Hypocrites

Today in Sunday School we talked about hypocrites.  That's right, despite the fact that I look like I'm paying absolutely no attention and I'm playing Word Warp (which is like Text Twist) on my phone, I'm listening.  The teacher (Erin?) asked us what we thought of when we considered hypocrites.  I didn't contribute, but there is something I thought then and was shown to be applicable later that evening.  To me not being a hypocrite often means not being someone different at church than you are in life.

You know what, I'm going to be me no matter what.  Just because it's Sunday I'm not going to start putting on airs.  If there's a movie that I'd watch any other day of the week and I'm a person who watches movies on Sunday (I understand that some people choose not to watch movies or tv on Sunday as a way of keeping the Sabbath day holy and I completely respect that choice) my movie choice isn't going to be different.  I'm the same person on Sunday as any other day of the week and I'm not going to put on a show.

Example.  Tonight at mix and mingle (alternately called snack and mack or grab a cookie take a lookie) Sam started talking about the movie Sixteen Candles.  I've never seen it, but I have a copy on VHS so I figured I'd watch it.  I expressed the same and someone in the ward stated rather huffily, "Well, that's a great movie to watch on a Sunday." Get over it girl.  Sunday doesn't make me pretend to be someone I'm not.

Pet Peeve

I have a pet peeve. You're probably insanely shocked. Let's talk about it. Actually, let's go all Mormon sacrament meeting talk and start with a dictionary definition.

anniversary (noun): 1. the yearly recurrence of the date of a past event: the tenth anniversary of their marriage

2. the celebration or commemoration of such a date

(adjective):1. returning or recurring each year; annual

That's from dictionary.com, in case you were wondering.

So now, the pet peeve part. You do not have a six month anniversary of anything (dating, graduating from high school, being married, whatever). Anniversary comes from the term annual which means yearly. When someone says they've had a three month anniversary I want to punch them in the face (even people I like under normal circumstances). Instead try a phrase like, "She made me dinner to celebrate the fact that we've been dating for three months." I always think people sound like idiots when they misuse the word anniversary.

That is all.

Here's a picture of a dog nursing liger cubs in China because I'm pretty sure most blog posts should have pictures, and why not?

Fresh Ravioli

Sometimes I start feeling domestic (often) then I start thinking about delicious things I've made in the past and want to try again to make them bigger and better (minus the bigger part in most instances). So, today I again attempted homemade ravioli.

This is not a food blog so I don't have pictures of every step, but I did put some here for you to enjoy. And no, I don't have a recipe for filling. Except when I'm baking I don't normally operate from recipes.

First I heated up my frying pan to medium high, added about a tablespoon of vegetable oil (I'm poor so I don't have olive oil), and then cooked half a diced onion (I used white, just don't use red because that would look awful in my opinion and they're super strong, again my opinion) and a diced clove of garlic. I didn't cook it so long that it was all translucent or caramelized. I just got it a little tender.

Then I added about a pound of hamburger. When I did it before I used ground turkey and it was great (though I did use a little more oil because of the less fattiness of the meat). This time I used frozen burger patties from Costco (stop judging me immediately, this is ravioli filling, not a gourmet truffle-topped fancy something or another). I added salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and LOTS of Italian seasoning because it is delicious. Cook it until it's all cooked, drain off the fat, and dump it into a bowl. At this point taste the meat because it might need some more spices. I like lots of flavor.

I know ricotta filling for ravioli is delicious. I love ricotta. I worship at the church of ricotta cheese. However, ricotta cheese is kind of pricey so I don't buy it. Instead I added some cream cheese (about 3/4 of a block in this case because I'd already used some on crackers) and mixed the heck out of it. Taste it now. Delicious (but maybe a little ugly).

A note: after I took this picture I added a handful of shredded mozzerella to the filling and mixed it in all thoroughly. I'm all for a good cheesy filling. Also, one time I tossed in a few diced up cooked mushrooms. Tasty.

So I stuck my filling in the fridge for awhile and made some pasta dough. About 2 cups of flour, a good shaking of salt, make a well just like they tell you on the Food Network. Then I beat three eggs with about a tablespoon or so of oil and two or three tablespoons of water. Pour about half of the wet into the well and start to mix. Slowly add some more wet until it's a good stiff (but not dry) dough. I've never used all the wet stuff, but I suppose it could change depending on where you live. Now knead it for about ten minutes. Seriously. I bet most of you have some relief society arm (better identified as wings) that you want to work off. This will do it.

Wrap your pretty dough in plastic, and put it in the fridge for an hour.

