[Outer] Inner Dialogue

Two Tales from School

2012-02-04T22:18:00.000-08:00

I have a lovely student named M----- in my fifth grade class. It's kind of obvious that he's the studly one in the class (at least half of my girls have admitted to me that they have a crush on him) and he's and overall nice, smart kid. I wanted to share two quick stories that kind of show M-----'s personality.

One: I had a student named A----- in my class (she has since moved). A----- and M----- were "going out" for awhile. No, I still don't know (and didn't know when I was 10) what exactly that entails except that A----- was M-----'s girlfriend and all the girls were jealous. Good thing about it was that A----- was a very friendly girl so all the others still liked her. On her last day right before she left there was a somber mood in the classroom as everyone said goodbye. Right as she was walking out M----- called to me "Hey, Miss Budd, listen to this! Bye A-----, I love you." You can mock the kid if you want (though don't do it around me because I might punch you in the face), but in his precious little 11 year old heart he did (does) love this girl and went out on a limb to tell her so. It was extremely precious and I had to try not to tear up. No, I don't think they'll continue to see each other or grow up and get married, but for now he loved her and that's enough.

Two: Last week was the week from hell aka parent teacher conferences. Don't get me wrong, I love to meet with and talk to the parents but I spent two evenings at the school until almost 8 o'clock which makes for very long and tiring days. M----- was my very last conference and came with both his parents and both of his step-parents. You could tell he was really feeling the pressure (and I joked that I could go get his reading teacher if he wanted just to add to it). In March the fifth graders have maturation (sex ed) and I had to get parents to sign the forms. M-----'s dad turned and looked at him and asked if he wanted to go. M----- said he didn't care. His step-mom asked if he knew what it was about and M----- said without thinking, "Yeah, penis." He then proceeded to bury his head under the table and groan and be embarrassed. "Oh my gosh, why did I say that in front of my teacher?" I had to try hard not to laugh (and maybe did a little). The next day he mentioned two or three more times how horrified he was and apologized.

You know what? I kind of like being a fifth grade teacher.

Man Smell

2012-01-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

If you are a girl or know a girl you are probably already aware of this, but girls love man smell. There's nothing quite so attractive (at least to me) as a man that smells good. And let me tell you something, of all the good cologne and body spray and aftershave smells out there, none are as good as that nice clean smell. I'm talking a hint of toothpaste and plain soap smell without additions.

Now all of my blog readers think I'm a freak.

Because I Haven't Blogged

2012-01-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

As stated on my facebook, you know you have quality friends when they buy you a Cosmo pillow pet for Christmas even though you're an adult. Also when you're on a drive home from a movie and the only thing your friend says the whole way is "You're welcome a-hole" to an inconsiderate and impolite driver.

Negative friend points for everyone dressing up for karaoke without telling you. It's just wrong.

Also, I kind of hate karaoke.

There are three things that can happen when you're somewhere you don't want to be. One, you leave and are happy to be home. Two, you stay and start to enjoy yourself. Three, you stay and hate that you stayed. Last night was mostly a two. Like I said, karaoke is not my thing, but I have insanely talented friends that make good song choices.

Karaoke songs inspired me to create a new Pandora station that is insanely eclectic but also amazing.

I do not like hipsters. Go away hipsters.

Guru's sweet potato fries are good, but they're not as insane as everyone makes them out to be.

I miss Jimmer.

And Jackson.

I have a new roommate named Sophie who is kind of the bomb, but a little bit of a grouch today.

First world problem: there is too much new content online during the week and not enough during the weekend.

This is Sarah's new boyfriend Viper who dedicated a song to her at karaoke last night. Great song choice (Johnny's Daddy), but he butchered it beyond recognition.

I Feel Nauseous

2011-11-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

I want to make it clear that this is not a personal attack in any way shape or form. *Ahem* moving on.

Yesterday a friend of mine pinned this picture on Pinterest.

On first glance, I'm ok with this. That's a pretty good motto to actually work instead of just complaining. Can I stop here and tell you that I'm aware that I don't have a good pretty body and I probably never will? I just felt that was relevant.

Then I actually looked at this picture and I hated it. Is this girl healthy thin or is she overly thin? I'm sure some people have bodies where the shape and weight of the girl in this picture is ok. Maybe. Now I'm less sure. Can you see that her hip bones are actually holding her underwear away from her body? I've never seen that before in my life. Is this the standard for having a good body? Gah. I don't usually complain about magazine covers and movie stars' thinness, but this is too much for me.

I decided to research this picture a little bit rather than just rant and it just got worse and worse. The girl who writes the blog/tumblr that this picture came from is not tiny thin. She's working on losing weight and exercising more (which I fully support), but her motivational pictures are awful.

(she actually got this picture from a different girl's blog that's focusing on starving herself and says "if your stomach is grumbling it means you're succeeding")

I'm going to stop posting these because they make me hate myself and hate everyone else.

A Collection of Random Thoughts

2011-11-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

My life is insanely busy these days. I am teaching and it is exhausting and rewarding and the best thing ever (aside from Harry Potter and BYU sports).

Something that is absolutely disgusting that you might not think about: steaming football players. Please allow me to explain. The last two home games have been exceedingly cold. They have the heaters set up on the sidelines and all the fans are wearing four thousand layers (which gives you negative chest points). Then one of the linemen comes off the field and removes his helmet, and you see more than his breath. You see steam coming off of his head and neck and it is so gross. Without seeing it, it's hard to understand how disgusting it actually is. Ok, I'll stop now.

Listen, I know you'll think I'm crazy but I can recognize Jimmer based on the way he moves his body. Jimmer hangs out on the field during the football games and during the last few games he's been hidden under various layers of clothes and hats. Usually I just look for him standing near Whitney before the game, but then there's so many people to watch (Andrew Rich, Riley Nelson, etc etc) and I lose sight of him among all the other people dressed in navy and gray. Except that I can find Jimmer. I've spent so much time watching Jimmer play and be on the sidelines and interviews and stuff, that I can tell it's him just by the way he moves his head and body. Go ahead and laugh at my insanity, but it's the truth.

I've added something to the mental pseudo-list I have about future boyfriends/spouse. It is important that the person knows how to use a well placed swear. Some people swear gratuitously (I think I might be one of them) and some people don't swear at all (which I respect, but I think it might be a little up-tight). However, the ability to confidently use a swear word on appropriate occasions is something I find attractive in a man. Now judge me.

I guess I should just quit blogging while I'm not even really ahead, but before I get further behind.

What My Parents Did

2011-10-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart came to my school on Friday to do a quick assembly that was essentially them trying to get us to love Wal-Mart. It was mostly pointless, but 10 teachers were chosen by random drawing to get a $100 dollar gift card to buy things for their classroom. I'll be honest, I was hoping to be chosen, but wasn't bitter when I wasn't. In the teacher's lounge during lunch people were talking about what they'd spend theirs on and they weren't exactly sure what they'd want to buy had they won or anything. I, however, knew exactly what I wanted. Art supplies for my kids.

Thanks to a generous mom we have a whole load of construction paper which is helpful. Our class also has some off brand markers and colored pencils along with glue because of 1 cent back to school deals at various stores. A previous teacher left a tray of crayons and I donated what art supplies I had at home (except for anything glass, my nice watercolors, and a hot glue gun) to the classroom. We were doing ok. Thing is, art is extremely important to me (to make a well rounded person, to give a chance for kids that don't succeed and thrive academically to be the best, etc) and I wanted to have the opportunity to do amazing things this year.

I told all the previous to my mom when chatting with her Friday evening (yes, I still talk to my mom every day). The next morning I got a text message at about 7:30, "Up?" Rather than reply I just called her and asked what she wanted (in a nice way, I promise). "Congratulations, you win a $150 gift card." I had only been awake about five minutes at this point and was confused, "Huh?" "You win $150 dollars courtesy of dad and mom to buy art supplies for your classroom!" Being an eloquent and intelligent human being I naturally replied, "Shut. Up." Then I got up and squealed a little and did a happy dance by myself. So, I haven't spent any of the money yet and I'm not positive what I'm going to buy, but my kids are going to do art this year! Many many thanks to my lovely mother and father.

Not A Parody

2011-10-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Watch this.

Step 2: Go back and finish watching it because chances are you didn't watch it all the way through the first time. You really need to watch it all to fully appreciate the amount of winking and and sheer volume of 90s boy band costumes.

Step 3: Wonder how the mighty have fallen this far. Yes, Lance Bass is "overseeing" this group.

Step 4: Hope it's a parody and you've misunderstood.

Step 5: Realize it's not a parody.

Step 6: Go make sure your food storage is up to date because the world is about to end.

(Listen, I loved 90s boy bands. I listened to many of them and that was my go to music. I fell for the dreamy matching outfits each with a unique twist to fit that band member's personality. It's true that they were cheesy, who cares. It's true that some of them couldn't sing and sometimes the talent was minimal, that's ok. This band is taking everything that was not so great about 90s boy bands, magnifying it times 20 [really? that hair?!] and sending it forth to YouTube.)

Bad Fans

2011-10-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

I need to preface this post with a disclaimer saying that I have nothing against this gentleman.

(That's Riley Nelson with the long hair for those of you not on the up-and-up with BYU football players).

I mean really, did you even read my last post about football? Clearly I have nothing against him. Also, in the game last night he ROCKED IT OUT. We owe a lot of the credit for our last minute victory to Riley and his willingness to take a hit and ability to think on his feet. He's a great quarterback. Ok, disclaimer over.

People need to shut the hell up about Jake Heaps. First of all, he's a tiny infant child (meaning, he's extremely young) and gets flustered. We wish he wouldn't, but it happens. I got distracted, I need to get back to the point.

Stop being crap fans. Don't chant for Riley when Jake is in. Honestly, do you think that improves his game play? I'm sure your performance would improve if the people who are supposed to be on your side are cheering against you. Also, never boo your own team (didn't happen at this game, but it did against UCF). Every time the lousy fans decided it was a good idea to chant "Riley Riley" I was filled with rage. If you're a good fan support your team NO MATTER WHAT. Even though I think Heaps has it in him, do I cheer against Nelson? No, I cheer for whoever the coaches decide to put in. I feel so bad for Jake. When you can get out there and do better then you are welcome to talk bad about him all you want.

I know some of my friends and not just acquaintances are guilty of the Jake hate and especially of Riley worship (dear Provo, he's not the second-coming). Perhaps this post offends you. I don't care. Perhaps you feel this is a direct attack on you. It probably is. It's not pointed at one particular person, but it is pointed.

Rant over.

Trashy People

2011-09-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

It seems that the weekend is the only time I can find to blog so I am just on a blogging binge...what can I do, I have things to say. I know I already ranted and I know it was lengthy, but I have another one. This one, though, will be much shorter. I ~~promise~~ think.

Trashy people get on my nerves. I know that in your mind you're thinking of scantily clad clubbers in pleather mini-skirts. Definitely trashy, but definitely not what I'm talking about. I mean people that leave trash around or don't throw trash away. We're all guilty on occasion of piling the kitchen or bathroom trash a little too high so I would be a hypocrite for going on about that, but I try to generally be clean. (I should note right now that this post has nothing to do with my roommates).

On Friday morning at about 7:15 I got on the elevator in my building to head to work. What greeted me (other than the arm chair that someone put there a couple of weeks ago)? Two bags of kitchen garbage. Seriously? We have an elevator and you're so lazy you can't even take your garbage to the dumpster? Nasty.

