my 2009 welcome party plans

i made some killer new year's eve plans. i'm going to detroit to the barenaked ladies concert, because they are my favorite. lucky for me, katie and shawn just happen to live near detroit (thanks guys!) otherwise it would have been out of the question. it's the first time ever that i've had really cool new year's eve plans. i'm flying half way across the country to go to a concert. which begs the question, when did i become the person that will fly somewhere for just two nights for the sole purpose of going to a concert (and visiting my sister)? only cool people do that, and i'm still very much a nerd at heart. who do i think i am trying to be one of the cool kids? i don't know, but i do know that i am so very excited to see bnl for the first time in 2 years and i'm doing it for new year's eve. i'm going alone, but like i told julia, at least i know that i'll be among kindred spirits. what better way to ring in the new year? (well, it'd be better if julia could come too, but jobs just put a kink in your travel plans.)

bored

i'm gonna be honest. i'm pretty much bored with the blog thing right now. plus, i don't have anything good to say. so whatever. i'm still undecided about what that means for me and my chronicles. just wanted to put that out there.

in memoriam

today i got the sad news that my mission president's wife passed away this weekend. It was about a year ago that they found out that she had a terminal malignant brain tumor, so it was only a matter of time, really. This is a picture of myself with the Smocks at our last temple trip before they finished their mission. It was taken on 16 Jun 2005, for all of you who are wondering. Her funeral is on Wednesday, so i'll be headed off to attend that before I head home for the holidays. So this Thanksgiving, in addition to all of the other stuff i'm thankful for, i'll also be giving thanks for the opportunity to know this woman who loved the Lord with all of her heart and who also loved us as missionaries in spite of the all of the really dumb things that we did.

(to read more about Brenda Smock, click here.)

nothing much to celebrate

it's just my 100th post. and i've been putting it off because i wanted to be one of those super cool bloggers that does some fancy contest to commemorate such events. but i'm not cool like that because i came up with absolutely nothing. so whatever. but there's nothing like a contest to bring readers out of the woodwork. still, i'm not doing a contest today. unless someone wants to win the chance to come to my house and do the research for my presentation in class on monday. instead, i'm going to entertain you with some fancy pictures from my hours at sarah's house yesterday. because let's face it: her kids are pretty darn cute.

here's cowboy emery

i think this was the best one of the day. you can see how much evan adores me :)

they're getting so big! and they love cars.

marlee is rolly-polly and adorable

chubby cheeks and very blue eyes

mission story # 639

yay for mission stories!

today i was checking out msn and saw a headline about theives being caught stealing while trying to stuff 12 stolen pigs into a minivan. i, of course, failed to act immediately on this post, so i don't have a link for you to read. you don't have to say it. i know you're all sad. especially laura.

i know you're all probably wondering how this could possibly remind me of my mission. it should remind me of the time when i was in high school that we crammed 21 screaming teenagers into the bed of a farm truck and then spent the better part of an hour dragging main. or all of those stories about seeing how many people you can cram into a phone booth or a volkswagen beetle. but no.

it's really the transporting of pigs that set off this particular memory. and it's a short one, so i've filled the rest of this post with idle comments in an attempt to entertain the whole world. so the story is that one day when i was in my first area, which was a really rural area, we were on the bus on our way to district meetings. we had to pass through the bus station there in quevedo, and in doing so, passed many other buses being loaded with people and whatever else. the "whatever else" this particular day was a pig. there were 3 men trying to put a pig on top of the bus, because apparently only chickens are allowed to ride as passengers. pigs fall strictly under the "luggage" catergory, thus being relegated to the top of the bus. oh, for a camera at that very moment. i, being the only north american in the bunch, was the only person to find any humor at all in this situation. sad, i know. that's why i'm sharing the story with you now so that you can laugh out loud and maybe even start rolling on the floor at the visual imagery i've just created for you.

(for more fun with visual imagery, see this post from last february.)

eeeewwww!!!

that's the first thing i said this morning when i looked out my bathroom window and saw it was snowing. it's also the first thing i said last night when i saw the channel 5 weatherman wearing his white blazer. it's been snowing all day, which means that i also have to start wearing appropriate footwear.

one more thing that snow means is footwear that make me say "eeeewww". here are some examples.

i saw some like this (only with more fur) on one of my students today. they were the inspiration for this post.

these ones are especially bad, i think. it looks like someone turned that pesky neighborhood porcupine into a fancy pair of leg warmers. which if fine, i guess, since the terrible fashion trends of the 80s are making a raging comeback. with a horrendous 21st century twist, that is.

