My Mantra

The most important thing I will ever teach my children is this:
"Love first, judge never."

It's a phrase I've found myself using more and more frequently, and one I have strived to live by. I think it's one of the most important and underused philosophies around.

The other night I was pleased to hear a woman in my play (a very LDS lady at that) say that she believed the same way. She said she would rather her children go out drinking and having pre-marital sex than be close-minded and judgemental. She said that she couldn't believe how many people, particularly within the LDS church, did not follow that particular principle of the gospel, which is simply to never, ever judge. It was very refreshing to hear that point of view from a member of the church. In a way, it gave me hope.

Nessun Dorma

I just wanted to take a moment to pay homage to what I consider to be one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, "Nessun Dorma," from the opera Turandot. I first heard it sung by Luciano Pavoratti when I was about eight years old, and have been in love with it ever since. And since my computer is being ridiculous, you'll just have to copy and paste, but believe me, it's worth it. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfC9LfR3PI

It's Britney, Bitch.

"Love me, hate me, say what you want about me,
But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy."

This clever, hidden-meaning lyric is just one of the fantastic things you can expect from the new and improved Ms. Spears.

Like most people in the free world, I have known about Britney from "Baby, One More Time," all the way up to "Womanizer." Though, in my younger days, I found great amusement in making fun of the over-sexed pop princess, I could not deny that she had style. But it wasn't until I heard such songs as "Everytime" and "Toxic" that I really began to like her. She had a quality all her own that had earned her hit after hit, pushing her further and faster into the stratosphere of fame, fortune, and microscopic scrutiny.

Over the past year, with all the crazy behavior and bad publicity, I felt pity more than anything. Here was a woman who was losing control, losing faith, losing her personal battles, and we all found entertainment in it for a time, but after a while I just wanted everyone to leave her alone. I did, however, think that we'd seen the last of the Britney we knew.

Then "Womanizer" came out and I thought, you go girl. The song was her first number one single since "Baby One More Time," nearly ten years previous, and proved that Britney could not only make a comeback, but that she was coming back on top.

Over the last few months, I've enjoyed her new songs, retro-futurism hits like "If U Seek Amy" and "Circus" to the beautiful, moving ballads, "Unusual You," "Out From Under," and "My Baby."

I had heard fantastic things about her tour, The Circus: Starring Britney Spears, and really wanted to go. Britney Spears is like a circus unto herself; you go for the spectacle, you go because it will be entertainment, but mostly you go because it's BRITNEY SPEARS.

Still, I didn't think I would have the chance to go until, on Sunday night, my dad called our cousin Stan, a professional scalper, and got tickets. I immediately switched my counter-part in Charley's Aunt, Shannon, so that I could go on Tuesday.

When we got to the Will-Call desk, we found out that there was something wrong with our nosebleed seats. We went to the "Ticket Problems" desk, where they informed us that our seats didn't actually exist anymore, as the stage had needed to be expanded, so she gave us General Admission tickets instead. We were put right up against the stage.

First came the Pussycat Dolls, whom I have always rather liked. Their songs are catchy, their voices good, and they represent the strong, sexy feminine type of woman that us girls can admire. They sang their top hits, including "Doncha" and "Jai Ho," while performing choregraphed danced moves that took them all over the stage. Their voices were live, and even bigger in the theater staging than over the radio. They were also extremely beautiful up close.

When their show ended, there was a short break in which circus performers, i.e. clowns, jugglers, acrobats, and dancers came out to entertain. It was actually quite a fun show in itself, like being at an actual circus, with stunts that made you nervous and men and women with perfects bodies and very little clothing.

The stage, in the meantime, was being set up to look like a three ring circus, complete with a red curtain in the center on a giant screen.

Finally, the show started. Perez Hilton came onto the screen, parodying Elizabeth I and introducing the spectacle that was to be Britney's circus. As the screen rose over the stage, Britney descended on a platform, wearing a ringmaster outfit. The noise was deafening. I screamed along with the rest of them; you couldn't help it, she inspires that sort of thing. Her presence, just standing there, was electric. She began "Circus," during which she danced all around the stage with a team of some of the most incredible and sexy dancers I've ever seen, some of which couldn't have been older than seventeen. At the end of the song, a flawless costume change and a gold cage were brought out, in which she did "Piece of Me" surrounded by men in GIMP outfits. For the first time, she came right to the edge of the stage where I stood.

