Graceland

Monday, June 9, 2008

Weekend in CA

What a fun weekend. How I love old friends. The weekend couldn't have been more rejuvenating if I had stayed home. (although, more sleep would have helped).

It's fun being with Alisa, Sean, Shelly and Brett and families, because they don't treat me like company- just extended family. So it was all pretty low key, hanging out, chatting- although we played sufficiently as well.

I was bummed that my flight was delayed. When I landed, Alisa told me Shelly had tickets to My Fair Lady and was going to take me, but I was too late. Bummer. But I had a fun dinner with Sean and Alisa, then hung out with their family. When the play ended Shelly came over and we all went for ice cream.

Saturday, we shopped at South Coast Plaza and all bought something. Then Shelly and I got pedicures.

Saturday evening we had dinner at Sean's brothers wedding reception. We were going to play games later, but (get how cool my friends are) everyone opted for watching Battlestar Galactica instead. I love my friends! Shelly knew where to get these yummy mini bundt cakes and we all had our own in celebration of Alisa's birthday.

Here are a bunch of the kids playing on the computer while we were eating cake in the other room.

(Sean face! - Shel do you remember that)

Sunday was church. As we were walking in, Brett mentioned that Shelly and I met him in that chapel almost 20 years ago. I had forgotten that. Shelly and I met Sean a couple days before he went into the MTC. We got to know him through letters and tapes. We spontaneously drove to CA for his homecoming. He asked Brett to sit with us. Little did we know then that he was Shelly's FEC. Coincidentally, Joel Richardson (my friend Nathan's little brother) was giving his homecoming talk this Sunday in that ward. He went to the same mission as Sean. I was a little freaked out thinking it's been half my lifetime since I was there to hear Sean's homecoming, and Joel was born back when Nathan and I were hanging out at BYU. It's crazy how fast time goes by.

Now I'm back home, back to work today, and wishing I could see my friends more often!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I'm Such a Great Friend :)

I had plans for the weekend to go do some hiking in the San Rafael Swell. I've been craving some good hiking, warm/hot weather, and red rock. Unfortunately, there was a family emergency with one of our group so the trip was canceled (hopefully just postponed).

Here I was with a whole weekend and not a thing planned. That is rare. I thought about just having down time, cleaning my house really well, hiking locally, finding some new places to bike, seeing some movies, hosting a BSG party, the possibilities were endless. Although, it seemed I was in getaway mode and nothing would satisfy like the idea of getting out of town. I started considering some last minute excursions. I've been trying to get to both California and Colorado to visit some girlfriends. So I started looking at plane tickets and decided the good ol' OC would be my weekend getaway.

I called Alisa & Shelly to make sure they'd be available. Alisa was having breakfast with Sean. I thought, "How cute, they're out to breakfast together. I love it when married friends still enjoy each other and do fun little stuff like that." Not thinking that it was about anything else. Alisa was stoked and totally supportive of the weekend spontaneity. I booked the flight and called her back. She then reminded me that it was HER BIRTHDAY today. Duh. (sounding familiar, Steph) Some great friend I am! So I told her we needed to start over, and said, "Hey Alisa, I was thinking as your birthday present I'd fly in for the weekend so we can celebrate." No fooling her though. We did have a good laugh.

Really, I didn't forget. I'd seen it on my calender multiple times in the last week. I probably would have called her later today just to wish her happy birthday. For some reason, my brain doesn't multitask like it used to. I was on the what-to-do-this-weekend track which was all encompassing to my almost-forty-year-old brain. What's the deal? When did I become so absent-minded?

Luckily have a nice friends who just laugh at (with) me.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

My 15 Minutes of Fame

Thanks to Boyd for sending me some photos he took on his iphone

Christy explaining the film to us, and Jon setting up the camera

My friend Christy is making a short movie so a few of us went downtown this evening to be extras in one of the scenes. It was a lot of fun. We were the audience for an opera and did some group scenes and some close up reaction shots. I've always had a fantasy about being a movie extra- silly I know. But it was fun new thing to experience and cool to see how Christy and Jon worked. When it's finished we'll all get to see it then she will submit it to film festivals. I'm sure my "enraptured" face will wow 'em and my career as an actress is about to start. :)

