Lost

I'm not one of those people who can just sit and watch a TV show or movie - I have to be doing other things.  So this week I'm off work (yay!) and I decided to finally get around to watching the last season of Lost.  I set up my Wii to stream Netflix (so cool!) and I've spent the last few days watching this very exciting, very stressful and at times horribly sad TV show.

I have two more episodes to watch and I still can't believe I've remained "unspoiled" and really have no idea what's going to happen in the end. I thankfully can send my sister text messages when shocking things happen but I want to talk to you, dear readers, as well.  In case you are still planning to watch, I'll speak in code.  Why oh why did X, Y, and Z have to die?  How did I not know that a certain West Wing actress was going to play a pivotal role? And what they did with a main character this season just kills me. Kills me, I tell you!

Anyway, I have to say, it's excellent TV but it's painful TV which makes it even harder to watch without something else to do.  So here's a list of what I've been doing whilst watching Lost:

1. Laundry. Three loads today, in fact. Clean sheets tonight = heaven.

2. Eating.  Christmas leftovers put Thanksgiving leftovers to shame.  From ham sandwiches on homemade bread to my mom's best she's ever made peanut brittle, January 1st can't get here soon enough.

3. Throwing out piles of paper.  I need to be better about throwing stuff out in 2011.  I keep way too much stuff.

4. Playing Fruit Ninja, Scrabble and Cut the Rope on my iPhone.  Seriously, such fun games. My high score on Fruit Ninja/arcade is 430.  How about you?

Hope you all are enjoying your holiday break as much as I am.

This is my confession

I may or may not have switched the tags and traded gifts with someone who is on vacation until January and has no idea we were given said gifts.

Why?  Well, I wanted the scent she was given:

instead of the one I was given:

Would it help to know that she can't have anything scented in her house because of allergies and will more than likely just give it away?

Yeah, that worked for me.  It also worked for my other coworker who decided she wanted my original candle so she traded the vacationing co-worker too.

Yeah, yeah, we'll tell her what we did. 

Probably.

Full heart

Here's why:

I went to the temple yesterday morning with dear friends, carrying my darling new bag given to me by my bosom friend, Kim.  (My bag is super cute - black and white damask. My old one was about 15 years old and in dire need of replacing.)

I spent the day yesterday celebrating the marriage of a girl I adore to her cute husband.  Anna was a beautiful bride and she and Zach were just so happy the entire day. The reception was beautiful too. Tricia, the mom and my baking buddy, did an amazing job creating a winter wonderland at the church.  Three huge trees in the center of the cultural hall.  Touches of pink, silver and white everywhere.  Just beautiful!

I sat with Anna's darling sister Adrian at the luncheon and loved catching up with her and her equally cute husband, Aaron.  To top it all off, Robert was there too.  I love that family! It was a perfect day.

Today I taught Relief Society.  It's so not something I'm comfortable doing but I made it through.  I'm so grateful for the women who speak up and help fill the time.  I worried I would run out of material but thankfully it all worked out okay.

I felt inspired to do something for someone I love today and I'm so glad I did it.  She was grateful and so am I for inspiration and the means to help those who need it.

One of my former young women is home from a semester in Jerusalem and told me that she wrote my name on a piece of paper and placed it in the Wailing (Western) wall while she was there.  It was all I could do to not cry when she told me. 

I'm so blessed.  I'll try not to forget next time I'm feeling sorry for myself.  Really!

Why, why, why?

Why hasn't "Love Actually" been on TV yet this holiday season?  I can't watch this movie unedited because, well, it's got some pretty bad stuff in it.  But edited, the movie is just sweet and romantic and set during Christmas and it should be on TV at least once this month.

Why are the treats at Trader Joe's SO good?  From the dark chocolate covered caramels to the peppermint Joe-Joe's (so good used in Oreo truffles instead of plain Oreos) to the dark chocolate covered shortbread stars that my pal KMZT surprised me with today.  Trader Joe's knows how to do treats.

Why did it take a trip to Portland for me to realize that Salt City Candles now makes melters (a la Scentsy?)  I used to sell their candles several years ago and have hoarded a few of my favorites because I still believe there is not a better scented candle out there. That being said, I enjoy the Scentsy premise (i.e. no flame) but haven't really loved any of their winter/holiday scents like Salt City's.  I happened upon a kiosk in the mall when I was in Portland and thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  I currently have Victorian Christmas going in my cute Scentsy red snowflake warmer and next it will be either Candy Cane or Christmas Trimmings. So dang good.

And finally, why oh WHY did I agree to take the early shift tomorrow??  I have to be at my desk at 7 AM.  I am feeling the pain already.  Ugh.

Good news, bad news

Good news: my Christmas shopping is done minus 3 gift cards.

Bad news: my tree is not up.

Good news: my mom has wrapped all of my family's gifts for me.  She is seriously the greatest.

