 3 masks that are essentially the signature pieces for these costumes. Not only that but I had to create Paul's skeleton costume. He had the idea to attach a glow in the dark plastic skeleton to his clothes. (Easier said than done.) We ended up having to get a hand saw from my parents house in order to cut the skeleton into separate bones. Then we hot-glued the upper body to the black t-shirt and I had stitched the bones of the legs on to the black lounge pants we bought. Paul mentioned that he wanted to enter the costume contest at the club we were planning to go to which only added to the pressure of creating good costumes. Not only did we need masks but we also had to paint our faces according to the movie.
Here are the close ups of the individual masks. And incase you don't know which is which...
Lock is the devil, Shock is the witch and Barrel is the skeleton.

We had fun even if we didn't enter the costume contest.

Happy Halloween!!

Paul's favorite movie of all time is Nightmare Before Christmas so when we were trying to come up with an idea for two boys and a girl (Karri is hanging out with us) I thought of being Lock, Shock and Barrel, the 3 kids from the movie. I immediately went to work on creating our masks. And we all started putting together our costumes. My finished mask.
The tail is my favorite part. I will post pictures of all 3 of us once we all get together.

Arkansas update

I updated Kylie's blog again. Check it out.

Where do you stand on Equality?

This post is prompted by a comment made by my cousin. I absolutely took no offense to the comment but I figured I would blog about my opinion. If you don't agree with me that's fine and you don't have to continue reading. But I am sharing my opinion. As you can tell from the image at the top of the page, I support Obama. In fact I already voted for him. (I know my vote doesn't count for much in Utah but I still did.) Paul and I had our ballots mailed to us early. We filled them out and mailed them in. My main reason for voting for Obama over McCain is because of the simple matter of Equality. I want a president that believes that all Americans should have equal rights. I don't understand why anyone would want it any other way. Frankly the opposition to equal rights is sickening to me. Think about how far our country has come since it was established. Blacks and women now have all the same rights as white men. Then why is it that two consenting adults are not being allowed to marry each other? Our country is not run by religious leaders or their feelings and religions (especially one in particular) have been persecuted and now they are persecuting another group of individuals simply because they don't agree with who they love. What is so wrong with loving another human being? That seems wrong to me and frankly I am glad I am no longer associated with an organization that asks it members to persecute others. Remember this is only my opinion and you don't have to like it or agree but I hope it makes you think.

MPH!!!

Karri spent some time in Disneyland last week and sent me this picture. She says its because she thought of me when she saw it but I think she was just rubbing in the fact that she went with out me. Either way I'm totally jealous that I haven't seen it yet. Paul, Karri and I are now officially planning to take a trip to Disneyland next spring. It will be so fun!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm trying to decide if I would get fired if someone walked by and saw me sleeping at work. I feel like my head could come crashing down on to my desk at any moment without warning. Maybe I should roll up my scarf and place it on the desk in front of me just incase my head comes tumbling down. Not only would it be softer than smacking my head on the desk but it would also muffle the sound of the THUD that would undoubtly accompany the descent of my head.

Kylie's Blog

Kylie gave me access to her blog so I will be updating it while she is in Arkansas. She emails me on Wednesdays and has attached pictures that last couple of time so I have posted them there. Please take a look and enjoy.

Picture Tagged

I was Picture Tagged by my friend Meagen. (I happen to be really excited that Meagan tagged me because I met her through my friend Holli that works at the hotel I used to work at. Meagen is Holli's sister and we only really know each other through Holli, and Brenda. So I like that Meagen thought to picture tag me.) Here's the deal, open your photos, open the 4th folder and upload the 4th picture with an explanation. Then tag 4 more people. This is a picture of my birthday present my parents gave me. Well part of my present. It has 2 stools that go with it. It sits on our patio and right now is draped with faux-spider webs courtesy of Paul. I tag Karri, Kimi, Kathy, and Amber. (Not that I don't love you Amber but another "K" name would have been cool. Too bad Kylie is in Arkansas.) :(

The Secret Life of Bees

As I mentioned on Friday, The Secret Life of Bees opened over the weekend. I got to go with Paul and Karri. It was a great movie. It is a crying movie so be prepared. (We were not considering none of us have read the book.) I even cried and I never cry at movies. I read a review that said that this movie follows the book very closely. So if you have reservations about seeing a movie based on a book, this one follows it pretty closely. I hope everyone goes to see the movie and really enjoys themselves.