Our HOA is kind enough to to provide us with two garbage cans in the parking garage. They're really useful when you have a fast food bag filled with gum wrappers from your car or need to toss out your junk mail. Some people, though, abuse them, piling them high with Costco boxes and regular trash. Approximate distance from trash can to actual dumpster? Less than 20 steps. I checked. So, trashy folks, walk your big garbage over and threw it in so we can all utilize the little cans.

Gee whiz, I'm bugged.

Commuting

2011-09-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm using the term commuting fairly loosely. For real it takes me about twenty minutes to get to work. I am fully aware that no one in this area has any idea what it's like for people like my dad to get to work. He goes maybe thirty miles (I'm gonna bet on that being an overestimate) and it sometimes can take him three hours to get there. Yeah, Provo traffic isn't the best, but you have NO IDEA. Seriously, go to Stafford then complain about how long it takes you to get across town. Thing is, in the greater DC area where people are commuting a lot they seem to understand some basic rules of the road. Here I present some of my thoughts on driving.

1. Slower traffic keep right. Um, hello Utah, why is this so hard? If you're going less than 10 over get in the right lane. I respect the fact that occasionally someone is going ten under in the right lane (let's be real, it's more than occasionally in these parts) and then you have to pass them in the left lane. Then, GET OVER AND GET OUT OF MY WAY.

2. At least occasionally use the turn signal. I think drivers in general are abysmal at fully utilizing their turn signal (which I don't understand at all because it's pretty much the easiest gesture in the history of the earth), but Utah drivers seem to have forgotten they have one.

3. You cannot cross a solid line of any color! Seriously, in those construction zones where you have to stay in your lane, YOU HAVE TO STAY IN YOUR LANE! Sometimes there are situations where you might have to cross because someone stops all of a sudden or whatever, but these are not times for casual passing.

4. If one more time I get stuck in the Utah road block (when cars in all lanes are going the same speed despite wide open road space in front of them thus preventing anyone from passing) I'm going to lose it.

5. What the heck is with the fact that all of I-15 is currently under construction at the same time and they do the work at prime hours of the day? You're supposed to do that crap at night.

People in the area of Virginia where I learned to drive are sometimes scary drivers and I'm not going to deny that, but other drivers understand that and so choose their actions carefully. For example, my dad was riding in a carpool with a stranger. The driver in front of the vehicle my dad was in slammed on his brakes suddenly. This pissed off the driver of my dad's car who had apparently had enough that day and so accelerated into the car in front (simply because he was mad). Mad enough that he then reversed and slammed into the person behind him before putting the car back in drive and hitting the guy in front again. All on purpose.

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think this is the best practice and can be quite dangerous, but I can't help but wonder if this type of thing happened in Utah more often would people think before driving like total idiots?

Ok, rant over.

Let Me Introduce You

2011-09-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you to someone. This is Riley Nelson.

Oh yes, hello. Could you please go back to this haircut? Thanks.

Riley is backup quarterback for BYU. Tonight he rocked out a trick play that was BEAUTIFUL. Not the point of this post. Moving on.

Looky, even though baby Jakey took his job they are nicey nice to each other (I have nothing against baby Jakey, by the way).

Right now he's grown his hair out long. I prefer it short, but it's growing at me. He seems to keep it clean. Still, not the point of the post.

Want to hear a little known fact about good old Riley Nelson? Let's talk about what Riley wears under his football pants. Is it A) Underarmor shorts B) briefs C) athletic shorts D) nothing.

Did you choose an answer?

If you chose D you are right! Our seats being on the third row and all we see the team up close and personal and let me tell you, you can see RIGHT through those white pants and you can tell that Riley is all skin color under there.

Also, you can see the whatever the leg strap parts are called on his jock strap. That part's not my favorite.

Is it bad that I don't mind my view much? In fact, I really like it. At the Utah game the most interesting thing on the field was Riley Nelson's backside.

Men look good in football pants. Riley looks especially good in football pants. Riley apparently has something against underclothing.

I'll stop there. I promised Sarah I would try to keep this post relatively tame because her mom reads my blog.

P.S. New football love? Daniel Sorensen. Yum.

Another Freaky Dream: Voldemort Edition

2011-09-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

I've told you before that I have strange dreams and they come in cycles and are super bizarre. This is another one. It's kind of disgusting so if you're feeling exceedingly sensitive or nauseous, don't read.

Ok, so it was decided that I had to fight Voldemort. My own pals in real life were there supporting me as were Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I was getting all prepped, but was not magical. At my disposal I had a few magical items. It was almost a ring fight type of situation with everyone watching and keeping their hands off. I started by just attacking him physically. It wasn't really working so I moved on to something else. Then my dream kind of fast forwarded like I wasn't paying attention to a movie and all of a sudden I was winning (how the heck I was beating Voldemort without being magical is beyond me).

I had him down and injured (injured bad), but he was regenerating quickly. His wounds would just heal themselves if given any amount of time. I was getting tired and I knew I couldn't go much longer. Then I found something awesome in my bag: some aerosol hairspray with some sort of essence of phoenix in it. I started spraying old Voldy and he started rotting away like that guy in The Last Crusade. He was basically a skeleton with sticky brown and yellow and black goo attached to his bones at this time (and he was still talking to me and taunting). The magic phoenix hairspray prevented him from regenerating as quickly as he was, but given time without being killed he would still continue to rebuild and take over again. I wasn't sure what to do.

Suddenly I realized the solution: I had to destroy his heart (it was somehow still stuck in his rib cage chest, though it was a little shrunken). The problem was, I ran out of phoenix hairspray. With no better options in sight I grabbed a knife and started to cut the heart apart. The pieces just rejoined or continued beating separately. Voldemort was still taunting me. How the heck to destroy the heart and Voldemort? I was out out of ideas and time was running out as the rest of his body continued its slow regrowth.

If you're thinking of the solution already, then you're gross and I want to know how you got there. In my dream it just came to me. The only way to destroy the heart once and for all was... to eat it. So, I quickly cut the heart into the smallest pieces possible and mashed it together into a form similar to a hot dog. Then, I ate it. One: it was disgusting. Two: even if it wasn't, knowing you have Voldemort's heart in your stomach will make you nauseous. I finished off the Voldy-heart hot dog and that was the end. At the end of my dream just before I woke up I remember being uneasy and wondering if when it passed through my digestive track if it would begin to join together again or if it would happen while still inside. My friends (and my character friends) assured me it was ok and before the outcome could be ascertained positively, I woke up. Did I want to eat breakfast when I woke up?

Not at all.

The end.

A Great Video

2011-09-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Listen, just go watch this now because it's so funny at the end in my opinion. I giggled out loud to myself.

DI: Always an Adventure?

2011-09-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I was desperately searching all places with used junk for Candy Land (perhaps a rant on how the new one is crap later). On one particular day I hit up the Provo DI and was almost run over by a guy in a motorized wheel chair. Later I was at the DI in American Fork and saw the same old guy sitting on a couch. I said hello and acknowledged the fact that we'd both been at two DIs that day. He asked what I was hunting so furiously for and why. I told him I was a teacher and needed some stuff for my classroom. We wished each other luck and I headed on my way. When I finished my hunt (and didn't find anything I wanted) I passed him as I headed on my way. The man asked me to sit as he told me about some old movie star that had a show on tv when he was a kid and how beautiful she was.

Before too long the man asked me if I believed in God and the Gospel and the priesthood. I figured he was trying to be very much like my grandfather and just making sure I was doing what I should. Old people sometimes get a little nosy with strangers (not all old people, just some). I answered in the affirmative and he said I was a "dangerous woman." He went on to talk to me a little bit about religion. Nothing struck me as particularly odd until another man came up to him and asked him about Warren Jeffs. The stranger talking to me said Warren Jeffs was way out of line and quoted some people on the matter. Then the second guy said, "Ok, I just wanted to ask because I knew your group would have something to say about that." Wait, what? This guy has a group? Oh dear....

Long story shortened a little bit this guy threw a whole lot of backwards doctrine at me and told me how polygamy (or celestial plural marriage, as he insisted on calling it) was the only way to live. Little did he know that polygamy is one of my major questioning points of the church and something that I'm insanely uncomfortable with. When he quoted Journal of Discourses to me I was quick to point out that Brigham Young sometimes erred on the side of insane which led to him going on a racist diatribe about another error with the mainstream church.

He eventually invited me to his sacrament meeting to get some real answers and gave me his cell phone number. I was told to call him any time day or night. Last week I went to check DI for Candy Land again and he was lowering the wheel chair lift to one of those old people shuttle bus things to leave. I was pretty sure he saw me and I hurried inside and got on the phone with my mom so I could pretend to be busy if he approached me. The man didn't follow me, but I did get the willies and was on super freaked out. One thing I have decided: if I run into this guy again I'll have to stand my ground and be a little more honest and a little less polite. I may not be sure of many things, but I definitely don't want to be a polygamist.

Oh, and one note. The guy told me not to tell anyone what he told me because then my friends would start to reject me. You're not going to reject me, are you?

Definitely a Shame Spiral

2011-09-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago I was in the midst of a shame spiral, as my friend Brittany terms it. I'd had a bad day at work. I was still struggling to adapt to my apartment. I was flat broke, but luckily I'd found 40 bucks in a bank account I rarely used. I went to the grocery store in a shirt that looked two sizes too big (it was actually only once size too big) and gym shorts. My hair was a hot mess and I was in quite a bad mood. I had necessities to buy and wasn't really in the mood to be there. I got my necessities and a couple of groceries and also placed some raw chocolate chip cookie dough into my basket with no intentions of baking it. You know what eating raw cookie dough makes you feel like? Simultaneously you feel like it was the best idea ever and you hate yourself. It was one of those days, you know? I was walking through the parking lot back to my car with my phone tucked into my bra and it started ringing. Seriously? The one time my hands are full my phone is going to ring? I was pissed, saw it wasn't a number I recognized, but decided to answer it anyway. It was a principal from an interview I'd gone to earlier that day. "Great," I thought. I just interviewed today and they're already telling me they picked someone else.

Not so. I GOT THE JOB! Hello, this is only my lifelong dream to be a teacher. Now I've got one week under my belt teaching fifth grade and it's awesome. After the first day I almost cried because it was a disaster, but it's gotten much better. I really think I'm good at this job. I'm still adapting to the learning curve, but it's not as bad as I expected it to be. The kids are great (even though I have a few difficult ones) and I really enjoy this job. That's what picking a career is all about, yeah?

Change is Hard

2011-08-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

Warning: this post might be a little bit whiny and I'm sorry for that. Also I think the word whiny looks whiny.

I just moved. I'd been living in one apartment for three years and decided it was time for a private bedroom so I moved a couple of blocks away. The way I'm handling it you'd think I moved to China. It started the night before last when I spent my first night here. The bed is not comfortable. Now, my bed before was no great awesome thing, but I was used to it and now this bed is weird. I woke up at least four times during the night not sure where I was or why I was there. The same thing happened when I woke up in the morning. The wall is on a different side than in my previous apartment and it's just hard.

Today I was out with Steph and I was being very mediocre company. I got home and napped on my couch then went shopping with Donna. Let me just say, my whole life feels confusing right now. I would go the wrong direction in a town I've been in for three years. The grocery store was supremely disorienting (it was Macey's, not some new store). It got to the point I was so frustrated that I was either going to murder the people in the self-checkout line or just leave my groceries. Seriously, if you have approximately 498,004 coupons do not go to the self-checkout stand especially at the busiest time of the day. Not to mention the cashier was totally inept. I feel really mad at Macey's.