Bad news: I haven't wrapped any of my friend's gifts yet.  Gotta get on that.

Good news: I had a great time in Portland with Michelle last weekend.  We stayed in kind of a funky hotel near the airport.

Bad news: when I got there, I realized I forgot my brush.

Good news: I bought this one at Target and I have to say, I think it makes my hair so soft.  It's kind of amazing. It has to be the brush because I've changed nothing else.

Good news: Burgerville has peppermint chocolate milkshakes (a chocolate milkshake with crunched up candy cane) and yukon gold french fries.  We went there twice.

Bad news: the nearest Burgerville is about a 90 minute drive from my house (this could also be good news.)

Good news: our trendy hotel had an awesome TV with high def.

Bad news: no outlets in the actual bathroom and super strong pot smell in the hallway as we left Sunday morning.  Dear Aloft, no we will not be staying with you next December.  Thanks, anyway.

Good news: work is incredibly busy but great.  I love our new office AND I got a totally unexpected bonus.

Bad news: My calling is still so hard.  My meeting this week went until 10:45 PM on a work night.  Oh and we accomplished basically nothing in the 3.5 hours we met. I'm learning and growing, I'm learning and growing...

Good news: I'm going to bed at 10:00 on a Saturday night.  Yes, I rock.

Oprah is OOC*!

OOC = Out Of Control.  Yeah, I'm sick again, it snowed a bunch and paralyzed all of Western WA, I'm obsessed with all things Harry Potter, and we moved to a new office at work, but instead of blogging about any of those exciting topics, I'm gonna blog about Ms. Winfrey and her fantastic shows of late.

Almost every day, I'm amazed at what Oprah has on her show.  Sure, I still have the shows I delete without watching but for the most part, I turn on the TV and cannot believe what she has to show us.  Also, I'm totally loving the softer hairstyle these days.

Interested in seeing a reunion of the cast of Sound of Music?

Well, of course they would be on Oprah. And yes, I cried while watching it.  I will freely admit that I'm a dork.

How about Marie Osmond talking for the first and only time about her son who committed suicide?

Check.  Did you catch Marie's comment about her previous marriage where she said "you marry at the level of your self-esteem.  You have to have self-worth."?  Simply brilliant - like, I got goosebumps listening to her say that.

Wondering about the Cast of the Color Purple 25 years after the movie first came out?

Wonder no more.  I loved the very beginning where Oprah and Whoopi talked about how they thought the other was mad so that's why they hadn't spoken in years.  Such a good reminder to not let time pass without communicating with your loved ones.

Ever dream about seeing an interview with Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford together?

Yep, she had them on too.  I only watched The Way We Were for the first time about 5 years ago and loved it. And the tour of Barbra's home?  Wow.

Have you been wondering whatever happened to Phil Donahue and other former talk show hosts?

Well, here they are! My friend went to see Phil's show back in the day...it was about adults who liked to dress up like babies, for, um, fun. I have forever imprinted in my mind my friend and her sister's look of disgust when they were shown onscreen.  Hilarious.

How about Shaun Cassidy?

Oh my goodness - a big ol' check.  Seriously?  I loved Shaun Cassidy.  I subscribed to Tiger Beat and I thought he was just dreamy.  He sounded great singing a medley of his hit songs - watch the video here.

I could talk more about other shows I loved (Oprah and Gayle go camping!  Makeovers with Carson where one of the ladies comes out looking like a red-headed Cruella DeVille! Two whole days of Favorite Things (and the only two things I really wanted were the shiny red Coach bag and the Garrett's popcorn tin!)

But really, I can hardly wait until tomorrow's show with Garth Brooks.  Love. Him. His concert was one of the best I've ever seen.  Yes, ever.

I'm gonna really miss Oprah when she fake-retires and goes to her new network. How about you?

Celebrity Sighting!

I never see celebrities.  I think some people are famous-people-magnets.  I am not one of those people.  I never see anyone.  Oh there was that time 20 years ago when I met John Stamos at a car show (oh I need to dig out that photo) and of course, Pioneer Woman last April but basically, that's it.

But today?  Oh, I got lucky.

I was standing in a store that shall remain nameless (because it involves a little birthday surprise for my mom and she reads my blog.)  Anyway, I looked out the window as I was waiting in line and saw a famous person walking by, pushing a cart filled with groceries.

Do you want to know who I saw?

Okay, I'll tell you.

But wait!

Are you ready?

No seriously...are you ready?

You might think you're ready but are you REALLY ready?

Okay. 

The person I saw walking by was...

SHAMBO from last year's Survivor!

I know, right??? So dang exciting.

Her hair was a lot longer (still cut in a massive and major mullet) and she looked a lot tinier than she did on TV but it was definitely her.  She's a local.  For realz.