Now's a good time to take a picture of the apron your grandmother sent to you. Your roommates might judge you while you take this strange photo.

After an hour (during which you may have read a few chapters of East of Eden) get your dough out of the fridge, pull off half to use, and roll it out.

I used my fondant rolling pin because I can get more direct pressure exactly where I want it. Use whatever makes you happy.

As soon as you think your dough is thin and beautiful enough take a little break for thirty seconds then roll it until it's about twice as thin. Mine still wasn't quite as thin as I would have liked. Alternately, buy a pasta machine and save your arms.

Use a pizza cutter and cut off the edges, then cut the sheet in half.
Brush one sheet with egg wash then scoop on the filling. You can do little scoops at a time or use a frosting bag and a pair of scissors (which looks kind of sick). I like small raviolis, but I always fail.

Put the other pasta sheet on top...

And seal down all the edges: outsides and in-between. It's easiest if you start at one edge and move methodically to the other so you don't trap a bunch of air inside.
Cut the individual pieces apart. I used a fondant tool I had that sealed the edges and cut at the same time. I've also done the method where you separate them with a pizza cutter and then use a fork to seal the edges.
Pull the raviolis apart and stack them on a plate or something (but be careful if your dough is sticky that they don't get gummed together).
At this point you're going to have to set them aside while you do the other half of your pasta. Now send a picture to your mother. She will be proud. Boil some water and add a decent amount of salt. Cook your raviolis. Test one and make sure the pasta's done (mine always takes a little longer than I expect it to even though they say as soon as it floats it's done).

Serve your ravioli however you like it. Try some pesto, some parmesan (if you can afford fresh grated I am jealous of you), or some marinara (is marinara just one specific type or is all red sauce marinara?).

Now, eat up. It's delicious. Don't forget to take one or two or a few to your roommates to try. They will like you more that way.

If anyone out there actually made it through this post and decides to try their hand at fresh pasta because of it, let me know how it turns out. I'm truly interested.

Mom

For those of you who don't know, my mom is hilarious. Two examples.

-She makes your mom jokes to my siblings and me.

-Sometimes when my dad uses the phrase "son of a b****" she tells him that he shouldn't say such unkind things about my brother.

That is all.

Acoustic Night

My ward holds acoustic night every month and a half or two months. Basically anyone who wants to comes out and plays guitar and/or sings or whatever musical talent they have. I haven't attended any of the other acoustic nights because I didn't really think it would be my scene. I was right. Sure, I saw some friends that I was glad to see tonight (hello Jeff), but I most likely won't go to another.

Discovery: I have pretty much the same opinion about both acoustic night and [ward] talent shows. There are three acceptable groups of people who should perform.

1. Children (unless it gets excessive). There was a boy that was someone's brother at acoustic night tonight. He was probably 14 or 15 and he got up the courage to perform in front of a bunch of college students some song he'd written for guitar. You go, kid. You are an acoustic night winner.

2. Hilarious people. If you're going to sing a funny song or do a funny sketch (in the case of talent shows) or narrate hilariously then please perform. Exhibit A: Landon. If you were in the ward last year you definitely know Landon (tall, hilarious animation student). Landon has actual talent to be sure, but instead he tells a funny story and sings a song he began writing in the seventh grade about starting an outlaw band. Win. Exhibit B: Curtis. Still in the ward, and kind of hilarious. He sang a song about still being in love and wanting someone back even after they try and stab you and step on your head after throwing you in a ditch etc etc. Others that come to mind are Ben's cover of Your Body is a Wonderland (called Your Spirit is a Wonderland) two years ago and Travis's hilarious cover of some country song (that I don't remember currently) at the same show. To hilarious people: please perform. Also kudos to Jason for playing a song from Sesame Street.

3. Extremely talented people. With Trent on guitar and vocals, David on trumpet, and Curtis on banjo (!!!) that combination was fantastic and the song was good and I enjoyed it. Ditto to the group that had the violinist, guitarist, drummer, and maraca girl that sang a song in some foreign language. Drummer and maraca girl did another piece where he played guitar and she sang and it was great. I'm sure I could think of examples for talent shows, but I don't feel like it.

Listen, people, I respect that you have a budding talent that you're striving to build. I recognize that you wrote some mediocre lyrics and you're proud of them, but I don't care that much. I'm not excited to hear you. Take some time and practice some more then get back to me. Similarly I have no desire to watch a poorly acted ten minute drama at a talent show.

I know it was my choice to go to acoustic night and so I'm making the choice not to go again. I'm also making the choice to blog my thoughts. No apologies.

Flip-Flops

Get over it. I'm about to blog about flip-flops. Are any of you really surprised?

