exLibrisLady

Carlos

2011-09-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you read a truly great ghost story? Really? Funny tangent. Me and my flat mate (so much funner than saying roommate) were browsing through netflx, and came across the 'thriller' category and decided we were in the mood to be 'Thrilled'. And in the memory of Veronica pushed forward. We came across a show called Ground Control, with Keifer and a killer storm in Az, and we figured sounds good. Oh it was good... in the Mystery Science Theater kind of way. we had a good laugh. Then we watched Artic Drift, where the hole in the ozone creates a drop in temperature so fast and severe everyone freezes to death until one lone hero saves the day by shooting things up in it to close it. It got about as intense as watching jello set, but we did have some good laughs and it is always fun listening to a cute guy talk with an Australian accent, so there was that. Needless to say we were thrillless. Then we went and watched Matt Damon in Contagion at the theater. NOW THAT was a thriller. It was kind of interesting leaving the theater, everyone was dead silent, until I blurted out, 'All of a sudden Germaphobes make sense' and got a few chuckles.

So.... this same week I pick up a book called "Prince of the Mist". The only reason I had purchased it was because I was by the author of one of the truly great books on my shelves. Shadow of the wind. If you haven't read that, put it on your list. No really. Do

Shadow of the Wind is an adult book by a very well known Spanish author. It is about book cemeteries, and lost books, and yes the devil is in it, it is a little bit of a thriller, but not crazy scary. Carlos is a phenomenal author you have to experience it to fully understand. Have I ever steered you wrong?

Prince of the Mist is a YA book, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Needless to say I was THRILLED. It was an honest to goodness ghost story. I got goose bumps several times, there are creepy statues, a sunken ship, adventure, a little romance, and a lot of ohhhhhh scarry! I loved it and couldn't put it down. Yay to Carlos, you have a gift.

I was also entranced by all the beautiful covers of this book.

2011-09-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

Read 3 books in the past few weeks. 1 was a adventurous romp to a post apocalyptic society of children living in the NYC subway tunnels - 1 of a million new trilogies. 1 was light and fun and silly about a cranky but intelligent teen stuck on an deserted island with a bunch of crazy celebrities, but bad language. 1 was a fantasy remake of the 12 dancing princesses. Can you guess which is which?

Sisters Keeper

2011-08-31T17:06:00.001-07:00

I know I just posted yesterday about a book, but well... I picked up a book yesterday and sometime WAY past my bedtime I realized I was going for a finish, and well I did, all 400 pages in one day...

While I was in PDX last month I had a delicious Hawaiian dinner with some friends and found an unknown bibliophile among them. We started shooting books back and fort at each other, her husband thought we were talking about one author or related books. No just random books we wanted to recommend. They both brought up Jodi Piccoult. I'd heard the name around but hadn't given much thought. Then they mentioned 'My Sisters Keeper' the movie? i asked, yes the movie was based on this book. but of course.... the book is better. So I added it to my collection thinking I'd get to it sometime. Well sometime was yesterday, and only yesterday as i read it straight through. Warning up front this is a SAD book, sad sad sad. But very thought provoking and such great writing. Hope you like it too!

Shades of Grey

2011-08-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

If I was asked to list a few of my favorite authors, that would be a hard task, there are so many with so many different ideas and styles. But if you asked me what I thought about Jasper Fford, I’d say he has yet to disappoint. I know very little about Jasper except he writes mind blowing (literally) novels and refuses to sell his work to Hollywood. Really what else do you need to know. His most well known Series is the Thursday Next series. If you like books and you like action and you like having your mind stimulated, then these are the books for you. The first ‘The Eyre Affair” is just fabulous and introduces you to Thursday’s world. I can recommend this book highly enough (though be warned she has a potty mouth) The next series he wrote was the Nursery Crime books. Jack Sprat solves cases involving Nursery Rhymes (was humpty dumpty murder or suicide?) Again, just super duper books.

My latest read is of his newest series. Shades of Grey. If I could just have a few hours to pick Jaspers brain, I still don’t think I’d fully understand where he gets these ideas from. Shades of Grey was hard to get into at first because I had to train my mind to think like him and get invested in this Chromatia Colorful world. This dystopian world where everyone’s social status depends on what color they can see predominantly. 500 years in the future where every move is dictated by the ‘rules’. Again I am just blown away at the ideas and nuances that comes out of his head. A future where spoons are no longer manufactured so they become rare and valuable, where artificial light is so taboo that no one has ever gone out at night so Stars are as mythical as M’Donna and Chuck Nourus.

The next book doesn’t come out until 2013… curse you Fford!

Skinny Dippin with my clothes on

2011-08-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went Kayaking with my sister at Loon Lake. Probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. The water was so clear, and the lake was in a Zion canyon like place so the floor of the lake was giant boulders, it was really cool. I couldn't resist and had to jump. Dani got an action shot of me. how cool is it? super cool, well except for the dorky nose plugging. I didn't even know I did that. I'm going to have to try aversion therapy.

As for books, it's been a weird few months. I'm in the middle of like 4 series, some I've all ready discussed, some are re-reads, and I've also read some real duds. So stay tuned.

2011-07-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

My sister complains a lot when I recommend a good book to her, and she ends up reading it an then finds out it is book one of 5 or something, and book two isn’t out yet. I see her argument and I empathize with her. it doesn’t cripple me as much as it does her, but it’s painful I know. This month the opposite occurred. I’d heard about the Pendragon series for a while, and kept meaning to pick it up, but I thought it was maybe a series on Arthur Pendragon, and wondered how they went about it. So a few weeks ago I bought book one. and after a bit picked it up to see what it held. What it held was fun. just plain fun. It has nothing to do with Arthur (so far at least) and has been compared to HP. But I assume every book these days with a male protagonist who has two friends, comes of age finds out he has a greater purpose and has to beat the evil to save the world will be compared to HP… oh well.

So I finish book one and know I am hooked and can’t wait to see what happens next, so I go to the store and buy all the books in the series, EIGHT! For two straight weeks I read read read and enjoyed it completely. After book 6 though I was getting a little tired. I felt like I was running a marathon. Then to my dismay I found out there are TEN books not 8. TEN. TEN!! There was a part of me at this point that wished maybe they weren’t all out yet…. you know absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that… so I decided to start reading other books and kind of go back and forth….

So Jess… no complaining now!

This One is for you Lynette

2011-06-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

A find, a treasure, a gem, a happy surprise. That's what I thought when I started reading this book. It was listed as a B&N pick, and I don't always trust those, cuz well not everyone's opinion is the same as mine. But like I've mentioned before a cover can really sell a book, and this one grabbed me.

Then after reading the back and finding out it was set in Wales, and was a mystery of sorts I thought - sounds good to me. What I didn't know was the premise the Author had used. Ransom Riggs is a genius! He is an avid collector of old photos, like the kind you'd find at a swap meet or garage sale. He wrote this story around his collection (and others) of photos. Some of the photos are screaming to tell a story, and he was able to put it all together. On his blog he has a whole post about how photos speak to him, also on his blog is a trailer - HE MADE - of his book. He traveled all over Europe to get old footage of creaky homes and villages. It's really great. Another thing about this book I discovered is the the movie rights were bought before the book even hit the shelves!

So there are two things I wasn't happy about. #1 It left no doubt that there will be another book. Just once I'd like an author to write a story that can stand on its own, I understand that 3 books make more money that 1, but really.... it stresses me out to have to wait a whole year for book 2 to come out then another year for it to make it to paperback. What if i loose interest by then, hu? What about that? #2 the book to movie idea... that can either be awesome, or disastrous, especially if they try to push it out really fast (Eragon anyone?) so fingers crossed.

Other than that, I had a lot of fun with it and it was a page turner. The photos were amazing there were over 50 and I got excited every time one came up.

we played outside

2011-06-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

WHAT HILL?

2011-05-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Wana know the best part about being single? no matter how old you get you are still, in your minds eye, probably between the age of 20 & 25. If you ignore the mortgage, you are basically always living like you did in college. Party all night long! wahoo. (ok I go to bed at 10 but I was on a roll).

Well Pops..... TO BAD FOR YOU!! Turning 60 wow you gotta feel that right? Luckily my family was blessed to look way younger than they are. I dare any carny to guess grandmas age! They never would. So my old man turned sixty. Remember when you used to think 60 was for walkers, dentures and foot cream? Not now, sixty is looking just fine from where I'm sitting. My dad could kick any of your dads butts. (well after he puts on his sore-no-more cream). Plays wally ball with the young-un's weekly (and kicks their hiney) Four wheeling, snow shoeing, kayaking, RV driving, bi-focal wearing... wait I'm getting off track. You don't keep a Petersen down for long, we may look soft, but so does a bear. My 82 yr old grandma tried to give me the smack down just last weekend. No joke, I saw fire in her eyes. And she passed that on to her son. Dad I'll always look up to you, even when you start to shrink from old agedness.

We thought about throwing my dad this big old party, but it seemed like a lot of work, so we asked him what HE wanted. He said all he wanted was to play on the beach with his grandkids. So that is what we did. Packed everyone in an RV and drove till we hit the sand. Stayed in this incredible beach house (props mom for the find) played on the beach, kayaked, and all around partied. Many baths and hot tub soaks were thrown in for good measure. How great it was to be with my whole entire family sans one. (Q you were sorely missed) especially the ones who live of in the wilds of OhiosoontobeConneticut & Sacramentomaybenotforlong.

I even tried the boogie boarding in the 1 degree short of being ice water, after you turned numb it really wasnt that bad. And Pops got to have his first ever (really??) beach campfire. good times.

Some good pics were taken you can view them on Mom's blog Here ( no really check them out, they are great)

and now ode to dad..

PS- can you find the pic of Steve Martin?

Toot Toot

2011-05-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

That's me 'tooting' my own horn. With the help of the Wonderous Westons, and the pretty awesome Petersens, I now have this very fancy front porch. I'll be honest, the idea stemmed from the desire to have less lawn to mow, but it turned out pretty sweet eh?

hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet

2011-04-17T15:41:00.001-07:00

When the book title includes 'bitter' and 'sweet' you know it is going to be an emotional one right? I didn't exactly cry this time, but I was touched. It was a beautifully written story surrounding the repercussions of WWII in Seattle for the Chinese and Japanese. Told from the perspective of Henry, an American born Chinese, back and forth between his pre-teens and his senior years.

He talks about the persecution of the Japanese, immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and how he had to wear a button that said, "I am Chinese" so no one would think he was Japanese. How he formed a friendship with a Japanese little girl, and had to watch her evacuated and sent to an intern camp. As an adult, when a new proprietor purchases the Panama Hotel in Seattle and discovers hundreds of items that the Japanese put in 'storage' when they were evacuated, and how he wants to find his friends stuff.

A great perspective on Seattle, America, the Chinese, and the Japanese during this war torn time. I really enjoyed it.

Wise Man's Fear

2011-03-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Back in 2008 I was given "The Name of the Wind" as a birthday present. It quickly shot up to one of my all time favorite books. Of course in my world I have like 100 favorites. Well the author had some struggles getting out book 2, and finally 2011 we were given "Wise Man's Fear", book 2. In preparation for book 2, I re-read book 1, and was reminded how utterly fab it was. Book 2 is over 900 pages (big pages, little font) long. But I dove in eagerly. Book 2 picked up right where book 1 left off. And was just as captivating. I really like the characters, the writing, the stories w/in the story, the adventure, the romance. The series has been called the Harry Potter for grown ups, and I think that is a good comparison. It is a much more adult writing, granted the main character is only 15 at the beginning of book 2. I don't want to say much more, so you can form your own opinion.

I'm a FAIRY GODMOTHER

2011-03-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

Four weeks ago Zachary and Caleb were born.

As the appointed Fairy Godmother I feel it my duty to brag.

HOW CUTE ARE THEY?!

Hi I'm Caleb I just got done helping Mommy and Kimi organize all our super cute, I mean manly, clothes everyone gave us. It is my job to model them.

Hi i' Zach I just got done snuggling with my daddy so pardon me if i don't pose for the camera.

Hi, I'm Stephanie new mother of two, I'm exhausted but wouldn't trade it for the world, plus I have my BFF Kim to help so I consider myself lucky.

End of the Road

2011-03-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

One reason I like books is that you never know what will happen when you open those pages. Some books change your life, some books move you, some books disgust you. Some books define you, literally (think exLibris).

The past few weeks I’ve had a little of it all. I re-read one of my favorite books, The Name of the Wind, in prep for book two that came out this month. I remember really liking it, but re-reading it reminded me what an AWESOME book it was, what an amazing author Patrick is, and what a fascinating world Kvothe lives in. It is amazing how 900 books seem like nothing when the book is so good. I also read a book that was, eh, ok. an interesting plot, but not very lovable characters. I also picked up a book that I have been looking forward to for quite a while, I stopped reading on page 4. Usually I give the book at least 50 – 100 pages. Let it get in its groove. But this one was just stupid, stupid characters, stupid made up slang, stupid language, stupid plot (yes even after just 4 pages) so I put it in my donate pile. Very disappointing.

Then I also picked up a book that has been on my list for years. I’ve heard good things about it, and it won an award or two, so it was on my list. But for some reason it didn’t call to me and I kept putting it off. I decided it was time so I picked it up. It caught me from the first sentence, then first page, then first chapter. I was hooked. But I was also confused. There were so many mysteries and open ended questions I was lost. But I was intrigued so I plugged on. Last night I picked it up to read before bed, 3 hours later ( @ 1:30 in the morning) when I reached the end, I realized I had been so lost in the world that I’d forgotten I was a grownup who has to work the next day and required sleep. It was that good.