Those of you, my dear blog-y friends, that know me in real life or pay attention to this block know that change is hard for me. I knew it was going to take getting used to this new apartment and that I would miss my old place, but I just didn't expect this. By the way, my new place is super nice and I really like it, I just can't handle the change.

Priorities

2011-08-16T14:40:00.000-07:00

Fact: I have some pretty awesome friends. These friends have their priorities sorted out just right most of the time.

Examples-

- Sarah's rant about skinny jeans (and the blessed return of flares) on her blog. I pretty much want to copy paste the whole thing here because she said everything right on.

- Brittany said I can be BFF with Tim Gunn and she's ok with that.

- Lastly, the one that inspired this post. I was talking about how stressed I would be if I got a teaching job with less than a week until school starts. Niccole's first question, "Is this going to affect my football season? I mean, like, you'll be stressed and stuff." Then she tried to cover up that her concern over the massive amounts of stress would be the functionality of our football seating group and attendance. Little did she know that things like that are exactly why I like her.

On a totally unrelated note, I keep thinking of things to blog, but they're frequently Harry Potter related and I'm trying not to overwhelm you.

Watch This Now

2011-08-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

Sarah posted this on my facebook wall. It's amazing. Watch it this moment (especially you Brittany), but warning: NSFW as the song "Forget You" by Cee-Lo is used and it's not the edited forget you version. I love this so much.

Why I Should Never Go Home

2011-08-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

I'm a momma's girl. If you know me at all then this is no surprise to you. I talk to my mother once a day at least and one time we were in a fight and I didn't call her for a week and I almost died. My most favorite reason to go home is to see my momma. I love the rest of my family too, but none so much as my momma. We love to go shopping together and talk and watch dumb tv and everything. It's great. We have a grand old time. Then the problem comes. I've gone home and gotten all reattached to her and then all of a sudden I have to fly back across the country and I don't get to see her at all and I don't get any attention and it's hard. It makes me sad and homesick. HELLO, I AM AN ADULT! I HAVE A REAL JOB AND SOON WILL BE PAYING ALL MY OWN BILLS AND I GET HOMESICK FOR MY MOM. This is really kind of embarrassing and unacceptable, but I don't know how to fix it except for just not go home or something which is just not an option.

My Family (again)

2011-07-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

I now present to you almost word for word a conversation I had with my sister Heather on the phone this morning.

Me: Hello?
Heather: Come to my house and marry this boy!
Me: Um...what? What boy?
Heather: I just got a new neighbor and Sister Cannon, her brother came to visit and he's in the backyard fixing our air conditioner. Come and marry him quick before he leaves!
Me: Uh...no.
Heather: Come on. Just come over here quick and bring a pie.
Me: I'm not going to do that.
Heather: Fine. Just don't say I never tried.
Me: I'll never say that.
Heather: Are you sure you won't come and marry him?
Me: I'm sure.
Heather: Fine, bye.

That was it. That was the whole conversation.

Pottermore

2011-07-31T01:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's after 4am here. Who cares because check it.

Why Bellatrix Scares Me

2011-07-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Before I talk about Bellatrix let me tell you something about Ginny. Why doesn't she get a bigger part in the movies? She's such a BAMF in the books.

Oh, and a follow-up to yesterday's horcrux post. Why does it seem like everyone in the movies knows about horcruxes? Hermione is in the vault and she's like "Accio horcrux" and Griphook doesn't even bat an eye. Neither does Aberforth when they're mentioned. I was under the impression that they were relatively unknown. Also, who else out there has horcruxes?

Now to Bellatrix. She's terrifying. To me, she's scarier by far than Voldemort.

Like when she tortures Hermione because she's so awful. Not to mention this turns my stomach every freaking time I see it.

And please stop looking at Hermione like she is your dinner.

So, why is she so scary to me and by far worse than Voldemort who is the most evil of all evilness? It's because she's so unhinged. Voldemort seems mostly in control of himself most of the time. Sure, he's doing awful things and is crazy, but it's not an unplanned unpredictable crazy. Bellatrix, on the other hand, seems capable of anything at anytime. You have no idea what she might do and when except that whatever she does is going to be evil. Also add to that that Helena Bonham Carter does an absolutely amazingly terrifying job acting the part. Remember in Prisoner of Azkaban when she licks her dark mark?

Yeah, ew. Scary. All we can know for sure about Bellatrix is that she's absolutely evil, she's completely devoted to Voldemort, and Molly Weasley totally kicks her trash.

Goodbye, Bellatrix, until the next time you haunt my dreams.

On Horcruxes

2011-07-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

Listen, I know it's not ok for me to blog only about Harry Potter, but I can't help it. I saw the movie again tonight and I want to talk about it a little more. So far of the three times I've seen it the first was the best, the second was good, and the third was almost as good as the first.

Completely unrelated sidenote: is that comma I used before "and the third" what is known as the Oxford comma and according to the Oxford style bible or whatever the heck it is isn't even supposed to be used anymore? I'm not a grammar/usage person so I don't really know.

Back to Harry Potter. Most of this is about Horcruxes but I do want to say to unrelated things. One is that Cho Chang finally learned how not to be such an obnoxious uptalker (in the other movies EVERY sentence she said sounded like a question). Also, I'm in love with the tiny Slytherin boy in the great hall scene.

Now, about horcruxes. I just want the destruction of all of them to be more dramatic like the locket. Did I say this already? I think maybe I did so I guess I'll shut up. It just seemed like they were all easy apart from the locket. I read or heard this next thing somewhere and would love to hear your thoughts. Basilisk fangs/venom can destroy horcruxes. Why, then, did Harry not get destroyed in the chamber when he was bitten? Ok, sorry. I'm way too into this. Tell me to stop.

Oh by the way if you have a Muvico theater near you go to the 21 and up movie. Leather chairs, food delivered to your seat, super comfortable and amazing. Also, you should get some amazing family members like mine (I'm talking Mom and Laurel taking me on a Harry Potter date tonight). Also, inappropriate confession (second of the week, yes?) why does Harry look best in the inappropriate fan art of him and Draco together? I don't like the art because it's weird and that's so not what happened or would happen but Harry looks freaking great (see the pictures Conan showed Tom Felton when he was on the show the other day if you want to know what I'm talking about. I'm not putting it here).

Because I don't have any good pictures to put here because I'm a bad blogger, please go here and enjoy all these moment appropriate gifs. As Stefanie said, "Somebody on the internet totally gets me."

Note: I need to make clear that Sarah linked me originally to that site with all the gifs. Props to her for always finding great Harry Potter things and making me consider joining Pinterest because all her Harry Potter pins make me cry and I definitely can't have another internet thing to do and obsess over and even the titles of Brittany's boards that she mentioned in her blog make me want to go there. (Oh my gosh most disjointed run-on sentence ever).

Other HP and the DH pt 2 Thoughts

2011-07-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

The title explains the purpose of this post.

- As Brittany pointed out I forgot to mention the awkward Voldemort/Draco hug.

- Why didn't the treasure in Bellatrix's vault burn them as it multiplied?

- I loved that the filmmakers chose to show the sword disappearing from Griphook's dead hand.

- Freaking a the dragon scene was awesome, thank you.

- Why does Daniel Radcliffe almost always have a mullet as Harry Potter but decently attractive hair other times? This bothers me. Also, WHY IS HE SO PALE?

- Ginny Weasley is gorgeous and I don't care what you say, but you are not Hermione. I sometimes get bothered by people who dress up as Hermione because I'm so her in my mind that I get protective.

- I love when Aberforth comes out and does his patronus and totally owns a ton of dementors.

- Why are patronuses (patroni?) not animals for the most part in these movies? (sidenote: expecto patronads)

I'm going to see the movie again tomorrow. Take three. (I didn't get to go and have amorentia because of scheduling conflicts - sad).

Inappropriate

2011-07-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

This kid is four years younger than me AND acts in a moderately dumb tv show. This attraction is inappropriate.

Also, this picture is mediocre.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

2011-07-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

I guess it's time to face the music and blog about the movie. I really was trying to avoid it, but Niccole specifically requested (via comment on Sarah's blog) my opinions and who am I to turn down a chance to voice my opinion? You can call me a copycat if you want, but I'm going to go short bullet point style because it's easiest and I can jump around as thoughts come to me.

- I haven't sobbed yet. I feel sad but the first time I was too hyped up on caffeine and the second time I was trying to get over throwing up a cheese dog. TMI? Yes, I think so. I feel sad and I feel the Harry shaped hole in my life, but I have yet to cry my eyes out during the movie (though I did tear up repeatedly both times).

-Not helpful: my dad comparing my sadness to his as a kid when the took Roadrunner off the air. Thanks for minimizing my pain, dad.

- Only slightly related: Hopefully I'm going to Alamo Drafthouse with my sister when I go home to see the movie and eat the Harry Potter themed food including Amorentia. I'll update you.

- The beginning was perfect. I loved how there weren't logos or sound effects it just went straight from trailer into Harry Potter.

- Oh my gosh all action all the time! I was afraid of falling asleep during the movie the first time (because really, movies make me sleepy) but I needn't have worried because you'd have to be dead to sleep. I suppose it's time to get specific.

- First thing that bothered me: Why didn't Harry fix his wand? Is he just all of a sudden ok with having Draco's wand? I think not. Dear Harry, fix the stupid pheonix and holly wand so you can be Harry Potter.

- I thought Daniel Radcliffe rocked the epilogue. The others did well, but he rocked it.

- One friend blogged that the way Naigini attacked Snape repeatedly was too graphic and violent, I thought it was appropriately so.

- I could have done with more verbal spells. I wanted Harry to have that final expelliarmus. I also wanted Harry to get to explain to Voldemort why and how he was wrong and why his plan failed and to rub in his humanity by calling him Tom. Also, I wasn't a fan of the blowing away in the wind of Voldemort as he died. It made me think of the dust storm Quirrel/Voldemort for Sorcerer's Stone in which case he wasn't really dead.

- I've never been a huge Snape fan, but this movie made me a believer out of me. I still think he's mostly evil and self-interested, but the movie redeemed him a little.

- Why in the world did his memories come out of his tears? Weird. Also, the pensieve was all strange this time.

- I know I'm coming across ultra-critical right now, but I LOVED this movie. I'm ready to see it for the third time. One thing I loved: Harry hiding among the students in the Great Hall then confronting Snape. I thought it was very stunning.

- The twins crying and having their moment on the roof is so tender to me, but why didn't we address Fred being dead a little more directly?

- Where did Blaise Zabini disappear to?

- Also, what happened to the Hallows story line? If you read the book you know Harry's cloak is THE invisibility cloak, but that wasn't addressed. In fact, the whole uniting the Hallows plot didn't even exist.

- Ditto Dumbledore's past. I was wondering if they would make it seem like he loved Gridewald (which didn't come across in the book).

- Why does my dad (and apparently other people) think they wanted the audience to believe that Snape was Harry's dad? How dare you sully the name of Lilly Potter that way.

- Going into the forest scene? Oh my gosh I was going to die. All the people he loved were there and his momma and his dad and it was so precious. I wish he had hugged Ron before he left.

- Thank you movie makers for giving us a look into the Chamber of Secrets for horcrux destruction.

- My friend Sam is a hater and blogged about it. It's depressing. He basically called out everybody having a sad heart over the end of their childhood and dresser-uppers and said JKR isn't that great of a writer. Rant over on that.

- I loved the Snape flashbacks, but I wanted a little more. I think I want a lot because I'm such a fan of the books.

