A Mesa Landmark...

It took me almost 8 years, but I finally made it to a Mesa landmark last night...

Organ Stop Pizza

Home of the Mighty Wurlitzer, one of the largest and finest theater organs in the world today. It has nearly 6,000 pipes, numerous percussions and countless traps.

(I'm plagiarizing from the website, by the way... I don't know that much about the Mighty Wurlitzer...).

So what is Organ Stop Pizza like?

Think "Chuck E. Cheese" for old people.
Crappy pizza included.

And that was my first (and last) time to Organ Stop Pizza... unless my parents want to go next time they visit. I'll make an exception for them...

Happy Anniversary!

This year, I seem to have a lot of friends celebrating 10 year anniversaries! Oh yeah, it's because they all got married while I was on my mission.

Well, today folks, I'm celebrating MY 10 year anniversary!

Ten years ago TODAY I looked like this:


Sister Rebecca Jean Spendlove

January 24, 2001 - July 3, 2002

Washington Tacoma Mission


Classic Sister Missionary pose. Classic un-plucked eyebrows. Classic un-styled hair. Classic white-collared shirt hanging out of a classic Gap sweater.

A lot has happened in the past 10 years:

Bachelor's degree
Master's degree
8 year career as a math teacher
Bought a house
Bought some cars
Put some stamps in my passport
Fitness Instructor certification
Grew a sense of style

And a lot hasn't happened in the past 10 years:
Marriage
Family

Bring on the next 10...

Totes the Best Tex-Grek in Dal

Back in October, Ashley Lamb and I scored $150 round trip airfare to Dallas, TX to visit Kathy, my blogging inspiration. (Perhaps I can inspire her to resurrect her blog with this post...). So we headed out to the great land of Texas on the three day weekend in January.

We didn't really have anything planned or do much. But that's ok, because the purpose of our trip was to visit Kathy... and that's exactly what we did! The weather was cold and rainy, too, so we spent most of our evenings in the hotel room watching Season 3 of "Arrested Development" on Ashely's Netflix.

But here's some things we did do:

Went to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated.

This picture is from the 1960's. I got it online...
Fascinating.


Went out to BBQ places.

Maybe had a bit of beer to drink (heavy on the root...)

Watched the crazy black birds swarming ALL OVER downtown.

This picture doesn't even do it justice! Seriously, when they say birds fly south for the winter, I think they just mean Dallas. Check this out:

Too bad I can't blog the smell... then you'd really understand what I'm talking about....

Took random pictures of "art" throughout the city.

Imitated the mannequins 0f some fancy schmancy department store.

Learned more about common sense.

Make that condom sense... easy mistake...

Went to the movies and shopped for random things like hats and head wraps.

And if you're wondering about the title of this post, check out this youtube video.
Lots of good, quoteable stuff there, especially for a girls weekend!

Thirty One-derful Reasons My Life is Good...

December 31, 2010

My golden birthday: I turned 31 on the 31st.

I've waited my whole life for this birthday! I joke with my students that I now have nothing left to live for. But that's not true! There's lots of great reasons to have my life. Here's "Thirty One-derful Reasons My Life is Good"... Cheesy, I know.

1. I can go pretty much wherever I want, whenever I want.
2. I've have an education that serves me well.
3. I own a home... a home that fits me perfectly.
4. I have a super comfy couch with a chaise lounge and ottoman that I love to snuggle up on-- especially when I have time and someone to snuggle up with! :)
5. As much as I complain about my job, I work at a fantastic school and I'm pretty dang good at what I do! I've made a name for myself in this community and am well respected.
   
6. I'm surrounded by great people that I am proud to call friends.
7. I have the type of hair that inspires complete strangers to stop me in the grocery store to compliment it. And I owe it all to Vanessa who has been doing my hair every 6 weeks for the past 7 years!
8. Saturdays are all mine, sweet mine! :)
9. I frequently (like weekly) enjoy long, uninterrupted Sunday afternoon naps. Ahh...
10. I have a passport with stamps in it from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Australia, Mexico, and Jamaica.
11. I have a healthy and strong body that allows me to fully enjoy what I love in life.
12. I have the most welcoming home ward. My transition from the singles ward has been absolutely seamless!
13. The Mesa temple is a 5-minute drive from work.
    
14. I've reached the age of maturity where staying home on a Friday night isn't the end of the world... in fact, it's preferred!
15. I can hop on weekend flights to random places like Dallas, TX to visit my blogging inspiration, Kathy.
    
16. I'm no longer in a singles ward. Finally.
    
17. As a teacher, I get all Federal holidays off!
18. Have I mentioned that my money is all mine? Which means I get to indulge in a new accessory every now and then...
    
19. I have the best roommate on the planet. Ever. No one is as great of a person as Wendy Ann Finlayson.
20. This one's kind of strange, but I love the combination of my bed AND my alarm clock. My bed is so comfortable and I have my alarm clock set to play some of my favorite "get up and go" music. Not that I always get up and go when it comes on at 6:15am... but I at least enjoy laying there, listening to some great music until I'm ready to get up.
21. I can spell. That's a big thing to me, considering I do numbers, not letters. Makes me feel smart when I can spell better than the average mathematician.
    
22. I have a good friend like Becca (Wilson) Clarkson who understands all of the emotion that surrounds the life of a 30-something year old, single woman in the church... and she can call out my emotions better than I can. (And she lets me pretend to be an Aunt to her baby Jane).
23. Now, don't think this list is in order of importance... I have a great family. There are a lot of crazy dysfunctional families out there that can really mess a kid up forever. My family is by no means perfect, but our crazy functionality suits me well! ;-)
24. I am a successfully returned Sister Missionary.
25. I was born in the age of modern conveniences. I'm not talking about running water and toilets (although those are nice...). I'm talking about cell phones and the internet. How on earth did I survive the first 20+ years of life without them?? Although, they can be my best friends, AND my worst enemies. Blast.
    
26. As much as I try to avoid this, I am a leader. It is one of my gifts. I don't seek out this role. It just finds me. And for some crazy reason, people listen to me.
27. I believe in the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ... The power that it offers me to change and to forgive others as they change. I'm continually learning and growing because of it.
28. My brain works! Even on Fridays! Well, most of the time...
29. I found an area to live in that I can comfortably call "home". **Bonus: A perfect 70 degrees in the middle of "winter".**
30. I live in a real neighborhood. Not one of those "starter home", behind gates, with speed bumps, no parking and an HOA kind of neighborhoods. (Sorry... no offense intended for those of you who do live in those kinds of neighborhoods. They just aren't what I wanted...) I live in a neighborhood where people have raised their families, are raising their families and hope to raise their families.
31. I was blessed with amazing dedication, will power, obedience, whatever you want to call it. As my Dad once said, "Rebecca can do anything she sets her mind to." It's just getting to that point of "setting my mind to it" that is sometimes tricky...
    

Going down in history...

... in the Mesa High School 2010 - 2011 yearbook like this:

I was in California helping my parents adjust to having Dad home
after his heart attack and I missed the yearbook picture day.

Retakes were last week during Homecoming Week...

Rock Star Day, to be specific.

So, it was either go down in history as a blank picture...

... or go down like this.

Of course, you KNOW what I just HAD to do...

Enjoy! :-)

Miss Spendy GaGa