My cousin LeAnn recently posted about her consumer preferences, and I thought it was so fun to read. I actually have consumers on the brain right now (along with producers, marginal cost curves, supply and demand, and dual elasticity) thanks to my grueling economics class, so this ties in nicely with my life at the moment. In the interest of copying her idea, here are the things this consumer prefers:

Origins skin care products - especially A Perfect World. I had always stuck with Clinique until I moved to Columbus. My visiting teacher was the manager at an Origins store, and she introduced me to their line. It is SERIOUSLY good stuff. Because it’s a little pricey, I go through phases where I don’t want to justify spending the money, but as 30 is fast approaching, I have come to consider it an investment in my skin.

Not to leave Clinique completely out, they do make my favorite tint. It is called Almost Makeup. I hate foundation, but I don’t want a completely naked face either, so this is just perfect. It also has SPF 15 in it. I’ve tried plenty of foundations and this tint is the best. My old BYU roommate Abby introduced this to me.

There is always some off-brand of cream cheese on sale, and I always think I wont be able to tell the difference…and I always can. There is just no substitute for Philadelphia cream cheese. Even in cooking, I can taste the difference. Stick with Philly.

Aldi cheddar cheese is by far the best. For those of you not fortunate enough to have an Aldi in your area, I’m so sorry. Aldi is a European based company, and I fell in love with it on my mission. I was so excited when we moved to Ohio and I discovered they have Aldi here! Their cheddar cheese is the best - even better than Kraft.

If there’s one thing I’m qualified to report on, it’s lip chap (or chap stick as some of you may call it). I’ve probably tried every brand known to man. I’ve always loved lip smacker (and still do) but I’ve discovered a new favorite. As I mentioned in a previous post, my mom bought me some new make up for Christmas this year. One thing I picked out was some Nicole Miller lip treatment. It is the absolute best! And one good thing about it, is it comes in a little bit more sophisticated packaging then lip smacker - always a plus when I’m in a work meeting!

Alfani shoes are the greatest. They have the feel of Naturalizer, but the look of something modern and cool. They are so comfortable, yet stylish. The heel is always the perfect hight. I have these shoes below in red, and I wear them for all day marathon shopping - my feet don’t feel a thing! I have a serious shoe fetish, so I’ve tried them all. I definitely love Alfani.

There is no substitute for Pepperidge Farms Goldfish crackers. I’ve tried all the other brands in hopes of saving money, but nothing even comes close. I just have to either buy them at Sam’s Club or stock up when they are on sale at Kroger for 10 for $10.

Without going into too much detail, I love these little GAP panties for Magei. They seem to fit her better than any other brand - and they are always too cute! They start out a little pricey, but if you wait for them to go on sale, they don’t end up costing any more than something you’d find at Target.

Since I have a desk job, I have to report on something nerdy like a pen. Uni-ball Elite pens are the best. I prefer the bold because I like a nice, thick line when I write, but they also come in fine. You can get them in all sorts of colors, and that comes in handy when I am proofing or red-lining a document. My boss introduced me to them about 3 years ago, and he refuses to write with anything else. When he runs out, he comes and steals them out of my office. They never leak and dry very quickly. While I am not quite the pen snob he is, I do prefer to use the Uni-ball.

So tell me…what would be on your consumer report?

It’s a good thing that Sam is too young to know that he totally got jipped for his birthday and that Magei had 3 straight days of celebrating. Her 4th birthday was a hit. It started out with her birthday party on Saturday. Nate and I took her and two of her friends to Disney Princesses on Ice.

Nationwide Arena was filled with about 10,000 little girls all decked out in their princess best…and all yelling “BELLE!!!” or “NO, SNOW WHITE!! DON’T EAT THE APPLE!!” And don’t forget the $16 for a small box of popcorn and a bag of cotton candy. The girls were so fun, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Thanks again to the Beazers for making the night possible! They let us drop Sam off and then let us party at their house afterward!!

Since I’m not home on Mondays until the kids are already in bed, we let Magei open her presents on Sunday. Nate and I got her a bike and we let her go to Toys R Us to pick it out. She chose Dora - surprise, surprise.

Nate and I really wanted her to get the cool Schwinn, but she couldn’t be convinced. But at least this one is somewhat gender neutral, so maybe Sam can inherit it. She went with Ariel for the helmet, though. Sam now gets her old Winnie the Pooh one.

And thanks to the grandma’s for the movie and gloves…and the “golden ticket!”

On Monday (the REAL day) I picked Magei up from school around noon and took her out to lunch at Aladdin’s. After lunch we went to get treats for her class and she was excited to pass them out to her friends. When Nate picked the kids up that night, he took them out for a birthday dinner. Magei chose Don Pablo’s of course.

