overdue

So I totally thought after I stopped being super busy at work I would stop being so boring...but wrong! Still boring. I have only a few things to say today.


1. Got the white pants from jcrewdotcom and according to the fit on my bum, I will have to conquer my love of candy before I can conquer my fear of white pants...or maybe I'll just send them back. Problem solved!

2. I said something mean about someone this morning so karma paid me back by squirting Crystal Light Strawberry Slurpee all over one of my favorite shirts.


3. It was Janelle's birthday on Monday, which meant Cheetos and s'mores that night,


and Tasha's birthday on Tuesday which meant burritos for lunch.

Which sums up pretty much precisely why those woman are two of my favorites.

4. I am on the last episode of season 2 of Lost. My new mantra is, WWSD? Because Sayid is either busting heads or thinking rationally and I think one or the other can apply to all situations really.

suckers that never play

If CD people would e-mail me their addresses at ejcliffordatgmaildotcom, then I should have discs out by the end of the week.

Also, why is giving babies food they don't like sooo funny(but tomatoes, how does the boy not love garden fresh tomatoes?!)?




Sorry kid!

sunset soon forgotten

The concert was insane packed last night. In my old age I only lasted about halfway through but it was nice as Michelle and I chatted from our faraway spot to hear Sam Beam's voice and listen to songs that over and over again sent my brain back to memories scanning the past 5 years. Today I've been running other favorites through my headphones and though most of the youtube videos are dumb (ugh, or Twilight) the memories are all there still.

For the first few months after I got home from my mission I would fall asleep most nights in my mom's bed listening to Iron & Wine. She'd fallen for his dreamy sound and gone to see him with Tasha and Jeanine at Kilby Court the spring before I returned. In my recollection of those first few weeks home again, I think of crawling into my mom's bed, her putting on either The Creek Drank The Cradle or Our Endless Numbered Days and me drifting off peacefully. It was fall and cool and comfortable and I didn't have to be in bed by 10:30pm or awake by 6:30am or report either to anybody and that felt perfect.


By the start of the new year I was living in a house we called The Woodhouse with a bunch of friends. I'm surprised every time I think of that place because I didn't actually live there very long, but I feel like it was a really valuable time for me as far as struggling and learning and growing is concerned. The Trapeze Swinger came out sometime around then on the In Good Company soundtrack. I love a song that clocks in at over 7 minutes and I had just bought my beloved Subaru so coming and going to and from my house, in own first my car, with that song over and over...perfection.

By the time Iron & Wine hooked up with Calexico for In The Reins I had fallen for a boy who was tall and skinny and played the guitar. We lived apart and were unsure of long distance courtship protocol so we spent months sending music back and forth and discussing Sam Beam's songs at length. And for that little while we thought each other practically perfect.

I listened to The Shepard's Dog all the way through for the first time on a run. A friend had given me the album and though I'd sampled here and there, I got to really soak it up running across downtown Salt Lake streets at night. I usually make running playlists full of songs that have a good pace beat, but I got addicted to the album in its entirety. Still when I hear any of it I feel my legs get antsy to go. I know I'm probably not a real runner for being so dependent upon music, but feeling like there is a soundtrack to my movement and breath right in my ears is absolutely perfect.


So I was going to put together a zipped files with 5 or 6 of my favorites...but I couldn't stop there so why not a whole mix? Let me know if you want one.

promise what you will

Hey I think I get to be back around now because I am mostly done with my big work project. In case you are curious as to what kept me from my important normal schedule of hanging out on the internet, maybe you've heard of that little thing called the new PS3 that launched on Tuesday. It's not like I made it or anything but by damn, there had to be posters to sell it!

So to reward myself for being busy, yesterday I bought some cheap crap on j.crewdotcom including white pants, which have always frightened me a little bit to actually wear. So not only am I being productive at work but I am also conquering fears. How noble I am!

Anyway, tonight the free concert at the Gallivan Center is Iron & Wine and like the rest of the world, I love Sam Beam and that beautiful music he makes. And I'm going to eat pizza at Este first with Danny and Eric so I'm pretty sure this night can't get better.


(oh also, I can't stand Sawyer right now...that douche king just stole all the guns!)

black and white days

I'm nearing the end of a work project that has been sucking my life last week and this week. And I started watching Lost finally a couple of weeks ago, so that and playing Flood-It online are very important to me right now when I'm not at work.

Which means I have nothing to blog about cus I'm boring (but I do have a 62% winning rate on Flood-It and I kind of love, love Jack and Hurley).

the fox

My first grade teacher, Mrs. Lemberg, read James and the Giant Peach to us as a reward for good class behavior. When I was little enough to have the chore of walking on my dad's back we read The BFG together 2 times (well he read outloud, I walked around his back until I complained enough for us to move to the couch and then I read outloud). The Twits, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Danny the Champion of the World...the way those Roald Dahl books shaped my little brain makes me already excited for my future 8 year olds because I love his worlds where children are smart and goodness wins. I need to read more of his grown up stuff but his account of childhood stories, Boy, is a great and quick read. Plus I want to get my hands on the book about him being an actual spy!

I've appreciated the film adaptations up to this point, and while I'm still waiting for someone to do The BFG (cus favorite), this new Fantastic Mr. Fox looks so, so great.

Man, I wish I had a kid (not really)!

the world at large

It's been a while since the randoms made their way out...

This is fun.

This is in case you need to tan and rent a video (and incorrectly use an apostrophe).

This is the world's worst picture of me.

This is when I drove by the city county building and saw so many polygamists protesting...seriously, there was a lot of denim there that day.

This is Kid Cudi's awesome stage.

These are explorers discovering a new lake (it's actually just Aaron pointing at Echo Lake).

This is Stacy, Aaron, Chris and new friends Andi and Cameron in the rain before their triathlon on Saturday (and if you're ever going to place bets on who will win a casual triathlon, always bet on a dude in LOTS of spandex).

This is how Morgan eats enchiladas.

And this was why it's so awesome having Joel and Nate upstairs...because when our friend Brad comes to town, they come over to say hello (tease me).

i don't wanna be

So maybe I'm 27 and still shop at stores meant for teenage girls. Enough so that my friend Elin often asks me if I'm wearing anything I ordered from Delia's. And I laugh and kid "oh ha ha, I should start dressing like a grown-up more right?" though secretly I think I'm cool because hey, I'm young and stylish!

Until last night when this showed up unsolicited in the mail with my name on it.


I'm out. I can no longer be associated with anything that is associated with these creepy kids.


Kill me if I ever get that bad.

people get ready

On Tuesday I went to Provo to hang out with Danny and to go see the cobblestoned Forever 21 (so sophisticated!). But before Danny got in my car I looked to my passenger seat and console,

and got a little depressed.

But then in the mall parking I saw this,

and my emotional mode switched from depression to rage.

the world is outside

The Elizabeth Clifford Commemorative Backpacking Trip 2009 was a success!

We started like this.

Then we hiked through lots of this,

and this,

to get to this.

Morgan did a lot of this

and this (picking out M&Ms in the trail mix).

Logan studied an oversized map,

Christopher taught Aaron how to fly fish,

Kristen kept it real,

and mountain goats bullied us.

The Clifford siblings all blessed with the same terrible skin, managed to give ourselves oddly shaped burns as evident by Elizabeth's legs,

Christopher's legs

Emily's legs,

and Logan's whole body really.

While the brownies (and baby) were unaffected.

And of course, after backpacking success, we got huge sodas.

I think if the mountains had bathrooms, the internet and Diet Dr. Pepper, then I would live there permanently.