Top 10 Tuesday

Top 10 Signs you are Incontrovertible Whitesauce

10) You drive a Mini or want one really bad
9) You like Indie music
8) You believe blessed is he who carts the reusable bag (and have before it was sheik)
7) Tea isn't a drink, its a way of life
6) You think overalls are more of a personality assessment than a fashion statement
5) If the concept of awkward isn't awkward
4) Will Ferrell is your hero or dreamboat
3) You think cheese is more than a food, less than a god
2) You cried when Ikea came to your town or because it hasn't yet

and the # one incontrovertible sign you are of the Anglo persuasion and there is NO going back....











if one of your euphoria inducers is A-Ha sing-a-longs

Year in Review

Tis the season and its been a doozie of a 12 month so here I go :)

in 2008 I:

* Attended a 12th Night feast
* Threw my brother's California wedding reception
* Moved out of my adorable apartment
* Visited my best friend in Kansas
* Saw Mellowdrone in concert (x2)
* celebrated my 7th year home from my mission
* Saw Wicked (x4)
* Attended a drunken Asian St. Patrick's Day extravaganza
* Didn't get in to the Grad School program I wanted
* Sang in the Sunrise Easter Service at Forest Lawn
* Chaperoned a Youth Conference
* Went to the Hotel Cafe Tour at the Music Box and was changed forever
* Taught at a stake Inservice (this scared me SO much more than anything I'd done before)
* Visited my cousin in DC and saw the cherry blossoms
* Saw Lady Sinatra in concert at the Viper Room (x2)
* Attended a Syttende Mai celebration
* Visited the cousins in Phoenix (x2)
* Saw Greg Laswell at the Hotel Cafe (x4)
* Saw Raining Jane at the Hotel Cafe
* Saw Rogue Wave at the Hotel Cafe
* Saw Mandy Moore at the Hotel Cafe
* Saw Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers at the Hotel Cafe
* Saw Ingrid Michaelson at the House of Blues
* Saw Snow Patrol at the House of Blues and fell in love. Like REALLY in love.
* Saw The Swell Season at the Greek and was forever changed
* Went to The Magic Castle - Best. Steak. Ever
* Dated a louse of a guy for a stint
* Went to the midnight party for Breaking Dawn
* Was bitterly let down by Breaking Dawn
* Giggle-snorted and scoffed through entire Twilight movie
* Saw Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park
* Visited the brother in Salt Lake
* Went back to the Single's ward
* Watched a meteor shower (and still have Hannah's blanket in my trunk)
* Got lied to by the Chinese about many things including fireworks and birthdays
* Got grafted into my couch from watching the Olympics nonstop
* Planned my wedding to Michael Phelps (I've loved ya from the start babe!)
* Felt compelled to put an Egyptian sterility curse on Chinese gymnastic officials
* Walked in my college graduation commencment
* Turned 30
* Moved NaToya to San Diego and discovered what the definition of "sweating"
* Learned how and made 100s of beautiful paper flowers for a Wendy-bird's wedding
* Threw a cocktail/garden party for a friend's birthday
* Got called to be the Ward Music Chairman (for the 3rd time)
* Dyed my hair red finally, after 20 years of going back and forth on the idea
* Took a weekend of elegant leisure at a Palm Spring's resort and practiced extravagant lounging
* Played Rockband for the first time and didn't totally suck
* Was failed by Jet Blue for the first time ever
* Got courted and chased by a monster at a haunted house
* Went back to DC and saw the autumn awesome and Mt. Vernon
* Hosted a Roman Murder Mystery party
* Went to Wendy's fabulous outdoor wedding reception complete with a being rained on adventure
* Campaigned my little heart out for Obama and Prop 8
* Cried for joy when both came to pass
* Had my faith in American Government and the American (and Californian) people refurbished
* Almost got caught at the temple both times it went into lock down because of No on 8ers
* Attempted to write a novel (again)
* Got laid off (and couldn't be happier)
* Saw Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Total books read: 47
Total concerts attended: 20
Total trips to The Huntington: 9
Total trips to The Getty: 7
Total trips to Disneyland: 5
Total temple trips: 30
Total life-changing films seen: 5
Total other fun movies seen: 75
Total times being sick: 2
Total migraines: 3
Total total freeway blowouts: 1
Total heartbreaks: 2
New restaurants I tried: 15
Foods I learned to like: 9
Total laugh fits resulting in face numbing and brain cell loss: 785
Total # of things I've left in other states on trips: 32
Total theater expeditions: 12
Things I want to change for next year: 378
Things I wouldn't change for anything: 308,876
New friends made: 24
Old friends reconnected with: 36
Friends I don't deserve: 89
new phones I've had to buy: 0 *high 5*
Speeding tickets I've gotten out of: 3
States visited: 3
Pedicures: 12
Nails broken: 14
Times I've fallen in love with California: 365
Mountain excursions: 6
Beach excursions: 5
Desert excursions: 4
Miles traveled: 20,000+
Ideas for next year: 2,396

Yay for unabashedly living life and yay for another year to do the same.

Christmas Thoughts

I try to imagine what living in Jerusalem must be like right now. Being there with all those different kinds of people feeling SO strongly about the city for totally different reasons and being caught in those emotional riptides running down the streets and having it all be trumped by the majesty of the presence of the city and the the history it holds. I would like to think that I would be educated and humbled everyday by the amplitude that the people there live their lives and practiced their faith. How could anyone living is such a city do any different?

I would imagine that I would keenly watch the women there. I can see them hurrying up and down the streets with their respective loads for their respective households and practically hearing the running list of things to do and see to before tomorrow and seeing that grace that is always in an honest and hard working woman's eyes. My eyes would soften a bit if I saw a woman with child. I'd stop for a second and turn my eyes to the ground when she walked by hoping she wouldn't see me welling up.

I would be more attuned to the sound of a fussing baby or the sight of an open horse's stall. The incense coming out of doorways I was passing would wake up images of Solomon's temple and the synagouges that pepper the city. I would catch different refrains of prayers being sung in different languages but all equal in fervor.

I would wonder at every cobble stone I stood on.

Was he here? Did he stand here? Did someone he loved stand here? Where they here when they saw the star? Did it move them to pray? To sing? Did they see a woman with child earlier that day that made them wonder?

Someone was here and someone saw and for a moment everyone heard a baby cry.

Let Earth receiver her King.

Merry Christmas

Wednesday Giggles

Tis the Season

Top 10 Tuesday

Top 10 Reasons Why Oprah Should Make Me Her New Best Friend
10) I freak out really well and can do the head/hair shake as good as she can
9) I can down as much red velvet cake as Gayle can any day
8) I love trying new beauty products
7) I don't jump on couches
6) I love to travel so I could check up on the Girls School in Africa more often. Make sure no more funny business goes down.
5) She'll be the skinny one
4) BOOKS! We both love them. It's her thing, they're my thing. Its meant to be.
3) I could have warned her about the Dr. Phil investment before it came out he was a lying, cheatin', cold, dead-beatin', two time double-dealin', mean mistreating loving heart (I never liked him).
2) I live in California - I'm just down the road from her. I could look in on the dogs when she's filming.
1) I'm a super cook and can't find a man that isn't terrified of me either. We have a lot to talk about

Top 10 Things I Have Found a New Appreciation for in 2008
10) Haircuts - I never really had one before now. Hair was mom's thing so I ran away from it screaming but I've learned the power of a good hair day.
9) Crying - I've done a lot of it this year and I've realized the sooner I let myself do it, the easier it is to move on
8) The Economist - It's the next best thing to a crystal ball or the webbernet.
7) Institute - I kind of faded into the woodwork these last few years on the YSA front but I wouldn't trade my time at Institute this year for anything.
6) My US Citizenship - I really felt like I did something to deserve it this year and that I made a difference. Even if it was a little one.
5) Music - Its played a vital role in keeping me going this year and in relationships and elevating my thinking. I would really be lost without it.
4) Free time - its a disappearing animal
3) really tall heals - me and tall shoes have gradually been mending our relationship. I put the moratorium on them for about a decade while I was coming to terms with my height but we're doing well now.
2) Friendship - the real kind. I've seen faces of support and forgiveness this year that I didn't know were possible.
1) Love - the agape kind. I've been able to see just a little bit more clearly how truly surrounded by it I am and how much I desperatly need it.

