Unapology

But before I get to that, I do apologize for not updating since the Olympics.

Remember those "Thoughtful Thursdays" posts I did awhile back? Well, even though it's technically Friday, I'm back-dating this so it says "Thursday."

I was talking with some friends this evening. And sometime after eating homemade bread and homemade cheese, but before my really embarrassing "tired laugh," (some of you know the one) we had an interesting discussion about how easy it is to judge others and how awful it feels to be judged.

And while I'm often entirely guilty of this, I'm sad that we sometimes feel like we have to conform to others' views of what we should say, wear, enjoy, love, listen to, read, eat, and so forth. But, I also feel like I'm getting better shedding the guilt. I remember learning early on in elementary school what the word "unique" meant. I still think it's a pretty cool word. But even as a grownup, it's hard to remember that it's a pretty cool thing to be.

You see, I THRIVE on variety, as I think a lot of us do. I find beauty in a lot of different things. I love spending time with creative people who teach me about their way of viewing the world, thus broadening my own view.

As it happens, I unapologetically love a lot of things. I love beautiful prose. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite novel. I also enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I love Romantic poetry. I really enjoy reading Dan Brown novels. I've spent a lot of time reading Harry Potter. I used to sneak read Babysitter's Club books after "Lights Out." I had a deal with my dad that for every Earnest Hemingway novel I read, he'd buy me a Roswell High novel.

I think it's okay that I like Gilmore Girls, Lost, Roswell, and Firefly. I also thoroughly enjoy Disney Channel and Nickelodeon programming--even though I don't have kids to watch it with. I think most of the shows are funny and smart, and I never have to worry about inappropriate content.

I love listening to Nickel Creek. Periodically you might find me at an intersection singing along to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the top of my lungs. I've seen *NSYNC, Sara Watkins, Iron & Wine, Counting Crows, Jimmy Eat World, Snow Patrol, Paramore, Panic at the Disco, Dashboard Confessional and others live. This summer alone, I plan on seeing She & Him, Punch Brothers, Jonas Brothers, and Hanson live.

I really love good food. I love cooking with whole, fresh ingredients, and I love new and interesting flavor combinations. Sushi is delicious. I both despise chain restaurants and love Wendy's.

I find George Clooney and Zac Efron very attractive.

I own clothes from both Anthropologie and Walmart.

I dream of being a mother, and I still dream of being a movie star.

I equally enjoy talking and listening, teaching and learning, laughing and crying. Especially during those rare and beautiful moments when all of these happen at once.

After all that, I'm not sure I'm laying down what I hoped you would pick up. I think what I want to say is that it's okay (and totally possible) to be hipster and teeny-bopper (Just don't tell the hipsters. And don't even try telling the teeny-boppers. They're too busy shrilling.) It's okay to be passionate about something, even if no one else is or even if everyone else is.

We should never feel the need to apologize for what we love, who we are, or the things we believe. The best thing about life is that we don't all have to like the same things in order to have good conversations with, or respect for, one another.

A/N: Edit and Republish Count: 3.

Peace out, 2009!

So, just imagine that I finished the Best of 2009 series. I really meant to, but I wasn't super interested by the last few.

The moral to this story is that 2009 saw a lot of Bests and a lot of Worsts. I've learned a lot about life and challenge and everything, but I can't say I'm said to see the year go.

Here's to you, 2009, and the good times we had.

Stay tuned for the Resolution Recap and New Goals for 2010.

Right now, it's time to party with the fam.

Happy New Year!

Best of 2009 Catch Up

Best Place of 2009

It was my home away from home this year. The place I always showed visitors to SLC. The place I could spend both a million years and a million dollars.

Yeah, I'm talking about Sam Wellers.

Especially this room, with its yellow-arched entrance to the land where the books about words live.

Best New Food of 2009

Kouing-Aman

So, so, sooooo good.

Best Change I Made to the Place I Live (in 2009? How do I phrase that exactly?)

Um, I moved here?

Best Rush of 2009

Driving Nebo Loop after dark. Seriously, I was super scared I was going to get stuck and freeze to death. The adrenaline as pumping long after I made it home.

