I'd like you to meet my new friend, Greg.

I'm back on the West Coast, Internet, and I don't know how I feel about it. Actually, that's a lie - I do know how I feel about it. I feel a little bummed. It was a good trip and a much needed break from real life. I wish it could have lasted longer.

But, here I am. 10:57pm on New Year's Eve, cuddled up in bed, blogging. That's how I ring in the new year. I'm a regular party animal.

I thought about writing a Christmas recap (complete with pictures and all the details I know you've been dying to hear) for my last post of 2008 but decided to do something a little better. I'm going with a story. Sort of a combination of my favorite type of posts - "Conversation of the Day" and "On the bus today...".

Except this conversation wasn't on the bus. It was in a restaurant.

And it wasn't short and sweet, like most are. It went on and on. And on.

On the evening of my first full day in Michigan, my parents and I did a little shopping and had dinner at the Beale Street Smokehouse - a small restaurant tucked away on a side street and attached to a gas station.

Sounds shady. Looks a little shady. Totally legit.

I'm a sucker for a pulled pork sandwich. In a perfect world I would eat one every day. And after we left that night I couldn't stop thinking about the one I had just eaten. I kept saying, "Man, that was so good!" the whole way home. And for days after. So it was decided that we would eat there again before I left town.

A week later we hit up Beale Street again. We had no idea what was in store for us.

We sat at a table near the "bar" (three or four stools at the short counter). I was facing it, my parents sitting on either side of me at the square table. As we settled in I noticed the man at the bar watching us. I tried not to notice until he said, "You know, I'm watching you guys....I'm watching you guys, here together as a family...with love...and I just wish I had that growing up."

Awkward? Most definitely.

He talked at us (I can't really call it a conversation) from the moment we sat down until we got our food. It was so uncomfortable. He fancies himself as a people-reader and shared with us several things:

• I need to appreciate what I have. (He repeated this five or six times.) He wished he had what I have when he was growing up.
• I look like my Mom.
• I look like both of my parents.
  
• I'm a New York City girl. I don't belong on the West Coast.
• My dad is less expressive (I wonder how he guessed that? Maybe by the fact that he stared at his menu and didn't look at Greg for the first half of the conversation.) and that my Mom is more talkative.
• My dad was either an educator or a psychologist. He was totally thrown when we told him the truth.
  
• My dad is a people-person. (This is where my dad told him that he hates people. That shut him up for about 3 seconds.)
  
• My parents have independent children. And they gave us the strength to be independent, which is the most important gift you can give a child.
• I look just like my Dad.
• Back in the day, the city my parents grew up in was full of "corn fed" people. Farmers. Or not.
  
• I love my Dad. (He repeated this seven or eight times.)
• "I'm just going to say one more thing...she loves you, man. She loves you."

I thought the man was never going to stop talking and I was nervously waiting for the moment when my dad would snap and tell Greg to shut up. Surprisingly, that moment never came. Our waiter just stood back, like he didn't want to interrupt the great moment we were all sharing. I finally had to give him the eye so he would come and take our order.

Needless to say, my food wasn't as enjoyable as the first night. There's something about being stared at while you eat that puts a damper on the experience.

But hey, at least now I know that NYC is where I belong.

Don't Be Jealous

Sunday, December 21
6:15pm - Leave for airport in the snow.
6:45pm - Finally make it out of the city after searching for a freeway entrance that didn't include a giant hill.
7:11pm - Arrive at Sea-Tac after seeing a car facing the wrong direction on the freeway.
7:38pm - Bags are checked. Despite being the 3rd person in line and having checked-in online, it still took 30 minutes. Two people working the counter.
7:55 pm - Arrive at gate S7 and prepare for "2 hours" of waiting. Flight is still showing an ON TIME departure of 10:40pm.
9:00pm - It is announced that the flight will be delayed until 12:15 am due to the late arrival of the inbound flight crew. I miscalculate and think the delay is only 35 minutes.
9:30pm - Finally realize that the delay is 1.5 hours. Bummer.
10:00-11:00pm - Watch five episodes of Rob & Big with commentary on. Best decision I made while packing. Worst decision - not packing all of seasons 1 & 2.
11:45pm - Inbound flight crew arrives.

