Monday, December 29, 2008

lazing around

so i've been on holiday. hooray. i don't know how people can do christmas without a decent holiday from work. i spent a couple days holed up at my mother's - horizontal snow was a bit intimidating. we watched dvds from the library - a couple of "i spy" and "lois and clark." i like tv on dvd. i did a bit of tatting. i really need to complete that piano runner i'm doing - i think i have another couple decades of work. i wish i had a hobby that produced faster - at least crocheting only took me 6 years to do an afghan. today, though, i was really lazy. i read all morning - finished "the memory keeper's daughter" - good but can't say i recommend it. i think it just left me all nostalgic and sad - not sure i needed to feel all that - i get nostalgic and sad without reading a made up story. then i finally dragged myself out of the house to do some errands for work - took a lot less time than i thought - hooray! so i let myself visit a pregnant friend for a good hour. i helped her bake a chocolate cake - yum! then i came home and made a broccoli dish as posted by good cindy and hoping to make a prune cake as posted by the good pioneer woman. i love cooking. i wish i were a stay at home mom - then i could cook and clean and maybe even read to my heart's content. i can't say i'm looking forward to next monday - there's still plenty of playing left in me! i have about two other books i still need to read!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

2008

inspired by my good friends the flynns i thought i'd try a little "year in review" with photos. we'll see how much i can actually document!

i began my year by attending the symphony. i love the symphony. i got to go again in the fall. i am lucky. i'm sure january had other events, just apparently none that i documented!
in february i went on my annual women of the world whirl wind tour with plewe and kristin. we enjoyed the comforts of staying in a retirement community, vista del sol. it was nice to be in the land of sol.

march brought more good bonding with friends. there was the annual ski and bbq at solitude. nothing like a bit of snow and sun to say spring.
march is also the time of year to celebrate the birth of my good roommate. we enjoyed dinner and then a bit of u2 at the gateway. here we're kicking it on the ride down the elevator at the planetarium where we saw laser u2

in april i decided to lead a bunch of friends to the spiral jetty - one of my long time favorite destinations. it's full of melancholy for me and i wanted to see if another trip with different people might change my feelings - i don't think it did. but it was a great fun outing.
april also gave me the opportunity to gather with some friends for some music and the spoken word at easter. i like this photo - makes me think we're ready to win a round of family feud.
i believe april is also when jubi graduated from the u which meant another fun party with good people. (i'm noting the events i found photos for - just so you know.)

at the end of may (memorial day to be exact) i hooked up with family to visit dad's grave. it seemed the thing to do. mom was good enough to come with us and take a photoschool got out about a week later and that very day i headed south with good friends to visit fruita - a.k.a. capitol reef national park. it's a great destination!
it allowed for some mild hiking and more intense stuff for the other people.

with school officially over i had the fun opportunity of teaching summer school with a short break of visiting dc in between sessions. my sister's family lives there and my other sister's family was visiting - so i got two for the price of one. here i'm hanging with the nieces and nephews after a long day of lots of walking.
and then there is a big gap in photos to share. i spent most of july home scrapbooking. i had a big black boot on my foot - i'm sure my faithful readers remember the photos and don't need to see them again. here's a photo of my graduating class at a pep rally - i basically scrapbooked my entire life from birth to the year 2000. this christmas break i had great dreams of doing the last 8 years, but i have a hard time believing that will really happen.

july was also about the time i renewed my goal of weekly temple attendance, please overlook the fact that this photo was taken around christmas.
then in august i had a birthday! lucky for me lots of friends gathered together to celebrate with me. we had great food and great entertainment - all my favorite things!
right before school started i took a trip to cedar city where i got a tattoo. just a temporary one, though. mark did the purchasing for me. the end of august also meant a trip to lava hotsprings - but i have no photos to document that good time.
hurricane (near cedar city) has a whole lot of great things to see, like this 100 year old fruit cake.
september was full of celebrating. here i am with chris celebrating the engagement of plewe and dennis.
this photo comes from the wedding shower i helped host for plewe. she is thrilled with her traditional gift of lingerie specially designed by danielle and company.

in early october my granny came for a couple weeks to escape the lack of electricity in her home as a result of hurrican ike. this photo was taken on conference weekend.
after sepetember comes my favorite month - october! which means my biggest party all year - halloween! you can possibly infer my political leanings based on the photo below. besides celebrating halloween, i was also excited about the election in november.
these are my fellow hostesses - there's no party throwing without their help!
in november i took a trip to see my good sister and her family in california. i have no photo of the opera that was the purpose of my trip, but this shot of my nephews shows how much fun they are to visit.