Images from the Valley of Wrong

My thoughts on this gem:
- Yoda does not look like Winston Churchill
- Yoda doesn't even celebrate Christmas - he celebrates Life Day. Everyone knows that. Am I the only one on the planet who has seen the Star Wars Holiday Special?
- Yoda's cane is sacred. Substituting a candy cane for it is near heresy.
- Yoda wouldn't be caught dead in a Santa hat.
- Pleased with Disney for bastardizing his image he would not be. Walking on thin ice they are.

This is What I Do

So I have a lot of non-LDS friends and as part of the other 99.5% of the rest of the world, they drink.

I was at my buddy from work's place last night. His girlfriend (that is also a friend of mine) was throwing a party for her best friend's birthday. His roommate was there too and his roommate's on-again-off again-hang-around-like-a-disease-ex-boyfriend who he has never gotten along with and for good reason was also there. I don't really like him either. He's like the gay, petty version of the short, angry, mean chef from Ratatouille. They've been squaring off for a while and were getting ready to blow. I honestly was a bit worried about this party and what might happen when both of them got a little alcohol in them, and I was right to worry.

I was at Disneyland for the beginning of the night so everyone was like 4 rounds in by the time I got there. At my buddy's place there is this game room with a pool table and stuff upstairs but the rest of the party was downstairs. I was having a lovely chat in the kitchen with the dude with neck tattoos that was a very interesting and conversational guy. There's one of those at every party I've found. They weren't prison tattoos or anything crazy, they were Celtic stuff which was double impressive. We were talking about how much I wasn't drinking and he was like "you're the kind of person that keeps the world together..." etc.

So right then we both see a scuffle type thing going on upstairs and we look at each other like "Is that real or are they screwing around?" and then we say "Is that real or are they screwing around?" but then I hear the Douche Baggy Ex Boyfriend Man starting to yell so loud I can hear him above the music (which was considerably loud) and me and Nice Tattoo Guy look at each other like "damn" and without a word he puts his glass down and calmly goes upstairs like hes changing a light bulb or reaching the top shelf or something to 1) break it up or 2) throw the Ratty Boy out or both. It was pretty hot, I'm not going to lie. If he hadn't been there with a girl I would have given him my phone #.

Why are the only true specimens of non-related masculinity I've ever found very non-Mormon guys??!! It almost makes me cry but that's a whiny blog post for another day....

ANYWAY-

So there is still a bundle of scuffling feet on the landing up stairs that I can see from down stairs and the yelling died down so I started to go upstairs to see if they needed help and as I start going up Ratboy and his group come barreling down the stairs. I got out of the way just in time to see Roommate following them and yelling at him to get out so he left after a lot of screaming and arm flailing dramatic jacket grabbing and expletives.

I didn't know the fight was between my buddy and Ratboy at this point so I go upstairs to see if everything is OK because everyone has frozen into drink clutching pairs of big eyes downstairs.

It turns out Ratboy got buttered about something in the pool game, Roommate jumped in between him and my buddy and Ratboy sucker punched my buddy over Roommate's shoulder.

Now let me explain some things about my buddy; you don't punch him much less sucker punch him. The dude is an ice hockey player and a man's man type bada$$. He doesn't try to, he just is. He's a bundle of gentlemanly but unapologetic, barely mitigated testosterone. He's a softy but once he clicks over to his Hulk side its over. He would turn a guy into burger, dust off his shirt, pick up his pool cue and keep playing without turning the music down and ask you if you wanted another drink.

So I get upstairs and see my buddy pacing in the game room with a torn shirt and berserker eyes with a few people blocking the door so he couldn't get out.

Since Ratboy has "left" we let my buddy downstairs and hes still pacing around and screaming how "if he ever comes back here I'm going to kill him" and all that other chest slapping rhetoric boys do. I get him an ice pack for his eye but his adrenaline is pumping too fast.

A few ornaments got broken with Ratboys descent down the stairs and there was glass everywhere so I was sweeping things up and we heard something from outside and it turns out Ratboy left the house but he was still outside in the street with his peeps so my buddy, still pacing mad, just darts for the door faster than anyone can grab him.

Rule #1 with drunk fights is keep them as far appart as possible right? Well everyone failed. They hadn't morphed back from being giant pairs of frozen eyes. So I drop my broom and caught him in the drive way. Ratboy was still in the street. Some more yelling ensued and my buddy was flailing so bad I had to grab him around the waist to keep him from doing anything stupid. We were all about a minute away from the police station or the hospital or both. So I let him blow off as much steam as he could before I thought the neighbors might call the cops and then got him back in the house.

Ratboy left for real that time but came back about 20 min later with a knife and just walked in the house like an idiot. I was helping Roommate clean up spilled cranberry drink off of the beige velour carpet upstairs at the top of the landing and I saw him right when he walked in and Roommate was looking up the stairs at me and saw me see him and turn into a big pair of eyes looking down the stairs at Ratboy. Roommate turned around and started to chase Ratboy out again and Nice Tattoo Guy wasn't far behind. He held back during the first scuffle apparently but he charged out this time ready to regulate. Thank goodness. I stayed where I was because my buddy was in his room upstairs with his girlfriend still calming down so I look in the open door to his room at him to see if he realizes Ratboy is back. He does and starts the pacing mad let-me-at-him stuff again and his sweet bulldog Daisy is popping around and hes worried Ratboy would stab his dog so we get her back safely upstairs.

Ratboy finally takes off for real. We lock the door, debrief while we finish cleaning up more broken ornaments and spilled drinks and carpet, and once I'm satisfied everyone is sobering up and its over I say my goodbyes and head out, being grateful for The Gospel and that I could do some good. And that no one landed in the ICU (even though it might have taught Ratboy something and I wouldn't have been too sad). And that I didn't have to give a statement.

*hands in for no statements*

Friday Awesome

This blew me away - I really wish I knew this when I worked at Disneyland and folded 100's of shirts a day....


Fast Folding:How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds - Explained

Thursday Thoughts

So I think that I find, like most thinker-type people (and I like to fancy myself as such), me and my faults tragically fascinating. Much like a train wreck or an MTV Reality show. You just can’t stop looking and seeing how base you really are.

I think I’m in this section of head space for a few reasons. One being that this year has also been a particular education in people who have the amazing ability to aggressively construct their own realities and operate in them and expect me to get that and jig with them to their own lofty music. In response I am VERY determined to ground myself and eschew any and all kinds of pretense, no matter how entertaining or charming. I think that I get carried away enough that a constant effort to keep my feet on the ground will result in a toe or two making it there.