The Secret Life of Bees

Jennifer Hudson's new movie is out today. The Secret Life of Bees is based on a best selling novel and stars Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys and of coarse Jennifer Hudson. I am very excited about seeing this movie. Maybe I'll go tomorrow morning and save a little money on the ticket.

Jensen

I figured I should let him have his own post since I deleted him from the other one. Gorgeous right?

Picture Tagged

I saw this Tagged on my friend Ambers blog and I was only going to look up my pictures but wasn't going to post them until I started realizing how awesome all the pictures were.

Age: 26

I'm not sure why this showed up for 26 but it did and I like it. Where I Live: Promontory Point

I probably could have found an image of my apartment complex, called Promontory Point but then it wouldn't be educational.

Where I would like to travel: Spain

I don't know why but I have always wanted to go to Spain.Favorite Food: Mexican

I swear this is the first picture that popped up when I typed in Mexican. I think it is hilarious and is the sole reason that I decided to post the pictures in my blog. Where I grew up: Sandy, UT

A beautiful scenic place.

Favorite Color: Orange

As if you didn't already know that.

Favorite Animal: Monkey

I have always loved monkeys, and when I found a picture of an orange one I had to post it. Some thing I used to love: My Little Ponies

I'm totally serious. I had so many of them and I used to play with them all the time. I know you aren't really that shocked, are you?

First Name: Clayton

I'm not sure where this sign is but I really like it. Middle Name: James

Perhaps some of you didn't know that. I think this guy is hot so he had to make it into my blog.

Last Name: Jensen

Who could pass up a chance to include the beautiful Jensen Ackles in their blog. Not me!!

(Oh shit I just deleted him and to add him back in means starting over. Yeah, That's not gonna happen.)

Happy Boss's Day!!

Boss's Day is actually tomorrow but since both of my bosses will be out of the office tomorrow I'm celebrating today. I made hand-dipped chocolate covered pretzels last night for them. Then I typed up a little note first thing this morning at work. I inspired Kaitlin to do something nice for our collective boss (the V.P. of Sales) and we took this picture and wrapped it around a wine bottle like it was our own special label. I think it turned out pretty cool. (I'm a little bias of coarse considering I put it together.) I haven't really properly introduced my bosses. Kaitlin is the Director of Tourism Sales and Lee is the Tourism Sales Manager. We have a lot of fun together. It feels good to be part of a team that has each other's backs.

Tattoo

So I decided it was time I added my tattoo to my blog. I had it done back in March but I was too afraid to post it on my blog because occasionally my parents read my blog. When we went on vacation to St. George back in August the inevitable finally happened. Our St. George vacations always consist of watching movies, swimming, eating and repeating. So the moment came and I stripped off my shirt and climbed into the pool. We started playing around and soon enough everyone had seen it. No one said anything at first. Then a little bit later I was standing by my mom and she said ok I have to know, does it hurt? We talked a little about how much it hurts and then no one else said anything about it. The following weekend my sister Jetti got a close up look at it while we were swimming at her brother-in-laws house in Arizona and her comment was oh it's a "C." So I figured I had better explain what it is. First of all, I designed it myself, mostly. It is my version of an Aztec sun. (I wanted it to look like it was made out of rock so that is the only part the the tattoo artist added to it.) It has 6 points because I wanted to include the colors of the rainbow as my expression of not being ashamed of being gay. And the "C" in the middle represents that I did it for myself. It was something that I had been thinking about for years before it actually happened. I had been carrying around the design in my bag for atleast 2 years before I got it done. And in case anyone is wondering, I am planning on getting more. I already have the design finished for the next one that will be a tribute to my cousin Stephanie, who died from breast cancer, and my dad that is living with Lymphoma. I am also in the process of thinking of a design special enough to represent the person in my life who loves me more than anyone else does, my sister Kylie Jo.

