Growing Up Can Be Fun

trick or treat

2011-11-05T13:57:00.010-05:00

I know this may be a letdown to see that I've posted and then discover that it's just a YouTube video, but I just had to share this:

Aww what the heck, here's some pictures from the Halloween festivities I participated in:

Abbey and Madison at IHOP after our excursion through the haunted corn maze

Mitchell and Dan trying to pop straws

A week before Halloween LSU played Auburn and we beat the tar out of them. I had a few friends over (Abbey, Clay and Dan, who just graduated from Auburn - bless his heart) to watch the game and carve pumpkins

Fall colors outside of your friendly neighborhood Books-A-Million

Me as a cowgirl at our YSA Halloween dance (with some photobombers)

Dancing to "Cotton-Eye Joe"

I wouldn't let go of my gun because everyone wanted to play with it

I had a lot of energy for the first hour or so...

Cinderella and Annie Oakley

There's a new sheriff in town

And one last trick....

Loren's boyfriend Philip was Nacho Libre for Halloween...at least he doesn't have the body of Jack Black (he's on LSU's cross country team)

Hope y'all all had a great Halloween!

girlfranz

2011-06-13T10:54:00.006-05:00

I had a great weekend with my 'girlfranz'. We had stake conference on Saturday evening and Sunday morning so for the first time in months I had a free Sunday afternoon! My friend Mayara (pronounced Majada), who joined the church a few weeks ago, and I were asked to perform a special musical number for the Saturday evening session (with me on the piano and her on the cello). A guy in our ward composed an arrangement of three hymns (86, 100, 220) that was absolutely beautiful but we didn't get the music until Thursday night so we were really nervous about playing. She is an incredible musician and picked up her part quickly but I had to simplify a few areas so that I could just get through the piece. The time finally came for us to play in front of the four hundred or so in attendance and I thought my heart would explode but we made it through. I hit a few wrong notes here and there but I just kept going and tried to finish strong. I felt kind of bad that I had messed up a little but when I sat down my friend Ginger was crying and she told me that it was beautiful and that she had felt the Spirit so strongly. After the session ended many people thanked and congratulated us on our performance and I was just happy that we were able to bring the Spirit into the meeting and that it touched so many. I have a video of us practicing but it's too big to post on here so if you want to hear it let me know and I can email it to you.

After conference Ginger and I went to Erica's and spent the rest of the evening looking through cooking magazines and painting our nails. Ginger stayed the night at my house and before conference yesterday morning she trimmed my hair and curled the ends as I brushed my teeth. We picked up this really sweet girl Angela who's planning on getting baptized in a few weeks and made it to the stake center just before conference started. Fortunately the elders had saved us some seats so we weren't too far back but we were still in the uncomfortable metal chairs. After conference it was great to see lots of old friends and acquaintances before heading out and taking Angela home. Gingy and I had lunch and then napped on the sofa/recliner for a while. I had invited Mayara, Erica, Nate and the elders to dinner so I got up and got the jambalaya cooking. I also cooked up Mom's string beans and Mayara made some garlic toast. It was all delicious! The cake turned out well, too. I made a double layer yellow cake and put some of Mom's raspberry fig jam between the layers and it was scrum-diddly-umptious! The elders and Nate had to get going so us girls were planning on going out to play in the rain but then it stopped. So we put on a movie and Ginger taught us how to curl our hair with my Chi flatiron. She did everyone's hair and we all looked like divas! It was fun to hang out with such good friends all weekend and I was sad to see them go. Erica stayed a little longer to help me clean up and we talked for a while. She and her hubby Adam are moving to Missouri in a few weeks and I will miss them so much! Here are some pictures of our evening:

The cake I made for Erica...it doesn't really make sense because she'll be the one in Missouri but I will be in MISERY!

Happy faces, sad hearts.

The best picture of us turned out blurry! Boo! Ginger, Mayara, Erica, and me after we got our hair did.

Silliness ensued amongst us curly-headed ladies.

I can't believe she's leaving me!! :(

Sadness.

So I guess I should've gotten a picture of the back so you could see more of the curls but I loved what Gingy did to my hair! My hair usually doesn't hold curls long because it's so straight but it's still curly this morning. No hairspray or product needed, just a super hot flatiron, which I already have. :D

april fools'

2011-04-02T00:27:00.001-05:00

I didn't pull any of my usual pranks today but I thought this was pretty funny:

i love to see the temple

2011-03-27T21:54:00.006-05:00

Our Family Home Evening committee leaders asked people to submit pictures of the Baton Rouge temple for a photo contest this month, and these are the four I entered. I love our little temple so much and hope to be sealed for time and all eternity to the man I love in this beautiful building (I WILL be married in the temple - no doubt about that - but it remains to be seen which one I will go to although as of now this one is my preference...it also remains to be seen which man I will marry as well...). They just added all of these beautiful flowers on the grounds in the past couple of weeks as the temple was closed for cleaning and I think the azaleas are a new addition. I love azaleas because they remind me of home and to see them in front of the temple (which is essentially the starting point of a home in our church) just makes me so happy. I look forward to watching General Conference this weekend at the stake center and spending the breaks between sessions outside in the shadow of the Lord's house. I'll leave you with a few more pictures that I took:

I love this tree by the stake center; it reminds of fractals and high school math.

happy pi day!

2011-03-14T23:18:00.003-05:00

This is quite possibly the nerdiest/coolest thing ever!

l'hotel shuler

2011-02-27T19:45:00.006-06:00

So my life is kind of blah right now (hence the lack of blog posts as of late). Boys, being a grownup and the economy have really been getting on my nerves recently so I decided to take a little break from everything and head over to Heaven on Earth, also known as Liberty County, Florida. Since I have a cap on my hours at my job and I worked two weeks' worth of hours in one week, I basically had a week off to take this little jaunt. Fortunately there was room for me at Hotel Shuler, which had accommodations suited just for my needs - isolation from the world, a lovely guest bedroom with no street lamps to shine through my windows at night, a wonderful in-house chef, many opportunities to exercise, and plenty of entertainment, mostly in the form of adorable children as well as great movies. It was so refreshing to leave behind all of my worries and ignore most texts and phone calls and have some good clean fun. Here are my favorite pictures I snapped of the four cutest kiddos east of the Mississippi:

Okay seriously how could anyone feel down with a face like that around? Lukey is sooooo cute and he knows it! I got some other great pictures but for now I'm going to post some videos that made this trip so memorable.

This first one is for Lydia and all others who love horses such as myself:

Then there's the Lukey Shuffle - pretty much the cutest thing ever! I cannot get over this baby's cuteness!

I don't remember when, but one time when I was visiting I had the soundtrack of Oliver! stuck in my head and apparently I sang it aloud. Well Juliette remembered this and kept me laughing with her renditions (as did Jonathan, with his 6-year-old humor versions).

Primary songs from Miss Priss Juliette, while we all enjoyed some ice cream (especially Matthew, who by the looks of it didn't want to waste a drop). I got another video of Jules singing but it's taking forever to load so I'll try to post it later.

Well that's all for now, as it is approaching my new bedtime (thank you acclimation to Eastern Time Zone!). I will try to post some more pictures in the coming days.

the art of a preview

2010-12-20T23:07:00.008-06:00

Sometimes when I used to get bored at my old job I would watch previews of upcoming movies. Most of them looked like garbage and I would quickly move on to the next but every now and again I'd find a good one that got me excited about what would soon be hitting theaters. I haven't had much time to keep up with this hobby lately but this weekend a screen shot of Brad Pitt with a nice haircut caught my eye so I decided to check out what this latest preview had to offer. I've since watched it at least five times (and it really doesn't have too much to do with the fact that Brad Pitt is in it). Check it out here:

True beauty caught on film and depictions of real-life joys of the smallest degree - breathtaking shots and scenes of chasing bubbles, running in the road, playing in the tub, building forts from bed covers, enjoying the rain, and being tickled - coupled with the sounds of a lovely piece by Czech composer Biedrich Smetana ("The Moldau"). There are also the uncomfortable scenes of a seemingly aggressive father but to be honest if it were all rainbows and butterflies it wouldn't seem so real. A beautiful two minutes and eleven seconds that stirs many emotions inside me and evokes countless memories. There are some great lines as well - "Someday we'll fall down, and weep, and we'll understand it all - all of things" and "Unless you love, your life will flash by." Now of course I know that this movie may just turn out to be trash, but the preview - oh the preview! After doing a bit of research I discovered that the same people who made this also made the trailer for 'Where the Wild Things Are', another one of the best previews I've seen. And yet, I didn't enjoy the movie so much. So I guess that it shows that trailers can be beautiful in their own right, regardless of how the movie turns out. If there were a category in the Oscars for best preview, this one would take the cake. Simply spectacular.

national geographic photo contest

2010-12-17T09:19:00.001-06:00

These pictures just blow my mind! Check out the winners and finalists at 2010 National Geographic Photo Contest - Galleries - National Geographic Magazine.

on this day

2010-12-07T17:59:00.003-06:00

In honor of Inception coming out on DVD today I'd like to share with you my favorite version of the preview, which has brought me many laughs over the past few months.

Other important things about today:

The 69th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and I haven't heard a thing about it on the news, which makes me sad. I wonder how long it will take people to forget about September 11th.

Elizabeth Edwards passed away today after a six-year fight with cancer. This makes me sad and happy at the same time. Although I never supported John Edwards it was exciting to see the Edwards family when they stopped in Natchitoches one August afternoon in 2004. John Edwards is someone whom I esteem about as much as the dirt on the bottom of my shoes but Elizabeth was a classy lady and kept her head held high. It's sad that her children are still so young but I'm sure she's happy to see her teenage son on the other side. These are some pictures I took of the pictures I took when the Edwards stopped by:With his $400 hairdo and wicked smile. Vomit.A classy lady and her double-chinned bodyguard.

In more cheerful news I helped Sister Woods decorate the mission home for Christmas today and I am hoping to finish Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) tonight. Wingardium Leviosa!

these are a few of my favorite things

2010-11-13T15:10:00.003-06:00

Although this is one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen, I could listen to this commercial all day for two reasons: Wagner and Robert Downey, Jr.

Yes m'am.

handy

2010-09-18T20:24:00.002-05:00

So you know how I became a fan of tap dancing this summer? Well yesterday my friend Ben showed me this video that takes tap dancing to a whole new level and puts that ole cup game everyone learned at summer camp to shame. Enjoy!

DO try this at home, fellas

2010-08-26T00:07:00.002-05:00

So the past couple of days I have been reading a book called The Nazi Officer's Wife, the true story of an Austrian Jewish woman who forged some papers and assimilated into German culture to survive the Holocaust. It was an okay book, not really inspirational but intriguing nonetheless. Anyways this lady was courted by and eventually married a member of the Nazi party, who wasn't all bad. She recalled this occurrence from the beginning of their courtship:

"Is that why you got a job that keeps you out of the war?" I asked. "Because you joined the party?"
"Ah, no, no - it's because I am blind in one eye. I had a motorbike accident and cracked my skull and severed the optic nerve. Look closely, you'll see." He leaned across the table to show me his blind eye. I leaned across the table to look. He leaned closer. I looked harder. He kissed me.
It was a shock, how much I enjoyed that experience. I was surprised at myself, and I must have blushed. Werner laughed at my embarrassment. "My, you're a sweet girl," he said.

Okay so I'm going to forget for just a moment the fact that he was a Nazi and just think of him as a guy on a date and say that that is the cutest thing ever! He really was blind in one eye but I'm just going to put this out there: future husband, wherever you are, feel free to try this trick with some suave for the first kiss instead of awkwardly going in for the kill. I'm just saying.

youtube goodness

2010-08-14T19:40:00.005-05:00

Here are some videos that make me feel better about myself because it's nice to know that even professional musicians mess up every once in awhile. Each one is known as a 'fail'.

Now if you think that last one was some poor middle school band, you're wrong. I found out that it was a group of British students called Portsmouth Sinfonia, who gathered together to play music in the 1970s. Anyone could join, but you had to either be a non-musician or play an instrument completely unfamiliar to you. Now does that sound like fun or what?? If you've got about 10-15 minutes to waste and you'd like to listen to some more of their ear-piercing tunes, check out these links (some are better, I mean worse, than others):

William Tell Overture -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs7QdpF0DE8

Also Sprach Zarathustra (in full) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpJ6anurfuw

The Hallelujah Chorus -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVUakcyLnsw

The Nutcracker Suite March -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEaWyOmcPlg

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtVDazgT3ko

In the Hall of the Mountain King -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wiRivDMIYM

Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVq7xPi98fY

[Bob] Only Knows by the Beach Boys -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgpX6wx8lg

mini-vacay

2010-08-03T22:05:00.004-05:00

Courtesy of Becky and Joseph and CW Roberts, this where I'll be for the next few days:
Here's another hint:

real men tap dance

2010-08-03T00:25:00.013-05:00

So I've never been a big fan of the whole art of 'dancing'. I preferred cleats to ballet slippers as well as hand-me-down Ninja Turtle shirts over leotards every day of the week. As I grew older, the word 'dance' conveyed images of my high school's skanky dance line or gatherings of Mormon adolescents awkwardly doing the deacon two-step. And then there are the movies today that revolve around dancing and scandalamity, crap like Step Up 3D (which I have not seen, but I sure am tired of the ads for it online. This was the least offensive poster I could find) and Center Stage (I did like this movie when I first saw it but the dancing...not so much). So you can see why I've never been a fan of this expressive art form. But somebody has helped me to see the light, and his name is President Val Dean Riggs. He is my stake president/Institute teacher/adoptive uncle and we are real tight. So tight that we give each other movie recommendations, and let each other borrow our favorites from the silver screen. A few months ago I let him borrow one that is close to my heart, Iron Man, and he and Sister Riggs loved it. So when he found out that I had never seen Singin' in the Rain, he lent me his copy immediately. I must admit that it sat on my bookshelf for two and a half months, and I kind of forgot about it until a few weeks ago at Institute he told me that he had had a hunkering to watch it but realized that he had loaned it out to me. I promised to watch it within the next week and then return it to him, but I didn't really have the time so I figured I'd just give it back without watching it. Fortuitously I had a free afternoon last week and it just so happened to be pouring down buckets outside. I considered snuggling up with a book but decided I might as well watch the movie then and there and get it over with, as if it were some homework assignment I'd been given. Well let me tell you I was mesmerized from the beginning! I really hadn't known what to expect, except for maybe some singing...in the rain, but surprisingly there's only one scene where someone actually sings in the rain. And that someone is the one and only Gene Kelly. Such a classy fella; he's my new favorite movie star (actually he's probably tied with Paul Newman). And the way he dances is just wonderful. He's so athletic in his movements yet just plain goofy and I love it! The way he expresses that carefree giddiness of the beginnings of love just makes me smile.

