Application Complete!

I'd like to announce that I finally mailed in my last bit of application to the Master's of Public Administration program at the University of Georgia. After months of challenges and frustrations with various pieces, including the stupid and unclear GRE test and the loss and finding of not one, but two letters of recommendation. My last document will arrive in Georgia on Friday. From there, I will await three or so grueling weeks to find out the results. Wish me luck and pray for me!

Do-it-yourself bikini waxes are not that fun

I thought I'd buy a waxing kit today and give myself a bikini wax... I've had one before and it didn't seem that difficult. Well... first off, DO NOT put the wax on real thick. Second rule: get a good grip of the muslin paper. Third: Try a small area on your first try. Lesson learned: My whole right side of my bikini line is literally black and blue with bruises after a painful first attempt. I don't have pictures for obvious reasons, but take my word for it, it was not fun.

I learned quickly though and my left side looks a whole lot better... No marks and no hair. P.S. being my first time and not knowing how to maneuver the wax, it got all over my hands and took FOREVER to get off.

Joey wanted to wax the back of his neck too... I think he has a lot more empathy for what girls do, now. His neck went a whole lot smoother, but very red... but that is to be expected.

All in all, I probably will do it again... it's not so painful when you do it correctly.

Stewart Falls

Joey and I went hiking to Stewart Falls – something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. We woke up and left before noon, getting there at the perfect time (not too many people there yet). It had been the most beautiful day and it wasn’t too hot out.

Joey is such a stud.

There was random patches of snow throughout the rugged path. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration... it was the most rugged I've ever hiked. And Joey looked pretty rugged too! Ow! OW!

Part of the way it felt like a fairytale – the trees were so beautiful and there were butterflies everywhere. It was also at times treacherous terrain – there was a rough path with rocks, mud and snow.


This was the view along our way. Down below were mansions, affectionately called cabins.

We had to cross tree trunks and rocks and puddles. Tyla looking hot as always!


Joey had to relieve himself not once, but twice on the trip... as I stood guard.


We're so photogenic.

When we finally reached the falls, it was even rougher. We took the adventurous route down to the water. It was straight up and down. There was no one to control or maintain order.

We climbed up to the upper falls along a treacherous terrain with a lovely shear drop off the side. It was well worth it! When we got close enough, we were getting sprayed with mist.

We decided to get a closer look... taking the path that skid down the mountains every time we took a step.

We decided to get an even closer look. Joey went down one path and I went down another. I got there first. Hmph. So I waited...

So I took some pictures...

It was a fantastic view!

We decided to get an even closer look. The water was freezing! There were other people running in and out of the water and screaming from the cold.

Joey thought it would be cool to wade out into the middle of the river-like body of water and take pictures... and he was right... they're amazing shots.

We packed a little picnic lunch and ate it on the riverbanks. Here is me waiting for my man to cross back onto dry land.

Another awesome shot... it could be in a magazine.

Later, we discovered an easier path we could have taken instead of risking our lives. But, we realized how completely boring that would have been.

When we returned to base... we found this sign... hmmm...Momma Wax would have known. No snakes though.

Provo City Beat

So a few weeks ago, I was at work and I walk by two guys with a camera set were sitting on the couch. They stop me and ask me my name. I said, "Tyla Waxter." They said, "Our April host for the Provo City Beat bailed on us. Would you host our show." I said, "If you really need me to I will, but it won't be very good." A little bit later I was in front of the camera reading a teleprompter... those things are harder to use than it looks. So, have a good laugh:

http://www.provo.org/index.php?module=ibcms&fxn=mayor.citybeat

... Yeah, the link was sent to every employ in Provo City.

The Car Buying Game

On April 1, 2009 at 8 a.m. our beloved Betty gave up the ghost. After nine months of struggling from a heart transplant, she will never again move on her own. We decided that we couldn't deal with that again and with the amount of money we put into her, we could have a new car by now. Conference weekend was the only time we had available to go car hunting for another month. Between two part-time and jobs and two full-time students, life is difficult without a car, especially when it's been raining and snowing. So.... we went car shopping. Enjoy the ride!

