The Verdict:

Lunch it is, Jaimers! Will that work for people? Shall we meet at the Lis, Nicole and Camille house in Hollday and go from there? How about noon?

I have to vote for lunch. We have the cable guy coming on Saturday morning, and I hate to leave zack to his own devices while waiting around for him. If we decide on breakfast, that would be fine too, I guess. Zack will have to deal. let me know! 801 433 7000

Saturday? Breakfast? Lunch?

How would meeting up Saturday for breakfast or lunch sound to everyone??? I can do either, but unfortunately cannot meet up tonight or Saturday night. We could go to the Original Pancake House for breakfast (yummy!!) or go to any number of delightful locales for lunch. Let me know what you think! I would particularly love to see our very own Megan Liljenquist or Jonathan of the Redds since we haven't heard from either of you delightful people since the beginning of this blog. I would also love to see our very own Pres. Crissa, but since she lives in Denver, we will have to suffice with reminiscing about the pearls of wisdom we have gleaned from her over the years.....when are you coming into to town next, Crissa? Good day to you all!

Thursday

I'm down for Thursday or Saturday would work for me too. I have Saturday off, so I could even do LUNCH! FUN! And I just got the audiobook of Emma from the Library. It's extremely charming. I'm enjoying it so far. Let me know if either of those will work for you guys.

Soon please

Hello all. I am blogging from school. That means that this will be short and probably terse and professional sounding. I can't explain why. That is my school mode I guess.
I wanted to throw in my two cents about hanging out. I am free for any night that works for others. I have spent 24/7 with family for a week now. Great food and fun times--but ready for GAPA time now. I suggest that we pick a time that NICOLE can come. I have a feeling she has things to say. Just a feeling I have....
I can't wait to catch up and find out how everyone is doing. See you soon.
LT

Might I recommend Wednesday night? It is the best for me, and thus it is my suggestion.

Don't anybody worry about not attending my party. I had a pretty good turn out, mostly because a few people brought friends, and Amanda brought all of her sisters and sisters in law along. I mean, yah, I kinda feel a litle bit like Pam did when nobody came to her art show, but I'll surely get over it. (Honestly, I missed you all, but was not in any way offended.)

Today I will finish Emma, having only 20 pages left, so I kinda wish the book club weren't over a month out, but I guess I will have to practice patience and tame my excitements until the time arrives.

Thanksgiving was good. I hosted it, and everyone had fun. I made an apple pie, world famous yams, grilled fresh green beans, carrots, even though I don't like cooked carrots, and heated some frozen peas and corn. I was also in charge of the turkey, and it turned out so well! I brined it, filled it with apples and spices, and roasted it to perfection. It was moist and delightful. I highly recommend brining to anyone attempting to roast a turkey. It was so fool-proof and easy.

I was asked to be part of a new team at work, which is cool.

oh yah. so how do we feel about Wednesday? My next best day is Thursday. Then Saturday. Thoughts?

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I love holidays centered around a meal and time off of work. It's a recipe for genuine happiness - LT is right. (She is unfortunately, often right). So, I was given my first food assignment for Thanksgiving dinner - the veggie tray. Yeah, a tough one, but to be honest, anything more ambitious than that may have been a problem. It was the best freakin' veggie tray Costco could make! Jaimers, I'm sorry I didn't make it to your jewelry party! Because of the short week, my deadlines were four days earlier than they normally are which meant that I worked super late both Monday and Tuesday, but I hope it went well. So I'm missing my GAPA friends. Shall we try getting together sometime this week? I'm free any day, I think, and I'd love to hear the scoop on everyone. Please consider how many people are not part of super secret organizations that help to make the world a better place but who want to be! Yeah, you're right - it's a really big number, and you're already part of one. Now, let those feelings of gratitude for belonging to GAPA swell within your bosoms and spread up to the scheduling parts of your brain. Are you feeling it? Okay, great, now send your suggestions! I hope you are all doing well!

Hey!

Hey everyone! So...Jamie...I hear ya w/the Lia Sophia gig...I'd totally come to support...however, it's my little sis's BFA show that's her HUGE end of her program thing...so duty calls there. Sorry! Hope you have a smashing party & your nerves survive! Jen- sorry re not loving your pics! I bet you look great! We can restage your wedding if you want new pics & we can do more formal poses!! :) Way to go in starting the book & props to Adam for joining in! He's so great!! I need to head over to my fab library & get it! Well, sorry...nothing super fabulous to say today...just wanted to say Hi! I really wish I could take a nap right now...oh boy... :) Hope you're all having a great day!