Monday, December 22
12:30am - It is announced that there will be further delays due to mechanical problems with the de-icer. What they should have said, "We have no de-icer".
1:14am - Announced that flight will leave at 1:35am.
1:30am - People start lining up at the gate. I stay in my seat.
1:55am - Still waiting on the de-icer. Told it will be another hour.
2:45am - Flight delayed until an unknown time but it definitely won't be until morning. News flash Northwest Airlines- it is morning.
3:00am - Flight delayed until 1pm. For the mathematically challenged that's 10 hours.
3:15am - Make my way back to my chair and try to mentally prepare for another 10 hours.
4:00am - Sleep.
8:00am - Wake up after the most uncomfortable, interrupted night of sleep.
8:30am - Call work and let them know that I won't be able to work from home.
8:45am - Head to Hudson News to find a toothbrush. They were sold out. Buy gum instead - NOT THE SAME.
10:30am - Call in for a team meeting at work.
10:35am - Announce that the plane we will be taking to Detroit has finally arrived.
12:00pm - Announce that the flight will leave at 12:30pm.
12:25pm - Waiting for flight crew (again) because they were told the flight was leaving at 1pm.
12:40pm - Flight crew shows up.
12:59pm - Sitting in my seat and trying not to breathe on my neighbor.
1:20pm - Wake up to the plane clapping and cheering as we lift off the ground.
8:30pm (Eastern) - Land!
9:30pm - Bags show up after a slight heart attack thinking they were lost and get picked up in the freezing cold temperatures.

Looking Forward To It

Fourteen inches of snow in one day and currently 15 degrees.
You'd better believe I'm taking these bad boys with me.

It Depends On How You Look At It

I'm working from home today due to the "Shut Down City" game plan. Linds is kickin' it at home today too and we just had this conversation:

S: What if I want to eat a peanut butter ball? I've already had one today.
L: You've only had one and it's already 11? Go for it.
S: No, it's only 11 and I've already had one.

See the difference?

Winter Mayhem

Dear Seattle,
I don't know if you know this, but winter comes every year. I realize it doesn't snow all winter long, but it will at least once or twice. Maybe it's time to come up with a game plan for such occasions.

A game plan other than "Shut Down City".

A few suggestions:
-Snow plows
-Salt trucks and salt
-Implementing said salt prior to the storm
-Wait to cancel school until it actually snows - not a full 24 hours before the first flake falls

Oh, and give my bus driver from this morning a raise. It may have taken twice as long to get to my destination, but we didn't hit any other cars or pedestrians or get stuck. Sure, there were those two times that we fish-tailed into the curb and that other time that we slid down the hill into the street. But all-in-all, a stellar job.

I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here. Maybe next year.

Love,
Stephanie

Looking down out the stairwell of my building.

Looking North up 1st Ave from my building.

The Goose Is Getting Fat...Or Maybe I Am

I'm normally a little (or a lot) on the lazy side when I get home from work. I just don't feel like doing anything that would require me to leave my house. Let's be honest - I don't feel like doing anything that would require me to even get up from a sitting/laying down position.

Last night, however, I caught the Betty Crocker spirit. My house was like Santa's workshop...or maybe Mrs. Clause's kitchen.

Lindsay and Jared made cookies.
They taste as good as they look.
I actually had to go to the store to start my treat making extravaganza. THE STORE! I don't know why but I die inside a little every time I have to grocery shop. Even as a kid I opted to sit in the car while my Mom ran in to "grab some milk" (which meant shop for an hour and come back with a cart full of groceries). But I needed a key ingredient for these bad boys, so to the store I went.

They're a little naked here in Step 1.
While my little peanut butter friends were doing their thing, I moved on to the turtles. Yesterday a co-worker was describing a delicious treat her mom always makes and as it turns out they are a family classic for me as well! Must be a mid-west thing.

Chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanuts - you can't go wrong.
(Remember how I tried to make these two years ago and the store was completely out of butterscotch chips and I almost had a nervous breakdown? Good times.)
After the turtles I moved on to Step 2 with the peanut butter balls - dipping them in chocolate. Try and tell me you don't want to eat one right now.
I tried to take a bunch to work and push them on my co-workers but with the Seattle blizzard we had going on, there was hardly anyone there to eat them. Hence my consumption of 5 peanut butter balls, 2 turtles and 2 cookies today.

Hmm...maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Tell Me How You Really Feel

As I was running off to catch the bus this morning I found my ginger bread house on the table.