Side note before I begin: rumor has it that this Saturday flip-flops are $1 at Old Navy. By rumor I mean a commercial that I saw yesterday.

Those are random people's feet, but it's just normal flip flops in the picture so I put it here.

Flip-flops are absolutely amazing. There's no denying it. The feel of sunshine and happiness and wind and joy on your toes is amazing. Also, they come in approximately 8 kajillion colors.
Those are just plain colors. I have silver ones and you can get the kind with shells or bling or the ever white-trash platform style "heel". The varieties of flip-flops are endless. Don't even get me started on the attractive to douchey to overly-hipster to grandpa style man flip-flops. This post is about my opinion of flip-flops on my own personal feet so I'm not even going there right now.

But...you knew all this already. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past century you've either owned or come across your fair share of Old Navy style simple flip-flops (and the variations therefrom). Why the blog post then?

I want to talk about flip-flops at church. Go ahead. Leave a comment quoting some prophet or apostle about not wearing beach clothes to church. Now ask me the last time I wore flip-flops on the beach (the answer is I can't remember because I go barefoot on the beach like any sane person). Call me unrighteous, but I'm still going to wear flip-flops to church.

Why? First, there's the price. Even without the sale I mentioned above I can get plain flip-flops for $2-$5 a pair or a pair with decorations (glitter, beads, rhinestones) for $5-$10. Can I get heels or even flats for that price? No. I cannot. So, for the cost of half of a pair of regular shoes I can buy a pair of flip-flops in colors to match any of my outfits. Thank you variety.

They are comfortable. I can't walk in heels. Hopefully one day someone will teach me (that is kind of an invitation), but right now I can't. If I wear flip-flops to church I don't have to wear my slippers and carry my shoes in my hand. Some people love their heels and have beautiful shoes and want to wear them (Stefanie) and that is fine by me. I don't have beautiful shoes and I don't want my toes pinched. Additionally, the times are rare that I'm going to wear flats or heels without knee-highs, tights, or pantie-hose (is that really how that's spelled?). Your feet sweat. My feet sweat. It's a fact of life. If you go barefoot under your shoes most of the time your shoes start to get really stinky. I'm not going to continue to wear stinky nasty sweat-filled shoes despite their funk. Flip-flops are generally funk-less (and easy/cheap to replace in the rare case they become funky).

Finally (and I'll try to be brief), I have big feet. It's hard to find shoes that are comfortable, cute, and affordable for big feet. Flip-flops come regularly up to women's size 12 or 13 (though my feet aren't that big) for the same price as the more average sizes.

If I'm doing something in my life that's going to get me sent to hell, I don't think wearing flip-flops to church is it. Maybe one day when I'm rich I'll pay more for shoes and stop wearing flip-flops and you can all stop judging me. Thing is, I never go to church dirty, I almost always put on make-up, I take the time to do my hair (though it doesn't always turn out), and generally try to make sure I'm well put together. So, I'll keep my flip-flops and you can keep your judgment.

Life's Important Questions

- Why are my post titles so similar these days?

- With friends like Brittany who bring you Jimmer posters when they're being given away on campus because she knows you don't even go to campus anymore, who needs other friends?

- Why have the best pasta dishes I've had in my life been made by men (I'm looking at you Dad and Kevin)? This is no offense to my mother, of course.

- What makes it so hard for me to bake consistently delicious food here in Utah? I'm going to blame the altitude. Seriously, though, last weekend I made crappy cinnamon rolls and crappy raspberry rolls.

- Why are so many of these questions food related?

- Who knew that ramen noodles were deep fried? I didn't.

- How many of your families have "Thanksgiving" throughout the year? I'm talking turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, pie, stuffing for dinner no matter the time of year.

- Not a question, but a fact: refrigerated creamed peas start to look like peas sitting in shortening. Still taste great, look awful.

- What is it about blog posts sponsored by a product or brand that really bothers me? I feel like I'm getting something shoved down my throat maybe? My Baking Addiction does it all the time. Pioneer woman made it big without having all her recipe posts as a paid advertisement for a product. Even if the recipe is delicious, this makes me not want to read the blog....

- What is it about the sound of stirring mac'n'cheese that makes it so disgusting/unique/fantastic?

Thoughts on LOST

You may or may not know (I can't remember if I've blogged it yet) that I started watching LOST two Sundays ago. I'm currently looking for a job and graduated so I have no real responsibilities to do with my life. I finished all six seasons in two weeks. Since it's such a popular series, I thought I'd share some thoughts. This is obviously not a complete list of my thoughts because that would be a lot, but some random ones I wanted to talk about.