december meant more parties. the ward party was all about friends and music and food and being entertained. i got to play the jingle bells while my piano playing buddies did a duet of sleigh ride on the piano. too bad i don't have a photo of that.

and that my friends is 2008, minus about a week or more. i can't say much will happen before it's all over so this is a fine stopping place. please excuse any redudancy in my stories, or stealing of photos that you may have taken and i likely copied to my own my computer. photo sharing has never been easier.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Look!

I got a new niece last night - at 11:59! I got to "tend" the older brother which meant I slept at my mother's house in the room next to his. Easy and fun for me.

Friday, December 19, 2008

gifts

sometimes receiving gifts from students is rather awkward. today, after handing out my usual "holiday cards" to my reading students, one girl approached me afterward asking if i liked fragrances. then she proceeded to give me three different bath and body products - all different flavors because, as she said, she didn't know what one i'd like. that was only a bit awkward because it was way more than i needed or deserved, but the most awkward part was when a boy standing nearby (who has some major social challenges) insisted he would bring me a gift too and asked what i liked. i kept saying i was fine and didn't need anything - just wanted him to be on time to class, blah blah. he kept offering jewelry and candy, and i finally insisted he could just write me a nice note, like what i gave. so he left promising me he'd write a poem over the holiday break. did i mention he's only been in my class less than two weeks?
now i smell like wild honeysuckle. :)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

stress

snow does little to make for a pleasantly relaxed school day. it doesn't help that the snow made my photographer an hour late, thus missing two groups that were scheduled during first period. such is life - nothing can be done about it - but my preferred solution didn't appeal to the principal and she didn't offer a viable solution of her own, so i've spent the last 10 minutes doing a bit of fuming and reminding myself the world won't end and in a few months i probably won't notice or care. that's what stress is - good for nothing in the long run. what would help me feel better is getting some lesson plans made for the post holiday weeks.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Remains of the day

This plate was full half an hour ago.

cookies!


it's that time of year when cookies come flowing. yum! i got my first plate today from a yearbook student - my favorite chocolate chip oatmeal. happiness is in a cookie. my sister sent this photo of my niece. they made gingerbread men. too cute to not share. speaking of gingerbread men... my other sister in california who has 6 home schooled kids that eat home cooked food and wear home made clothes, was baking some gingerbread men this weekend as well. the neighbor kid was over and utterly amazed that people could actually make them at home. she was thrilled to decorate her own and take it home. sometimes i forget how limited people's experiences are.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

happy stories

today i started out my reading class by asking them for happy stories. do you know what i got? i guess it was no different than "good news minutes" in relief society. i got "my bday is in a week." i also got "i lost 2 pounds." they tried. i think it is unfortunate that more rejoicing doesn't come immediatly to mind when given the chance to share some happy stories. so now i think it's fair for me to come up with a happy story.

school is out the end of next week. on that following saturday i get to tend my nephew while my sister gives birth to a new niece. i will be making walnut shrimp for her - she loves it (who doesn't) and i want to try a new recipe i got from my good uncle at thanksgiving. then later that evening i get to attend a gathering of my old friends - the ones that might as well be family for how well they know me and the pain i've been to them over the years. i sure like those people. as for something more immediate - well i have banana cream pie waiting for me at home. yum! and leftover chinese food. can it get better? food sure does rank high for me on the level of happy stories.

how about the rest of you? any happy stories to get over the hump day?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

scary

on my way to work this morning i nearly hit someone in the crosswalk. granted, she was crossing when the light was green - so she wasn't exactly in the right - but that wouldn't have mattered if i'd hit her. there were two trucks stopped in the left lane, but the car in my lane, on the right was turning right - i assumed the trucks just hadn't yet gotten rolling. as i was practically five feet from being in the intersection i noticed the waddling woman entering my lane - i had to swerve a bit to be sure to miss her. for a second i thought about braking but that may have only caused more problems. dark cold mornings don't make for ideal driving conditions.