- Like Sarah, Hermione as Bellatrix was amazingly done. Helena Bonham Carter is pure genius and so scary.

- McGonagall is such a BAMF. She was funny and also amazing and hardcore. Loved when she called the statues to protect Hogwarts. Also loved Seamus.

- I don't know what else to say right now. I have an opinion on pretty much every part so if you have a specific question please ask.

Sidenote: most overused costumes are Luna and Trelawney.

P.S. This is my 199th post. I didn't do anything for 100, what should I do for 200?

It's That Important

2011-07-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

I need to explain to you what Harry Potter means to me and why it's so important. Because it is. You can say that to you Harry is just a character in a book, but I grew up with Harry and I love Harry. For a pretty good summation of my feelings about the end of it all, read this article.

When I was in fifth grade all the posters for the book fair at school had the cover of Sorcerer's Stone on them. I thought it was all stupid. A few of my friends told me to read the books and I pretty openly mocked the idea. What could be so great about a kid who finds out he's a wizard then goes to magic school? Dumb. A few weeks (maybe months?) later I finally decided to read the books. Our small school library only had one copy of each of the [then three] books and there weren't any copies of the first, so I started with Chamber of Secrets and loved it. Within the week I was reading Prisoner of Azkaban and finally Sorcerer's Stone. After I finished, I started them again. In those early days number two was my favorite because it terrified the living daylights out of me. I read them all repeatedly, but that one over and over again.

My mom worked at Wal-Mart when the fourth one was coming out. She brought me some of the buttons that they wore to promote the release of Goblet of Fire. I could hardly stand it when she would come home and tell me stories of walking past the readied display case of books. Over and over I begged her to steal me one. Before long my first experience with a midnight release arrived. Perhaps it was just our small Wal-Mart, but there really was just one display case of books, nothing compared to the precariously stacked pallets that came later. I remember being livid as an older lady stepped in front of me to take the first book.

And thus my obsession continued. The first movie was the first movie I ever bought tickets for in advance. I dressed up as Hermione as often as possible. When I was a senior in high school (or I guess the summer just after) and the last book came out I got up at five am to stand in line to get a wristband to stand in line. We were back at Border's by noon. Luckily when I came to college I was able to find friends that also loved Harry Potter. My very first roommate (Sarah) was just as obsessed as I was.

No joke when I was a kid I used to pray that I wouldn't die before the final book was released because I had to know how the story ended. After I finished book seven I figured I could die anytime. I am not exaggerating. This actually happened.

And so tonight, it all ends. The last movie is released and, as many have said, an era ends. I grew up with Harry. I am a part of the Harry Potter generation. It's been a part of me for so long. I choose to end with a quote from JK Rowling herself. She summed up what we all needed when she said, "Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."

You are probably aware of how I usually like to include pictures in my posts, but this is too personal. I don't want to just throw in pictures willy-nilly. I want what this means to stand for itself.

Recap

2011-07-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

I'm going to get in line at around noon tomorrow for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, but in case you missed some of the others or need a refresher course I thought I'd post this.

I think it's quite well done and the guys are hilarious and really keep all the important stuff in there content wise. Also, as I stated on facebook, this is one of the few Harry Potter related things not making me cry these days.

Soapy Woes

2011-07-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

Do you know what I hate? That little dried bit of soap that gets stuck in the end of the pump and is disgusting and hard and dry. Why does that happen? Why hasn't someone designed something to fix this huge nasty issue? Ditto to lotion with a pump. I'm grossed out just thinking about it.

Food Delivery

2011-07-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

I camped out for the Fourth of July parade all night Sunday night and realized that I live in a crazy place and didn't get a wink of sleep and also got to go to Stadium of Fire and see David Archuleta and Brad Paisley and other awesome things. Perhaps I'll blog about it more later, but probably not.

Last night Destiny and I ordered Chinese food for dinner. It was from Saigon. If you live in Provo or know Saigon you will not be surprised when you hear this story. Ok so I figured it would be the same delivery guy it always is (the surly waiter guy). Imagine my shock when an hour later a bearded white guy shows up at my doorstep.

"Did you order Chinese food?"

"Um...yeah."

"Oh, well I don't work at the restaurant I was just there eating and they were busy so they asked me to deliver for them, but I know the owners."

"Oh ok, do you have a pen so I can sign this?"

Hello, is this weird and awkward or what? If this was any other restaurant I would be surprised, but not from Saigon. That whole place is bizarre and awesome in its unique way.

Night-time Reading

2011-06-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

I'm a creep. This is kind of well known so I won't bother to elaborate. I was recently linked to a friend's blog. I have this thing about reading a blog I haven't before. I can't just start from where I jump in and continue. There's some compulsion inside of me to start at the beginning and at least browse the whole life of the blog. So, if a blog has been around for a long time I probably won't start reading it.

Tonight I was sitting around with some time on my hands and decided to start reading this friend's blog so that I could stay current with it. I often get impatient with this process of mine. I get bored and hope for the end to come and to run out of posts (but I still have to do it - I hate myself sometimes). That wasn't the case with this post. This guy is a writer. Big deal, I have other friends who are writers and their blogs are just as average as any other (or maybe slightly above, but I try to stick to reading pretty good blogs). But man, this was good stuff. The posts weren't even topics that particularly enthralled me, but I read every single word - no browsing for me tonight.

Many of the blogs I read are funny. I have hilarious friends that write hysterical blogs and I love to read them, but they're not the same as this blog. The writer comes through. I especially love when he calls attention to himself and the fact that he's writing. Mostly the point of this post is to praise that blog, though I won't link him to this post because that's kind of weird, yeah? Would you find it strange if all of a sudden one of your friends started reading your blog then posted a whole post about how interesting/good it is?

P.S. I feel the way about poetry and art. Just let me enjoy without too much analyzing and be free to feel without knowing exactly why or what.

My life isn't exciting enough for a single topic post.

2011-06-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

I'm just creepy enough to love the new "coment view" of albums on facebook.

Good friends might bring you a gift when they go out of town. Great friends bring you rocks.

Playing mom is hard and exhausting. No matter how smart the seven year old is, there's no way to seamlessly insert one into a singles life.

I'm addicted to the Provo Farmer's market even though they have almost exactly the same thing every week.

Pottermore was announced and I'm stoked and confused and excited, but we have one problem. When you sign up you have to register a magical username and I only have a few months to come up with one that is adequately awesome without being too cheesy.

Seven Peaks = yes. Destiny and I have been there three times in the past week. The new slide is epic. the funky feces smell by the slide tower is not.

I'm ready for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 and to take another trip to Orlando. For someone that hates Florida as much as I do I sure loved Orlando and felt at home there.

I love summertime. Humidity can stay away from me forever and that's fine. It's also ok with me if the 92 degree day we had this week is the only one of the summer. I love mild summer.

June 23rd

2011-06-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Three reasons June 23rd will be the best day in a long time:

I'm going to the Kid History episode five premiere with some awesome people.
Jimmer and the NBA draft.
POTTERMORE announcement (I love the way the horned owls twitch).

The end. Sorry for the boringness of my blog lately.

Butter

2011-06-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

That's right. You read the title of this post correctly. I said butter. Here's the thing. What do you call the amount of butter pictured here?

Me? I would call it 8 tablespoons of butter, half a cup of butter, or a stick of butter. Never in my whole life did I think anything of this until a little over a year ago when someone referred to it as a cube of butter. Um, what? Since the I've heard it all over the place. Is this regional? How does that butter look even remotely like a cube? Let's get really specific and just call it a rectangular prism of butter. I really don't have a problem with this, it just makes me curious. So, what say you? Cube of butter? Stick of butter? Four ounces of butter?

Dying and Crying

2011-06-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

This is making me die and cry and be sad and get goosebumps. Enjoy.

Punctuation-o

2011-06-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

Normally I like the English language. I'm no fanatic or anything, but I don't care that much that it's supposedly one of the hardest to learn because I learned it ok. By now you probably know that if I start off by telling you how I like something I'm going to move on to complain about it in some way or another.

Really it's question marks that bother me. In Spanish (disclaimer: my knowledge of Spanish grammar comes from EXTREMELY limited experience) you can put your question marks just around your question within a larger sentence. In English YOU CANNOT DO THIS and it makes me frustrated and confused when I try to compose a sentence that isn't a question but contains a question. And because this is how my life works I cannot currently think of a sentence like this.

Unrelated: Do you ever run into the problem of typing question marks instead of exclamation points and vice versa while texting? I don't have this problem in any other medium. Biggest offending statement? "Guess what?" Let's be real, guess what is not a question.

That is all.

MTV Movie Awards

2011-06-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a long ranty post about the MTV Movie Awards, but the whole idea was exhausting. I'll just say three things.

1) Apparently children are the only ones that know how to give appropriate acceptance speeches.

2) Don't be high at awards shows because it seems to scream "I'm a deplorable human being!"

3) Potty and sex humor for cheap laughs get on my nerves.

Man, even that was tiring.

Desserts

2011-06-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

I got asked to make dessert for break the fast as well as host mix and mingle this week. You know what that means: making about a thousand jillion desserts. For mix and mingle I picked an ice cream dessert since it's supposed to be pretty hot today.

Firstly, I made a graham cracker crust (I doubled this recipe which was plenty for two 9x13 pans). Let me tell you, this is DELICIOUS crust. I just want to eat it with nothing on top.

While you're making the crust, set out some ice cream and frozen juice. I was making two pans. One raspberry lemonade flavor (with vanilla ice cream, obviously), and one good chocolate based one (no juice in that one). You really can use whatever combinations you want, but even though I love chocolate, I like the flavor and texture the juice ones have.

Nextly, once your ice cream and juice are pretty thawed, dump them in a big bowl and mix thoroughly. I'm not patient enough to let them melt thoroughly or I don't have the appropriate tools or something so I used occasional microwaving to help the process.

Since it's spring I added a little food coloring to make the pink brighter because the color is extremely faint. Full disclosure: I also added a little squirt of lemon juice to up the acidity. Really you can do what you like.

Spread the ice cream mixture over the graham cracker crust nice and smooth. Realize you forgot to take a picture of stirring the chocolate ice cream so that it's soft and spreadable AND a picture of it in the pan.

After the dessert is frozen solidly again spread some thawed Cool Whip on top (or in my case, be impatient again, thus ensuring the ugliness of your dessert). If you want to you can drizzle some caramel and chocolate syrup over the chocolate one and some raspberry sauce on the lemonade one. Store in the freezer. Dip the bottom of the pan in warm water for 30 seconds before serving to make it easier.

I'm not into food photography at all. That being said, I wish the light in my kitchen actually showed color....

It occurred to me yesterday that despite my love of cooking and watching Food Network, Top Chef, and the like, I'll never make beautiful food. I don't know if it's because I'm impatient or because I lack an artists eye, but I am unable to create something gorgeous.

Other things I made yesterday:

Homemade oreos (which are often pretty disgusting, but not these) in case there's not enough snacks for mix and mingle.

Rice krispy treats for break the fast (yes, that's chocolate on the bottom and yes, I'm five and covered the top with rainbow sprinkles).

This is weird and uncomfortable...

2011-06-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I feel about these two guys looking so much alike...
(do I get bonus points for using an ellipsis in the title and in the only text of the post?)

Religious Question

2011-06-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

I was reading The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale (review) and came to a quote that sums up well something I've thought in the past.

"Why would calling on the Lord's name ever be in vain if he were really there to listen?"