There were so many other songs in this movie that I loved as well, especially the peppy ones. Donald O'Connor, the supporting actor, is also an excellent dancer and entertainer and I loved his performances, too - ESPECIALLY when he and Mr. Kelly did a little number together that I have watched multiple times every day since I've seen the movie. Youtube won't let me embed it so here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKlub5vB9z8
So anyways the long and the short of it is that this movie has made me appreciate dance more and start to actually kind of enjoy watching it, as long as it's stuff like this. I've come to realize that dance is like any other form of art, and just because some paintings or songs are trashy doesn't mean they all are. Man they just don't make 'em like they used to. Please let me know if you have any recommendations for any other great dancing movies!

rock chalk parrots!

2010-07-31T21:04:00.010-05:00

Once the reunion ended most of us headed west to Kansas to hang out at Nathan and Erin's for a few days. When we went to campus Juliette saw some Jayhawks and said, "It's a parrot!" I concur. Anyways it was fun to spend some time in lovely Lawrence.
Little Lukey.
Bubbles and Lizzy took turns pushing each other in the stroller.
Who knew there were so many kinds of roaches?! The only kind I like is the dead kind.
Me and my namesake.
The smiling T-Rex!
In the cool black light room. "The duel must end!"
Me and a polar bear! I don't think I was supposed to touch him, thinking back on it. Oops...
Don't mess with us!
The classy-lookin' Museum of Natural History.
Erin taught me how to play the harp. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be (not that it was easy, but it wasn't like trying to play the bagpipes or something), I guess since I play the pianer. Anyways I really enjoyed playing and wish someone around here in BR had one that I could practice on.
I guess you could call me a harpy now.
On second thought, please don't.Anyways here is my debut - playing a piece called 'Sebastian' from the movie 'Brideshead Revisited'- accentuated by Becky's commentary on Nathan's book. :D

Who could resist a chocolatey Mimi face?!Partners in crime - Lydia and Matthews.
Cutie-pie Lizzy before her birthday party.
At the pool partay.
Lizzy and her cute cake!
After Lizzy opened her presents at home, we busted out her new 3D sidewalk chalk to give it a try. I tried to get some pictures of her with our artwork, and this is what I got:
Explorer Lizzy.
Space cadet Lizzy.
Grumpy face Lizzy.
Squishy-face Lizzy.
Goofball Lizzy.
Ethan and his crossbow thingy.
Lydia let me braid her hair!
So Mimi and I became best buds on this trip. Our conversations consisted of her either saying, "Hey Sarah" over and over and sticking her tongue out...

...or an insult fest in which we would say, "You're da baby!" to each other back and forth. I guess we were both right.

So that's all I've got on the reunion - I hope you're satisfied. :D

back in nauvoo

2010-07-31T20:38:00.006-05:00

After our little jaunt to Missouri we headed back to Nauvoo for a couple more fun-filled days. I think we all enjoyed the shade of the wagon ride.
Goose face!Jakey aka Spider-man!
Whose bright idea was it to put that water tower there?? I know the temple probably wasn't there at the time but still.
Me and Buster.
All the pretty horses.
Ignore the factories in the background.
Bubbles and her sweet shades.
The mighty Mississipp! Yes I know there's an 'i' on the end but don't they say that in a song from some Disney movie from the 50's? Davey Crockett maybe? Anyways that's just how I say it.
I love this river.
Sleeping Mimi.
I love cutting grass, but man mowing that hill with a push mower might take a while!
Okay seriously who would buy this? It is just creepy. "And a collection of Russian nesting dolls..." (Nacho voice).
Those pioneer women sure knew how to strike a pose! Audrey Hepburn meets Laura Ingalls?
Now that is one mess of tangly hair.
Mimi and the Goose playing/fighting on the stairs.
Lukey face!!
The infamous Goose stinkeye. Can't beat that ladies and gents.
I love this Goose face, too.
Jakey with his superpowers ring and a little critter.
Teaching Jakey the joy of Relief Society arms. I love Lucy's commentary (her glow-stick necklace had popped apart).

the old missouri homestead

2010-07-30T15:19:00.008-05:00

During the reunion we took a trip to where my Grampa Wood grew up in Missouri. I don't know what I had expected, but I didn't expect it to be so beautiful and hilly there! Here's the pond at the Pepperwood Farm (click on pictures to enlarge).A pretty field on the property.
Path to the graveyard.
Kinda reminded me of the Sacred Grove.
Sunshot.
What's that peeking through the weeds?
An awesome old tractor!
I love when the sun's rays blast through the clouds like this.
In the house.

Cute old picket fence.
Hey what's Gilligan doing off the island?!
I had no idea that Missouri was so hilly! I loved it but a few times it made my stomach jump up into my mouth while we were driving.
Where Grampa was born.
My camera just could not capture the depth of this scene. It was breathtaking in real life.

In the car with the Goose.
A cool old bridge.
Great-Uncle Glenn's backyard - I have fond memories of playing here as a kid.
Laying under the apple tree.

Other parts of the yard.

Is this a tiger lily? I think it should be called a leopard/cheetah/ocelot lily instead.
Jofuf taking a picture or two.
Three three-year-olds means triple the trouble! Jakey, Bubbles and Lizzy playing with the windchimes.
Benji chasing after the Goose.
MIMI!!
We became real pals on this trip.
One thing I love about country living - no need to run inside when ya gotta go!

old nauvoo

2010-07-29T23:42:00.009-05:00

No folks, you're not dreaming - I'm actually going to post my pictures from the reunion!! Here are some of my favorites from our first few days in Nauvoo (click on the pictures to enlarge):Lydia strikes a pose as we head out on an evening walk.Home sweet home for five days.
The banks of the mighty Mississipp - it's weird to think that I live down the street from this same river in Baton Rouge.
Lukey!!
Fire in the hole!
Timbo taking the kids off on an adventure.
Jofuf on Lukey patrol.
A pretty little flower garden.
Once again, with the mansion in the background.
What are these flowers called, Mom?
Bubble time - probably one of my favorite moments from the whole trip.
Bubbles, Lizzy, Ethan, Buster, and Jakey blowing bubbles.
The Goose with bubble juice down her front.
Benji calling everyone into dinner!
I love Matthew's exclamation point bubble.
Here's a little slice of bubble time.

And last but not least some blackmail for when Ethan runs for president.

I suppose it's a good thing he doesn't know how to do a proper curtsy.

epic fail

2010-06-18T15:04:00.003-05:00

My first attempt at deep-frying:They actually weren't too bad, and didn't taste that burnt, especially lathered in barbecue sauce. I suppose I could insert a joke about the BP oil spill here but that would be distasteful. Haha.

happy mother's day!

2010-05-09T19:32:00.002-05:00

duke basketball

2010-05-06T12:36:00.002-05:00

For Beckskies and Dad:

The real deal:

final push

2010-05-06T12:25:00.001-05:00

It's stuff like this that helps me get through finals. I watched this video at least ten times while working on a blasted ten page paper, which I was able to finish at 10 o'clock last night. I guess ten is just my lucky number these days. Oh, the little things. :D RIP Chris Farley.

swoon-worthy

2010-02-24T22:37:00.004-06:00

So one of my recent favorite movies would have to be 'North and South' (the bonnet movie, not the one about the Civil War). I'm pretty sure most of the ladies in the family have seen it; I watched it about a month ago with some friends who share my affinity for bonnet movies. It is very long and kind of sad for the most part but the last 5 minutes make it all worth it! Fortunately I found those last 5 minutes on youtube, so I decided to post it here so I can find it easily and watch it any time I want! *Caution* - you may want to be seated while viewing, as swoon-worthiness level is off the charts! Please don't faint and hurt yourselves!

valentine's day

2010-02-15T15:09:00.004-06:00

Despite being separated from my honey for Valentine's Day, my weekend wasn't half bad. On Saturday I got not one but TWO cards from Sambo which made me giggle and grin. Plus he gave me an early gift before he left in January (seen below - a rose for each year and one to grow on). He done good. In the evening Loren and I went out to eat and then we went to see 'Dear John'. I thought I would cry buckets because the movie is about a couple who keeps in touch via letters while the guy is off in Iraq but when the credits started rolling both Loren and I wanted to throw something at the screen. Darn you Nicholas Sparks! Reel us in with 'A Walk to Remember' and 'The Notebook' and then churn out this crap. At least the main guy was nice to look at. Sunday morning I was asked to meet with the bishop before church, and much to my shock and excitement I was asked to be the new ____ - any guesses? After church Loren and Jon made dinner and then I made brownies and we enjoyed some hot chocolately goodness with a little bit of ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup while watching the Winter Olympics (I generally do not watch TV on Sunday but sometimes you have to make a judgment call in situations like this - seem anti-social and lock myself in my room or hang out with the best friends in the world while the TV happens to be on). Click on the picture for an up-close look at epic goodness. So all in all, not bad for a Valentine's Day. Here's a quick pic of all of the cards Loren and I got over the weekend:

snow day!!

2010-02-14T18:38:00.003-06:00

On Friday morning I woke up to this:It was beautiful! Tennis at 8:30 was my only class so I thought about skipping to play in the snow but then I realized that since Loren was out of town I wouldn't have anyone to play with. So I drove (instead of my usual biking) over to the courts and my teacher just took roll and gave us bonus points for showing up. I came home and took a few more pictures and then snuggled up on the sofa reading my scrips while occasionally glancing up to watch the snow falling. It turned to rain an hour or so later and all of the snow was washed away but it sure was pretty while it lasted. I saw online that on Friday there was snow in 49 states, which has never happened before. Thanks a lot for holding out on us, Hawaii!

a little something I forgot to mention...

2010-02-05T09:34:00.006-06:00

So there was a small bit of information I didn't mention in my previous post that is also kind of important...so 'member that guy I told you about? Well his name is Sam and Sunday is his birthday. His nineteenth birthday. I turned twenty-two on January 12th. So yes, that makes me a cougar. *MEOOOOWWWWW* And do you know what also happened on January 12th? Sam left for the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. And he'll be spending the next two years in Los Angeles, California, speaking Spanish and spreading the Gospel. I'm surviving. It's kinda fun and romantically old-fashioned to keep in touch through letters. I'm definitely learning lots about the little virtue called patience.

three months later...

2010-01-29T17:36:00.006-06:00

Forgive my blogging hiatus. This past semester ended up being the best of my college career. Despite having more responsibilities than ever before, I was able to:

get a 4.0 GPA (for the first time since high school)

AND

get the boy I've liked for a while (although I never in my wildest dreams thought that he would like me back :D).

Score.

NephCure Walk

2009-10-30T20:42:00.004-05:00

My friend has had a rare kidney disease (Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis) since he was 10. There is an organization called the NephCure Foundation that focuses solely on finding a cure for FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome, another rare kidney disease. They are sponsoring a walk here in Baton Rouge next weekend and we are going to participate as an Institute. Pres. Riggs has asked all of us in the Institute to donate at least $10 and we are hoping to raise at least $500. Pres. Riggs' secretary, Sis. Donna, lost a nephew to this disease last year so we have a lot of connections to it around here. Contributors in Baton Rouge have a goal of $25,000 and have raised almost $22,000 as of tonight. So yeah, you guessed it, I'm asking y'all to donate just a few dollars to this cause if you wouldn't mind. I am not usually the kind of person who's really big on fundraisers but when you know someone suffering from the disease it makes it a lot more personal. If you'd like to help us out, just go to http://www.active.com/donate/BatonRouge2009/SWood67. Thanks so much guys!

flying high

2009-09-27T20:15:00.001-05:00

Hopefully the stewardesses on my flight this week will be like this!

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

mcconaugHEY!