Monday, December 8, 2008

choose the right

i know - it's not like me to blog so much. i had some down time - i'm like a pendulum. plus, i'm up, the computer is on, and i just watched the funniest clip - i had to share. my niece learned "jingle bells" last christmas. she's about 3 i think. maybe 4? sheesh time flies - i think her bday is in may. anyway, she was singing the song, and as children often do, she substituted different words by accident. in the clip she's bouncing up and down singing "jingle bells jingle bells, oh what fun, it is choose the right, in one horse open sleigh." technically, she may not be right, but shouldn't it be fun to choose the right? i think i can work this into my visiting teaching message for tomorrow night. we'll see!

Snow

I like the season, and I like snow, but I don't like driving in snow. Oh please, snow go away by 7 pm tonight. I know - kinda late - it's that time of year again - parent teacher conferences! Wahoo! Try not to be jealous. I expect to have a decent crowd, though, because I seem to have given a few unpleasant grades this term. Such is the nature of second term - the enthusiasm really drops. To help third term be more excited I give an assignment at the very start where the students have to persuade me they deserve an A at the end of the term - part persuasive and part visual. Good things for a 10th grader to do.

Now off to track down a copy of Julius Caesar - starring Charlton Heston. I hear the kids love it. Okay, they love it compared to reading the play.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Celebrating the holiday

So far i'm loving december. I just returned from seeing a dance version of "it's a wonderful life." i'll agree, life is wonderful - even with all its tangles. :) I am grateful for every single one. When I came in I saw my december ensign sitting on my bed. Even though it's late I chose to read an article about a man whose life was changed because his classmate opened up to him and shared something of value. I love courage and I love when people courageously show their love for others. I am grateful for the immense amount of love i've felt this year. I can't begin to find words to describe the pure joy I feel. But then I remembered this photo I took earlier. I took it so I could share the hilarity of it on my blog, but the truth is - I love the genuine spirit of the happy waving smiling snowman. He's crammed under a low ceiling and yet it doesn't stop him from waving. He's giving it his all. He's a good example of spreading joy.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Leftovers

You know how leftovers make for a great dinner the rest of the week? Well that's true if leftovers consist of more than christmas goodies. Tonight I had mexican wedding cakes and english toffee for my dinner. To be healthy I topped it off with leftover stawberry/cranberry jello stuff left over from t-day. At least i'm getting to bed before 10:30!!! Did I mention that my wakeup time weekdays is 5? Yep.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Music and more

Tonight I hosted (with the total help of super friends) a little christmas party. I wanted it to be open house pop in and chat while eating treats sort of thing. But I also wanted a short musical recital - like back in the day when they'd have a bit of music by the women who "played." I also wanted it to be a sort of service project. So... I invited people to bring canned goods for the food bank. They could show up any time between 7:30 and 8. I had probably a dozen different treats set out. Then at 8 I stopped the chatting and introduced our musical program. Luckily I have very talented friends. We had a piano duet, piano solos, a guitar/vocal number, little german numbers on the accordion and then a couple beautiful trumpet solos. Then to finish it off we all sang a couple christmas songs accompanied by the piano and trumpet. After the music there was another good half hour to hour of chit chat. It was a complete success. I love seeing so many people gathered together and enjoying themselves. Plus they all said it was a good holiday mood building activity. And as a bonus for me I have my decorations up to last the month and a ton of cookies left over that I can give to the neighbors as a holiday gift. Did I mention how much I enjoyed myself? Well I did. Now I must sleep. I have really good friends. I only wish more could have been invited and been able to come.

Monday, December 1, 2008

ow

man, some days are really bad. and some days, you think things are really bad and then you get a good slap in the face and you resort to blogging, which solves nothing, only procrastinates a bit. it's a monday after a holiday - i stayed up a bit too late, was a bit too emotional, and here i am at school (finally on prep) only now i'm facing midterm grades, and doing final proofs for my yearbook job. i'm new to this yearbook thing and every new step feels like a major mountain. i can't tell you how much faith i have to exercise - life would be so much easier if we just gave up at the first sign of difficulty. wait, that can't be true. we like to think it would be so much easier, but i know in the end it only gets harder. for instance, our school recently had a break-in/theft. we just learned that the perpetrator is a former student that failed to graduate. as my students pointed out, being a high school drop out can only lead to a life of desperation. i'm sure dropping out of whatever challenge you face probably will have similar repercussions. anyway, for how whiny i was feeling and trying to make myself stand up and be a woman, i just learned that the single mother of a couple students here just passed away. now that is humbling. that gives me a fresh perspective on the mountain i face. i'm sorry to have whined. i'm sorry i wasted a minute feeling inadequate and scared.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