then there's these ones by a company called UGG, which in my book is just short for ugg-ly. they're from australia, and i've tried to blame my australian roommate for them, but she hates them as much as i do. i'm so glad she has some fashion sense and is not sucked into the world of icky winter footwear.

for better or worse, it looks like winter is here to stay. for today at least.

halloween movie

here's a little video of my halloween escapades. if you're wondering who all of my fabulous friends are, hang tight til the end of the video for the credits.

space debris

i was just reading a little article from my desktop news feed and this one struck me as quite funny. really, it's the last line that's the kicker. i laughed out loud. you'll just have to read it to see what i mean.

early voting

i voted today. it's funny to think about it, but this is only the second time that i've been able to vote for president. i was on the mish in 2004, so i missed that whole thing. still couldn't tell you what happened. except that bush won. anyway, i just went to the early voting station they had set up here on campus, which was nice and convenient. i didn't know what the hours of operation were, so i ventured over to the union just before 11am. on the way there i noticed the signs saying that they were open from 12-5. i decided to just go back to my office to wait until noon. and then i changed my mind. i had a book with me because i heard that the lines were long, so i figured i could wait at the union just as easily as in my office, so i just went and got in line an hour before the polling started. and boy am i glad i did. there were already about 5 people waiting in line on nice hard folding chairs. so i joined them and began reading all about islam and the secular state. it wouldn't be bad if the author weren't so darn repetitive. anyway. soon, my hour had passed and they started taking us in to vote. then, and only then, i looked back at the line. i had heard it was long, but wow, it was really really long. i looked all the way down the long hallway and couldn't see the end of the line because it wrapped around the corner and out into the cafeteria area. so it turned out that my initial decision to sit in the hallway on a hard, cold chair was a really good one. not only was i headed back to my office at 12:10, but i also got to spend my hour-long wait seated rather than standing. i feel all warm and fuzzy now that i've done my civic duty and put my two cents in on this one.

in other bigger, potentially more exciting news, today is halloween, and i promise to post some pics this weekend of the fun times i've had this week in my most fabulous costume. it just keeps getting better and better. two more parties tonight, so it'll be a good time, i tell ya what.

ode to my office

from time to time, as my readers may know, i like to write odes to things that i really like. like slurpees and tide to go pens. today is the ode to my office, in which i've been passing much time for the past couple of months.

This is the horizontal view of the office. or at least my half of it. it's not very wide. the opposite wall is just past the door jamb.

this is the vertical view. i like how i have books on the bookshelves now, even if i borrowed all of them from the library. but not for the photo shoot. i'm actually reading them. also seen here is my black wheeled office chair which is in serious need of some extra padding on the seat.

these are my office magnets. this is not all of them, but it's all that would fit in the picture. of course, i could have moved them to all fit in the shot, but that would have been too hard.

this here is the only decoration i have on the wall. it's a university directory from 1972. it was found last fall when huseyin's desk wouldn't open, so someone from the shop came and broke the lock off and then found a bunch of really old stuff in the very back of the desk. also found were some interoffice envelopes last used in 1964. not even kidding.

this is the view from our window. it's fabulous i know. our side of the building faces full west, so it gets a little toasty in the afternoons, even in the winter. this is the beginning of the panorama that i took for your benefit. this is looking northwest. on a less air-poluted day, you can kinda see downtown SLC between the two trees there.

a little less north west. if the trees weren't there, you could see the marriott library, which is the 23rd largest library in the US, just in case you care.

a little more south west-ish. if these trees weren't there, you could see the social and behavioral science building, which is the tallest building on campus. not taller than these trees, though.

this is mostly the roof, as you can see, and the view off the the south. if not for the trees, you could see the business building. i've often been tempted to crawl out onto the roof, but never have. i've heard that it's nice. there is always the question of actually being able to fit out the window. . . best not try it. too many questions if i have to call for help.

these are all the things that i like about my office. and i also like my new officemate Monica. she's from the czech republic, and has offered me a job painting houses with her and her husband next summer if i can't find a job and move away from utah. she has her masters, a partially finished mba, and is working on her phd. her husband has 2 master's degrees. between the three of us, we could very well be the most educated house painters ever. anyway. my office is nice because i can treat school like a job and feel all important because i have some private place down a very dim and narrow hallway where i can study and get important school stuff done. sometimes. regardless of my level of productivity on any given day, i love my office.

drunken pumpkins

a few weeks ago my mom sent me an email with the following picture, encouraging all to drink responsibly during the holidays. although if it had been more than just a forward it would have said something like, "see what happens when you drink. you shouldn't drink at all." now that's some good motherly advice.


