Little House Guest.

So the brother has been living with me for a few weeks. I quickly went from being alone in this big apartment to having a little house guest. Alright, so he's not little... he's a big kid but he's younger than me and it's my apartment so I can call him little.

I couldn't be more happy to have a roommate that I love. It's much different than living with 5 other girls. A LOT different.

Pros (of course I'm sure this isn't with ALL boys...and yes, he is my brother):

1.)Less Drama

2.) Oh, I need help opening a jar.... "oh hey strong boy, open it!"

3.)No competition.

4.) If you're having a bad day you can come home and say, "I don't want to talk about it" without the other person thinking that you're mad at them and hurting their feelings!

5.)Guys are friends with other guys who then bring those guys over... joy.

Of course in the midst of all of the pros are some interesting things like:

1.) Constant gas. I swear, if it's not one end, it's the other.

2.) Sports on TV. I don't see what the big deal is?

3.) Hinting at hating some of the shows I watch... He doesn't fool me though. I've got him liking PLL, The Bachelor AND 90210... and that's not all, I'm sure he could tell you what is going on with the RHW of Beverly Hills and Atlanta. Just sayin.

4.) Bits of clutter. "Here, this is your drawer in the bathroom! Use it. Thanks :)"

5.) Video games. Another thing I've never understood.

I could call all of those last 5 things as "cons" but really, that's what makes it so interesting! I think it's teaching me a good lesson to be more patient and chill. I mean, when I first moved into this place I couldn't even handle the ONE cable cord that was showing. Now there are video game cords and I've learned to over look them. Weird how those little things matter less when you love someone. Even if it is your brother.

He's definitely on my top 5 of fave roomies :) haha. we have fun.

Synthesize Me.

I've decided that I should write a song and hit the recording studio right away. I mean, if Kim Zociack, Heidi Montag and EVEN Spencer Pratt can do it? Seriously! Why not?

If anyone has a good idea for a song that is more original than about "not being tardy for the party" (Don't get it twisted...I've had this song in my head all day) or about "going to work" (idk what "work" Spencer is even talking about), or about a ring that didn't mean a thing to you, then, by all means please let me know.

You can turn on the radio and see that the key to having a "hit" song is to come up with that one great line, phrase or the perfect combo of two or three words, put it with a nice beat and other words that probably don't make sense but sound good, and you've got yourself a hit song. OH, and if you're worried about not having a good voice? It doesn't matter.... they can just synthesize the crap out of your recording and you've got a "hit" track.

Need Proof?:

It's like "oh, I've got these lyrics to a song" and then WHAM they are on itunes? really?!

Don't worry, I've downloaded the "I AM T PAIN" app (the sweetest app for real) on my Touch, so I know that my voice sounds pretty good auto-tuned so I think I could make it big. I just need...well, the lyric part. Coleman suggested that it's got to say "Shawty" in there somewhere. Does he not know that I'm a caucasian woman?

Alright, so it's no really my dream to be a singers, even though I think it would be pretty cool to have a hit track on iTunes!

I guess my point to this is not to bag on the musicians and people of the world who are truly talented and are waiting for their opportunity to make it big as a singer/artist...As a music lover, I'm just frustrated with the reality TV stars and "celebs" who think they can sing and call themselves "recording artists." Forget the song on the radio that has poor lyrics and is all auto tuned and play Mayday Parade, more Eminem (edited of course) or more of the JB's and Greyson Michael Chance's of the world who are good and passionate about what they do and make things happen for themselves.

I guess my advice to you blogger friends who dream about making it big but have doubt can best be described in a monologue by Whoppi Goldburg in Sister Act 2:

"If you wake up in the morning and you can't think about anything but singin' first... then you're supposed to be a singer girl (or guy)!"

Maybe this is what drives Spedi?.....nah!

Love Begets Love.

I've always been known to throw the "L" word around quite a bit. No, not "Lesbian...." I'm talking about the other "L" word.

You know, L-O-V-E. LOVE.

I blame my parents. In our family we never leave the house or end a phone call without saying "I love you" to the other person. I don't think it's a bad thing at all. I've known people who have a hard time telling others that they love someone when they do. (That's a problem that probably should be addressed.)


Now, I know you may be thinking that because I say it so much that I'm not being sincere. False. If I don't love you, I'm not going to tell you that I love you. Kapish?


I'm not talking about romantic love. That's a different story and well, when that happens I will be sure to shout it from the rooftops and will probably go over the top and embarrass myself but well.. that's not what I'm talking about right now.


Since my family tells each other "I love you" every time we talk on the phone(which is a lot)I've caught myself almost starting to tell friends or clients at work that I love them when ending a phone call. I don't actually say it but I subconsciously think it.


Here's why I bring it up. Today at work I was talking to one of my contacts at the Miami Airport Marriott. We were discussing business and as we were getting ready to conclude she said "I love you...."


bahahahahahaha. I keep replaying it in my head. I didn't think anything of it until I had actually hung up the phone. I'm surprised I didn't tell her I loved her...


