Frisky 'Frisco

I have loved San Francisco since I was a wee child. Being the youngest, when I was 8 I thought it was the shiz to visit my sister and her hubby whilst he finished podiatry school in San Fran and later in L.A. when he did his res at Cedars Sinai. San Fran is seriously beautiful! The architecture! The awesomeness that is the hilly streets! China Town! Delicious restaurants! The Pacific! The Golden Gates! Gazing at the bay and beautiful view of sail boats out your window! A trip with your sweetums! Spontinagety! All of this EQUALS I heart San Francisco! (Also, the Tanner family lived here... what more can be said?!).

As Adam's first trip to San Fran and my first trip as an adult we made some rookie mistakes. First was the unexpected CASH only $4.00 Bridge Bay Toll fee. Uh... who carries cash these days? Luckily we had some cash in the consol. Still, cash only? Lame.

Cheri's Travel Tip #1: Carry $20 in cash and also have $5 in quarters for the parking meters as no one will give you change for more than a dollar in quarters. LAME.

Second rookie mistake was how ridiculously expensive parking is. We're talking $3.50 per half hour! Uh seriously? Who charges for each half hour? Also, who wants to spend $20-30 on parking if it's not valet? Nobody. So that was a bit lame. Even if you park a mile away from your destination you're paying $12 for the day. Le sigh.

Enter Cheri's Travel Tip #2: It is well worth the extra $60+/night to have a place near Fisherman's Wharf. Not that the streets aren't tubular, but who wants to walk around creepy Vietnamese shops in unfamiliar and rather shady parts of a huge city? Nobody. Pier 39 Hotel = Better location. You aren't tied to the 2 hour parking meters and won't be spending $20+/day for parking.

I don't have any more tips. Everything else went quite smoothly! We pre-purchased our trip to Alcatraz online which was brilliant to avoid lines and it sells out weeks in advance! The island was gorgeous juxtaposed to the cold penitentiary walls! All the plants and flowers were in full bloom. Everywhere you turned there were gorgeous flowers and greenery with a spectacular view of the city! We also could have not asked for better weather! I remember San Fran being rainy, a bit chilly and windy. However, we experienced perfect weather! Our days were mostly sunny with light breezes. Awesomeness!

I wish we would have had more time to go to the Muir Woods. We'll do that next time I suppose! All in all it was a wonderful escape the hum drum day-to-day tasks and it was nice to take a trip with just Adam. We go on vacays all the time with family and friends but rarely just the two of us. We're a good time!

Here we are at the Golden Gate Bridge:

and Takin' the Ferry to Alcatraz!'

Aren't we cute in our Alcatraz Audio Tour Gear?!

as we took the boat back Ad snapped this pic of the island de Alcatraz... I like to think I'm on that sail boat..

Gotta love the movie BIG right? I wished for a million dollars... do you think it'll happen? 

And lastly, we stopped for some grub at Bubba Gump Shrimp at Pier 39 and visited Fisherman's Wharf:

Dear Spring Break in San Francisco,

You treated us well. Thank you for the sweet respite from school and work, the perfect weather, the delicious food and the super comfy bed. Next time how 'bout you leave out the horrible tooth ache resulting in an emergency root canal upon my return? Eh! Alright. I won't be picky...

Best wishes, The Hansens.

"so excited, 'cause we're reunited, hey hey"

It is no secret that I love to socialize! Better yet, I love to gather with friends/family! Therefore this year and in particular this week has been a little piece of heaven for me.

Reunion 1: My roommate from Vienna Mindy was in town visiting from Ohio so we did a little last minute "Vienna Reunion" with Mariss (who is soon moving to the AZ for hub's Med School), Cameo (who is soon leaving for some Grad School fun) and myself! I wish that more of the girls were in UT, but sadly so many aren't in state anymore so to all of you WE LOVE YOU! It was so fun to catch up with these girlies!

Reunion 2: Birthday reunion! I haven't seen my friend Travis since November so we gathered and celebrated his and Adam's birthdays on Friday with some Pizza Factory and cosmic bowling! It was crazy fun!

Reunion 3: While Adam went on a man date with my brother in law to play paintball, Marci and I reunited with Andi! This girl is honestly one of the most amazing women I know. She has the most gorgeous singing voice and is known at the elementary school she teaches at as “the rapping teacher”! Seriously she writes raps/beatboxes/sings to help the 3rd graders learn multiplication/measurements/states/counties etc! She is awesome! She is the sweetest girl and it’s a bit intimidating because she is honestly the ENTIRE package! She is the most Christ-like woman I know and is earnestly humble and encompasses ‘goodness’ in every aspect of her life. I have never heard this girl speak ill of anyone. She’s incredible and when you are with her you can’t help but think “I wanna be like this girl!” Anywho on Saturday I joined Andi and Marci for a girl night out! We went to dinner, did a ‘jam’ session with Beyonce on our way to Alice in Wonderland (Marci’s favorite Disney) and Andi introduced us to ‘sweet potato fries’. Sinfully delicious! Good times were had by all!

Reunion 4: Roommate Reunion/Baby Blessing! I haven’t seen my roommate Biz in 5 years! Isn’t that sad! We had some bizarre experiences and we all married the cute boys we dated while in this “love shack” on 7th East in Provo! Sigh. Wow. Those were some special times we had! Anyways, while at dinner Wednesday with the Vienna gals I found out little Biz had a baby girl and the blessing was this Sunday!