Don't get me wrong, I do not and will not take the Lord's name in vain, but I have questioned this before. Occasionally in the past I've said "Oh praise the Lord Jesus," but really am extremely grateful (for some reason that word is hard for me to spell) for the situation. This is a real question. Please let me know your thoughts.

P.S. Cooking blog coming soon.

Restaurant Review: Roll Up Crepes

2011-06-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

Today I hit up Roll Up Crepes on State Street in Orem. I'd passed by a few times and been intrigued, so I figured I'd give it a try. I ordered the ham and cheese crepe (full disclosure: I secretly like bizarre and crappy ham and cheese things like Hot Pockets). It cost about six bucks and came with a side of tomato basil soup.

First, the soup. It was good, but it wasn't soup. It was thicker than marinara sauce, more along the lines of a tomato-y dip. The crepe was ok, but I would have rather had a Hot Pocket and that would have been a lot cheaper. Perhaps I should have tried the special of the day (pulled pork crepe), but I already admitted my strange taste preferences. The portion size was large (think of a big burrito). The staff was friendly and I found the strange fake tree in the middle of the restaurant bizarrely appealing, but the place was DEAD empty. I predict that it really won't last long (the location is a little weird and inconvenient and I've seen at least three restaurants through there already). That being said, I'll probably go back and try a dessert crepe and perhaps even give one more try to a savory crepe before I make my final judgement.

Rumination

2011-06-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

I just want to warn you that this blog post is not as lighthearted as most of the others I've written lately. I also want to warn you that the chances of me looking like garbage in pictures included in this post are high.

For the past couple of days I've been thinking about growing up and how my life is changing. There are heaps of benefits to growing up. In fact, I posted a facebook status expressing my gratitude not to be in high school anymore. Don't get me wrong, there were some good things in high school. I had some decent friend groups even though I often acted ridiculous in more ways than one (not all of them friendly or harmless). There were some great teachers that influenced me, and I did some growing up.

Now I've graduated from college and I'm certified to teach children (though being able to find a teaching job is another story all together). All of this is a little bit of me rambling to avoid the point. Sometimes I wish I could go back to some of my previous ways of thinking.

Thinking that brought me here on my own money and choice.

(No, I don't hold any delusions that EFY works miracles or is the only productive place for youth to be in the summer.)

There was easier thinking that led to taking pictures like this for a very specific purpose (a purpose I'm not sure I fully or possibly even partially agree with anymore).

Something like this was fun, not lame and possibly mortifying. Not to mention I had no trouble admitting it.

I went here as often as I could manage it.

And I sincerely loved doing the fun, serious and silly here. It was one of the things I most looked forward to every year (despite the sweltering heat and obnoxious humidity and inevitable drama).

All of that is a way for me to say that I lost something that I can't get back. The person in the pictures up there cried on vacation one time because she accidentally said damn (I realize this is outrageous and isn't something I particularly want to go back to). I wasn't perfect and neither was my life. In a lot of ways my life was really crappy then, but something's missing now and I wish it wasn't. Thing is, I think I've perhaps gone past a point where I can return to the one thing that seemed to be functional during that time of my life. It's not a matter of choosing it. That would be too easy. I think after a certain level of exposure and thinking in a different way, there's no way back.

I know that I'm rambling in an insane way. Let me sum it all up: I lost something and I miss it and I wish I could have it back and in a way I think that's just the nature of childhood and parts of childhood and as much as a person can miss and even crave the comforts of that time, you can't return. Can you? Not to mention I've begun to resent and even hate the things that in my view ruined a degree of my innocence.

Did any of that even make any sense at all?

Oops! All Berries

2011-06-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

I was at Wal*Mart the other day and I saw that Quaker has brought back this childhood memory (always for a limited time, just like the McRib - except way tastier, but most likely with an equivalent amount of sugar). I didn't buy any (mostly because I'm cheap, but partially because I have three boxes of cereal in my cupboard already).

This morning while eating my breakfast I started thinking about Oops! All Berries once again. Suddenly, I was smacked with a stroke of genius. What if I bought a box of Oops! All Berries and combined it with this?

What a genius and delicious cereal I could make by combining these two!

I now give you the liberty to look away from this blog as you either face palm or place something padded in front of you to minimize the danger of the slightly more dramatic head desk.

We all have our moments, right?

Trees

2011-06-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

It amuses me when people from the desert/western mountainous states go east or to other places with trees for the first time. Some of them talk about how claustrophobic it makes them to be on the interstate and not be able to see what's around (picture of I-95 in Virginia).

More often mentioned is the confusion and frustration of buildings obscured partially or completely by trees. Thing is, when it's more wet and the soil is nice and rich (meaning not the sand of the desert), the trees thrive.

For example, here's a Google Map shot of my neighborhood at home. Yep, those are all trees. And even in those patches of trees the houses are about as regular as the ones you can see that are more exposed.

(Seriously, click on it. There're a bajillion trees.)

I definitely miss the trees when I'm out here. Also, I want to be clear that I'm not mocking the people that are shocked by the trees and greenness the first time they encounter such a thing. When I first came to Utah the enormous mountains shocked me and I still love to just look at them. The sparse dessert on the way to the sand dunes on a camping trip enthralled me. I'm just amused by the fascination with something I grew up with.

Having the trees makes for some nice shade in the summer, though. However, in the East where it's obnoxiously humid all the time (when I talked to my mother yesterday it was 98% humidity, it's 63% right now), the shade doesn't actually do that much. It's still hot and outrageously sticky in the shade. The only real benefit of the shade is to get the sun out of your face.

Oh, and a benefit to the humidity that I love to complain about? Big thunderstorms and heat lightning. Come back to me beautiful summer weather.

Also, for your viewing pleasure, a beauty shot from Skyline Drive (near my home town of Luray, part of the Shenandoah National Park).

Hypocrites

2011-05-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-25T19:26:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-20T22:09:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

- 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

2011-05-16T21:22:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-05-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, this happened...

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

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

2011-05-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Stomp the Yard

2011-04-28T18:11:00.001-07:00

I'm watching the second Stomp the Yard movie. The title has something to do with homecoming. I haven't see the first, but was hoping to get a good dose of some great stepping. I'm just not overly impressed (albeit, I'm only a bit into the movie). Maybe that's what happens when your high school wins all kinds of national accolades for step team (including the contest held in honor of the first Stomp the Yard movie in which they competed against high school and college teams and won). Here's an article and video. The video seems to be slow to load, but it's worth it.

Epic Dancing

P.S. Why can I mostly only think of the haka right now?

P.P.S. These guys are way more awesome than the Cougarettes.

[edit: There was a white Mormon boy on the step team my sophomore year.]

Authenticating the Experience

2011-04-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I went here.

And also to Disney World. Do you know what makes the experience of going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter even more awesome and authentic? THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF ENGLAND ON SPRING BREAK APPARENTLY. Everyone was British on our vacation to Orlando! One time the people next to me were not British, they were Scottish. It was kind of awesome, but basically shocking. I was told Disney World was full of Asians and there were a lot of Asians, but not near as many as British people. I loved it. Especially one British mom that sounded like Molly Weasley hanging out in Zonko's talking about Puking Pastilles and U No Poo. Awesome.

I'm On Vacation

2011-04-11T13:40:00.001-07:00

There will be some sort of marathon post (or posts) in the future about this amazing vacation, but I thought I'd take a quick second to update. Sarah and I went downstairs to one of the hotel's FOUR restaurants for an early dinner not too long ago. I had been a little sick this morning and we were exhausted so pretty much all day we were in our room (most of the time I was napping). So, we put our do not disturb sign up and chilled. Until dinner. When we got back from dinner (which was maybe about a half hour time block) BAM! our room was clean. What the heck? It was awesome. It's like people were prowling outside just waiting for both of us to leave at once or take our sign down or whatever so they could make sure it was all covered.

Thank you Hard Rock. I love a freshly made bed and fresh towels. Especially the fresh towels.

More Baking

2011-04-02T20:37:00.001-07:00

I think I should open a bakery. I really just find myself wanting to bake all day every day. This morning before conference I tried the Oreo filled chocolate chip cookie recipe again except this time I used mini Oreos. They turned out even better than the originals. Try it and let me know what you think.

After conference I made these (they're tiny and delicious).

Then I wanted to try something else so I made these. Braided bread sticks with garlic and Italian seasoning. Also yum.

Then I started experimenting and made this. A nice braided loaf with a light dose of raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

See, not too many raisins.

Yeah yeah, I know these aren't the best pictures. Get over it. This isn't a food blog and I took them with my iPhone.

Brain Vomit

2011-04-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

I'm watching musical Grey's Anatomy right now. It's only a few minutes in and I have to admit, I kind of like it.

Somehow I just discovered Grooveshark about last week. What the heck.

The way things were stacking up it seemed like last week was going to be miserable (major TMI moment coming up). It was just a lot of stress all combining and even the little things were going wrong. Then when I woke up on Monday morning to a visit from Aunt Flo (I just said that, get over it) I was pissed. Later, during lunchtime, I decided I could be pissed about it or I could be happy that it wasn't next week during mine and Sarah's trip. Thursday I had two formal observations. Crap shoot, I know. Instead of freaking out I just rocked my lesson and the CFA didn't have any suggestions to make. I want to teach so badly. The end.

When we were little and had a treat/dessert most often it was either Chips Ahoy (in the blue bag) or Oreos. That doesn't mean my mom was a bad mom, she was busy working and sometimes store bought cookies are just dandy. Also, I have no doubt that my mom's pie can rock your mom's pie any day of the week. Anyway, I was always partial to the Chips Ahoy and I'm wondering how the general populace would vote between the two.

Remember back in the days of summer (and I think once after that too) I blogged about the books I'd read? It's been awhile, but I'm still reading. Instead I post those on one of my other blogs that I write with a few friends (here). You may want to check it out because I'm thinking of doing a book giveaway soon.

That's all my random thoughts for right now.

Baking Cookies

2011-03-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

In my Saturday post I told you about my baking adventures, in brief. Here's some info on that whole shebang.

I found a recipe on the internet. Mmm, giant chocolate chip cookies.

They're a little ugly and lumpy, it's true, but there's a reason for that...

That's right! There's an Oreo baked inside. As my mom put it, "It looks like a chocolate chip cookie got mad and ate an Oreo."

It's pretty easy. You just make the cookie dough then use one of those tiny ice cream scoop type of things (that are for cookie dough) and put one scoop on top of the Oreo and one on the bottom. Then you mash it all together until it covers the whole Oreo.

Bake them up and enjoy. They're kind of nice and crisp on the bottom and more gooey on the top - the best of both worlds.

Recipe and instructions here.

Airport at Midnight

2011-03-21T16:40:00.001-07:00

Remember in my previous post I promised pictures from the basketball team/airport festivities? Here they are.

Us waiting for the plane to land (it was cold and raining).

That is MY HAND on Jimmer's shoulder.

The four of us with Noah. I swear, these guys are insanely tall in person (they don't seem that tall when they're on the court).

Logan Magnusson (aka cry because he's married and so so nice and quite lovely and sometimes wears hot jeans).

Kyle Collinsworth (the baby BAMF).

My Saturday

2011-03-20T00:20:00.000-07:00

Let's explore my Saturday with some help from my facebook status updates.

Started off sleeping in (7:30) and then got up and was productive (planned all my lessons for the week) while watching two movies (one of which was Beauty and the Briefcase, stop judging). While planning my lessons I realized I wasn't as smart as I used to be and it bothered me. Then comes this status.

dear stafford friends: if anyone can find a picture of the cover of our ap stats book, ap calc book, and math analysis book from high school i will literally pay you or mail you goodies or be your best friend for life.