Two, the mahvelous Hannah and I got around to seeing the new Danny Boyle film Slumdog Millionaire and I left the theater very changed.

Danny Boyle films usually leave me stunned in my seat for a good 3 minutes. After Patrick, Nick and I got out of Sunshine we went to debrief at the Bourgeois Pig and even 30 min later we were all still in stunned silence. It takes me DAYS to digest one of his films and this one really blew me away.

I had an interesting day. I had spent the morning working at the Bishop’s Storehouse* getting Christmas dinner together for those that are in need. Then that afternoon I went into this film not really knowing what to expect. Just that it was Danny Boyle and it involves India two things I adore.

In a teary conversation to Lauren shortly after I got out of the film, the sweet thing listened to go on for 20 min as I burbled on about how I think in the US we have no idea what poverty is. Like – NONE – at all. Perhaps in some parts of the remote and rural South things could get a little third world but the sheer magnitude of the slums of Mumbai just floored me. There are over 1 billion people in India and over 25% of their population live in abject-sleeping-on-the-street-digging-through-the-garbage-for-food-and-shelter-no-running-water-plumbing-or privacy kind of poverty. That’s over 250 MILLION people living like animals. That’s nearly the entire population of the United States. So out of these difficult and dehumanizing circumstances comes one of the most beautiful stories I’ve seen in a long time. These characters, these magnificent humans, didn’t let their world sink past their skin and infect how they felt about themselves. They didn’t have anything, any reason to keep up any kind of appearance. No reason to want people to think more of them than what they were. In a way, I almost envy them for that. They got to live that kind of pure life. They lived on their will to live and belief that something better would come for them.

It was so interesting to me to see that, knowing it’s a true story and juxtaposed it with my experience at the Storehouse that morning. I was in the front helping the patrons who were picking up orders and it was so fascinating to me to see the different reactions people had to being in need, being vulnerable. Some were deliriously grateful, some were distracted, almost desperate and erratic, and some were just grumpy, short and hostile. They were mad. Mad at their circumstances or mad at their choices, mad that they had to ask for help and there were people there to see them asking and it left me wondering why and wondering how I would react in the same situation. Would I be embarrassed? Would I be angry? Would I be grateful? When I really though about it I realized that I would eat every scrap of food that I had in my house and make do with dollar store accoutrements before I would ask for a food order. I didn’t even have enough humility to get myself there in the first place so even the mad guy I had to help was WAY ahead of me in the humility game. He also had a family of 6 to feed and from his paper I saw that he lived in a pretty affluent area so this must have been triply hard.

But I think all that angst and our horrible American tendency to not be even remotely aware of the gross need that the rest of the world has all comes from an unhealthy sense of entitlement. I think all Americans suffer from it to a degree, and (sadly) its more clearly visible in some LDS people I’ve known.

After seeing that movie I was ashamed that I wasn’t overcome with gratitude every day of my life for the simple fact that I had a family, blankets, maggot free food, running water, a steady supply of soap, an education, a bed – all those things that I don’t even notice everyday because they’re there everyday. And because they’re just there and I assume everyone has them because I do and the rest of the world isn’t any different than me right? Wrong. Very wrong.

I felt so jarred and so moved. I wanted to do something. I looked up volunteer programs that night. I have no idea what I could do. Go there and teach the munchkins English? I don’t know. But I felt like I had to do something. I still do and when I figure it out I’ll let you know.

So this oblivion to the working reality around me that is my world and my circumstance is the first thing in my LONG list of faults that I’m going to chisel away at. The next being this sense of entitlement that I seem to carg around like it’s the newest Louis Voutton. Once on my mission my Mission President pointed this out to a group of missionaries I was with. He was a entrepreneurial multi-millionaire. He was one of the founders of Franklin Quest and designed the merger with Stephen Covey before it was Franklin Covey. The man had bought every single one of his missionaries a Franklin planner and drove an S class Mercedes. He didn’t need money at all. But one time he was taking us out to dinner and there was a penny on the ground and he had opened the door for us and we and the Elders we were with walked right by it. It was just a penny on the ground, but he chuckled to himself, bent over, picked it up, held it up to our eye level and asked “You’re too good? Are you too good?” We were too stunned by the sudden rebuke from an otherwise congenial man so we didn’t say anything. We just shook our heads and looked around for other pennies to pick up but he just shook his head and put it in his pocket, shooed us inside and bought us all dinner.

There are layers to that lesson. Are we too good to talk to “the one”, are we afraid to get our hands dirty etc, but for today that is the lesson I’m choosing to take. I’m not too good an I need to start living by that principle because there are a lot of pennies to pick up, 250,000,000 of them in India alone. I’m not too good. If anything, they’re too good for me.

*Mormon jargon translation: The Bishop Storehouse is part of the Church’s Welfare program. It’s essentially a free grocery store that provides food and supplies to families that are in need. It’s mostly self-supplied by the Church’s canneries and dairy farms but they have everything else one would need from soap to brooms to produce to Christmas candy. The whole program is volunteer run and it’s a really awesome to do a lot of good for those people that need it.

Wednesday Giggles

I am not really a college football buff. I love my Bruins of course but I don't really keep up. And I could honestly care less about BYU or their football team much less the rivalry with the U of U but I found this absolutely hilarious.

Top 10 Tuesday

Top 10 Weird Things I Do

10) When I'm using a pen with a cap I have to line up the prong of the cap with the writing on the pen. If they're out of line It bugs me. Or if its a highlighter I line it up with the tip of the highlighter.
9) If I'm driving and listening to the radio and it's the 3rd of 4th time I've heard a song and I'm bored with it I make up different parts to it and do my own harmonies.
8) I get more excited about a movie if a favorite writer I love is working on it than one of my favorite actors
7) I have a Mary Poppins purse. The typical items I carry are; a pocket knife, lotion, gum, dental floss, band aids, neosporin, tea, pain killers, a toothbrush, toothpaste, dayquil, Clorox wipes, baby wipes, alcohol swabs, aloe, hand sanitizer, sewing kit, a handkerchief, Kleenex, a camera, an iPod, and all that on top of a wallet, planner, phone and make up.
6) In my iTunes whenever I get a new song or upload something I have to find the artwork to go with it and if I can't I put something else up, like a random picture. I just needs something visual.
5) I like doing laundry but I hate putting it away. It drives me nuts.
4) The noise that those cards of gum makes drives me crazy too. I buy gum in the little buckets to avoid the foil and plastic cards.
3) I don't like driving the same route home that I took to get somewhere. I'll purposefully take another route.
2) I typically practice the remnants of my ballet training when I'm waiting for the microwave
1) If my feet are cold its impossible for me to relax, be in a good mood or sleep.


Top 10 Things I LOVE about Christmas Time

10) the Christmas around the world stuff; Christmas crackers, luminarias etc
9) The Music; bell choirs, boy choirs, classical choirs. people randomly bursting into song and it being acceptable, The Hanukkah song back on the radio
8) The Special Treats; shortbread, eggnog, candy cane Joe-Joe's, peppermint hot chocolate...
7) the smell of pine, candle wax and wrapping paper. All mixed up
6) Disneyland
5) people thinking about each other and things that are bigger than them for more than a moment that comes out in random "Merry Christmas"s on the street
4) Christmas lights walks clutching hot coco
3) A Charlie Brown Christmas on a near constant loop
2) How hopeful everything feels
1) Having a whole season, not just a day, to celebrate Christ and how much I love the people in my life and reach out for new ones to bring in

Weekend Report

My weekend report. No SNL cast members wandering around... sorry.