I will share a word of warning, it was SAD. Very-Very-Very sad. I’ll cowgirl up and say I cried a few times while laying in my bed last night. It does have a good ending and closure, but there are a lot of sad turns to get there. I really enjoyed it. and would recommend it. I won’t even try to give a summary. Too many angles and mysteries.

Metaphor for my life

2011-03-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Remember back in the 90's those motivational & de-motivational posters that were real huge? Well the other day I walked into my room and this is what I saw.

Now I didn't set this up or even think about it before hand, it is just how things ended up in my room one day. It made me reflect and think, this is a symbolism for my life. It resonates me. But I couldn't pin down what the catch phrase for it would be. Do you have any good ones?

P - D - X

2011-03-08T17:04:00.001-08:00

I hope those who are the reason I'm in Utah (you know who you are) appreciate my sacrifice.

announcement

2011-02-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

i GOT a NEW job I GOT A NEW JOB igotanewjob I Got A New Job i gots me a new job I gotta new JOB! i GOT a NEW job I GOT A NEW JOB igotanewjob I Got A New Job i gots me a new job I gotta new JOB!i GOT a NEW job I GOT A NEW JOB igotanewjob I Got A New Job i gots me a new job I gotta new JOB!i GOT a NEW job I GOT A NEW JOB igotanewjob I Got A New Job i gots me a new job I gotta new JOB! i GOT a NEW job I GOT A NEW JOB igotanewjob I Got A New Job i gots me a new job I gotta new JOB! i GOT a NEW job I GOT A NEW JOB igotanewjob I Got A New Job i gots me a new job I gotta new JOB!

look out SYTYCD!

2011-02-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

She said she learned her favorite move (the hip swiveler from Lydia)

Trap

2011-02-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

ok, when you are a confirmed Bibliophile, and you see a book named "The Man Who Loved Books Too Much" and then find out it is a true story, and then find out one of the main characters is a Utah Local (and who you have sorta met at a movie screening for Paperback Dreams) - Do you really have any choice but to snatch it up and devour it? I first spotted this book on a friends desk. I said what is this? Is it any good? She said yeah. From that moment on, I HAD to have it. I went straight home and ordered it. STUPID MAIL ORDER. It took like a million months to get it. I felt like a little kid waiting at the mailbox every day, hoping it would come (and secretly worrying that it would not live up to expectations)

Today it came. NO - I have not read it all in one day and am here to give the low down. In fact, I am only on page 34, even though I have been reading it for two hours now. and NO I'm not that slow of a reader. Problem was at least 2 times a page something would jump out at me and I'd want to highlight it (which meant getting out of my hammock to do so) or something would spike my interest so much that i had to put the book down and research said thing on the Internet. Then well i wanted to share. Half of my love of books is sharing. So I'm afraid the next few blogs will be focused on this book and my discoveries.

This book is a true story of a book thief and the man that helped put him behind bars. With juicy booky stuff stuffed throughout.

It starts out at a the New York Antiquarian Book Fair in 2005. Just thinking about it makes me twitch with desire. The Author just goes from booth to booth picking up stories for all the dealers and collectors. Why am I not doing that? As per my luck the next closest one is next week the San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair, the Seattle one is in October, I want to go.

Definitions of a Rare book:

A book that is worth more money now than when it was published - Burt Auerback, a Manhattan appraiser

A book Iwant badly and cant find - Robert H Taylor, late American collector

One story she heard was from rare book dealer Sebastian Hesselink of theNetherlands. He told a story of a thief and theft, that felt more like a Action/Adventure novel, that he and his children helped bust. Which led me to the notes at the end of the chapter, come to find out there is ANOTHER (great) book about Book Theft. The Book Thief: The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman - by Travis McDade. Great now I have to get that one.

As she talked about Ken Sanders (of Ken Sanders Rare Books in SLC)I decided to look him up so I could remember his face, as he was part of the panel during the Paperback Dreams screening I went to a couple of years ago. As I googled him, I found several other fascinating stuff. Including this web site - Book Patrol. What a bunch of COOL book stuff, including an article on this book and Ken Sanders (portrait by Dennis Millard) and 'the thief' even had a wanted poster for Gilkey.

Another entry that caught my attention was about a woman who has decided to sniff her way though the Museum of Modern Art , over 300,000 books!!! Her plan is to begin with the first book in the Library of Congress classification system. Morrison is also recording her impressions of each sniff in a journal.. Photo by: Michael Schmelling

And then I found this....Library Photos, how beautiful are those libraries?

And all that from just 30 little pages. Which is fine, I like reading slow makes it last longer.

Behemoth

2011-01-25T15:54:00.000-08:00

Book two of the Leviathan series. Back in January I read book one, and loved it, loving the illustrations as well. Book two, was just as fun. An awesome mix of SteamPunk & Darwinism (a little twisted) and WWII fictional history. Scott knows how to twist a story. Now I just have to wait a year for book 3 to see what happens. good times.

double

2011-01-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

Double the diapers, double the toys

Steph is having two little boys

about to introduce Caleb and Zach

new to the Taylor clan.

This weekend I threw a shower for my BFF x-roomie Stephanie who is about to burst with doubles.

I told her, I've sucked up all my creative talent I have for this one shower, and gifts, don't expect anything else all year!

(i'm quite proud of these, who knew i had it in me)

Her sisters Mandy & Leslie did a fab job of catering. We had dump truck dirt cake, and lego's rice crispies. so awesome & YUMMY!

and this is for you Brooke, here is my painting in the nursery.

a lesson in fun

2011-01-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

Garden

2011-01-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

Why are all your entries about books you ask? Well first of all it IS titled Exlibrislady, so.... second of all I have really read some great ones recently, third of all WHAT? are you saying I don't have a life? I do! I just don't take pics much.... and blogs w/o pics are so blah. I need visual stimulation on line.

So yesterday I went over to one of my nearest and dearest friends house. Sitting on her table was a book "The Forgotten Garden" I gasped and pointed at it, she said, I just finished it today it was so great I know you will totally love it. I said, I know too since I FINISHED it today TOO! WHOA. We have like twin minds. And she is having twins, bonus. How weird that we were both reading it and were totally going to tell the other to read it. That being said what a fantastic book. Truly.

At first you were like ho hum, just another English book, doo do do do. Next thing you know you are captivated and can not get out. It is one of those you are reading so fast you keep skipping words to see what happens next then have to go back to figure out what you missed. You are so desperate to see what happens but at the same time don't want it to end. I was telling another bibliophile/Anglophile it is the ultimate Romantic, not like hug hug kiss kiss plug your ears romance, but more like cottages and gardens and mystery and castles and unrequited love and pirates and hidden treasures and fairy tails. That kind of Romantic. The story about a little girl who gets found on a pier in Australia with no family and no memory who grows up and wants to know her real past. But it is told from the prospective of her granddaughter in 2005, herself in 1975 and the women(the Authoress) who supposedly was the last to see her before her trip to Australia in but her growing up story from 1900-1909. There is a lot of back and forth and switching of narrator, which I thought would be very confusing, but it really worked. The author moved back and forth flawlessly - IMHO. I felt swept away to Corwall England, lost in the garden, the smell of the sea at my back. Paradise. Someone told me it was like the Secret Garden. for the first 300 pages i was like? Wha? Sure some of the people have gardens but where is the similarity. About halfway through they introduced an invalid and a secret garden, so therein was the connection. Hurrah another good book for my collection.

One of my favorite parts was The Authoress's fairy tales. They share 4 of them throughout the book. The Crones Eyes, The Golden Egg and a few others, they were AWESOME!

Sherlock's better half

2011-01-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

When someone, who's opinion you think highly of, says something like "I don't usually like xxx, but this was wonderful'. it piques my interest. my dear friend Kari was that person this time (thanks Kari) and she was talking about the Mary Russell Series. I was all ready reading another book, so i wanted an audio book and the only one available was like 50th in the series, but I figured what the heck, so I got "The Language of the Bees" by Laurie King. Me and my roommate both listened to it, and so loved it.

Mary Russell is Sherlock Holmes wife, Sherlock is retired and lives in Sussex taking care of his bees, but of course cases come as they will. Mary helps out, but the story follows her, the only time you get Sherlock in the scenes is when Mary is there. Mary is a riot, she's smart, practical and a little whimsical in her own way for the time period. We really enjoyed it, and it turned out that it was a 'to be continued' book in a series - weird - so of course we ran out and bought the next book on CD. good times for us. All these English books are turning me into an Anglophile (A person who is fond of English culture)

I have also read book two of Foundling series - Lamplighter, and book two of Flavia de Luce series - The Weeds that String the Hangman's Bag. and they didn't disappoint. Lamplighter was a great, I love reading books 1 & 2 right in a row, like one long book. The pictures were just as cool. Weeds that string was just as fun, I am totally in love with Flavia. She makes me laugh.

Snuggly Wuggly Woom Room

2010-12-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Remember when I went and bought Sweetness, and that awesome B&N worker recommended some other books to me? Well Beautiful Blue was one of those. Set in England around the time that Parliament was at its zenith and Scotland Yard was just getting its feet wet comes along Lenox, a young (well my age) wealthy bachelor who loves to sit by the fire and read about exotic places. And to fill his time has become obsessed with armature detective work. He’s good at it too. This book just makes you want to cuddle up by the fire with tea and biscuit . Everything you love about old English culture and a murder or two besides. I’m sure I’ll be reading more with this bachelor.

On the opposite side of cozy and comfortable, I bought this book solely on the cover. Isn’t it beautiful? Actually I saw the cover for book two (Lamplighter) first and was instantly captured. Apparently the author was an artist way before he was a novelist. This is actually his first book (trilogy) he’s been dreaming up this world for Rossamund for years. An just like Leviathan, there are more drawings inside. I wish I could draw.

I know you’ve heard the story before. Boy stuck in an orphanage/foster home. Leaves on a quest to discover his true self. Along the journey meets new friends who join him on his quest. There’s like a billion out there (i.e. the last book I read) but if it is written well, then it is just as entertaining as the first one. This book has monsters too! A fun and easy read, usually I despise Fantasy authors who make up new words for EVERYTHING, a boat is a boat… sheesh. But Cornish did it in a way that you didn’t feel like you were having to translate the story. And the names are different but still pronounceable. A boat is a Ram. Simple. Also about ¼ of the end of the book is an appendix, that is just as fun to read as the book.

This is Europe, she is a duchess in waiting who got surgery to become a Teratologist or Monster hunter (also called a Lahzar) She is able to shoot electricity from her body. Notice the tattoo above her eye, it marks her profession. This series is called the Monster Blood Tattoo Series or the Foundlings Tale. Either way it’s a fun read.

dex nows

2010-12-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

Vast and Plenty

Endless Corridors

You alone have power

To open the doors

i totally made that up all by myself. I felt inspired.

This weekend I cataloged my 1000th file for indexing. ONE THOUSAND! As of 3 days ago I had not done a single one. Do you recall my excitement about the family celebration program i saw back in April and was so determined to not let enthusiasm go to waste. Well better late than never right? I have a few family members and a few friends (one obsessively) into indexing. This friend does it so much she brings her laptop over when we have movie night and just indexes all during the movie. Lets just say she is really good at the peer pressure thing. She came over on Friday and was like pop open your laptop sister (I'm paraphrasing) we're doing this. Next thing I knew ... I was addicted, its like pringles, once you pop you cant stop. I kept it on the down low though, didn't wanting her to thing I'd fallen so easily.

It's easy, it's interesting, it's mind numbing. It is also so self gratifying, educational (did you know there used to be place in the US called Irish Free State?) And you cant but help feel connected to all these people. Sometimes I talk to them. and when it is good handwriting or typed I want to kiss them.

the night I started I got an email from my stake person over indexing, welcoming me to the world of indexing, and offering his help if I had any questions. how sweet. then he went on to say, clearly excited, that our stake now had 90 indexers. NINETY out of a couple thousand?? I was very underwhelmed - coming from one of the underwhelmers as of 3 days ago -. Since my sister and bro-in-law are in my stake this is a direct challenge to start. While I'm throwing the sword Iespecially challenge any Spanish speakers they are desperately needed.

Anyhew that's my fun news for the weekend.

Fearless Scorch Watlz

2010-11-26T20:09:00.000-08:00

So most of my friends to goodreads, which I like because I can keep up with what they are reading and can get some good references. The other day though, a friend mentioned reading a book she was less then impressed with. I literally was crushed, it was one of my all time favorite books of all times, one of my top 10. This friend is someone who I rely on for good opinions and someone who I think is highly intelligent. It made me rethink my whole book opinions. I know I am easily impressed but I can usually identify if it was a 'thinker' or 'mindless froth'. I guess I just have to accept differences of opinions. sigh. That said, I feel like I should put the disclaimer, that you should take my opinions and reviews as my own personal opinion and review. Just cuz I like it doesn't mean you will (THOUGH YOU SHOULD!)

Me and my roommate have decided to try something new. We watch a lot of TV and read a lot of movies, but have a hard time finding time for each. We decided to try one week of TV and one week of reading. We started this week and I must say it was a success. I read 3 books this week!! One was mildly disappointing, and the other two were parts of series.

The first one Fearless by Tim Lott. It had a good premise and started off good. But by the end I was confused. Not by the story line it was pretty simple, but by the writing. I almost felt like there was a totally different writer by the end, and it was written really choppy. And the end was very weird. I gave it an eh.