Yeah, I'm buying the high school level math books from high school so I can teach myself higher level math again. I still can't remember which math analysis book we used and it's frustrating me.

I went out and bought "Teach Me How to Jimmer" shirts for Sarah and I (see video here and watch for yours truly). I went and did a little grocery shopping, visited Sarah at work, then went home to watch the basketball game. Next status update.

sweet sixteen! i'm wearing my jimmer face shirt and have my hair braided and people are driving around provo acting a little bit crazy and honking. and i'm about to bake oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

That's right! We won! And I baked. BYU in the Sweet Sixteen, baby! Do you know how much I love baking? More info on the product in a post tomorrow. I also started a corned beef brisket in the crockpot (which I just tested and it's DELICIOUS). I was chilling and doing more productive things when I saw that the Jimmer Head facebook fan page posted that the team was getting into the airport at 11:30. Naturally I went over with Sarah and her roommates to great the team. And.

just held hands with jimmer fredette.

you know, touch, hold hands, same thing.

It was raining and cold, but obviously worth it. We saw the players, we touched some players, we took pictures with players, and I HIGH FIVED JIMMER FREDETTE! Suck on that, Jimmer bandwagon fans. Overall, great day (and I didn't even include how I went to Divine Comedy with the people on Friday night and it was one of the funniest I've ever seen in all my Divine Comedy attendances and we ate Five Guys in the hall while we were waiting and watched Kid History [again, another post]).

P.S. Pictures coming soon. Promise.

Clothes

2011-03-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah. I'm blogging about clothes, what of it? Here's the deal. I hate girl shirts. I love how they look and the stretchier more fitted material. What's the problem, you say? It's the sleeves. On girl shirts the sleeves are really short on the underside, maybe an inch at the very most. Do you know how irritating it is to have the seam of your sleeve basically in your armpit all the time? Very annoying. And for those of us who don't have beautifully toned (but not masculine) arms, a little bit of a longer sleeve can do a lot to cover up the stressful area (at least, the sleeve makes me feel slightly more confident). Not to mention that I don't like seeing that tiny sliver of fabric that shouldn't even be called a sleeve on some of my friends. Some girls don't exactly shave as much as they should and the infinitesimal scrap does nothing to hide their un-groomed underarms. Gross. Dear shirt makers, please just add another inch or so to the sleeve.

Related: I absolutely love the shirts with sleeves that are just above the elbow (a little shorter than 3/4 sleeves). They are so cozy without being too hot. Perfection.

A Poem

2011-03-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a poem I wrote to model using similes and metaphors.

March Madness

Spring is a basketball game.

Spring brings the rain like Jimmer dropping threes.

The jumping players spring up like flowers and trees.

Bouncing balls, birds calling, fans yelling.

Everybody and everything start to warm up.

The other team emerges scared from the locker room,

shivering like a baby chick, just hatched.

Spring and basketball,

My favorites.

Stop judging me. I definitely wrote this on the fly while in the middle of a lesson and the kids contributed.

Brandon Davies (you had to know this was coming)

2011-03-09T18:49:00.000-08:00

Since the dust has settled a little bit I thought I would share my thoughts on the whole Brandon Davies thing.

In case you've been living under a rock, here's the story. Basically about two weeks ago BYU's starting forward Brandon Davies got kicked off the team (we're talking men's basketball here) for an Honor Code violation. We proceeded to lose (badly) the next game to an unranked team. The word is that his girlfriend is pregnant and campus (and the media) have been in kind of an uproar.

My Initial Reaction: PISSED

Davies should have been thinking less about himself and more about his team. Losing him affected all of the guys (who should be his brothers) in a bad way. Don't get me wrong, BYU was in the right here. He broke the rules and he gets to pay the price. I think, though, that if he was going to break the rules he should have continued to lie through the rest of the season at least (2 games and post-season). I know any of you reading this that are ultra-righteous are judgine me for saying that. I don't care. He'd already done the deed. Not a big deal if he lies for a few more weeks and doesn't screw over his teammates in the process. In for a dime, in for a dollar.

On the Student Section

Signs that say "Davies we forgive you" and "We still *heart* you "Davies" are out of line. First of all, he doesn't need forgiveness from the student section. Secondly, why rub in his face that we all know his personal business? Not to mention the sign makers don't speak for the whole group here and I was still mad when I saw those signs. Chants of "we want Davies" seem to be another way, in my opinion, of rubbing in the fact that he can't play. Think before you speak/act, student section (I know, you're shocked to have that come from me).

On Davies Being Courtside

I thought it was classy and thoughtful for [I'm assuming] Coach Rose to let Davies sit with the team for the last home game. He spent almost all season as a part of the team. He's dealing with a lot already and I think it's great that they let him offer his support to his brothers. Ditto letting him cut the net. Davies' actions as he cut the net (head bowed, without reacting to the thunderous applause) paint the very picture of remorse. For me that was both sad and appreciated. I know I expressed my displeasure with the actions of the student section, but I thought the applause was appropriate (though a bit long/excessive in execution).

Where I Stand Now

Davies definitely screwed up and that's his burden to carry. I still see the action as selfish and thoughtless. But. Yes, there's a but. He's been through a lot already. Everyone and their dog have heard all of his personal business and raked him across the coals. It was his mistake that caused this so I don't feel too bad for him, but let's move on. I'm ready to look to my team for some excellent post season play. And if Davies can get his life together by next season, fantastic. I'll welcome him back with open arms and cheer for him just like I would had none of this happened.

If you've made it through this lengthy post I'm extremely impressed. Don't fret. I [most likely] won't devote any more blog space to this topic. The Mountain West Conference tournament starts tomorrow, so LET'S GO COUGARS!

Fourth Grade Thus Far

2011-03-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

I started in my fourth grade class on Monday. I sure do miss my sixth graders, but fourth will be good. Here are reasons to love them already.

-There is a black girl. I miss black people in my life. Not to mention she's as sweet as pie.

- There is a kid named Jackson and a kid named Noah (great men's basketball team names).

- All of my students are at or above level in reading (this is unheard of for the classes I've been in so far).

- My mentor teacher is amazing.

-There's a saucy redhead in my class. It's like having a little Sarah around sometimes.

- My kids love BYU sports. One wrote a name tag to cover his that said "Jimmer Fridet #32." That kid is a bamf.

-Several of my students remind me of my cousins when they were little and spunky.

Chapstick

2011-02-27T11:52:00.001-08:00

I love Chapstick a lot.

I love Chapstick, alot.

What I don't love: that weird white line of waxy whatever it is that forms on my mouth when i wear Chapstick. It's nothing gross or anything, just some Chapstick that has all moved together. Do any of you have this problem? What do you do to prevent it?

Bonus - quotes from last night:

"I'd let Zac Efron punch me." -drugged Sarah

"I colored them with peach and I meant to color them with apricot!" -Nicole about her coloring book

I think this means a) I really like these girls and b) things that are funny to me are not funny to anyone else.

Ladies I've Come to Love

2011-02-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

I just blogged about Sarah who I'm probably closer to than any other person. Maybe it's her amazingness that draws good people to her, but she ended up with AWESOME roommates this semester.

Meet the Francs.

Aren't they beautiful and don't they look like so much fun? That's because they are. Let's explore their greatness.

1) They love BYU basketball.

2) Neither of them are Jimmer bandwagon fans.

3) Stefanie makes great goals for her birthday and follows them through.

4) When Niccole is a tacky old lady she's going to put one of those FatCats electronic fireworks in her back yard.

5) They are twins. I have twin roommates, but they are much harder to tell apart than the Francs are.

6) You can't pronounce their last name because (as far as I've been educated) they pronounce it like the country "France."

7) They dressed like this for Halloween.

8) They took me to dinner at Fuddruckers today even though Sarah couldn't come.

9) Neither of them judges me when I swear. Actually they most often laugh.

10) Similar level of inappropriate humor that I can relate to.

11) I don't feel awkward around them.

12) We can make deals about things like the fact that if any of us ever chooses to use the word "hubby" any of the others can face-punch them.

13) Jamba-lot

Sarah

2011-02-24T19:50:00.000-08:00

This is Sarah and I at a basketball game at some point. It's virtually impossible to tell which one because we dress the same for all of them and almost always sit beside each other.

It's pretty much a miracle to have friends like Sarah. Actually, allow me to be more specific. It's a miracle to have Sarah as a friend. On many levels we can relate and on some things our views are vastly different, but it doesn't matter. To demonstrate her pure amazingness and great hilarity I would like to share what she wrote on my wall for my birthday today:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY HOORAY HOORAH! ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!! I HOPE ITS AWESOME. if i could get tj fredette to sing you a happy birthday rap while jimmer dances to it in his pink shoes, jackson emery flexes his arms, and jake heaps throws footballs into basketball hoops from 500 miles away, i would. buuut i can't. although now the image is in your head so thats the best i can do. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Best birthday post ever? Yes, I think so. Sarah is just too much and I love her.

On Repeat

2011-02-22T21:23:00.001-08:00

I was linked to this music video by another blog (Epbot, if you care). I think it's lovely and I really like the song. Stop mocking me because I'm listening to Panic! at the Disco. It's none of your business what I listen to.

Also, I find steam punk interesting to say the least and downright beautiful sometimes.

Additional note: If someone brighter than me could explain what the heck is going on in the music video I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Man Cub

2011-02-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

My little brother went to his first stake dance tonight. I actually think it was a multi-stake dance, but he just turned 14 at the end of January so it was the first available to him.

When he was little and had four very protective and kind of much older sisters he got lots of fun names such as "Man Cub" and "Little Man" and other sickly stupid ones. He still gets to be called by most of these names unless he expresses dislike, then we respect his wishes and remove that one from our repertoire.

Here's the man child all gussied up for the dance tonight. The best part of this whole post is how he reacted afterward. Here's the story he told me.

I saw this one girl sitting over on the chairs like all the girls do and she was crying, but she was really hot. I figured since she was crying she was probably feeling pretty vulnerable so I asked her to dance and she said yeah and was really happy because she was dancing with me.

He also said how an older girl in the ward asked him to dance because he looked so good and that when a short girl asked him to dance she couldn't resist putting her head on his chest.

My little baby man is all grown up.

Internet Friends

2011-02-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

Do you have internet friends? I mean those friends that you love to chat with or email or whatever, but can't talk to in person or maybe sometimes even pretend one another don't exist when you see each other in real life.

I hate that. How do you fix that?

BYU Mentors

2011-02-18T18:11:00.001-08:00

My students have mentoring every Friday up on BYU campus. Today we were in the Garden Court at the Wilk for a presentation by the Break-Dance club. The kids thought David Dekker was my boyfriend because I gave him a hug. I miss BYU so much it hurts my heart.

Student Work

2011-02-16T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today I was finishing a lesson on word choice and making sure to include sensory details in writing. I had the students pick an event or place and then fill out a chart of what they could see, hear, smell, and feel. Finally they had to use the details to write a paragraph. Here are two of my favorites from a pair of my boys. I have corrected spelling, but not grammar.

The Mall
It was late Friday night and I just arrived at the mall to see a scary movie. In the mall there was two girls next to me and my brother. They were hot and pretty. The girls screamed.

As you can probably tell I stopped them after a time limit so some didn't quite finish and that particular student is one of my low-level students anyway.