Overall: I loved the characters. That's not to say I loved the show. I kind of wish someone would go back and re-do the show after season 1. Once time travel and too many additional groups of people and motivations get involved I didn't really like it. Somehow, though, even though the storyline was not great in my opinion I fell in love with the characters and their lives and their backgrounds. Does that make any sense?

Pretty boys: Boone.
Dear Boone: You are so so pretty. Why did you have to die in season two? Thanks for coming back toward the end of season 6 when things were getting wrapped up so that I could get a dose of you.

Vincent the dog didn't die like I was convinced he would.
It's kind of a rule when you're watching movies or shows that a beloved animal will die or run away or suffer some horrible accident. Vincent was awesome and stayed alive. Oh yeah and that is an arm he's carrying in that picture. Last thing, did anyone else notice that they changed Vincents for the last two seasons?

Come at me Jack Shephard.
Really, he's so lovely and a nice guy and only occasionally annoyed me. Sometimes he tried to be a hero a little more than I wanted and made some dumb choices, but he looked pretty doing it. Also, normally I go with the idea of the shorter the hair, the better, but I like him with his longer parted hair. It was precious. Ditto Sayid's long hair (and even ponytail).

Ben Linus, I still hate you.
Pretty much from the moment Rousseau captured him in one of her net traps I hated Ben Linus and hoped someone would kill him. And no one ever did. He kept lying and changing sides and being confusing and withholding information and he killed John Locke (who was crazy as heck) and I really didn't like his character. Boo on you, Ben Linus.

An addendum: Somehow I almost got through this post without mentioning Sawyer. I love Sawyer. He's super attractive, a huge a-hole, and I have some sort of secret thing for bad boys, apparently. Oh, and when he tells Jack (in season 3 I think) that Jack's the closest thing he has to a friend it is so precious and almost made me cry. Oh, and his slightly mean nicknames for pretty much everyone on the island? Genius.

Bizarre Things

I put my mixer in the dishwasher. Not my mixing bowl, but my actual mixer. It had that gross stuff that happens with the dough gets up into the place where you put the beaters and it was stressing me out. I remembered one of my teachers in high school telling me that he would put his keyboard in his dishwasher to clean it, so I figured what the heck. I have four mixers and if this one was damaged it wouldn't be the end of the world. After dish-washing I let it dry overnight and then put it in the fridge for 24 hours (it's really dry in there, try putting your cell phone in there if you get it wet). Guess what, my mixer works beautifully! It's clean and lovely and works. The key (if you're going to try this) is not to try turning it on before it's fully dry.

Next. This is Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert.

They're two of the biggest names in country music right now and they happen to be getting married soon. What's going to be served at their wedding you ask? Venison. That's right, deer meat. Where did this deer meat come from you may be wondering? I will tell you. They got the buck together when they were out hunting. That's the way country stars should be. I love it.

Lastly for the day, my class ring came! Thanks parents and Mammaw for this great graduation present! I figure the ring looks like it's supposed to live on my finger forever and ever and ever amen. Love it.

Hair Removal (take two)

Remember this misadventure? Guess what, I was still dumb enough (or maybe desperate enough) to try another new method of hair removal.

Let's get real for a minute. I kind of have a beard. Not like that one lady who works at McDonald's in Stafford (though I think there's probably one of those ladies at every McDonald's). My beard is more like basic peach fuzz (that every girl has) gone wrong because my hair is dark. Sure, this is kind of embarrassing (a lot) and a little bit TMI (a lot), but it's not my fault. What are you supposed to do with dark hair genes (my oldest sister has the same problem)?

The point of all that is I decided to get rid of my beard. I'd been thinking on it for awhile and considered waxing (that's what my sister usually does, though she said she breaks out). Yesterday I passed a threading kiosk in the mall. I found out in only cost ten bucks to have the sides of my face (aka my beard) done, so I figured why not.

I've never tried threading before and I don't quite understand how it works, but it works (some info for those of you who are completely and totally lost). I ponied up, sat down in the chair, and the lady got to work.

Let me tell you, it hurt like HELL. Apparently because my hair was longer than usually gets threaded and it was my first time, that had some impact on the pain. It didn't take very long at all (maybe ten or fifteen minutes for both sides). I felt smooth, I looked smooth, and the lady rubbed my face with lotion (feels so nice).

This is what I looked like immediately after.

Ew. The lady told me to wait an hour for the redness to go away. It took longer than that (it always does), but the swelling (and weird lumps) went away, as did the redness. This morning my face is smooth, regular color, and smooth.