The second book was a book in a series and I was looking forward to it. The Maze Runner I reviewed earlier. The Scorch Trials, is book two. I enjoyed this book it kinda has a Hunger Games feel too it. It wasn't kids killing kids, but more like the government putting kids in VERY dangerous situations to find solutions for the world that is in a dystopian situation. But the main character is put in the hero spot begrudgingly, cant trust anyone, even though he wants to. It was really fun. If you read and liked Maze Runner you'll enjoy book two, but beware book 3 isn't out yet.

And then there is Lady Emily Ashton. The first book in the series 'And only to Deceive' was first posted on BOB by my friend Heather. It became an instant hit with me and my family/friends. A fun romance and mystery well written. So when I saw book 3 out I grabbed it instantly. It did not disappoint. Another murder another mystery. I hear there is another one out too. When will the madness end? Do you sometimes feel like you book dealers are akin to drug dealers? Try it just this once. Then you get addicted and have to buy book two book three book four book 238... there is no turning back. Oh well the highs are worth it.

Sweetness

2010-11-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

Unless Some Sweetness at the Bottom Lie,
Who Cares for all the Crinkling of the Pie?
William King - The Art of Cookery - 1708

Have you ever found a book that makes you want to drop everything else in your life and curl up on the couch with your favorite blakie and cup of hot cocoa? The book that makes you feel like that kid hiding in her bed with a flashlight hoping to not get caught. The book that reminds you why you love reading? Or maybe the book that hits the right spot at the exact right time? This book was that for me. From the begining line it had me.

This book was recomended to me by a total stranger, but with high regard. When I went to B&N to get it, the worker there was so excited (this was an adult male) he said he and his wife loved it, and if i liked that kind of book I should read...... he recomended several other books and we swapped favorite books for a while, he is now my favorite B&N worker. So it was with a little excitement I picked up this book. It has been said to be a combination between Eloise and Sherlock Holmes. I think there is a little Gurnesy L&PPPS in it too.

Set in England in the 50's the story is about a little 11 yr old girl who LOVES chemestry. "I still shiver with joy whenever I thought of the rainy day in Autumn when Chemistry had fallen into my life" She lives a centries old family manor with her father and two sisters. She discovers a body one night and is on a quest to solve the murder. She is fiesty, intelligent, determined and has a bike named Gladys. I wont say much more, but that I can guarentee you will not be disapointed. She will make you feel young again.

Shanghai'd in Shanghai

2010-11-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

Shanghai was pretty rough. I actually liked the city and the things we did there. But as far as the ‘tour’ goes it was tough. Funny thing was that first day in Shanghai, when it was just some miscommunication and missed shopping you’d think the world had ended - but the next day when the world did end and our ship had a gaping hole it in, everyone was just fine. people are weird.Our itinerary for Shanghai was to see the Bund district (old English section of Shanghai) then go to the market then relax at the hotel. After delayed flights standing around the hotel for hours and seeing the Bund district for a bit we finally had lunch. I liked the Bund district. It looked like old London then a river then modern Shanghai on the other side. Very cool and SO MANY PEOPLE Next our local tour guide, decided to take matters into his own hands and took us an hour out of our way to a pearl factory (notice we’d all ready been to one) our Group Leader was slightly upset. He’d promised us shopping (we’d all ready given up our Beijing shopping) and now we were an hour away from where we were supposed to be. Later our group leader said this was one of the worst days in all his 16 years of guiding tours. We felt special. We still had to go on a river cruise and it was looking like the shopping was going to be canceled. You would have thought we’d been told that puppies were going to be sacrificed. People went bonkers. NEVER underestimate the power of tourists denied shopping. It was very close to mutiny. We went on the river cruise, which I thought was fabulous. All the buildings do their own light show, pretty cool. then on the Bund side you had all the beautiful old buildings lit up too.

When we got off the boat we sort of gathered there at the dock. lost. No tour guide, no group leader no idea where the buses were no idea where our hotel was. literally a bunch of stranded orphans. Our local tour guide had went awol and not told anyone. The Tour boss finally showed up did a little wrangling and then took us shopping to mollify us. The place she took us shopping was amazing.

I thought it was incredible. It was huge and centered in beautiful pagodas. I really liked it. and alas we had all finally gotten to spend money. We all headed back to the hotel satisfied and comforted knowing the next day was the expo then the cruise, all would be well from now on, looking forward to relaxing, eating, reading soaking up the east China Sea. Ahhh. (imagine the sound of bliss crashing into reality here)The expo was awesome. average line was 2-4 hour wait and the big places were 8-10 hour waits.

(note this is only like 1/8th of the line, it was insane)

Not in my lifetime I wait that long for no one or no thing! Me and Sara split from the parental units and just wandered around looking at pavilions and architecture. There were some amazing buildings.

Netherland was my favorite. Too bad the lines were so long. We both made sure to see our mission pavilions, we would walk for hours trying to find them then see them take a pic and move on :0).

By time it was finally time to go we were ready we were tired we were emotionally and physically drained and could not wait another sec to get on that ship. Imagine our faces as we are pulling up to the port and actually seeing our ship in the distance and trying to figure out what the guide was trying to tell us and it not quite sinking in.

Something about a collision. She told us not to worry she’d get us on another ship and all would be well. 8 HOURS later (this is 8 hours of just sitting on a bus across the street from the port) it finally sinks in that we are NOT going on a cruise NOT going to Japan, NOT staying in Shanghai. They tried to mollify us by taking us to another shopping market. But this one was very expensive and we were too tired to care about anything. Sitting at a grubby restaurant trying not to think about the buffet we were supposed to be enjoying. Finally after another 2 hour bus ride, we get to a hotel. It seems nice but we don’t care we just want to sleep.

We woke up - to paradise!

I’m not kidding. Probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever been in or ever will be in. it was in a town called Suzhou it was known for its gardens. Right behind our hotel was the biggest beautifulest garden of all. And it was free for us at the hotel. Several times over the next two days I heard people say they were almost glad the cruise was canceled so that we got to stay at this hotel. (it had a wonderful buffet! – cheeses, chocolates, bread, we were happy)

I won’t be able to explain it the right way to get the full impact but let me try to tell you about our miracles. As Alan said we drained the miracle bucket. Picture this 1.3 MILLION people at the expo in shanghai. (Record setting) plus the 4k that were stranded cuz of a bum cruise ship. There were just absolutely no room in ANY Inn. (that’s a lot of displaced and angry folks Alan said there were riot police involved) No flights out for 5 days at least, no transportation, no nothing. And here we were 75 people strong in need of beds, buses and airplanes, and well a plan. I can’t even imagine how much work was going on in the background as we sat on the bus forever and ever and ever, but prayers were answered and miracles were made. Unbeknownst to us as we drove those two hours to our hotel it was completely booked completely. Alan was driving us there on complete faith. When we got there there was 100 people who didn’t show up because they couldn’t find transportation to the hotel. For that night and the next night. Miracle #1. Then the next day when we flew out to Shenzhen there was only one flight to Shenzhen ONLY ONE and it just happen to have 75 seats available. Really! Miracle #2. To me miracle #3 There was a typhoon in the ESC, so our cruise would have been rocky at best, and our excursions to Japan would have been canceled, so most of us were glad to not be sea sick. Miracle #4 is that we actually had a good time those 4 days where we basically just did filler stuff.

Sorry to ramble on, there is just so much to tell, you are totally getting the short version. Last stop Hong Kong. I would go back to Hong Kong, I really enjoyed it. Course the fact that most spoke English and there was a lot of western influence didn't hurt.

Finally to sum up our trip, the park is DOSED.

Ni hao

2010-11-01T04:11:00.000-07:00

So how does one translate 335 pictures into one blog. Granted that is nothing compared to 'someones' 1000+ pics. We'll keep the identities secret for now. It worked last time with a big trip to break it down so I'll just focus on Beijing first off. There is just no way to sum it up in a post but I'll give the best Cliff Notes I can. It was beyond marvelous. Granted there were looooong bus rides, and I think I walked the entire length of China and don't want to look at any rice for a while, but over all FABULOUS. After our uber long plane ride(s) we were ushered not to our hotel to sleep but to the 'old town' Beijing, called Hutongs. The only place the Chinese live that are not high rises because the government has deemed them historical and they can stay. To us it looked like the slums but one of the houses we went to (winding down a dark and slim alley way) was worth $3 mil USD. I thing gran almost had a heart attack right there in the 'living room' You could tell it was a wealthy one because they had their own bathroom across the inner court. Most other had a communal bathroom. I cant tell you how grateful I was when I remembered my own private bathroom was two steps away from my bed at home. We took rickshaw rides through the 'town' I thought it was a little weird riding through someones neighborhood looking in on them like we were on a safari or something I tried to imagine what I would thing if tourists took horse and buggie rides through my neighborhood. Weird.

The next day bright and early we went to Tienanmen Square and got a little history lesson. It is interesting to think our view of history is only what the media tells us and what we see on TV. Our guide 'Henry' pointed out that the only reason he even knew about the 'tank' from the famous T Square incident was because other groups have asked him to point out where it was. He has not only never seen the footage but had a completely different view on what actually happened. .... interesting..... Also while we Americans view Mao as an evil dictator most Chinese still worship and adore him. So much so that they stand in line (the longest line I've ever seen, literally over a mile long) just to have a 3 second view of his body at the mausoleum there on the square. The line is that long EVERY DAY! I was flabbergasted. I can not imagine anyone or anything I'd stand in line that long for. We didn't actually go into the Forbidden City that day but walked through the first few gates. Yes the one with Mao's famous picture on it. Of course we touched the gold on the gates for good luck.

Then off to the side of the FC we went to some nice gardens, this one was particularly special because it was where the tree stood where then Elder McKay dedicated China to opening up. (the one on the right)

That night we saw a Chinese acrobat show (most of us tried desperately to stay awake we were so worn out) it was really cool.
The next day (no we never had any rest) we went to the Summer palace. Such extravagance! the lake was dug by hand, and the hill that the temple was on was the dirt from the lake. Hey if you are the eternal empress ya do what you got to do right?

That night we got Chinese massages, mine was so deep I had bruises after! And we had a tailor come measure us for tailored clothes. I spent WAY to much but got a really cute traditional shirt and a blazer and some pants. kinda fun.

So out of my 335 pics I think 100 of them were at the wall. The GREAT wall. A few things I learned. #1 - it is not just on continuous wall, #2 it was not built all at once & #3 no one really knew about the wall till Nixon went over there, and even the Chinese didn't consider it a big deal till the tourists started flooding in, #4 no you can not really view it from space. But that's ok cuz I am not in space. I am AT THE WALL. I never thought I would actually be here. Once you got there and got past the bagillion busses, you had two choices go left or go right. We were told right was hard and left was easy. We were lied to. But left was still the better choice. Going right you went straight up all the way up, and were surrounded by about 40 bajamillion people. Going left you had to cross the freeway and over a little river then go up, and up, and up, and up and up. but you actually got a few level spots on the way so neener neener. The steps ... let's talk about the steps. look at my mom here trying to navigate

First off you can get an idea of how steep it was. Then some steps were regular size, some were teeney and some were like 2 feet high (like the one mom is trying not to fall down) you could literally crawl up it was so steep. We were told the reason the steps were all different sizes was to prevent opposing armies from running up them (running I could hardly crawl)

not only was it a better side, but hardly anyone chose this side, we had the wall all to our selves, at times I imagined I was the only one there, it was magical.

That my pa point out how far we hiked. It felt like we walked the entire wall. But it was worth it!

Six months of preparation and waiting and anticipating, then WAM two hours and we are done, we leave the wall. Holy CARP that was fast! After that we went to the Ming tombs and saw the sacred way, with the statues of animals and dignitaries, it was a 5 mile walk to the tombs and they decided to decorate it with statues.

Then on the way home we stopped by the Olympic venues to see the Birds Nest and the Water cube. Weird to think when I watched it all on TV just a few years ago, I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be standing there.

Next day ( i know exhausting hu!) we went to the Temple of Heaven. The cool thing about this place was the park surrounding the temple. Like like Central Park in NYC but so much more utilized. They call it the largest senior center in the world. In China you have forced retirement at 60, so what do all these retirees do? They go to this park. To do what? Tai Chi, Dancing (fan dance, swing dance, line dance,etc), whip practice, some weird toys i'd never seen nor heard of, calligraphy with a large stick and water, sing, play instruments, hacky sack, majong, cards, bad mitten, just about ANYTHING. And there were these sections that looked like a mix between kids play area and a gym. There they all were working out. We so need this in USA and outdoor gym, genius!

Something I really haven't experienced in my travels before. I think I had my picture taken by random tourists more than I actually took pics of tourist sights. Every where I went they wanted to take pictures of us. Is it cuz we were American? Is it cuz we had winning smiles? I don't know, at one point the school children even wanted our autographs!! Sometimes i signed fake names for fun. We took pics of them too, well when in Rome right?

Our last day in Beijing we went to the Forbidden City. What history. I cant even begin to explain. go read a book! what a huge and amazing place. Not so forbidden now, eh!

I like cranes.

Mindless Froth

2010-09-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I met Shannon Hale at the book signing for Austinland. She was fantastic by the way. But she talked about getting flack for the book and that people were calling it mindless froth. She said "to bad for them" that she took it as a compliment. She said everyone should have mindless froth in their life. Such was this lovely book I just finished.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson.