Valerie, Kiera and me

Monday, May 26, 2008

Sucking It Up

One of the most endearing attributes any of my friends could have is the ability to suck it up. Let me explain - no there is too much, let me sum up. (name the movie)

Emily is a friend who used to live in SLC, but since moved to NC. I loved her ability to always suck it up and give anything a try at least once. A couple of summers ago she came and stayed with me, I had two tickets to the Warped Tour and asked her to come along. Em is no fan of punk music, but she figured it would be an interesting thing to experience and agreed to go. It was mid-summer in SLC, really hot and dusty and the show was all day outside. They actually had fire hoses they would spray on the crowds to keep people from heat stroke. I have to thank dear Sean for getting us the VIP passes so we could go in one of AC buildings. Emily not only went and didn't complain, but half way through the day she said, "You know, when we first got here all the bands sounded the same, but now I'm hearing a difference and can tell I like some styles better than others." I love that about Emily. She didn't just go, but made an effort to enjoy something completely different than what she would normally enjoy. I'm guessing she'll never leave her country roots and get into punk, and she may turn down the opportunity to see another show, but I totally appreciate that she went with the attitude of just experiencing it for what it was and not complaining. This is a quality I strive for. Em is a good example.

Today, the suck it up award goes to Ali. My plans for today (Memorial Day) changed a bunch of times. Originally, we were going to spend the night at Michael's cabin then do the Tour de Coalville on our bikes today. Micheal had some unexpected things come up last minute so we had to postpone. Plan B: Ali and some of her friends were going hiking in the early afternoon. At hike time, it was raining pretty hard so they canceled and opted to go to Chili's for lunch instead. That just wasn't a good trade off for me so I stayed home determed to get some kind of physical activity in today.

I was too late for any of the morning Bikram classes. I was feeling my only option was the treadmill. I changed my clothes but just couldn't bring myself to exercise in my house. So I called Ali at the restaurant and told her if she still wanted to hike, I'd be up for getting muddy and wet to do it. Good ol' Al ditched her friends to go with me. I chose one of the upper trails in Millcreek which turned out to have a good deal of snow to hike through. Al was a sport. Let me just say here that Alison is probably the happiest and kindest person I know, which probably contributes to her suck-it-up ability. We had a great time. It was muddy, wet and chilly. The weather wasn't too bad for most of the hike, but while we were coming down, it started rain/hail/sleeting. Toward the end, I was cold and wet and had just about reached the end of my suck it up threshold. Al just started laughing at how ridiculous it was we were out hiking in the weather. Then we took a moment to just stand there and watch the rain pelting down with the clouds moving across the mountains. It was beautiful. I was glad I was there and with someone who could help me enjoy it even in slightly miserable circumstances. Thanks Al- you're the best!

Friday, May 23, 2008

The Not-So-Newly-Remodeled Kitchen

I redid my kitchen a year and a half ago. I really needed new appliances but kept spending my money on other things (trips and such). This month I finally got it in my budget to get the appliances and finish the job. Here's a photo.

It really made a difference. I have a new black fridge too, much more energy effecient than that old beast that had been around for decades. I like the final look. Maybe it will make me want to cook more... then again, maybe not.

