Monday, June 22, 2009

BLUE BIKE

This is one of my new favorite albums right now. I heard one of her songs on an episode of One Tree Hill (don't mock - I was just channel surfing and heard the music) and when I looked her up I found myself enjoying a lot of the songs. I was listening to it with my sister the other day and we decided she must have been dumped pretty hard right before she wrote it. I'm guessing this was her "music therapy" to get through things - ha, ha, ha! Whatever works. She has a song, though, called "Good To Be Alive" and it makes me want to go out and pick flowers in a field. I love songs like that. It DOES feel good to be alive......

Friday, June 19, 2009

I GAVE IN

Well, I did it! I'm the first to acknowledge that saving for a home and purchasing the upgraded Kindle is maybe not the greatest combination, but I'm so excited about this little wonder that I'm finding all sorts of ways to justify my choice. It's not released until June 28th and should be arriving July 2nd, but here is what I have to look forward to :

1. It holds up to 3500 books, magazines, documents, etc.
2. It is thinner than most magazines
3. You can rotate the screen from portrait to landscape when you turn it
4. It has a text to speech feature that allows the book to be read out loud so it's like a portable book on CD
5. I can download the standard works for 4 dollars and 'Jesus The Christ' for 80 cents, and that's just the beginning - there are over 285,000 books to choose from
6. You can upload music onto it from your computer to listen to while you read
7. You can download people's blogs for free
8. Built in encyclopedia: If you aren't sure what a word is or need more information you just click on the word and it looks it up for you
9. Wireless Wikopedia so you can find information on anything you want, any time you want, and for no additional cost
10. You can take notes on what you're reading and go back to the exact spot that you were at before

Pretty much the Kindle DX is going to change my life one book at a time. I can't wait until July 2nd!!!!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

SWEET DISNEY

I went this weekend with my sister and roommate to go and see Disney's new movie, "Up." I've always appreciated the creativity of Disney, but was surprised at how tender this film was. Within the first twenty minutes the theater was filled with muffled sniffles and people awkwardly wiping away tears. The characters and story line remind us of the power of human decency and the blessings that come from blessing others, which is sometimes hard to find when you go to movies these days. Well done, Disney!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

SOUTHERN TRIP: DAY 3: SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Day three of our trip took us to Savannah, Georgia. We woke up to a downpour but the front desk promised us that there would be breaks throughout the day. As you can see from our pictures, there were no breaks. Those Marriott employees cannot be trusted!! This is the garden where Forest Gump was filmed. Where Calvin and Karissa are standing at the bottom picture in the middle is where the bench was that Tom Hanks sat on during the entire movie. Apparently there are a lot of movies filmed in Georgia.
Again, the theme of the day was 'rain.' It got so bad that at one point Wayne and Calvin didn't even bother with the umbrellas anymore. We found out by the end of the day that when you're out all day, walking in the rain, stomping through puddles, it makes you REAL tired.
We ate lunch at 'Ms. Wilkes Boarding Home' and as explained earlier, this was one of my favorite places I've ever eaten. The food was fantastic and it was a fun experience to sit around with strangers and talk while you ate. It was a 20 minute wait in the rain to get in, but it was absolutely worth it. I would go back again and again if I lived there.
We took a trolley tour of the city and would stop at random places. This is one of the churches that is there in Savannah. The downtown is historic and has beautiful little houses and squares with all of the houses facing a little park in the middle.

After a couple of hours in the rain and wind it started to get pretty cold so we stopped by a store and got some cheap ponchos. We looked ridiculous, but it warmed us up so how we looked was our last concern. It was towards the end of the day but we didn't want to go home without taking pictures by this statue. There was a true story that a girl sent her sailor off to sea and every day would go to the docks to wait for him. While she was there she would wave to the other men coming in from sea. After some time she became depressed by the fact that her sailor wasn't coming back, but received a box of letters one day addressed to "the girl from Savannah who waves to the sailors." They were thank you letters from all of the sailors who's spirits were lifted when they would see her. The story goes that she vowed to go down every day to the docks and did so until she passed away. The trolley driver said that at one point they did an awards ceremony for her and had to move the entire venue because there were so many sailors that showed up to express their appreciation. I love stories like that!!
Before heading out to Charleston we stopped by the Tyree Lighthouse for some pictures. We had just gotten warm and dry, and it was starting to drizzle again, so this was a quick stop. Once we got to Charleston and spent the day in a humid city with sunshine, we realized that the rain in Savannah was a blessing in disguise. Humidity is no bueno!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

JUICEMAN II

This weekend I purchased the Juiceman II for twenty dollars at a yard sale. All I had to hear were the words "this cost almost 200 dollars in the store and was only used once," and I was hooked. I'm also one of those consumers that buys the crap located next to the checkout stands because I all of a sudden realize that I really do need it after all even though I had gone to the store to purchase toilet paper only. Anyhow, this morning for breakfast I juiced some grapefruit and apples. It was in one of the many juicing books that came with the machine so I figured it would be decent. I'm not going to lie; it was pretty tart. Still, I'm excited for summer and all of the fruits and vegetables that will soon be coming our way. Juiceman II - you and I are going to become good friends! At least for a couple of months until I get bored with you and stick you on the fridge next to the dehydrator I HAD to buy last winter so that I could take healthy snacks to work.......

