The big night had finally come. The big night that Beth and I had been waiting for, planning for, talking about for months. The big night where Beth and I went out on the town...ALONE.
Only problem was, we couldn't decide what to do. A movie seemed in order, but which one? Moneyball, a critically acclaimed excuse to watch Brad Pitt move around onscreen, or Footloose, the feelgood, not exactly critically acclaimed shoutout to our childhoods?
Somewhat to my surprise, we chose the high road, opting for "Moneyball", and were soon nestled into our seats. And while the movie was well cast, well scripted and well acted, it also is apparently aimed at people who give a hoot about baseball. After an hour, almost as a joke, I leaned over to Beth and whispered, "You know, we could still sneak into Footloose..."
Imagine my surprise when my righteous, law-abiding sister sat straight up in her seat, turned to me intently and said, "We have to do it right. Now!" I sputtered, "Should we go one at a time?" Without missing a beat, Beth said, "NO." And before I even knew what had hit me, we were walking nonchalantly out of the theater.
We sauntered towards the bathrooms, hoping to look like two respectable middle aged women with incredibly weak bladders. Also hoping to pass the Footloose theater on the way. No such luck. After a pause at the bathrooms, we walked back, through the lobby and down the opposite hallway, at which point a security person broke away from a group of employees and fell into step behind us. We walked a little faster...so did she. We turned a corner of the hallway...so did she. I was seconds away from throwing myself at her feet and begging for leniency when Beth casually grabbed my arm. "Did you know I LOVE Liam Neeson?" she asked, pulling me over to look at a poster. And the security lady walked right by!
We waltzed into Footloose, to the sweet strains of "Let's Hear it For the Boy," and slid casually into the closest seats. Even the realization that I had just plopped into a handicapped seat wasn't enough to dampen the thrill. In fact, it maybe heightened the rush of being just a little bit bad.
So if you ever go out on the town with Beth, watch yourself. Sheesh, now I know where Rachel gets it.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Beth's Day Out
after much whining, i went to carrie's.
10 great moments of the trip:
after being dropped off, sitting perfectly still (for the first time in a LONG time), for 45 min, watching the red sunrise at the airport, decompressing into my trip.
the first bite of "greek scramble" at a diner for breakfast, with "cecelia" playing over the speakers
the first bite of lettuce wraps at thai food
the movie caper (see future post)
watching a long bearded guy with sunglasses, wearing a wedding dress, walk across the parking lot and open up the store we were waiting for.
making harvest soup and biscuits for dinner in a quiet, beautiful kitchen with no pressure, music playing, and then sitting on the front porch, good smells wafting from the house, reading my book, waiting for carrie and the kids to come back.
sitting outside with theo, with the rain coming down, listening to carrie playing the piano.
realizing that i LOVE boiled cabbage (WHO KNEW!?) at Matthews Cafe
snuggling / wrestling with my theo.
staying up late, snuggling and watching movies with carrie and iHappy.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
I Heart Old Friends
There were a lot of good things about our trip to Colorado this weekend, but my favorite was getting Lucy and Kelty back together. You may remember that they were born on the same day, and we celebrated their 1st birthday with matching cakes.
Of course we had to have a reenactment:
As we've moved around the world, it's meant a lot to me to stay in touch with the people that I came to love in different places. It made me really happy to see these girls, and hope that they really will be good friends forever. Aren't they cute?
Of course we had to have a reenactment:
As we've moved around the world, it's meant a lot to me to stay in touch with the people that I came to love in different places. It made me really happy to see these girls, and hope that they really will be good friends forever. Aren't they cute?
At least I didn’t die
Today made me reminisce about my terrible birthday last year, and I thought it should go in the record books.