2009-09-26T22:57:00.005-05:00

So since school has started so has Tiger Football! To be quite honest, I'm not the rabid fan I was my freshman and sophomore years but I still enjoy going to home games. The first home game was on September 12th against Vanderbilt. I passed up on tailgaiting to study but headed to the stadium about an hour and a half before kickoff to enjoy the pregame show. Guess who was there also enjoying the festivities? Mr. Matthew McConaughey himself! I am not really a fan of his but no one can deny his good looks and Southern charm, and it's always exciting to see famous people even if I tell myself if I ever met one again I would act like I'd never heard of him/her. It was kind of funny that when I was trying to spot him I instantly recognized his stance and then commenced to take a buttload of pictures. Enjoy (Becky and Leena, please stop drooling :P)!Matthew McConaughey and Ronald McDonald in the same shot!
And then LSU's own Shaquille O'Neal came and congratulated the men's basketball team for something. In this shot he is hugging their coach Trent Johnson and the baseball coach, Paul Manieri is looking on (in the gray jacket).
Shaq is one huge dude. Seriously he is massive and frightening and I would not want to meet him unless I was wearing Iron Man's suit.
The game itself wasn't too exciting and it rained almost the whole time. I thought was prepared with the yellow hand-me-down NorthFace rain jacket I brought, but I guess somewhere between passing from Ben to Tim and then from Tim to me it stopped working. So I got soaked anyways and would have been better off without it especially since all of my friends were teasing me about wearing a NorthFace jacket. I had to explain that it was originally my brother's who has actually CLIMBED mountains and therefore has every right to own such an article of clothing, as opposed to the group of people at LSU who wear NorthFace who have never seen snow and only wear it because everyone else in their fraternity/sorority does. But I digress. Despite the rain it was fun to be back in Death Valley surrounded by 92,000 of my closest friends (including Adam and Erica, who I haven't seen since their wedding in August...cough).

roller coaster

2009-09-04T18:20:00.010-05:00

A month later, I'm sure you're all glad to finally see something besides me in an afro when you come to my blog. With school starting last week and a series of unfortunate events, I haven't had much time to post. Let's recount all of the crappy things that have happened to me recently:

School started on Monday, August 24th
I burned my wrist on the oven
I dropped my make-up bottle in the bathroom sink and it broke so now it's leaking in the cabinet because I don't plan on buying a new one anytime soon
My computer cord stopped working so now I can't use my computer until I buy a new one
I got in a minor bike wreck last Friday
In that bike wreck, the chain was messed up, I cut my leg with the pedal, and got blood on my brand new beautiful running shoes
While draining the water out of my mashed potatoes, they all fell into the kitchen sink
I ate most of them anyways
There is a boy at church who am not attracted to and never will be who will not leave me alone
This past Monday evening I started getting the chills and was achy and feverish
I had to stay at work until 1 am
On Tuesday I felt worse but had class ALL day and then Institute
While removing my bike from the bike rack the pedal hit me on my leg in the EXACT SAME SPOT where I was cut last week (and now I'll have an H-shaped scar)
I had to go to class with a bloody leg and achy fever
Wednesday I wasn't very achy anymore but now had a sore throat and still had to go to my jogging class
Thursday night I had to work because the other girl is sick so I didn't get to go 80's clothes shopping with my friends for the 80's dance tonight
Which I guess doesn't matter because I can't GO to the 80's dance tonight because the other girl is still sick so I have to work tonight, too
This morning an idiot in a minivan almost ran over me (on my bike)
This afternoon an idiot in a truck almost hit me (in my car)
And now my ears hurt and my stomach is upset
Everyone is teasing me about having swine flu
But I can't go to a doctor because I don't have one here in Baton Rouge and the Student Health Center is booked up until who knows when

So yeah. Sometimes life throws a lot onto you. But it hasn't been all bad.

I'm from the school of hard knocks so don't really plan on going to the doctor's regardless
I was able to get the blood off of my shoes with Oxy-Clean - thank you Billy Mays
Lauren let me do laundry at her house once again, saving me $10
Joriann and Lauren and I enjoyed warm brownies and 'The Wedding Singer' last Friday
Mom and Dad came bearing gifts last Saturday
I got my annual Father's blessing
I got to stay in a sweet hotel in New Orleans and got $100 to put 5 kids to bed and then sleep for 8 hours
The ward dinner I organized after church last Sunday was a huge success
I love making smoothies in the mornings
I finally have my Institute Council picked out and they are all awesome
I LOVE all of my classes
Yesterday I learned about nuclear warheads and according to my teacher I now know more about them than most members of Congress (though I'm convinced that's not too impressive)
In my music class we had to figure out the time signature and meter of some MUSE songs
Listening to the Tchaikovsky station on Pandora while I'm at work makes me happy
Picking up an extra evening of work was a blessing because I'm off for Labor Day so that makes up for it
I love biking to my classes and running every other day
I got my football tickets this week in my inbox
While teasing me about having swine flu my friend David recommended this website: http://www.doihaveswineflu.org/
Today I finally won a game of BallKnockers at Friday Lunch at the Institute
Tomorrow (if I don't feel too crappy) I'm going with Lauren to her dad's for a BBQ/pool party celebrating the first game of the season
Labor Day = no school or work
UPDATE: I got off of work at 10 so I was able to go to the last half of the 80s dance
Afterwards I went to IHOP with Lauren and the Baron boys/Doobie Brothers/Curly & Moe/D-Bear and J-Bear (it is so easy to come up with nicknames for these two) and John paid because he's awesome

So in the end, I guess the good really does outweigh all the bad.

time travel

2009-08-03T23:28:00.011-05:00

Tonight at work the cycles were started two hours later than usual which means I'm going to be here for a good bit. So, to pass the time, I decided to travel back to 1950 and get my yearbook photo taken every two years until 2000. I had a blast!I think I looked my best in 1986, agreed?I even visited Mom when she was in high school and everyone thought we were twins!Once she started college, though, Dad came into her life and the two became inseparable! They did everything together, like playing basketball,and cheering for the Utes(they let me practice with them a few times),and did you know they were Homecoming King and Queen for two years in a row?!(I had the honor of driving them their second time around).They also enjoyed an occaisonal picnic in the park as well.

I really enjoyed all of my travels, but when the 80's hit and Dad starting rocking out on his guitar I decided it was time to come back to the present and get back to work.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

exclusive sneak peek continued

2009-07-29T15:14:00.004-05:00

Here are some much awaited pictures of our dining room:Behind those blinds is the apartment complex where Ben used to live in the summer when he was here at LSU.
I found the table and chairs on craigslist and Mom and Dad helped me buy it, transport it, and fix its wobbly leg. It came with a leaf and the chairs are vinyl and comfy, not plastic.
Loren said she'll move her bike soon but I don't mind as it matches the rest of our decor.
And there's our cute little kitchen to the right.
So there's the dining room. Coming soon: the bathroom, the living room, and my room!

institute council summer party

2009-07-10T14:46:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, July 9th we had our end of the semester Institute Council party at Pres. Riggs' house. He made us bbq ribs, beans, potato salad and some other good eats (and lots of ice cream for dessert). I have really enjoyed serving on the Council for the past year with with such close friends and an incredible Institute teacher who was recently called to be our new stake president. I love this man. He reminds me of a mix between Pres. Monson and Dad, with a little extra goofy thrown in.

The placemats reminded me of the barber quartet on The Music Man. So Pres. Riggs humored me and we sang a few numbers:

And here's a little video clip of his antics:

Here's a picture of the whole gang. Colleen (Stake YSA Rep), Jamie (LDSSA Pres), me (LDSSA and Institute Secretary), Erica (Insitute Pres), and then on the back row is Scott (Institute Vice Pres), Tim (Stake YSA Rep), and Pres. Riggs.

transformers: revenge of the sleep deprivation

2009-06-24T23:17:00.007-05:00

Last night I went to the midnight showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. By now y'all should all know my feelings about midnight showings, so I won't go into that again. Originally a big group of church friends said they would go, but when push came to shove it came down to just Scott and me. Everyone else had all these lame excuses, like, "I have to work tomorrow" or "I have class at 7:30". Come on, people! Going to a midnight showing requires sacrifice! And boy, did I sacrifice. Monday night I was at work until 12:30 am, then I had to get up at 5:30 am to babysit at 6:30. I was there until 12:30 pm, then I came home and took a two-hour nap. I headed to Institute at 7:30, got home at 9, watched a bit of LSU's ball game and then got to the theater by 10:30. So it was just Scott and me, and I was hoping it wouldn't be awkward or date-like (we've been on a few 'dates' before but I consider him to be just a friend). Fortunately Loren and Jon decided to join us so everything was hunky dory.

So the movie gave me exactly what I wanted - lots of Shia LaBeouf, Bumblebee, and sweet special effects - so I enjoyed it for the most part. I didn't expect anything else, like a good script or above par acting, so I wasn't disappointed about that, but there is a reason this movie is rated PG-13. I think they went a little too far with some of the sexual innuendos, so there is no way I would let a kid under 15 at the youngest see this movie. In the words of Matthew Shuler (who desperately wants to see it), some of that stuff was just plain "em-appropriate" for the younger crowd (and I guess for everyone else, too). So Joseph, don't even think of sneaking him into the theater. I guess you could say it was pretty violent, too, but fighting robots don't really make my stomach churn. "Oh no! That Autobot got stabbed! The gore of torn metal! I think I'm gonna be sick!". Ok, I'll stop.

So I got home at 3 and went to bed immediately. Two hours and forty-five minutes later, I got up and put some Toaster Strudels in the toaster as I got ready to leave. One was strawberry and the other was the Scrambler kind, with bacon and eggs and cheese, and even though I specifically checked to see which was which, I started putting the frosting on the Scrambler one. After I realized what I'd done I tried to transfer frosting with a bit of success. Frosted pastries with bacon, eggs, and cheese - yum! I got to the V's at 6:30 and babysat until 11:30. Of course the kids were extra-wild today, and my patience was running thin on less than 3 hours of sleep, but I kept my cool. Then since I was on that side of town I went to Target to get Erica's bridal shower present, and ended up wandering aimlessly around the store for a good 45 minutes. I finally got home and laid down for a nap at about 1:30, thinking I'd sleep for about 3 hours before heading into work at 4:45. I woke up with a start and looked at my clock - 5:11. Oh crap! I rushed out the door and called my supervisor on my way to work to tell her I'd slept late. It really wasn't a big deal because I really don't have to be to work until 6 but since they say I can come at 5, I try to get there by then so I can make more money. So I'm still at work and it's about midnight, but fortunately my schedule is free tomorrow so I can sleep to my heart's content. What a crazy couple of days! But you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be at theater at midnight on July 15th, waiting for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to start!

they're baaaa-aaack!

2009-06-23T18:14:00.002-05:00

So since I stopped watching Saturday Night Live a while ago I missed this when it first appeared. It's not as funny as the original but still gives a laugh or two.

exclusive sneak peek

2009-06-22T15:19:00.008-05:00

So we've been in our new place for three weeks now and we're finally really starting to settle in. Today was Loren's day off so we went to Wal-Mart to get some more stuff and then got to work fixing up the kitchen and painting Loren's dresser. As of now, the kitchen is finished and finally presentable so I figured I'd put up a few pictures so you can see what it looks like. As for the rest of the house, I can guarantee it'll be a while before it's ready for your viewing pleasure, so enjoy this special sneak peek!The ads in our new neighborhood are catered to a different demographic than at our old place...

happy father's day!!

2009-06-21T18:04:00.000-05:00

So I kind of set the bar a little high with my Mother's Day production. I certainly did not want to disappoint for Father's Day. I had plans for a 3D video with cameos from Mitt Romney, Coach K, Billy Joel, and Tom Cruise (pre-craziness), all wishing my dad a happy Father's Day, not to mention an exclusive never-before-seen clip from the upcoming Transformers movie. However, yesterday afternoon I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting today and then I was called in for some last minute babysitting. There went my plans for the greatest 4-minute-long clip of all time! So Dad, you'll just have to settle for a 'Happy Father's Day' from me, your baby girl.

Why I love my dad:

Because of all of his cute little idiosyncrasies that most people may not notice, like how his sneeze sounds like no one else's I've ever heard, or how he can fall asleep just about anywhere around the house (like in front of the computer), or how he wears t-shirts maybe 3 times a year (usually during Advance), and then wears a plaid shirt every other day (except white on Sundays), or how he likes the hard burnt part of brownies, and can make the best breakfast foods (including fried Cheerios, French toast, pancakes, bacon, etc.) known to man. These are just a few of the things about my dad that make him my dad.
Because I got his nose, the bottom half of his ears, his long toes, horrible vision, and his love of naps.
Because he's quiet, but when he says something it's usually pretty funny. I like to think that I got a little bit of cleverness from him. Consider a conversation we had a few months ago:
Dad: What was the deal with Lot's wife anyways? She should have been content with what the Lord alLOTted her. Me: Yeah, then she wouldn't have been ASSAULTED!
Because he's always been a peacemaker, and can stop any fight by asking if it's snowing outside.
Because I can count on one hand the times he's lost his temper or raised his voice.
Because he always fulfills his calling, and is an excellent and reliable home teacher, and then he goes the extra mile and fills in where it's needed, like being the chorister for a few weeks or saying the closing prayer when the bishop forgot to ask someone.
Because he's a great handyman, and has taught me a thing or two about fixing appliances, cars, painting, and yardwork. He even does this kind of stuff for others, like our elderly neighbors and people in the ward.
Because he taught me how to tie my shoes - the special kinda knot - and to this day my shoes still never come untied on their own.
Because when I was in high school he let me wear his new shoes because they were in style and we have the same size foot and I wanted to look cool and he's just that nice and no one would believe that I was wearing my dad's shoes so I was able to pull it off.
Because he does the dishes, sweeps the floor, and takes out the trash every night.
Because he has always been worthy to hold the priesthood. He blessed me and gave me a name as a baby, he baptized me, he gives me a father's blessing every year and we occasionally had PPIs throughout my youth.
Because he has always loved and respected my mother.
Because he has always provided for our family.
Because every time I meet someone who had him as a teacher at the LA School, they always say, "You're Dr. Wood's daughter?! He was such an awesome teacher, tell him I said hey!".
Because he kind of maybe a little bit spoiled me...like when he used to give me money for concessions or the book fair or let me get away with things that Mom would have a conniption if she knew about them. :) Or when I asked him to cut my hair like a boy's he did it, and kept going shorter when I asked him to, even thought I'm sure he thought it looked hideous (because it did). And then Mom took me to a beautician, who assumed that I'd gotten a hold of the scissors.

So yeah, that's just a short list of why I love my dad. As a child, I assumed that every dad was like mine, and I'm only beginning to realize as I go out into the world that I am extremely blessed to have someone like him as my father. I know he's not perfect but you can see that he really is trying to be. Now if only I could find someone else just like him, but forty years younger, I'd be set for life!

And now for some pictures. Of course, I couldn't find that many because this is usually what Dad is doing when it's picture time:See how cute he was as a baby? Anyways, here's a little collage of some of my favorites (click on it for a better view). Hope you enjoy. And Happy Father's Day, Dad. Love, your Poodle

happy valentines

2009-06-18T21:57:00.008-05:00

So yet again, it's been a while since I've posted. In the words of Kidd Kraddick, "Get over it!". Anyways, I've been a bit preoccupied with work, unpacking, ignorant landladies, and catching up on my sleep. Now that I have a free moment, here's the 4-1-1 on the kids I'm babysitting.