anyway, i told julia about the email and decided that we should take it upon ourselves to recreate this lovely pumpkin scene. one lovely thursday night before the office came on, we had a little carving party in my dining room, which resulted in these lovely creations. they are faces only a mother could love, i'm sure.

jon came over and wouldn't carve pumpkins with us (jerk) but instead was the artistic direction for the evening. and rightfully so. he did a pretty good job and was kind enough to help fix our screw ups after telling us that we really shouldn't carve specific designs freehand.

so to show our appreciation, we arranged our new creations on his front porch, along with some root beer bottles since the real beer bottles i'd been hoarding since my roommate's last party somehow made their way out to the recycling bin before we could carve the pumpkins. anyhow, jon loved his new little friends, or so he said. it's always so hard to know with him.

the NR monster, as i like to call it

my entire school career has been one of negative reinforcement of my worst habit: procrastination. i have learned over the years that i can leave things til the last second, do them half as good as i could have, or otherwise submit subpar work and still get amazing grades at the end of the day. hate me if you will, but it's true. the NR-monster has struck again, which is why i'm bringing this up in the first place.

a few weeks ago, i had to turn in a book review for my one real class of the semester (middle eastern politics, in case you're wondering). i knew i had to read 2 books from the first day of class, but did i read the books in a nice leisurely fashion over the following 4 weeks like i should have? of course not! why would i? no, instead i left it until the last week before the book review was due, and in doing so, was only able to read one of the two books assigned. i read the short one. the one that i did not read was written by none other than my very own professor. he often refers to this book (in jest, partly) as "the holy word" and "the most important book, after the Qu'ran." yes, he takes this book very seriously. but i had heard rumors about this professor and how he does not actually read the work that he assigns his students to write. so with this in mind, i set forth on the saturday night before the review was due to write the book review, all the while nurturing the attitude, "why should i read his work if he won't read mine?" i know. i'm terrible. lucky for me, he wrote a very thorough introduction to the book and i was able to summarize the book in 2 pages and then make some serious arguments about the similarities and differences of the two books. what a wise man (haha).

so anyway, fast forward three weeks to this afternoon when he begins to pass back the work that we've handed in so far. there were two short summaries that he randomly assigned us for other stuff, both of which had a big plus sign at the top instead of a grade. can anyone explain to me what this means? no one in class knew either. is it like in kindergarten when you got a smiley face if you did really good? or it could be a crooked X. but what does THAT mean? X marks the spot? right on the mark? i don't know. anyway, that's just a side note. the real interesting thing to me was when i got my book review, it had an A-/A as the grade. he couldn't decide which it was, so he wrote both. it's a common malady among professors in my department. and while it wasn't the A+++++++++++++++ that i was hoping for (like ralphie) i'm back to square one. procrastination pays. and don't you forget it, kids.

the humor of my "job"

i know i'm technically unemployed, but i do have a lot of work to do being a TA. since it is fall break, i am of course up to my eyeballs in midterm exams to grade. and let me tell ya, i read some pretty funny things. here are some of my favorites:

• last semester in the international relations class, a guy wrote an entire argument about david hasselhoff was a good case for a non-zero-sum game (which is a conflict where both sides can win or lose stuff simultaneously) because he wants to date and there are lots of German women who would love to have him. he also brought in the international relations aspect by stating that david hasselhoff thinks his picture should be framed and hung at checkpoint charlie because he had more to do with the fall of the berlin wall (because of his very popular-in-germany-and-nowhere-else recording career) than any of the world leaders combined. that's actually mostly true. sad, i know. needless to say, the guy got full points. he actually really knew his stuff. and not just about david hasselhoff.
• the 1 paragraph rant about walmart coming to sugarhouse in the final for international relations. because walmart is the devil incarnate and is ruining the world with its cheap merchandise and skeezy business practices. apart from the rant, the guy did pretty good, so as i recall, he also got full points.
• now for the american government midterm, there are several questions that refer to lobbyists. this is just a general comment, but kids these days can spell to save their lives. i'm not kidding. here's my favorite spelling of lobbyist: lobbiest, which is in fact the superlative form of the word "lobb". here's an example of how it would be used in a sentence: the ball that he threw was the lobbiest of all of the balls on the playground. I'm not sure what that means, but you get the idea. (please feel free to share your very own definition of the word "lobbiest" in the comments section) it's also an example of how the utah accent is ruining the english language. i wrote that for julia's sake. and because it's partly true.

conflicted, torn, in denial, and kinda distraught

you know how sometimes there's something you really want to write about, but you never know who may be reading, so you can't write about it, just in case? i hate that.