BIG SHOPPING DAY!!

Yesterday was a big day for me. For anyone who may not know, I am head over heels in love with Jennifer Hudson. I have been since she was on American Idol. In fact I have not voted for a contestant since she was voted off. When I found out that she was going to be in Dreamgirls I was so excited. I went out and bought the soundtrack before ever seeing the movie. And of coarse she was AMAZING!! I went to see the Sex in the City movie, having never watched a single episode, only because she was in it. And I am highly anticipating the release of her latest movie, The Secret Life of Bees where she will co-star along with Queen Latifa, Dakota Fanning and Alicia Keys. I have been anticipating the release of her first album for a while now. It was announced around the time of Dreamgirls that her album would be a soulful gospel album. Yesterday was the big day and I am now the very proud owner of Jennifer Hudson's self titled debut album. And it is not a gospel album. I haven't had time to listen to the whole thing yet but what I have heard so far is FANTASTIC!! Last week on Tuesday the final season of Will & Grace was release on DVD. Along with the final season was released the complete series in one box set. When Paul and I saw it at Target on Saturday we were super excited. We went home immediately, gathered up our collection of the first 7 seasons and headed directly to FYE to sell them back. We got a $50 store credit and vowed to return after pay day. (That was yesterday!!) I headed straight to FYE to purchase the box set and my Jennifer Hudson cd right from the trax station. Now it is positioned nicely among all our other DVDs. And it draws attention to itself because it is shorter and squattier than all the DVDs around it.

After I finished shopping at FYE I headed over to Target to get the Target exclusive special edition of Iron Man. It comes in a really cool helmet case. Only sadly when I got there they had already sold out of the special edition ones. I text Paul to tell him of my disappointment. Little did I know that while we were texting about my dismay he headed over to the Target closest to where he works and was able to find one. I was so happy. I love him so much!! I know he thinks I'm crazy sometimes but I also know that he loves me and that's good. (No image currently available for the Iron Man case. Maybe I'll take one with my phone and add it at a later date.)

As promised!!

Here is Kylie's new address:

Sister Kylie Jo Jensen
200 Millwood Cir #525
Maumelle, AR 72113

And the mission home address:

Sister Kylie Jo Jensen
905 Kierre Dr.
North Little Rock, AR 72116

Anyone who reads this feel free to write her. Shw would love a letter no matter who it comes from. Just explain who you are if you think she might not know you.

Arkansas or Bust!!

Today Kylie goes to Arkansas!! She got to call early in the morning before her flight at 6:30. So my phone rang about 5:45, and by rang I mean buzzed. It was so good to hear her cheerful voice as she recounted the mornings events. Apparently she and her companion didn't hear their alarm clocks so they slept way longer than they should have. The office over-head paged their building and a couple of sisters from another room heard the page and barged into their room to wake them up. She had time to pull her hair back into a ponytail and get dressed before they were on the bus headed for the airport. Once she arrived at the airport and checked her bags she made her way to the bathroom to blowdry her hair and put her face on. She said she feels gross and can't wait to get to Arkansas and get a chance to take a shower. I was of coarse laughing the whole time and tried to tell me it wasn't funny. We talk for about 11 minutes or something until she felt like she needed to go to be ready to get on the plane. I wished her well and we hung up. She just called me again a minute ago. They have landed in Atlanta and have a two hour lay over before departing for Arkansas. She said she doesn't get to get into her checked luggage until tomorrow which means she probably won't get to meet her new companion until tomorrow. She traveled with 4 elders from her district and another few from another district. But she is the only sister that is headed to Little Rock right now. Her companion from the MTC is headed to Indiana with the other half of the elders from their district. I'm so proud of her for being brave enough to serve a mission. I love her so much and miss her so much. I can't wait for Christmas now so I can talk to her again. I have the address to the mission office and I'll post it soon. She loves letters so feel free to write!!