First up is Walker, who will be 5 on August 19th (Matthew Grande's birthday!). He is very smart and athletic and loves it when I can give him my full attention. He is definitely his father's son, and has schooled me at ping-pong a few too many times (his dad is a tennis coach). He has an American accent for the most part, but some of his pronunciations are very Australian, like when he says "Miss Seerah", "baaackhand" (when we play ping pong he is constantly telling me "you have to hit it baaackhand!), and "baaasketball". He also says a lot of things that just sound like something an Australian would say, like, "My dad says I'm strong like a bull!". He is a cute kid but he sure likes testing his boundaries. It makes me feel good to know that he likes me and considers me a friend now - he was supposed to be in bed when I got there tonight but Kat said he wanted to stay up to see me, he wants to come play at my house even though I don't have a lot of toys (that's when you KNOW you're in - when they want to come to your house to play), and tonight when I put him to bed and told him I'd see him next Tuesday morning, he said "See ya lata, alligata!", which I have only heard him say to his dad when he leaves in the mornings. So yeah, it definitely feels good to know he likes me even though sometimes he's a pill and I have to put him in time out.

Then there's Faith, who's 2 years old (seen with her Pebbles hairdo). She is such a sweetie, and very easy to love. She doesn't require a lot of attention, and most of the time she is content to just sit there and watch Walker and me play. I'll have to get a better picture of her smile because it is adorable. And she LOVES chocolate milk - as long as she has a sippy cup full of it and a remnant of her baby blanket (it is torn into several pieces) she is perfectly happy. Like Walker, she sounds very Australian when she says my name. It makes my heart melt. I also love it when Walker calls her "Fayfy". He has no problem pronouncing his 'th's but Fayfy just sounds a lot cuter than Faithy. They don't always get along, but she's got spunk and can usually hold her own when he provokes her.

Talan is the baby of the family, he's about 6 months old. He is such a good baby, but things are definitely easier after he's gone down for his nap. He loves being tickled and poked by Walker, always giving a huge toothless grin. Tonight while I was giving him his bottle before putting him to bed he was just staring up at me with his beautiful brown eyes and I thought to myself that one person's loss is another person's gain. I don't think I quite fully mean that in the way that it sounds but I'm happy to have the opportunity to be with these kids.

And of course I can't forget the easiest member of the family to deal with - Texas. She can go to the bathroom by herself and feed herself and nap by herself - who wouldn't want to babysit her? By the looks of her sweet graying face she's got to be at least 6 or 7 years old (most Great Danes have a life expectancy of 6-8 years) and she's got a bum leg (probably due to hip dysplasia or something of the sort, which is very common in large dogs) so she's slow to get up. So she mostly just lays (lies?) around the house. And if you're wondering, yes I do know a lot an unusual amount of information about Great Danes because I did a research project on them in my Companion Animals class last semester. Anyways, she is such a good dog and always greets me with a kiss and a wagging tail when I come in. Then she follows me around for a few minutes, almost knocking me over, but I don't mind because why wouldn't I want a 100+ lb. dog doting on me? Tonight we shared the couch together after the kids were asleep and I began reading The Book Thief. When I heard the garage door open, she struggled to get off of the sofa and then stood alert, wagging her tail and waiting. It took Steve a couple of minutes to get inside, but she still stood there. I could tell her tail (haha) was getting tired but every time it started to slow down she'd pick up the pace, just in case the door would open right then. Is it weird that in this post about the kids I'm babysitting, I've written the most about their dog? I hope not. I've always wanted children and I've always wanted a [good] dog, and at this point in my life it seems more likely that I'll become a doggy mama before becoming a baby mama. Well this post went in a totally different direction than I thought it would but oh well. It's my blog. So there.

These pictures just don't do her size justice. I'll have to try and get one of her next to me so you can see how huge she is.

Now doesn't that look comfy?

pardon my absence...

2009-06-01T19:51:00.004-05:00

I know it's been awhile. From May 14th to the 26th I was in Utah, visiting Miss Mayry, and then as soon as I got home I had to start packing for my move today. Jiffy's ex-boyfriend came and took his router back so I have had no internet since Friday, and I've been busy packing anyways. Today Loren and I moved across town to our awesome possum little apartment and I am exhausted. Then I had to come to work at 6 pm, and tomorrow morning I start my new job at 7:45 am. I will work until 4 pm, then come back to my regular job for 5, work until probably midnight, and then do it all over again on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday mornings/afternoons I will finally have time to start unpacking but I have to work both of those nights as well. So it might be a bit before I am able to put up some pictures from my trip. Mary already put up most of them anyways (which I am perfectly fine with) so check out her blog if you can't wait.

I guess I could take a little bit of time to explain my situation. I have had a profile on this website called Sittercity.com for about two years but I'd never really bothered with it. Basically people looking for babysitters and people looking to be babysitters go on there and hope to find each other. I decided to update my information this past Wednesday, and whaddiya know, Thursday morning I get a call from Miss Kat, asking if we could meet. So Friday afternoon I headed over to her place and met her family and got the job. Normally I will be watching the kids 15-20 hours a week (in the daytime), which is perfect for me because I didn't really want an 8-5 job on top of my 5-12 job. This week, however, she is out of town so I have to watch the kids all day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and of course it's the one week a year that Camille, the other girl that works here downtown, is on vacation so I have to cover for her and work every night this week. I'm perfectly fine with that, because she worked a whole week for me while I was in Utah, and hey, when I get my paycheck I'm gonna be mighty happy. So I'm not in a bad mood about all of this, I'm just tired, but I'm sure everything will be just hunky dory.

I'm really excited to watch the kiddos tomorrow and the next day. Walker is almost 5, Faith is 2, and Talan is about 5 months old. Their dad is from Australia so half the time the older two are talking it's with that adorable accent. The other half of the time it's an American accent, but that's okay because that's still pretty cute (just not as much as the Australian). And a major bonus - they have a HUGE Great Dane named Texas. I LOVE Great Danes and he is the sweetest thing ever. So hopefully, it's going to be a fun summer!

movie review time

2009-05-13T20:27:00.010-05:00

I'm sitting here at work, hoping to get off as early as possible so I can go home and go to bed. I'm waking up at 4 am and heading to the airport (courtesy of my bubby Tim) and flying out to Utard Land for 13 days of bliss. So to pass the time, I figured it's about time I share my thoughts on some movies I've seen as of late.

First up - 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

I was VERY excited to see this movie (see previous post) when I first heard about it. I continued the "going to the midnight showing of the first big movie of summer on the first Friday of May" tradition ('Spider-man 3' - 2007, 'Iron Man' - 2008, next year will be 'Iron Man 2') and purchased my ticket ahead of time. The plan was to go with a big group as usual, but one by one they dropped out, until it was just Adam, Erica and me. I was giddy during the previews, partly because they rocked (especially the 'Transformers' one) and partly because I was so excited to finally see Wolverine again after a three-year hiatus (which seems to be the trend with the X-men movies so far). All in all, the movie wasn't too bad, but I really wanted to like it more than I did. Even though Erica, who doesn't know Gambit from Gandalf, really liked it, I just couldn't. I guess the main turn-off was all of the violence, which oddly enough, hasn't really bothered me too much until recently. Actually it's not odd at all, I know exactly why it bothers me now but that's not what this post it about. Anyways I also thought a lot of the special effects were just plain shoddy. I was amused to see Hugh Jackman jumping down a waterfall - naked - but his bum wasn't anymore impressive than the next guy's (not that I've seen the next guy's...). I don't know, I feel bad for not liking it more but I guess I can't change how I feel about it. And really, who cares? I know nobody reading this does, I'm just writing this because I'm bored. So humor me, please. Next movie.

'Star Trek'

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I have never seen a full episode of anything involving 'Star Trek'. By default I do know who Capt. Kirk and Spock (remember that eraser we had of Spock's head?) are and I've heard the lines "to boldly go where no man has gone before" (I also remember from some English class that it should be "to go boldly", but anyways...) and "live long, and prosper", but all that is about the extent of my 'Star Trek' knowledge. The only things I knew about this movie were that it would probably be a good action flick, the guy playing James T. Kirk was kind of attractive, and Karl Urban would be in it (as Bones). I kind of really like Karl Urban, ever since he played Éomer in the second and third 'Lord of the Rings' movies. I also really like him as the bad guy in 'The Bourne Supremacy'. I think he looks like Brad Pitt, with bigger eyes or something like that. So anyways I wasn't in any hurry to see this particular movie but I knew I wanted to see it (and by hurry I mean seeing it at the midnight showing - instead I waited until the day after it came out - pshaw). More awesome previews ('Transformers' again and this time one for the GI Joe movie) and then an even awesome(r) movie. I loved it! It was made for everyone (except for maybe Mom and small children), not just diehard Trekkies, and I was entertained the whole movie through, AND it was surprisingly tame - not too much violence (well not the gory kind, there was a lot of fist fighting) and no token "fword". I absolutely love it when PG-13 movies do not take advantage of their "1 fword allowance". And James Tiberius Kirk was pretty darn cute. The only thing I didn't like about him was his voice. I hate when famous guys who are very attractive have a very wimpy voice (like David Beckham, for instance, who sounds like a 14-year-old schoolgirl) but I guess they can't have it all! Anyways the whole movie was a thrillride and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

'Seven Pounds'

I checked this out from a Redbox with my free rental code I get via text message every Monday. I hadn't used it in ages, since I've been somewhat studious this past semester, so on my first free Monday I started off summer right with a trip to Wal-Mart, then an extra-large strawberry snowcone and some strawberry SourPunch while watching this flick in the living room with the blinds closed and fans on full blast. Nice. Anyways this movie was pretty good. The trailer for it is very cryptic, but being the genius that I am - ;D - I kind of figured out what was going on. But not enough to not be surprised throughout the movie. It was pretty inspiring, but kind of in an extreme way. I liked it for the most part, because come on, who doesn't like Will Smith? He was uber serious though, and I'm used to watching 'The Fresh Prince' every morning when I wake up (my TV is my alarm clock) so that was a little weird. What I liked most about this movie: four of the characters were named Ben, Dan, Tim and Sarah; there was a mantle Great Dane featured; there was lots of medical goriness (the kind of goriness I like - as opposed to war/fighting goriness). So I guess you could say that I liked it for the most part.

Well, now that I've wasted an hour and a half writing a post that no one will probably care to read, I have managed to pass the time pretty quickly and I'll be getting off soon. Utah, here I come!

happy mother's day!!

2009-05-10T01:35:00.005-05:00

Here are some little movies I made for Momma (when you start to watch each click on the HQ button and the video quality will be a lot better):

Every flower featured in the video has been cultivated and cared for by my own mother.

the longest time

2009-05-08T12:01:00.002-05:00

So I think this song has made it onto my top-10-greatest-songs-of-all-time list. Watching the video makes it even better.

What's even more amazing is that Joel is the one singing every vocal part even though it shows the rest of those guys doing the backup. He recorded 14 different background tracks which were mixed into the song so it's all him, with a little bass guitar and maybe a closed hi-hat hit with a brush. Awesome possum.

Now I don't remember much of the 80's but this video seems to epitomize that decade in my mind. Another classic: 'Maneater' by Hall and Oates.

j'ai fini!!!

2009-05-08T00:56:00.004-05:00

I had my last final today - Cajun French - and finished up around 2 pm. I don't think it has fully sunk in that I am done for three and a half months. I have so many plans for the summer but now that it's officially here I don't know what to do with myself. Fortunately I don't think that will last very long. Last night I procrastinated studying by looking up the books I'll need for next semester - being the nerd and over achiever that I am I plan on reading some over the summer to get a head start. I also plan on updating my blog a bit more often now that I have no excuse not to. So for starters, here are some things floating around in my mind:

1. Erica and I just watched 'Bridge to Terabithia'. She had never seen it but I own it and have seen it quite a few times. But I still cried like a baby. I don't know if any other movie makes me cry so much. 'Ladder 49' and 'The Notebook' come close I guess but 'Bridge to Terabithia' is such a wonderful movie. If you haven't seen it, go out and buy it. NOW. You should probably buy some kleenexes, too.

2. I LOVE being a history major. Maybe it's because just about every other subject just gets old to me (no pun intended). It seems like there's always a stopping point somewhere, but not with history. It never stops, and everything has a history - people, places, things. You can make learning it as simple or as difficult as you like. I also love being a history major because I was just awarded with two scholarships from the history department, worth a total of $1500. And I got to have lunch with the chair of the department (soon to be dean of the College of Arts and Sciences) and the dean of students for the department. They are both such interesting people, in their own way, and I love how their names match perfectly with their specialties - Gaines Foster (New South) and Karl Roider (East Central Europe). I enjoyed chumming it up with them. In this small ode to history I must give a shout out to my History of France professor - Dr. Martin. He is probably the best teacher I have ever had. I learned so much in his class and hung on to his every word, trying to write everything he said. I remember just about every lecture separately and distinctly and wish I could have recorded him. The man is brilliant. Yesterday before our final started he told us about the cheetah he adopted in Africa with the royalties of his published works. As I went to hand in my final the girl in front of me asked him to sign her book, the one he wrote that we were required to read this semester. Now I am not one to patronize people but I just had to get him to sign mine as well. Unfortunately I can't really read his handwriting, but hey, at least I have it.