I really wanted to chase her down and say hi but it was dark and rainy and I didn't want to scare her.

But cool, huh?  An actual celebrity, like, 3 miles from my house.

So tell me a famous person you've seen...just try and top Shambo.

Family pictures

My mom's birthday is this week so we got together on Saturday to do a little celebrating by taking a family pic, which we haven't done in ages.  My brothers weren't crazy about it but played along with our gray/pink/denim theme.  My sister's friend, Miss Andrea (she's my friend too, so there) very kindly came over and took our pictures in my mom's front yard.

In the rain (I am loving Jen's "work!" pose.)

With bossy girls telling the photographer what to do. 

And boys who weren't the least bit excited about being there (but they faked it well, don't you think?)

But I love the pictures and the cute girl who took them.

But most of all, I love the people in them.

You are where you belong.

I struggle in my calling.

There, I said it. 

I have yet to feel completely comfortable as my stake's secretary to the young women presidency, even though I've been in this position for six months.  There are a lot of reasons why but mainly I often wonder why I'm serving where I am. 

I am a highly skilled invitation maker, paper cutter user, email sender, minutes taker, and thank you card sender.  And let's be honest, I do a lot of those same type of things as my actual paying job. 

But I frequently wonder why I'm in this calling where I'm often reminded that I'm not the same as the other presidency members and in my own pity-filled mind, less than everyone else.

I've gone back and forth wondering if it's a pride thing and I really don't think it is (completely -- because let's be honest, pride is always a factor, people.)  But I don't need to be in charge.  I don't need to be front and center.  I don't need to lead.  I don't need to be the decision maker.  Yes, every calling is important.  I know this one is too.  I just want to feel like what I do really matters.  I felt like my work mattered when I was teaching music to the Primary children.  I knew I made a difference when I was assistant camp director.  But this?  I'm not there yet.

We had our monthly marathon (3 hours) committee meeting last night and I could not leave fast enough when it was finally over.  Why?  I was plainly told again that my role is not the same level as the other ladies in my presidency and I left feeling inferior to everyone else.  I know the guys who said it had no idea that they were hurting my tender little feelings.  But I'm an ultra sensitive girl (aka I cry a lot) and I left feeling crushed.

My friend Lisa saw the slight too and called me on her way home but I couldn't answer through my tears.  We texted back and forth and she told me things I know are true: we are all equal members of this presidency, your opinions are valued, the Lord put you in this position to be a voice, not to just take notes etc.

I know what she was saying was true but I still cried a lot last night.  Then I got an email notifying me that someone had written on my Facebook wall.

It was the cute girl pictured above.  (Now, that picture is several years old but I love this pic so much I had to put it on my blog.  It was crazy hair night at YW camp 2005. You should have seen her on stage trying to win. I wish I had it on video.  She WORKED it.)

Anyway, that cute girl had done the whole "like this post and I will give you a truth" status update on FB.  I've ignored all of them until today and clicked "like" to her post and went to my meeting.  At 11:10 last night, she posted this on my wall:

you are such a great example and strength to me. you are always serving others and putting their needs before your own. you are where you belong. without your influence and love my girls would not be thriving as they are today. including me. you are so strong and loved. i know that you will be greatly blessed for your amazing spirit and kindness to others. love you lots shawshawshaw :D

(Note: she doesn't have daughters -- I think "my girls" means the other girls in her age group.)
 
But I read that and instantly thought "Lisa told her what to write."  But Lisa saw it too and was as amazed as I was that this sweet girl could be so in tune that she said the exact things Heavenly Father wanted me to hear.  I hadn't even started praying - I was too busy crying.  But He knows my heart and sent me my own little message, through this darling daughter of God.
 
I'm not miraculously cured.  My heart  is still quite tender and I still don't know how to find that balance of being a vocal presidency member when in the minds of some, I'm not as important as the rest.  But, there is one thing I know for sure:
 
I am where I belong.

Three things I love

1. I got boo'd last night.  This cute little family I love and adore surprised me with these yummy cupcakes. 

I love that the girls thought of me when their mom asked who they should boo.  (In fact, this was the first time I've ever been boo'd in my life!) I loved listening through the door as their dad warned the girls that I might answer the door quickly.  I loved making a big fuss (for effect of course!) when I saw the cupcakes outside my door and I especially loved seeing a cute blonde head in their car duck really quickly so the surprise wouldn't be spoiled.

2. I loved this story my sister, Jaylene posted on her Facebook.  She took her kids to the pumpkin patch and told her four year old son, Jax, to go catch a chicken (knowing there was no way he could catch one and trying to do so would keep him occupied for awhile.)  One minute later she heard Jax say "Mom?" and she turned around and saw this:

I still can't believe he caught one! He's so dang cute.

3. I love Grover from Sesame Street.  You can have your Elmo, your Kermit, your Big Bird.  I will always and forever love Grover most of all.  You've probably seen this already but seriously?  I love it and it needs to be on my blog.