My weekend got started a little early when I got called into the Conference room at work on Friday morning and got laid off.

I'm OK. I'm super OK actually. I've been needing to leave this job for a while. It was eating my soul one tedious hour and mouse click at a time. I wasn't happy and it showed. It was a pleasant job in all the exterior ways; I liked my coworkers, my immediate supervisor was cool, it was a fairly healthy environment, they pay was fair. I was just trapped in a cell gray cubicle starring at a computer screen all day and it was killing me. I should have left a while ago and I had plans to start looking for a job in my field in Jan, I just get this two week vacation till then.

The only way I can think of describing the situation is like being in a relationship with a guy that's not bad, hes just boring and doesn't make you happy, he doesn't make you mad either but you're just not happy, but hes a decent guy so there's not justifiable reason to break up with him so you don't and then one day he breaks up with you and its all you can do to not give him a high 5. That's about where I'm at.

And to celebrate that night my awesome friend Molly and I went to Disneyland. We had actually planned it for a while, it just fell that way and it was perfect.

Disneyland at Christmas is one of my all time favorite things. Ever. Seriously. I know I'm a bit prone to hyperbole but I mean this. Fewer things bring me more joy than snow on Main Street, peppermint bark from the Candy Palace, the fireworks and a mickey eared Santa hat. It's the stuff of dreams.

I'm attempting to be a better record keeper so here are some pics of the night. I hadn't seen the castle with all the Christmas lights before and it took my breath away. Its the centerpiece of the whole park and it was amazing.



We came in on the monorail from Downtown Disney and swooped by this and I was a bunch of smashed cheeks and a nose pressed against the window. I can't get over how the sight of Small World at Christmas never ceases to amaze me. I've worked at Disneyland and been there as a guest more times that I think I could possibly remember and it still knocks me over. Every single time.



I adore this mammoth tree. It always reminds me of Mickey's Christmas Carol, all of Main Street does, but this tree is the perfect size to make you feel like a kid again.



The presents are huge. The ornaments are huge. This was my attempt at a scale shot. The ornaments are seriously as big as my head. It didn't quite work but I think I look pretty dang cute.



The moon was super close that night and this was a shot I took looking straight up. I thought it was pretty fancy. Maybe there's a photographer in my yet.



And this is me being and ABSOLUTE DORK watching the fireworks and thinking I can sing, watch fireworks, film, and stay warm all at the same time. I failed at a few of them, guess which ones....



Saturday was a trip down to San Diego to visit my friend NaToya and meet Patrick for the Snow Patrol concert that night at the House of Blues. The drive down the 5 was epic. The storm was blowing in so we actually had weather. Amazing! I know. I was so distracted by the sky the whole way down I think it bordered on a driving hazard. At one point there was this cloud break over the ocean and a few brilliant circles of light landed on the water and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I had to pull over and snap some real pics. It was so strangely hopeful to me. My mind was weighing down a bit with what was coming in the next few weeks and then I saw this and immediately felt better. It was a lovely Christmas present from Heavenly Father.


At the concert that night after we stood in line for nearly 2 hours we got in and the crowd that had gathered was some the the biggest mix of people I've seen any place ever. There were middle aged business men and over caffeinated and annoying 18 year old blonds like the one seen here. She would have given Tigger a run for his money with how she was bouncing every which way and flagrantly flapping this silly sign that said "I sang with you last time" like the band would recognize and/or remember her... honestly. At one point she ended up directly in front of Patrick and he politely said "What does your sign say?" so that she would put it down to show him but it didn't work for very long.


This band is amazing. I fully endorse and recommend their new album and any concert of theirs that you can get into. Yay for Northern Ireland Celtic men. They're just these instinctual artists and performers. I fell in love about 8 times that night with both Gary and Nathan, like every girl at a concert should.




Here's a snippet of Crack the Shutters *swoon*.
This song is so amazingly romantic I can barely stand it.

Mom Moments

Scene: Saturday morning. Mom's bedroom. Its overcast outside. Everyone in the house is up and starting their days. Mom and Dad have made plans to run errands and wanted to leave by 9. Its 10 AM and mom is still in still curled up in bed.

Dad: (softly and cautiously) Honey... wakey wakey...
Mom: (in full voice without a hint of grogginess) WHY??!! I want to listen to the rain.

It wasn't raining.

It still isnt.

I love my mother.

The Real Ms. Stacy

There are a lot of things I need to remember more. One being that despite being of the Land of Bonkers, that my mother is magical and two, that I am very lucky to have her.

We have this adorable family that comes and takes care of our yard. The father and mother and kids all show up every week and roar their horrid leaf blowers to life and prune and pluck and all that jazz. One of the members of this family is this sweet 13 year old girl. None of them really speak English too well but you can tell from just meeting them that they’re good honest souls. They even bring their little dog to help work. It’s serious ohana on Saturdays at our place.

Mom has a little garden that she loves a lot. It’s this random hodge-podge of potted this and thats put around the outside of the house in about the same order that they would go in her brain, which is in circular order from the door on out of which one is prettiest and makes her the happiest. That day. A garden in a distinctly sectioned off patch of earth with rows of things??! Please – that is for the common folk… And we all know that that is not my mother.

So, though mom loves piddling in her garden getting to it and getting everything watered regularly is a bit of a challenge, she’s befriended this little girl (they’re about the same age I think) and she helps her with her garden. Well amongst a Saturday chat it came out that this girl likes to read (she goes to school and speaks good English, it’s just the parents that don’t) and mom started chirping about Twilight and the girl said that she’d love to read it but her family has no extra money for books and she has no time to get to the library because she works when she’s not in school.

So mom went directly into the house and got the book, handed it to this adorable 13 year old girl and she almost started crying and gave my mom a tearful and silent hug. Mom said she could bring it back whenever she was finished and the girl was so excited she didn’t let it go the rest of the time she was there. The whole family sleeps in the same room so she had to stay up at night reading in the bathroom so the light wouldn’t wake everybody else and she finished it in days with nothing but smiles. She brought it back and mom gave her New Moon but couldn’t find her copy of Eclipse so she snuck into my room and gave her my copy.

So when I came home from AZ on Sunday night mom had that busted kid look on her face and I knew exactly what it meant. She only gets that way about stuff that she’s messed with that I truly care about which is usually my books. She has a bad habit of not asking about stuff and an even worse habit of being super hard on books. So I said “Which book did you borrow mom?” and she explained the story to me and swore on Odin’s eye patch that if anything happened to it she’d replace it and throw in some chocolate as well but the last thing on my mind was the safety and structural integrity of my book. I was floored and humbled.

Humbled that I don’t have to stay up late sitting on a cold bathroom floor to be able to read, humbled that I have a mother who is so capable of touching and giving the magic of books to the exact person who needs it the most, humbled that that magic lady down the street that dresses funny but changes your world is my mother. Like this little girl will never forget my mom because of her kindness and because of her ability to see people as people, that she was an honest friend, that she was concerned about this little girl’s mind and heart insomuch that she gave her a book to read, a book that she’ll love.

I complain more than I should about my insane mother, but she is some of the best kind of people that does the best kind of things and I consider myself truly blessed to have her and for the mental and emotional freedoms she’s given me by reading to me and handing me a book. By seeing my mind and my heart and knowing how to affect both. Mom truly understands Christmas. She truly understands a lot of things.

I need to get a set of Twilight for that sweet girl for Christmas. And a reading light, or a pillow. Or both. Who’s with me?