Goodbye old pal.

We first went to a Honda dealership. The salesman there had only been in the business about two months and showed us crap cars. We didn’t stay long.

The second was a Nissan place where we almost bought a Hyundai. Joey was tired, it was 1 o’clock, we’d been up since 8 and hadn’t eaten lunch yet and Joey was recovering from being sick. We asked for a price three times and each time they went away and came back with a different person to talk to us. They wanted us to take one of their cars to lunch, but that would mean coming back. We were so tired by this time we just wanted to leave, and we still hadn’t gotten a price.

One of the times our salesman went away to find the price, he brought back with him the manager, or whoever, who tried to talk us in to buying a brand new car for more! He said we’d pay $200 the first year and then the price would go up to $300 after that. He was talking to the wrong people. We are not that stupid.

At the third dealership (Toyota), I was getting snippy and brutally honest. The salesman showed us a few options. The first car we test drove was a Toyota Cambry. It was an awesome drive and you couldn’t feel the train tracks bump as we drove over them. It was a 6 cylinder and a gas guzzler. On top of that, it was way too big for me and it had a white exterior with a brownish tan color that reminded me of diarrhea (though I didn’t say this at the time). Seriously, I wanted to puke. I said I didn’t like the color and the salesman kind of dismissed it and said that with a used car, you can’t be too picky (in so many words).

We test drove the Toyota corolla next. I wasn’t too excited about it, but Joey was partial to it and in the back of his mind he just really wanted a Toyota because of it’s reliability and it is known to go up to 300,000 miles. We have actually been talking about getting a corolla because we rented one once and fell in love.

When we got done with the test drive, our salesman (Blaine) asked me if I could see myself with this car. I honestly didn’t know. I wasn’t set on it… I wanted to see what else there was. Blaine said, “Ok, are you ready to go in and draw up some papers? See what price we could get it down to.” He also kept saying he’d have to move some numbers around to get it within our budget. This 2005 car initially cost $12,999 with 84,000 miles.

I was getting frustrated at this point because he was putting words in my mouth and there was actually a couple other cars I wanted to test drive, but he pushed us inside, pretty much.

This whole time, I was the one talking… Blaine called me the CFO. Joey was not feeling well. I did most of the talking, but when I didn’t know what to do, I’d look over at Joey expecting him to make a decision or say something, and he’d just stare back.

Throughout this whole process Joey was on the phone with his mom who checked the Blue Book value that was $11,000. I was on the phone with dad who kept telling me to walk away especially because they weren’t including the warranty.

The price started at $12,999. Blaine brought it down to $9,995, then $8,995 and through in the certification and warranty.

We were on to their games. We tried walking away probably four times. The last time was when they brought us into meet the financial guy. I told Joey to tell them we were leaving if he wanted to go, but we walked into the room, they told us to sit down and we sadly did. We realized that to play the game well, you had to be willing to leave.

Dad told me that Mick had purchased a brand new 2007 Toyota Corolla last year for $14,000. I told this to the financial guy who said there’s no way that that happened. And me, being a little frustrated and snippy, said, “Are you calling them liars?” He immediately apologized and backed off and tried to explain that price. It was very humorous.

At another point, the financial guy (sorry, I can’t remember his name) said that whatever we did didn’t matter to him. He kept saying this over and over. Joey just turned to him and said, “We know it doesn’t matter to you.” That stopped him.

The financial guy asked us if we would purchase the car on the spot that day if they brought the price down to $5,000 and included everything (warranty, certification, etc.). I said definitely. He said, “Well, we can’t do that.” However, we eventually got them down to $8,200! – out the door. They were desperate to sell a car. They had a 12 car quota, and had only sold two cars so far that day.

We eventually signed the papers and we are now loving our car! We bought it for under our budget and a 7 year or 100,000 mile warranty. Not bad for this first time purchase. We couldn’t believe we had actually bought a car!!! It was quite the experience – both fun and terrifying. We had no idea what we were doing. We tried researching as much as possible before we went our shopping, but we were starting from scratch. We are just so glad that we did not have to back out the next day.