3. As stressful as this past week has been, I have had so much fun with Loren. She is one of my best and longest-lasting friends (we've known each other since kindergarten but weren't really best friends until sixth grade) and we always have so much fun together. Recently we have enjoyed eating lots of 'possicles' and 'poppincone', making a mockery of the swine flu (see below: bumper stickers from facebook), napping, discussing the benefits of coming from a large family, planning out how we will decorate our new apartment, watching old Billy Joel music videos, and studying while listening to Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, and Copland. And laughing. A lot. Maybe that's why we've never had a fight. Or why I've never been really mad at her for as long as we've been friends. Seriously. There is something in my mind that does not allow me to get mad at her. We were enemies in fifth grade but it's been smooth sailing since then. And that's awesome.
4. All-nighters are insane. I pulled my third one ever on Tuesday night. I don't think it would have been so bad if I had been well-rested the previous few nights. 6 hours Sunday night with a final at 7:30 Monday morning, 5 hours Monday night with lunch with the deans, a final from 3 to 5, the institute crawfish boil, then another final from 8 to 10 (yes, that's pm) on Tuesday. I am an 8 hours a night kind of person, so I was already exhausted. But I had a final at 10 am Wednesday morning that I had not studied for at all, so staying up all night was really my only option. Fortunately I had Loren pop my back before she went to bed at 1 but after that staying awake felt like torture. I slept from 3 to 3:20 and then again from 5:30 to 5:45. After that second little nap I was totally zoned out, just sitting at the table staring into space, so I then I took a shower. By that time Loren was up studying, and she enjoyed laughing at me try to eat my cereal with my head on the table. It was so weird. I had taken my contacts out from about 3 to 7 so they could get their required minimum four-hour soaking but when I put them back in I felt cross-eyed. I could not focus on anything, and I'm sure that was fun to watch as well. At 7:30 I laid down on the floor to study because my head didn't hurt as much in that position - according to Jon (Loren's bf) because I getting some blood flow to my brain that way. Of course I fell asleep again until 8 and then tried to study some more. I moved to the recliner and was trying to rewrite some notes when I realized what I was writing was coming from somewhere else in my head and was complete gibberish. I was scared I would fall asleep at the wheel on my way to campus. But I made it through the two essays and then came home for nap time. Of course I didn't feel as tired then but after watching an episode of CSI with Loren we were both out like lights. It was nice to get a full eight hours last night. And now, it's almost 2 am Friday morning and sitting here in the living room writing on my blog when I have the whole summer to do this. I must be certifiably insane. But hey, at least tomorrow I don't have to set any alarms and I can get up when I please.

Good night.

for jared

2009-05-01T15:26:00.003-05:00

About a month ago, one of the guys in our ward passed away. He was such a sweet kid and just starting to come back to church. I didn't know him very well but he always had a beautiful smile on his face. His sister just made this video about him. I'm thankful for the blessing of eternal families.

a new version of twilight

2009-04-29T10:33:00.003-05:00

Enjoy:

a mother's love

2009-04-25T22:12:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite billboard's in Natchitoches is for Red's Ribs - their tagline is "More tender than a mother's love". It makes me think of these pictures I took when I made it home for spring break, as Tim was on his way out. The first is a family inside joke, but my favorite is the last, Mom's "if you speed, you die" speech.

general conference

2009-04-25T21:51:00.002-05:00

In between sessions on Sunday, April 5th we set up a little picnic for the YSAs outside the temple (which happens to be right next to our stake center....which happens to be a block from my apartment). The weather was lovely as we enjoyed our PB&honey sandwiches and chit-chatted.
These ladies are two of my favorite people in our ward: Sodjne Denou (pronounced So-ja-nay, she's from Togo, Africa) and Jazmin Carter. They are both always smiling and I honestly have never heard a mean thing come out of either one's mouth. I think that kid is one of Sodjne's little brothers.

spring formal

2009-04-25T21:31:00.002-05:00

On April 3rd we had our annual YSA Spring Formal. This year they pulled out all the stops and we had it at an old plantation here in Baton Rouge, Magnolia Mound (a large improvement over the stake center). Anthony, a guy from my ward, asked me to the dance a MONTH in advance.....grimace. I finally told him I would go with him if he wore a suit. And was he ever wearing a suit when I picked him (and his cousin) up! We arrived a few minutes late and strolled in like a human OREO. I laughed at the sight of everyone's incredulous looks. The dance was fun, except that Anthony would not leave my side so I didn't get to dance with everyone else. We left early and watched a movie with Adam and Erica. I didn't want him to try anything funny so I wrapped myself in a huge blanket like a cocoon - problem solved! All in all it was a fun night but I finally had to tell Anthony last week that we were never gonna be more than friends....another grimace.

PS - is it just me or do I look a lot like Aunt Janet?

tower of BOMs

2009-04-11T10:42:00.002-05:00

On Monday, March 30th, some friends and I joined our missionaries for a table sit in Free Speech Alley. We usually get a table out there once a month and hand out copies of the Book of Mormon and pass-along cards and pens and keychains and the like, without much success. Then our elders had a grand idea. We usually just had 15 or so BOMs and maybe people who wanted one wouldn't get one because they didn't know if they cost anything and they maybe thought that someone else would want one more and there weren't that many so they'd just keep going. In all the table-sits I've done, we've maybe given away 5 BOMs this year, most of those to Asian exchange students who barely spoke a word of English and had probably never heard of Mormons. So this time the elders made a couple of large FREE signs and brought out at least 120 BOMs with the missionaries' contact info or a pass-along card inside and we basically had a tower of copies of the Book of Mormon. In the four hours we were out there, we gave away 80 copies! And this wasn't us shoving them in people's faces, forcing them to take one. Most of the people were actually excited to take one. It was pretty dang cool. Even if only one person calls the missionaries in the near future, this was a major success in my opinion. And it was lots of fun, too.

Towards the beginning, Elders Baker and Brown:

These guys have the best facial expressions.....

After a few hours, Alanna looks like a hippie and we've made a serious dent in our pile!

smokin' hot!

2009-04-11T10:22:00.004-05:00

I know, I know, it's been forever and a day since I've posted something of substance (meaning - not a dumb video clip), but I've been quite studious this semester and haven't really gotten around to it. Now that I'm on spring break I figured I have no excuse not to spend a little time posting a few pics from the past few weeks.

On March 12th, I came home to a smoke-filled apartment. One of my roomies, Jiffy, had put some cheesy toast in the toaster oven, set it on broil, and forgot about it until she heard the handle fall off and hit the counter. It had melted off, and a hole had just about burned through the top and burned the bottom of our cabinet. Fortunately it wasn't my toaster oven, but we're still waiting for her to buy us another one. And almost a month later, some our cups still smell like smoke.......

where the wild things are trailer

2009-03-28T10:18:00.001-05:00

This movie looks weird but strangely awesome and I can't wait for it to come out. Enjoy:

meet peggy

2009-03-09T15:36:00.005-05:00

So this past weekend Tim and I went home for a little birthday celebration in honor of him. We had a scavenger hunt in the yard and the neighborhood so that he could discover a special birthday surprise! Here's the tail end of it....

I love how he says, "There's a car there now." Silly Timbo, he had no clue. He thought he was getting a box of cookies or something.

Delicious goodness from Mom.

The PeggyMobile in all it's glory (I named her Peggy after the lady who sold it to us and after Gramma Wood because it's a mawmaw car).

Leather interior, baby!

Fortunately she doesn't look too 'mawmawish'. I'm just happy to have my own set of wheels now!

kittens!

2009-02-22T22:31:00.002-06:00

I know I have been pretty lame lately and only sporadically posted random videos...........deal with it. I think I've forgotten how to blog regularly, and I probably won't remember until the semester is over. So until then, enjoy!

killer banjo skills

2009-02-02T12:01:00.001-06:00

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Steve Martin plays the banjo. Here's a cute song he and his band played on SNL.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

no lion, this is for real

2009-01-26T08:39:00.000-06:00

I want one!

The best thing in life..Everlasting friendship Amigos para siempres @ Yahoo! Video

snl clip - diane sawyer and dick cheney

2009-01-23T20:40:00.001-06:00

If any of you are familiar with Diane Sawyer I think you'll enjoy this. Kristen Wiig has her mannerisms down to a tee, and it's pretty entertaining. I know it's not as 'revolutionary' as Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin, but it's still funny and pretty dead-on, in my opinion

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

this semester's shedyule (that's how the brits say it)

2009-01-23T20:08:00.002-06:00

After a few threats on my life about how my first post is from Christmas, I suppose I should put something new on here. A LOT has happened in the past few weeks (my 21st birthday, school starting, a trip to Natchitoches, my two best friends are ENGAGED...to each other, etc.) but of course, I'm at work so I can't upload pictures which means I can't really talk about any of those topics.....except maybe school. So here's my semesterly analysis of my new classes:

Government of Louisiana, T. Wayne Parent (MWF 9:30-10:30) - how could anyone think this would not be a fun class? It's Louisiana, and it's government, and mixed together they are pretty darn entertaining. My teacher is cool and apparently he is friends with lots of politicians. He's going to have Jay Dardenne (our secretary of state) and Bill Cassidy (one of our US representatives) and maybe the author of one of the books we have to read, Jed Horne (he wrote Breach of Faith) come talk to us so that will be pretty nifty. We didn't have class this past Wednesday because he went to DC for the inauguration, and that meant I had absolutely NO class that day and could sleep in til 9. He got his undergrad at LSU and his PhD at IU.

France since 1770, Benjamin Martin (TTH 9-10:30) - this one might be a doozy, but I'm loving it so far. My professor is a great lecturer with a gift for the flair and dramatics. Ben had him for the same class when he was at LSU, and referred to him as "brilliant, but a little arrogant and can be crude sometimes". I don't know if it's possible to teach French history without being a little crude sometimes, but so far he's kept the class PG. I have to read a hugenormous book by midterms so that's a little intimidating but it's pretty good so far (Peasants into Frenchmen). All I can say is that I will never be late for that class. The other day this guy walked in late as Dr. Martin was telling us about Louis XVI, "Marie Antoinette's uncle told her of Louis what I would say about this young man: he is not altogether an idiot." Ouch. Tuesday morning he told us in all seriousness, "You cannot be insolent. You will die. You will be destroyed." Take a chill pill, buddy. It's going to be an interesting semester. He got his PhD at UNC - why does that not surprise me?

Louisiana to 1815, Paul Hoffman (TTH 10:30-12) - this class is right after my previous one and in the exact same room. Are you kidding me? So I am in the same chair for three hours for two history classes and on the fast track to developing carpal tunnel. Nonetheless, I really enjoy this class so far. My teacher is sweet and nerdy. On the first day I wasn't too sure about him because he came in wearing a Florida tie, but that's where he got his PhD and they just won the national championship so I'll let it slide. Yesterday when he realized he didn't have the right powerpoint he said, "Schnoodley doodley, I left it at home." I love it when people come up with their own expletives instead of using the same old, same old. Anyways the class is fascinating. We have been looking at all these old maps and figuring out when Louisiana was really discovered by what geographical points are on the maps. It's uber cool.

Then I go to Day Institute from 12-1. Pres. Riggs teaches and there are only about four of us in there regularly. This semester we are discussing the Pauline Epistles. I didn't want to add my scriptures to the weight I carry in my backpack so I dug around my room and pulled out my green pocketsized Gideon's Bible (I never knew the colors meant something!). Pres. Riggs likes to make fun of me because unfortunately it is the "new translation" and there are no footnotes, so I might cave in and bring the real deal.

Cajun French IV, Amanda LaFleur (TTH 1:30-3) - my last semester!!! This class reminds me of high school. There are about 16 of us and we've all become friends and stuck together for the past 3 semesters so we have some good times. We've been talking about nationalities and the history of the Acadians, which is much more interesting than passé composée and all that jazz. Yesterday we were talking about how the Acadians' religion really affected their culture and Mme. LaFleur said, "Like the Mormons in Utah", to which I spit out like a reflex, "I'm a Mormon!" Time seemed to stand still as everyone turned and stared. The lone Mormon in a roomful of Catholics. I suppressed the urge to jump up and run out of the room and then the clocks started working again and I regained consciousness. Just kidding. There was a slight pause and then Mme. LaFleur told us about when she and her family went on vacation to Utah, and how everyone at the restaurant they were at was clean cut and polite and some of them spoke French with her family because they had done their 'mission work' in French-speaking countries. She said their servers were a little taken aback when she asked for a glass of wine but other than that it was a very pleasant experience. Classic. I love Catholics.

After this class I head to the third floor of the library to read and/or take a nap.

Companion Animal Management, Laura Gentry (TTH 4:30-6) - this class is entirely a guilty pleasure. I had Dr. G for my animal science class last semester and I LOVE her! She is very bubbly and enthusiastic and chipper and has lots of great stories. I don't know if I am going to make it to the end of the semester without getting a puppy, though. I used to have my heart set on a Great Dane, but now I'm leaning towards a Catahoula Cur (pictured to the left, and our state dog!), Border Collie, or an Australian Shepherd. Dr. G's in-laws had two half Border Collie, quarter Aussie Shepherd, and quarter Blue Heeler dogs - talk about pretty much the smartest dogs ever. She told us how they had an underground fence system (the dogs wear a collar and when they get close to the line they get a warning beep until they back away) so the dogs would stay in the yard but whenever they drove off to town or wherever they would get a call from their neighbor, telling them their dogs were loose. Impossible - they wouldn't go through that electric fence, but they went home to check anyways. The dogs were in the yard, just as they should have been. The next day the same thing happened, and they went home to check and their dogs were there. After a few days of calls, Maw-in-law stayed home to watch what would happen while Paw-in-law drove off. As soon as the diesel-engine truck was out of earshot, sure enough the dogs made a run for it. So they checked the collars and found that the batteries were dead. The batteries were replaced, but a few days later they dogs got out again, so they replaced the batteries again. Once again, the dogs got out whenever they would leave, but would be back in the yard by the time the in-laws got home. They finally figured out that the dogs would stand in the beeping zone until the batteries in their collars would die and then whenever they heard the truck leave they would bolt. When they heard the diesel coming back down the driveway, they high-tailed back into the yard. Now those are some SMART dogs.

So one class on MWF is pretty nice, so I can go home and study and chill before I have to go to work. On Tuesdays I am on campus for 13 hours because we have Institute from 7:30 to 9 pm so it's a long day but I sure don't have trouble falling asleep. Hopefully I can stay on top of things this semester, and sorry it seems as though I've written a short novel.

home for the holidays

2009-01-11T14:07:00.007-06:00

I went home for the holidays on Tuesday, December 23rd. It was weird to go home so close to Christmas, with all of the decorations already up. I did, however, place the proper angel atop the tree when I got home (I made that in 3rd grade). We had lots of fun as a family visiting friends and the elderly, playing Mormon Bridge and Scrabble, making and eating lots of good food,(my superior sugar cookies)(Momma doing what she does best)(Dad's got some work to do) watching movies, putting my Santa costume to good use, and reading the scriptures in a variety of languages. On Christmas Eve when we read the nativity story Tim read his verse in Spanish, Mom and I read in French, and Dad read his in Latin. When we were about halfway through I suggested that Dad read his verse like a Catholic monk or priest, like the Gregorian chant or something. It was very funny and a little distracting but I think Dad really missed out on his true calling in life - to spend his days in a monastery chanting scriptures! Anyways it was a good week and we had a fun time together.