A whirlwind weekend

I had such a busy weekend and I thought you'd all like to know what I've been doing the past few days.

Friday, I went to Portland with Boni & Lisa to a Stampin' Up Regional event.  We didn't want to have to pay for a hotel so we got up super early and left at 5:15.  Yes, that's AM.  When the sun finally came up, we kept seeing these huge flocks of geese flying overhead.  I got some pictures but they really don't do it justice.

Boni and I were obsessed with these geese.  I think we saw about 8-10 flocks flying overhead like this.  Crazy.

The best part of the day was getting to see my fabulous friend Shannon.  Isn't she pretty?

We started out as blog friends but we're for real friends now.  We were going to have dinner Friday night after the event but she was a little under the weather plus we were tired and dreading the drive home so we canceled.  Sigh.  Why do so many of my fun friends live so far away?  (Yeah, you know you who are.)

We got home Friday night around 9 PM and then Saturday morning, I was out getting new tires on my car by 10 AM.  Then I went to Trader Joe's (why oh why can't I have one closer to my house?) and then to see The Music Man that the next stake over was putting on.  The leads used to be in my ward and it was super fun to see them in the show.  My cute friends Skyla and Lily were also townspeople and it was so great to see them up on stage too.  (No pics...just imagine the cute costumes and stage makeup.) Skyla is 10 (I think?) and she apparently spotted me in the audience from the beginning and she was so excited to come hug me afterward.  I write this so I will remember to keep going to things like plays and concerts because it makes the people in them so happy when their friends and family attend.

Then Saturday night was the adult session of Stake Conference (great meeting) and then a stake youth dance. I got home at 11:30 PM.  Ugh. Long day.

Sunday we had an 8 AM "fireside" for the youth with our visiting general authority, Elder Ringwood.  Then conference at 10 AM which ended a few minutes early so I was home by noon.  I ate lunch, then took a  short nap (mmmm...nap.)  My home teachers came over at 4:00 (which means I had to pick up a little because my entry way was filled with shoes and bags.)  At 6 PM I went to a YW in Excellence night. I came home at 7:30 and was in my pajamas at 7:35.

What did YOU do this weekend?

Put a Fork(s) in it!

I had a fun little getaway this past weekend.  My friend HJ and I like to take at least one weekend away together every year and we chose Forks for this year's trip.  If you read or go to the movies, you know a little bit about Forks (aka the home of the Twilight series.)  It's a little town on the Olympic Penninsula of Washington state, about four hours away from my house.  Oh and FYI, I'm terrible at the self-portrait.

We stayed at a very darling little place called the Quillayute River Resort.  It's a former fishing lodge that this couple has renovated.  I loved it from the minute I opened the front door.  Each of the units (only six units in the entire place!) has a little living room, dining table, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.  I loved the gas fireplace in the living room and the heated tile floor in the bathroom.  It was beautiful weather while we were there but just above freezing each morning.

The kitchen had the cutest little retro style appliances.  We brought all our own food (I made my favorite chicken tortilla soup, HJ brought stuff for BLT's and then we had lots of veggies, fruit and chips to snack on in between.)

The river was literally 20 feet from our front door.

So pretty!  It was sunny and blue sky the entire weekend.  We totally lucked out!

The ocean was a short four mile down the road and we went there Saturday morning.  A big ol' deer jumped in front of my car as we drove there (a 4 point buck, thank you very much) but thankfully, I was driving slow enough to stop before hitting it. (Sorry - no picture. We were too busy freaking out at the time.)

The beach was just beautiful.  We wished we'd brought chairs and our books (and probably a blanket) and if we had, I think we would have stayed all day.  There is nothing more entertaining to me than watching the waves.

We spent a few hours walking up and down the beach and HJ collected a bunch of rocks for various projects (she's an art teacher.)

Later we drove into the bustling metropolis that is Forks.  There are Twilight references everywhere.  We went into three little shops in town and all were chock full of Edward & Bella stuff.  My favorite thing was watching the 14-15 year old girls oohing and ahhing over everything in the stores.  Here's a pic of me in one of the stores in front of the Forks High School replica lockers. I drew the line at putting my head in the headless Bella body standing in between Edward & Jacob.  And yes, I have ugly tennis shoes on (for the beach, people!)

We went back to the resort to read and relax in the sun.  We had fun watching the people fishing on the river. 

The next day we drove the long way home so we could see more of the beaches and the Olympic National Forest.  I want to go back and go to this place:  Ruby Beach.

  

It was just beautiful and there was a lighthouse out on the island behind me. Oh and you probably can't tell but taking this picture scared me.  I wouldn't step over the guardrail because it was like a sheer dropoff to the beach below.  Heights freak me out.  