To cap off her marathon celebration, she had her 4 year well visit with the doctor today. You’ll have to excuse me for a moment - here’s the part where I brag: She scored at an almost 6 year old level on her Denver assessment! (she was at 5 years, 10 months to be exact…don’t ask me how they know how many months.) The doctor even said she thinks she could skip kindergarten! Although, the school districts here are really strict and they don’t really do that any more (I’m ashamed to say that I looked it up on the district website.) Anyway, she was 34 pounds and 40-something inches, so that put her in the 35th percentile for weight and 60th percentile for height. She got 2 shots and didn’t complain a bit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAGS!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Nate has a practice full of crowns and bridges.  So, needless to say, he looks like this every night:

Magei and I just finished two books.  The first was George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl.

I had never read this book before, although, I am a big fan of Dahl.  (We finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory over the summer).  It starts out super with the grandma being extremely nasty and poor little George wanting to explode her.  He goes through the house with a big stock pot and makes a magic medicine to give to grandma.  It reminded me of all the “potions” my sister and I used to make as kids.  We would mix together all sorts of things (cleaning agents, hair spray, mouth wash, etc…) and then pour it on the ants outside…now that I think about it, that was really mean of us.  The book ends rather abruptly, but it is still a fun story.

The second book was Superfudge by Judy Blume.

We have read several Beverly Cleary books already (a few Ramona’s and Mouse and the Motorcycle) but this has been our first Judy Blume.  I can’t remember reading this as a kid, but I’m sure I did.  I really liked it, and Magei did too.  I do have two little reservations.  The first one is that they say “shut up” and “stupid” a lot…two words we don’t say in our house.  The second reservation is a little funny:  in the book, the mother is explaining to the two boys that she is going to have another baby.  The older boy, Peter, shouts out, “You’re pregnant!”  I was wondering if Magei would ask me about this because when I was pregnant with Sam, we always said stuff like “there’s a baby in my tummy.”  Not that “pregnant” is a bad word, but it was just more age appropriate and easier for her to understand if we explained it the other way.  Anyway, she didn’t seem to blink an eye at it until Nate picked her up from school the next day.  He asked her what  she had learned at school and she said that they had learned about being pregnant and pregnant kids.  Nate was pretty shocked to hear that the Magei’s school was teaching 3-4 years olds about pregnant kids.  When Nate told me this, I assured him that her school was NOT teaching her about pregnancy and explained where she had heard it.  But overall, it was a cute book…however, if I could go back in time and do it again, I may have waited until she was a tad older for this book.

Nate and I heart-attacked Sam and Magei’s doors, so they woke up this morning surprised by this:

We gave Magei the DVD Mary Poppins. She has been in love with the music lately and listens to it all the time, but she has never seen the movie. She is starting to get more interested in “real” movies and not just cartoons. Since she is a little artist, we also gave her a drawing book and some stickers. We gave Sam a new book, “Millie Moo” which is VERY cute.

And of course, the kids had to wear their Valentine’s Day shirts to school today for their class parties:

I gave Nate a boxed DVD set of America’s Test Kitchen…no, we are not cool.

We had a great Valentine’s Day at our house this year! Nate and I love our kids so much!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all.  In the spirit of the day, I just wanted to share of few of the things that I love.

Nate                He is honest, giving, caring, creative, humble, artistic, and capable.  He is patient and supportive of all I do.  He is up for anything, always willing to try new things, and I love him so much!

Magei             She is so bright and smart!  She loves to draw and write and has as much talent as her dad.  She loves princesses and dress-up clothes and loves to put clips in her hair.  She is such a sweet helper with Sam and is so good at playing with him and making him happy.  I love her!

Sam                He is such a happy little guy.  He cannot take anything seriously, even when he is being naughty and he’s getting in trouble…although he DOES take his meals seriously (a trait from his dad) and loves electronics (ANOTHER trait from his dad).  We love him!

Food               I love Mexican food, especially cheese enchiladas from Abuella’s or vegetarian burritos from Qdoba or Chipotle.  But I also love a fancy meal at Fish Market – their cod is delicious!

Place              I am in love with Paris - the food, fashion, shopping, art history, culture…everything!  You can’t have a bad day in Paris.

Singer            Obviously Josh Groban.  His voice is as clear as a bell.  He sounds exactly like an angel.

Actor               Hugh Grant.  Okay, so I know he plays the same character in every single movie he’s in, but he is one person that can just crack me up!  I can’t even put my finger on it…his mannerisms are just funny!

Movie             I’m in love with Hairspray right now.  I love the message about just being you, even if that is different.  I also have Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks playing a lot right now…for some reason it helps me get my homework done.