Kylie's Address

Kylie has been in the MTC for one week now. I thought I would post her address here so that anyone who reads my blog could write her. She would really love the letters.

Sister Kylie Jo Jensen
MTC Mailbox # 137
AR-LTR 0923
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

I am super proud of my sister and I love and miss her like crazy.

Celebrating 21!!!

My little sister turned 21 a few weeks ago. We took a trip to Pheonix a week later and stopped in Las Vegas for the night. We had already decided that we would each take 5 bucks to gamble with. We both ended up taking 10!! We wandered around the casino for a while, while our parents trailed behind. Finally we decided on a couple of penny slot machines and the fun began!! We picked out a couple of great machines and soon we were both winning. The first picture is one of Kylie's big pay outs. (Now remember we are playing penny slots so 1270 credits equals $12.70) That's awesome. I was getting pretty close to breaking $30 and I had decided I would cash out when I hit $30, but Kylie beat me to it. So I made her cash out and I walked her over to the ticket redemption machine. The pictures below are Kylie with her big ticket and then a close up of the ticket so we can prove how much she actually won. When we returned to our favorite machines our parents had jumped on trying to steal out luck. But they didn't win and then we never did again either. We finished up the night with a stop a Fat Burger, the only restaurant open in the casino and 1 in the morning. We all ordered a "Baby Fat." The best part of the meal was the crazy lady that took our orders. All in all it was a very fun night with my sister. Now she is about to leave on her mission so we'll make more memories when she gets back.

HUGE PROGRESS!!

Every month since as far back as I can remember we have had a family party with my mom's side of the family to celebrate birthdays for the month. As a result we are all very close with our cousins. August's party was on Sunday and we celebrated Kylie's birthday, which is tomorrow, and my cousin, JL, who is only ten days older than my sisters. I always feel bad leaving Paul home while I go do something fun so I asked if he could come too. After the progress that was made on the 24th of July I thought we might stand a chance. And they said YES!! So we got ready and headed over, after picking up my grandma of coarse. She was nice to Paul, again. When we showed up at my parents house only my mom's brother was there with his wife. I introduced them and they were really nice. They had heard alot about Paul from my cousins and they have always been silent supporters of me. Slowly more and more family members showed up and were all introduced to Paul. It was funny that the 3 cousins that had already met Paul were not there. So he got to meet all new people. Oh and that included my brother Ryan. The last of my siblings. He had even met Ryan's wife Kimi before he met Ryan. Anyway the point is that Paul was invited to my parents house. Now if only he could come on vacation with us.

Tagged!!

Jetti, my sister, tagged me so I guess I have to now.

Tagged

3 Joys:
1) PAUL!!
2) Playing cards with my family (especially my grandma, she is hilarious)
3) Being alone in the car singing along to musical soundtracks at the top of my lungs

3 Fears:
1) SPIDERS!!
2) Coming home and finding someone in my house. (Now do you all understand why I almost died at my surprise party?)
3) Losing Paul!!

3 Obsessions:
1) Reality TV!!
2) Mexican Food
3) The color ORANGE

3 Surprising Facts:
1) I only like tofu when I make it myself
2) I get a headache everyday
3) I HATE talking on the phone

A day in the life...

Welcome to Salt Lake!! 47 TIMES!!
So my project at work today was to prepare these "gift bags" for a tour group that is coming in on Sunday and only staying for one night. They will all receive a Visitor's Guide, a brochure for the Connect Pass and City Tour and a packet of wildflower seeds tied to the front with blue wraphia. It costs us next to nothing and it looks really nice. My left hand is totally cramped from holding the Visitor's Guide tight while I tied the wraphia with the other hand. I asked the other assistants if they would help me when they could, but I got finished before anyone had a chance to offer assistance. (In the words of my friend Holli, GO ME GO!!)