speaking in abstracts doesn't work here. it's too obvious. besides, it might go something like this, "so say there's a girl named blarissa and another girl named bolivia. . ." 10 extra-cool points to anyone who knows what that's from. if enough people are curious, i might tell you later. especially if i'm the only one who knows. (come on, laura, i'm counting on you. i know you're reading.) anyway, i'm really glad i have good friends and roommates to whom i can vent. it's more one-on-one and risk-free when venting face to face instead of into cyberspace.

no more rhyming and i mean it!

good night.

a lesson learned

i know you are all dying to read the whole lobster story. and just to prove that i can to my bloggy teachers who showed me how to make a link to the story (thanks, you know who you are), here it is. i feel special.

headlines

this will be nowhere near as good as headlines on jay leno, so don't get your hopes up. i was just browsing msn and saw the following headline: Officials: Smuggler caught with 6 lobsters in his pants. if i knew how to create a link to that (anyone want to give me a lesson on that?), i would, because i'm sure you are all intrigued beyond imagination about the rest of the story. what intrigues me is the pants. what kind of pants was he wearing that could actually facilitate 6 lobsters? maybe he bought the pants so he could start on his next big business idea:

a tuesday serenade

as some of you know, the barenaked ladies is my favorite band of all time. they somehow manage to sing songs that aren't about love, which is a rare atribute these days. they recently put out a cd of children's songs, which are incredibly witty and clever, much like the rest of their work. so, i've decided to sing to you a song from that album that i've been singing in my head since before i woke up this morning. i don't know the title. i just know the words. just remember that it's a boy singing this song. (and all of the rest of them because there are, in fact, no ladies, barenaked or otherwise, that belong to the barenaked ladies)

i like my big sister,
but i don't want to wear her coat.
it may be black, it may fit perfect,
but you and i both know
it's a girl's coat.
i can handle some hand-me-downs,
but shirts and sandals are out of bounds.
books and games and stuff i don't mind.
but a coat
is over the line.

if you want, you can call me and i'll sing it for you.

autumnal splendor

i just really wanted to use some words that aren't used so often any more for the title of this post. but they're really good words. last week for ward prayer we went up big cottonwood canyon to silver lake, and it was gorgeous. here are some of my favorite pics from that.

here we go again with water as a reflective surface. i can't resist!
the my little pony had been rescued from the lake. it was still dripping wet. best picture of the night, according to a vote among friends.
this is my new home teacher dennis. he's pretty awesome. maybe the best home teacher i've had in a decade.
i really liked this picture of me. some things to notice: the curly hair (it took me an hour); my new cute sweater; the pieces of flair that i purchased to put on my purse strap so it looks less like a diaper bag and more like the really cool purse that it was in its first life before jake insisted that i return his guitar strap; and finally, the amazing colors of the leaves in the background.
sometimes pictures of strangers turn out the best.

a day of mourning

today was a sad day. today, paul newman died. i love pretty much every movie i've ever seen him in. not only was he an amazing actor, but he was also a very good (looking) person. and we had the same birthday (january 26th), so what's not to like?




this is a scene from cool hand luke, which has been one of my favorite movies for almost 10 years. (and when i say almost 10 years, i mean 8 years). here's another favorite. the long hot summer. SUCH a good movie. and not just for this scene.

he was married to his wife Joanne Woodward for 50 years, which is quite a feat for anyone, much less for hollywood stars. when asked in an interview if he was ever tempted to stray, he said, "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?"

and he had his own food company from which all profits are donated to charity. paul newman gave over $200 million to different charities. take that, brangelina!!
in memoriam, i might just go out and buy some newman's own something or other (juice, salad dressing, popcorn, etc) and curl up on my couch and enjoy a nice old paul newman movie. as soon as i'm done writing my paper that is due on monday.