Like this.
Apparently Max wanted to show me what he thought of my creation. Either that or Lindsay was jealous that she didn't get to make one. It really could go either way.

In related news, I kept calling the frosting "glue" while we were building it, but it REALLY is like glue. I tried to throw it away tonight and literally could not get it to budge. In the end I had to hold the plate while Lindsay bashed it into pieces and then ran the plate under lava-like temperature water.

Word to the wise: Ginger bread houses are just for show.

First Time For Everything

I hate to say it, but I think I'm an official FHE-goer. LJL's new calling in the ward has brought me into Activity activity. (I was already sold on church in general, just not all of the activities in addition to Sunday services.) And you know you're official when they ask you to host FHE. Sure, they announced it as being "at Lindsay's house" but since I live there too it kind of counts.

I made gingerbread house for what is possibly the first time in my life. And when I say I made I mean Breann made and I assisted. (Do you like our unplanned matchy-matchy brown shirts?)
I will admit, I wasn't thrilled about the gingerbread house idea but once I got that bag of frosting in my hand I was unstoppable. Breann had all the brilliant ideas and I just placed some of the items. It was a giant mess, especially in our tiny living/dining room, but the night ended up better than I had anticipated.
The finished product.
All of those gum drops and red hots were place with love. Merry Christmas!

Toys

Remember how I bought a new camera AND Photoshop Elements and I don't know how to use either of them?

On the bus today...

...there were so many things going on. Lately I've been falling asleep on the bus a lot and missing out on all of the action. But today I was particularly alert (which I am crediting to the fact that I was in bed by 10:30 last night).

A couple observations:

1. My bus driver looked like this...
Just add a moustache and a smile. I was on the lookout for a tank of compressed air.

2. The man behind me talked to his neighbor about prostitution the whole way home. (I have no additional commentary for this one.)

3. The middle-aged woman that smells like pine (Have I ever mentioned her before? She's a regular.) also likes techno music. I can't handle techno at 7:45am.

4. There was a lady wearing a cloak.

A cloak Harry Potter style.
Only with a hood. Little Red Riding Hood style.
Only black and with a point. Night cap style (minus the ball and really long).

PS - This is the single greatest picture I've ever posted to my blog.

I wonder what people go home and blog about me? On the bus today the girls who always falls asleep sat next to me. And fell asleep. They wouldn't be wrong.

Moving On

Internet, I'm afraid I have some bad news. After this weekend Chats McGee and I will no longer be cube neighbors.

Who's going to say ridiculous things for me to blog about?

Quote of the Day

"Steph, my one wish for you is that you marry Tim Riggins. And not the actor who plays Tim Riggins, but the actual character so you can 'make some mem'ries'."

-Lindsay

Wish Me Luck

I'm heading out for some Christmas shopping. I hope I survive.

2008 Christmas Tree Debacle

The week-long Christmas tree saga all began on Sunday night when I hauled the decorations up from the garage. Lindsay and I started putting the tree together, maybe had to restring the lights three times after Linds got a little gung-ho on the bottom section and ended the night with a tree that looked like this.
Yes, it's leaning to the right. The stand broke and that tree ended up in the trash can.

*Note: This is where I lost the Christmas spirit and gave up the desire to have a tree this year.

Lindsay takes her Christmas decor very seriously and came home the Monday night with a new tree. By Tuesday it was back in the box. It didn't make the cut.
Wednesday included some online tree research done by Lindsay and another tree purchase. This tree was pre-lit, which you'd think would be a bonus. Unfortunately the lights were multi-colored and those doesn't fly around here so those lights were stripped off.

When I got home from work today I saw this.
The third time was the charm and I must say it does look charming.

News Flash...I'm Still Chubby

I went in for one of my torture sessions tonight at the gym and (lucky me!) it was weigh-in time. How did it go, you ask? Well, I've taken the "Lbs. Down" list off of my sidebar.

That's how it went.

It's depressing. And although 65% of what I've gained in the last two months has been muscle (at least according to the crazy-a calculations of my trainer) I'd rather not continue to highlight my failure.

[Sigh.]

Rub-a-dub-dub

Lately my tub has had issues draining and since some heavy duty Drano had been applied just a few weeks ago, I thought there might be something else going on.

Boy, was there.

When I unscrewed the plug I couldn't believe what I saw. And when I started pulling it out of the drain I really couldn't believe it. It was like a rat had died in the drain. A dead rat that, oddly enough, had hair exactly the same color as mine.