If someone were to ask me if i had all the time and all the money I needed what would I do? The answer is exactly what the protagonist Ginny does in this book. Ironically Ginny doesn't think that highly of this adventure as I would. But I personally couldn't think of anything much funner. It is a fun and witty book. When Genny's runaway Aunt passes away she gets a box from her with 13 little blue envelopes each with instructions about where to go and what to do when she gets there. The rules are to not open the next envelope until the last one is completed, you cant bring maps, or any electronics and no contact with friends or family back home. From the places she goes to the people she meets, it is quite an adventure. I'm jealous Genny.

Monkey and Me

2010-09-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I took Goose and Monkey to the State Fair. I really hadn't been in 100 years so it was just as exciting for me as it was for them. Monkey was out of control, "I want to see the horses, where are the cows, I want to go on that, cows, cows, cows" we went on rides and saw animals went to the rodeo and the hit of the night was the big yellow slide, monkey got to ride it 3 times. We caught air. This first pic is of her during the national anthem. She had no idea what she was doing, but everyone else was so she did.

Then last night me and monkey went to the circus with the cousins. Again I hadn't been for like 20 years and monkey agreed it WAS the greatest show on earth, she couldn't keep her eyes off of either. On the way we were attacked by animal rights activists, it was very uncomfortable explaining to the kiddos what they were saying about the elephants. I hope they have their facts wrong. I cant imagine that they could get away with it, i hope not. but it tainted it a bit for the elephants, which was monkeys favorite part. The motorcycles in the metal cages was so cool. SEVEN bikes in that little cage, then they turned out the lights and well you'll see how cool it looked. We were so high up I'm surprised no one got a nose bleed. which also made it hard to understand the Ringmaster and to see the tight rope and trapeze cuz they were hidden behind the rigging. but what we did see we enjoyed. I wore my Tiara and Monkey wore her tutu, we were in the spirit of things.

2010-09-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

so... it's been a while since I posted about a book, I have been well underwhelmed by the books I've read lately. I even worried I was loosing my mojo for reading. No worries my faith has been restored. I found Keturah on my own, which is usually a little scary, but it was on my list for a while, and a friend of mine read it and said it was just ok, so I put it off for a while. Finally I ordered it. I don't know why but I had imagined a 500 page paper back, that was book one in a series. I didn't question what was in my mine, so when it arrived a very short book, that has no sequels, I was caught off guard. A quick easy read. It was beautiful.

The writing reminded me of a classic Grimm's fairytale. Quite well written and so much fun. Not really jam packed with action, but that was ok. It was just plain fun. I really enjoyed it. Kethruah was a really great protagonist. Some people were caught off guard by the ending, in most the reviews I read they didn't much even like it. So I was totally predicting a crazy ending. But again I was surprised. It had just the ending I thought it would.

LXD

2010-08-22T16:16:00.001-07:00

Those who know me, know I love Dance movies. I own several, and they are the few movies I will watch over and over.

Step up 1, Step up 2-the Streets, You Got Served,

How She Move,

Stomp the Yard, Bride and Prejudice...... and don't forget the TV shows - SYTYCD & ABDC. Step up 3D just came out, and we went and saw it opening night! (i do have a beef with the 3D part, but it will be out on DVD soon enough..) We love love loved it. Some of our favorite dancers were in it. Dancing word is very small so I get really excited when I see and recognize the dancers or crews.

Qwest Crew, winner of season 3 of ABDC, has a lot of my favorites from SYTYCD, and does a lot of appearances.

Jabbawockeez winners of season 1 of ABDC are so cool I almost took a trip to Vegas to see them in person. They too have had cameo's in some of my movies.

A New Movement is on the Scene now though. The League of Extraordinary Dancers (LXD) are mysterious, hard to find and wicked good. They are an Internet sensation, shown on Hulu and You Tube. They have also had an appearance on SYTYCD. A web series about two groups of rival dancers: heroes (The League of Extraordinary Dancers) and villains (The Alliance of the Dark) who discover they have superpowers, referred to as "the ra", through their dance abilities. Encompassing all forms of dance, each episode is about 10 min long. If you like me like to watch dancing .... well - Watch. LXD - Hulu

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World

2010-07-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'm getting older and my eyes are bigger than my fingers. I just dont feel like keeping up two blogs at the same time, so I'm merging BoB and exL together. I'm sad to let go of BoB, but it'll still be out there, maybe some day I'll use it again. For now though books and food ideas/discoveries I'll post here.

I love finding books or even films that take the spirit and heart of Jane Austin, and give it a fun twist. The bad thing, is if they do not get it right it is BAD. It is a very thin line. and I have been stung by the bad end enough times, but I'm still looking for another good one.

I've talked before about Lost in Austin, the film. About a girl who trades places with Elizabeth Bennet, kinda mucks things up and has to fix it. It was brilliant! Rent it now!

I got a book recently called The Honorable Fitzwilliam Darcy, kind of a modern P&P, it was AWFUL! PAINFUL! embarrassing, to me and to Jane, to Darcy and to Elizabeth . Just bad, stay away. So this week I came across a book called Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World. I was gun shy, understandably. But the premise intrigued me.

Abigail Reynolds takes a new look at the Darcy's and Bennetts. You know that first time Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, doesn't do a very good job, and Lizzy shuts him down in style. This book take the story from that point but with her saying yes... sort of. But they get married. It started off slow. I was not sure how it would work, Darcy is still Pompous, Lizzy still thinks he's a jerk. Jane and Bingley still were not together, Lizzy still thinks Wickham is a stand up guy. It wasn't looking good. But she makes it work, taking that sexual tension into the marriage rather than before. It was captivating, and I felt (from the book of Kim's Opinions) that it stuck to the spirit of Jane Austin. It is an adult book and there are adult scenes. So jump in at your own speed. I liked it and I was glad it was so well done.

LOOK WHAT I DID!

2010-06-29T17:53:00.001-07:00

Two of my bestest friends Lisa and Carey, created the coolest shelves. As soon as I saw them I knew I wanted some of my very own. It only took me like 10 years to finally get around to it, but I finally have them.

I wanted to make them myself. So many folks have helped me in the past, I didn't want to beg off of someone again, and I wanted to see if I could do it by my big old self.

I DID IT! I had supreme help from my HT who rocks, and some supervision from my BIL. But mostly it was me, and I have the mess-ups, blisters and sweat to prove it.

This is what it looked like before, remember?

Here is my 'work in progress'

Here it is done, sorry about the lighting

and - Voila!

I couldn't be happier

Passing Time

2010-06-28T18:46:00.001-07:00

My beautiful sun worshiping flowers

How slick - my new Kayak rack works!

Kayaking the waterways in Pine View Res.

MJ livin it up

Why I love my family

2010-05-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

Oh dear there are just so many reasons but this weekend reminded me of two of them. First of all my family totally supports me and never pressures me about being a 35 yr old single girl, which is invaluable in my world. They just love me for who I am, no matter what. They also love adventure, chaos, and spontaneity. This weekend was a perfect example. We had all read the book "The Undaunted" by Lund and had decided we wanted to go four wheeling along parts of the trail. So me and my parents jumped in the car, packed up our ATV's and Kayaks and headed south. After driving most of the day we finally reached the top of Lake Powell, had to drive around the top to get to Halls Crossing on the East Side. The ferry doesn't work after 5pm. Around 8:30 pm we neared Bridges National Park. Dad really wanted to go, and I'd never been before so off we went. It was awesome. We had the park to ourselves and saw all the bridges in the sunset... well except the last one, was in the dark. but it was an awesome experience, and we chalked it up to spontaneous adventure. My awesome camera makes it look bright outside, but it was sunset, it was beautiful.

We stayed in some trailers decked out like a condo, right there on the banks of LP at Halls Crossing. Early next morning we headed out to the ATV trail. It was incredible. We saw Indian ruins, pioneer tracks, beautiful rock formations, and good old fashioned adventure. We did some hard core Four Wheeling, I did some stuff I never thought I would or could. There was even on point where I told my dad I couldn't do it any more, and was starting to panic. But of course I was half way down the hill, only two wheels on the ground with my dad leaning on the back wheel to keep me rooted, so there really was no way of backing out. So on I went, and lived to tell the tale. I even did it 2 more times to help get the other bikes down. Very empowering. We four wheeled for 7 hours, it was a thrill. Then...... we packed up our ATV's and headed down to the lake for some healthy kayaking. I've been wanting to get to Powell for ages and it was worth the wait. The waves were a blast, and dodging the fast boats was an adrenalin rush, we paddled across the lake and back again to paddle along the sheer cliff (the cliffs of insanity *said in a Sicilian accent) it was just so beautiful.

Next day on the way home we hit goblin valley. I'd never been before. I actually let out a small exclaim of awe when I first saw it. So cool.

And to round off the weekend we stopped in Fillmore to pay homage to Gma and Gpa. Aunt Iris gave us a tour of the cemetery telling us about some of my ancestors. I found out according to the stories one (McBride) was the first person to be baptized in the Nauvoo Temple. Now that's cool!

Families - It's about time

2010-04-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

Last night I went to the conference center to watch “A Celebration of Family History”

There were talks and films and music. Music was by the MoTab, so I wanted to support mom, and the films were created by my BFE Kim (no I don’t have an imaginary friend with my same name) she works for Family History for the Church, and has spend the last year preparing for this night, so we went to support her. The speakers were President Eyring & David McCullough. With that stacked line up, I could hardly refuse.

I really had no idea what to expect, I was mostly going for support. Figured it would just be another LDS thing I attended. I was unprepared. Unprepared for the emotion and spiritual pounding I would get. This was put together by the church but was not FOR the church. Apparently the NGS (National Genealogical Society) was in town for their yearly Family History Conference (apparently it’s been 25 years since they’ve been in Utah). And this was our contribution to the conference.

The opening prayer set it off and there was no turning back. The prayer was given by the Rev. Davis form the Calvary Baptist Church. It was just cool, and sweet. The theme of the night was Woven Generations. They started off with a sweet story about a girl who migrated, and as she left on the boat she and her mother both held an end of a ball of yarn, and held tight till the yarn ran out. Her mother repeating “Don’t Forget Us”

**That's my mom on the bottom left, second from the end**

The music from the choir was spiritually palpable, but really do we expect less? Pres. Eyring gave a fun and captivating talk about the history of the genealogical societies, and how he met his wife because she was traveling with a friend who was researching her ancestors.

David McCullough who captured our hearts at the Christmas Devotional this year was again on his game. He makes history come alive, and has such a passion for it you can hardly resist the pull. In fact that was one of his points, if we are excited those around us (including children) will catch the excitement.

The films were just spectacular. My BFF has such incredible talent and gift for doing what she does. I cried during each of the films. They were mostly stories of people researching their ancestors and finding close connections and amazing stories. One was about a little boy who fired the passion of genealogy in his family by deciding to learn the bagpipes (at like age 7) then to wrap it up the choir sang Amazing Graze, and the little boy (now a grown man) was on stage playing his bagpipe. I was a wreck. I have always believed in genealogy, but have never ever had any passion for it. in fact I specifically avoided it. I have two grandmas who are obsessed with it and have traced several of our lines back to Adam, and have hundreds and hundreds of names. What was left for me to do anyway??

I’m sure you’ve heard about the TV show “Who do you think you are” about Celebrities researching their ancestors. They even mentioned it at the meeting last night. Well I started watching it and I know it sounds cheesy, but I started feeling a stirring of interest. But as per my habit brushed it away. The stirring last night was more like a jackhammer nudge. I can’t avoid it any more, I must, MUST learn all I can about my past. Why I don’t know, mostly I’m just fascinated to learn.

Another thing emphasized last night was journals. W/O letters and journals we would have almost no history. With the multimedia communications these days letters via snail mail are almost and endangered species. McCullough joked that he once told his students if they ever wanted to be immortalized to write in a journal and submit it to a library. Everyone would read them as they would be the only journal in existence. We laughed, but how many of us write in a journal, or even store our blogs or face book entries so there is a record? I admit I like to write and I do it more than most, but not nearly enough. I struggle with wondering who in the world would ever want to read it? after last night.. I tend to think.. WHO WOULDN’T?

I heard a rumor it will be broadcast to TV, if I find out when I'll let you know

Feeling Good

2010-04-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

I listen to my iPod most of the day at work, you know pick me up stuff. But one song when it comes on, I HAVE to sing out loud. Oh yeah, at work. Then I listen to it over and over. It so makes me smile, no matter what mood I'm in, it's my pick me up.

Birds flying high

you know how I feel

Sun in the sky

you know how I feel

Breeze driftin' on by

you know how I feel

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new life

For me

And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea

You know how I feel

River running free

you know how I feel

Blossom on the tree

You know how I feel

Dragonfly out in the sun

you know what I mean,

don't you know

Butterflies all havin' fun

you know what I mean

Sleep in peace when day is done

That's what I mean

And this old world

is a new world

And a bold world

For me

Stars when you shine

you know how I feel

Scent of the pine

you know how I feel

Oh freedom is mine

And I know how I feel

Not only is it a picker me upper, but it's a catchy tune, and you can belt it out. I I love thinking that dragonflies and rivers know how I feel. When Bublé first came on the scene, I was ambivalent. Mostly just cuz everyone else was obsessed about him, I'm like that. But when you throw in that adorable face, the amazing pipes, the catchy tunes... it's hard to say no. Just like candy. I also love his new song, "haven't met you yet" and "a foggy day" I sang that one the whole time I was in London, he's infectious.

It's true I just plain love music. Anything from Broadway to Metal, to Easy Listening to R&B. and don't forget Country.