happy things that i've been saving up

• today i took a nap in my office, and it wasn't just the short kind with my head cradled in my arms on my desk. it was an all out, relaxing in the sunshine, reclined in my desk chair, feet kicked up, hour long kind of nap. i bet you're jealous now.
• julia is twiterpated!! a lot. and though i'm jealous, i can at least live vicariously through someone now.
• the body worlds 3 exhibit is visiting salt lake until january. me and julia went tonight. it was a weird mix of "wow, our bodies are incredible and amazing," and "wow, i'm really creeped out right now." it was amazing. they are all real bodies, donated to science, that have been plastificated.
• i just made up the word plastificate. just call me george dubya :)
• my institute class is awesome. pearl of great price. i highly recommend it.
• not having a job so that i was available a couple weeks ago to help a friend in need. i was able to take jon to a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day, and then spend the afternoon with him because he was lonely. what a great feeling
• all of the mission memories i had and told to julia tonight when we were analyzing the object of her twiterpation. i'll be posting one soon. i know you've missed them.
• my friend becky, who once asked me how i got so many comments on my blog, now has a small following who comment regularly on every funny and witty thing she says. and she says a lot of that kind of thing. hey becky, do you want to clue me in on how to make bloggy friends who make lots of comments??
• i love art. i went to the Utah museum of fine arts on campus to see the monet to picasso display on loan from the cleveland museum of art. well, it was until last week, anyway. i went with my friend angela. we had lots of fun. i'm glad we're friends now. my favorite art there besides the van gogh pieces was the whole section of rodin sculptures. amazing. i'm still in awe.
• i got a new phone. nokia 5310. it's graphite grey with orange accents. it's really cute. i love it. it sings songs by panic at the disco, who i love now.
• i'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow. my back is thanking me already. actually, it's still screaming at me for not having done this 3 months ago. or at least 2. but it will really be thanking me tomorrow.
• also tomorrow, i'm eating my favorite maple express with sarah and the boys. fabulous.

random a.m. comments

tonight me and julia went to ihop after about 15 minutes of just driving around trying to decide what we wanted to eat. we were very pleased with our ultimate decision. i had very tasty pumpkin pancakes and she had cinnamon swirl french toast. the funny thing about our night is that we heard the server behind us ask the people at the table if they had just gotten married. and they said yes. so we glanced over and there was a girl (emphasis on the girl part) in her wedding dress and her newly minted husband eating pancakes at ihop. funny. they had just come from their reception and hadn't made it to wherever they were going and got hungry on the way. apparently they hadn't been able to eat at the reception. all i can say is that girl was lucky that she didn't drip any of the strawberry syrup on her nice new, only been worn once dress.

in other random news, i just cleaned my bathroom. it's been a while since i cleaned the bathroom at 2am. that statement in itself indicates that i have indeed cleaned my bathroom at 2am before. i think the last time was when i lived with my sister katie in 1999/2000. it was caffeine induced, and this time might have been as well. the point is, my bathroom is clean. and i kinda like the scent of the cleaner that i used. strange but true. and to alleviate any concern you might have, i always keep the bathroom well ventilated when i clean.

now that i'm getting going, it's hard to stop. today i pulled out my cards from mrs. pedersen's ap english class. i was surprised at how many of the quotable quotes i still remember (after 10 years, i might add). and how many of them i've forgotten. there was one that julia liked so much that she had to add it to her facebook quotes section immediately. it's from "the importance of being earnest," which, to date, is still one of my most favorite plays. the quote is: girls never marry the men that they flirt with. true. true.

and one last thought. tonight me and julia watched the movie "about a boy". it's my favorite hugh grant movie. he plays a very selfish batchelor who believes that he is an island. (no man is an island, blablabla) there's the plot in a nutshell. but there's a part where he's volunteering for amnesty international (don't let that fool you, it was a selfish act too). he's talking on the phone to someone who is assumed to be a very attractive woman who doesn't have a boyfriend. and here's the best movie quote i've heard in a while. "what? you don't have a boyfriend? talk about a human rights violation." amen to that, brother. amen to that.

beth's hot wheels bonfire bash

yesterday was the birthday of my friend beth, so we had a little impromptu party for her. actually, me and my friend sarah decided that it had been way to long since we had done anything together, so we decided to make a big fire and overload on sugar to make up for it. then we invited everyone and it morphed into a big birthday party for beth. we had smores, fire-roasted starburst, macaroni salad, and key lime pie. that's what happens when you don't really plan. i went to the nearest party supply store and found a whole bunch of hot wheels party paraphenalia on clearance (5o cents a package), so i decided it would be a hot wheels themed party. beth loved it. she said she would have loved it even more if only she were a 10-year-old boy. regardless, we had a bunch of fun. morgan brought his guitar and a box full of random instruments, and we let the excess of sugar take it from there. good times, good times.

that's right. three party hats.

morgan wearing one of his better looks (haha)

julia showing her love for the tambourine

sarah and kevin having a good time

the really cool hot wheels balloon that got away

beth, me and carolina starting the festivities.

sarah getting a little crazy

morgan, putting the moves on sarah

sarah, putting the moves on morgan

me, julia and beth having a bit too much fun with the family band.

me in photos, without any actual photos of me

1. The Tin Lizzie, 2. Strange Ecuadorian food, 3. Chasing the frisbee, 4. The ancient pleasure of a cuppa, 5. Daniel Craig as James Bond, 6. Chocolate Milk!, 7. Le Pont du Gard, 8. mint_chocolate_brownies_1, 9. MOMMY & BABY, 10. In Spires, 11. Intellectual hour, 12. United Nations New York