I'm not gonna lie - I dry heaved a little. Or a lot.

You'd better believe that I lured Lindsay upstairs with a "Linds, you HAVE to see this." and she was just as disgusted. Probably even more so, actually. But Internet, you should thank her because I contemplated taking a picture of the obstruction and posting it for you all to share in the experience. She convinced me it was a bad idea.

The good news is the tub is back in business!

Brandi at Benaroya Hall

Last night I saw Brandi Carlile play with the Seattle Symphony. I've been looking forward to this show for months and it was AMAZING. It was so different than all of her other shows I've been to and I was trying my hardest to take it all in.

The first part of the show as an acoustic set. She opened the show with her super depressing (but super awesome) Christmas song - The Heartache Can Wait. I've never seen her perform it live so I was thrilled.

It was a more formal setting and with everyone sitting down the whole time it made it hard to really get into it. I was tapping my foot and patting my leg, but I really wanted to be on my feet, clapping and singing along. I think it was a little bit of an adjustment for Brandi as well to have the crowd be so quiet.
*Photo by Brad Vest of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

During one of the lulls someone yelled out "I love you, Brandi!" to which she replied, "I love you too. Actually, I probably really do. You're probably my aunt or uncle or something." She kept joking about how 75% of the audience was related to her. Judging by the number of people talking to her brother and mom, I think it was kind of true.
After the intermission the symphony came out, Brandi came back on stage (without the boys for the first song) and sang Elton John's Sixty Years On. They ended up playing seven songs with her, all interspersed between the songs she played with just the band.
*Photo by Brad Vest of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

In case you know Brandi's songs and/or care, the symphony joined her on Sixty Years On, Follow, Fall Apart Again, Pride & Joy, Turpentine, The Story, and Hallelujah.

Here's a video of my all-time favorite song, Turpentine. If you don't want to watch the whole thing (I don't know why you wouldn't want to!) at least check out 4:54 when the orchestra comes in. So fantastic! I didn't hear it that way in the moment but it gives me chills listening to it now.



I love this photo of Brandi rockin' the boots and stomping like she does.
*Photo by Brad Vest of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

I think the song that took the cake for the night was the one encore, Hallelujah. It was just Brandi, her guitar and the symphony. The crowd was silent and the performance was brilliant.

We waited for a while after the show to get a picture with her and tell her how awesome the show was. But after 20 minutes we decided to take a picture with this poster of her instead and save the real deal for the cruise in February.

Countdown to Cayamo: 90 days!

Merry Christmas to Me

This weekend I bought a Christmas gift for myself - a Canon Rebel xsi.When I used Annie's xti in August I fell in love - and I was just using it as a point and shoot! I'm kind of freaking out since it's such a big purchase, but am hoping that after I figure out how to really use it the buyer's remorse will pass.

Skills

Today is Thanksgiving. And while I'm thankful for a lot of things, I won't go into detail about those here. What I will go into detail about is how I tried to run outside today. "Tried" being the operative word.

For a few weeks I've been planning on running the Turkey Trot 5k with some of the Lyman family. Last night as we saw the dropping temperature and thought about getting up early we decided against it. I'll be honest, I wasn't that disappointed.

But I've eaten more than my fair share of cookies and chocolate in the last few days and as I was lounging in my PJ's this morning I decided to go for a run. Outside. Which is something I don't ever do. Oh, and did I mention it was snowing? SNOWING.

I got dressed and went outside. The plan was to run around the park down the street, supposedly a mile, and see how I was feeling after that. I made it about 3/4 of the way before I had to stop and cough something up. I was wet, cold and my ears were aching so I decided that was enough for the day. Overall a failed attempt that made me even more grateful (on this day of thanksgiving) that we had foregone the 5k that morning.

So instead of getting any real exercise in I ate large quantities of food. Delicious, delicious food. Including three roles. Delicious, delicious rolls. (And by three I mean four.) I topped it all off with the richest chocolate pie I've ever had.

Even though I failed at running, at least I always have my eating skills to fall back on.

Happy Thanksgiving, I guess.

What is it about holidays that bring on illness? It's like my body knows that I'm going to have some time off work and thinks, You know, now would be the perfect time to get sick. We have some time off so it all works out. Well I've got news for you body - it doesn't all work out. It sucks.