Thank you to everyone for their support and advice: Mick and Joanne. Paul for telling us to walk away and they’d automatically come down and on top of that that they can always come down more when they say they can’t. Dad and Lori for telling me to walk away. Mama Wax for finding us the Blue Book Value.

P.S. any ideas for a new name?

Hare Krishna and the Festival of Colours

We attended the Hare Krishna Festival of Colors today. It was amazing! Everyone, at least once in their life needs to attend such a festival. The temple itself is beautiful.

Here's Joey and me under a part of the temple.

We went with our good friends, the Fillmores. There were about 15,000 people there! We gathered on the temple and on the hillside. Indian dancers performed while we waited for the main attraction to begin.

Here's Milan and Rachel Fillmore.

As we waited for the main event to begin, we watched the traditional Indian dancers on stage… their dances are so beautiful… but so long! They really are graceful.

The Hare Krishna Temple filled with people.

The story goes that King Hiranyakashipu commanded everyone to worship him instead of the gods. His small son, Prahlad, refused to do so and became a devoted worshipper of Vishnu, the Hindu God. Holika, Prahlad’s sister, immune to burning in fire, in order to save the child, picked him up and carried him into the flames. Prahlad chanted the names of God and was saved from the fire. Holika perished because she did not know that her powers only worked if she entered the fire alone. Anyway, the practice is to throw flowers in celebration of this event.

The fire that initiated the event.

A fire was lit at the festival a little early and people started to throw the colored flour they’d purchased. A cloud of bright green, yellow, purple, pink and blue burst into the air around us… you couldn’t see anything. Breathing was even difficult.

The cloud of colored smoke.

The event coordinator came on the microphone and ask everyone to stop until the band was ready to begin playing music. He also said that once the throwing began, our differences would disappear and we’d all be friends. As soon as they were, the countdown began, the music started and, once again, colored flower burst into the air above the crowded hillside field. At first, the flour throwing was among our little group, but soon, we gained friends and helped to color all those around us. We quickly became covered head to toe in colors… as if we had been painted. The fire continued to burn and the music continued to play. We patted people on the back, leaving hand prints and our faces were smeared with colors. The flour was scented with jasmine and now permeates our home.

Joey and me after the flour throwing.

When things started to calm down, we were able to move closer to the stage. The band that was playing was awesome… check our video footage. The crowd was going wild (sometimes they became irreverent). Everyone was clapping, jumping and chanting along to the song:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krisha Krisha Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Hare Hare Rama Rama

The crowd was seriously going wild. So many people were body surfing… we tried getting closer to the stage… we didn’t want to get too close... we were wary of the shoes that people were stealing off the feet of the crowd surfers and throwing everywhere… hitting lucky persons in the head… seriously, a number of times we saw individuals get nailed in the face. The shoe throwing became a game as people tried to throw the shoes on the roof of the pavilion housing the band.

The roof covered in shoes... this is after the guy climbed up and knocked them off.

One man tried to climb up on the roof to get the shoes off… he hardly succeeded in that as soon as he got them all off, more were thrown on. On his way down, he signaled to the crowd to come closer together and he threw himself off the roof! He was caught and continued through the crowd.

It was such a celebration! One kid climbed on the shoulders of his friends and did a back flip off into the crowd! They were crazy! I don’t know what happened to him, but that could not have been pleasant for those underneath him. Some other guys were being stupid and stripped down to their briefs and danced around… so that’s what it’s like outside of Provo!

You've got to watch this video... the guy was singing nursery rhymes and then going into chanting.

Once we got tired of the music and crowd, we walked around and visited their petting zoo… they had a macaw and llamas and peacocks! It was so fun! By this point, I think we were all tired and the flour was imbedded in our lungs and brains. And we were ready for a shower.

It was a great experience and I am so glad we got have it before we leave. And I’m so glad we got to share it with Rachel and Milan.

Finally

I've done it! I've finally done it! I created a blog... I think that Joey thought it would never happen. We'd go do something fun and I'd say, "This is going on the blog." But there was no blog. Now, I can post.