Resolution

It is a good thing I'm giving up awkwardness for 2008. Today may have already sucked all of the awkwardness out of the whole upcoming year. I've been preping for this resolution for months. Let's see how long it lasts.

Happy Boxing Day!

I missed posting on Christmas or Christmas Eve, so I had to wish you a merry something.... So Happy Boxing Day and Christmas just a touch late. I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday and were able to express your gratitude for the things that we received due to Christ's birth.

I was able to travel to Michigan for Christmas. Hooray! While in the Great Lakes state, I ate way too much. Slept a lot. Got my White Christmas! Went swimming a lot. Saw the family and a few friends. (I never quite see as many friends as one would like. Why are you all so busy all the time?) It has been a good trip. I have to fly back to DC in a few hours. I should probably be asleep, but there is just too much on my mind to permit slumber. Thank goodness I only have to work 4 hours tomorrow!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Love you and all the best in 2008. (Oh, and I'm working on creating my 2008 travel schedule if you'd like to offer any suggestions.)

Hooray!

It is official, NM and LW FINALLY got engaged! Yes, their first date was in June of 2001. They spent 4 years with NM at Hope and LW at Wayne State. Then NM went to Tampa for a job; LW went to NYC for a fellowship. 6 months ago he took a job in Tampa and they were finally in the same city. Hooray! Tonight they got engaged at sunset. I am so excited! (She has been stressing about it since our senior year in college.....)

Though, the funny part is that they are most likely getting married in the summer of 2009. NM said, "It is funny, this now means that we are going to get married in the exact opposite order than everyone would have guessed." (This is including our other friend CNP.) I laughed and told her that I still had a chance. That in "my culture" I could totally meet someone and get married in the next 18 months. She laughed at me and my "my culture" comment. But, the thing is that we all know it is true. Mormons often have a short meet to marriage time span. Hmmmm, maybe..... hahahaha, not likely. I just had to say it to save myself from the harassment.

Congrats NM and LW! Love you guys!!!

Once upon a Thanksgiving

So, I know that I'm a few weeks late to post about Thanksgiving, but finals for school got in the way. For turkey day this year my roommate JS went to NYC to visit my friend MMM. We had a blast!!! (Our other friend NH drove out from AA for the holiday as well!)

JS and I figuring out how to get tokens to park in New Jersey so we could take the train into the city!


Once we got to NYC we met up with MMM and NH. We wanted to do the upper west end, "You've Got Mail" thing, but Cafe Lola was closed for revisions. Instead we did some window shopping and ended up at a Jewish Deli restaurant. We all shared a knish! (A knish for you and me. Or, you and you and you and me...) And we got some birthday cake, for MMMs "birthday" and New York Cheesescakes! Instead of rolls, they put pickles and coleslaw on the table. We thought it was funny.

What is Thanksgiving in NYC without the Macey's Parade? 66 and sunny, that is very uncommon but we loved it! Though I didn't love getting up close and friendly with everyone, specifically the creepy guy who got fresh with me.
Yay! A fun NYC Cab!

We went to Lincoln Center to see MMM's school. We saw the Temple and the tree in the middle of Lincoln Center. It was much different from the time BM and I saw the man in the bubble!

MMM and her usual spot waiting for the subway to go home!

After the parade and Lincoln Center, we went back up to the upper west side, went to Key West for pancakes and then started the turkey!

We played in Riverside Park! Look at all of the fun folliage!

Our AMAZING Thanksgiving picnic that MMM made soooo well.

What is a trip to NYC without a visit to Times Square! It was amazing how many people were there even though Broadway was on strike!

We went to the MET and got our art on!

And we played in Central Park

And then we went to Brooklyn. JS got up close and personal with the blue pig. :)

And then we met up with our friends MB and NB to head back home.

And that's that. That was my Thanksgiving adventure to NYC!

Well who would have thunk?

My term paper that I'm turning in today is all about the reconstruction of Liberia and how they need more jobs. I turn on my computer this morning to find this. Way to be spot on and thinking like the UN and Liberian officals. Maybe I am headed in the right direction......

Like...

On Saturday night I was out with some of my classmates and I was overcome with the LIKE MONSTER! Sometimes I hear myself saying "like" and I hate myself more and more for it. Saturday was one of these times. For some reason I couldn't stop, I just kept saying "like."

I am ready to to abolish the valley girl "like" from my lexicon, the sooner the better. Maybe I need to talk slower? I don't even know. Please let me know if you have any suggestions! I really can't rule the world with poor speech and rhetoric.

Gotta love LatAm working here, even if you don't speak Spanish...

I love my job. I get paid to talk on the phone and color code spreadsheets and meet really cool people. Hooray! A few weeks ago we had our big fundraising dinner. Our big dinner is a celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall (aka World Freedom Day). This year the keynote was President Flores, the former President of El Salvador. He gave a great speech from the conservative/libertarian perspective on the situation in LatAm. If you want to read it let me know and I'll send you the link. (I can't have just anyone knowing where I work.) WG was a champ and got this pic of us with President Flores. Too bad I look like a space cadet since it was clearly the end of a very long day.