It started going downhill on Sunday the 24th. I got called to be activities chair, the last calling I wanted (I actually thought, ‘I would rather be RS president’). The day was super stressful because I was informed there were a lot of activities I was now in charge of but that hadn’t been organized yet. For example, “There’s a regional fireside tonight you need to plan for” Oh really. “And we don’t have anyone to say the prayer or conduct or play the piano or bring dessert”. Uh huh. “…and you’re conducting the meeting” Of course. “And you’re in charge of FHE tomorrow”. Oh really. What’s been planned? “Nothing”. Oookay.
After a long day of meetings and planning and no food, I had 20 minutes to eat something before running off to the fireside. But when I opened my door, there was a huge pool of water on my floor! Water was leaking copiously from the ceiling and soaked through my bed, clothes, shoes, books, papers, rug, and blankets.
I started to try and salvage things and mop up, but I realized I had no time to do damage control and to make it to the meeting. I felt absolutely terrible, but decided I had to back out. But no one answered their phone. Not the bishop or his counselors, no one on my committee, none of the people I was supposed to give rides to. Finally I got a hold of one of my committee members and told him, while wringing out a towel, that he’s in charge now.
Feeling like a chump for bailing on my first day on the job, I finished wringing out blankets and towels, hanging up wet clothes and papers, and hair-drying books and pillows. I couldn’t get a hold of my landlady, either, so I set up three small pots and went to bed hoping the roof wouldn’t fall in on my head. I slept terribly, since there was a constant ploink-ploink noise, my bed was wet, and I had to get up periodically to empty the pots before they overflowed. At one point I was woken up by a 1am text from a friend wishing me a happy birthday.
The next day I woke up tired and unhappy and went in to work, where I had a really boring day and no one knew it was my birthday. One lady brought in muffins to share with the office… I pretended it was cake and that she made it for me. The one good thing was that I finally got a hold of my landlady, who said she’d send someone to check out the ceiling and start repairs.
I got home after work…and couldn’t open my door. The maintenance guy had locked both locks on my door, but I only had the key to one. I was locked out of my apartment on my birthday. And I couldn’t get a hold of my landlady or the maintenance guy. I tried breaking in with a credit card and jimmying the window-lock with a piece of metal I scavenged, but neither worked. Claire had set up a group chat with all of the sisters, which was the one thing I was looking forward to all day…but we had to postpone it. Obviously. So I just sat outside my apartment and I may or may not have cried a little.
Soon enough, it was time for the FHE I was in charge of. After a 40 minute drive making small talk with more people that didn’t know it was my birthday, two hours of pretending to be excited about some activity I came up with, and 40 minutes driving people back home…I finally got to my apartment, found the maintenance guy, and got inside. Phew. I decided to take a shower to relax.
I got in when the water was medium-warm, expecting it to get hotter…but it didn’t. It got freezing cold. So I rushed through and reached to turn off the water when it hit me…I had no dry towels. I had used them all, even the dish towels, to mop up the pool last night. What else could go wrong?! I jumped out of the shower to try and find something somewhat dry, but in my haste my heel got cut on the door of my shower and I started bleeding everywhere.
What a fitting end to a bad birthday - cold, wet, naked and bleeding on my bathroom floor.
…
The next day, we succeeded in having the group sister chat. Beth read a quote that was the theme for my birthday - “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die.”
But I still have a scar.
It started going downhill on Sunday the 24th. I got called to be activities chair, the last calling I wanted (I actually thought, ‘I would rather be RS president’). The day was super stressful because I was informed there were a lot of activities I was now in charge of but that hadn’t been organized yet. For example, “There’s a regional fireside tonight you need to plan for” Oh really. “And we don’t have anyone to say the prayer or conduct or play the piano or bring dessert”. Uh huh. “…and you’re conducting the meeting” Of course. “And you’re in charge of FHE tomorrow”. Oh really. What’s been planned? “Nothing”. Oookay.
After a long day of meetings and planning and no food, I had 20 minutes to eat something before running off to the fireside. But when I opened my door, there was a huge pool of water on my floor! Water was leaking copiously from the ceiling and soaked through my bed, clothes, shoes, books, papers, rug, and blankets.