I know she didn't really mean that she "LOVED" me but the funny part is that I kind of felt loved from this complete stranger who most likely just said it on accident. But who cares.. There's just something about the L word that makes me happy. I love, love. If you tell me you love me, even if it's just a "Hey, I'm here for you" kind of love..or an "OMG, I freakin' love you" I can't help but feel the same way right back.





Love totally begets love. So why not share the love? I really do think that if we spent more time loving and less time being haters of so many different things (guilty) that we'd truly be making a dent in making this world a better place.


With the month of Love right around the corner, I've decided I'm going to do my part to be more loving to the peeps in my life. Even to clients at work!


You don't have to drop the L word to let people know you love them and appreciate them. Think about it.

Oh and.. I love you : )

Dear Oprah,

I'll be your half sister :)

Love,

Jenn Givemesomemoneyoratleastyourfavoritethings Hansen

OMG, What if?

Oscar Nominations are in!

Well, the Oscar Nominations are in. Check it out and pick your winners. I did.

I'm not surprised that Leo Decap didn't get nominated... Not that he didn't deserve it because I always think he does. I mean, hello: INCEPTION?! mmm.. love him. But again, I'm not surprised. He always manages to get... well... screwed.

Films to talk about this year:

The Fighter (which I'm thinking is going to be one of the dominators this year. Just my prediction. Great actors.)
Black Swan (I've heard people say that even Natalie Portman's children will even wonder if their mother is sane after watching this film years down the road. It's probably fab and too bad it's rated R. I'd go see it right now. Plus, Natalie has been "the thing" this year. woot Natalie. Sure, give her an oscar before she takes a break to be a mommy.)
Inception (I'm not surprised with this one. Cinematography? Hello!)
Social Network (great flick.)
127 Hours (Everyone is talking about James Franco in this one!)

Of course you can add True Grit, The Kids are All Right and the King's Speech.

Acutally, I'm kind of pumped for this years nominations for the Leading and Supporting Roles. They are all pretty great and don't always get the recognition they deserve. I think this year might be the year for the underdog. We'll see :)

Who knew you could box up happiness?..No I'm not talking about a Happy Meal.

Yesterday I was cleaning off my dresser and decided to go through this box:

A dear friend gave it to me a year ago for Christmas and I decided to put my precious memories in the box throughout the year. You can only imagine all of the fun stuff I collected during 2010--Notes from my Relief Society girls, numerous cards from my mom and best friends (some for no reason and some marking memorable days), wedding announcements, magnets, belongings of my grandfathers who passed away, newspaper clippings, pictures and memorabilia from my involvement in last year at BYU-Idaho and events I helped with.

Going through the box sent me on a crazy trip. I laughed, cried and mostly just enjoyed the time I had to reflect on all of the great memories I have from last year and the good people I have in my life who have taught me great lessons.

Today in church our lesson was on Elder Utchdorf's talk, "Of Things that Matter Most"... These are some of those things :)

The day I used all of my arcade tickets to buy a slinky at Boondocks.

One of my friends and I have been talking about getting a little group together to head to Vegas for a weekend. So fun, right? Well after my little trip to the arcade at Boondocks last night, I've realized that if we do go, I'm really going to have to prepare myself.

Usually if I know that I'm going to love something so much I just won't start because I know that in the end I will get myself into trouble. It's like eating carbs and sweets or taking on watching that new show on Bravo that you'd love to watch but you know that you really don't have the time....

Anyways, last night we decided to go to Boondocks for some NAT (niece appreciation time) with Regan. We started with the Go Karts and then went on to Laser Tag (which btw is one of my favorite things to do I've decided. I was so hardcore last night...granted, I was playing against a bunch of trash talking little boys but I kicked there butts and made sure they knew it).

Next, it was on to the Arcade. Normally, I'm not into all the games and spending money to play them but there is just something about playing a game and watching all of the tickets come out. Here's where boondocks gets ya: They give you a $5 money card in the package you purchase knowing that the money is going to run out super fast and that you will be so addicted to a certain game by the time your $5 card runs out that you will HAVE to load more money onto the card. They are good.

Of course I was hooked on a game that was $1.00 a play. Get this.. you only push A button. Just one. I wasn't the only one addicted to it. This little girl, probably 7 yrs old kept swiping her card and playing over and over again. I couldn't help but wonder where all of her money was coming from. Whatever. She was a show off. I would only get 4 tickets most of the time and of course she would get 20 or 35 each time. There was one time she almost got the Jackpot. Needless to say, I was making a scene.

I spent like $10 and only ended up getting 123 tickets. That's it. It may seem like a big number but it's not when you have to have at least 100 tickets to get anything semi-cool. But even a 23 year old woman who works hard for her money was still excited to turn those tickets in for a Rainbow Slinky and 5 peace sign temporary tattoos.

Sure, I could have gone to the dollar store and bought a slinky for $1 but where's the fun in that? Nope. Instead, I am the owner of a $10 Slinky. Don't worry, I love it. I've been playing with it ever since. In fact, it's sitting on my lap right now.