The Questions...
1.What is your first name? Lizzie
2.What is your favorite food? Ecua food
3.What high school did you attend? Bear Lake (that's really someone's picture of bear lake)
4.What is your favorite color? Red
5.Who is your celebrity crush? hands down Daniel Craig, the new james bond.
6.Favorite drink? chocolate milk
7.Dream vacation? europe (pont du gard in southern france pictured here)
8.Favorite dessert? I have to pick one? mint brownies
9.What do you want to be when you grow up? Mommy. i guess i still haven't grown up enough.
10.What do you love most in life? the temple and all it represents
11.One word to describe you? intellectual
12. What was your favorite school subject? international politics (represented by un headquarters in nyc)

If you want to try it here's what you do:

Go to Flickr search and pick out a photo for each one of your answers to the questions below (I didn't post a picture for all of them).Click on the picture you want and copy the URLOpen another browser, Mosaic Maker, and paste the URL for each picture into the desired space. (You'll see directions)Once you have selected, copied and pasted all of your pictures, click Create to make your MosaicClick Share (at this point you can copy the html and paste it into your post)

back at it

i'm supposed to be grading papers right now, but if i don't take the time to write now, it will just give me an excuse to procrastinate later. like you need an excuse for procrastination. hah! procrastination provides its own excuses.

so i'm back to school. i've decided that the only way i'll survive this semester is if i study 5 hours a day. it sounds like a lot, and well, it is. but really, i can do it. in theory. there are definitely enough hours in my day to arrange for 5 hours of studying, in addition to my class time. if i become a hermit and completely disconnect from technology, and thus reality.

i'm really sucking at it so far. yesterday i managed 2.75 hours of studying, plus a 1 hour nap, cleaning most of my room, playing beauty shop with carolina, watching the new episode of gossip girl (again), and doing 2 batches of laundry. not a complete waste, admittedly, but definitely not the kind of dedication this semester requires.

this semester i'm taking advanced spanish composition. i had forgotten how much busy work they give you in undergrad classes. it's ridiculous, really. next i have middle eastern politics, which i hate so far. this does not bode well for the rest of the semester. it's going to suck. then i am taking 3 credits of independent study for the purpose of researching my master's essay. this is where the stress comes in.

adam (my graduate committee chair) just asked me if i would be interested in writing a chapter for a book of which he is the editor. it is on european immigration, and they need a chapter on spain. what do you know, i'm writing my master's essay on spanish immigration. perfect. so now i have to have a final draft of the chapter to him by christmas. 7000 words minimum, about 20 pages, theory, facts, opinions, predictions, all rolled into one. no big deal. anywho, it makes next semester that much easier because i'll have 7000 words of my master's essay already written. maybe i'll be able to defend it really early in the semester. hmmmm. this could be alright after all.

the last hurrah

so here it is. my trip to mesa verde. i went for labor day weekend with my friends julia and sarah. we got rained on all 3 nights, discovered that my 2 man tent is actually a 3 woman tent, and all made it home in one piece. although we did need a break from each other after a while. some breaks were longer than others. . . anyway, i have to explain about the blue bag because it was the focal point of our trip.

i let my friend jake murray borrow a book of mine. i took it over one day when he was gone and his roommates encouraged me to "borrow" something of his so that i would be sure to get my book back from him. they were looking for large items for me to take, like a half case of water bottles or his guitar. i settled for his guitar strap. julia and i began to brainstorm, and we decided it would be very funny if we took the guitar strap with us on our trip and then sent him pictures later. it would look a little silly to just carry around the strap and nothing else, so i made a little purse to go with the strap. only now i'm quite attached to my new purse and he wants his stuff back (he still doesn't know exactly what item of his that i have.) we'll have to figure something out. anyway, that's the story, enjoy the show.

a commentary on camping

so last night i was making some reservations for a campsite for the weekend. amazingly enough, there was still plenty of space for us. or maybe it's not amazing if you consider that we are going to camp in a desert-y place in august. hmmm. oh well, that's not the point. another thing that is not the point is that the lady that i talked to wasn't very happy about being on the phone at all. having spent a number of months in her shoes, i felt her pain and was just nice, despite the chill in the air, and made it as quick and painless as possible for her.