And yes, I did in fact wear my slippers pretty much the entire weekend. That's part of the reason why this was one of the best weekends ever.

Well, hello (an update)

1. I've been sick for the last three weeks and found out today it's bronchitis.  Antibiotics (875mg, thank you very much), cough syrup with codeine and an inhaler later, I'm finally starting to feel more like myself.

2. I saw Secretariat on Monday night.  It was very entertaining and exciting, even though, hello, we totally knew what was going to happen.

3. Kim and I went to see a play and left at intermission.  It had no redeeming qualities and we held out no hope for it improving so we left and felt great about it.

4. I went to the temple with one of my former Laurels who will soon be leaving for a mission.  Oh, how I loved being there with her and boy do I love her.  She's something special and the people of St. George, UT are SO lucky to be getting her for 18 months.

5. I'm going to Forks, WA this weekend.  No, not for the Twilight stuff but I will keep an eye out for the Cullens.  My friend HJ and I will be staying here - I'm excited.  Maybe even excited enough to take pictures that I will then post on this here blog.

6. (Note to Vanessa, stop reading now) The Sister Wives people will be on Oprah tomorrow night.  Cannot wait.  The only Oprah show I'm looking forward to more is the one coming up the end of this month where she will reunite the cast of Sound of Music.  Can you even imagine how wonderful that's going to be???

Gotta go watch Iron Man 2 starring one Robert Downey Jr. 

Sigh.  Isn't he just dreamy?

Sister Wives - for real this time

Okay, I've given you all a few days to watch it...so have you?  Sister Wives is a new TV show on TLC on Sunday nights.  It's a reality show about a polygamist family:  one husband, three wives (soon to be 4) and 13 children (soon to be plus 3 stepchildren.)

Here's is the main man...Kody:

I cannot get past the hair.  At.  All. Especially when they show him first thing in the morning and his hair is all over the place.  Cut it, Kody.  Let.  It.  Go.  Short hair doesn't make you less of a man, Kody.  I promise.  Anyway, he also drives a mid-life crisis sports car, which struck me as kind of funny (and cheesy) for a dad of 13.

Here are the wives (the one with the dark hair is the new one that Kody is "courting" right now.)

The original three wives and Kody have been together 15+ years.  They live in a big house (built by other polygs) with lots of doors and kitchens so the three wives all have their own homes within the home.  Kody's stuff is spread all over the house because he moves from wife #1's bedroom to wife #2's bedroom etc. every night.

Kody has some sort of sales job.  Two of the wives work and one of them (the pregnant one, 2nd from left) stays home with the kids.  The older kids go to polyg schools and everyone sort of co-parents everybody's kids.  We see them praying together, eating meals together, working in the yard together, etc.  Very very "normal" except for the whole polygamy thing.  Oh and they also point out that they aren't LDS.  Instead they call themselves fundamentalist Mormons.  All but one were raised in plural families (so crazy that there are so many out there.)

I have been thinking about this show all week...especially since the news this week said they were being investigated for bigamy.  I think I have a hard time with the police coming after them because, hello, there are a lot of things that should be being investigated out there.  HOWEVER, if they are getting welfare benefits or whatever, yeah, throw the book at them.  But with three of the parents working full time outside the home, wouldn't they be  making enough money to pay their own way without government assistance?  Yeah, yeah, yeah, they are breaking the law I guess but did he legally marry wives 2, 3 and 4 or did he just ceremonially "marry" them?  I guess you can also make a case that their life may be hurting those children but it's also all they know and they seemed pretty happy and well cared for...but I don't know what to think.

What do YOU think?

And hello, could I possibly have used more " " marks in this post? 

First time blogging with an iPhone?

Fail. 

A real Sister Wives post to come later.  Yeah, you KNOW you can't wait.

What to do when you're sick

To continue my trend of two blog posts a month (so very sad, I know...) I figure it's long past time to check in with you.  Maybe you've been wondering what I'm up to?  Well, I'll tell you.  I'm sick.  I've got the fever/body & head aches/coughing but no nasal congestion illness that I'm thinking is the flu.  I don't recall ever having the flu before but it's been a year since my last flu shot and I'm thinking those things sort of wear off eventually, right?  Anyway, this is what I've been doing the past few days that I've been housebound:

• Coughing a lot.  Okay, okay.  That's not very exciting but I may or may not need a little sympathy to help me get better.  I seriously sound like a 3 pack a day smoker. It's not pretty.
• I finished reading another Sarah Dessen book, "Just Listen."  I liked it a lot but it took me longer to get into.  I think the jumping around to the past then back to current time writing style bugged me the most.  I'm not a patient reader. Next I'll be reading "This Lullaby."
• I sorted through my retired Stampin' Up inks and ribbons.  For my few stamping friends out there, you can surely feel my pain...I haven't even touched the cardstock yet. 
• I watched the Emma Smith: My Story movie after watching the RS broadcast.  So loved it.  I loved it even more after seeing the Joseph Smith movie last summer because it had the same actors. I really, really, really don't know how Emma lived through all that she did.  Really.
• Cancelling visits from my home teachers.  I hate doing that but one of them also has an immune system I'd classify as weak and I certainly do not want him to get this sickness.
• Accepting meals from my bosom friend Kim.  She gave me pasta one night and then brought me taco salad (enough for two days!) and a warm brownie that I at first thought was black beans.  Ha but yum.
• Skipping out on the play Kim and I had tickets for, not going to the movies with Mr and Mrs KMZT and missing the stake youth dance. Sigh, sigh and woo hoo, I mean sigh.
• Watching a bunch of TV shows I've TiVo'd...Chuck (not the same without Jazzy & Phil but still good), Hawaii Five-O (meh), Oprah (being kidnapped would not be fun), Blue Bloods (Donnie Wahlberg + Tom Selleck = dreamy.)

Here's hoping you've been having a more fun & productive weekend than I have.

Stuff I'm thinking about

1. I love "The Sound of Music" and it makes me happy when it's on TV back to back because then I can watch it twice. 
2. Haircuts feel great (no change - just trimmed up the layers on the ends.)
3. My mom makes really good potato salad and I love that I go to her house and she has a container for me to take home plus a bag of homemade caramel corn.  Yeah, not really WW food but it's a holiday weekend, right???
4. My goal for tomorrow is to clean out two closets.  I want to get rid of the stuff in them that I haven't looked at in ages to make room for all of the other stuff that needs a home.  Yes, I have too much stuff.
5. I've said this before but I love Dean Winters.  His Allstate commercials make me very happy.  Yes, it's partly because he reminds me of a certain Mr. something or other but I also just find him to be very enjoyable. 
6. I fnished my third Sarah Dessen book, "Keeping the Moon."  I'm like a broken record but until you all start telling me you're reading her books too, I will say it again.  Her books are so GOOD.  Next I'm reading "This Lullaby."  My mom started reading her books too and also loves them.  Nobody is too old for young adult fiction, people.
7. My sister and her family are at Disneyland so she's texting me these totally awesome pictures of them on roller coasters and they make me laugh so much.  Excuse the fact that it's an iPhone photo of the roller coaster photo but you can hopefully get the idea.  Matt's in the back covering Jen's eyes and then Matthew is kind of hidden.  Next is Kenzie in her Minnie ears, Nathan and Natalie.  Such hilarious facial expressions.

My current obsessions

So to make it through the month of August with more than one blog entry, here are some things I am obsessed with at the current moment:

Sarah Dessen books. I know, I know. I just blogged about her books last week.  But I am 2/3 of the way through my second one, "Along for the Ride," and I called my mom today to reserve a couple of more from the library because I envision myself reading my way through the upcoming holiday weekend.  I cannot express to you how interesting, fun, thoughtful and easy to read these books are.  Love, love, love them.

The Angry Birds app. for the iPhone. Holy cow, people...I cannot stop playing this game.  I started with the lite version (lite = free in Apple language) and quickly realized I needed to spring for the 99 cent full game.  Really great graphics and funny sound effects.  So.  Much.  Fun.

The "Say Yes to the Dress" TV show on TLC.  I love watching it because a. people are kind of crazy and ridiculous in what they will spend on a wedding dress and b. Randy & Keasha.  Love them.  I am also amazed at how rude some of the "friends" and family are to the girls trying on dresses.  Like, not even close to helpful and outright mean.  I would get fired as a consultant because I would kick those people out of the store.

And...I think that's it.  Here's hoping for more interesting things to blog about in September!!

August summary

It has been nearly a month since I blogged last.  Why?  I really don't know.  To catch you up, here is a nice neat bulleted summary of what I've been doing since I last signed in to this here blog:

• Attended a four hour stake YW meeting.  No, I am not exaggerating.  I wasn't sure how busy I would be in this new calling but guess what?  I'm busy in this new calling.
• Attended a few more camp meetings.  One of them was to discuss names of people who could replace me as assistant director next year.  That felt weird.
• Kim and I sang at a funeral of a six year old girl from my ward.  Katie had serious health challenges but her death was still very unexpected and shocking.  She was a darling girl with a beautiful smile and we all miss her sweet spirit in our ward. You can probably imagine how emotional this funeral was so I prayed hard that I would make it through our song without crying (we were asked to sing For Good from Wicked - yes, an encore after we sang it last February.)  Heavenly Father totally did me a solid and I made it through without breaking down.  I'm still not a singer but I think it went okay. Kim wrote a great report about it here.
• I took Amtrak to Vancouver, WA to visit my friend Patty and her family.  The train was easy, quiet, inexpensive and took the same amount of time as it would to drive.  Patty drove me back home so I only took it the one way but I'd totally do it again.
• I went to two different Coach outlet stores while visiting Patty and bought nothing.  Yes, you read that right. NOTHING.  I thought this deserved its own bullet because it really was that amazing an occurence.
• I'm watching but not totally obsessed with "Bachelor Pad."  Most of the time, I forget it's on until about half way through.
• I'm thinking seriously about giving up my home phone and just using my cell phone.  Should I?  The only people who call me on my home phone are my mom, Kim and solicitors.  Decisions, decisions.
• I started reading my first Sarah Dessen book, The Truth About Forever, based on Janssen's glowing recommendation and I am absolutely loving it.  It's a teenage girl book but totally engrossing and just super sweet and lovely.  There are about a dozen or so swear words (that warning was for a cute girl I know who reads my blog...)
• I baked two carrot cakes, made three pans of scotcheroos, tried out this fantastic tortellini salad (seriously, make that salad) and these red velvet cupcakes for various birthdays and events this month.  Okay, let's discuss the red velvet cupcakes for a moment.  Can I just say, I still can't believe I made something so pretty? They sure had a lot of frosting on them but they looked and tasted amazing. (If you want to make them using this recipe, it made about 28 cupcakes and if you frost them like mine, you will need an extra half batch of the frosting.)

And there you go...a link-filled tour of my August, so far.  Was it worth the nearly month long wait?

Bachelorette - Men Tell All

So with all of my camp preparations, I totally fell behind in my Bachelorette watching.  In the last two days, I've watched the hometown visits show that Holly (new mom of darling baby boy Gray) recapped and then last week's Tahiti episode that Lindsey (are you STILL on vacation??) blogged about.  If you haven't already, go to their blogs immediately and catch up.  I'm heading there shortly myself.

Now, on to this week's show.  Please note that I cannot in good conscience call this blog entry a recap because hello, last night's Men Tell All show provided next to NO new information.  It was two hours of total filler and all it did for me was entice me a tiny bit into watching Bachelor Pad.  So I guess ABC can feel like their job is done.

In a nutshell, last night's show consisted of:

• a whole bunch of clips of stuff we've already seen
• Ty looking way cuter than he ever did on the show (I think it was because his sideburns are shorter)
• the guys yelling at Weatherman (who was wearing yet another ridiculous jacket) for being a putz
• Kasey singing again (but this time, it was funny rather than creepy)
• a whole bunch of shots of mostly dressed to the nines girls in the audience disgusted and/or shocked by you-fill-the bachelor's-name-in-the-blank's antics
• a commercial for the Bachelor Pad show
• a preview for next week's finale

It also included an interview with Ali where we learned:

• She should never trust her first impressions because she initially thought Justin the wrestler was a good guy when really, he's well on his way to being a serial bigamist
• Listening to Kasey sing was very awkward for her (I would have used the word painful, Ali, but that's just me)
• Ali wouldn't have kept Kirk around if he hadn't shown her his scrapbook week one.  Um, am I the only one who totally forgot about the scrapbook? 

The best part of the show was the blooper reel.  My favorites were the one where we got to see Craig the lawyer speaking Spanish to Roberto only to realize that Weatherman knew Spanish too and My Boyfriend Chris Harrison coming out to announce the rose ceremony trying to clink his spoon on a plastic champagne glass.

Other than that?  It was a total waste of time to watch and therefore, a waste of my time to recap.

Now, with that being said, I'm totally excited for the finale next week.  My prediction is still that Ali will pick no-one but if she does pick someone, I'm really hoping it's Chris.  And not just because I find him enjoyable to look at (when his hair isn't overly pointy or he isn't wearing that lame periodic elements t-shirt.)  They just seem like a better fit for long term (and I use that term VERY loosely.)  But Roberto seems like a good choice too so that's why I'm expecting her to pick neither because why on earth would she pick a good guy, right?

What's YOUR prediction???

Stuff I don't want to forget

Stake YW Presidency.  Love my pigtails with mismatched scrunchies!

I'm back from camp, physically exhausted and in dire need of sleep but I wanted to write down a few thoughts before the details leave my mind forever.  It was a wonderful week filled with faith-promoting experiences, a whole lot of laughing and hardly any sleep.  It hurts a little to think this was my last year as assistant director but I know I'll enjoy a little more time to myself next year and feeling a whole lot less stress.

I never want to forget the night that I woke up to a voice telling me "now" and seconds later, I heard one of the girls having a nightmare.  She was trying to get out of her bunk, crying, and not sure where she was.  I spoke to her through the darkness of our longhouse and calmed her down until she was able to go back to sleep.  I'm so grateful for the prompting to wake up at just the right time.

I want to always remember the transformation of one of the girls who started the week not talking to anyone and separating herself from everyone else.  By the end of the week, she talked more, participated in everything, helped whenever asked and willingly prayed in front of a large group.