It started coming on this afternoon, just a few hours before leaving for Spokane. I felt the aches starting and my head getting fuzzy. I hit up the Emergen-C, a little nap in the car, some diet coke, Advil and crawling into bed at 10pm. It comes and goes in waves and I'm hoping I can will it away.

It's now midnight and I'm still awake. I just can't sleep. It's too quiet. Where's a girl's fan when she needs it? Plus, Linds is watching FNL online and we all know I can't resist a little Riggins.

So, Happy Thanksgiving, I guess. Don't mind me - I'm just the one that's been in sweat pants for days and can't manage to get out of bed for more than 30 minutes at a time.

A Little Slice of Heaven...Or Heart Attack

There is certified apple cider in my house tonight. I had to pay $10 for a gallon of it, but it's totally worth it. Throw in a powdered donut and Autumn is complete.

Here's a little tip. Unless it has floaties in it, it's not cider. It's just apple juice with a different label. (Hot cider is a different story.)
Can you see the layer of deliciousness at the bottom?

Things.

• Work has slowed down and I can't even tell you what I difference it makes. Coming in at 8:30 and leaving at 5:30 must be what heaven is like.
• Tonight I saw a woman pay for her bus fare in pennies. No joke.
• Thanks to trainer Bob (Biggest Loser) I'm addicted to Banana Fudge pudding. 60 calories!
• Turns out my new trainer knows how to do his job. I'm still sore two days later.
• My roomie is the new RSP. I guess that means I have to start participating. Or at least just showing up to things.
  
• I can't get enough of Friday Night Lights. Seriously. I have two words for you...Tim. Riggins.
  
• I'm addicted to Christmas music. Can't stop. Today included the Hotel Cafe Winter Songs, Michael Buble and Josh Groban. Tomorrow it's the classics.
  
• Lindsay might make me go see Twilight this weekend. I might not put up a fight.
• I have to speak in church on Sunday about having an Attitude of Gratitude. Any thoughts I should be sure to include?
• I told Lindsay that I have organized my photos by month, by event in iPhoto and her response was, "Of course you have". I'm not sure how I feel about that comment.
• I love the Fall.
• Tonight as I was walking to the bus, in the cold, crisp air, with Christmas music playing on my iPod I caught the Christmas spirit.
  
• Last night at the ward dinner I held the cutest baby. I was trying to compensate for not being able to hold my nephew.
  
• Today for lunch and I had teriyaki with meat that was a little sketchy. Sketchy meat is no good.
• I've been off Perez for three weeks. I feel out of the loop.
  
• I LOVE the Jon & Kate Plus Eight commercial - the one with the song Beautiful Life and Kate is in the yellow coat. Love it to the point where I'll rewind it and watch it again. Is something wrong with me?
• Less than two weeks until I see Brandi Carlile with the Seattle Symphony!
• I only want expensive things for Christmas. I'm going to have to come up with some more realistic gift ideas.
• Could Landry from FNL be any funnier? I don't think so.
• Life is good in general. I can't really complain. So unlike me, I know.

What I did tonight...

Helpful Hint

Don't forget to pay your tithing on four paychecks. Not so fun to write that check.

Two For One

I don't know if I've made it known, but I like live music. A lot. And I've especially loved my last few concerts. I'm still thinking about how awesome Missy Higgins was a week and a half later.

Earlier this week we saw Ray LaMontagne. Amazing. He barely said a word between songs, which I kind of hate, but he more than made up for it during the rest of the performance. We were too far away to get any good pictures, but I had my trusty binoculars with me and got a pretty good view.
The next night we saw Ingrid Michaelson, twice. I caught a bus from work and met Lindsay at Easy Street for the free "show". She sang a few songs and I felt uncomfortable because I was surrounded by twelve year olds.
One hour, a change of clothes and two Taco Bell soft tacos later we were at Neumos for the the real show. The first opener was David Ford. I thought it was all right, but it felt like he was trying too hard to be angry and broken.

Next was Newton Faulkner and I loved him. He was hilarious and he did some crazy stuff with the guitar. Stuff I will never be able to do.
I've seen Ingrid a few times in concert and this was the best of all the shows. She's really funny and just puts on a good show in general. I recommend it.
Allie Moss plays with and sings back-up for Ingrid, and Lindsay and I want to be her. I just have to work on my guitar skills. Oh, and learn how to sing too.
We hung around afterward and had the pleasure of the ever-awkward meeting. I think I'm getting better at it. Practice makes perfect, right?Saturday night is show #3 of the week!