Pictures found here and here. The last one was mine.

Countdown

I found this end of the year blogging project referenced on my sister's friend's blog, which I've enjoyed reading for the last couple of years.

I love the holidays. I love the food, the family, and the presents. If I had to rank the "winter" holidays, it would go like this:

1. New Year's Day: I love the idea of a new beginning. The biggest aspect of my spirituality is the comfort of renewal. What's done is done. I can remain fixated on the past or I can look forward to the future, and I choose to do the latter.
2. Christmas: This has everything--family, food, and loot.
3. Thanksgiving: 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
4. New Year's Eve: Mostly because it leads to New Year's Day. Also, exciting things happen at midnight.
5. (A Very Distant Last Place) Valentine's Day. I like the idea, but it's always a letdown. The chocolate is good, so it's not a total loss.

So, part of the greatness of my favorite holiday is being able to take stock of the year and ponder resolutions for the next. So, here goes nothing.

I miss you!

I've decided I'm almost to the point where I'm going to sacrifice my home time during lunch hour to stay at work to blog. I miss it that much. Things happen, and sure, I'll let the peeps on twitter know when things happen, and while I think I'm darn clever in 140 character or less, it's just not the same.

So, maybe twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'll post pictures, or links to funny videos, or short yet entertaining essays, and then you all can comment on them. Deal?

Also, I'm getting ready for NaNoWriMo. I know. I've said it before, but this is the year. I don't know what it is about reading for a living, but I am getting a ton of ideas for novels/movies/web series/etc. and it's exciting. So, be ready for exciting things.

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

But I HAVE moved to Springville to a lovely new apartment really close to work. My books are unpacked and shelved according to spine color, and I've shaved an hour and fifteen minutes off of my commute.

The only downside: we don't have internet yet! As one might imagine, this cuts deeply into my blogging time, and I miss it deeply. I have videos I want to share, treats I want to show you, pictures I want to feature and food I want you to be jealous of. But no, we might have to wait longer for any of these things to happen.

How to break the ice

Have you ever been in the situation where you need to get to know someone right away? When finding common ground is not only desired but absolutely essential?

Well, in my hunt for housing closer to work, I found a pair of sisters who needed a roommate to help offset the cost of an apartment they wanted to rent. Today we met one another for the first time when handing in our applications.

We stood around outside the apartment chatting for awhile about important things, like whether Twilight is stupid.

For some reason, when that book is mentioned, the next logical step in the pop culture discussion is to bring up Zac Efron. Because he just hotter than Rober Pattinson. These are the facts, people, and it's my civic and moral duty to defend the truth.

Well, a 26-year-old female college graduate with the beginnings of a career admitting to a significant crush on the kid who makes tweens swoon tends to have a polarizing outcome. These girls, who I just met, would think I was either truly insane or in posession of excellent taste.

The way their eyes lit up at the mere mention of Zac Efron and the ensuing squeals of "we do too!" meant that they thought the latter. Even better? From here on out, I can be totally confident in being myself.

The moral of this story? Part of my "going all in" philosophy on life includes putting myself out there, warts and all, so that people know what they're getting. And sharing something mildly embarrassing is the perfect way to break that ice.

http://www.meandorsonwellesthemovie.com/

Filing made fun and fancy

There was this one time when I went to Staples to find a microphone headset for my computer, and found these instead:


These lovelies are part of the new (to me) M by Staples line from that one competitor of Dunder Mifflin.

To know me is to know that I have piles of stuff. All kinds of piles of all kinds of stuff. Well, some of that stuff is now tucked away into one of seven neatly labeled folders that I think are simply a pleasure to look at.

Also available through M by Staples: These houndstooth journals that I think are to die for.

...Over an open field...

After a year in the "big city," I'm headed back to "small town" life.


Not too shabby, eh?

(I don't think one town is necessarily big, or the other necessarily small, but illustrated my point, no? Pictures were taken on that one road that leads to Utah Lake.)