I want to remember welling up while watching my girls lead our camp song.  It starts out rough at the beginning of the week as they figure out their roles and gain confidence but by about Wednesday night, they are working together, a tight-knit and cohesive group.  The camp song (one that the girls write themselves) talks a lot about friendship and special things about our camp.  Seeing them singing together made my heart fill with joy.

I want to never forget how wonderful it was to be reminded how much Heavenly Father loves us.  Two of my girls prayed to find a pair of glasses lost by one of the younger girls in the river.  They prayed two separate times and before long, found the glasses in the murky river. I love that Heavenly Father reminded us that He hears and answers prayers - even for small and simple little things like a lost pair of glasses.

We do a special program for the girls and I never want to forget the look on their faces as they realized all that we had planned for them.  I never want to forget what it felt like seeing them be touched by the spirit that was present.  That moment of looking into their light-filled faces totally made up for every bit of stress I've felt over the last year. 

I want to always remember hugging one of the girls when she asked if I could be her mom.  She had just realized that I don't have any children and this sweet girl doesn't have a mom in her life.  I of course gladly accepted.  She promised to call me the next time she needed me at three in the morning and I promised to always answer the phone.

I never want to forget walking through the camp and singing to the other levels and realizing that this was one of my last opportunities to do that and crying my way through the songs.

I want to remember the laugh the girls made up using my last name:  shawshawshawshawshawshaw.

Even though we camp in stake-wide age-group levels, we do ward testimony meetings on our last night.  I loved ours but want to remember how I was dying to get back to the girls in my level so I could tell them how much I loved them and how grateful I was for each one of them.

I want to remember coming back from brushing my teeth on the last night and the girls surprising me with a little photo album they'd made just for me.  I thought I'd cried every tear possible but, um, no.

I never want to forget that moment on our final day when we were done with clean up and the girls had been given their tickets to leave.  But instead of rushing off to find their rides home, we all stood in a circle looking at each other, not wanting to leave.  A couple of girls left but then nobody else moved from that circle.  We talked about the reunion party we are planning, laughed a little and continued to just stand there, soaking up that last bit of togetherness.  Then I suggested we say one last prayer together and we did.  We hugged and then they all slowly left.  I've never in four years worked with a group of girls who were more tight knit.  I've always had amazing 2nd YCLs.  Always.  (And if you're one of my former 2nd YCLs, you KNOW I thought you were amazing too!) But this group of 14 girls was different than any other.  There were no cliques, nobody was mean to the girls who were different, everyone got along and they all understood the significance of this being their last year attending Young Women Camp.

It was such a gift from my Father in Heaven to be blessed with this special group of young women for my last year in this role.  I truly am blessed beyond measure.

Good and bad: pre-camp edition

Good: my friends Bret & Tammy had me over for dinner tonight and then Bret packed my car.  Remember last year?  Bret has mad car packing skillz.  I left their home feeling completely peaceful and ready for camp (well, I still have to pack the bathroom bags and finish writing my leadership training for Wednesday AM but other than that, I'm ready to go.)  Tammy isn't my assistant this year and I miss her.

Bad: Mom and I rinsed my cooler out with bleach and even though I was careful, I got bleach on one of my favorite black shirts.  Dang.

Good: I've been having trouble with CDs that I make on my computer...they don't always play anywhere except on a computer.  I had to make a total of 8 CDs for camp tomorrow and I made them all last night and then checked them this afternoon and every last one of them worked.  Such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father - truly.  I didn't know what I was going to do if I couldn't get working CDs (I bring the music for our camp song and for our YCL song plus a bunch of other stuff.)

Bad: I haven't been sleeping and I'm beyond tired.  I know I'll be fine once I get to camp but going into this week exhausted is not a great idea.

Good: I have such amazing friends who have just bailed me out all over the place with camp prep this year.  I have camp gear (both personal and YCL supplies) spread out to four different people because I don't own a big enough vehicle to take up all of the stuff (why they don't issue vans with callings like this, I will never know.)  Kim took a bunch of stuff in to get laminated for me when I couldn't get there on my day off.  Shanda has made labels and other handout-y things that I needed. Then we have Kara (private blog or I would link.)  That Kara has been just totally heaven-sent!  She's one of my former Laurels (Kim's oldest) and she just had a baby girl a few weeks ago.  She cut out name tags, wrote on all of my friendship beads and made my timeline (pictures later) 

Here's a picture of me with Kara's new baby Lorelai when she was just two days old and darling Jonathan.  Jonathan is just good for my soul.  That boy runs and jumps into my arms whenever he sees me and calls me Jeanellie.  Love him (and everyone he's related to - you know who you are!)

And finally, a personal note to my ready to deliver blogging friends Holly & Janssen:  if you have your babies this week, you have my permission to name her "Jeanelle."