BYU Basketball Game
When I went to the BYU basketball game I was excited. I could see the players but before they started they sung the national anthem. I heard everyone singing along and then they brought down the big white sheet and then they showed a video on the sheet of people playing basketball and turned off the light. Then dropped the sheet and started the game. It was crazy everybody yelling in my ear and I hear the ball bouncing on the court. I also see the players running toward the ball and make it into the hoop. Everybody started screaming yelling and I could see people spilling their drinks because they were cheering on BYU. I felt lots of excitement and happy that BYU was winning then they finally won.

New Look

2011-02-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time in Stafford I made a best friend. Years later things happened and we grew apart. Some time later things weren't perfect, but they were a little patched up and the friend redecorated my blog and made me a nice banner in a fun, bright color. Anyway, this is my thanks to Heather for doing such a nice thing for me. I definitely appreciate it.

Heather and her fiance Drey (yes, I stole this picture directly off her blog).

Physical Contact

2011-02-13T18:07:00.000-08:00

I've done a brief search and I don't think I've blogged on this subject before. If I have please feel free to skip this post.

My family is a touchy family. Not touchy meaning sensitive, touchy meaning we make physical contact. I would not consider us to be a family of huggers and there are definitely some members that would prefer you only rarely hug them when it's a definite necessity. Our contact is more casual. I'll sit right beside my mom on the couch rather than on the other end like I would with any other person. Holding hands with my little brother or mom in public is not a big deal to me. We have no problem standing close to one another and for someone to sleep in your bed with you for a night for whatever reason is not uncommon. Other (probably more normal) methods of casual touch also happen on a regular basis. Maybe that makes us weird, but I just wanted to give some context for my experience.

I rarely touch anyone in my life right now. I will, on rare occasion, pat a student on the shoulder and even that touch feels foreign to me. I sometimes reach over and pat a friend lightly on the back or arm or leg just for the contact. There are a few guy friends that I'll hug when we greet and that might be the highlight of that social event for me (depending on the event). There is a point to all of this weird rambling and it's that I don't have physical contact with anyone and it's something I miss and something I crave.

Great. Now the whole world (or at least those that read my blog) think I'm a crazy nut-job or crazed for a boyfriend or some other equally as disparaging idea. I guess I'll just have to deal with that a keep on gettin' on.

Baking

2011-02-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

I've been in a baking mood this weekend. As I mentioned in my post about wickedness I burned the rolls I was going to use for hamburger buns for the super bowl party. I saved them and late Friday night I made some sugar free bread pudding. It's delicious and I maybe ate it for breakfast this morning. Yum.

Saturday morning I wanted to bake some more and I'd gotten this recipe in my email. I know Sarah loves raspberry chocolate things and I knew I wouldn't be baking for myself because of the no sugar thing and the fact that I had plenty of bread pudding. I'm a big fan of Sarah's roommates too, so I thought it would be a nice Valentine's Day gift type of thing.

I had a lot of fun making the brownies, they smelled great (excepting for the fact that I don't like fruit and chocolate put together) and were pretty simple. I love trying new recipes and I love getting them right. Sarah's mom already asked for the recipe so I'm taking that as a good sign. Also, everyone who tried them said the brownies were delicious.

And they don't look too bad (though they're not as pretty as the picture on the website).

Touching Moment

2011-02-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

BYU played tonight. It was the game against Utah so it was of course a big deal. Sadly, Jimmer was off and only had 8 points in the first half. Really unfortunate. The second half didn't start any better for our home-boy Jimmer and it looked to be a tragic win for the Cougars. I don't know what sparked it, but the crowd began all at once to chant "Jimmer, Jimmer, Jimmer" repeatedly to show our devotion to him despite his lack of success on this evening.

No one will ever know if it was this cheering that pumped him up, but Jimmer went on to get 12 more points in the next couple minutes (maybe three or four) and 23 on the night and you could tell he was excited. He did the Jimmer yelling face and the Jimmer screaming face and ended the game with my personal favorite, the Jimmer happy face.

How cute is this picture? Lovely. I think it's fantastic.

The thought that maybe it was the crowd showing their devotion that kept Jimmer going and turned his game around really was touching to me and I'm not being sarcastic.

Oh yeah, let's not forget how much of a BAMF Jackson Emery is and how awesome Charles Abouo played tonight.

So Far This Weekend

2011-02-12T10:42:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the weekend. I'm beginning to think teachers look forward to the weekends more than the students. Since I'm a student teacher I look forward to the weekend about double the amount anyone else does. That being said, the weekend isn't the same as it used to be. I would love to have time to spend Friday night doing absolutely nothing and then finish all of my homework on Sunday. It's completely impossible when I'm trying to plan lessons for a whole week at a time and make sure I don't need to go buy anything to make my lesson possible.

Since I'm this busy I got to work not long after I got home yesterday (well, first I went and signed a contract for somewhere to live next fall). I spent a few solid hours planning lessons with some TV playing in the background (don't judge, it often helps keep me focused because I'm not bored). I watched a documentary called Jesus Camp which was super weird and freaked me out with all the little children speaking in tongues and that sort of stuff and also watched A Little Princess. It'd been so many years since the last time I saw that movie. I was transported back to my grandmother's (Mammaw's) basement during "rest hour" as a kid. I miss the simpleness of those times.

No matter how busy you are you can't spend all of Friday night at home alone (at least not on a regular basis) so I went over to Sarah's parking garage for a dance party. There weren't many people, but there was fantastic music and I was able to let go for the most part. It was a blast for about an hour (probably less) until about eight police officers showed up to shut us down. Disappointing. We tried a Glennwood party that turned out lame before just heading home for the night.

I spent until 2am baking for fun and listening to podcasts, but I'm planning on writing another post soon about what I've been baking lately. That post may or may not get written, but it probably will and will hopefully include some pictures.

That is all. Please forgive the boringness and general update-like tone to this post.

Wickedness

2011-02-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

Last night I was cooking up a storm for our super bowl party today. It was getting extremely late so I decided to take a quick shower. Somehow I forgot that I was in the middle of baking the rolls I was planning to use for slider buns and they overcooked. I only had enough rolls left for half a batch so I decided to go out after church today and grab some more rolls from the store. I didn't feel like it was a wicked decision because I was not going to ruin the feast I'd been working on for a bajillion years. It's not like I go shopping every single Sunday or anything. Anyway, I went to the store and felt fine about it until I pulled back into my parking garage and realized I'd have to enter my apartment with a grocery bag. I contemplated how I might be able to hide my goods in my bag or pretend I had just left the groceries in the car the night before.

This is dumb. I know people will judge people for this kind of thing because I've heard it happen, but it's stupid. It's not that big of a deal if someone has to grab something from the store on a Sunday. So, those people can STOP JUDGING ME IMMEDIATELY. The end.

What I Like

2011-02-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

I was asking Sarah what I should blog about and she said I should follow her lead and blog about things I like.

Here it is.

Yes, thank you laminated life size Jimmer Fredette.

Snack Time!

2011-02-01T21:19:00.001-08:00

A new lovely snack that I discovered and decided to love today (and by discovered I mean I invented it, but it's not that creative).

Start with one of these (fajita size, perfect and tiny, and get the fresh made ones if you can).

Already delicious. Now, spread with a layer of this (I'm using chunky, but creamy will probably work too).

Add a little sprinkle for deliciousness sake.

Thinly slice and kind of squash down (but not in a disgusting way) across the whole thing until there's a good layer.

Microwave about 15 seconds and then top with a tiny handful of these (Crispix) crushed up.

Cut into slices (six works for me) and enjoy.

Yep, it is love.

What Would Jesus Do?

2011-01-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes there are some things about Mormon culture that really bug me. For example the incessant need to pray about the smallest of things. I'm all for praying and doing what you can to let God direct your life, but sometimes you just have to make a choice and it doesn't matter that much.

Today I was in Sarah's ward and her bishop said, "What would Jesus do? Sometimes I don't know what Jesus would do! I don't know if he would choose farming or shepherding for his major." To that I say thank you and amen. Get over it, move on, and make some choices.

Love Basketball

2011-01-30T06:50:00.000-08:00

I love BYU basketball. If you don't know this by now you should probably stop reading this blog. My friend Caroline is in the MTC right now and will leave on a mission soon so she didn't get to see the game against SDSU the other day. Her brother wrote this and I thought it was great so I'm reposting it.

Caroline requested that Robbie send her a Dear Elder letter today to let her know how last night's game turned out. He decided to maintain the spirit of missionary service as he provided her a recap...

1 Behold, I, Robbie, who am thy older brother, and do speak all manner of things pertaining to righteousness, or in other words, of things pertaining to the BYU Cougars

2 Do address this epistle to you, Sister Bullough, who art in the service of our God, which service causes me great joy

3 For thou art doing that which is great in the eyes of God. Thou art performing a labor that will bring souls unto Christ, yea, many souls, insomuch that no greater service can be performed than that which ye are performing at this time.

4 And I do write unto you this epistle to tell you of the great and marvelous battle which did take place in the land of the Cougars last night.

5 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of the oppressive reign of the Mountain West Conference – BYU having declared its freedom from those wicked judges

6 Which freedom was to commence on the first day of the seventh month –

7 And it came to pass on the twenty-sixth day of the first month, the Aztecs of San Diego State invaded the land of Provo.

8 And the Aztecs were mighty and strong, for they had yet to fall by the sword to anyone, being perfect in their record, and ranked fourth throughout the land.

9 But behold, the Cougars of BYU were also mighty and strong in their own right, yea, they were ranked ninth in the land.

10 And it came to pass that the Aztecs invaded the Cougars at the heart of the land of their possessions, yea, in the Marriott Center.

11 But behold, the Marriott Center was among the most fortified of all the strongholds in all the land. Yea, in 31 attempts to invade the land, the Aztecs had only been successful thrice.

12 And behold, the leader of the army of the Cougars was a man by the name of Dave Rose, he leading the Cougars to battle in the Marriott Center 88 times and defeating his enemies 84 times.

13 And it came to pass that this particular invasion marked the first time that two top ten teams did battle in the Marriott Center since Lehi left Jerusalem, yea, and probably even before that.

14 And the people of Provo did gather themselves together in the Marriott Center, yea, 22,700, many of whom arrived many hours before the battle was to commence.

15 And never before had there been a louder gathering in the Marriott Center. Yea, it was deafening to the ears and sent chills down the spines of all who had come to witness the battle.

16 And in the strength of their wives and their children and their bretheren did the Cougars go to battle with the Aztecs.

17 And it came to pass that there was one mighty and strong among the Aztecs, yea, and his might and his strength was known throughout the land.

18 And his name was Kawhi Leonard.

19 And it came to pass that Kawhi Leonard fell ill and did thrust up the contents of his stomach many times throughout the day and did receive IVs before the battle.

20 Nevertheless, he did fight diligently, insomuch that he did score 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for a double-double.

21 And he did hit a three-point basket in the final seconds of the first half.

22 Which first half was a truly great battle, for both sides did fight mightily for their cause, and neither team gained great advantage over the other, for it was a close and intense battle.

23 And it came to pass that the Aztecs had a 31-30 lead as the two sides pitched their tents for halftime.

24 And now, behold, the Cougars also had one mighty and strong, whose might and strength was also known throughout the land, yea, he was feared by many, and when others saw him tarrying in other parts of the land, his presence did cause them to quake, yea, quake even to the depths of their souls because of the great fear which he did cause to come upon them.

25 And his name was Jimmer Fredette.

26 And it came to pass that even Lord Voldemort did refuse to utter his name, and did call him he who must not be named.

27 And moreover, Chuck Norris did enter into a covenant with the Jimmer, whereupon the loser must grow a beard.

28 And it came to pass that Chuck Norris grew a beard.

29 And this Jimmer Fredette did have much weighing on his mind, for his brother TJ did perform for the students before the battle, yea, and twenty and four NBA scouts were there to observe the battle.