I started to try and salvage things and mop up, but I realized I had no time to do damage control and to make it to the meeting. I felt absolutely terrible, but decided I had to back out. But no one answered their phone. Not the bishop or his counselors, no one on my committee, none of the people I was supposed to give rides to. Finally I got a hold of one of my committee members and told him, while wringing out a towel, that he’s in charge now.
Feeling like a chump for bailing on my first day on the job, I finished wringing out blankets and towels, hanging up wet clothes and papers, and hair-drying books and pillows. I couldn’t get a hold of my landlady, either, so I set up three small pots and went to bed hoping the roof wouldn’t fall in on my head. I slept terribly, since there was a constant ploink-ploink noise, my bed was wet, and I had to get up periodically to empty the pots before they overflowed. At one point I was woken up by a 1am text from a friend wishing me a happy birthday.
The next day I woke up tired and unhappy and went in to work, where I had a really boring day and no one knew it was my birthday. One lady brought in muffins to share with the office… I pretended it was cake and that she made it for me. The one good thing was that I finally got a hold of my landlady, who said she’d send someone to check out the ceiling and start repairs.
I got home after work…and couldn’t open my door. The maintenance guy had locked both locks on my door, but I only had the key to one. I was locked out of my apartment on my birthday. And I couldn’t get a hold of my landlady or the maintenance guy. I tried breaking in with a credit card and jimmying the window-lock with a piece of metal I scavenged, but neither worked. Claire had set up a group chat with all of the sisters, which was the one thing I was looking forward to all day…but we had to postpone it. Obviously. So I just sat outside my apartment and I may or may not have cried a little.
Soon enough, it was time for the FHE I was in charge of. After a 40 minute drive making small talk with more people that didn’t know it was my birthday, two hours of pretending to be excited about some activity I came up with, and 40 minutes driving people back home…I finally got to my apartment, found the maintenance guy, and got inside. Phew. I decided to take a shower to relax.
I got in when the water was medium-warm, expecting it to get hotter…but it didn’t. It got freezing cold. So I rushed through and reached to turn off the water when it hit me…I had no dry towels. I had used them all, even the dish towels, to mop up the pool last night. What else could go wrong?! I jumped out of the shower to try and find something somewhat dry, but in my haste my heel got cut on the door of my shower and I started bleeding everywhere.
What a fitting end to a bad birthday - cold, wet, naked and bleeding on my bathroom floor.
…
The next day, we succeeded in having the group sister chat. Beth read a quote that was the theme for my birthday - “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die.”
But I still have a scar.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Eric's assignment
Define the word - Situation
Situation - A set of conditions at a certain moment in time.
Example - Rolling down a hill with fire on your bottom is a situation.
(this is accompanied by an awesome picture...)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Coming Of Age
Lucy, 11:00 am, Oct 2,2003
Growing up in a house full of pesky little sisters, with attentive, involved parents, there was nothing better than staying up late and having the house to myself. I still remember the sweet, sweet sound of the quiet- reading my book without interruption, eating whatever I wanted out of the kitchen, wandering around without anyone watching me or wanting anything from me. It was heavenly. Peaceful. Solitude. There's still nothing I would rather do.
Last night Lucy reminded me that I had agreed to let her stay up as late as she wanted on her birthday. "That's cute," I thought, as I imagined her fading off around 11pm. "Sure kid."
I went to bed at eight. Theo at about 8:30. When Chris came to bed at 11:30, she was still going strong. I stirred around 2am and heard her laughing out loud at something. At 5am she stumbled into bed with us, muttering something about 'partying all night'. I have no idea if she'd fallen asleep before that, but this morning, looking at the fleece blanket, Harry Potter legos, Little House on The Prairie books and chocolate chips scattered around the couch, I have my doubts. Not to mention that it's 11am and she's still asleep. (see photo, above)
So that's cute and all, but it makes me a little nervous. I'm not sure there's room on the couch at midnight for both of us.
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