2009 - the year of the best movies EVER

2009-01-07T18:26:00.002-06:00

Mary called me excitedly the other night, with a prediction for my future - "Sometime in November or December, you will be at the movie theater watching Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes." You're darn right I will! I had already heard about the movie, and discovered that not only will Robert Downey, Jr. be starring but he will be joined by none other than the drop-dead gorgeous Jude Law as dear Watson! Two of the most good looking people on the planet in one movie, hitting theaters November 20th. Strangely enough, this is also the release date of New Moon, but I already know which one I'll be watching at midnight. I am a Twilight fan but RDJ and Jude stole my heart long before Edward Cullen came around!Okay, so my second most anticipated movie of this year is X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hugh Jackman is another one of my favorites, especially after Australia (my favorite movie of this past year). Fortunately it looks like they've toned down Logan's hairdo a bit for this next flick.More movies coming out this year that I don't care as much about but will probably go see:

Star Trek - I've never seen a full episode of the show but Erica's dad practically raised her on it so we'll probably go see it
Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian
Land of the Lost - I am a little excited about this one - loved the show when I was little and Will Ferrell stars
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - definitely excited about this one but mad at the studios for postponing the release 8 months
G.I. Joe - so many childhood memories
Where the Wild Things Are - more childhood memories
New Moon - hopefully better than Twilight, but not likely
The Lovely Bones - one of my favorite books, and directed by one of my favorites - Peter Jackson

After reading over this post I've realized that yes, I am a nerd. Deal with it.

the best job ever

2009-01-07T13:57:00.002-06:00

Here's a little taste of how I spend my Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday evenings.

on the second day of christmas....

2009-01-07T13:53:00.003-06:00

Loren and I saw two (possibly turtle) doves on our patio a few days before Christmas. How special.

roomie christmas party

2009-01-07T13:28:00.005-06:00

On Thursday, December 18th, we had a little roomie Christmas party. Adam brought some smothered turkey wings and made a stew and Jon brought the ice cream. We had a nice meal and then opened presents! Loren gave me a really cute green sweater and Erica gave me a movie trivia game and an Iron Man puzzle. Adam hadn't got my present in the mail yet, so he gave it to me a few days later - a carousel horse that plays music (he loves buying random stuff online). I gave Loren the new Beyoncé CD, Erica a black skirt (because she's always borrowing mine!), and Adam a funny book about cats and a Superman mug. After we opened our gifts we had ice cream and a dance party courtesy of the new Beyoncé CD. Loren and Jon were pooped but Erica and Adam and I stayed up playing my new game. I won every time - which wasn't too surprising.My presents!

Erica attempting Beyoncé's pose on the back of the CD

The cute Santa socks Erica gave Loren

Enjoying a bit of ice cream

Cousin It!

not my gumdrop buttons!

2009-01-07T13:07:00.006-06:00

Here is visual proof that Loren can be 'domesticated'. We made some gingerbread cookies one morning a week before Christmas and had a blast decorating them.

Yes, that one is preggers

In this batch we have Rapunzel and Joseph and his amazing technicolor dream coat

And in this one you'll find Madonna, Governor Blagojevich (think - he's got lots of hair), and a veteran from Nam

If you look closely you can see the developing fetus on the pregnant cookie

institute council christmas party

2009-01-07T12:51:00.006-06:00

On Tuesday, December 16th we had our Institute Council Christmas party at Pres. Riggs' house. We had an amazing dinner of steak (at my request), funeral potatoes, salad, and rolls. Talk about delicious! We played the card game Scum and then White Elephant. The gift I chose turned out to be a Santa costume, which Pres. Riggs made me put on immediately. Hilarity ensued. Then we had one of my favorite desserts ever - homemade Mississippi Mud Pie. What a night!Sister Riggs fluffing my beard

Getting the belt just right

The finished product!

Hearing Jamie's Christmas list

Tim has been a good boy this year

Erica wants a pony

Pres Riggs will have to settle for a lump of coal for making me do this!

mental floss

2009-01-05T19:42:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everybody! I had a lovely time in Florida but now I'm back in BR sitting at work.....so no posts with pics tonight. To console yourselves check out these clever t-shirts. I was proud of my self that I understood all of them.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/store/home.php?cat=254

That link goes to the women's shirts, be sure to check out the regular and kids' shirts because there are a few other funny ones there as well.

cotton candy sky

2008-12-27T11:52:00.004-06:00

Two weeks ago on Saturday, December 13th, we had our ward Christmas party at our Bishop's house out on the Amite River. Erica and I, as the Activities Committee, planned it and we had a literal fireside as we roasted wienies and marshmallows at the bonfire and listened to our guest speakers. We had a pretty good turnout and it was fun. I didn't take any pictures there because it was dark but on our way out there the sun was setting and the sky was gorgeous!

simply having a wonderful christmas time

2008-12-22T10:59:00.003-06:00

Loren found a 6' tree for 20 bucks at Big Lots so she bought it for our apartment. It's cute and little and I love coming home from work at midnight to a dark living room lit by the tree's small red and white lights.

The top of our entertainment center has become a makeshift mantle for our Christmas cards.

scrutiny on the bounty

2008-12-18T14:47:00.006-06:00

Two weeks ago (Thursday, December 4th) Loren, Erica and I went downtown to see the HMS Bounty, which docked in Baton Rouge for two weeks. Loren and Erica had never heard of it, but I had vaguely heard about the mutiny and the movies made about it. When I heard it was in town I decided to read up about the boat and I discovered it was not the original (which was blown up after the mutiny in 1790) but a replica built in the 1960s for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando. It has been used in a few other movies, most recently the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and when I read that and told Loren and Erica, we just had to go see it. It had been cold all week and I had dressed appropriately but of course that day it was warm in the morning so I was only wearing a t-shirt and light jacket. By the time we got down there in the afternoon, however, it was fuh-REEZING and sooooo windy, too. I grabbed a scarf from Loren's car but that didn't help too much. Anywho the Bounty was docked down by the USS Kidd, which we plan to visit at a later date. Fortunatley we were the only ones on the boat so we got the VIP tour from a crew member. I got to turn the wheel that Marlon Brando, Clark Gable, John Wayne, and ORLANDO BLOOM and JOHNNY DEPP touched!!! I still haven't washed my hands (just kidding - Mary remember when you met Peabo Bryson?). I asked about the big round thing in the middle that looked like what they summoned the Kraken with in the Pirates movies. It's called a wench and he put some spokes in and let us turn it. Then we got out of the wind and went below deck to look around. Sadly we didn't really have time to read all of the facts about the boat because Loren had to be to work, but it was fun peeking around and meeting some of the crew. They sail around the country and dock in different cities for a few weeks at a time. One of the ladies was from England and was on the movie crew for Pirates but decided to stay on the boat when filming was finished. So it was a fun, but freezing, afternoon and now I want to quit school and join the crew! PS - we didn't really scrutinize the ship, that was just the only word I could think of that rhymes with mutiny.

The USS KIDDThe HMS Bounty

Loren and me freezing our nubs off!

Touching THE WHEEL (with the Mississippi Bridge in the background)

All the famous people who have been aboard the Bounty

The wench (the one in the middle) hehe :)

Funny faces

The captain's cabin

A cool little chest

The bow

A little cannon

The river sure is low these days

Goodbye Bounty!

winter wonderland

2008-12-18T13:03:00.000-06:00

Here's an email I sent to the fam a week ago (Thursday, December 11th):

I had a final at 7:30 this morning and I didn't go to bed until 2:30 am. I was past the denial, anger, and sorrow stages and had finally made it into the acceptance stage, knowing that there was probably no way I could do well enough on this test to get an A in my history class. I planned to get up at 5:30 and do some 'hail Mary' studying but I knew it wouldn't do much good. I was paranoid about sleeping late so I set my alarm clock, my tv, and my phone to go off. Fortunately I was able to get up and slowly and begrudgingly get ready for the day. I sat down at the table with my bowl of Froot Loops and was just about to start looking over my notes when I heard sirens. Why so many sirens at 6 in the morning? I had an idea, and ran to the sliding doors to see if I could possibly be right. I threw back the blinds and to my shock and sheer joy, my wildest thought was confirmed - it was SNOWING!!!! I mean really snowing, like all the cars were covered and there were a few inches on the ground and it was coming down steadily, just like in the movies. I really could not believe it. Now I know all you westerners are just shaking your heads, smiling a little inside at my naivities and dramatics, but seriously, it has not snowed in Louisiana and actually stuck to the ground since I was 12. And before that, not since before I was born. So this is kind of a big deal. Anyways I was so energized and excited but then I realized, "Crap, I have to drive to school in this weather. I've never driven in snow." So I quickly called Mom and Dad and awoke them from their slumber. They gave me a few pointers and I was ready to take on the day. I wrote a note for Loren and Erica, telling them to look outside, but I just couldn't leave it at that. I heard Loren's alarm go off so I started banging on her door and telling her to come out as quickly as possible so she ran out in her mumu and robe with a 'where's the fire?' look. "It's SNOWING!!!" and we ran to the door. I ran back to Erica's room and said, "Erica, get up! It's snowing!" She was up in a flash and we ran to the door to join Loren. I was running around and hollering like a little kid and Erica and Loren both called their moms. We saw a lady getting her two kids in their van and the kids just started pelting their mom with snowballs. It was so funny and cute. Erica and I went outside to take pictures and I got her right in the face with a huge snowball. I can't stop laughing, thinking about it now. I made another snowball and raced up the stairs and into the apartment and put it in the freezer. Loren was just laughing, we were all so happy. I wanted to stay and play, but I left by 6:15 to give myself plenty of time to get to campus safely and maybe study just a little bit more. I made it through my test and maybe, just maybe, I did well enough to squeak by with an A. Much to my surprise the snow was still there when I walked out of Lockett at 9:30. I thought the sun would come up and melt it all away, but it was cloudy and raining, a mixed blessing I suppose. Everything is so white and beautiful, it's like a completely different world outside. So now I'm home, I've taken a hot shower, and I'm about to make some oatmeal, study for my last two tests, and then take a nap.....or maybe I should nap first....

Here are some pictures I took throughout the day:

Erica and Loren peeking out the window

My snow apparel - a water-resistant jacket and a cap. Good thing it doesn't snow too often here!

Erica singing in the snow

A snow-covered Mike

See the palm trees?

So white and bright on the drive home

Pretty crape myrtle trees outside our apartment

The little snowman Erica and Loren built after I left for my test

Poor little snowman a few hours later - check out those curves!

Foggy moon

freedom

2008-12-17T19:54:00.003-06:00

Sorry it's been so long - I'm finally finished with finals and now I can breathe again. I got my grades today and I must say I'm quite pleased with them. I got an A in Marksmanship, Cajun French, History of Jazz, and Western Civ since 1500, and my B's are on both ends of the spectrum - I barely missed an A in Animal Science and I barely missed a C in World War II. I will admit that I didn't try too hard in the former but I worked my butt off for the latter so I'm happy. I was able to continue my streak of straight A's in all of my core history and foreign language classes but I'll gladly take a B for my first 4000-level class (WWII). I really enjoyed all of my classes this past semester, but History of Jazz was by far my favorite, and possibly my most favorite ever. I learned so much and my teacher was great. I can think of times when class would start and I would have this mindset that I wasn't going to enjoy the lecture (like on Latin Jazz, for example), but Dr. Grimes is very good at what he does and I always left the class with a ditty stuck in my head and wanting for more. The last week of class he brought in some other jazz musicians to play for us and it was awesome. Loren and Jon and I are planning on going to one of his concerts this weekend downtown at a local jazz club so that should be fun.

I know I've promised to post a few things but tonight is not the night since I'm at work and can't upload my pictures onto this computer. I planned on doing it earlier when I was at home but Adam called me up to hang out and we watched 'Iron Man' - and you KNOW I wouldn't pass that up. So maybe tomorrow......but I'm not making any promises.

Sorry......I couldn't resist. :)

hooray for saxby chambliss

2008-12-02T23:27:00.003-06:00

Congratulations to Saxby Chambliss for winning over in Jawja. Thanks to this clip from SNL, I actually know who you are!

about me

2008-11-24T22:12:00.001-06:00

Loren sent me this forward last week asking me to answer a few questions about her. It was fun so I sent it to a few friends and family members. These were the responses, some of which I find quite amusing. I've decided to add my thoughts on some of the answers.

MOM
Where did we meet: At the Natchitoches Parish Hospital
Take a stab at my middle name: Anne
Do I smoke: NO, you'd better not! duh
Color of my eyes: I'll say hazel, but you'd say green Definitely green, Mom
Do I have any siblings: 2 sisters and 4 brothers
What's one of my favorite things to do: sleep, be with little kids, especially your nieces and nephews all correct!
What's my favorite type of music: Frank Sinatra and 50's, 60's guys like that I actually prefer the modern knock-offs like Michael Buble and Harry Connick, Jr., but yes, I like that type of music
Am I shy or outgoing: It depends who you are with SO TRUE!
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: You like to think of yourself as a rebel, but thankfully you are pretty well-grounded when it comes to following the most important rules like the commandments. Once again, very true
Any special talents : I love to hear you play the piano. I also like the way you try to be sensitive to other people and their feelings. Aw, thanks!
How many children do I have: None of course, but how many do you want? I'm guessing 5 5 is about right
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring: Your pillows Amen! Good answer.