Other artists that make me sing out loud these days are

Hey Monday
I love the song "Candles"

We the Kings
Call me cheezy but I can't resist their song with Demi Levato

Airborne Toxic Event
They are totally addicting,
and I love that they use strings

Train
The song "Hey Soul Sister"
gets my groove on every time

Boys Like Girls
I liked them before they were ever famous! HA

Rascal Flats never get old

Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, seriously has the worlds sexiest voice.
and Kim (me) was the first girl he ever kissed

Lady A (pictured below) & Little Big Town
give new meaning to beautiful harmony

Chris Daugherty
two words H - OT! He has the sexy voice and the sexy face
and really knows how to write songs.

Dierks
his songs get me 'sideways' every time
I so have a blond crush on him
and his songs are wicked awesome

Amelia
Local band out of Oregon,
saw them live, so fun

There is oh so much more.

Bali Ha'i or Havasupai

2010-04-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

This past week I went on a last minute trip to Havasupai (well last minute to me)

Ever since I heard about Havasupai, i really wanted to go. I put that responsibility on my Uncle, he likes to set up those kinds of things, so when he said, hey aren't you going with us this weekend to Havasupai? I said um.. yeah.

After hours of driving, and a sunbird drenched stop in Mesquite for sleep, we got to the Hoover Dam. I was especially excited because I'd just finished reading the first 4 Percy Jackson books. They spend some quality time at the Dam store, the Dam visitor center, buying Dam souvenirs. And especially at the Dam statues, which come to life and save the kids from the scary skeletons. So I made everyone stop so I could get a pictures of Zeus' statues. Mom took this great shot.

Then we went to the Glass Walk way on the South Rim. I was very excited this was something I had wanted to see for a while. After driving 80 hours out of our way to get there, we found out that you can't drive to it, you have to take one of their tours to see it. SEVENTY DOLLARS worth of tour. oh and on top of that you can't take your camera! SERIOUSLY, if you want a picture you can pay them to take one for another THIRTY dollars. SERIOUSLY! So some of us put our foot down, we actually put it down very loudly, and couldn't stop complaining about it as we sat for hours waiting for those that gave into the commercialization playing cards.... we thought it was money well spent... FREE.

Then after more hours of driving, while listening to Agatha Christie, so ... time well spent. We finally arrived at our destination. We got to fly in a helicopter to get to the village. My first heli ride. yea, I talk the talk.

It was only a 5 min flight, but so cool. The village, I wont say much about it, they have a right to live how they want, but what an amazing setting to live in. Surrounded buy the sheer cliffs of the Grand Canyon everywhere you look. It was just cool. We immediately headed out for the falls before the day got away from us. It was a cool 80 degrees, but there was a nice breeze. One of the local dogs followed us all the way to Havasu Falls, I named him Vegas. As we were making our way to the Falls, my uncle was regaling us with stories of what it used to look like, as the last time he was there was before 'the great flood'. As he was talking me and my cousin wandered off the beaten path and found this....

I named them the Falls of Ry (after my cousin)

They were magnificent. Like a mini Iguasau. And we had it all to ourselves. We hiked all over around about it. So cool.

Then we found these.....

So my uncle said these are all new, so we were like explorers.

We shelved these for after the other falls. On our way back we swam in the pools, walked behind the falls, and just experienced some sheer tom foolery.

after hiking and hiking and hiking, well walking difficulty, I turned corner and saw this.

It literally took my breath away. I knew there were falls, but there was no way I could have expected the beauty I came across. You just cant believe how clear and blue the water was. One of those you really have to see to believe. This was Havasu Falls, and we wanted to make sure to get to Mooney Falls so we repressed the urge to jump in the pools, and moved on.

Finally after another hour of hiking we got to Mooney. The absolute coolest part, and that's including the major coolness of the falls themselves, was how to get to the falls.

That's right the sign says enter at own risk. And that's me ...risking.

after climbing through the tunnels, you had to hike down the face of the cliff, with just chains to hold on to.

I was so thrill seeking.

Then the icing on the cake, the falls themselves.

Then the sprinkles on that cake was the pools, and inlets, and mini falls.

It was just heaven.

Then after hiking all the way home, and crashing, and sleeping we woke up to prepare for the exit hike.

I will admit I was a little scared. It was an 8 mile hike, and the last mile is straight up. This girl is not exactly Suzie in Shape.

The first 6.5 miles were cool, beautiful, thrilling, amazing, interesting, and well a little tiring. It was a hard walk, cuz of the loose gravel.

Then we started the 'ascent'.

1.5 miles STRAIGHT UP!

By then I was all ready at the end of my rope. I wanted to just sit down and cry. But my mom, that boot camp Sargent, just kept pushing and pushing. I think I took and hour longer than anyone else. I will also admit that I stopped at almost every switchback. Another hiker stopped and offered me some raisins, I thought he was an angel from heaven. I was SO hungry. Finally I made it. I wanted to shout... I AM THE CHAMPION! I AM A WINNER!

yea me.

Ohio Short Summary... weeks 1 & half of week 2

2010-02-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

Backwards to forwards just cuz I can

today was Just me and the Lyds, with a plan

we hopped in the car, drove till we were lost

ended up at Fort Rapids, caution be tossed

water slides, and moating, and swimming and splashing

wrap it up with with waterworks, aren't we dashing

more days than not the blizzards blew

we played in the snow... others did too.

Unless you live way out in a cave

You must know Olympics are all the rave

We've watched them Ski, Skate and Board

Some was boring and some had us floored

Then we had a vising Judge from Russia

Who scored L&C in their own games with gusta

We had the Jumping champ L

and the toss extraordinaire

Of course they cheered each other on

and gold medals both did don

When I heard the Beazers had yet to visit Benihana

I said you'll love this place, trust me your gona wana

watch them cook, and taste their wares

Aztek our Chef was all flash and flairs

Valentines day came and went

don't they look like a dame and gent?

A visit from aunt Kimi is most incomplete

with out a visit to a book store, fo shizzel

lucky us it was also story time

I may be running out of rhyme

stay tuned there might be more, only 3 days left

though the flight with 3 kids will be another Olympic heft.

And now of course the reason I came.

He is so adorable can you really blame..................me.

So Happy Together, my little golden Graham

2010-01-16T17:30:00.000-08:00

01-11-10..... Seriously is that the coolest birthday ever?

Little Graham was born this week healthy happy and winking.

Now our quaint little family of six, is now a family of 13. THIRTEEN, and five of them are the most amazing, beautiful, quirky, silly, smart, 'advanced', perfect little kiddies I could have ever asked for to be added to our family.

Prep & Landing

2009-12-12T15:39:00.000-08:00

You know Dasher and Dancer, and Rodolph, and Frosty, and Kris Kringle, and Jimmy Stewart, and Charlie Brown... but do you know Lanny and Wayne - a.k.a Tree Skirt and Little Drummer Boy? As you settle down to watch your favorite Christmas story this year, let me add one to your list. Disney's Prep and Landing is a short new animation that came out on ABC last week. I missed it then, but just watched it on Hulu. It should be a new holiday tradition fur sur! I loved it. loved it loved it loved it. Enjoy it with your whole family! So creative and so fun! My favorite was Thrasher (Dashers cousin) Check it out if you can! and Happy Holidays.

PS - for the adults, if you can find Cristen Chenoweths '12 Men of Christmas' I'd recomend that too!!! lots of pretty men, and a little Pride and Prejudice twist!

If a picture paints a thousand words...

2009-12-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

This year for our family calendar, everyone was assigned to pick how someone else had to pose for their picture. My dad was assigned me. He of course asked me what to do. I said pick something that reminds me of you. He blurts out Kayaking! I said good gracious it's a billion below out there, I'm not going kayaking for my pic. So genius that he is, he said... well kayak in the snow, duh.

BoB is changing

2009-12-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

My previous blog BoB (Binging on Books) is all new. Previously BoB was primarily for book club and book reviews. But not any more...

I'm a passionate girl, and when i get excited about things I go crazy. As you can see I love books, so you get exLibris Lady, a book blog, etc etc. My new passion is FOOD. Cooking, Eating, Eating and Cooking. I can't seem to get enough. So I've combined BoB to be a book and food blog. On there I will continue to review books, but I will also review restaurants I find in Utah that deserve mention, I will also share recipes. I have invited others to play along, so hopefully we will get TONS of food and eating ideas, and great books to read while we satisfy our stomachs.

Blind Side

2009-12-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

I don't usually review movies here on my blog. Well mainly because a majority of you who read my blog don't watch movies. But also because my taste in movies is very eclectic and random, and I do not really consider myself a critic. All that aside, I wen't and saw The Blind Side earlier and just really wanted to share it.

This is a movie you can recommend to anyone. It was clean, wholesome, warm fuzzies, laughter, tears, guilt, team spirit, tender is the moments type movie. It also had lots of football and according to my friend - recognizable football coaches too so even the guys will like it.

It is a true story about a upper class family (mostly the mother) who takes in a homeless young (albeit LARGE) man. They treated him like he was one of their sons. And now he is a famous (college graduated) football player. I really like true stories, and everyone loves a good underdog sports story. On top of that though, the acting was fantastic. Sandra B. for once acted her age and wasn't a loony half of a romantic comedy. She was brilliant. And Tim McGraw, hardly recognizable w/o his hat but still handsome and played a great dad. The younger son SJ, just lit up the screen and brought the story to life.

Bring a tissue and be prepared to laugh.

Welcome to the world baby girl

2009-11-28T15:15:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving morning I get a phone call, and my sister in a sunshine voice says 'would you like to come over?' since she was 9 months pregnant, and it was 5:30 in the morning, and we all know how much of a morning person I am, I knew this wasn't a social call.

Lulu was born at 1pm on Thanksgiving day. Just so I don't sound biased, I took a survey and it came back unanimous. She is beautiful. Man we have good genes.

Because the mother and father and baby were stuck in the hospital for a few days and the hospital has a no one under 14 rule. I got to get some sweet 1:1 time with Lulu's big sister. Mags and I had some gooood times. Memories I will get to keep the rest of my life. So thanks Lulu for letting us play for a few days!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL!

GiGi gets Citizenship

2009-11-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

Well I've put it off longer that probably I should have. But GiGi is now a Utah citizen.
Here in memory with your Oregon plates....

(check out the new personalized plates... in person)

Special Reservations

2009-11-12T18:17:00.001-08:00

dinner with the family at Cafe Dawn

butternut squash soup

white cheddar corn muffins

lime chiffon cake

Top Shelf

2009-11-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

This blog is dedicated to my friend Christyn. Who was a perfect host while I stayed in Oregon this week. BFF forever.. wait that's BFFF. Pa Fef!

What a whirl wind week, I just totally flew. I drove up to Oregon last Sunday. I wanted to see some friends and do a little work from the home office. It was so great, but just went by too fast. I had a lunch and dinner date almost every day. Thank you to those who took time out of their lives to come see me, it really meant a lot. Friday night we had a get together with all the old gang from the singles ward. It was just like old times (sans Steph) I admit I got a little nostalgic.

Saturday, with all the visits behind me I spent time bonding with my girls, and my Oregon. Kath had just gotten back from Armenia with the PeaceCorp and Guatemala to learn Spanish before she starts school again. How proud we are of her. We ate at one of my favorite cafes then drove down to Cannon Beach, danced on the beach and drank in the beautiful scenery (I also went a little crazy with the camera, do you have any idea how hard it is to look this hot when self photographed... snicker).

Then what trip is complete w/o going to Powells? Just walk in and browse Kim, ok just one book Kim, and make sure it is a paperback. Ok you can have two books but paperback only. Crap... how'd I end up getting a whole bag full of books?

on the drive home, there is a tree farm, it is my favorite part of the drive. Don't tell anyone but i have fantasies of running through the trees getting lost. So this time... I did. Don't say anything, I think I was trespassing. But it was awesome.

oh and when I downloaded my pictures, I found this... seriously cutest soon to turn 2 niece ever.

So Long.. Farwell...

2009-10-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

How did this happen? Just when I found you I lost you. (seriously can you name that movie?)

Fall Season of PSYCH is over... woe is me.

Ode to Shawn

Psychic or observant

dancing and singing

the 80's and the now

make me laugh

till I pee my pants,

is it January yet?

Ode to Gus

you scream like a little girl

you missed your chance at the spelling bee

you drive a tiny car

you should have been an astronaut

you of the pharmaceuticals

Ode to Lassie

hate them or love them

skeptic or believing

Gun toting

hide your little black book
Shawn and Gus couldn't do it w/o you

you couldn't do it w/o them

Ode to Jules

SHAWN LOVES YOU!

ok, scratch that... don't jump the shark just yet.

Ode to Fries Quatro Queso Dos

Potato and cheese

bacon and everything good

double triple and quadruple

fried and baked

will someone make them for me... PLEASE!

Ode to people who have not yet discovered Psych..

ARE YOU OPPOSED TO LAUGHING?

Are you opposed to humor?

Are you opposed to awesome 80's trivia?

Are you opposed to edge of your seat murder mysteries?

Are you opposed to seeing grown men scream like little girls?

Are you opposed to random and crazy antics?

Are you dead?

Dean & Jesus (hey-sus)

2009-09-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

I found a pattern for these bunnies and just knew I had to make them. How adorable are they? Yes Q the word is ADORABLE. One for each Niece and my one Nephew and the two on the way.

MJ when she got hers, I asked her what the bunny's name was. she said w/o hesitating.... Dean. ok.... what's the name of the other one? Jesus (we say it with a Spanish accent, just like her giraffe George)

Most Magical.....

