The only thing I regret about these flowers was using hydrangea leaves in the bouquet. They didn't last very long. Oh well. At least they were easy to remove.
And just recently, my friend Kristi's wedding:
This photography was done by Greg Neil using my little point-and-shoot camera before the reception started. I think he did a good job considering the equipment.
and here is one of the bridal bouquet for her bridal photos that I took with my phone camera:
and the bouquet on her wedding day. I still need to get better photos of this one:
Guatemala is amazing. I just returned on New Year's Eve from a humanitarian trip there. We flew into Guatemala City on Dec. 22nd and the next morning we got on a bus for about a 7 hour drive to the mountains. Our group included the Stone family from Farmington, UT - Dave, DeAnn, Ann, Jaymes, Phillip, Jared & April (Pop - pronounced pope in Q'eqchi), their friend and now our friend Juan Cervantes, my friend Cynthia and the Chen family from Guatemala City - Jorge, Martha, Jorge Jr. and Juan. Yes we had jokes about 2 Juans. Which Juan? The big Juan or the little Juan?
We stayed on Santiago's land. Santiago can't be taller than 4'8" or 4'9" I would guess, but he's the man. He adopted us all into his family. We stayed in the building that was built for Choice Humanitarian on his land.
Our commute each day was about a 40 minute ride standing up in the back of a truck. Bugs in the teeth, eye, etc. and fun rides in the rain. But man oh man - the views. The pictures don't even come close to capturing the 360 degrees of pure glory that is the lush mountain area of this Mayan land. We traveled to the nearby village of Sepamac to help finish construction on a new school building there. There was a group that was supposed to work on this project back in August but tragically the expedition was never carried out because of a plane crash. Most people in that group died and it was important for us to carry on their work to soothe the fears of the people there that we would still come to their country and villages despite the tragedy.
Christmas Eve was uniquely special as there were a couple of tree-planting ceremonies to honor each person who was killed in the plane crash. Santiago became emotional as he dedicated a part of his land where the trees were planted saying that those people will always be remembered - that as those trees grew so would the memory of those who came before. He said this land would be a special place of reverence and reflection for all who visit. It was very touching.
After the tree-planting ceremony we ate a wonderful meal of tamales with Santiago's family and friends. Then SURPRISE - Santiago stood up and announced that it was time to give gifts and that if your name was called that you should come to the front and open your gift for all to see. Well guess who got all the gifts? Our group. They gave each of us one or two gifts - things they had made. Santiago said that these gifts were small but they were from their hearts. It was all we could do to keep back the tears. How nice. I got two gifts - a drinking glass/ vase made from clay and a purse crocheted around tab tops from aluminum cans. After that we went to the LDS church that was just up the street for a program of singing and talks - turns out we were part of the program. Then at midnight there were fireworks and the lighting of special mini hot air balloons - also in honor of those who died.
One day before we went to the school construction site, we stopped in Nueva Concepcion where they showed me the water system that was finished with the money that was raised through THANKS FOR WATER. They were able to complete a holding tank and extend pipes down to the village for each home to have a tap. Later we visited a little store and the owner - Sebastian took me down to his house to show me where his water tap was just outside his house. It made me so happy to see this and to meet the people who are benefiting from something that I started. It is something so simple and yet makes a huge difference in the lives of these people.
We went to the LDS church on Sunday and WOW. We had some translation from Jorge who speaks Q'eqchi and Spanish. He would tell someone in our group in Spanish what was said and then they in turn would translate to English, but there were a few of us so it was hard to get the word out to everyone. But I got the gist of it. Then in Relief Society with just the women there was no translation. But we were all in tears because we felt their love for us and after the meeting there were hugs and kisses from most of the women. In Q'eqchi, the main greeting is "Ma sa la cho'ol" which means "Are you happy in your heart?" and I think that says a lot about these people. They don't have much but they are happy in their hearts - very humble, very pure, very sweet and loving.
Our last night in the village Santiago sang and played a song on his guitar that he dedicated to us. What an amazing experience.
The next morning we loaded up our van / bus at 4:30 in the morning and we left around 5 a.m. I still can see Santiago standing outside the bus and waving as he was holding one of his twin baby girls swaddled in a blanket in the dark of the morning before dawn.
Cynthia and I stayed with her aunt in Guatemala City for the next couple of days. We took a trip to Antigua and while we were there we met up with our group again and took some pictures. Antigua is the original Spanish capital city that was later abandonded, but the architecture remains and now it is kept as a remnant of the past. Some of the buildings date back to the 1500's. Amazing.
I want to go back. I probably will.
A couple of funny things that I forgot - in the pictures you'll see some multi-colored Christmas lights. I don't know what it is about these lights, but the people just love them. They not only light up but they play a high-pitched tone of jingle bells on endless repeat and they keep the volume up - even when someone is talking or singing something else. They were at Santiago's house and at the church. I think they are desensitized to them because they don't seem to hear them. It was so funny. Also - Santa came to visit the church during the Christmas Eve program. He was so creepy / funny. He was wearing velvety red pants, a red old navy sweatshirt and he had a blue bandana on the back of his neck. He had a santa hat on his head and another santa hat around his neck. I couldn't stop laughing. He walked around to everyone there and handed out menthol candy and fruit candy. Luckily I got the fruit candy. Santa really does know what I want.
