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.
Saturday was one of the best days of my life and it all started back at Halloween. I went to my friend Danny's house to watch ANTM and he insisted that we watch the movie Troll 2. I protested. I wanted to leave, but I stayed out of pure curiosity since it was filmed in Utah. My life changed. I fell in love. This movie has to be the best movie in the world because it is so bad. It has everything a bad movie needs and more - bad acting, terrible plot and script, a name that has nothing to do with the movie, peeing on food, stretching, pink shorts, choreograhpy in garfield jammies, cornography, etc.
Fast forward a few months and I heard about the most incredible opportunity ever. There was going to be a film festival over the weekend just for this movie - in the small town where it was filmed - Morgan, UT. I had driven through Morgan as a kid on our way to go camping and I even recognized the Devil's Slide in the movie. But I had never actually been to the town.
I told Danny that we had to go to the festival so we made the drive and went to a cast panel. It was a crazy thing held in an old dance studio. The director and writer (married couple from Italy who hardly speak any English) came in and that's when things got entertaining. I still don't know for sure if the director understood that people were making fun of the movie for being so bad. He kept making hand gestures that I'm pretty sure are obscene in Europe. But his wife was cute and she seemed to go along with things. The funny thing is that some of the cast members had never even seen the movie and the ones who did were horrified - not because it was a horror film, but because it was so bad. Except for the grumpy old shop keeper. He was serious about his role and was mad at everyone else. He was wearing sweat pants tucked into his socks with tennis shoes. He was great.
I don't want to ruin the movie for you but I have to tell you that there are no trolls in Troll 2, but there are Goblins and that might help you figure out the name of the town in the movie:
It turns out our friend Tasha is from Morgan and her grandparents own most of the buildings downtown on commercial street. These buildings were part of the movie. There are a couple of mink farms nearby so Tasha's family incorporated that theme into the window art of their cafe:
Yes. That is a Coyote ready to eat a decaying bird and a mink holding a fork - all on a log.
There was some time in between the panel and the screening of the movie so we met up with some other friends to have dinner and then Tasha showed us around Morgan. Look how amazing this place is:
And here is an old abandoned, haunted church that was part of the movie:
Then we went to the Morgan Rodeo for a bit:
And....... the moment we had all been waiting for - the screening of the movie in a field behind Commercial Street on a giant inflatable screen. People came from all over just for this event. There was a guy from Austria, a couple from Chicago, a group from North Dakota and a bunch of others.
It also turns out that there was a girl there that I know from college and she is married to the guy who played the part of the son - Joshua in the movie. There is actually a scene where he pees on the food his family is about to eat so that they don't turn into Goblin food. Don't worry they don't show anything graphic - it's all inferred. This guy is now making a documentary about this movie called "The Best Worst Movie"
I haven't had a day like this in a long time. It was nearly perfect.
I am feeling a little guilty because I have had a few hard feelings against a certain blue bird. Let's call him "Jay". Well I like to get as much sleep as I can because I work hard, right? So the last thing I want to happen is to be woken up before I'm ready. Jay has started clacking so loudly almost every morning that it wakes me up. Some birds have beautiful songs, but this blue bird has the most obnoxious "CLAWK, CLAWK" I have ever heard. It's annoying to hear and even more annoying to be awakened by.
He also hates Cosmo. If I am outside in the yard and Cosmo comes out suddenly Jay starts yelling at Cosmo. It has been so annoying. Who does Jay think he is? It got so bad that I even told someone I wish I could get rid of that damn bird.
Well last night I came home and found this inside my house by the dog door:
I don't know if Cosmo killed it or if he just found it and thought it was a toy. I don't think it's Jay because it's not blue enough, but I suddenly felt so sad for this little life that had been lost and I felt bad for saying bad things about Jay. It was dark by the time I got in, but I felt the need to give this little guy a respectable send-off. I dug a little grave and said a prayer for the spirit of the bird and Cosmo and I said good-bye. Now we'll see if it really was Jay or not.
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.