Moral of the story is... I WILL go to Vegas but I WILL be sure to have a certain amount set aside to gamble and that will be that!

I remember!!

The last few days I've had some much needed routine checkups from a few of my "doctors." aka: long distance BFF's.

Want to know what's funny? ...The dreams I've had based on the emails and phone conversations we had the previous day just catching up...that's what's funny!

I'm not sure where they come from but when I wake up the next morning I remember why we are besties.

curious?

The deats can not be explained via blog however it includes girls fighting over boys, tanning, partying in exotic lands, old-OLD crushes, and the cast of Jersey Shore. Don't ask.

Slowly but surely.

"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known."

"...A River knows this: There is no hurry. We shall get there someday."

--Winnie the Pooh

Golden Globes

If you missed the Golden Globes last night... I'll give you a little recap of some Red Carpet pics you missed. These aren't just a list of my faves. Some are and some well....aren't at all.

I will say that I noticed the trend on the Red Carpet to be all about the Pinks, Tans and Nude colors for the dresses and it worked. See for yourself at TMZ.

Emma Stone not only rocked the Blonde hair but she had a very classy look. Loved the accessories on this one :)

Sandra Bullock. Always beautiful.

Maria Menounos...gorgeous.

Helena Bonham Carter? Sad thing is she totally rocked the look! It's so...Helena. She's not even wearing matching shoes and the hair? kind of love it. Maybe not for Red Carpet..but awesome.

Catherine Zeta-Jones..what ARE you wearing..turf?

And for the Men:

Zac Efron.

Mark Salling aka "Puck"

Johnny Depp dressed awesome as always!

Just go with it...it's more fun.

Today I had a phone call to my office from Raphael, the accounts payable dude at one of the hotels I book with in Florida. He is the nicest guy with a super thick accent and a passion for what he does--collecting money. My money...no, my company's money.

A conversation that should have taken a maximum of 2 minutes to take down my CC number quickly turned into an 5 minute conversation about weekend plans and Jack Daniel's. Wtf, Raph?... I don't even drink. I just remember laughing hard at something he said about taking my money and him being a "bad boy" (clearly just being nice and caught off guard) and all of a sudden we were talking about drinking. Idk. He brought it up but you know I just went with it... It's not lying...it's just more fun. Plus, you know I'm saying all of the things that he was thinking.

Ha. I enjoy phone calls from Raph.

Lady Danville

Lady Danville was one of the opening bands for Dashboard at their concert last night at In the Venue downtown SLC. LOOOOOOVE them. I mean, just look at them. They Rock.

Here's the thing... they only have a few old tracks on Itunes. But they have some great tracks out there. If you "like" them on Facebook you can totally download a couple of their songs for free! Download Spoon and Cars (note--it says the S word..ooops.) Click here to check it out!

Oh and if you go to their Facebook page you will also see this picture from last night. The drummer took this during the concert!!

Where's Waldo? Well... Cole is seen clear as day in this pic. Julene and I are right next to him but we're a little bit shorter. Surprise?

Clue: Cole's wearing green... we're on the left hand side on the floor. Love it. Seriously though, they're worth checking out!

Thank you Dashboard.

Last night I stood in line in the cold for an hour to see this beautiful man:

CHRIS CARRABBA

It was the 10 year anniversary for the release of their "Swiss Army Romance" album. He played all of the greats and sounded just as great live. Here's a taste:

I can't even count how many times Hyrum and I drove around singing entire albums at the top of our lungs. Awesome.

I will post more vids to my fbook :)

Bachelor....Shock and Awe.

The women on the Bachelor never cease to bring on the shock and awe factor to ABC. Why do I like the show? I really don't know. Maybe it's all of the back biting, jealousy, drama and fighting over one man. Ridiculous. It could be the fact that half of the people aren't really there for the right reason.... regardless of what they all say.

Recap of the shock and awe of tonight's premier episode:

Vampire girl. omg. For reals, she has fangs. Embarrassing. And he kept her on. Most likely for ratings and to keep the Twihards watching. No shame in that ABC, I suppose.

The girl who thought it was a good idea to slap the kid when she first met him. Honestly don't know why he kept her on...it was straight up rude. I would have asked her to get back in the Limo. No joke.

The "Fashion Marketer" who hopped out of the Limo to greet brad in the ugliest hot pink WEDGE shoes I have ever seen. Missed it live? They kind of looked like these:

I wish I was joking. I still can't get the image out of head. It was probably the highlight of the night for me. Really lady, you're a fashion marketer?? PUH-LEEEEEASE!

I'm not sure where they find these women but I'm pretty sure that I know men with more class and fashion sense then some of these girls. Just sayin'.

Once again...Shock and awe. Will watch the entire season and still have favorite picks? Absolutely.

Side note: I kind of miss the "On the Wings of LOVE" song. However, ABC did treat us with Seal's "Kiss From a Rose." cheesy goods.