BECKY
Where did we meet: when you were born!
Take a stab at my middle name: Anne
Do I smoke: No, of course not!
Color of my eyes: green
Do I have any siblings: yep, six!
What's one of my favorite things to do: watch movies and talk to my sisters on the phone True, true
What's my favorite type of music: country or whatever is playing on the radio Wrong! I never listen to the radio anymore
Am I shy or outgoing: hmm...shy if you don't know people Correct!
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: both! A rebel sometimes, but you follow the rules that need to be followed! Correct!
Any special talents : great piano player, good with children and funny Thanks!
How many children do I have: none yet
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring: your laptop! Can't live without it! So true but there had better be wireless on that island.

LOREN
Where did we meet: Weaver ELEM mmhmm.
Take a stab at my middle name: Anne
Do I smoke: Nope
Color of my eyes: Green
Do I have any siblings: Yep, 4 bros and 2 sisters
What's one of my favorite things to do: Shoot guns Haha, yes, a new favorite
What's my favorite type of music: jazz right now? But most likely country all the time. I do love jazz right now, but country is not a favorite!
Am I shy or outgoing: OUTGOING depends on who I'm with
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: rule follower Yeah, for the most part
Any special talents : Speaking in British accents and impersonating Oprah. (Laughs out loud) Loren and I have lots of inside jokes.
How many children do I have: Zip Zero Nada None
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring: Robert Downey Jr. Oooh baby SO true!

MARY
Where did we meet: when Mom brought you home from the hospital
Take a stab at my middle name: Anne
Do I smoke: I'd kick your butt Haha I just got that!
Color of my eyes: smoky green I'm not sure about the smoky part
Do I have any siblings: uh...yeah
What's one of my favorite things to do: watch movies Now it sounds like I don't have a life
What's my favorite type of music: country WRONG!!!
Am I shy or outgoing: outgoing, very good at involving everyone, including those that are shy Once again, depends on who I'm with
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: totally a rebel, but in a good and funny way Hehe
Any special talents: writing in a very frank and entertaining style, including people in social situations, being a loyal and devoted friend. Thank ye!
How many children do I have: several are a twinkle in your eye right now...or do you just say that for men? Oh no mams I am for reals!
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring: a portable DVD player What about the DVDs? :p

ANNA
Where did we meet: how am i supposed to remember. u met me first, i probably spit on u, haha Oh Anna, you slay me
Take a stab at my middle name: anne with an e, lol Right you are, missy!
Do I smoke: i hope things haven't changed that much...No No, they haven't changed that much
Color of my eyes: uh oh, blue! WRONG!! tisk tisk.
Do I have any siblings: just 6 of em
What's one of my favorite things to do: listen to music/soccer I do love listening to music but soccer is not so much a favorite any more
What's my favorite type of music: now this one i'm not sure...country! WRONG!!!!
Am I shy or outgoing: too outgoing some might say! haha. love ya, but you can be shy... Oh come now.
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: you're a wanna be rebel, so yes rebel. I'll give you some points for this one.
Any special talents : kick butt goalie! great friend. ooh la la, pianist! I don't know about my goalie talents these days, but thanks anyways!
How many children do I have: pshhh, none
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring: emily your reversible doll...haha, naw kidding, but an ipod or mp3 playa! Kudos for the Emily suggestion

So, all in all, y'all did a pretty good job - except for the whole favorite music part! I guess everyone thinks country is my favorite because I like countrified stuff, but no, it's definitely not my favorite type of music. I love all kinds of music so it's hard to put a finger on a favorite, but I do love 50s swing-type music and jazz (especially Duke, Dizzy, Miles, Brubeck, Ella, and of course Satchmo). Also Nickel Creek bluegrass type stuff and anything with killer piano and/or fiddle parts. And John Legend (r&b singer - bet ya didn't expect that one!) and definitely Johnny Cash (which isn't really country). And tons more I can't think of now.... To quote someone whose name I can't remember, "Music should make you want to sing, dance, or pray". Amen, brotha.

the name's bond, james bond

2008-11-14T23:58:00.010-06:00

Last night I went with a few friends to see the new James Bond movie, 'Quantum of Solace', at midnight. Although it was late and I have so much schoolwork to do, I just had to go. First of all, I haven't been to the movies in two months (which is a really long time especially since I went to the movies once a week this past summer), second of all, I needed a break from the real world, and thirdly, Daniel Craig is kind of the bomb diggity. And every second of lost sleep and the 50% I got on my animal science quiz this morning was totally worth it.

Let me explain myself. I really like watching good movies, I guess it's like a lame hobby that I have or something, and going to the theater is definitely the best way to enjoy a good movie. Midnight viewings are my favorite, because even though it's late you know it's worth it because only people who really want to see and enjoy the movie would be crazy enough to go that late and therefore you don't have the usual rude whispering, texting people getting up every twenty minutes to get more popcorn and go to the bathroom or annoying middle and high schoolers who only come to canoodle with their forbidden boyfriends or girlfriends unbeknownst to their parents. And then there's the whole superior mindset that you get to see the movie before most everyone else, so you can talk about it the next day amidst your droopy eyes and yawns.

More explaining - I don't go to the midnight showing for every movie I want to see, just the ones that I know won't disappoint. Now with the James Bond movies that's a special case. Before Casino Royale came out in 2006, the handful of Bond movies I had seen were utterly wretched. Sean Connery is classic, but I never cared for all the sexual innuendo and cheesy dialogue. And Pierce Brosnan - gag me with a stick (I haven't seen any of the Roger Moore ones or whoever the other two were that no one remembers so I can't hate on them, but I'm pretty sure they're not much better). But this new Bond, Daniel Craig, is awesome, and his movies have become more action-packed and visually stunning and less perverted and corny. Many of the fans of the original movies dislike the new Bond because he's more of an action hero and less of a fornicator, in my personal opinion. Deal with it. Blonde is the new Bond, baby. He is ripped, rugged, his eyes are piercing, and Mary's personal favorite - he purses his lips (haha).

Enough about him. The movie itself is pretty doggone amazing, and it has just about everything you could ask for in an action movie - a car chase, boat chase, motorcycle chase, airplane chase, and a few plain ole running on foot chases - and that's just the chases. There were plenty of great fight scenes, some that were very Bourne Ultimatum-esque, and of course there was the usual villain trying to take over the world. So yeah, definitely worth the $7 (hooray for student discounts!) and previously stated consequences. And don't you worry, I'll probably be over this little obsession within a week or two. Now the real question is why am I still up at 12:30 the night after? I'm so sleepy.............

you can vote however you like

2008-11-11T17:45:00.003-06:00

Check out this video I saw the other day. These kids are quite impressive.

Happy Veteran's Day! Remember the reason for the season.

voting stinks

2008-10-27T21:16:00.004-05:00

I got my absentee ballot in the mail today. Maybe most of you were excited to vote in your first presidential election, but I sure am not. There are NINE parties to choose from, but every single person with his or her name on this ballot is a BOZO. I got quite a chuckle from seeing the candidates of the the Louisiana Taxpayers Party - Ron Paul and Barry Goldwater, Jr. No, not because Ron Paul found a way to get onto the ballot but because I have fond memories of digging through Mom's stuff and seeing a 'Goldwater '64' pin when I was younger. So maybe I should vote for them - NOT. Maybe I should vote for the Prohibition party, best known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. Or the Constitution party, which aims to reflect the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. That sounds good to me, since apparently everyone else wants to change what our founding fathers put in place. What about the Green Party? Well, since I'm not a hippie or a lesbian and I'm an advocate of women shaving their underarms I'm gonna have to say no (both of the candidates for this party are women - also another turnoff). Definitely not going to vote for the Socialism and Liberation or Socialist Workers parties, because they're socialists, of course. So I guess that rules out the the Democratic party as well. That leaves me with the Independent party and the Republican party. Good ole' Ralph Nader, running in his umpteenth election, gets an 'A' for effort but not my vote. So by process of elimination I'm going to vote for John McCain. I think he is a jerk and old as dirt, but at least he's experienced and shares more of my views than any other candidate.

So yeah, this whole thing is retarded. For me, this election isn't about voting for who I want, it's about voting against who I don't want. And the person I don't want is Barack Obama. There, I said it. I don't want Barack Obama to be my president! I know I'm not as politically savvy as some of y'all, and I don't claim to be, but from what I do know about Obama, I don't particularly care for him - to put it nicely. I saw this little slogan the other day and it made me laugh:

NObama '08 - you can keep the Change

So that's my political post for the year (hopefully). I'm grimacing as I'm bubble in the circle next to John McCain/Sarah Palin. I just have to remember that I'm proud to be a CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN and I like guns, unborn babies, and marriage between a man and a woman. We'll see what happens in a week to determine whether I move to Canada or not.

history dilemma

2008-10-20T20:54:00.002-05:00

So in the midst of midterms it's time to start thinking about next semester since I will be scheduling soon. I LOVE picking new classes and planning out my schedule. I plan on taking two or three history classes but there are so many to choose from! I've narrowed down my choices quite a bit but I still can't decide. Help me choose by letting me know what y'all think would be the most interesting.

Hist 4004: Rome of the Caesars (T Th 12:00 - 1:30)From the death throes of the Republic and the assassination of Julius Caesar to the Golden Age of Augustus, the Principate of the early dynasties, the military monarchy and the rise of Christianity, leading to the New Rome of Constantine. Political and military developments provide the framework, but due attention is given to Roman society and culture; Roman relations with other peoples (allies and subject peoples, but also Rome's external enemies); Latin literature; the absorption of the Greek world, and the changing shape of the Imperial City itself. Two midterms and a final exam; two five-page research papers (or one paper and a class project); moderate reading load (mainly selections from ancient historiographers and imperial biographies). One or two film presentations. Prof. Steven Ross (I had this guy for Western Civ to 1500 and he is a pretty good teacher).

Hist 4022: France Since 1770 (T Th 9:00-10:30)This course covers the principal political, social, economic, and intellectual developments in France during the last two and a half centuries. Special emphasis is on two topics: how the government evolved from absolute monarchy to republic, with interruptions for constitutional monarchy and empire, and how the French people experienced the social and economic changes resulting from this political upheaval. Required reading: four books; required testing: midterm examination and final examination. Prof. Benjamin Martin.

Hist 4052: American Revolution, 1763-1789 (T Th 10:30 - 12:00)At the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War, the British Empire in North America stood at its zenith. Yet within twenty years after the end of that war, most of Great Britain’s colonial possessions in continental North America had been violently and conclusively separated from the empire. History 4051 examines the origins of this conflict, the directions that it took, and the contentious new nation that it produced. Among the topics considered are political theory and ideology; political and social conflict; the lives of common people; war; and the Constitution. We will hone our skills in analyzing these people, places, themes, and events through readings from documents and scholarly texts, short writing assignments, group debates, a midterm essay, a research paper, and a final exam. Prof. Mark Thompson.

Hist 4055: The Civil War (T Th 10:30-12:00)A lecture course on the history of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The course includes both political and military subjects from the origins of Southern secession to the beginning of postwar Reconstruction. Readings include a basic narrative text and shorter, specialized paperbacks. There are two essay examinations—a midterm and a final. The final exam covers the entire course. This course is also listed as Military Science 4055. Military strategy and engagements comprise approximately 40% of the class time. There are two 80-minute class meetings per week. Prof. Charles Royster.

History 4071: The Antebellum South (T Th 9:00-10:30) This course covers the history of the American South from the colonial period to 1861. Topics that receive particular attention include: slavery from its beginnings to the mature institution, with treatment of origins, the slave world, and the master-slave relationship; the nature of the southern economy; the white social order; the southern mind; political history from the Revolution to the breakup of the Union, emphasizing the connection between the South and the nation. Prof. William Cooper.

Hist 4073: Louisiana to 1815 (T Th 10:30 - 12:00)Political, economic, and social development of early Louisiana. Essay exams; possible project. Prof. Paul Hoffman.

Hist 4140: The Vietnam War (T Th 3:00-4:30) French colonial rule and Vietnamese nationalism; Ho Chi Minh and the war against the French (1946-1954); The National Liberation Front (Vietcong); process of American involvement and disengagement; counter-insurgency and the air war; anti-war movement in the United States; reasons for failure of American policy; Vietnam since 1975; lessons and legacies for the U.S. Prof. Stanley Hilton (I have this guy for WWII right now and he is a great teacher).

Hist 4197: Scandals in American History (T Th 12:00 - 1:30)Beginning with Benedict Arnold (the first "American" traitor) and ending with President William J. Clinton's sex scandal while in office, this class will ask how scandals reflect the changing political conditions of democracy. We will examine not only why scandals happen, but how these controversies act as a public forum for debating some of the most fundamental issues of democratic politics. Political scandals have never been merely personal tragedies. As public events capable of triggering moral and legal crises, they can be understood (in the words of the British scholar John Thompson) as "political struggles fought out in the symbolic realm." In most instances, scandals contribute to the ongoing debate over what is dangerous to American democracy, invoking (at times exaggerating, even distorting) palpable fears of deceit and secrecy, sexual disorder, racial impurity, social violence, tyranny and anarchy. As we will see, political scandals are more than an entertaining sideshow to the normal activities of democratic governance. By creating a public and national forum, they shape the shifting norms on state power and constitutional authority, the moral expectations for political leadership, and the very language of nationhood. There will be three take-home exams. Required readings: John Marszalek, The Petticoat Affair (2000); Michael Les Benedict, The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1973); Eric Rauchway, Murdering McKinley (2003); James Madison, A Lynching in the Heartland (2001); Keith W. Olsen, Watergate: The Presidential Scandal that Shook America (2003). Additional readings in course packet. Prof. Nancy Isenberg.

video links

2008-10-20T20:37:00.002-05:00

So apparently some of y'all weren't able to view these videos I embedded, so I'll just post the links for your viewing pleasure. Here is the Lawrence Welk one:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/the-lawrence-welk-show/727501/

Here's the 'Can We Get Playback on That?' one:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/haunted-house/40717/

Here's another video Bishop Deford recommended - in honor of Momma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D8uu5NSLTY&feature=related

Enjoy.

spaced out

2008-10-10T17:25:00.005-05:00

Enough with the bathroom humor. I took an astronomy class my freshman year (which I loved!) and my teacher told us about this website called 'Astronomy Picture of the Day'. I found a gadget that let me put it on my blog so everyone can check it out. If you hadn't noticed, it's below my 'About Me' section. If you click on the picture it shows you a much larger version and tells you a little background info. I found this picture the other day that shows what Earth looks like at night:

I also found this supercool site that has all of the pictures that the Hubble Space Telescope has taken. All of the pictures are nothing short of amazing. I don't understand how anyone could not believe in a higher power after seeing these. Anywho, check them out at http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html and let me know which one is your favorite.

can we get playback on that?