now for the real point. so this campgroud that we're staying at is right inside mesa verde national park. it's only 6 hours away for us, but i was concerned that if we got a late start that there would be no one to check us into our campsite and help us get to where we are going. i expressed my concerns to the less-than-thrilled phone lady and she said to me that if we get there after the store closes (that's where you check in) we should just pick a campsite that works for us and then check in in the morning. in all of my many years of camping experience, this is a first! it's like 100% honor system after dark. and there's free (yes, free) showers at this place, which makes it even cooler.

so this gets me to the point i actually want to make. i often marvel at the concept of camping. it's not so much the sleeping on the ground, which is rarely very comfortable, or sleeping outdoors with only a little enclosure of fabric to keep you from getting eaten by a bear. it's the fact that your tent and all of your belongings are STILL THERE when you come back every night. i mean if someone wanted to make a killing on some outdoor gear, a campground is the first place to start, really. if i look at my camping gear, i've easily spent $400 on my tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad over the years. it's true, i go for quality. but what's stopping some less-than-honest joe schmoe from coming over and just packing up like all of that stuff was his. and with this thought in mind, i'm always just a little surprised to come back to camp and see that i still have a place to sleep. i've just decided that people who camp are a different breed altogether. it's like we've joined a secret society with unspoken rules about not stealing and striking up conversations just because you've chosen to forego the luxury of sleeping in a real bed or remaining in your car for your entire vacation. it's really an odd community in the world we live in where honesty is the only policy and it's not creepy (mostly) when the strangers the next tent down come over and strike up a conversation, just for the sake of conversation.

i love being a camper.

i have a lot of things to say today

if you read this tomorrow, you shouldn't complain that i have nothing else to say. maybe you should have only savored one post at a time. your fault. anyway, what i want to say this time is that my spanish class if full of little boys!! which is unfortunate, because i had high hopes for that class. but no. it's full of guys who have been home from their missions for about two seconds. or maybe three. yep, i'm the old lady of the bunch. and the only graduate student, of course. and this class has a lot of what sounds like busy work. now i'm really glad i quit my job because really, between this class and my job, that would have been a double overload of busy work. and i'm beyond the point of getting any joy out of busy work. much as i had feared, despite the potential this semester held for being an easy (or maybe just easier) semester, it appears that that will not be the case after all. too bad for me. is it december yet??

little miss smarty pants

or so i'm told. just a little bit of news for those who haven't heard yet. back in july i took the foreign service officer test, which is a lovely 3 hour test for those who want to be employed by the state department in the foreign service (that's me!). it's the first step to getting an interview for a job in the foreign service. i just received word last weekend that i passed the test!! yay! i'm one step closer. now they have to look at the applications for all those who passed the test and then decide which of those they want to interview. that process takes until about mid november, and then they'll let me know in early december if i sound cool enough on paper that they want to talk to me in person. keep your fingers crossed for me!!

christmas is cancelled

okay, so maybe not christmas, but mexico is cancelled, so it might as well be christmas. the problem with people of my age in general is that they lack the ability to firmly commit to anything, even if it's just a little road trip. and no, i do not exclude myself from that group. so mexico is not happening, but new mexico is. we're going to go to mesa verde national park, which is actually in colorado, but we're taking a day trip down to farmington, nm because it's there. it could very well be that there is nothing at all to do in farmington, but we never know until we try. with the right company, there will always be something to do that has some entertainment value. anyway, we'll be stopping at 4 corners, just because it's there and it's close. then we'll drive home going up through colorado and then back to salt lake. this is much closer, cheaper, safer, you get the idea. we are still road tripping, which was really the main point to begin with. plus, mesa verde is on the list of 1000 place to see before you die. and i have the national park pass, so i just saved my co-travelers a few bucks. well, some of them.

one last fling

i know that school starts on monday, but labor day is the first weekend after school starts, which means that it's my last chance to do something fun for the summer. and since labor day is on the 1st, the rest of the weekend is still in august, thus still summer. are you ready to know what i'm doing yet? no? ok. i'll wait. here's some pictures from my last fling to yellowstone.






so what can top this yellowstone adventure? a mexico adventure!! that's right, i'm going to mexico with some friends for labor day weekend. we're going to a little place called puerto penasco, which is about 4 hours southwest of phoenix on the gulf of california. so yeah, that's that plan. i'd add some pictures of the place, but it won't let me, and since i'll probably not post more pictures from yellowstone, you'll just have to wait or look for yourself (www.puerto-penasco.com). we're leaving next friday at 1pm, driving to phoenix to spend the night, and then going the rest of the way on saturday. we'll probably spend the other two nights camping in a secured location at an rv park. there are 5-6 comping so far, so it'll be a good time, i'm sure.

stay tuned for some great beach stories and pictures.

i don't know why i think i should continue to do these things, but i do.