Today I am thankful for...

Today I am very very thankful for the librarian who was at the front desk of the library at the Arlington campus of GMU last night. I left FHE PRAYING that there would be some way that I could keep my books for one more week, despite the fact that the consortium website said that I had already renewed them too many times. (Once, once I tell you!) The lovely librarian was able to override the system for me so I could keep my books to finish my paper. Hopefully my professor will be just as kind when she grades that paper next week!

"If history’s taught us anything, it’s that when Americans are faced with the loss of quality entertainment, we simply lower our standards." - MSNBC

You may have seen my roommate's blog where she posted this same video. Either way, I feel that the title of this blog fits this video to a T.

Okay, I don't know why the video isn't showing up on my computer. This was my 3rd attempt. If it doesn't show up here, go to Youtube and search for Feist 1234.

Cool your jets Mr. Chavez

Okay, we all know that I'm pretty much a nerd. I just thought that this was a really fun map. Don't fret too much that the dollar is low and that our favorite leaders of Venezuela and Iran are taking that as a sign of the fall of the American "Empire;" Venezuela still has the same GDP as Iowa and Iran is likened unto Alabama.


Map from 12 November 2007, Nicholas Vardy's The Global Guru.

Gratitude Tuesday- Super Special Thanksgiving Edition

I've been a slacker on gratitude Tuesday, but I couldn't miss this week, the week of Thanksgiving here in the US.

I'm thankful for:
The Gospel
My Friends and Family
Music of all kinds
My Job
My computer - I couldn't survive without it
My phone - I would die without that too

and, of course, Time. I don't have much of it, so I have to be thankful for what little I seem to find!

Happy Easter! er... I mean, GO BLUE!