Would I do it again? Yes, for sure. The price was great, I believe the pain will get less as I do it more (that's how it was with waxing), it doesn't damage my skin like waxing, and it's supposed to last a long time. Maybe I'll go get my lip done today...

Graduation

Oh yeah, this happened...

No, I'm not really ready to talk about it yet.

Vacation: "Showing off for your muggle admirers, Potter?"

I had this whole list of things I wanted to blog about and I made little notes of them on a note pad. Then my family came to town before I got to blogging them and now I have no idea what half of those little notes meant. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that all of these were in regards to the Disney/Universal trip. It'd be a shame to completely skip that on my blog, so you're getting the mass dump here.

One: I miss vacation.

I'm ready to go back. It was beautiful and only one day was unbearably hot. The hotel (Hard Rock) was awesome and spending time with Sarah was a blast. There was a water shuttle and Disney has the monorail and the ferry. Plus, real life is boring (and scary).

Two: The surprise.

The first day we got there was, of course, exhausting. Travel and getting up early and the plane and shuttling and everything make me want to sleep all day long. I was so happy to see the hotel and our hotel room.

(please excuse how awful I look)

We did have one confusion checking in when the guy told us we were staying for seven nights (we thought it was four). Long story short, I called Laurel and she confirmed that our vacation did indeed go seven nights, which we had somehow missed. Cue freaking out.

Three: First day

Since we were so tired and it was late w decided to go over to City Walk and grab some food. Once we had eaten (Moe's, if you care) we thought we'd just walk around Islands of Adventure (one of two Universal parks) for a little bit and maybe catch a glimpse of Hogwarts. Once we saw the towers I started getting goosebumps and couldn't resist.

We, of course, had to go into Hogsmeade. Because it was getting late there was almost no line for Forbidden Journey so we went on the ride (we're Harry Potter nerds, there was no controlling it) which was AWESOME. Amazing first day.

Four: Side note.

A brief break from the narrative of the vacation for a comment. Disney and Universal do so many things in such a genius way! Universal is extremely shaded and amazingly well air conditioned. Both places have water misters all over the place. Popular rides have conveyor belts and are constantly loading and unloading people without stopping which obviously makes it so the lines keep moving (the longest we waited was 40 minutes for a safari which was SO worth it). The decor and the tiny details leading up to the rides (hello, all of Hogwarts castleincluding moving pictures) keep the visitors entertained. So smart, way to keep us happy at the happiest places on earth. That is all.

Five: "I'm drunk on butterbeer."

The food was great on vacation. Most of the time Sarah and I shared a plate between the two of us which was plenty and makes it not really that expensive. I have to admit I didn't love pumpkin juice or butterbeer (though Sarah did). I will say, however, that the cream on top of the butterbeer is absolutely DELICIOUS.

Six: The happiest place on Earth.

Seeing Disney for the first time is amazingly exciting (even as an adult). It's hard not to act like a tiny child and be insanely giddy all time time and want to take a picture with every princess.

I now have a slight obsession with all things Disney (and Harry Potter, obviously). Also, the fireworks and the Main Street Electrical Parade and all the nighttime events are definitely worth attending. I maybe cried a little bit. Hush and stop judging me immediately.

Seven: Rides that shouldn't be missed/favorites.

Forbidden Journey (obviously, it's freaking Harry Potter).

The random dinosaur ride in Epcot (I think Epcot in general is AWESOME).

It's a small world (class for good reason).

The tea cups (you get pictures like this).

The carousel of progress (old school and gets really bizarre at the end).

Space mountain (I'm unique NOT AT ALL).

There were about a million others, but I can't and won't list them all.

Eight: Closing thoughts.

This trip was absolutely amazing. It wouldn't have been near as awesome without a few people. Of course my parents and the Alveys that helped make it all possible. Laurel - she put it all together and had the largest hand in getting us there. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Sarah. I wouldn't have had a fraction of the fun if I'd gone with anyone else. We had such a good vacation and she was even nice when I was sick one day and we stayed in the hotel room most of the day. To her, grat thanks and love. I could go on forever (or at least a really long time) about the nitty gritty details and happenings of my trip, but I'll stop. I'm no expert on Disney or Universal, but if you want my thoughts/opinions on something specific leave a comment or email me and I'll get at you. Also, go to Orlando. It's worth it.

Nine: Addendum

I don't know why the pictures are strange and varied sizes. It makes no sense to me as I stole them all from Sarah's facebook. She was the official picture taker while we were there and it was great because then I didn't have to take any (which I'm bad about). If you want to see more, go to her page.