Misc.

Welcome Katie Drew! I'm so glad you're joining us in the Jane Austen adventure, etc. I was so happy when I heard that! Hooray also for Camille's post! I'm sorry that Li(S) and and Nicole were giving you a hard time about a certain error that I won't mention. I would never do that, knowing how it feels myself. ;) So, I've started Emma. Adam's reading it, too! For those of you who are first time Emma readers, I remember thinking that it was a little bit slow-going at first, but persevere - it will pick up. I really enjoy the comedic aspects of the book. Mr Woodhouse is my favorite and I love when he's talking with Emma's sister, Isabella. I see myself turning into a Mr Woodhouse when I'm older and it really frightens me, but I still enjoy him. BP - so good to hear from you, too! Thanks for telling me I was a beautiful bride. I just got my pictures back from outside of the temple and at the reception and I just don't love them. There are some nice ones, but apparently I'm not one who takes good candid shots. Consequently it's nice to hear reinforcement that I didn't look as goofy in real life. I hope you are all well. Keep up the posts - I love reading them!

Get excited!!!!

So, not only will we be reading and loving the novels of Jane Austen all next year, but we will also have Jane Austen Season to look forward to on PBS. Enjoy the previews.

For those who are really getting into it...here is a fun austen blog.

I can't wait for the Jane Austen season to really begin.
Sorry, I am bit overtop about this.

Alright. So I am a nervous hostess and I hate going to parties where they are trying to sell you something for the benefit of the hostess and the advisor, so I'm not totally sure how I got roped into this, but I am hosting a Lia Sophia party next monday at 6:30 at my house. My sister in law had one about a week ago, and she needed one more party to come from hers to get some free gift or something, so I got talked into it. Aimee and Jenny (my sister and mother in law, respectively, are inviting a few people too, but I am the primary hostess as it is at my house and mainly comprised of my guests.)

Bottom line-- you are all invited to attend, and I would love to see you all. If you don't want to buy anything, that's fine, but you can come anyway. I will have treats of some sort, and it will give you a chance to see our condo. I don't expect you to purchase, host a party, or join the ranks of Lia Sophia advisors because you come to my party. I simply hope that you come. If you do want to buy something, I won't judge you. (Thus far, I don't own a single piece of Lia Sohia jewelery....)

I live west of Granite High in a complex called Wedgewood Willows Condominiums. I am up the first set of steps in apartment D. Call if you need directions.

So that's Monday 11/19 at 6:30 at my house.

Please come. My nerves will need your support.

Techno challenged...

Hey everyone...oh my...so it doesn't help that I'm semi-techno challenged...I kind of spaced our blog (sorry...) and so I've missed out on TONS!!!!!!!!! Holy smokes...so I tried to read thru all that I missed...it was a lot!! I couldn't believe Jamie is back...welcome!! :) and that the new bride has been out & about...oh boy!! I've got to step it up a bit!! I'm super bummed I missed out on cocoa cafe! & the book/movie club ideas sound great! so...hopefully I'll be able to join in! So- just wanted to say Hello & sorry I've been MIA...but I've been thinking of you all! :) Cute pics by the way...great ones of the cocoa cafe visit & Jen...you were a beautiful bride!!!

Thanks Liz and Nicole for helping

This too is my first time blogging and Liz and Nicole have walked me through this experience. Thanks Liz and Nicole!
Also, I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Liz has a blog..... she is ashamed that she has been blogging to herself since no one knows about her blog. Please go to her blog at http://uraqthags.blogspot.com/, and read how funny, and creative her blog is! Anyway, now I can say that I have read a blog, and have totally contributed to one myself... I am a little embarrassed right now!

Silly Things...

"Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way."
--Jane Austen, Emma



It was our first official meeting of our Jane Austen Book/Movie Club last night at the Cocoa Cafe. We are so happy that those of you who could make it came and we missed those of you that found yourselves otherwise engaged. I am happy also to introduce/induct into our blog/club, the lovely Miss Katie Drew, who from this day forward will hopefully be an active participant here.




We have decided to start with Emma. And so that everyone can feel equally involved and included, we also talked about watching and reviewing the movies at our meetings. This way those who don't have time to read the book or would rather watch the movie can still participate and everyone can contribute!



So here's the agenda...

