good morning good morning

This morning I was walking off campus around some road construction vans near President's Circle. I heard a "Damn girl!" assumed it was for someone else, and continued walking. But when I came around the other side of one of the vans, the man behind the voice craned his neck, looked at me and added "Nice boots!"

So that's a nice way to start a day.

paint a face

So even though Vegas was lovely, it unfortunately didn't magically solve the sunken stomach feeling I've been carrying around at home the last few weeks. Getting back my Armenian test results yesterday and passing only 2 out of the 3 sections adds some more sinking. My own fault of course, I didn't study, I didn't prepare so I know there is nothing and no one else responsible for my results. And I think that is precisely the weight descending upon my innards; I'm responsible for where I am. I'm responsible for the things I haven't finished or accomplished, for the body I have and the money I make. I'm responsible for gathering and storing intellectual and spiritual knowledge, for developing any talents and skills. And while that responsibility for myself is why I have much preferred adult life to teenage and child life since I can control the things that worried me silly in my younger years...it's been creeping up the last few months that maybe I haven't done a very good job of most of it? I've done a great job of learning which gas stations in Salt Lake have which diet drinks in the fountain machines and I've done an awesome job of kissing hot boys, but I'm not sure either of those things matter much on the grander scale.

I'm afraid I amount to a handful of superficialities (see: kissing hot boy comment). I'm afraid that I've tried and been busy working at life, but that I've made actual wrong choices and decisions and sheesh, does that feel overwhelming. How do you shake that?

I do know I have blessings a'plenty, and that all the people in my life are wonderful. I would be a fool to not be constantly aware of that important fact. Aaron has been patient and kind about my whining. Morgan was wearing a hat with fake dreaklocks attached to it this week. Danny gave me a massage for my birthday in January that I'm cashing in on tomorrow which is fantastic timing. Plus earlier this week he sent me a Neil Halstead album that is both sad and hopeful, which is precisely how I like my self pity music to be. I have been listening to this one especially in my car whenever I am not listening to Chris Brown's "Forever" (don't judge me).


Paint A Face
Try to get the colors right
And I’ll paint you face she said
Cus life is on the outside babe
And you got to try and get it right

Buy a ten-dollar camera
take a picture of everyone
Cos people change
Yeah they change
Changing everyday

And I don’t want to be the one that you don’t recognize
I don’t want to be the one that’s left behind

Got a broken car yeah got a selfish heart
Running down the road
With a jukebox in my head
Funny how I got to here
I don’t remember how
I just want to live somewhere where the air is sweet and clear

And I don’t want to be the one that you don’t recognize
I don’t want to be the one that’s left behind

soul shake down

You thought there would be no Morgan this week? Wrong! You thought Katie and I make sure we don't post the same thing? Wrong!

But guys...it's a baby rasta dreadlock hat. It's so funny because Morgan isn't even a Rastafarian!

the road

I just finished watching Freaks and Geeks for the first time ever. And I discovered that like all really great shows, the general public was too dumb to appreciate it in it's time so we only have one season of this little gem. Which is too bad because it's soooooooooo awesome. Like so awesome. Like Netflix it or rent it right now if you've never watched it.

And while I love Daniel Desario as much as the next adult woman, I gotta say that I think teenage me would have loved to run across a Nick Andopolis. He won my heart for sure. Well they all did, everyone in the show is just so, so great. I'm glad that really most of those kids have gone on to other great things (like Undeclared which I've started watching today).

And just mini-soapbox...why is it that shows with a smart but slightly awkward teenage heroines lose out (Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life) while mean girls and pretty girls rule the ratings (Gossip Girl, 90210)?

Just mini-soapbox cus remember that I love Gossip Girl.

a day in the life

So in a nutshell, Vegas was like this:

In-N-Out

world's most famous gays

my cardigan on even more sale

the Beauty Bar (on skates)

E Foster!

this face

presidents

and more presidents!

delicious raw food



delicious Metro Pizza

Love

all you need is love

Vegas was a lot of fun as evident by the following photo:


As you can see there are
a) DJs
b) sparkly lights
c) outside at night, and
d) roller skates

after the gold rush

You know how there will always be people better than you at everything? Or more successful or more together or more able to eat candy and not gain weight? And most of the time it's no big deal cus, who cares? But then sometimes it gets to you (cus you let it).

Luckily feeling a little down coincides with a weekend run south to classy Vegas! Dallas and Aaron and I are going today in an attempt to sun ourselves like lizards on desert rocks. It's going to be great. Although when I texted them earlier asking them what treats they wanted Dallas responded with a request for rice crackers, cucumbers, and hummus. Figures...

being boring

The speech at the party went well-ish. Another girl talked about boxing, Joel told jokes...and I talked about Ulster-Scot and Catholic Irish immigration in the 1700s. So you can tell that I was the boring winner. Alright!