2009-09-17T18:59:00.001-07:00

The other day I was taking advantage of my Netflix (oh how I love thee) and decided to watch 'A Wrinkle in Time' I realized as I watched the film that I had completely and entirely forgotten what the story line was. I remembered there was a part where the kids walked into a creepy town, but that was it. So I then decided to take advantage of my library card (oh how I love thee) and borrowed the book on CD, to listen to. To my happy surprise, Madeleine L'Engle was reading her own story. I absolutely love it when the author reads their own story, they know precisely how their characters should be read. Madeleine knows better than anyone how exactly Meg is feeling. But on top of that there is just something magical about her and her voice, then you add a magical story on top of that... have I mentioned I found it magical?

FOODIE FALL FESTIVAL

2009-09-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

After watching Julie and Julie, which I emphatically recommend. I got the cooking bug. Also thank you to HM, for all your foodie blogs. I'm a girl of single stature, which means cooking is not as fun as it could be, I mean not only do recipes not come in serving size ...1.... but also what fun is cooking if you cant share. So I decided to bake my heart out and invite family and friends to come over and complement my exemplary cooking skills... it worked.

Tonight I made homemade Naan bread, and Curry Butter Cashew chicken. Voilà

More pics from Antelope Island and Kite Festival

2009-09-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

And no comments from the peanut gallery! PS - buffalo boy was grabbin my butt!

Festivus

2009-09-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Over the last 7 days I have gone to 4 different festivals. I think that's a record.

We started out last weekend at the Summer Timanogos Storytelling Festival. It was their 20th anniversary. It was fabulous

Some of our favorites were back, and we met some new storytellers as well. We went to Bedtime Stories, and then closed the night off with Shivers in the Night. During one of the ghost stories the power went out, it even freaked out the teller. It was awesome.

Then we went to the Balloon Festival and kite stampede at Antelope Island. I think I have been to Antelope Island more times this year, than in the rest of my life combined. Unfortunately the weather was too windy so we didn't get to see any balloon launches but plenty of kites.

Then on Friday was the Greek Festival in downtown SLC. Nothing like a good Greek Gyro to brighten up your day. Then to wrap it up we headed to the Peach Days Festival in Brigham City. Unfortunately it was after a long hot day at the spiral jetty, with a hungry baby and pregnant sister. So our outing at the peach days was to drive by and look for a place to eat.

Over all though it was a festive (snicker snicker) week.

CAUGHT

2009-08-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I look back at my life and wonder how certain things came into my life. Books, clothes, activities, etc. things that I’m not sure really are my “thing”. Ok actually time out for a sec. there is a blog called “the 'blog' of 'unnecessary' quotation marks” it’s hilarious but now every time I use quotation marks now I freak out, wondering if I used them correctly. Time back in.

There are books I’ve read that I wonder what made me even pick it up let alone read it. I look at some of my clothes and think ‘I actually spend money on this?’ The reason I bring this up is that I am hopelessly addicted to a show called Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel.

It’s about crab fishing for heaven sakes. I must have been really bored one day surfing channels on the TV, and watched a bit, next think I knew I was obsessed. Getting all previous seasons from Netflix, watching episodes on the internet, ordering books by some of the captains, trying to convince anyone who will listen that it’s the BEST SHOW EVER, wanting to buy T-shirts from my favorite F/V (fishing vessel.. see how I even know the lingo) the Northwestern. I tell you it’s NUTZ.

Now I can’t tell you what compelled me to start watching it, but I can definitely tell you what has captured my attention. It’s a reality show, documentary style. It’s really real people doing really real stuff. Even the camera crew get caught up in the drama sometimes. The premises is a camera crew follows 5 or 6 fishing vessels crab fishing in the Bering Sea (there are about 90 in the fleet). Their job has been listed as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. That’s why it’s called the ‘deadliest’ catch.

They prep and unload at Dutch Harbor. Which I think would be a cool place to visit… I think most out of the way unknown places are cool. Then they head out in November for King Crab, and January for Opelio Crab. They fish in some of the harshness seas and weather around, dealing with hundreds of crabbing pots that way over a ton each, and of course the crabs.. not so much as dangerous as the rest but kinda fun to watch. Some of those Kings are HUGE.. makes me hungry.

Crew of the Cornelia Marie

You have your usual reality TV drama, but the ‘I can’t peel my eyes away’ stuff is the real life drama, ships sinking, USCG rescues, man overboard, ship mechanical problems, captains crying when they can’t find missing people or ships, captains crying when they pull a man out of the sea and he’s ok. (expect for the hypothermia) 72 hours of nonstop grueling work, 20’ waves crashing over the rails, fishing right along the ice flow as it creeps into the fishing grounds. Its intense stuff, and yes I’ve cried.

Time Bandit

A few of the regular F/V that they follow that are my favs (now approaching season 6) are the Wizard, the Time Bandit, the Cornelia Marie and the Northwestern. I know the captain and crews names and personalities. My favorite of them all are the Hansen Brothers who own/operate the Northwestern. Sig is the captain and Edgar is the deck boss. I love watching Edgar. He has the harsh deck boss stick it to the greenhorn toughness, but he is also funny, and compassionate.. in a deck boss kind of way. I also love watching the greenhorns on the ships a great number of them don’t last… and one even threatened to jump ship… Ka RAZY!

If any of you are looking for a quick way to earn money and lose weight this is the spot. The top ship deckhands get about $35k a season (1-2 months max) and eat about 3000 calories a meal…. But still loose tons of weight. Granted you have a 100% chance of coming home injured and a small chance of not coming back at all. Oh and the average weather is 10 below with freezing rain and 20 foot waves…. Good luck.
PS – Sig’s Norwegian fishing diet consists of Chocolate, Cigarettes and Coffee….
PPS – though the weather is usually bad, when it’s nice weather, it’s probably some of the most beautiful views imaginable.

Dutch Harbor

Rocky Mountain Hi!

2009-08-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I took my cousin E and headed up to Denver, to play at Water World. A few weeks ago I was watching the Discovery Channel (cuz it's awesome that's why) and they had a show exhibiting the top 10 water parks. It wasn't #1 but it was on the list. So off to Denver me and E went. ... it was closer than Ohio or Florida ....

I've never been to a water park like this. I was Amazing. My only and very small complaint was about 70% of the rides require 3-5 man inner tubes... and one me and one 20 pound 10 yr old made for a lot of excessive hauling. but it was worth it. one of our favorite rides (see above) was the Turbo Racer. you shoot through darkened tunnels then out onto the race track. I won every time. The other favorites were the Zoomerang (like riding a giant half pipe on an inner tube in water) and the Revolution (just imagine being on an inner tube being flushed down a giant toilet bowl.... unused of course) it was AWESOME. There was a tube ride under ground, one in the pitch lack, one simulating the Colorado river, a few rides with out tubes, and a ginormous wave pool which we rocked. And then cuz it was a girls night out, we had to get some tattoos of course.

The weather was perfect, not to hot and just hot enough to not let us freeze. We were there from open to close, and we completely wore ourselves out. So of course we decided to completely fill up the next day as to not loose momentum. I have a good friend who moved to Denver a few years ago and she agreed to join us in our festivities, and be our taxi for the day. THANKS M!!

We started out at the butterfly pavilion. now a place with the world Butterfly in the title, you'd expect butterflies right? The first room we came to had Beetles, Spiders, Cockroaches, Scorpions, and other EWWW's. E got to hold Rosi the tarantula though.

I was like Humph! where are the butterflies... Pretty butterflies, not giant hairy spiders, flying spitting cockroaches....
Ohhhh here are the butterflies.... a whole room of them. swarming all over, blue ones, green ones, red ones, black ones, white ones, big ones, small ones, GIANT ones. it was so cool. E had one land on her braid, and on her shirt, I had a few land on my shirt and hat. it was just cool.

Then from butterflies to piranhas, we headed over to the Denver aquarium. Now I've been to an aquarium or two in my life, so my expectations were medium rare. The mile high city could not accept medium expectations. It was quite above and beyond. You walked through a rain forrest to see the fish from the Amazon, there was an actual flash flood in the desert areas, everything was really spiffy. E found a buddy.

Around the world one blog at a time

2009-08-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

My sister has recently expressed a desire to learn geography better. I gave her a puzzle to do, I got her a glowing globe. I found her games, gave her maps.. but nothing seemed to stick. Then I thought how fun would it be to have our own little game show? where she.. or anyone else... had to guess from clues and trivia on different countries around the world, then they would be more memorable and we could have fun doing it.

After extensive research and years and years of college, I came up with this

Jess Tackles the World Blog

Each week, or as often as I find time, I will (or "Jess" will) introduce a new country with trivia, facts and random stuff as clues to this country. You will get to post your guesses in the guesses (comment) spot. Then 5 ... or so... days later I will post the answer with additional facts and trivia.

I have had so much fun getting this ready, I myself have learned AND retained scores of interesting facts about the countries I'm starting with and I even remember where the countries are! I hope you have has much fun researching and guessing, as I did putting this together .

sometimes you just want to say....

2009-08-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

LOOK WHAT I DID!

Circus of the Sun

2009-08-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

This past week we went to cirque du soleil. This was my 4th experience with the ‘circus’ I have seen the “O” show, the Dralion, the Alegria and now Saltimbanco.

I am a rabid fan. if you are a fan of circuses or not, it is to be enjoyed. From body contorting, to bungee trapeze, pole climbing/dancing, bicycle tricks, Russian swing, beam flipping, trampoline acrobats, death defying acrobatics, clowns (and not really the scary kind, the funny and cool and mime kind) and so so so much more. there is hardly a moment you are not sitting on the edge of your seat. There were several times when we all in unison shouted out “NO!” in utter unbelief that what we were seeing was accomplished by human strength and endurance alone.

Vegas has three shows at all times The “O” show, the Ka show and Mystere… I’ve only seen the “O” but have an excursion in the works to go see the other shows. If there is one touring in your area, or if you are in Vegas… for pure cultural entertainment and enjoyment and excitement and extra breath holding, and exclamations of “NO!” in unbelief… check it out.

cirque du soleil home page

week One

2009-07-19T12:58:00.001-07:00

My super smart bro-in-law is spending some quality time in Russia, which means we get some Q-waltiy time with his wife (who happens to be my sister) and kids (who happen to be my niece and nephew).

getting very little time with the B's normally, we did our best to make the most of it.

Our newly founded BALLOON ROOM tradition

Finger Painting

Blow up water slide

And some quality Aunt and Niece time, where we went painting and got Gelatos

and we still have three weeks to go!

In Anticipation .....

2009-07-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Drew, Q, and my silly little Robin

2009-06-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I have the best brothers in law in the whole wide wonderful world. Seriously I don’t know how my sisters managed to fine such spectacular guys! Not only are they handsome, smart (both have PHD’s…nearly), funny and excellent niece and nephew makers, they are probably the best husbands and fathers I’ve known (besides you daddy :) Those of you who thought my plight was bleak before, well now my standards of what a future husband should be like are so high, bleak may turn into black. I have to give extra props to Drew today. Or as I may call him henceforth DREWizard. Living only minutes away from me he has literally become a proxy man around the house for me. He has a PhD in handyman, he can do anything. And… he builds me shelves. There is no better way to get my loyal devotion then to aid in the growth of my library and yesterday he finished a second set of shelves for me. I am spoiled beyond what I deserve. Thanks Drew…..ahem… DREWizard

And speaking of people who love me despite me. I had a birthday several years ago (well to be honest I have them every year, but this particular one…) a dear friend gave me several pieces of paper. On these particular pieces of paper – say that 10 times fast – were monthly calendars where she had drewn….drawed….drawn…artistically created beautiful images of things like dragons, frogs, flowers, etc. then on the back she had written or copied poems and stories. These were all done by hand. I was flabbergasted (what a great word) I was blown over that someone would go to such lengths and take so much time and energy just for me. It was spectacular (another good word). Since then I have searched the world over to find some sort of frame or display case in which I could display and hang on my wall. Finally years later, I found one. Ta-Da!

Thanks Robin!!!

Holly and Ivy

2009-06-23T18:34:00.001-07:00

Say hello to my two new friends..

Well...... that's obviously not me, and those are obviously not my Kayaks. (Since Ivy is green not yellow) but when I took them out for their maiden voyage yesterday, woe woe woe is me I forgot my camera. curses.

We went out on the Bountiful (pond) Lake. I've lived in Davis county for over 30 years and I've never even heard of it before

......though coincidentally enough last weekend someone (CH) used Bountiful Pond in a sategories game.... weird

But my papa suggested we go find it. Funny story on the way to the pond (lake) the directions on line said 'take Pages Lane west, and you will run into it'. We drove all the way down Pages Lane and ran into Legacy. So we flipped a U-turn and approached a cute old man out weeding his gardens. We asked him how to get to the pond, and he said "just head west on pages lane, (as he pointed the way) we looked at him and tried to explain that we'd tried that. Then with a total dead pan face he said "But you cant get there" we looked at him, we looked at our kayaks, we pouted a little and were more than confused. Then he broke out in a grin, and said "you cant get to it the old way, Legacy's blocked it, you need to head back to the main road and cross the freeway" then he giggled a little - cute little old man.