What are your initials? emw

What is your favorite thing to wear? clothes

Last thing you drank? water

I say "shotgun," you say? ok

Last person you hugged? evan

How many US states have you been to? 23 last time i counted

How many of the US states have you lived in? 4

Does anyone you know wanna date you? i sure hope so!!

Name something you like physically about yourself? my skin tone

Why are you still up? no idea. should have gone to bed an hour ago. i actually have stuff to do tomorrow. wait, i have stuff to do today.

Who/What made you angry today? the fact that i couldn't get the stupid david archuleta song out of my head, especially after listening to the barenaked ladies all day long.

Favorite food? depends

Favorite holiday(s)? any one that i have completely off from everything.

Do you download music? nope

Do you care if your socks are dirty? it depends on where the dirty socks have been

Name one of your bad habits. repeatedly ignoring my alarm clock every single day of my life.

What are you wearing? it's 130 am. do you really want to know?

Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally? yes

Do you love anyone? sure

Have you ever bungee jumped? not yet. . . or ever, probably.

Have you ever gone white-water rafting? no, because i'm lame.

How is the weather right now? dark and moony

What are you listening to right now? crickets

What was the last movie you watched? the incredibles. finally, 4 years later

Do you wear contacts? not anymore

Where was the last place you went besides your house? Julia's house

How many piercings have you had? one in each ear.

How many pets do you have? none, thank goodness! i have a hard enough time remembering to feed myself.

What's one thing you've learned today? the stories i tell are often a letdown

What do you usually order from Starbucks? depends on my mood.

Are you currently missing someone? if i am, i am still unaware that he/she is missing.

Favorite TV shows? the office and 30 rock and ghost hunters and my boys

Do you have an ipod? yes

Who would you like to see right now? no one. it's way too late.

Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't supposed to? who hasn't?

Have you ever ridden in a limo? no.

Do you like Michael Jackson? i like to sing like michael jackson from the jackson 5 days. not really. i made that up.

What's your favorite smell? my perfume (clinique happy in bloom)

Favorite baseball team? boston red sox

Favorite cereal? right now it's reese's puffs because it's the box of cereal that is open.

Whats the longest you've gone without sleep? 30 hours or so.

Last time you went bowling? fortunately, i don't remember.

Where is the weirdest place you have slept? on the floor of the las vegas airport.

Who was your last phone call? julia

What's the closest orange object next to you? colored pencil

Kissed anyone in the past two weeks? no *sigh*

me, throwing a tantrum

i want, I Want, I WANT!!!!

i was checking out the website of the most fabulous barenaked ladies, only to find that they are doing ships and dip v, which is in fact their third caribbean cruise (http://www.shipsanddip.com/). they do a cruise with their favorite band friends and the entertainment every night is a barenaked ladies concert. it's like my dream vacation. it's for the first week of february, but it's about $850 for the cruise in the very cheapest quad occupancy cabin. and that doesn't include getting to miami for the cruise departure. i'm so sad. it's not even that i'd miss a week of school, because it wouldn't even matter that much at that point in the semester. i don't have money to go. i'd almost be willing to give up my europe trip to go on ships and dip v. but only almost. but still. i want to go!!!! (big disappointed sigh)

astrology

i was just poking around on msn today and found an article about astrological signs and pet peeves. for as little faith as i put into astrology (none at all), it sometimes hits the nail right on the head.

Aquarius:
You're the rebel, the radical, and the eccentric in every group, whether it's family, friends, or your team at work. You love and cultivate those labels because of the freedom they allow you to be yourself. The worst thing, then - the very worst thing of all, in your eyes - is being pressed into a mold, being told what to do, having to obey, and being forced to act like everyone else. It's simply not acceptable - and it doesn't happen often…

this may very well explain my aversion to high school reunions. hmmm, that's one to think about.

ode to go

this lovely item, basking in the ethereal glow of my computer screen, has just captured my heart. i had some little stains on the upholstery in my car that were starting to bug a little too much. i was looking for a cheap cleaning option, and this was it. honestly, i was a little skeptical. can a little wonderpen filled with tide really do that much?? well, yes, it actually can. my car is now approximately 3.4 stains lighter and looking prettier than she has since, well, since those stains made their way into her pearly grey interior. i now understand why people register for these at bed bath and beyond for their weddings. that doesn't make it any less ridiculous to register for one or three, but if someone wanted to buy one for me, i wouldn't turn it down. so, my new-found friend is happily resting in the pencil cup on my desk, ready at a moment's notice to free my world of the embarassment that sometimes occurs because i'm old enough to be allowed to eat without a bib. or a drop cloth, for that matter.