Me and Lorelei or, the BBC 100 Books Meme

I spent far too much time trying to rip a clip from the episode of Gilmore Girls that aired today. Lorelei pretends to be a book editor while making small talk with some guests at the world's most heinous bed and breakfast. So here's what they say:

Lorelai: I published Good Night Spoon... and the Horse that wanted to Bark.

Guest: Oh, I've read to my grandson! The horse really wanted to bark, and it finally does, and... (to Lorelai) How does it end?


Lorelai: It dies.


Rory: But... the horse learned to bark and achieved its goal, so it was really a happy ending!


Well, Lorelei Gilmore is merely a pretend person who pretended to be a book editor. I, on the other hand, am a real person who really is a book editor! This week I was offered a position at a tiny little publisher down in Springville, Utah. I'm so excited, and I feel so blessed to be able to work in my chosen profession.

However, since it is Thoughts for Thursday and I feel like I ought to prove to the world that I do more than watch Gilmore Girls, I will now try and prove that I am worth my salt as a reader.

I lifted this from a friend's blog, who in turn lifted it from a friend's blog. Also, my sister also did this on facebook.

"The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?”
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X (So many times. Sooooo many times.)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X
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 (I'm pretty sure I've read it all. I took Bible as Lit and went to seminary.)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X (I'm really surprised that you haven't read this, Rachel.)
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 X
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot X
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (My cousin's favorite book. I own it and it's on my list.)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X (Right now, it's tied with P&P for my favorite story.)
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
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
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X (One of my least favorite books that I had to read every year from 8th to 10th grade.)
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (I've borrowed it from one of my sisters. It is swimming in the sea of books next to my bed.)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert (I remember that one of my sisters used to LOVE this book.)
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 (I think I did. I may of fudged my way through it in high school.)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
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
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
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
TOTAL: 35. Now, I have a degree in English, but last I heard, 35 was more than 6. I think I'm in possession of at least 5 more, so I'll keep on going.

What happened to May?

Well, I can't be sure of what happened during the first two weeks of May. I might have to consult Twitter for a detailed account. I know Mother's Day was in there somewhere, and then I went to a concert with Mallory. Then I went to Georgia, and now I'm going to Moab! So many things that I should have been blogging. When I return from Moab on Sunday, I will do my darnedest to catch up. That's the first order of business, after a marathon nap.

Public Service Announcement

Let it be known that while David's blog was relegated to a lower position alphabetically to make room for Ben on my blog roll, this is no way indicative of a decrease of importance of David's blog, and you ought to all go read it.

Thank you, and have a nice day.

A Christmas Story...

So once upon a time, the lovely princess got on her way to settle her religious financial score with the local religious leader. AS she walked up to her faithful steed, oh no! The lovely princess tripped and fell on the treacherous frozen snow. Not to be undone by the hardened precipitation, she regally rose to her feet and brushed herself off, and shook out the special bridle to help her faithful steed go. Off she went, settled scores, returned safely to the castle, and all was well.

The next morning, the lovely princess awoke, packed her things in preparation for a festive holiday visit with the king and queen, when the special bridle just refused to budge the steed. Not even the reserve bridle would work. With a magical and wondrous device called a cellular telephone, she rung up the king to ask for his sage wisdom. Luckily for the lovely princess, the king was wise and experienced in such matters, and offered his assistance. She took his advise and the faithful steed traveled once more.

The end, and Merry Christmas to all!

Translation: I fell on the way to my car for tithing settlement got my key wet, it froze my ignition overnight, and my dad told me to heat the key with a butane lighter. Worked like a dream!

The Office

Well, I live in a cubicle most days. And interesting things happen. Like the one time our copy room seriously smelled like it was going to spontaneously ignite. Literally, in the service request I submitted, in the field asking for the nature of the problem I wrote, "Smells Like Burning." Turns out, this was the culprit:

This used to be a regular piece of 8.5x11 piece of paper, and it used to be white. It got caught on something inside the printer, and started burning. It now serves as a trophy on my desk.

In my downtime from putting the kibosh on potential fires in the copy room, I get really busy. Like really, really busy. To where papers inexplicably build up in little to no order on my desk.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

But, now, I'm less busy, thank heaven, and now my desk looks like this:

Exhibit A (Clean):

And Exhibit B (clean):

And don't think I haven't noticed that pile of filing. Yeah, that will be a load of fun.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Our next door neighbor warned us about a coming snow storm.