Guess what? It's almost the year 2009 and I'm already giddy because some very important things will be happening:
Well - at least I hope PR happens - there is some kind of a lawsuit going on, but people, people, let's put our differences aside so that we can all enjoy watching fashion happen. Even if the U.S. Project Runway doesn't happen, I just found out from my friend Katie that this exists:
I will for sure check this out and even some of the other countries' versions too. This is bound to be good entertainment.
So 2009, I welcome you with open arms and to all of you I give you the gift of 2009 - a printable calendar that I found out about from another blog I follow. You just have to sign up for the mibo mailing list and they will let you download and print this CALENDAR. enjoy! I wish you all the best year yet.
It's Pushing Daisies. It comes on abc on Wednesday nights. If you haven't seen it then you are missing out. The word that I would use to best describe this show is "delightful." And that word reminds me of my friend Alina - because she uses it a lot and Alina is also delightful so I guess it all makes sense. So maybe this post is inspired for her. But really anyone and everyone should check this show out. It is so visually stunning. I love that it is different and quirky and cute. I get super scared when I hear that it might get canceled so I thought I would do my part to spread the word to try to keep it alive.
What's not to like? - there is pie, crazy aunts, reviving dead people, a girl named Chuck and cute Ned. If anyone can find me a Ned I will bake them a pie.
*this post is dedicated to my friend Amy - sometimes dreams really do come true
I am a voter for halloween. No really. I voted today and I have a sticker to prove it.
Where else in the world would you find fairies and clowns and cowboys and living dead creatures and star wars characters standing in line with you as you all cast votes for representatives for your country / state / county?
Greg's iphone and my iphone met just over a year ago - back when they were all shiny and new. So when Greg's iphone came to town for a visit we decided they needed to go on a hike. This is what they saw:
This last weekend I went to San Francisco to see Sigur Ros and to hang out with friends there. Danny and I flew out on Friday morning. Our flight was delayed a little so by the time we got to the city we were starving so the first order of business was lunch. We found a nice looking Indian restaurant. The food looked and smelled really good and it actually tasted okay, but soon afterwards we were burping up mediocre Indian food and it was like a rock in our stomachs. This is Danny's "oh no. What did I just do and what is it doing to my body?" look. But we braved the stomach pains and kept walking around shopping and looking at cool buildings like this:
and this:
And then I had reached my limit and I so wanted to purge myself of that food. You want to know the nicest place in San Franciso to purge? This place:
Because it is so beautiful:
And just down this hall is a bathroom clad all in marble and your purging noises can be amplified all throughout the city for all to enjoy:
After recovering we met up with our hosts - Betsy & Steve and then Shawn & Robyn joined us for dinner before the concert:
This is how excited we were that we got to the outdoor theater just in time and Brigham and Dan had saved us some awesome seats and it wasn't raining:
until......the encore performance when the song was starting to build and get louder and suddenly and perfectly on cue the heavens started to pour down in synch with the song and it was a magical moment. And even before it started raining the city was glowing pink behind the theater. It was so beautiful.
In the morning Betsy and Steve made us earn our breakfast by hiking up to Coit Tower. The best part of all was that for the longest time while we were trudging through the city my pants kept falling down and I finally figured out that in order to keep them on they kind of need to be zipped and buttoned. It was a minor wardrobe difficulty but I got it figured it out. I guess it was worth it because there were views like this:
The rest of that day they kept making us eat more and more and I protested during lunch but by dinner time I was able to wolf down some bbq. We went to an art exhibit before dinner and then also visited some girl's house that she is remodeling and I was just a twinge jealous that the architecture in this city is way more interesting than where I live.
Then the day that we left we got to have brunch with the Grovers. Turns out the grovers had been spending time in a grove the day before. That's just like them.
good-bye San Francisco peeps. I love all your guts so much. Thanks for making this trip so much fun!
I had the best day yesterday. My friend Danny and I went on a drive up to Mirror Lake and then detoured through the Alpine Loop on the way back. I had never done that drive and it was so amazing. I don't really have pictures of the most pretty areas because there were so many other cars that we couldn't really stop to take pictures, but I did get a few including some of Provo Falls (is that what it is called? and why did I not know it exists?)
Everything was seriously so amazing. I was speechless and I can't even describe it - especially the fall colors on the back side of Timpanogos. I really want to hike up there because I just couldn't get enough. It's so fun to discover new places and be in nature.
Every once in a while I do something that amazes me. Like the other night I was craving this salad from Oasis Cafe and I had a lot of the ingredients from my farm share so I decided to try to replicate it. I marinated red onions in olive oil & balsamic vinegar and then broiled them with some sliced purple and yellow potatoes. Then I made some hummus and home-made dressing. I sliced up some tomatoes and feta cheese and added some fancy olives from my grocery store's olive bar, plated it all on a bed of chopped romaine and then I went to heaven. I seriously wanted to kiss myself.
Amazing feat #2:
The other day there was a power outage at my house and when I came home from work my computer at home would not turn on. I remembered this happening to a friend so I was pretty sure the power supply had gone out. I could have paid someone to order & install a new one but I thought maybe I would try it myself. I rush ordered a replacement power supply according to the specifications on the existing one and then I opened up the computer and disconnected the old wires and connected the new ones.
In case you ever need to do this I will share this handy diagram that I drew for myself:
you're welcome!
oh - and don't worry I got P7 hooked up okay otherwise I wouldn't be posting this.
I started going on humanitarian expeditions in 1999 and through those travels I developed a strong desire to help people in the world obtain access to clean, fresh water.