holiday fun

okay, it's been too long since i posted. and i just realized i had a repost of "sightings" by accident - so i took it off. anyway, i thought i'd share one of my favorite parts of the holiday. i woke up feeling a bit under the weather and dragged around most of the day with a nap after dinner, so i can't say i really enjoyed the day. but near the close, right before the cousins started leaving, we put a dvd in of andrew goldsworthy and his art. can i just say amazing? i was impressed with how mesmerized my 9 year old nephew was. you should check him out!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Opera souvenir

The fourth annual suggs' opera is over. Wish I could remember the name - something about the invention of the horseless chariot - but I got a souvenir! One of the horseless chariots is powered by rats. They have glow in the dark eyes! It was reportedly their funniest opera yet. My normally silent 15 year old nephew sang a figarro solo. The 13 year old niece was head seamstress. Between all 6 of them they managed to fill over an hour with pure musical and dramatic entertainment. They come up with a basic premise - this year they wanted to feature latin so it was set in ancient roman days. Then they outline a plot and then listen to hours of classical music to try and find the perfect song for the intended scene. Then they manage to write words to match the songs to tell their story. Then they make scenery and costumes and props - mostly using fabric and paper and other junk lying around. The 17 year old niece is head director. For her birthday this year the other kids got together to buy her black fabric for the backdrop - talk about a happy birthday! Anyway, I came here to see the opera, my job is now done. Sorry I have no action photos - I was busy manning their real camera during the show so I was unable to break out my cell phone. I head back to the great slc in the manana. See you at church!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Croissants

Maybe you could already tell from the photo, but leggo makes some pretty unique pieces these days. My nephews are major leggo fans and they received a special order today - a set of croissants!
It was a special day in other ways too. I slept in. I had amazing homemade bread at every meal. Dinner's main course was a salad bar - I had seconds. In the afternoon my sister and I attended the sacramento temple where I learned a new word for socks: scuffies. In the morning, along with the home schooling club, I attended a little christmas carol play - pretty well done for such a small theater. And speaking of talent, this evening I attended the fourth annual opera performed by the suggs children (my nieces and nephews). It was my first chance to see one of their operas live. It was exceptional! moral of the story: pizza is king. And now...i'm going to bed and it says 9:30 - and it's a friday night! Holidays are great!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Vegas

Oh the pain of sitting in vegas' airport. The painfully repetitive noise of slot machines brings me to tears. Or maybe it's just my yawning. My seat mate from slc was a bit wired and chatty but fun - at least for the short time the flight lasted. He kept reminding me that for only $20 more I could have had a direct flight and skipped vegas. He's right. that's what happens when you make spontaneous travel decisions.

Security

Funny about the title. For the last few days i've debated posting some negative thoughts on fhe and how it left me feeling threatened. Something about dancing and strangers makes me feel nervous. It didn't help that I made a scene in the lobby on sunday because some guy wouldn't let go of my hand. But I had decided it wasn't good to be negative and since it was days ago it didn't seem blog worthy. In fact on tuesday I wore my pink shirt with fancy designs that I bought after a breakup years ago to help me counter my sad feelings with happy love centered ones. I wanted to exude love and that shirt always reminds me to. Silly, I know.
But back to security. I am at the airport waiting to fly to see my sister and her brood - it's the weekend for their annual opera performance. When I go to the airport I like to bring snacks and a water bottle. I always drink the water while in the security line so I can refill in the water fountain. Tonight the line was so short I totally forgot to drink it. I got stopped. They wanted to confiscate my water. To keep the empty bottle I had to walk back out (escorted) and drink or dump the water and go back through security. I spilled a bit on myself (it was a short line - I had to hurry) and they said things like "that was fast" and "you again" but I have my water bottle and I can say I am secure!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Breakfast