Saturday, June 6, 2009

WISHING I COULD BE ONE OF THOSE GIRLS

I just finished catching up on some posts that Callie, one of my mission companions, had on her blog. She and I were only together for a month, and our focus was pretty much the work we were doing, so it has been wonderful seeing this other side of her. One thing I have found out about Callie is that she is incredibly talented when it comes to anything creative or artistic. Ridiculously talented! The enthusiasm and kind heart she always demonstrated as a missionary spills into every aspect of her life. I love seeing the projects that she does and today when I was reading about how excited she is to sew throw pillows with her mom, it literally made me envious. I LONG to be that kind of a person. My friend, Heidi, can make fabulous creations with a toothpick and colored paper, while I'm still trying to finish a scrapbook from 9 years ago that consists only of placing and pasting. It's not that I'm looking for an excuse. I really do want to have that kind of creativity. A couple of months ago for Young Womens we went to Deseret Industries and did a service project tying quilts. I was super excited to participate in it and as we were sitting there working, I envisioned myself coming back time and time again. Imagine how embarrased I was when the worker patted me on the shoulder as I left, re-assuring me they could fix what I had been working on. WHERE IS MY BUSHEL THAT HAS MY TALENT HIDDEN UNDER IT?!?! I feel sorry for my children one day who will wonder why their friends have books about their lives and charming houses with home-cooked meals. Eat your sandwich, I'll say, and be happy it's not cereal for dinner again! Those ungrateful pseudo-kids.......

Thursday, June 4, 2009

SOUTHERN VACATION: DAY 1 AND 2

We are still in the process of sorting through thousands of pictures, so these posts are going to come in little sections at a time. Here are some highlights of the first couple of days:We flew into Charlotte, North Carolina and after getting situated and speaking with the front desk clerk to find out the best place to eat in town, ended up going out to dinner at "Mac's" Barbeque. It was delicious and an appropriate introduction to our week of southern food. Those southerners like their barbeque sauce and fried chicken! I'm happy to report that they've perfected it, even for people like me who like sort of plain, boring food!
The next day began with a Nascar experience. Wayne is a fanatic of the sport and since we were right outside of Mooresville it only made sense to make his little boy dreams come true. We went to Penske racing and watched them working on the actual cars used for the races, including Kurt Busch's cars. Nascar day would have given us the perfect opportunity to poke fun at Wayne's man crush on Kurt Busch, but we soon realized that EVERYONE has a man crush on Kurt Busch. You don't make fun of Nascar in the south!
Our next stop was the building basically dedicated to Dale Earnhardt (I may have spelled that wrong). There was sort of a touching video about his life, although Wayne later explained that he apparently was sort of a jerk on the track. I actually learned a lot of interesting things about Nascar and I'm happy to admit that we all had more fun than was anticipated.
After Mooresville we drove 3 hours into the mountains to a cute little town called Ashville. We had two purposes in Ashville and the first was this McDonalds. A couple of weeks before Calvin and Karissa were watching a television program on McDonalds in the world and this was one that was included as America's fanciest McDonalds. It had a fireplace, a baby grand piano, and some pretty fantastic bathrooms! The food was the same but the ambiance was fabulous. Right as we were leaving we saw a woman who had gotten hit by a truck in the parking lot. She was laying on the ground right next to our vehicle so I had to back the vehicle out around her body while Karissa directed me. But that's another story altogether..... Our next stop was one of my favorite places....the Biltmore Estate. It was this enormous estate with hundreds of acres and all sorts of things to do.
The house itself took a while to get through and the grounds around it were classy looking and made us feel like we were in Europe.
My favorite parts were the gardens, lakes, and tress on the property. There was this random little water fountain by the gardens that we all, of course, had to drink out of. It was nasty and I'm pretty sure the water was pumped from the lake. Good times!
Here's one of the lakes we walked around. Wouldn't you LOVE to be able to have this on your property and sit by whenever you wanted to. I really need to re-think the ghetto that I live in!
Our final leg was to see the stables, drive by the winery, and go up to the hotel that is built on the other side of their property. What an ideal place to get away for a weekend. There was horseriding, kayaking, 4-wheel-drive tours. I would love to be able to come back here again and soak it all in for a couple of days.
After leaving Ashville, North Carolina we had a 4 1/2 hour drive down to Savannah, Georgia so we stopped off at the Beacon Drive-In for dinner. There were all sorts of signs on the roads saying it was world famous, and when we got there we were informed that it was featured on the food network. This gentleman would take our order and yell it out to the cooks. I didn't really understand when he talked because of his thick accent but at one point he had me yell my order out with him. I must have done a good job because I got what I ordered, and it was pretty good. All in all I'd say our first days were pretty successful!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

ADVENTUREDOME

A couple of months ago Karissa and I went to United Blood Services to give blood, and in the process, received free passes for 2 to Adventuredome at Circus, Circus. Win-win situation. Save a life - go to Adventuredome! We realized they were about to expire so last Friday we cashed in. It was good times, except for the roller coaster. Never again! Laser tag was not my strongest game of the evening. In fact, my score was zero. The key apparently is to stay in one spot and get unsuspecting people as they go by. I ran from place to place and this random group of teenagers kept following me the whole time. Thugs. Laser tag thugs!
There's obviously a lot of "child" appropriate rides and activities, but the goal was to ride everything, so we participated. I was only pretending to have to throw up on the bus but the control person saw me doing it and slowed us down. Awkward. I had to explain I wasn't being serious. I'm pretty sure people like me make her job seem long at times. I apologized.
Our last ride was the carousel, which I hadn't been on in years! Slow, repetitive circling motions as you go up and down. Ten more minutes and that would have been a wrap. It turns out I'm not so good at carnival rides, but I sure did enjoy it!!!! Hooray for giving blood!