Season          Summer.  I love warm sunny days.  I love a blue sky and shining sun.  I love family bike rides on summer evenings.

Sport               If I’m watching, I love football.  If I’m playing, I love softball…I also have a deep love for badminton that goes back to my childhood.

Hobby            I love to travel and plan trips.  I take almost as much pleasure in planning the trip as I do in actually going on the trip.  I love to experience new places and see what neat things make a certain spot special and unique. 

School           I love getting A’s.  I’m obsessed with getting A’s. 

So, what do you love?

I’m so glad Melinda tagged me, because I really needed a break from work right now.  (Our marketing department is KILLING me these days…but that’s another post). 

10 years ago… I was 19 and living in Pocatello, ID, going to school at ISU majoring in Political Science.

Things on my to do list…(I’ll spare you my  work to do list)

• Think of something fun for Nate and me to do for Valentine’s Day
• Buy stamps
• Work out
• Read scriptures
• Plan a menu for the next two weeks
• Get some more economics homework done
• Pick kids up from school

If I were suddenly a billionaire… I would pay off all of Nate’s student loans.  I would pay off our mortgage and set aside a chunk for when we are ready for a bigger house.  I would get cable tv – and I would be lying if I didn’t say I would do some serious shopping.  I would invest the rest for retirement, college for the kids, travel, and about 1million would go to buying a prosthodontic practice for Nate.

3 Bad Habits …

1. I stress out too much.
2. When I clip tags off new clothes (or anything), I never throw them in the garbage.
3. I’m too quick to throw things away (obviously not tags, though).  I hate papers just piled up, so I toss a lot.  Nate has had to go searching through the garbage on more than one occasion.

3 Places I have lived… (not including Idaho)

1. Utah
2. Ohio
3. Germany

5 Jobs I’ve had…

1. Duke Realty
2. Professional Physical Therapy
3. Bon Marche’
4. Tanning salon
5. Athletic Fitters

5 Things people don’t know about me…

1. My orthodontist just told me I don’t have much saliva.
2. I don’t really like meat, especially red, and I NEVER order meat at a restaurant, unless it’s fish from a VERY reputable place.
3. I’m a list maker.  I make myself a to do list every day.  I email Nate a to do list every Monday morning that covers the week.
4. I handle all things money related.  Nate could do it - and he would do a good job at it - but I just have always done it and probably always will do it.
5. I hate to run.  I like to exercise and be active, but the idea of going out for a run just seems like torture to me.  I like it in sports – like soccer or basketball – but just to run…ugh!  I force myself to do it occasionally, just to see if I might be persuaded to think otherwise.  It never works.

What a busy weekend we had! Sam had a fever a few days last week, so he got sent home from school Wednesday and Thursday…which meant I had to miss two half days of work. I took him to the doctor, but they basically said nothing was wrong with him and that he wasn’t contagious. His school was CONVINCED he had chickenpox because he had little fever spots, but my doctor assured me it wasn’t. I really don’t think they believed me, because they were about to send him home early again on Friday when Nate showed up to take him home anyway. It’s so stressful to have sick kids and no grandparents around to call for help! Anyway, he’s fine…just a big grouch! We did manage to have quite a busy weekend despite Sam’s bad attitude.

Friday night, my friend Brooke and I went to see Barry Manilow!! Oh, ya…we are total FANILOWS! Okay, so we were the youngest people there - by about 20 years - but it was still awesome! He’s just one of those people you HAVE to see before you die. He sang all the good ones, and boy, could he work it! He was shakin’ his little old booty all night! The old gals were lovin’ it! I thought the seniors were going to bring the house down when he sang Copacabana. When he busted out “I Can’t Smile Without You” I almost called Boyd to reminisce about the lovely tap dance we did together for a dance recital one year. Brooke and I were trying all night to figure out how old he is…his plastic surgery wants to tell me he’s 40, but I couldn’t be fooled. I looked his birthday up online, and he’s 61. He’s at the Las Vegas Hilton, so if you’re ever there, I highly recommend it.

On Saturday night, Nate and I went to see Camelot starring non other than La Bamba himself - Lou Diamond-Phillips. He will always be Richie Valens to me, but he did a great job as King Arthur. I didn’t really expect him to have a singing voice, but he did pretty well (obviously it was good if he’s in a broadway company). It wasn’t SUPER loud, but I was impressed.

We also met with our cooking club this Saturday. The theme was brunch and on the menu was: bacon and egg pie, southern style grits, broiled grapefruit, cold cranberry soup, and creme’ brule french toast. It was all so yummy!

P.S. Did anyone see the duet on the Grammys last night that Josh Groban did with Andrea Bocelli? It was AWESOME!