There is just one word to describe Britney up-close: radiant. She was every bit as beautiful as she appears on screen, if not more so, with gold skin and hair, and a smile that is infectious and personable, almost as if she can't believe you're there watching her. She looked as though she might giggle at any moment, which is 90% of her charm and charisma.

The show continued in segments with circus-oriented themes such as, "Welcome to the Cirus," "House of Fun," "Freakshow/Peepshow," "Electro-Circ," and the Finale. Each was masterfully segued into the next, complete with costume changes for the entire cast, set changes, and magic tricks that sent the performers to different sides of the stage at any moment. Also performing was magician Ed Alonzo, who did different things such as cutting Britney in half and vanishing her as she sang "Ooh, Ooh, Baby."

There were also such fun things as a Bollywood-inspired "Me Against the Music" and a martial arts dance to "Gimme More."

Through it all, one couldn't help but be caught up in the sexy, fantastic, alluring spectacle of it all. I was in awe of Britney's ability to hold it all together in her dazzling performance as she danced, sang, and captivated.

The girl knows how to entertain.

The show ended with "Baby, One More Time," and "Womanizer," and she and her cast gave a bow as confetti showered the audience.

I think I'm a Britney fan now.

Sadie, Sadie, married lady.

So it happened. Last night my little sister became Mrs. James Jordan Phillips.

The day was relaxed enough to begin with. We had a bridesmaid sleepover the night before, wherein we watched P.S. I Love You, a sweet and sad little movie about a woman (Hilary Swank) who loses the love of her life, played wonderfully by Gerard Butler, to cancer. I cried about twelve times during the course of it. We also painted our nails all matching pink, then organized her wedding playlist. (I will talk more about that later.)

In the morning we went to Lace by Louise and got Andrea some fun wedding night lingerie, complete with corset and garter belt. Fantastic. Then Marjaan and I went to Target to get stuff to decorate Annie's car with. (Whipped cream, Oreo's, and condoms.)

Later that day, as we all rushed to get ready, Jordan came over with his friend Dylan and took me to help him get stuff to decorate the hotel room where they'd be staying their first night as a married couple. We got all the cliche items: rose petals, candles, chocolates, and a bottle of Martinelli's sparkling cider, after which we drove to the hotel and pranced about like little fairies, sprinkling the room with our purchases.

That's when the real rush began. I ran home, hurriedly scribbling down my Maid of Honor speech, which contained mostly jokes, and slapping makeup on my face. Once we were ready, we checked and double checked to make sure we had everything. The one major delay happened when we couldn't find Andrea's car keys. Turns out they were in the jacket pocket that her husband-to-be had supposedly checked and double checked.

Then it was off to the races.

Noah's reception center had been set up for the wedding, with chairs facing the little wooden platform that was to hold the wedding party. Already I was stressed out, first rushing to fix the botched tanning lotion application that a bridesmaid had done all over my sister's chest, arms, and back, then checking to make sure the buoquets were in place and everyone had theirs. I then went over the music with Amy, Heidi's friend, and then rushed off to get my aunt Shari to man the sign-in book while making the decision about when we should start the DVD of Andrea and Jordan's pictures. I then gathered the bridesmaids for photos, ran back to check on the music status, saw the best man sans his tux, which had been left at the house so I gave him the key to the garage, ran upstairs to where my sister was to inform her that my aunt had just cut up the last bridesmaid's bouquet for the cake, not knowing that it was intended for our cousin Liva, who would arrive late, so we had to split up some of the other bouquets to accomodate for the mistake.

Five minutes to the ceremony, the best man/the emcee arrived, finally in his tux. I gave him instructions in hurried tones, then practically had to push the groomsmen and bridesmaids into position. At the last minute my uncle Mark showed up, and I grabbed his hand, dragging him to the back of the room where I shoved a video camera in his hands and told him he would be taping the ceremony, then ran upstairs, telling Amy, in passing, that she should wait until everyone sat down and was quiet, and then start the music.