And I know I've been Morgan heavy around here lately, but honestly, how can I not post when he looked like this yesterday?

the green king sings

My friend Max hosts the kind of holiday parties where guests are assigned report topics. I heard his President's Day party was both entertaining and informative. So I am looking forward to his St. Patrick's Day event tonight because I will be speaking about the first Irish immigration pre-Revolutionary War, or in other words, The Irish: Britain's Bitch At Home And Abroad.

And since every other thing I own is green, I decided to forgo a head-to-toe outfit and instead settle on just a pair of subtle, florescent green earrings.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

subzero fun

This weekend ruled because it didn't even mean to. But a bunch of awesome things happened, such as:

1. Pizza!

2. America

3. Dance sandwiches

4. Bryton's artistic rendition of me

5. Road shamrocks

6. Tea with this guy

7. Sister rings

8. 11 hours of sleep on Saturday night!
9. Bike ride with Aaron to Nick's new apartment
10. Nate and Joel after church

the underdog

Ummm...I just realized I've had a hot dog everyday for lunch this week. That's okay right?

you and me

I think Ricky Gervais has such a great laugh.

for what it's worth

Sometimes you miss Katy's baby shower and then she has her baby but you still want to show your excitement about little Sam and his awesome parents so you decide to knit a beanie for the future mountain man. So you have needles a size up from what you need but you figure no big deal, a baby grows! But then as you're finishing you realize it fits the 8 month old you know, and while 8 months down the road is fine, it's more fun for babies to have stuff RIGHT NOW.

So another is on the way small Sam, and in the meantime a very sleepy Morgan is enjoying your gift.

first signs of an early spring

Since today looks like this:

I'm glad Saturday looked like this:

And that I found out my tights match my table:

And that my new scarf came in the mail.

I refuse to not believe spring is coming soon.

dinner bells

Two of the best things to come out of Provo are most definitely Luke and Meikel. And luckily last night they came to Salt Lake because Christopher and Tasha prepared a dinner that was both classy and delicious. Well, classy until I asked Christopher and Luke if they've played the iPhone physics game that I am obsessed with playing on Aaron's iPhone. And they had not. So Luke downloaded it.

And Aaron and Luke played it at the same time for a while.

Then we got to dessert and Aaron tried to eat his and still play.

And Luke kept pushing through.

So Christopher felt left out and downloaded it and started playing.

And then Tasha played for a bit.

And Meikel too.

And then even Morgan tried for a second (he is a very smart baby).

So apparently in order to interact we need some sort of additive internet game involved. Plus both Aaron and Luke managed to pass the game so obviously it was productive. And great...it was a great night.


Oh and also, broccoli!

hey brother

I realized today (because Logan pointed it out) that I don't have links to either of my brothers' blogs. Logan needs to shape up how often he posts but Christopher is more consistent. Logan is Most Fun Clifford and Christopher is Best All Around Clifford so I highly recommend checking them out if you don't have your fill of Clifford with Katie and me TAKING UP SO MUCH INTERNET ROOM ALREADY.

Christopher the Younger and Logan the Even Younger

gimme some salt

I went to REI last night to hear Dane Rauschenberg speak because in 2006 he ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks. So a marathon a week for an entire year. A marathon a week. IN ONE YEAR. Needless to say, I was impressed and he was very friendly and very positive and said some great things about running and trying and failing and all of that inspirational junk. And it worked on me! I'm inspired to run! So thank you Dane Rauschenberg.

And in his honor I tried the 7-Eleven brand Salt & Vinegar chips instead of my regular Lay's.

I found out they failed. I like my Salt & Vinegar chips to give me the chills and make me squirm a little bit before I even start eating them.

footloose

This morning was one more morning in a row of frustrating mornings because I had to listen to the section of local news concerning the Utah State Legislature. And the Utah State Legislature is a carnival of ridiculousness. Ten foot walls in bars? Sure! But guns loose in a car? Why not! And hey, let's keep comfort pets out of public places? That makes sense!

I know I have made it apparent here that politically I swing more left, but not even that far left so I don't think this is liberalism speaking so much as human speaking. In my particular frustration today, I called my Rush Limbaugh loving father because I was assuming that even someone who sees the democratic process differently than I do would still agree that so much of what is proposed in the Utah Legislature is silly at best. And schwoo, he did.

So I plead to anyone in Utah with a brain and legislators (that is everybody just FYI) to maybe occasionally check the 2009 Session Information even though it is kind of boring and not as funny as say, GoFugYourself.

However, in the future GoFugYourself will not have the power to ban dancing (as far as I can tell at least), while the Utah Legislature just might (with the exception of church dances of course).

Please use your brains people.

baby love

Dudes...do you see why this baby is the best one around?

(I think he is looking more Mexican-y lately!)