"[Ohio is] where happiness goes to die" - I read that in a blog this week. It is soooo true.

~~~~ Warning, this is a mishmesh of nostalgicness. ~~~~~

Okay, so, for those of you who don't know, I am a Michigan fan and proud of it. So what if we lost to a division 2 school this year, we are still the winning est team in college football history. Everything about Michigan football is tradition, and everything about Michigan football is awesome. The victories are always sweet and the losses are always heart wrenching, but at the end of the day, you know that it is all part of the beauty known as Michigan football.



You might say that I've been indoctrinated since birth. Here is a picture of the day my Dad brought me home from the hospital when I was born. Yes, that is a maize and blue outfit hidden under that blanket. Though, just because it was always around me and the family tradition was to go to Michigan, I didn't always embrace it. When I would get mad at my dad as a kid, I would swear to him that I was going to go to that nasty school down in Columbus. (He said that the only way that would be acceptable is if I played tuba and dotted the I in Ohio. Which, for the record, is a tradition that Michigan started for tOSU. They can't even come up with their own trademarks and traditions.)



All around the world my father would go donning his Michigan pride. That is just how it was. We made friends that way. We have even received free dessert at fancy restaurants when the Michigan connection would come up between my dad and the restaurant manager. The Michigan tie is strong. It is like family with hundreds of thousands of people.


When I did the college hunt I applied to a few schools, a few schools filled out my applications for me. When it came down to it, I selected Michigan as my home for the next 4 years. They were the best school for my degree, and sure, it wasn't nearly far enough away from home for me, but it was the quality of education that mattered the most for me and I knew that I would get that at Michigan.




My friend Heidi and I jumped on the chance to be support the football team and we bought our tickets together for that first season. We made some great friends up in the student section (Yah Amit and Will! Love you guys!) But we realized all of the benefits of joining the band the next year. See, little do you know, but the band members are actually the biggest football fans in the stadium. And let me tell you, there is nothing like the rush of being on the field of the Big House (or ND stadium, Spartan stadium, the Rose Bowl, or even the Horseshoe.) 111 Thousand fans filling the stadium and most of them screaming out The Victors. It is an awesome experience. It is tradition.



I could go on forever talking about Michigan and Michigan football, but I don't have time, the game is on in an hour. The game. Last year it was the game of the century. It doesn't matter what year, this is the game that the team plays for. If you can beat Ohio State, regardless of what else happens in the season, everything is good. Ohio State fans are idiots who throw nuts at people and teach babies to flick off people wearing Maize and Blue. They riot and steal Michigan plates off of cars. They have no tact. One year they even had bomb sniffing dogs check out the Michigan buses for the team, the cheerleaders, and the band before we could enter the stadium. They have no class. What they do have is tradition and they know how much this game means as well. At the end of the day, they still are Ohio State fans and we are still Michigan fans. I may have threatened my father that I would go to Ohio State, but I am SO HAPPY that I did not decide to go there. I am glad that I don't have to admit to people for the rest of my life that I went to tOSU. Every job I've ever landed I got because Michigan is on my resume.



So I may be all graduated now, but I still understand the Michigan tradition. I still know how amazing football Saturday is. I know what it is like in the tunnel with the football team before a game begins chanting some of the great cheers with the team. I know what it is like to be on the field of the Big House when Michigan beats Ohio State to clinch a Rose Bowl slot, and that, my friends, is what is going to happen today.


Every time I hear The Victors, I go back to Saturday mornings and Jamie Nix yelling "Take it down to Champions of the West and I remember the energy that comes along with Michigan football, and it makes me happy.

Regardless of what happens today, I know that It's Great to be a Michigan Wolverine! Go Blue!


"For Michigan fans, football is a religion. And the Ohio State game is Easter. "-8 Simple Rules

The Klutz Strikes Again!

Sometimes, my adventures happen within the little space on the planet that I call my work place. See, one thing that happened when I moved to Washington is that I became less of a klutz. Why? Who knows, but it is true. Every now and then my klutzy side shows its face to remind me that it is there, today one such event occurred.

I dropped off my XD card with the tech guy to upload the pictures from this morning's event so I was in the back part of the office. From there, I was walking to the door to head downstairs to pick up a pop, when I saw one of my coworkers come around the corner. This was unexpected and startled me for some odd reason. As a result my shoe skidded on the ground and I fell face first into the door. I know BL saw me, but I quickly gathered myself, opened the door and walked out, pretending like nothing happened.

An hour later I am still chuckling about it so I decided to share.

The end.

This is how I feel about treadmills

Dear Weather,

I wish to be able to run outside again. Please stay light a little longer (my roommates yell at me if I run outside at night and it seems to be night all but the 9 hours of the day that I am at work.) Additionally, please warm up just a few degrees. We only had 2 weeks of optimal running temp. this fall. Frankly, I don't find that acceptable. I'm raising the bar, Fall; I'm raising the bar.

Sincerely,
Your friend who is already sick of running on treadmills

I275-I696 Weekend

This last weekend I felt like I spent the majority of the time on either I275 or I696 in the backseat of a car. Yes my friends, that was traveling back and forth to the airport, to my brother and sister-in-law's place, all manner of restaurants, the temple, and a stake center for good luck. I was home for NS and NW's wedding! Hooray!

Look at the happy couple outside of the Temple after the ceremony.... awwww..... They wanted a fall wedding for all of the colors. Just barely did the leaves stay on the trees, but they did and it was beautiful!

Here is the decorated car pic. We felt so stupid my "little sisters," along with my father and I purchased all manner of things to use to decorate the car, and then we forgot. Luckily NW's cousins were on top of things and they took some extra cake and used it to decorate the windows and pulled some balloons that were marking the turn in to the stake center to decorate the car. Thanks for saving us guys!

Oh, and then the other pic is of the immediate family reloaded. Awesome.

Luckily, NS and NW were friends with some of my friends too! I got to see MG and MC at the reception, and my "little sisters" (here pictured are two of the three, LS and CS) were with us the whole day. LS is a hair dresser and she actually did NW's hair for the wedding. Love keeping it all in the family like that. Good job LS, everyone LOVED NW's hair!!!

So that is that, they got married and are happy and home now and getting back into the swing of life and work now that they are hitched. I haven't heard from them since they returned, but I'm sure they had a great time in Mexico! That was my latest adventure, back to Michigan! Too bad I didn't see anything that wasn't on I275 or I696 except for JP's 'vette....such is life. Maybe next time. (And maybe next time JP will give me a ride in that car.....)

Michigan me....

I wish all of you people in Washington could see the Michigan version of me. I'm way cooler here. I'm funnier and everything. I think it comes down to the fact that I know what is safe here and I don't feel like I'm being held up to some extremely high expectation all of the time. It is easier to relax here, even when running amok. I think it also has to do with the fact that, if I fail here, I know what to do to get back on my feet. Sometimes Washington seems unforgiving....So yeah, you should come to Michigan with me some time. You totally get to see my better side.

You found WHAT in the woods?

I went to New Jersey for the weekend with a few of my friends. We went up there to go enjoy fall and get away from the city. Here are a few pics from the trip. (We didn't get any team CRV pics. :( How sad. I still feel the need to give a shout out to team CRV! What do you want, a #8?)

Sadly, I don't have any pics of Midwestern Pride Day! I think MAV has those. If you didn't know, Saturday was Midwestern Pride Day! Bonus points go to Midwestern Mormon girls who studied math and science and didn't go to college in Utah! Hooray!


Playin on the hay - BS, MB, NM, AS
An attempt at an artsy pic. I liked the colors on the building.

The lake at dusk was beautiful! New Jersey! Who would have guessed?
This tree looks like it was shot or something....

Cute bridge that we found while lost.
NM, MB, AS, BS hanging out in the woods before we decided to turn back. (good thing too, night fell fast!)

This swamp reminds me of something straight out of LOTR
NM looks like he should be in an LLBean ad

Sunset....too bad the trees were in the way.
Oh, and don't worry. MM found a gnome in the woods. I kid you not. There were more than one just hanging out there. You never know what you will find in the woods, but apparently gnomes do actually exist in the woods of northern New Jersey. Good eye MM, good eye.