Eventually the crowd got the hint and sat down. The music started and we all walked down the stairs and down the aisle. I think we were all so stressed that we walked too fast, but that's ok. Then came the bride. She walked arm in arm with my dad, looking radiant. The song was "Annie's Smile," and I could see the tears in my dad's eyes as he gave her away.

The pastor spoke about love, friendship, and accepting that marriage could change a person in ways they don't expect. As I looked at Andrea and the tall, kind man standing beside her, I couldn't help but feel the overwhelming love in the room. For a moment I forgot everything I still had to do, and let the tears come as I watched my baby sister make vows for lifelong love.

The one little mishap occurred when my cousin Megan, the flower girl, fainted. She had locked her knees, but luckily my cousin Liva caught her before she fell and she revived quickly, her dad whisking her to her seat. My dad noticed that someone must have told my cousin Weston, the ring bearer, not to lock his knees after that, because he started doing a funny little knee-bending dance.

After the ceremony, we exited the stage to "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." Food was served while I ran over to the piano to play some of Andrea's favorite Broadway songs. Of course this was the moment when everyone in the world decided to come say hi to me...let me tell ya, playing and talking at the same time isn't as easy as it sounds.

Then it was time for speeches, and Michael Riquino and I took the stage. Michael started his speech with a re-working of Jordan's favorite quote, the Fifth of November poem.

I then got to speak, and my jokes made people laugh. Michael then announced the daddy daughter dance, and I ran back to the music station to make sure they had the right song. Andrea and my dad took the floor, dancing to my dad singing "Lullaby" by Billy Joel. I asked my stepdad to dance, and Heidi asked my mom's husband David. I laughed when I saw my grandpa Hanson, because he had grabbed both his daughters, Becky and Jane, and they were all dancing together. It was cute.

After that the dancing continued for a bit. I slow danced with Michael to "Come What May," and we made my sister Marjaan laugh with our singing. After that I felt it my personal responsibility to keep people dancing, since I'm good at that sort of thing. Mid-dancing, we tossed the bouquet, garter, and cut the cake. My mom was complaining that she missed the bouquet toss because she was talking, and so in the seconds before the cake-cutting, I saw her on the opposite side of the room, her back turned, so I ran (mind you, all this running was in heels) to the other side of the room, skidded into her back, said "they're cutting the cake," into her ear, then ran back so that I didn't miss it myself.

Then the dancing continued. Now onto my discussion of the playlist. I have hosted many parties, and have been to many weddings and dances. I know people. The night before the wedding, my sister was trying to stick a whole bunch of slow songs that meant something to her and Jordan onto the playlist. I discouraged this, saying that people wouldn't dance to those because most likely, there wouldn't be enough people to pair up. I told her two slow songs was plenty. Of course, she wouldn't budge. But what ended up happening was that the slow songs were acting like a disease, sending people off the dance floor as if it was leprous. I then, for the rest of the night, had to run back and forth from the music station to pick crowd-pleasing songs (the ones I put on the list, basically) to the dance floor to keep folks dancing. All in all, I did a pretty excellent job, but it was far too tiring. My feet were red, hot, and swollen by the end of the night. Lesson to be learned: always listen to me, because when it comes to people, I'm always right.

One funny moment happened when I turned on Bohemian Rhapsody. My dad said, "you can't dance to this," but I explained to him, in a hurry, that this generation loves a song you can stand around and sing dramatically to as much as the ones you can dance to. He watched as we stood in a circle, singing dramatically, laughing his head off.

After "Rhapsody," I raced outside to decorate Annie's car with Marjaan, Anthony, and Marjaan's friend Alex. We had a good time. I then ran inside to help Andrea with her corset and garter along with Heidi and Marjaan. We then slipped her dress over her head and she and Jordan were on their way. Pictures were taken, hugs were given, and I laughed as I turned around and saw my mom standing in a line with her two ex-husbands and her current husband, David. It's moments like that that just make you smile a little.

We cleaned up the reception hall a bit, and then went home, unloading the hundreds of strawberries, cream puffs, and nuts into our house, and then Marjaan, Anthony, Alex, and I went into my sister's apartment, cleaning it, putting her gifts away, and decorating it so that it would be ready upon their return in the morning.



Finally, at eleven o'clock at night, I could breathe. I ate for the first time that day and watched Sex and the City, the movie in my jammies. It was nice.