My Movie Reviews

Quiet Earth. B-. Another SciFi recommended by Netflix, although this one was actually interesting and enjoyable. A guy wakes up and everyone is gone. Made in New Zealand, it claims to be one of the top ten movies in the US in the year it came out (sometime in the 1970s). After it was over, we agreed that it was good, but the ending was a little confusing, so we watched the ending again with the directors comments. Lame. Apparently the whole movie was supposed to have an anti-nuclear message and the director takes credit for his movie making New Zealand nuclear free. So.... pretend you don't know that and enjoy the movie.
Sunshine. C-. Netflix. That's it. We are not trusting Netflix's rating of sci-fi movies again. The sun is dying so a crew is going with a nuclear missle to "re-start" it. I kept hoping aliens would show up or at least something would happen to draw me in. A lot of things almost happened, but when they did, it did not make much sense.
Warm Bodies. B. Red Box. I was surprised by this movie. I'm a fan of a good zombie flick, but when I heard about the plot, it seemed a bit too much. It turned out to be very entertaining. I'd rate it pretty high on the must see zombie film list and very high on the cheesy teenage romance film list.
Wolverine. B. I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. I'm also a fan of Hugh Jackman. It was hard to go wrong going in with those two biases. The fighting sequences were too long, but that was expected. If you've like the X-Men movies, you should like this one too.
The East. B. I forget how much I love the indie flicks at the Broadway. This also had an environmentalist-based plot, but was written well and I liked how it ended. A women goes under cover in an environmental terrorist group. It goes with the obvious plot of her having sympathies for members of the group and trying to balance that with her personal beliefs. Worth seeing.
World War Z. B. I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to see the movie until I finish, but I couldn't help it and saw it opening weekend. Not a big deal as they are very different. This is a different kind of zombie movie. While most are horror flicks, this was more of a suspense movie. They cut out the gratutious gore associated with most zombie movies and gave it more of a plot. Fun for zombie fans and non-zombie fans.
Silent Running. D. Netflix. I have no idea why this is rated so well on Netflix. Sci-fi movie made in the sixties with blatant environmental message. Forests have died on the earth so they are growing them in a space station orbiting Saturn. Earth decides to abandon the project and for some reason that means they have to blow up the forests. One man understands the impact of losing all our forests so he kills everyone. My description made it seem way better than it is. At one point, he programs his robot helpers to play cards and you watch them play cards for about 10 minutes. Skip this one!

My Book Reviews

The Rent Collector. B. I loved this book while I was reading it. Then the author's comments on the back disappointed me. It was fiction! I was so inspired by the "true" story of this woman living at the dump in Cambodia and learning to read. The whole way through I thought it was true. I was mad when it wasn't. Although toward the end, it started getitng a little unbelievable. It was based on real people which bothers me wondering how much is true and how much is fiction. I still recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.
Divergent. B+. Fun, quick read. YA fiction. Your basic strong female in post-apocolypic world fighting to make change. Even though the story's been told over and over, this one was very engaging. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
World War Z. B+. For staters, this is very different from the movie. It's 10 years after we won the zombie war. The book is a series of interviews with survivors. I was hesitant about the way it was written and that I wouldn't stay involved without a central character. However, the book created a very real world. So much so that when I was getting off the freeway one morning and saw some homeless people waking up under a bridge, for just second, I thought they were zombies. I also wanted to bring it up in conversation. Like when someone was talking about North Korea, I wanted to say, "Did you hear how they handled the Zombie Apocalypse?' It was a fun book. I've never read a zombie book before and I may never again, but I'm glad I read this one. It also was welcome to read a book that isn't a strong female character overcoming incredible odds. I'm seriously weary of that plot line.
Waiting to be Heard. B+. I've followed the Amanda Knox case for several years. I thought, since I knew most details of the case, this might be boring. I was surprised at how engaging and well written it was. She is a quirky girl and, while the complete lack of physical evidence makes me sure she is innocent, I can see why people think she is hiding something. The book was haunting to think the someone who doesn't understand a culture coupled with a corrupt prosecutor could put an innocent person in jail for years.
Girl Gone. C-. Maybe it was called Gone Girl. I don't remember. Book club book. I've never gotten into mysteries. This one took a while to get into, then I couldn't put it down, then it ended and I wished I never picked it up. Ridiculous ending.
The Kitchen House. B-. I have no idea how to rate this book. It was slow to start. Once things started to happen (murder), I found myself sucked in and not wanting to put it down; however, once I did put it down, I didn't look forward to picking it up again. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's similar to a bunch of other books I've read. I'm just getting weary of the genre and need to mix it up a little. Overall, an interesting read. The story of a young white girl who is indentured when her family dies on the boat from Ireland to America. Her relationship with her new family (the slaves whom she is sent to live and work with) and how her life is different from them because of the color of her skin.
The Happiness Project. D. I'm reviewing the book, but I'm not going to finish it. I knew this wasn't my favorite genre, but it was the book club pick this month so I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't see the point of reading someone's goals. I sometimes feel like these "self-help" books are an excuse for people to feel like they are doing something to be happier, when really they are an excuse to avoid working on yourself by living through someone else's experience. Instead of reading the book, how about spend that time working on your own "happiness project". As I read, I kept thinking it should have been a workbook for readers to complete their own project while reading hers. I'll be interested to hear how others in book club liked it.