Wednesday Giggles

Warning:
There is a faint possibility that this will offend some of you.

However, for me, having gone through the emotional meat grinder that was Prop 8 firsthand;
- Having walked neighborhoods every weekend from August to November polling the issue
- Having walked in Yes on 8 rallies
- Having made more calls than I think I can remember
- Understanding that both sides are speaking two different languages, one is Civil Rights, the other Morality so there is little possibility that one can effectively communicate with the other and knowing this fact breaks my heart a bit
- Having made my Prop 8 stance as crystal clear as I can make it
- Being horrified and damaged by the abject and brutal discrimination and harassment that has been going on from the "Tolerant Community" towards my faith since the election
- and I am still actively supporting the voter's decision passing Prop 8

That being said - I find this hysterical.

Ladies and Gentleman - I give you Prop 8 - THE MUSICAL!

Top 10 Tuesday

It just sounds so fun huh?
I've decided I should do a silly list and a serious list to keep the balance in the force ya know?
So firstly - some imperative information we all can't do without:

My Top 10 Funny Movie Characters of All time
10) Ruby Rod from The 5th Element
“Why I always gotta get the broke one?”

9) Agador Spartacus from The Birdcage
“But wait! I’ve got shrimps!”

8) Bartok the Bat from Anastasia
“I’ll give her a wahhhh! And a high-yah! And then I kick her sir!”

7) Brick from Anchorman
“LOUD NOISES!!!!”

6) Dr. Evil from Austen Powers
“I’m the boss! Need the info.”

5) Jeremy the Crow from The Secret of NIMH
“Ohhhhhh!!! You’ve got a sparkly!"

4) The Ghost of Christmas Present from Mickey’s Christmas Carol
“With pistascheeeoo …. With pistachuooe…. With yogurt”

3) Carl the Friar from Van Helsing
“Actually, I'm still just a friar. I can curse all I want, dammit.”

2) Louis Tully from Ghostbusters
“OK, who brought the dog?!”

1) Emmanuel Goldstein aka Cereal Killer from Hackers
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. What? It's Corinthians one, chapter thirteen verse eleven. nnnn-duh”

Top 10 Things that have Irrevocably Changed my Life
(aside of the influence of my friends and family who change and enrich my life everyday)

10) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9) Cell phones
8) Morten Lauridsen’s music and the album Lux Aeterna
7) The movie Braveheart
6) Dr. Alison Baker and Dr. Rocklin from the Cal Poly English Department
5) Learning how to sing
4) My Mission to Washington DC
3) Growing up as I did in Pasadena and that social education
2) The Gospel of Jesus Christ and my testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon
1) My temple endowment

This isn't Happening

It really isn't...

Top 10 Tuesday

Yes - I know its Thursday. I just had the idea yesterday but I don't want to miss a week. I love top 10's and they seem appropriate at years end to recap things and changes and stuff.

Also, recently Facebook has put me in touch with a number good old friends from high school. Some I didn't recognize AT ALL they're so different. But they were good friends to me then and those warm fuzzies have shoved me tripping and stumbling down high school memory lane. I don't know why. Yesterday I went on the school's website just to poke around and half my teachers are still there. One of my choir buddies is teaching Chemistry now... Its awesome but its a bit strange too. Like I've been gravitationally pulled into a Pasadena High School memory vortex this week.

So I thought to kick things off -

10 Things that Always Remind me of High School

10. any song by They Might Be Giants
9. The term “taco snack”
8. Flannel shirts, Doc Martins, and red Chucks
7. The smell of backstage
6. White out pens
5. Lunch box purses, the ones with the KROQ stickers on them. ( Yeah – I was that girl.)
4. the song “Who Let the Dogs out”
3. Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail
2. Hot Dogs and Nachos at the Rose Bowl
1. Tiny hair braids, mood rings and thrift stores

Wednesday Giggles (part duex)

These are some offerings of email hilarity from my amazing cousin Rich that peppered my day yesterday.

Too good not to share -

Wednesday Giggles

It's been a ridiculous week for me so here are some ridiculous (and hilarious) moments that you can watch a 100 times and still laugh

The Post

Dear Christmas,
I’ve been a bit annoyed with you this year; I’m not going to lie. I’ve put my time in with the retail penal colony so we are intimately acquainted, it’s true. But every year you seem to get worse and worse about waiting your turn in line with the other holidays. There is an order to things. The Seasons never push their way to the front of the drinking fountain line do they? NO! They wait in line in their proper order but it seems that you have this NASTY habit of cutting in line in front of Thanksgiving and now you’re edging in on Halloween too. Sweet Christmas, we know you’re the star, we know that you’re the reason people hit the gym for the first half of the next year and what keeps most families talking. We know this, just wait your turn all right? Thanksgiving is a nice kid, he doesn’t complain too much and requires fairly little in comparison, let him have his turn and stop shoving your way to the front. It’s downright wrong.

Happily wrapping (post giving thanks),
~Liz

Dear Firefighters of the Nation,
Firstly, I love you. How can I not? You’re the closest things we’ve got to superheroes and your stories make fantastic movies. I’m a fan. Truly. We just have to talk about one little thing… What is up with the Yosemite Sam Mustache trend? Is it part of all that fraternal initiation stuff? Because they’re just ridiculous. You’d think that you would want to minimize flammable parts of your person when you’re working so closely with, ya know, fire. So logistically they don’t’ make sense so I’m only left to assume that it’s a uniform or fashion thing. Now I’ve been reading vogue since I was 17 and let me tell ya, I can’t remember the last time I saw a mustache on ANY one of those models so it’s definitely NOT a fashion thing. Gentleman, they’re just silly. When Chino Hills was on fire and I was driving home from church and I saw a convoy of 6 fire engines the damsel in me thrilled a bit with the chance to gawk at 6 engines worth of lifesaving manliness but when EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU was mustache clad I wiped a tear from my eye and drove on. It was a bigger loss than the charred landscape. Please call a meeting and address this silliness at once. And pass out the razors at the door. I’ll get them donated if you need me to.

Eagerly yours,
~Liz

Dear Google Wizards,
Thank you so much for the new Gmail themes. My ninja setup brings me joy every time I open an email. It’s like a two-fer of happiness, an email and an entertaining ninja to enjoy it with. Every time. You make the world a better place. Seriously. I’m making you toffee as we speak. Love laced toffee.

Domestically yours,
~Liz

Dear Makers of the Twilight movie,
You tried. I really see that. You had fun. I see that too. It was horrible. Did you grow up in rural Utah and have nothing but Roadshow experience to call on for ambiance? Did you watch one too many After School Specials? Worship at the alters of You Can’t Do That on Television and The Mickey Mouse Club? Because ALL of those came to mind during my viewing. It’s a kid’s book yes, but a timeless story, you could have treated it with a bit more respect. Recast Jasper at least for New Moon. Incremental improvements are better than none at all.

Still getting the bad taste out of my brain,
~Liz

Dear Hugh Jackman,
I know you’re happily married and an amazing father and one of the single most talented and genuinely pleasant people in Hollywood, but will you marry me? Australia just cast into bronze my cemented devotion to every strand of your DNA. There truly is no other man for me. I know all the songs in Oklahoma too.

Awaiting your call,
~Liz

Wednesday Giggles

You know, I think two of the best things to happen to the human race have been 1) editing software at the hands of us bored but brilliant Millennials so we can satirize pop culture to our heart's content and 2) the interweb so what we can share them.