He wasn't kidding. But he did give us time to stock up on some videos so today has been the first Saturday I haven't been running around like a chicken with my head cut off since I moved up to Salt Lake City. But the best part? I've had plenty of time to plan blog posts. So, with out further ado, I bring you:

• The Office
• Mo Tab Concert (with Grandpa Gilmore!)
• And the long awaited Christmas Tree

Tag!

My sister tagged me. Will I tag you? Read to the bottom to find out...

Five things I was doing 10 years ago.

1. Surviving the halls of Bear Creek High School
2. Tasting my first sushi (and wasabi!) during a late-night deadline as part of my editorship on The Bruin Voice.
3. Working on my interactive notebook into the wee hours of the morning for U.S. History with Tilton. (Does anyone know what happened to that guy?)
4. Prepping for my AP German test in the spring
5. Looking forward to dating (yeah, not much has changed on that front in the last 10 years)

Five things on my list of things to do today:

1. 1. Clean my desk.
2. Clean my room.
3. Read Heart of Darkness
4. Write some of my novel.
5. Blog (wait, does this count? Cross one off the list!)

Five snacks I enjoy:

1. Edamame
2. String Cheese
3. 100 Calorie Packs (any kind. I love them)
4. Fiber One Yogurt (peach)
5. Fiber One Bars (chocolate chip)

Five things I'd do if I became a Millionaire

1. Pay off debts (most importantly to my parents)
2. Ride the Orient Express.
3. Buy a cello. And a piano.
4. Buy a house.
5. Oh, and I would by a fancy pants Mac with the Ginormous Monitor of Glory.

Five Places I've Lived:

1. Fresno, CA
2. Stockton, CA
3. Provo, UT
4. Kentucky/Indiana
5. Salt Lake City, UT

Five Jobs I've Had.

1. A cashier at Longs. Oh, the stories
2. A bagel stock clerk at the BYU booktore
3. A project manager/tutoring coordinator at The Center for Service and Learning
4. A public relations assistant at the BYU Internship Office
5. A communication specialist at Moreton & Company

Five People I Tag: (I'm assuming this is people who regularly read my blog. So these are all people I hope have me on Google Reader...)

1. Mom
2. Jenna B.
3. Mallory
4. Jeff H.
5. Joy

Untitled

I don't have anything clever to say, or amusing videos to share. I'm sitting on my bed (where I have been all day, nursing a cold) and looking out my bedroom window, and I'm very grateful for my view. I really love my new home, and its location and its convenience. I simply couldn't ask for anything more. Well, I suppose I could as for the Magical Unpacking Fairies to come unpack my house, but I won't. I would love nothing more than to have my house be all done and decorated so I could post pictures on my blog and bask in the oohs and ahhs I'd be sure to receive in the comments, but until then, I am happy and safe and remarkably blessed.

Birthday Miracle No. 463

An unexpectedly fast tax refund, in the shape of a direct deposit surprise.

So many happy things happening during Birthday Fortnight 2008! It's a wonder why people wonder why I insist on celebrating so long!

Common sense, please.

Every semester, two days before finals, hoards of really entitled students come waltzing in to my work place to look at the midterms they've taken. It's a friendly service their professor offers them so they can see how they can improve before they take the final. So I think it's funny when a) they wait until now to look at the tests, when they've been available for weeks and weeks, and then b) get really riled up when we (my coworker and I) don't drop everything we're doing to help them, because whatever we're doing (like updating this blog) must be insignificant in the shadow of their final.

My favorite though, is when they get riled enough to badmouth the professor, who happens to be my boss. And they do so loud enough to where I can hear every word. Sure, I've been frustrated with professors, and I've done my share of badmouthing. But I have common sense enough to not do so when their employees are sitting in the next room and happen to be reveling in the idea of telling said professor every world they overheard and then giggling sadistically while they watch my grade plummet. Because right now, I think that would be a great thing to do.