There was a time I had a boyfriend who lived in california. One way we "dated" was to make breakfast together. We both liked cooking and then we could chat while we ate and it gave us something to share. It was nice. He was a good man and I appreciate his efforts. He is now happily married and everything I know about his wife I love. She is more perfect for him than I could ever dream. When he and I stopped dating I missed having someone with whom to share life's random moments, so I started this blog. I had enough long distance friends that were also bloggers that I figured I could start sharing my random stories here and all my blogging friends would enjoy (or at least read) them.
Anyway, that was a lot more than i'd intended to share. Really all I wanted to say was that I made breakfast this morning with plewe! Now that she's married and living closer we try to go walking on saturday mornings. Today I suggested we walk to walmart. I know - i'm mostly anti-walmart but it's the closest grocery within walking distance and I like being able to walk to the grocery and the asian market (a touch closer) just lacks the variety. So at walmart we purchased some pears and camambert (sp?) cheese. We sliced them and put them on pancakes - oh so delicious! It was a great walk and breakfast! Hooray for friends and food!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Watching

That dinosaur eye in my parking lot is still there. I just needed to leave work during daylight to notice it.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

celery


i love it. i think it's my favorite vegetable. when it's good. just this morning i read a short article in the ny times about how it's good for you and you should use it. they gave a recipe that involved mushrooms and celery and a lemon vinagrette. sounded great! i generally just eat mine plain or dipped in hummus or spreadable cheese. i have some in the lunch box right now waiting for me.

Monday, November 10, 2008

crazy

sometimes i get all spastic and do crazy things like deciding to go on trips at the last minute instead of planning them far in advance. in fact, i can't remember the last time i actually planned a trip in advance. lately i just get an idea and do it. last week i decided it would be fun to take a road trip to sacramento the weekend BEFORE thanksgiving. that's the really crazy part. if i wanted a trip why didn't i wait until i naturally had some time off? because then it wouldn't be as fun and exciting! i really enjoy being on holiday knowing i have a sub. since i couldn't find a driving buddy (and i'm not allowed to drive long distances alone due to my sleep tendencies) i decided to see how much airplane tickets were. and guess what - they were cheap! so if anyone needs me next weekend (not the coming one - that would really be crazy) i'll be in sacramento. i'll be watching my nieces and nephew's latest opera. wish i could remember what it's called but it has to do with greeks or romans i think. i'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

elections!

http://berkeleycarroll.org/news/detail.asp?pageaction=ViewSinglePublic&LinkID=3614&ModuleID=183
my brother sent me this link. too good to not share. he voted nader i think, but i'm sure it's due to my influence over the years. he's a good brother. he introduced me to that movie about nader that made me want to live a more noble life.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Perfect fall outing

Yesterday my friend vanya and I went to snowbird for lunch. It was grand! Delicious food, good conversation, and then an easy hike/walk up to a lookout where we could see the valley far away. Vanya leaves me soon so it was a nice outing one on one. I already miss him. I've enjoyed sharing my family and friends with him - he likes people and likes to learn and likes to quote the simpsons. He's a good example to me of kindness and being easy going. He can get along with nearly anyone. He's a good son and brother and I appreciate it when he takes care of me. He's younger but he often fills the role of the older brother I never had. Thanks for a nice afternoon vanya!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

thank you all!


i was going to title this post "tired," but then i decided i felt more grateful than tired. last night around midnight i wrapped up another successful halloween party. i LOVE my halloween parties because they always remind me of how blessed i am with good people in my life. when people complimented me on my great decorations and how much work it must have been i happily tell them that good mark and lynn came over last saturday to hang lights and how danielle and cindy came to help hang cobwebs and how allison tonya tricia loren annette and leanne all helped with food. not to mention the good roommate that totally makes it possible! there's no way the house would be clean today if it weren't for her. oh, and of course, all the people that came and had fun! there's no party if there are no people. sure i was up until 2, sure i had a creep insult me at the end, sure i had leaves all over the floors, sure i had empty cups strewn in the strangest places, but what a blast it was. hooray for good people who make a party a party. oh, and of course, thanks to kristen for being the first to post photos making it an official party to remember.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween prep

Tonight danielle and cindy came over to help with decorating for the big annual halloween party tomorrow night. We hung cobwebs mostly. Luckily the boys did lights for us last saturday. Once the rooms were done we frosted cupcakes - orange and black. What you see on my hand is not really a bruise, but rather the remains of professional grade food coloring. I think it will be gone by tomorrow night. But what i'm really nervous about sporting all day tomorrow are the tiny braids all over my head. I need super big kinky hair to properly look like sigourney weaver's zuul character in ghostbusters. Here's hoping my plan works!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

For kristin

Can you guess what was in the cup? Plewe and I ran some pre-halloween errands and got talking so we hit the a.c. Yum! Nothing like a super limey squeezie to complement corn dog bites and sweet potato fries and a complimentary ice cream bite. Plewe had to finish mine, though. Too much carbonation. Wish you were here - we even brainstormed some wwww tour destinations. How does wendover sound? winnemucka any better? There's always lava again. The motel with giant sized tubs has been remodeled - fancy rooms now!