How much fun did we have! Tons! It was Sara's first time, so I got to be the big pro on the lake. Besides the fishers we were the only ones on the lake most of the time. there was an awesome view of the mountains with the Temple. The weather was great. It was all great. Then we found the canal that fed the lake (pond) it was about 7 feet across with about 6 inches of water. so we tried rowing up the current but it was super strong, so we started pulling each other then floating back to the pond (lake) Dear Sara as she tried to get back in her kayak after her turn at pulling had a little 'moment'. I tried to be a good instructor and told her put your bum in first then pivot your legs into the kayak. She followed instructions very well, but I think just before the pivot stage she leaned back a little and the next thing I see is Sara going kayak over heels. she fell out in SIX INCHES OF WATER. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. GOOD TIME!

grown up tastebuds

2009-06-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

Remember as a kid all the foods you absolutely would not eat...

and now for some reason they don't taste quite as awful as you remember? I remember DESPISING mushrooms, the though of eating fungi made me dry heave... now I love them, I like them raw, I like them sauteed, I like them in pasta, I will eat mushrooms; Kim-I-Am. The funny thing is I remember the moment I tried them and liked them. I worked at a restaurant, and we served sauteed mushroom burgers. (I thought that was a good way to ruin a burger) but every day I would smell that butter and garlic frying up in those mushrooms, and it produced an aromic smell I could not deny was heavenly. So one day I determined to try those gross mushrooms drenched in butter and garlic.... and my life has changed forever more.

Today I went to a restaurant called "The Counter" a new place at the Gateway, rapidly gaining notoriety. I thought it would just be another burger joint... I was wrong.

I was not disappointed in my burger, and the sweet potato fries were perfection in a fryer. When they brought out the fries, they plopped down a mystery dipping sauce. I asked what it was and they said, Horseradish Mayo. I said oh, can you just bring me plain fry sauce. I am all for trying new stuff, but horseradish, UG! no thank you sam-i-am. Then as I was waiting for my fry sauce, my curiosity got the better of me... how bad can it be if its mayo I told myself. So, I tried it. Needless today by the end I was wanting more sauce to go with my fries, it was so so super so good. Does that mean my taste buds are growing up and I have to start liking things like horseradish? where does it end?

From one Scot to another

2009-06-16T21:15:00.001-07:00

From Isle of Skye to Thanksgiving Point.

Last weekend was the Utah Scottish Festival. Funny thing, I saw more kilts and heard more bagpipes in the first five minutes, than we did our whole week in Scotland. And we actually got to see Highland Games. We thought for sure that the Scots would pull out all the stops for us while we were in their country, but apparently they just keep on living their normal life. rude.

My favorite was the Wicked Tinkers concert. Who would have thought bagpipes and a didgeridoo would work well together. but they do... oh they do. These guys were a BLAST! they not only sound fantastic, but they are fun, and they work the audience.

Still couldn't bring up the courage to spend money to try haggis. I really want to try it, but

I don't want to spend the money on the off chance I may hate it.

My favorite part was watching the big burly men throw tree trunks. Andrea says I have to call it a caber.

We got drenched on after a while and had to bail.. but over all, it was a good time.

Be Brave

2009-05-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

It's always hard to blog about long vacations. its impossible to capture all pics here and really who wants to see all 500 pics? I'll just be posting some highlights. and be warned they may not be the 'typical' shots. If you want to know what a normal Eiffel tower looks like, google it......

We can sum up my trip in one sentance: We walked 500 miles, climbed a billion steps, ate our weight in desserts, and bought enough books to fill a library.

(Check out BoB for info on the "books")

Another big part was singing show tunes, I don't think any show was safe, nor any nearby ears. We were shameless. We loved talking to the people we met at the restaurants, on the streets, in the hotels, people of all countries are great. we met a kid from Poland who loved our accents cuz they were like the movies. a restaurant owner told us to be brave when we went out to see the seals, so that became our trip theme... it also led into to Blave from the princess bride which was followed by endless quoting of the movie. we met a lady in Scotland who 'used to be' LDS and almost tried to adopt us cuz we were. people are awesome.

First Country: France (Paris)we spent two glorious days in Paris. Not being with my one true love, I didn't find it as 'romantic' as it is so famous for, but I did love it. Loved the history, architecture, the pure Parisness of it.We enjoyed the Catacombs of Pairs the bones were amazing while creepy at the same time. We couldn't get enough of the hot cocoa, baguettes and croissants.walking to the second floor of the Eiffel tower almost killed us but was a once in a lifetime experience, the Eiffel Tower at night is worth fighting the tired eyes and achy feet to stay up for. The Louvre... one word MASSIVE. its hard not to pretend to be Robert Langdon looking for clues.

Second Country: England (London, Salisbury, Bath, York)There's never enough time for London, so we stood at the beginning of time in Greenwich straddling Prime Meridian.

The queen was busy so we didn't stop at the palace, but we did say hello to Ben, he is indeed Big.The Beefeater (Yeoman) at the towers taught us how Humpty Dumpty came to be, and where sayings like 'got off Scot free' and 'fast as jack robinson' come from, and made us laugh and laugh, even though he mostly talked about prisons and beheadings.

The London Eye gave us a heavenly view of the city.

We bonded with Jane in Austinland (Bath) even walked the path where (fictionally) Captain Wentworth proposed to Anne.

Salisbury we saw the 'stones' and danced in the fields, and took in the view at Sarum, and danced like heathens in the fields.

We even took a wicked creepy tour of Jack the Ripper sights. went right to the murder sights and were told some very interesting stories, but alas still do not know who 'Jack' really was

York how we love thee - And loved to sing the noble duke of york song.

Third Country: Scotland (Edinburgh, Isle of Skye)

Closes and Wynds of the Medival Royal Mile

The Elephant Cafe, where JK herself wrote the first few Harry Potter books

The fortress (Edinburgh castle) - apparently i like to spread my arms

Glamis Castle where Shakespeare's MacBeth the childhood home of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, best known as the Queen Mother. Also Eilean Donan Castle where the Highlander, The World is not Enough, and Made of Honor were filmed.

I could live on the Isle of Skye. we loved our B&B, our very accomodating hosts, we loved our tiny little car that had the steering wheel on the right side, and the teeny tiny roads we had to drive on, we loved our restaurant (ate there both nights) Martin is looking to sell, he wants to retire, if anyone wants the most popular restaurant in Skye, comes complete with an apartment above. Be Brave. Ah Bonnie Scotland.

And so ends another adventure, where of course we had to leave our mark.

Celebrety Look Alike

2009-05-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

This past week my papa had a birthday
My papa is a star.
He is the hero of all our action packed lives
He is the romantic knight to my mom
He is genius who solves all his little girls problems
He is the megga hit to our live documentaries
He is a SUPER STAR.

now, can you name the celebrity he most looks like?

Bo-oks

2009-04-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

borrowed from La Lynette

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?Instructions:Copy and paste, then put an 'x' after those you have read.Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien ()
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (x)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (x)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee(x)
6 The Bible (x)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte ()
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (x)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (x)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (x)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (x)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (saw the movie)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ()
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (not 'complete')
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier()
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien ()
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk ()
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger ()
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger ()
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ()
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell ()
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald ()
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ()
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (x)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (x)
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh ()
27 Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (x)
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck ()
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (x)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame ()
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (x)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (x)
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (x)
34 Emma - Jane Austen (x)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (x)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (x)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (x)
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ()
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (x)
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (x)
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell ()
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (x)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ()
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving (x)
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins (x)
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery ()
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ()
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (x)
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding (x)
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan (1/2 the book)
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (x)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert ()
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons ()
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (x)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ()
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ()
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (x)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (x)
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (x)
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ()
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (x)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (read 'reading Lolita in Tehran)
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ()
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (read 1/2 the book)
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (x)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac ()
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy ()
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding (saw the movie (edited)
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie ()
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville ()
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (x)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (x)
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnet (x)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson ()
75 Ulysses - James Joyce ()
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath ()
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ()
78 Germinal - Emile Zola ()
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ()
80 Possession - AS Byatt ()
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (x)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ()
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker ()
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ()
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ()
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ()
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (x)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom (x)
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ()
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ()
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad ()
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (x)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ()
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams ()
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole ()
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute ()
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (x)
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (x)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (x)
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (saw the play)

Walk the Walk

2009-03-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

So those of you who don't read my mom's blog, me and my mom have been on a mission. Walk across Utah... Here in her words...

Kim and I are once again working on our goal to walk from the Ogden Temple to the Provo Temple. We originally wanted to walk across Utah ( width - I mean) but walking on main highways was becoming too much of a problem, So we decided to just chunk out the state one section at a time.

Before Winter hit, we had walked from the Ogden Temple to Lagoon. (if you cant tell that's us in front of the temple)
Last week we started again. We started at the Lagoon end of Legacy Parkway, and walked to Center Street in North Salt Lake. That was a long stretch for the first one of the season(10 miles) and we paid for it with shinsplints, sunburns, and sore muscles, but we sure had a good time!!!

Here we are at the end of the line at the 1.5 mile marker. In Kim's pic you can see the building where we parked the car ...... the end is in sight!!! By This Sat. we were all better and started where we left off at Center Street and headed South, finishing the Legacy trail and starting the Jordan River Parkway. This one was much more of a adventure. It was a dirt single track for the first little while, walking pass an ATV park in NSL where we got to watch lots of crazy motorcycle drivers jumping and soaring through the air. Then we crossed Redwood Rd where we found large TRAIL CLOSED signs. But it just looked like they were working on upgrading the trail during the week, and since it was the weekend............ we decided they didn't really mean it was closed....... so we walked on. Then another sign further on..... followed by a chain link fence!!!!! darn. So, we crossed to the other side of the river (there was a bridge) and got back on a single track. As we were walking we noticed that there were people walking on the paved trail, they must have gone around the fence. We weren't THAT brave!

So we just kept on walking until we came to another sign that said TRAIL TEMPORARILY CLOSED, and this time it just stopped right in the middle of a golf course. My my, what an adventure.... what to do..... what else could one do..... keep on walking. So we walked through not one, but 2 golf courses, (still following the river of course) and what are all golf courses surrounded by???? Chain link fences!! So we got to the end of the course and we were trapped. River on one side (with a paved trail on the other side from us), chain link fence on 2 sides, and we are not about to go backwards, after all ..... we have a goal!!! so................................................ under the fence we go!! yep. these 2 grown women shimmied under a chain link fence right to the side of a busy highway, got up, brushed ourselves off...... and kept on going!! That was at about9th north or so and we continued without any more adventure to North Temple where Brent came and picked us up. It was a shorter (but more interesting) trek this week(6.5 miles), and either we are in much better shape, or we didn't push ourselves hard enough, cuz .... we are doing great!!!(so far)

So this week we walked 10 miles from 57th south to North temple traveling on state street. Very different than the back woods of the parkway, and vastly different than walking along legacy, we passed the famous Murry High, discovered stores we never knew were there, spied the Desert Star Theater, discovered the SLC Children's theater, and saw 1.5 million car lots. The way was very straight so it seemed to go faster, but at the same time we hit tons of stop lights... which are distracting and detracting...is that a word?

So as of yesterday 3/28 we have walked 45 of our total 85 miles, almost half way! and yes i have the blisters to prove it. We would like to find a way to post a map to show peoples our progression... is there anyone out there in the blogger world that would be able to show us how to do it?

Snow Bunn.....Duck

2009-02-28T14:48:00.001-08:00

Utah's back wood beauty (did I mean me or the trees?)

Sliding down on our behinds (who needs sleds)

Sunshine and fresh air (my narcotic of choice)

Snowbasin's other tracks (well at least after we made them)

Daddy Daughter Date (awwwwwe)

BEST AUNT EVER

2009-02-24T15:59:00.000-08:00

oh yeah, that's me spoiling my poor niece who was given an absorbent amount of adorability. I do feel for my other sisters who identify with the label of her Aunt, but they chose to live so so so far away. I also feel sorry for my other niece and nephew. I can try to be a long distant Awesome Aunt, but it just doesn't seem to be the same. Just you wait till I get my hands on you kiddos.

Art Appreciation

2009-02-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

True Art:

While others celebrate a holiday based on St. Valentine, I will be visiting an "Art Gallery." Though I can guarentee there will be several items missing by the end of the day.

once upon a time

2009-02-07T19:35:00.001-08:00

A few years ago my mother introduced me to a book called The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness by Joel Ben Izzy. A true story about a professional storyteller who loses his voice. First off I had no idea that storytelling was actually still a valid profession. The book drew me in from the very first page, from the telling of his own story to the telling of his most popular folk, myth, and poetry. I was sold. It goes with out saying that attending a professional storytelling festival was now on my 'life list'. I've lived I Utah all my life but it took a friend I met in Oregon (props Robyn) to inform me that Utah hosts the infamous Timpanogos Storytelling Festival annually. An upon investigation I found out they have a mid-winter festival as well. So this weekend..... we went.

We heard first from Elisabeth Ellis. She was just exactly what I'd picture a storyteller to be. She was hilarious. And that's when I made my astonishing discovery. Comedians are nothing more than modern/abstract if you will, wanabe storytellers. She told a wonderfully hilarious story of having to be 'dressed' for a video shoot. She also told a very nice myth as well.

Next was Syd Lieberman. This was a man you want to throw in your purse and take home with you. He was funny, he was enduring, he sang musicals, he did voice impersonations, he tugged at your heart strings. He compares himself to Sean Connery. He likes to say 'I'm Sean Connery' I could have listened to him all night.

Finally was Bill Harley. The GRAMMY winning Bill Harley. whoooo. Bill made us laugh, made us cry and made us think. And got a song stuck in our head the rest of the night (good think it was a good song)

Lookout summer festival we are on our way!

Winter Blues 2009

2009-01-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

Not only am I asked to deal with the cold, the snow, the icy roads, the shoveling of the said snow, the heating bills, but in the winter when the sun finally shines in our beautiful Salt Lake Valley we get INVERSION....(said in a Vincent Price voice) It turns our beautiful valley into a dirty gross icky thing. It's like the plague, we all have to quarantine ourselves in the house so we don't breath it, and I find myself hoping for more snow. It's a sick and twisted world.