We will meet on January the 8th to discuss the book & movies. The weekend before on Friday the 4th of January, we'll have a movie night where we can watch one of the movie adaptations of the book. For Emma, there are 3 movie adaptations we could watch...Clueless, Emma with Gwenyth Paltrow, and the BBC Version of Emma. Well only watch one, and possibly just parts of the others or you can watch them on your own if you'd like! We can discuss differences between the movies and the books, the weak and strong points of each, draw parallels to characters from the book to people we know (that's my favorite part as one day during church I found myself matching past boyfriends to Jane Austen's different male leads and my mother's vernacular often echoes to that of Lady Catherine De Burgh).

So that is our plan so far. If anyone has suggestions or ideas, please post them! This is my first book club and I'm feeling a little insecure about if this is all going to actually work so I'd love your feedback. If you're excited, bored, annoyed or whatever, let me know!

**gasp!**

I am so glad I looked at this today. Come hell or high water, I will come to the cocoa cafe!

Blogtarded

Please forgive my double post of the same message (below). Clearly I am also quite the novice. I guess most of you could have guessed that after the iPod spelling debacle! So, I was all set for tomorrow at the Cocoa Caffe, but then I realized that we promised Adam's mom we'd go down and visit her tomorrow (she had surgery on Monday) and so I will have to bow out. Aside from tomorrow night, my schedule should be pretty freaking open (some things never change) and I eagerly anticipate the next get together!

alas...

...I can't go to the C.C. on thursdee, I have a lab meeting that night at the log haven. Neurologists are fancy eaters.

I really need to read though. LT, do you have 7 extra copies of every JA book or will I have to go to the library?

I have one book that I would love to talk about with others who have read it.
It's called "This is Your Brain on Music- the science of a human obsession." It's no JA romance though. I dunno.

Audiobooks for cheaters!

If any of you are interested, I found a site where you can download the Jane Austen books for free, it's http://librivox.org/ so you should check it out.

Cocoa Cafe? Need you ask?

I'm totally in LT...Thursday at 7:30 at my happy place. If you can't make it, don't feel like you can't participate! We'll post all about it. And I too simply adore the idea of doing a book/movie club (because I, like Jon R, am a bit intimidated by the thought of keeping up with Lis and JZ reading Jane Austen). But if this means getting together more often with all of you, I'll do whatever it takes!

Suggestion....

I am loving loving loving all the posts on the GAPA blog. It is so great to hear from all of you.

My suggestion: We should get together and have some Cocoa Cafe goodness on Thursday night. We can catch up, sip some cocoa, and discuss the details and plans for our book/movie club (great suggestion JonR--I love talking about movies as well as books). We can talk about what order we want to read the books and who wants to host etc. It would be good to make a loose schedule and then post it here for all to read and remember. I could even bring my pewter Mr. Darcy figurine, Jane Austen action figure, or my Jane Austen finger puppet! Yes, I do have all of those items. So what? (If I get carried away with this whole JA Book club someone needs to let me know.)

So, Cocoa Cafe--Thursday--7:30ish? Who is in?

Greetings!

Greetings everyone! I would first and foremost like to announce that my first week of marriage has been a great success in spite of one day of wretchedly awful sea sickness on the cruise. Words cannot express my sadness at the thought that being a merchant marine is no longer a viable option. Secondly, JonR on a very successful maiden voyage into the blogging realm. I was amused and touched and inspired by your humble message. Third, Jaimers, your invitation to my wedding must have gotten lost in the mail because I personally typed out your address label and stuffed the envelope. That's so sad! I didn't get anything sent back and so I had no idea you didn't get it. I wondered why you weren't there.....Fourth, I echo Jon's suggestion that we get together soon. I love GAPA hangouts - is this week too soon? Next week? Do I sound desperate? Now that I have entered a state of matrimony, I would like to be reassured that I still get to see the gang as often as possible. I guess I am desperate....and needy....hopefully in very a charming way. The book club is also a great idea. I love Emma! Let's give ourselves a month to finish it and meet at Cocoa Caffe to discuss - hopefully we'd be able to finish in that amount of time. Kind regards, JZ

Greetings!