Pajamas and halloween

Last night for fhe the ward had a fun party where we all showed up in pj's. It's not often I get to wear my super great red night shirt so I jumped at the chance - and i'm happy to say I was a hit. The overall party was pretty great too. We had a "cupcake walk," traditional fishing with a pole and string and clothespin, donut eating contest (i was a fourth of an inch from winning), getting to know you bingo (which I failed to play), gross things to touch through a hole in a black sheet, and apple dunking - which I totally did well in! Okay, that's my sum up. Wish you were there!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Sightings

This week I couldn't help but notice all the stunning sights around me. The canyons are covered in a lush red and gold. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to drive up big cottonwood for a relief society retreat - heaven I say. Today on my evening walk through the neighborhood I thrilled to walk by unraked homes and feel the lightness of leaves crunching under my feet. I passed by a man and boy in the street tossing a football between them while being sprinkled by a constant breeze of leaves. It was a movie moment. Memories of my first year at byu, discovering, it seemed, fall for the first time. I knew I was in heaven - until it was time to go to class.
In other sightings, I was shocked to spot, or as I felt, to be spotted by, this red dinosaur seemingly peeking through the asphalt of my parking lot at school. I had to take a photo as proof.
Hooray for fall!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

cookie update

this is for mike... i went to the office. they had a plate of no-bakes. i took one. it was good.

this and that

despite my love of mobile blogging it seems when i think of something to blog about i forget to ever get around to blogging it and then i can't remember so i figure it wasn't worth sharing anyway, but isn't that the whole point of blogging - just sharing stuff to share? i know it's one of the main reasons i have a blog.
so.... let's see if i can think of any thoughts i've had lately. last night was ward temple. i sure enjoyed myself as it was the session for asl patrons. i'm wishing i knew asl - i'd love to be able to share that talent - but first it would take work to learn and that i can't say i'd necessarily love to do. but back to the temple session - having asl helped me stay more focused and attentive, i liked that. i also liked that the session was so full! it's a great feeling knowing that so many people are all gathered together to do service and worship in unison. i ran into a couple old friends and that was a bonus.
being back from holiday hasn't been easy. i've been busy working like a dog - and when i'm not working i'm just as busy it seems. luckily the temple is a relaxing "not busy" sort of busy. but tonight, since i'll be home before dark, i hope to get more chestnuts gathered out of my front yard and sidewalk - what a pain they are. it took me about 2 hours of work last week and now i have to do it again. i also want to walk to the library tonight and stop by a little wig store on the way home - i still need to finalize some halloween costume plans. sigourney weaver from ghostbusters, or sarah palin? hair for both is a bit overwhelming to me, but the outfit is all set for sarah palin. in the end i'll probably just go as her - i have to wear my republican buttons!
the teacher next door to me has shown movies for the last week or two. i enjoy the sound track for some, but i'm starting to get annoyed. the walls at my school were designed to be mobile so they're just thick cardboard, really. they let sound through like no other. it's hard to read or discuss anything with movie noises blaring through. plus it makes my kids jealous that i'm not showing a movie. or maybe it just makes me jealous that i'm not watching a movie.
i subscribe to byu's job listing by email. not sure why. but yesterday i saw advertised a position that i used to dream of having - a resident hall supervisor. i sort of already had the job, but it was different. this one would have me living in the hall, with the students, free room and board. how fun would that be? really, in a way, it's my dream job. i'm still a bit tempted. but provo is far away and that life even further. this is where i am now. i will work on loving and embracing it and calling it my dream. i think it is. at least close enough.
and now i think i'm done.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

I said pump it up

And I meant to attach this photo so you could see what I meant. Sorry left it off. I know my loyal fans were worried. For a split second.

Pump it up

So i'm hanging with dan's short guys. I should mention that last night for fun we attended a football game. Unfortunately the opposing team is like #4 in the region and we kind of lost. Tonight the helmet needed pumping up. Have you ever heard of such a thing? News to me. Here are the men of the family pumping up the helmet. Sadly right after taking this photo the needle got stuck - thought it was broken for good.