2008-10-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

The other day I remembered this skit I saw on SNL a couple of years ago. I thought I'd share it to give y'all a laugh or two:

the lawrence welk show

2008-10-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

I know Tina Fey as Sarah Palin is getting all of the publicity on Saturday Night Live recently, but this skit had Erica and me rolling on the floor laughing the other night. I don't know if y'all will find it as funny, but I've watched it like five times and I still can't stop laughing each time I see it. Enjoy!

blinky

2008-10-06T19:58:00.002-05:00

Sunday night before Tim and I had to head back to Baton Rouge I wanted to get some pictures with my favorite little nephews east of the Mississippi. Matthew, of course, is a pro when it comes to this:

But it took quite a few tries for my little Nugger Bugger:

Nope! Wrong again! Getting a little better! At least he's smiling in this one.Almost perfect....

Finally!

I know these guys would do this for me any day, but it sure helped that I bribed them with AirHeads and my old Beanie Babies!

I love being an auntie (isn't Jonathan's shirt the coolest? I wish I had one like it)!

it's good to see old friends again

2008-10-06T19:45:00.000-05:00

It was great to see old friends at church that Sunday, as well as when they came over for the big party! Here are 3/5 of the Bishop's kids, who I used to babysit. They're so big now (Genevene, Bess, and Leah)!
I also got to see my BFF Julia, who I've known as long as I can remember. She was always the only other Mormon girl who was closest in age to me - I am exactly ten months and two weeks older than her. Now we're all growed up!

home sweet home

2008-10-06T19:29:00.006-05:00

When we walked in the door Mom and Dad were making pancakes for supper - yum (breakfast for dinner was always quite common in our household)! Of course I always insist that I make a few of my own - gooshies, as I like to call them - because I don't let them cook all the way so they're still raw in the middle (and, no, they have never made me sick!). I did make a few normal ones including this tiger pancake for Matthew:The next morning Becky treated us to Shipley's donuts and kolaches (more yummy breakfast foods - can you tell breakfast is my favorite meal of the day?). I think Jonathan got a hold of the camera and took some pictures of us:

And then Joseph took a picture of me in my pj's, which I stayed in until about 4 pm:

Here is Momma and the watermelon that she grew in the garden! Now that is pretty impressive:

When at home, it's inevitable to escape helping out (I'm lovin that BRIGHT orange, Jofuf!):

converted

2008-10-06T19:19:00.003-05:00

While the Shulers were in town, we visited LSU and of course the gift shop by the stadium. I think I've converted them and made a whole new family of Tigers!

(Don't worry, they didn't buy any of this merchandise!)

callin' baton rouge

2008-10-06T19:05:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago Becky and her family came through Baton Rouge on their way to Natchitoches for Danny's homecoming (we joined them on the last leg of the trip). I did my best to show them the biggest attractions in town.

1. My appartment, complete with LSU furnishings:

2. The Baton Rouge temple:
Thquinty-eyed thisters (the sun was bright!):
3. The Indian mounds on LSU campus:
Older than the pyramids in Egypt!
I love this picture - Matthew has some great dance moves:
4. And most importantly, Mike the Tiger, who napped for most of our visit:
A more lively replica:

This looks like a mama protecting her baby:

consequences

2008-09-29T19:40:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Gustav really shook up Baton Rouge. In the days after things were pretty dang rough. There were trees and power lines down everywhere, all of the stores were out of everything, and a curfew was instated. I heard this is the hardest Baton Rouge has been hit in over 50 years. Yeah, things were pretty rough, but I think our boy wonder Governor Bobby Jindal did a great job. It really ticked me off when after the worst of the storm was gone, the news media (except the local of course) just about completely stopped covering it. Just because we did things right this time and nobody in New Orleans died, they don't care about it. As you know Hurricane Ike hit Texas pretty hard and they got coverage for a couple of weeks afterwards. Our governor told everyone, "If you are in an area that has a mandatory evacuation and you don't leave, we're not coming to rescue you afterwards." Galveston had a mandatory evacuation but about 100,000 people stayed and they are still being rescued, therefore they get all of the media attention. I'm not trying to hate on Texas or be insensitive to those who have to be rescued, but that just really irks me. It reminds me of repentance - you can repent up until that last minute before the end but once it comes you're out of luck, buddy. But I don't want to be one of those people who keeps on harping about the storm way after it's over. I don't regret one bit staying and I learned a lot and definitely became more appreciative of what I have.

Anyways of course the Church aided greatly in the clean-up efforts. The first Sunday after the storm we had Priesthood from other parts of Louisiana as well as Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. We asked (Erica and Brittany and me) if girls were allowed to help they said, "Sure!". So we went home and changed and then helped chop up a HUGE pecan tree across the street from the stake center. I got to work the chainsaw for a little bit because all of the other guys with us were missionaries and they weren't allowed to use it. That was fun. When we were about halfway done these four guys in a truck pulled up and asked if they could help - they had four chainsaws - and we had that sucker chopped up in no time. They were good Southern boys and had been driving around cutting up trees for pay. Apparently they weren't having much luck today since all the Mormons were out working for free so they stopped by and helped us out. And they were cute! Brittany and I 'rested' on the grass and enjoyed the show :). Afterwards we helped with filing and organizing stuff at the command center in the stake building. It felt weird to work on the Sabbath but it was such a testimony builder to me that first of all the church is so organized and then that so many people just want to help for nothing in return (like those frat guys....I should have given them a pass-along card with my number on it....). I love this picture that JJ took:

LSU started back up Monday the 8th, and we were informed that since we missed a week of classes our fall break would be cancelled and we would have classes on a few Saturdays. I don't care so much about missing fall break because I have to work that weekend anyways but I am not going to class on a Saturday. Fortunately all of my teachers feel the same way. :) The curfew of 10 pm stayed in place until Thursday the 11th. I usually don't get off of work until around midnight so I was a little worried about being pulled over. Sure enough, Wednesday night the cops stopped me. Three of them came up to the car and I showed them my work ID and said timidly, "I work for the state, I just got off." The one at the window was kind of taken aback and said, "You work for the Department of Adminstration?" in a surprised tone, because the DOA is kind of high up. I told him I was a student worker and he made me explain my job and then they let me go. Whew! I knew they couldn't give me a ticket or citation but I'd never been pulled over before so it was a little scary. Another result of the storm is that I have 'been on poverty' for the past few weeks. Because I missed work my paycheck was a lot smaller and because the power was out for five days I had to throw all my food in the fridge away. So, I don't if I should tell y'all this but oh well, I think it's kind of funny - Erica and I went and applied for food stamps last week. She was denied because she has too much money in her bank accounts, but I got a 'Diaster Assistance' card worth 162 bucks! I've never been one to support welfare but it was either this or asking Mom and Dad, which I've certainly done enough of. I can't wait to go shopping tomorrow, as I've been eating crackers and pop-tarts for the past few weeks. Well, I guess that about wraps up my hurricane story. Now I can move on with my life! Hope you enjoyed it.

finally!

2008-09-29T18:49:00.001-05:00

After our midnight jaunt to the Red Stick (literal translation of Baton Rouge in case you didn't know), we all slept in pretty late Friday morning. We didn't eat breakfast until about noon! I made biscuits, Adam made bacon, Erica made eggs, and Ms. Cindy made grits, and we ate good! Erica and Adam and I finally finished the movie we had started a few days before, and then I did homework while they cleaned up outside. Poor Ms. Cindy's fridge broke (a day after she had just restocked it) so Erica and I went out hunting for ice. We were able to find some at Winn-Dixie, our second stop. The lines weren't too bad and there were National Guardsmen at the door. Fortunately the neighbors let Ms. Cindy put most of her stuff in their fridge so she was able to salvage everything. Erica and Adam and I played cribbage and then we had grilled hamburgers for supper. We finally got that blessed phone call from JJ telling us our power was back on for real this time. So we packed everything up and headed home. I spent the next few hours cleaning, doing laundry, vacuuming, scrubbing everything, and spraying air freshener all over the place. You have no idea how amazing it was to sleep in my own bed, with the fan going and the a/c on........ Here are the last of my 'video diary entries'. The first are two are when I was waiting for Adam and Erica to finish packing so we could go home and the last is a wrap-up.

false alarms

2008-09-29T18:27:00.000-05:00

At one point while I was sleeping Thursday morning, I felt something scratching my feet. I remember thinking, "Why is Erica tickling my feet?". Later on I felt something crawl onto my shoulder and then jump off. When I woke up I realized Adam's devil cat Olivia had been biting my toes and using me as a launch pad whilst I slept on the kitchen floor. And people wonder why I hate cats. We decided to head to Erica's parents' in Destrehan to escape the heat so we packed up and hit the road. We had to bring Adam's other cat, Hercules, with us because Adam had to give him medicine twice a day. So of course I had to sit in the back of the car with 'Hurricane Herc' and pray that he wouldn't poop on me. I think this cat's mother ate crack when she was pregnant with him because he has some serious mental problems. He is deathly afraid of people, he's constantly twitching, and sometimes he's cross-eyed. Adam sure knows how to pick 'em! He is kinda cute though (he's a mix between a Siamese and a tabby).
Anyways we made it to Ms. Cindy's and we all took showers and then basked in the a/c. After supper we played card games and Blokus. After Mr. Rick went to bed we got a few calls from people who thought they had seen Pebbles so Ms. Cindy decided to drive up to Baton Rouge and look for her. At first she just wanted to go by herself but then she was kind of scared to so Erica said she would go, too. I was fine with staying there and watching a movie with Eli but Adam really wanted to go. They kept telling him no, because Pebbles wouldn't come to him anyways but he pulled the 'I'm a Marine, I can protect y'all' card so they conceded. Ms. Cindy told me that Mr. Rick would probably wake up around one and be really mad, and I was like, "Heck, I don't want to stay here, can I come with y'all, too?!" So I tagged along as well. Unfortunately, we looked for an hour and had no luck, so we headed back to D-han. While I was searching, I made a few more 'video diary entries'. Enjoy.

fliers and floors

2008-09-23T14:06:00.006-05:00

Adam, Erica, and I spent Wednesday making 'Lost Cat' fliers and taping them up everywhere. Remember we still didn't have power so we had to write out each flier by hand. I don't care for cats and Pebbles has no significance to me but I helped out because I would hope that Erica would do the same for me. And then there was the minor detail that I had absolutely nothing else to do. In the afternoon we went to Adam's and played Mexican Train from 12 to 0. It took us about 3 hours to finish the game, but it was fun and the best part was that we moved his kitchen table and laid on the cold tile floor. Now that felt good! We got a few calls about Pebbles so we looked for her for a while around our complex. Turns out there are two or three other cats that look very similar to her so it was just a big waste of time. When dusk came and the mosquitoes started coming out I headed inside to our apartment, where I had the brilliant idea to start a 'video diary', like what they have on reality shows. I've decided to post a few of my entries for y'all's viewing pleasure. Keep in mind that I'm kind of being silly but for real at the same time.

When Erica and Adam finally gave up looking for the cat Erica helped me clean out the fridge and freezer. It was kind of depressing to fill up three garbage bags with food. It smelled a little funky so we wiped everything down and left the doors open before we headed to Adam's. We decided to sleep on his floor because it was much cooler than sleeping in our second story apartment. JJ had charged the laptops at a friend's so we put on a movie - 'The Brothers Grimm'. Right at the most crucial, exciting moment, the laptop completely died. It was so dead we couldn't even get the DVD out to put it in another computer and finish it - so that was kind of lame. Fortunately Adam found a battery operated mini-fan in his other roommates truck (who had evacuated with his girlfriend and neglected to tell us it was there) so with that and the cold tile floors, we almost slept comfortably, temperature-wise. Just in case you didn't know, sleeping on a tile floor is not very comfortable, comfort-wise, so oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Growing Up Can Be Fun

trick or treat

girlfranz

april fools'

i love to see the temple

happy pi day!

l'hotel shuler

the art of a preview

national geographic photo contest

on this day

these are a few of my favorite things

handy

categories

DO try this at home, fellas

youtube goodness

mini-vacay

real men tap dance

rock chalk parrots!

back in nauvoo

the old missouri homestead

old nauvoo

epic fail

happy mother's day!

duke basketball

final push

swoon-worthy

valentine's day

snow day!!

a little something I forgot to mention...

three months later...

NephCure Walk

flying high

mcconaugHEY!

roller coaster

time travel

exclusive sneak peek continued

institute council summer party

transformers: revenge of the sleep deprivation

they're baaaa-aaack!

exclusive sneak peek

happy father's day!!

happy valentines

pardon my absence...

movie review time

happy mother's day!!

the longest time

j'ai fini!!!

for jared

a new version of twilight

a mother's love

general conference

spring formal

tower of BOMs

smokin' hot!

where the wild things are trailer

meet peggy

kittens!

killer banjo skills

no lion, this is for real

snl clip - diane sawyer and dick cheney

this semester's shedyule (that's how the brits say it)

home for the holidays

2009 - the year of the best movies EVER

the best job ever

on the second day of christmas....

roomie christmas party

not my gumdrop buttons!

institute council christmas party

mental floss

cotton candy sky

simply having a wonderful christmas time

scrutiny on the bounty

winter wonderland

freedom

hooray for saxby chambliss

about me

the name's bond, james bond

you can vote however you like

voting stinks

history dilemma