Greetings everyone! I would first and foremost like to announce that my first week of marriage has been a great success in spite of one day of wretchedly awful sea sickness on the cruise. Words cannot express my sadness at the thought that being a merchant marine is no longer a viable option. Secondly, JonR on a very successful maiden voyage into the blogging realm. I was amused and touched and inspired by your humble message. Third, Jaimers, your invitation to my wedding must have gotten lost in the mail because I personally typed out your address label and stuffed the envelope. That's so sad! I didn't get anything sent back and so I had no idea you didn't get it. I wondered why you weren't there.....Fourth, I echo Jon's suggestion that we get together soon. I love GAPA hangouts - is this week too soon? Next week? Do I sound desperate? Now that I have entered a state of matrimony, I would like to be reassured that I still get to see the gang as often as possible. I guess I am desperate....and needy....hopefully in very a charming way. The book club is also a great idea. I love Emma! Let's give ourselves a month to finish it and meet at Cocoa Caffe to discuss - hopefully we'd be able to finish in that amount of time. Kind regards, JZ

Maiden Voyage Into the Bloggosphere

This is my first time blogging. I really want to do a good job, but I think I'm just going to try to be humble. I don't expect to be clever, funny or even remotely interesting. I am surprised how much I naturally want to be clever, funny and interesting. That is probably the main reason I haven't blogged yet, the pressure is too great. I usually spend 45 minutes writing an simple email, repeatedly checking spelling, syntax and style, and it's usually only addressed to one person. agggggghghhhhhh! Is it possible to delete blogs after you post them? The little button at the bottom of the screen doesn't even say "post," it says "publish post." woooooo. fancy publishing. Sounds permanent.

I was really happy to see ya'll at Jen's wedding. I would like to get together sometime and have a good time. what do you think? If you do a book club I could try, but I can't read a fast as LT. I'll probably just slow you down. I might do better in a movie club. that way it takes us all the same amount of time. doesn't that sound fair? nevermind.

misc.

I think a book club would be a great idea! I liked the finer things club on the Office, and a few of my co-workers and I have decided that we need to make an exclusive club. We all take lunch at different times, so this might prove difficult, but we will try.

I saw Dan in Real Life this weekend, and I really liked it. Any movie with a song about a pig faced girl has got to be a winner! There are a few moments where a bit of Michael Scott shines through Dan, but for the most part they remained pretty separate in my mind. Dan seems to be less of an idiot. If you haven't seen it, and you like romantic comedies, see it.

Does everyone have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving? If you don't, let me know. I cook a mean bird, and would love to add to our table.

Book Club?

I am apoligizing for not labeling any of the pictures. I was blogtarded. Oh well. if anyone has better pictures they should post them.

Now, I just finished watching The Office. I was loving their themed book clubs. I seriously think we should be having our own GAPA book club. Nicole has suggested we make it a Jane Austen Book Club. Of course I agree whole heartedly.
Does anyone have any thoughts?

Wedding Pictures!

Lost but not Forgotten

Good morning, angels.

I know I've been lost in no man's land for some time now, and I seem to have mossed Jen's wedding, but I'm afraid I didn't get an invitation, so I missed out big time. And you guys missed seeing my chic new bob, complete with trendy swoop bangs. (I was a project/test for a friend in beauty school, and luckily for me and her grade, it turned out well.)

Since you saw me last I have moved into the condo that Zack and I bought in June. Our renters' daughter was just too sick and they needed family support, so we let them out of their lease and FINALLY moved away from my nutty inlaws. (my address: 3510 S 300 East aptD) My department at Regence has dissolved as of today and I have taken a demotion in title but no pay cut. It sucks, but at least I am not unemployed completely. Zack got a promotion, and is now doing accounting for the company he is with, Billiardex. They are looking for a Sr. Accountant, and he is going to apply for that too.

I will be hosting Thanksgiving again this year, and preparations are already being made for that. The first thing I need to do is buy chairs for our dining room table. Right now we have a beautiful table that I bought second hand for a total steal, but no chairs. Our dining room looks a bit odd with just a table, but I am trying to remedy that.

Preparations are also being made to start a family. We are not pregnant, nor are we trying, but we will be thinking about trying in the spring or summer of '08, but we are getting our acts together now by starting a baby fund, buying maternity clothes that I like and find on end of season clearance type sales, and storing things away for a rainy day.

For Halloween I was a black widow and Zack a knight, but the real star of the show was my niece Willow dressed as a fairy. I made her costume and it was awesome! I took the day off and we did a parade at my office, her mom's office, her grammie's office, and a ward trunk or treat. She was very easily distracted with all of the stimuli, but all in all it was a good day.

Enough about me. It has been great to hear from all of you. Congrats Megan and Jen. Thanks Nicole, and way to be, everyone! I love and have missed you.