In-n-out

this was a day of good food! Eggs and english muffins pretemple, toasted cheese prezoo, swirly cone midzoo, and then in-n-out post zoo. Let's just say I brushed my teeth to prevent further fattening. here's dan and her parents. Burgers are good.

Skyfari

The san diego zoo seems to straddle a canyon. Or gully? Either way we had to walk downhill and then uphill. So at the end of the uphill we opted to take the skyfari back to the beginning. Great view! I took a shot of the big church dome thing in balboa park just as a plane was flying by - sorry it doesn't show up better. We also took the tour bus - that's the way to see the zoo I say. It was quite the full afternoon.

Zoo

Apparently when you go to the zoo you must take a photo of flamingos. Here they are. I also took a photo of a koala. Can you tell? It's there. They were eating leaves. We saw lots of good animals. We also walked down the bus route and got stopped by security. Oops. we also ate swirly cones - deliciousness.

Fandango

Yum! Too bad I have no photos. But last night we enjoyed beans and enchiladas in old town. A super cool bonus was the singing trio. Oh I loved them. Dan's dad asked them to play the most romantic song they knew. It just so happened they played perfidia - the one song my father used to sing - beautiful - I had just told the table about it too. It was a perfect night.

San diego temple

This morning dan and I hit the temple. This is me modeling my new purse. The cool thing - besides my new purse - was that the name giver in the temple was an old friend from roosevelt days. Then the veil coodinator knew dan because she's in dan's brother's ward and knows our good friend rachel who used to live here. so the whole temple experience was pretty exciting. Don't you like my new purse?

Friday, October 17, 2008

Midway

Here 's a photo of the midway. Famous from wwii. unfortuntely, I failed to document the bob hope memorial. But luckily dan got some photos - maybe in a couple months she'll blog them.

Lovin' san diego

So dan and I arrived safely in the s.d. It's beautiful and warm here. In fact, as I blog, i'm sitting at a high school football game grateful for the shade. We began our adventure by visiting the marina and naval yards. Somebody recently decided the "greatest generation" needed some honoring so they built a monster sized version of the famous kiss on v-day.

Monday, October 13, 2008

body worlds

friday i attended the bodyworlds 3 show at the leonardo. oh my. it is a trip. a long hot trip - luckily they brought in some fans. i was in the blood room - having just read about how bad smoking is for the lungs and i thought i was ready to pass out. i'd only been there an hour but my brain was already full of stuff and the crowds were getting to me. i just wanted water. trouble was, i knew if i rushed through it i'd regret it since it cost 20 bucks to go and there's no turning around. but you know what they say about marathons - how it gets easier about half way through (someone must say that) - well, this was similar. i thought i was going to die, but then eventually, finally, it got easier and i kept going. i finally found some water, and i finally found a place to sit, but i managed to last anouther hour and a half and still read every possible sign i could find. it's worth it. you should go. it wasn't gross necessarily, it was just really interesting. science meets art sort of thing. i did get a bit sad in spots when things would remind me of dad. funny how i still find myself having sad flashes. i guess that's inevitable. but anyway, go - you might learn something!
sorry no photos - they were pretty insistent.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Water

This post is dedicated to dan. When we eat out she tends to warn me when i've drunk too much. Well the other night, when she wasn't around, at the oh so delicious bombay house, I chose to not finish my water. I took a photo to document the moment. I really didn't want anymore and I didn't want to over do it.
Unfortunately, we kept visiting and a bit later I noticed my glass was empty. Oops. So I decided I might as well finish off the pitcher. I was feeling better by then, anyway, so no pain ensued.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Best fun ever

Now don't be jealous, but for tonigt and tomorrow I get to sit in the school cafeteria for four hours and wait for parents to come visit me to talk about their little darlings. Needless to say I already have a headache.

Not for the sensitive! (like lynn)

Call me sick but I just had to post this horrible bruise on my grandma's arm. You'll laug when you hear how she got it. She fell out of bed! She's been staying at my mom's the last few weeks due to hurricane ike taking out her power. I guess mom's bed is higher and granny slept too close to the edge one night. She says the meds she's on probably made the bruise worse than it should be. The really weird thing is that she hit the night table and yet managed to not hit her head or face in anyway - the part of her that should have been closest to the table.