Well add it all up and it makes for some serious winter blues. Last year I came up with some fun things for the winter blues cure. Here are some I have come up with this year.

Game night with friends
Baby sit my niece
Girls night out
Book Clubs
Plan my Sunday lesson
Listen to Show Tune Saturday Night
Dinner Parties
Making Sock puppets (I'll take your word for it Robin)
re-arrange my books
paint while listening to audio books
get a pedicure
test your geography skills (geosense.net)
blogstalking
stare at your elliptical and invent new uses for it
finger paint
play games and solve clues on the 39 clues web site
and just curling up in my blankie with some hot cocoa and kettle corn watching a really great movie.

And if all else fails, there's always Validation. Who doesn't like to be validated? I mean free parking right! If your a Bones Fan, here's just an extra healthy dose of Hodgins as well.

The birth of Exlibris Lady

2009-01-13T16:23:00.001-08:00

What makes us who we are? Well we can get into genetics, nature vs. nurture, religious beliefs.....all good stuff. But when I'm talking about my lust for literature, there are three specific books I can trace back to the start of it all.

I was always a book reader. I read The Little House on the Prairie series as a kid. I read the baby sitters club as a pre-teen, I had a subscription to the book club 'just for teens'. And I read the Princess Bride at least 13 times before I was 20. But besides Buttercup and Wesley, it was more of a by the wayside hobby. Then somewhere between Princess Bride and Adulthood, it became a passion.

I actually remember specifically the moment when I was reading Ender's Game when I realised I was in love. In love with the book, in love with reading and in love with the way I felt transported into another world. Before Ender's Game I didn't think SciFi was for me. It was for those people who attended Star Trek Conventions, or owned Light Sabers (not that there is anything wrong with that, it just wasn't me). Ender's Game changed that for me. I ate it up. Then Ender's Shadow of course immediately followed. Ender and Bean were friends I never knew. These books had such an impact on me, I could not bring myself to read any of the billion sequels. They had to stay pure just as they were. Thanks Orson for changing my life.

Not to long after I picked up The Count of Monte Cristo. Now there are some books in my life that I have read, that for the life of me I can not recall what drew me to pick it up in the first place. It wasn't a book I normally would have been drawn to. It was long, it was OLD, it was long. But pick it up I did. And it made a huge impact on my life. One day I found myself looking forward to working out on the stationary bike. Now if you know me at all, even a little, you know that it takes more than a miracle for me to get on an exercise machine with any kind of love or enjoyment. But I had decided to read CoMC while riding the bike, and here I was looking forward to riding. It was old, granted, but it had action, intrigue, revenge, love, suspense, it had it all, and once I got into it I couldn't get out. It helped me realize that easy fiction was not the only kind of book I could read. In fact it encouraged me to spread my reading wings even further. Since then I have learned that I enjoy almost any kind of book (well math books still elude me). My library is even sorted by Genre, just for kicks. I have my non-fiction, my biographies, my young adult, my children's, my middle readers, my chick lits, my man books, my classics, and my Clive Cusslers.

There have been hundreds (thousands?) of books since then that I have fallen in love with. There are places I've been, people I've known, history I've learned. knowledge I've gained and just plain sillyness added to my life, that could only be achieved through literature.

And one of those places was Florin.

in the span of 30 years

2009-01-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

Thirty years ago yesterday, Brooke was born. Thirty years ago today Mom celebrated her .... birthday. Happy birthday Mom! Happy birthday Brooke!

Look closely at our Petersen Family photo on the Cruise and you can see how good the 30 years have been to them. Here's to 30 more years to both!

Christmas - Hawaii - New Years and Harumph!

2009-01-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

This is how my family spent Christmas day.... rough I know but someone had to do it right?

notice the adventurous snorkelers in the back ground. could be me... could be my sisters

We spent Christmas day at the beautiful beach at tunnels reef on the island of Kauai. We had the beginning of the breathtaking Na Pali Coast as our back drop. The weather was perfect, the snorkeling great. On Maui I got to go Diving again, it had been almost 3 years since my last dive and I thought I was in underwater heaven. I saw an octopus out of his cave swimming, and he even tried to ink us. I saw a turtle about 5 feet long swim right under neath me. And the group I went with went to a depth way beyond my certification limit. Of course I went with them, it was exhilarating! On the big island of Hawaii we went ocean kayaking with the dolphins and swimming at Captain Cooks Cove one of the best (and busiest) snorkeling spots in the islands. In Oahu we ran into a giant storm that took out the islands electricity so the island was pretty much closed down and with out the Polynesian Culture Center to go to, we just drove around for hours and hours..... but the Dole Plantation was open, where we all got to open an oyster and get our very own pearl. Well the guys didn't. And of course we had to stop at Pali Point and experience the awesome wind tunnel there.

31 of us spent the Christmas holidays cruising the Hawaiian islands. Best family reunion ever, eh?

And then before you can bat your eyelashes its New Years! Wowsers what a year!
here are a few of my own personal top tens.

Top Ten major events (in no particular order)
1 - Trip to Sacramento, Ohio, Alaska, Hawaii
2 - My volley-ball team takes champion spring season, not so much fall season
3 - Moved 4 times
4 - Purchased my very own, got my own library! and had my sister w/her family live with me
5 - Went to lagoon for my birthday
6 - President Hinkley Passed away and we got a new Prophet
7 - Grandma Speakman passed away with her family surrounding her
8 - I got a new job (in the same company)
9 - My best friend and roommate of 6 years up and gets married
10 - The Beijing Olympics completely overtake two weeks of my life (mens v-ball rocks)
Runner Up
11 - New President of the free world

Top Ten Favorite Shows (again in no order)
1 - Burn Notice
2 - Psych
3 - Monk
4 - Leverage
5 - Keeping up Appearances
6 - The Mentalist
7 - The Office
8 - Chuck
9 - Life
10 - Pushing Daisies
(some runners up & Guilty Pleasures)
- Hanna Montana
- Wizards of Waverly Place
- Masterpiece Theater
- So You Think You Can Dance
- The Amazing Race
- Biggest Looser
and the one that jumped the shark and broke our hearts
- Bones

Top Ten books (of the year only)
1 - Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
2 - Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuth
3 - Phoenix and Ashes - Mercedes Lackey
4 - Poison Study - Maria Schnider
5 - Uglies/Pretties/Specials Series
6 - Race Across Alaska - Libby Riddles
7 - His Majesties Dragon, Temeraire Series - Naomi Novik
8 - 39 Clues - Rick Riorden
9 - Blue Castle - L. M. Montgomery
10 - Graceling & Hunger Games (tied)

Top Ten Restaurants
1 - Red Iguana (SLC)
2 - Ganesh (SLC) ** and the indian place in columbus!
3 - What's Shakin (Kauai)
3 - Habibi (Portland)
4 - Myan (Portland)
6 - Gandolpho's (mostly SLC)
7 - Marcello's (Bountiful)
8 - Mazza (SLC)
9 - my kitchen :)
10 - Pita Pit (Portland, Columbus, Utah)

HARRUMPH
The 'robot' of blogspot marked my BOB blog as a spam blog, and has blocked it (that's a lot of B's)
so I can not make any updates to BOB until they review and approve it. they better!!! so be patient while BOB is in quarentine...

Martha Who?

2008-12-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

5 months into home ownership and I'm finally starting to feel.....homey. So on Saturday me and my personal decorator sat down for about 4 hours and created .... this.

If you get a close up you see a variety of random photos. this creative wall decor is a collage of all the places I've traveled to and visited. The best part is as I continue to travel the collage will continue to grow, yay me!
this wall uses the genius of my mother on mounting my speakers, and using as shelves for decor. the sign in the middle if you look closely reads 'Kwitcherbellyachin'. That was a famous quote from my grandfather. My aunt bought this cross stitch and brought it home years ago, I've seen this displayed in my grandparents room for ever. This was the one thing I wanted as a memento from my grandparents. Grandma passed away last week, we will miss so much. But I will get to think about her and grandpa every time I look at my wall....
Also below is one of my grandma's favorite prints it fit very well with the color scheme in my kitchen..

So step aside Martha, Kim is in the HOUSE.

"Vot is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?"

2008-11-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

Quidditch is now an intercolledgic sport. I salute the man who decided to bring to live the game JK invented at a coffee shop for a childrens book.

Quidditch

if only there was a local game we could watch. A guy running aroud with a broom chasing a snitch.... hot.

So Long .... Farewell....

2008-10-28T20:23:00.001-07:00

As I wipe a tear from my eye, I sit here and try to balance the two emotions running through my head.

I am here all alone now..... waaaaaah

I have this house all to myself now! wa ha ha ha

As of today, the Merryweathers closed on their very own home and will be abandoning (or relieving) me this weekend.

No more pitter patter of little feet, no more plastic covers on the electric outlets, no more stair gates, no more snuggling with a baby, no more having someone at my house to chat with at lunch, no more mr. live in fix it man (dang), no more mushed up food on the floor, no more live in homemaker (and cook!), no more gated entertainment center, no more having someone leave the lights on for you when your out late, no more someone to share the bills with (crap)

I have been living out of the home since I was 18, and if you count mission companions and the old lady I lived with (and took care of). The Merryweathers (I count them as 3) are my 40, 41 & 42nd roommates (I know Dani's got me beat, but this is about me right now) I'm 33 years old and never lived alone. My roommate before the Merryweathers hung around for 6 YEARS! This is definitly a new chapter in my life.

As little Red Riding Hood sang as she entered the woods, she summed up my feelings exactly:

"Well, excited and scared"

Paperback Dreams - BUY LOCAL

2008-10-24T08:48:00.001-07:00

Check out my article on BOB

Blogstalking

2008-10-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

yes Robin, I'm mimeographing your title (do you guys remember mimeographs? how cool it was in elementary school when you got to make copies for the teacher, that blue ink, the smell...ahh)

Anyhew back to the subject. I am making a confession..... I'm a blogstalker. I will say though, that if it is a person i have never before met in my life (nor any of their friends and/or relatives) I most likely have not looked at their blog .... more than one or two times.

As Grandma says, Blogs are the words greatest invention. (it makes me giggle that I'm blogging about blogging) Because we can keep in touch with those we love, especially those that live far far away. It's like permission to read the non private parts of journals. Peoples personalities come out that you usually don't get to see. Some of my friends refuse to enter the blogging world, thinking it is only for the radicals out there who don't care for privacy, well them and Utah mommies. Granted there are about a billion blogs out there with info i have no desire to see. None-the-less there are many good blogs out there, public ones and bless their paranoid but smart hides, the private ones too.

Reasons I love the Blogging world:

1 - I recently came across some blogs of friends in my old ward back in Oregon. Once I found one, it lead to a few more. I was over the moon excited to get updates on friends I thought I'd might not get to see again.

2 - I can share ideas. Recipes, book recommendations, places of interest, events, you name it. I can share my ideas and i can get ideas from others.

3 - I snuck over to a friend's sister- in-law's blog. I HAVE met her before so...... One of her entries captured my eye, it was about one of her favorite TV shows. It just happened to be one of mine. So I read on, and found out we had a favorite author in common as well, then she went on to recommend another author that reminded her of the first. Needless to say i went out immediately and bought a few of his books. It was just fun! Someday I'll tell her i blogstalk her. I've told my friend, the one to whom she is related.... does that count?

4 - recently my grandmother got very ill we thought we were going to loose her (phew! glad your doing so well grandma) we created a blog dedicated to her, that posted her updates and her daily life. I was overwhelmed at how many people we were able to keep in contact with and keep updated on grandmas condition. I know she was grateful too.

5 - Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. If it weren't for an old mission buddies blog, i would never have made these breakfast delights. My friends would have never have tried them and decided that i was the best friend they ever had. Really it changed lives.

6 - Family. I have family that lives half way across the world. All of them are uber cute, but i would never get to see them blooming, and grinning, and playing if they didn't keep their blogs updated (hint hint Dani California!) I wouldn't get to see my nephew take his first step, my niece's preschool crafts, my sisters super duper cute new hair style...... how did people live before blogs?

i rest my case.

PS - to you out there that blogstalk me... if you are a creepy psychopath.... uhhhh your creeping me out. If not, WELCOME! I hope this blog at least makes you smile, I'll even take half smiles.

All you've got to do, is believe (well that and pixie dust)

2008-09-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

Lately I've really been into life lists, bucket lists, life goals, wish lists what ever you want to call them. Even if i don't accomplish all of them its fun to have a list of things to look forward to. And its extremely fun to document them once your done, take swimming in the Great Salt Lake for example.
Well one dream I've had way since before my days of the 'list' was to have my own library. A real library, not just a room with books.

Today my DREAM came true

Give credit where credit is due:

To all my family who helped pack, haul, unpack and sort my books (ESPECIALLY MOM!)

To my family who helped me paint

To dad and brother in law who helped me put up the big shelves

To mom & dad who gave me my favorite poster, and my hammock

To all those who helped me cultivate my love and collection of the written word

THANK YOU!!

But my library would just be a room of books if it were not for three very AWESOME people

Jules - for the MOST EXCELLENT and beautiful Tree II, you are truly a master craftsman!

Forrest - a home teacher i will never forget and a master craftsman who built my BEAUTIFUL bookshelves. They will always be one of my treasures

Drew - the greatest brother in law who ever lived with me. the high bookshelves, the children's bookshelves and my beloved hammock. I should name this library after you!