We're Everywhere

So I've had this article and song stuck in my head for the last few days. It was giggle of a link that this amazing lady and fellow Celt sent over.

"O'Leary! O'Riley! O'Hare and O'Hara!!!

There's no one as Irish as ..."

Wednesday Giggles

I saw this for the first time at Christian's in DC this last weekend and I must have horse laughed for 2 minutes straight at this bit.

I heart Brian Regan. Lots and Lots

Really??!

I'm not so sure how I feel about this, but it was funny nonetheless...

I'm also Yoda, Red Velvet Cake and and Orchid. Who knew?


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

I'm Doing It

I'm going to finish Delilah. If you see smoke in coming from the Walnut/Diamond Bar area that will be me and my Mac making headway.

Wish me Luck.

I Paid for This?

I am totally an admitted wimp. I am a bleeding heart. I convulsively cried at Where the Heart Is and didn't sleep for 3 days after I saw The Ring.

Things affect me.

A lot.

Little things, big things, said things, unsaid things; my brain records them all, my heart picks up on all of it and they stay with me. It’s taken years of practice, deep breathing, theater training, and mobilizing the vast pool of logic that Heavenly Father has seen fit to give me to balance out my spongy brain and figure out how to keep myself from going in every direction at once. I don’t want to be that girl and exhaust and annoy everyone around me and I’d like to think I’ve been marginally successful.

However, because of this I don't like being scared because I get SCARED. It typically doesn't go away for days and days. I avoid scary things like the plague, especially scary movies.

I enjoy suspenseful movies (read: The Village) and being startled is a bit fun. Like when you can immediately laugh at yourself and shake off the adrenaline. That’s fine. I grew up with brothers, that’s just a fact of life.

But I don't like being scared..... and its Halloween.

All the good candy is coming out and Disney's Halloween Treat will be on every half hour somewhere till the end of the month (Huey dressed as a witch was always my favorite).

For a long time I was a very big Halloween grinch. My pumpkin got smashed and my cat died on the same Halloween once and it took me years to forgive the day but I finally did. My friend Jamie reintroduced me to the joy that is the 7 year old's Halloween when I was 20 or so - dressing up and candy.

I even got talked into going to Knott's Scary Farm once for a friend's bachelorette party (yeah – I know. I don’t get it either. She loved it though and it was about her that night…) and I actually had fun. But only after the first 20 minutes when I got over the "OHMY Creepy Batman" and realized that they all were all goofy teenagers in campy monster costumes running around with noise makers. It was funny.

So I don’t know what got into me when I got talked into going to going to the “haunted house” at Fairplex.

Well… I do know what I was thinking but that’s a blog for another day…
The meat of the matter is that I ended up there with a group of people from church.

We bought our tickets and got in line and proceeded to wait for over an hour to get into this ply wooded and spray painted attempt at a front of a spooky haunted house. The theme was it was an asylum that had been demented and all the patients had gotten loose.

Cue eye roll.

There were the standard strobe lights and looped 16 bars from The Exorcist theme ting-tanging through cheap speakers that were situated behind a dangling skeleton over the entrance.

It might have been ominous at a quick glass or pass, but an hour in line gives you ample time to realize how this was probably designed by a 15 year old while on a 15 min break with the Stage Crew. Now the group I was with was a bit odd. There were 8 of us. 3 guys, 5 girls. The ratios were a bit off for a truly hilarious experience. I mean, that’s why guys take girls to haunted houses right, so they’ll freak out and be all over them and they get to be heroes and feel invincible right? Anyway…

2 of the girls in this group are some of the best people on the planet. However, to say they were skittish would also be a gross understatement. These are the girls who won’t touch raw meat because if flips them out. Now imagine that kind of hyper girly flip out potential standing in line to a haunted house with “monsters” pacing up and down the line scaring people as they go. Yeah -

All of us were expecting a hilarious show, at our friend’s psychological expense. But that’s what Halloween is about right? Right –

I am unspeakably grateful that those two were there because it took attention off of the fact that I was quietly and internally flipping out myself. I like to think that externally I appear put together, but, at the time, there were nothing but pans rattling and air horns of panic and anxiety going off just behind my eyes. I don’t like being scared and here I was totally opening myself up for it. I stood in line next to my friend whose idea this whole excursion was while he just smiled and watched me talk too fast and stand with my arms crossed and keep quiet pretending to listening to people around me. But alas and once again, just a few centimeters underneath my skin I was practically shaking.

However, by the time we got to the front of the line the monsters were funny, the “BOOO!!! Ohhhh, snarl snarly” was funny. I had planked up my brain for that and I was good to go by the time we went in.

I was somehow nominated to lead our group through this maze. It was a maze and it sucked. I’m not good at mazes, never have been. There were machines that sent bursts of air at your feet that startled me and badly made up girls walking around in night gowns pretending to be crazy but I was well. There were dead ends that I led people straight into that had gauntly looking bloody type people in showers popping out at me and I was well.

It went totally dark and I wasn’t so well. That’s when I started groping for reassuring somebodys and I peaked around every corner like the flaming chicken that I am but somehow towards the end of the maze when I thought I had made it through like a pro we were in this room that was really narrow and through some turn I ended up at the back of group instead of the front. It was dark and I was anxious for it all to be over so I grabbed onto the person in front of me who happened to be my friend Brad that I have known since my pre mission days. The guy has seen me in almost every possible respect, except this one apparently.

I had a pretty good grip on his jacket and I was looking around for anyone who might be behind me and instead of a group member there was one of the monster people. Now, at Knott’s the rule is that the monsters stay in whatever room you see them in. Once you make it through a room you’re safe from that particular monster. That’s the haunted house norm so I thought “ok just a few more feet and he’ll back off…”

Oh no –

He followed me into the next room and I said “Brad, there’s a monster behind me” and Brad turned around and said over his shoulder “I KNOW!” and I tightened my grip on his jacket a little bit more. So the monster guy starts his creepy voice saying something to scare me.

Now, if he had stayed in character and the following would have happened I would have been perfectly fine. However he did not -

He cleared his throat, broke character, and in a perfectly normal voice said “Ooooh – you smell good.” Brad and I both started laughing but I can’t tell you how this totally unnerved me. If he wasn’t wearing such a sturdy jacket I could have possibly ripped it with how much tighter my grip got. If someone was that close and normally clad and made up that still would have unnerved me.

Then he got super close to me and started smelling and breathing on my neck. I had my hair pulled back so it was exposed and he was really enjoying himself as a dude, not the supposed monster he was supposed to be. They’re not allowed to touch people but that was enough for me.

I bolted and he took off after me. I pushed past the people in our group trying to put some distance between us but, the oh so loving people that I was with saw a show and just got out of his and my way. My other friend (the ones who’s this idea was in the first place) saw me and him bolt by and noted that he also had a chainsaw and told him to “fire it up!” So when there was a bit of an opening and he had me on the run the monster guy roared the chainsaw to life and that’s when my last shred of logic and dignity just fell out of my ears.

I grabbed for the first person I saw and who was it? Only one of our loveably skittish sisters. She barely turned around and saw a totally unglued Lizzie with a chainsaw wielding fiend behind her, and bless her, she caught me and just as terror filled, did what she could which was sink down and sit in the chair that was there and I ended up crouched on the floor right next to her with my head covered.

I stayed there for a second or two and peeked up when the chainsaw finally died and the monster was silently crouched right in front of me about 6 inches from my face just waiting for me to come to and properly made fun of me when I recovered 30 seconds later.