30 And it came to pass that the Jimmer did score from anywhere and everywhere on the battlefield.

31 Yea, the Aztecs did defend him mightily, yea, sometimes two or three Aztecs attempted to guard the Jimmer.

32 Nevertheless, the Jimmer did score 20 points in the first half, including the last 15 points for the Cougars.

33 And it came to pass in the second half that the Jimmer did dominate the battle.Yea, he did make a crossover three that exposed the foolishness of the ankles of D.J. Gay who tried to guard him.

34 And he did come off ball screens and hit fade away threes, yea, insomuch that he made shots that looked as if he were falling from off the face of the earth.

35 And he did drive to the basket and score, yea, and the number of his points was exceedingly great.

36 So great that never before had anyone scored so great a number of points in the Marriott Center among all the people of BYU.

37 Yea, the Jimmer did score forty and two points.

38 And it came to pass that the Aztecs of San Diego State were astonished, yea, exceedingly astonished.

39 And it came to pass that the Cougars won the battle convincingly by a score of 71-58, and the rumor spread throughout all the land that the unbeaten Aztecs had fallen and that the Jimmer had scored forty and two points.

40 Yea, even Kevin Durrant of the Oklahoma City Thunder – who himself scored forty and seven points in the NBA on this night – did tweet that “Jimmer Fredette is the best scorer in the world.”

41 And at the conclusion of the battle, the students, yea 5,000 strong, did rush the floor to congratulate the Jimmer.

42 And behold I tell you these things that you might know that the Cougars of BYU are perhaps the greatest team in the land.

43 Yea, they did fight mightily for their cause, insomuch that they were victorious.

44 And again, verily I say unto you, that never before had such a gathering of Cougars been so loud.

45 For those who came were filled with passion, insomuch that they shouted exceedingly loud.

46 And the people of BYU did celebrate exceedingly because of the greatness of their victory.

47 But behold, Dave Rose and his army did not celebrate exceedingly, for another battle did await them. Yea, in two days’ time, on the sixth day of the week, they will go to Albuquerque to do battle with the Lobos in the place that is called the Pit.

48 Yea, the Pit is not the Marriott Center, but is like unto it.

49 And Dave Rose and his army must be strong in mind and spirit so as to win that battle as well.

50 And behold, I, Robbie, do end my epistle.

Valentine's Day

2011-01-29T15:43:00.000-08:00

This post was prompted by a friend's status update this morning.

"I hate the fact that Valentine's Day is coming up. Have I mentioned how much I hate Valentine's Day? I don't think I have. I hate Valentine's Day."

I don't get it. No, I'm not one of those people that loves Valentine's Day and is excited to send someone a giant teddy bear holding a heart that says something stupid like "Love Muffin" or something else equally as idiotic. I did always enjoy it as a kid. The cookies, the valentines (sometimes with some candy attached), and another excuse for a class party. I've never had a "valentine" as far as a man goes, but I don't hate Valentine's Day. What's the point? If people who are in a relationship want to use the day to celebrate their relationship I say, why not? Doesn't make me feel any more or less single than the awkward couple from the Sword and Quill club licking each other's tonsils on a bench in front of the WILK

Annoying in-a-relationship people are going to get on my nerves no matter what day of the year it is. Like the tonsil-lickers and the must-touchers (you know what I'm talking about, those couples that can't seem to NOT touch each other in a social setting) the mushy-valentiners are completely obnoxious and I'll admit it, but it's not because of the day. It's because their personalities just suck.

Look, a cute Valentine's Day puppy; what's not to love.

A note: This post is not meant as an attack on the friend who posted that update, just a general commentary. I know lots of people that loathe Valentine's Day, she is not an anomaly.

Can't Sleep, Don't Sleep

2011-01-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

I have trouble sleeping, as many people do. My issue isn't that I don't fall asleep or that I wake up all night or whatever. As I've mentioned before I have problems with nightmares and bad, stressful dreams that leave me exhausted even after a full night of sleep.

Last night was no exception. I don't remember all the details of my dream, but I woke up whimpering (yes, whimpering, shut up) and exhausted. Somehow there were explosives around and there was no way to dismantle them and get them anywhere. Because it was a dream and dreams don't make sense the only way to keep people from being injured (we were in the middle of some random neighborhood) was to cover the bombs with your body. Two boys from my ward (Tyler and Kevin) volunteered and somehow I did. Then the person who set the bombs suddenly showed up and shot me, one of the boys, and Jimmer Fredette (who was volunteering too, apparently) in the stomach. I woke up as we all lay curled around the bombs waiting for them to go off and bleeding to death.

Seven and a half hours of sleep, no rest.

Goings On

2011-01-03T21:27:00.000-08:00

-Tori does not have cystic fibrosis.

-I'm addicted to kitchen gadgets.

-I spent New Year's Eve on my couch alone and didn't mind.

-It gave me great joy to pick up the Alvey children from the airport today. Maybe I missed Sarah, nbd.

-Time to stop being attracted to Jackson Rathbone in Beautiful People. He's kind of a privileged pretentious jerk with a heart that I love anyway. So what if I've watched 8 episodes in the last two days. Stop judging me IMMEDIATELY.

-I saw Tron today. There were issues, there was a bangin' soundtrack, and there was this guy. Attractive.

- Gabe cried when he found out I had to go back to school. He said why did I have to go back to my school and offered to let me go to his instead. Heather took this picture.

-Student teaching starts tomorrow and I'm FREAKING out.

-Finally took some time to do DC a little while I was home. At the National Gallery of Art I saw this picture and it was my favorite for several reasons. It's called Mountaineers by Arthur Bowen Davies.

-When I got back to the Metro station in Springfield I realized that I hadn't paid attention to where I parked and spent at least 30 solid minutes wandering the parking garage looking for my car. When my mom called she told me to be careful because bad things happen in parking garages on Criminal Mind. That was comforting.

-It's freaking cold here in Provo. It shocked me a little when I got back, if I'm being honest.

A Song That Makes Me Fall Asleep: Still, Still, Still

2010-12-19T20:58:00.001-08:00

Remember that time I started doing that music challenge thing? I know. I hardly do either. I think this post will be day 10 or something like that (in what's supposed to be 30 consecutive days), but I do what I want. This is my blog. Sometimes I blog about 4 times in one day because I feel like it and I think that posts that are totally unrelated should not be all shoved together just because they're on the same day (though posts don't have to have a single topic; some of my favorite posts to read are the ones that briefly address many things).

Anyway, back to the point. A song that makes me fall asleep. I like the song Still, Still, Still and I love Christmas music. This version of the song is from the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas piano solos book. Chris Doxey played this song (I think, forgive me if I'm wrong) at the ward Christmas musical fireside. He's extremely talented and I offered (mostly jokingly) to pay him to play lullabies for me so I can fall asleep. How great and peaceful is this song, though. I'll admit that most any soft piano solo will have me dozing (in a good way).

Lovely

2010-12-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

I already posted this on my Facebook a little earlier, but I loved it. It's quite intriguing/beautiful.

No, I'm not turning into an emo kid (unlike Steph...).

Sports Related

2010-12-19T20:44:00.001-08:00

You look like a homeless person...

Especially when you haven't shaved either. So here is a present for you.

Because as much as I hate to admit it and as much as Sarah will not be my friend again because I said this. You have the capacity to look pretty dang good.

But I still hate the Pats....

Go Colts!

Travel

2010-12-19T16:53:00.000-08:00

Confession: I judge people that look cute when they travel. I'm not talking about the people who can wear sweatpants and throw their hair in a knot and still manage to look lovely just because that person is a lovely person. I'm talking about the people who wear legitimate outfits and sometimes dresses and even high heels. Unless you are going somewhere/meeting someone immediately after you get off the plane, there's really no need for that. Just put on some sweats, wear last night's makeup, and be miserable with the rest of us.

Also, I'm home.

Christmas Cheer

2010-12-11T19:14:00.001-08:00

Aunt Chris posted this on her Facebook. I normally have a 1 minute limit for watching YouTube videos, but I loved this one. I hope you enjoy.

I Want to Go Home

2010-12-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

Apparently Gabe misses my dad (the kids call him Pops or Pop Pop). This morning he was sad so he wrote this letter. By the way they only live about 3 miles away.

Translation: "Gabriel haven't seen Pop Pop in two hundred years. From Gabriel."

Oh, and he's in kindergarten.

Love Triangles

2010-12-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Anyone that ever reads this blog ever knows that I love to read. I'll give pretty much anything a try at least once, but.... I hate reading about love triangles. I hate watching movies about love triangles. That's not to say that I don't like the books or movies or whatever in and of themselves, but love triangles stress me out.

It seems like no matter what happens in the story and even if it has a happy ending then somebody is left sad and I still have a little ache in my heart and I hate that. I like a clean happy ending or whatever, not a messy achy sad thing. That's for real life.

P.S. I don't normally like little anime type drawings, but this is the best I could find of the three of them all together, so whatevs.

The Dying of the Light

2010-12-03T10:27:00.001-08:00

I don't normally like poems, but I really loved this one when I read it in Matched.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rage at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-Dylan Thomas

Cookie Girl

2010-12-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

Cookie girls, oh cookie girls.
Definition: girls that deliver cookies (or other baked goods) to guys in hopes for increased attention.

Location: usually areas with a high density Mormon population.

Do you know any cookie girls? Have you ever been a cookie girl? What's have you given as a cookie girl? I actually want answers to this if you're willing. Details are awesome, but not required.

Caroline

2010-11-27T23:37:00.000-08:00

Meet Caroline.

She's Sarah's BFF.

She's been staying with me this week.

She's been a good sport.

She's been a great friend.

She hung out with me even when my friends are awkward.

She ate my food. I love when people eat my food.

She is unfailingly kind.

She leaves on a mission soon to Moscow, Russia. :) :(

I usually LOVE to have my apartment to myself, but I'm glad I've had the company this week.

Thanksgiving and Etc.

2010-11-26T22:52:00.000-08:00

Caroline and I are watching The Derby Stallion right now. It's awful. I'm not just saying that. It seems like a Lifetime movie that was made in 1993, not something that was made in 2005. Confession: Zac Efron is still attractive in this movie.

I wish I had a header for my blog. Maybe with some pictures or something with me and my friends or who knows, but I wish I had one.

I was lucky enough to have a great friend (Britt) offer me a place to go for Thanksgiving. At first I thought that maybe I would just stay home by myself and chill and possibly grab some Denny's for dinner. Then I realized that that would be supremely depressing and went to Britt's Mom's house with her and Kyle and her old roommate Nadia. Turned out to be such a fun time. It's so kind that there are people who will let other people invade on their family time for the holidays.

Caroline (she's been staying with me for the past couple days) went Black Friday shopping with me at midnight. It was crazy and she was such a good sport and I bought a tv online and some movies and a crockpot and a little food processor and it was awesome. I've also been doing some online shopping with the amazon.com deals and stuff.

I miss my family right now. They're crazy and obnoxious and irritating as all get out, but they're my family and I love and miss them.

Tomorrow is the Holy War. I'm SO pumped. I made two dozen chocolate peanut butter cupcakes (even though one dozen got eaten tonight) and two crockpots full of taco soup. Good football needs good food. Also, BYU basketball almost gave me a heart attack today, but we won and then I just had palpitations.