Quitter

I quit reading Perez. It's been two weeks. Proud of me?

Unlikely Candidate

Guess who got put in charge of picking up the beer for the department happy hour on Friday?

I hope they like O'Doul's!

Sorry, I'm Busy

Guess what I bought last night?
Now that I've completed the hardest part of the life sucking project at work, I have time to devote to the really important things. Like FNL Season 2. So, I've got my Panthers Football t-shirt on (courtesy of Natalie), I've blocked off my calendar for the next week and I'm ready to get started!

Now Is The Time to Show

On my way into Stake Conference this morning I was greeted by protesters outside the church chanting things like "Our family is better than yours" and "Shame on the church" (which Breann misheard as "Save Mamma's church"...close, but not quite).

I couldn't stop thinking about it all through the meeting and the words to the hymn Who's on the Lord's Side? kept running through my mind. I realized that I've been a fence-sitter and that indecision isn't an option (which is too bad because indecision is one of my biggest strengths).

I need to buck up because it only gets harder from here.

Conversation of the Day

I just had this conversation at the McDonald's drive through.

Me: Can I get grilled chicken caesar salad?
[Long pause]
Guy: Grilled or crispy chicken?
Me: Grilled.
Guy: What kind of dressing would you like?
Me: Caesar.

Spirit of the Law

I just ate some Egg Beaters that said "Use within 7 days of opening" on the carton. Now that I think about it, I remember eating those same Egg Beaters on another Saturday recently. But it wasn't last Saturday because I went to brunch with friends, so it must have been two Saturday's ago. And who knows how long before that they were actually opened.

Do you think that statement on the carton was more of a guideline than a rule? I'm choosing to think so.

Counting Down

To this...

Conversation of the Day

Chats McGee: ...She's my McDreamy.
Me: Your McDreamy, huh?
CM: You know who they call McDreamy, right?
Me: Do I know? Are you kidding me right now?


In related Grey's Anatomy news:
1. Lindsay called me on the phone from upstairs (while I was downstairs in my room) to tell me the news about Dr. Hahn getting the boot. Relationship with Callie or not, I just really didn't like her character.
2. I kind of love Alex and Izzie.
3. Denny! I more than kind of love JDM.
4. I'm not so sure how I feel about military doctor. It could go either way.
4. That elderly couple broke my heart tonight. I may or may not have shed a tear.

Bad News Bears

I actually had a fairly good day today, all things considered. But I'm sad to report that the stress and busyness of the last month have taken their toll and I received some bad news at the gym tonight.

I gained 5 lbs. (Two pounds of muscle and three pounds of fat)

Now, let me just say that I don't know how trustworthy the scale is since my trainer has to weigh himself first to see how off the numbers are, then weigh me, then subtract from the total the amount the scale was off as was determined by his weigh-in. But I will also say that I've let stress get to me and have not been eating as well as I should and haven't had time to get enough good, worthwhile workouts in. So, a gain of some form was pretty much expected and I only have myself to blame.

I've recommitted myself and rocked 3 miles on the treadmill tonight. And starting next week I'm adding a third training session per week with a new trainer. I'm determined to meet my goal...even if it's taking forever.

Mass Whistle

If you hate my concert recaps then be prepared to skip a lot of posts in November. This weekend I kicked off concert month right with Joshua Radin and Missy Higgins. I listen to these two at least once a day, sometimes all of their albums over and over in a day, so it was great to see them both in one night.

Joshua Radin sat on that chair through his entire set. Just him, his guitar and his party cup. And even though every song is about one of two failed relationships, he seemed less emotionally disturbed than the last time I saw him in SLC. But he still has some lingering issues and I've come to terms with the fact that I will never hear him sing Paperweight live.
He's labeled his music "whisper rock" which is totally true and also made me think of Felicity and how she and Ben ALWAYS whispered "Hey" whenever they saw each other.

I don't know what it is, but I've been completely addicted to Missy Higgins for the last while. There are so many songs of hers that I absolutely love and love them even more after hearing them live. My favorite quote of hers was, "It doesn't get much better than a mass whistle". [Said with an Australian accent.] Although I have to disagree, I enjoy a mass clap-along more.
They only sang one song together. And it was good.
As always, I felt like a giant ball of awkward when we met him after the show. One of these days I'm going to figure out how to be witty.
A homeless man seriously invaded my personal space on the way out and then we called it a night.