ALSO, in December I reunited with 2 of my dear friends while they were home for the holidays! Love you Q and Leis!

Reunited! And in case you were wondering “it feels so good”!

happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear bs, happy birthday to you!

It's no secret that I work for the BSA office in Salt Lake. No it's not where I thought I'd be at age 26, nor is it somewhere I planned on staying. Though I made more as a part-time teller for Zion's Bank than I do now for a full-time contributor to 'society' or whatever, I work with some awesome people and it's a nice place to spend 9 hours a day. 

As a secretary to 5 men and an assistant to all it is easy to get lost in my own work and the events I am working on *scout-o-rama*cough*.  Usually the furthest thing from my mind and/or interest is Scouting once I've 'left the building' so to speak, so initially I had no plans on attending our 100th Anniversary Gala. Though I am the complete opposite of a "Scouter", I decided to go and support my 'peeps' in their event, and honestly I am so glad that i did. One of the photographers posted her photos of the event on her blog. It was awesome! They certainly showed us off to the whole nation! Great JORRRB!

Speaking of  birthday's Adam celebrated #26 this week! It was pretty low key since we are going to San Diego in 2 weeks but he did enjoy some delicious Cold Stone and played the new Battlefield  Bad Company 2 which came out on his actual birthday (pre-ordered = best wife ever)! Love you hun even though you NEVER check our blog!

Well... Now I'm going to go watch some 'Big Bang Theory' (<--- THanks Stacie!) to hopefully ward off any nightmares I will have as a result of watching '2012' with Adam and Russ. Sigh. I HATE endoftheworld movies and am not sure why I decided to watch it. I blame John Cussack.

Ad + Cher = Happy

i am the Lucky girl that gets to be with this One man always. I am so VERY happy I finally said "yes" and married this man. Even when the goin' gets rough, my ad is loving, patient, optimistic, full of faith, and loves himself a new hairstyle... 

In the beginning it was bleached....

Then it was dark.... still missionary cut...

Then there was none....

Then it was dark with the faux-hawk.

Then it was blonde faux-hawk with matching pornstache...

AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN!

And let's be honest... who can resist a man in full spandex?

...or one that looks like Ricky Schroder and Mark Paul Gosselaar?

 

Simply

With the dawn of a new decade so must the dreadful task of resolutions. I say dreadful because it seems like there must be a better way to start off a new year, nay, a new decade than with impending failure. Which, up to present, have been my attempts of resolution making and keeping. Me thinks my resolutions in the past have been of the too broad, too cumbersome, too much of the set-me-up-for-immediate-failure variety. So, this year I have decided to focus.
The Vision: Happiness in where I am in life and also where I am going.
How will I meet said "Happiness"? Well, I suppose you'll just have to keep visiting the ol'blog to see.

Start small I keep telling myself; so, I thought I'd list my current favorite things:
1. My latest accessory for this winter is the 'Crochet Headband'. Both cute and functional in these oh-so-cold Salt Lake winters. I think I shall go back and buy one in black...
Something sassy and unique to wear = happy cher.
2. Steamed Dreams found at The Greenhouse Effect. Hot chocolate is great, but I dare say a Steamed Dream is better. Don't believe me? Try it out for yourself!
Delicious vanilla steamed dream = happy cher.
3. Belts. No, not your brother's braided belt from 1993, but cute chunky belts worn over a long sweater or shirt. L-O-V-E. These puppies have made-over my drab work outfits.
New wardrobe accessories = happy cher.
4. Knee length boots. It's hard to find long skirts anymore. Are they even in style? I honestly can't think of the last time I saw someone in a long skirt, but I digress. Anywho, knee length boots are simply a winter godsend. Cute St. Nick brought me a pair of brown and black boots! Love him!
Boots to cover up my white legs = happy cher.
5. Mr. George Forman... grill that is. Mr. Hansen bought me a huge lean mean fat grilling machine. It has been lovely cooking more than one chicken breast at a time.
Less time cooking = happy cher.
6. Books. Currently reading Pride and Prejudice (for the nth-teenth time). Just finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and wish I didn't have to wait until August for book 3. Why oh why are all the fun reads turning into series?
$50 gift card to Barnes and Noble from dearest mother-in-law = happy cher.
7. Art. Hubbers bought me this gorgeous print of Jack Vettriano's called 'The Singing Butler'. I love the colors in this and the lines.
New set of Prismacolor Pencils = happy cher.
8. Music. I don't like blogs that have the music starting automatically. It always catches me off guard. BUT I love the music and will sometimes minimize my blog at work and listen to the tunes.
Good tunage = happy cher.
9. Movies. Mr. Hansen loves his movies. Seriously he is obsessed. I can't think of a single movie he hasn't liked. Love him. He makes it super easy to watch anything from Anne of Green Gables (shhh, don't tell him i told) to 300.
Spending time with ad when he's not studying or talking about cars = happy cher.
10.Lastly, but certainly not least are my dear friends and family. I don't get to see either of them very often, but when I do it's glorious.
Being with the gals = happy cher. (why oh why has it been so long?)

HaPpY LoVe MoNth EveRybOdy!

Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.

"What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse."

"I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all… I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye."


"Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody."

This last quote made me laugh out loud! If you can handle the swearing, The Catcher in the Rye is a classic. I wonder what they'll do with Salinger now?
 
--Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger, Novelist 1919-2010.