We got out of the maze and made our way back to the car all reliving my meltdown and reporting what we were thinking and what was funny and everyone was marveling that “of all of us here – Liz would be the one to cave…”

Glad I could take one for the team people. That’s what I’m here for.

It was absolutely ridiculous and a total blast. I can’t deny how fun it was. I never once thought I was in any kind of proper danger. It was just an adrenaline rush and a chance to release a little I think. I almost kept it together but I think I just can’t handle mud faced, chainsaw wielding, clown suited, actors enjoying my DKNY perfume at close range.

Call me crazy.

Wednesday Giggles

Oh how I love this man.

Wednesday giggles Pt II

A friend recently told me that I needed to "marry a football player- someone who can bench press a fridge, so that they can handle my brothers" and he started rattling off the dorms I should live in at BYU to bring that to pass. It was an ascenine conversation....

I quickly told him that "I don't date football players."

Here's why -

I wouldn't remember all the clubs we went to either....

*rubs eyes*

Wednesday Giggles

I really need to get back to the Improv and see another show or two

It Is TIme

There comes a time in the life of every red blooded American girl where she just needs to stand up and say something.

Fortunately, I do so quite often and not always necessarily about particularly weighty things.

However, right now, I am going to attempt to be serious.

I want to believe that I can change the world. I want to believe that I can help somebody and stand for something and make a difference. I want to think that I matter, that what I think matters; that I might be able to share and defend the things in my life that have brought me happiness. That I can stand in good company with my parents and ancestors who got to fight for what they wanted and what they believed. I don’t want to die without any scars.

As the American girl, daughter of a hippy and a lawyer that I am, I feel that flexing my influence as voter and conscientious citizen lets me do that, to a degree at least.

We’re in a pivotal election year. If you don’t know that you’ve been meditating under a rock somewhere in Katmandu for the last 18 months and should probably go back. It’s nothing but a stress joint over here and its lovely there.

There are A LOT of things to weigh, study, consider, and carefully make decisions about in this upcoming election.

There is a whole novel I could write and tell about the Presidential side of things but what I want to speak to now is something on California’s State ballot that I feel strongly about.

Prop 8 is getting a lot of attention and for good reason. It’s addressing a pivotal issue by asking us to define a social head space about Marriage and Family.

Its 14 words long;

“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

I think that there are two legs to this issue that are imperative.

One is the legal precedence that is at stake.

In 2000 this exact set of wording was ratified and put into the constitution with a 61% majority.

Earlier this year 4 of the 7 California Supreme Court judges decided that they didn’t agree and that the 61% of California voters who said yes didn’t know what they were talking about and overturned it.

The last time I cracked an econ book, the courts’ responsibility was to interpret the law, not write it. Writing law lies with voters and their elected representatives in the State Senate. I don’t think that it’s OK for non-elected officials to think that they can speak on an issue voters have already spoken on, especially as recently as this one. It sets a gross precedent and one I’m not comfortable with. That’s too much unchecked power. There are only two states in the US right now who allow same sex marriages and that is CA and MA and both of those laws have come about because of the courts, not the voters.

Food for thought….

Secondly is the moral issue that’s in question.

Making the legal definition of marriage to be only between a man and a woman the charged and intense issue of Gay Marriage comes out of this almost instantly. It gets even hairier because what’s really going on is its asking people to reflect and make a call on how they feel about homosexuality in general. We are blessed with a significant homosexual population here in California and even now, despite our familiarity with it, there is still a lot of fear and hatred on the matter. There are still a lot of thinly disguised bigots out there that have jumped on this, some even in my own ranks, and scream their support for Prop 8 off of that box.

I don’t support that. It pains me to think that this issue is being so misunderstood and people are just using it to air out and justify their own prejudices. I can’t even begin to apologize for such ridiculous displays. That’s not how the election process is supposed to work.

I have close friends that are gay and I love them very much, so much so that I want them to be happy. It's all but an emotional mine field believing so strongly one way and loving so many people that choose to live their lives differently, but I will try to explain myself as respectfully as I can.

Like I said before, homosexuality is something we all live with. It isn’t the monster that a lot of the Christian world has cast it to be.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a passionate Christian. I’ve served an 18 month full time mission for my faith, regularly attend my meetings, do daily study from our written scriptures and teachings, attend the temple and honor the covenants I have made with God in those places. My ballot is sculpted by that belief system because I try to live my life according to what I know to be right and wrong not popular and unpopular.

I know that God loves his all children and I do my best to too. For me, this is all about love and always has been. That has never changed.

I know that God wants his children to be happy, and I know that He has designed a plan for us to be so and the centerpiece of that plan is Families.

Marriage and families are sacred to me. I rank it up there with prayer, revelation, scripture, and love. I don’t like it being treated like a political football but that is exactly what I see happening.

There isn’t a single civil right that same sex partnerships would win or lose with this proposition. What is in question and what is important to me is how we are collectively declaring our DEFINITION of Marriage.

Marriage is between a man and a woman. It always has been, and it always will be. It’s a divine design and no court or ballot will change that. So in an effort to live what I know to be true, I would want my civil constitution to reflect those truths as closely as possible.

It may seem like a trivial thing, but what we all decide in a few weeks will lay a groundwork for serious swings in public opinion, public education, parents rights, and start a nasty ball rolling towards any institution that only sustains marriage between a man a woman.

If it doesn’t pass and California’s anti-discrimination laws are abused, there could be a tyrannical proverbial kicking in the door of these places in the name of Tolerance. Tolerance seems to have taken on the horrible tendency to only go one way. “Tolerant” people seem to excuse themselves of being tolerant of supposed “Intolerant” people. It’s a nasty culture of hypocrisy, and again, I don’t think happiness lies anywhere where there is any kind of bigotry; whether it’s going right to left or left to right.

We’re all in this together and I think it’s imperative to examine WHAT is right not WHO is right. We will all be raising our families here eventually. We have to figure out how to live together and to do it well and with love. We drive on the same roads, shop at the same stores, laugh at the same movies, appreciate the same sunsets and pray that our kids will love California as much as we do.

I support Prop 8 because I choose Families with Mothers and Fathers that are married because they’re doing their best to live as closely to God and his plan as they can and I think it’s important for that definition of Marriage and Family to endure. Popular or unpopular as it may seem right now, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true and will continue to be.

I love you and wouldn’t speak so plainly if I didn’t.

Examine your conscience, register to vote and I’ll see you on Nov 4th.

Roots

Recently (as in the day before yesterday) an aspiring medical professional friend of mine pronounced me a drug user.

Apparently "it's the only way (he) can explain why an intelligent motivated woman would still like the Dodgers".

He is his own brand of bonkers that I won't get into right now but it does include a few Angels jerseys and a dislike of the Lakers... *harumph*

Its about ROOTS man!

Its about where you come from!!

Its about history!

Its about hot dogs larger than life and that essential childhood knowledge that there was a perfect lawn in a perfect shade of green somewhere for a very specific purpose.

Its about singing with my dad at the stadium with our matching Dodger blue caps.

Its about watching my Great-Grandmother sit in front of her tubed, knobbed TV with her Brooklyn Dodgers jersey (that's right. Our family devotion goes back to the beginning) on yelling at Tommy to take a lap or two when he got heated.

Its about being inspired to be excellent the Hershiser way.

No drugs necessary for this high - none whatsoever.

Play on Manny. Play on.