What are you supposed to be ?

I suck at Halloween. Is it even possible to be bad at a holiday? I don't really know - but if it is, then I'm bad at Halloween.

I fail every year for a few reasons:
1) I'm not creative/resourceful enough to come up with a good costume
2) I don't start planning early enough
3) I don't usually have any activity planned that requires a costume which doesn't provide much motivation to get those creative juices flowing.

Even as a kid I had bad costumes. I'm pretty sure I was either a bum (yes, a bum) or a witch every single year. Oh wait - there was that time in 2nd or 3rd grade when I was a "teenager" and no one had any idea what I was. Of course they didn't because what kind of costume is that?

So in keeping with my Halloween celebration style, I kept it low-key this year. Lindsay, Breann and I carved (Roloff!) pumpkins on Thursday night and I still maintain that I picked the perfect pumpkin in Portland (say that five times fast).
I always start out all ambitious but after 20 minutes of scraping out the insides and scooping out goop I remember that it's not all rainbows and ponies. I almost quit and left a half-finished pumpkin several times. I stuck with it and was pretty pleased with the outcome.
Breann wins the gold star for her attention to detail with the ghosts and Linds rocked the dinosaur. She will claim that I mocked the dinosaur idea, but it is simply not true. I just didn't get what dinos have to do with Halloween.
Disclaimer: It may appear that I'm wearing some kind of orange jumper in the picture below, but that's not the case. It's an orange shirt with a cardigan and scarf.
On Friday Lindsay, Breann and I ate some chili, cornbread and apples with caramel - yum! We started watching Hocus Pocus and after about 5 minutes Max and I were asleep on the couch.

It was 9:00pm.

The next day we were at a visiting teaching brunch and the other girls were appalled that the party they attended only went until midnight...and I was asleep by nine and totally fine with it. I'm committing now to have a brilliant costume in 2009. Check back with me next year and I'll let you know how it goes.

In other news, I tried to find real cider (and powdered donuts!), but there was no cider to be found. But I'm not giving up. No Fall is complete without it.

California Part II: Twentynine Palms

After my conference ended last Friday afternoon I picked up my rental car and started the drive out to Twentynine Palms. I booked the car through E-Z Rental Car, which doesn't sound like the most legit company to begin with, plus I picked the cheapest option they had so I was a bit surprised when they pulled this around for me...
Not too shabby. Too bad it was 95 degrees and I was driving through the middle of the desert so I wasn't about to put the top down.

By the time I got on the road it was 2:30 and my GPS told me that I would arrive at my destination at 5:03 pm. But it was Friday afternoon in LA traffic. The longer I spent on the freeway, the further out my arrival time got. Not to mention it was telling me to take freeways that had never come up in any conversations I'd had with people who had actually heard of Twentynine Palms. Of course I didn't bring a map (that's what my GPS is for!) so after several calls to Lindsay to make sure I was on the correct route, I rolled onto the marine base at 6:45pm. It took me 4 hours to drive what should have taken me 2.5. But although traffic was heavy and I was tired, hungry and still wearing heels and skirt it was nice to have that time to myself.

About an hour before getting there I drove through fields of windmills. The creepiest freaking windmills I've ever seen. I don't know what it is about them, but they seriously give me the chills.

Come on! Try and tell me those aren't creepy.

When I finally made it this little bug was one of the first things I saw. So adorable!

I was only there for less than 48 hours, but it was a lot of fun to see Brandi and her little Cecilia. She's my oldest friend and spending time with her always feels like a little bit of home.

We reminisced about all of the stuff we used to do - like pouring buckets of water on my patio to make ice so we could slide around or playing hotel (we named it "56 Hotel") with homemade checks.
They're a brave family. Her husband has been in Afghanistan since a few months BEFORE Cecilia was born. So not only has he not met his daughter yet, but Brandi has had to get through these first three months with a new baby alone. I couldn't do it!
I can't get over this picture. She's too cute.

It only took me 2.5 hours to get back to LA on Sunday so I ended up getting to the airport 4 hours early. Again, kind of a bummer to have to sit there for so long, but also nice to have the time to myself.

I may not have felt rested after the weekend I was in much better spirits!