Wednesday Giggles

So the other Monday I was sitting at my desk and it was still pretty early so both my cube mate and I were still waking up. My cube mate is awesome. He's my partner essentially and on the surface is a tattooed rough walking guy that plays hockey and has a bulldog (who is adorable beyond measure btw. Her name is Daisy and I love her). He doesn't exactly scream "funny guy" at first glance, but let me tell ya, he is. In the form of random and 80's music.

This particular Monday Cubemate was coming back from something and sat down, my back was still turned and I just heard "BOBBITY BOOPY BAHHH" in a far too chipper voice for a Monday morning and especially from him.

I turned around and just looked at him like "What on earth..." and then he started waving his hands around like English Sailor practicing his flag communication. "BIBBETY BOOOP BOP" Needless to say I fell into hysterics for a good 5 minutes and when I finally calmed down he sheepishly asked "Didn't you see Family Guy?"




So that's been a joke for a couple of weeks and today he showed me this and I was lost to hysterics again -



enjoy -

It Started When I Was 8

When I had finished reading my first Pippi Longstocking book.

It continued into my tweens with meeting Anne with an "e".

It was multiplied and concentrated with the likes of Dr. Crusher, Jean Grey, and every single family reunion I ever went to.

I wondered and wondered how it could be possible for a girl like me to be as singular and amazing as them. I mean, I know that telekinesis and breakfast with Captain Picard were pretty much out but there were a few things that were in my power.....

There was an answer, but it required risk, steely ovaries and some potent chemicals.

It took me a while to get there, but I am happy to announce, in my efforts of Living the Ideal Life Even Just a Little Bit -






















That I've joined the 3% of the population that are red heads and I couldn't be happier.

Breathing Pretty

So I just got back from a glorious weekend in Palm Springs.

These are my peeps. Aren't they gorgeous?

Well - Indian Wells to be be precise. Its a little bit past Palm Springs but just as cool.

Another dahhhh-ling friend of mine, Lauren (in the navy), had a birthday this week and when we were contemplating birthday celebrationess a few things were mentioned. She lives in Phoenix and has this international job type thing so she was in Hong Kong for my birthday but since we'd both be in the same hemisphere for hers, we decided to make a whoop-de-doo about it.

I suggested me coming out to Phoenix where she lives. My amazing cousin Rich (the shorter red head) and his equally amazing and lovable wife Janelle (bright blue shirt) are out there, I wouldn't mind going a'tall. But I got a vehement NO at that idea because, and I quote Lauren "I HATE Phoenix". She went to school in DC, I'd hate Phoenix too if I was coming from that.

So we decided to meet half way in Palm Springs, find a pool and a smoothie and a magazine and lounge as extravagantly as possible.

We were excited and the only thing that could perfect the idea would be the addition of Rich and Janelle and, of course, Patrick, if he wasn't jet setting himself.

We were determined to have a grand time, and let me tell ya - we did.

Laur scored us this amazing room at this Italian inspired resort called MiraMonte . It was just amazing with all theses sprawling gardens and fountains everywhere and I thought it was quite fitting because Lauren and I have a pact. If neither one of us isn't at least dating someone we think we can marry by the time she turns 30 (that's in 2 years) we're going to move to Italy and chase Italian men till it gets boring. Mom said we wouldn't have to do much chasing, and she's right. We're pretty dang gorgeous.

I was going to drive out Friday night after work and so I went home and finished packing, drove into Hollywood to get the Patrick-miester, we grabbed some veggie burgers at Astro Burger (which I HIGHLY recommend btw. Corner of Melrose and Gower) and headed out into the great brown open.

Patrick intended on working on the way out but Patrick is one of those few people in my life that I can just pour out whatever I'm thinking in my brain and not only does he get it, keep up, understand my ridiculous connections, but he appreciates it all so when I actually get time with him I just start ohmygoodnesssoIjustlistenedtothefinancialreport andthey'resayingitstheendofthefreemarketand theladyatChevronthoughtmynewglasseslookedlikeSarahPalin's andIinstantlylikedherlessandandandandandand-ing
So he didn't get much work done at all but we had fun.

We got through traffic and to Indian Wells by 10. That's kind of late but it didn't matter because the whole goal was to get there before Lauren, Rich and Janelle did and we DID! HA! But only by like a minute and 20 seconds. It was fantastic. We were both in the car circle at the same time and had this big reunion through car windows with Rich's foot still on the break and about 3 other carloads of people just watching and waiting. We were ecstatic to see each other. Lauren is basically getting adopted into our family. Shes bff with all of us and she loves us as much so it works out really well.

For those who read this blog but haven't heard me describe Rich or Janelle to you, lemme give you a snap shot -

Rich is what would happen if a Jedi Knight a Ninja Turtle, Robin Williams and the best kind of Missionary all ran at each other really fast. Essentially he's one of the funniest people on the planet but made completely out of love. I seriously don't know why he isn't fantastically famous. He's just a brilliant and physically expressive guy. A purple belt in ninjitzu and a lot of energy usually leads there. He's awesome. Most of my memories growing up with him are wrestling matches or playing Cloverball. Clover was the name of their very stupid dog. It's a very regular thing to be in an intense spiritual conversation with him and he'll just take a step back, never breaking eye contact or missing a syllable, do some crazy karate combination and just come back like nothing happened. That's Rich in a paragraph.

His wife Janelle is just as much made of love but the quiet kind. She's what would happen if April from the Ninja Turtles, R2D2, Jean Grey, and Marjory Hinkley all ran at each other really fast. I love her. Lovelovelovelove her. I'm SOOO glad Rich brought her into the circle. I met her for the first time in front of the temple on their wedding day and had absolutely no qualms about it or her. This is how buff she is; on her way down to the temple in Mesa from Tucson the night before she got into a horrific car accident, Like, she flipped her car. A couple of times. Broke every window. Everything flew. Wedding dress, shoes, temple recommend. She got whisked off to the ER but was fine, everything got recovered and she was at the temple, on time and ready for pictures the next day.

That's my family *puff* :D

So the first thing that happened once we got to the room was Rich dove in, found some of the bathrobes and took in the luggage like so.

Rich brought Rockband and we played till about 3am.

I brought tennis rackets, Patrick brought his laptop and rapier wit, and Laur brought this ambrosial trail mix from Trader Joe's "Nuts over Raspberry and Chocolate". She, Patrick and I killed the bag in about 10 minutes and I went out today and bought a bag for me and one to send to my best friend. It's that good.

The next morning we were properly introduced to the resort and I realized that it wasn't just plesant and comfortable, it was gorgeous. We all drove in at night so we didn't see the amazing scenery. When Lauren and I were at the pool I just couldn't stop starring.

We went and had lunch at this fantastic place called Pierro's Acqua Pazza at this grouping of shops and restaurants called The River. It was huge and essentially surrounded by this gorgeous moat. That's where the first picture was from. A river. Well, "river". In the middle of the desert. With fantastic curry chicken. And your favorite people. Can life get better?

After that we went outlet shopping and had dinner at this euphoric wood fired pizza/tapas place at El Paseo called Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. I highly recommend that too.

When we were getting ready to go Rich was showing us his version of this new Xbox 360 game Castle Crashers.



Yup. That is a 30 second representation of the entire weekend.

I can't tell you how refreshed and relaxed I am and how much of a love of pool side dining I've developed and how riveting The Economist is and how grateful I am for my family and the fact that they're my best friends too.

It's just what I needed and I'll definitely be back.