language barriers

funny story

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last night i went to barnes and nobel to pick up a latin dictionary and verb conjugation book. i didn't know where the foreign language section was, so i asked one of the booksellers where their foreign dictionaries were. he began to walk me over to the section and asked which language i needed. i told him "latin." and he said, "like in spain or south america."

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ha ha ha ha ha

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thankfully i have superb self control and did not laugh uproariously in his face. i told him i meant ancient latin and the proper section was found. i was quite amused for the rest of the evening.

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i guess it really is a dead language.

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. finally getting my necklace back from tiffany's. i haven't taken it off since.
2. chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and delightfully decadent sprinkles from wonderland bakery in newport beach.
3. dinner with my visiting teachers.
4. new shoes from nordstrom rack.
5. some of the bulbs i planted last week have already started to sprout.
6. sunny-day walks along the beach, especially when you get to see marine life.
7. colman air mattresses.
8. getting a message from hermana perry and the vampire.
9. new headphones that work.
10. rain.

a weekend of seals and cupcakes

over the weekend mom, dad, mike and i went to san diego to visit heidi, logan and afton. we left friday after work and got there about midnight. logan was pretty bummed because he was scheduled to work the entire weekend and wouldn't be able to hang out. as luck would have it, he found a way of getting out of work. logan came down with the flu. poor logan, he ended up sitting at home all weekend, well, more like lying in bed all weekend trying to keep fluids down. luckily, no one else caught it.

saturday morning my dad headed up to newport beach to go over a case he's going to be trying soon, but heidi, mike, mom, afton and i headed to la jolla to take a walk on the beach and see the ocean. the weather was amazing. the forecast predicted rain . . . i'm very glad they were wrong.

for those of you who haven't been to la jolla, they have this fantastic little beach where seals congregate. we caught them in the middle of the day when they were all sprawled out basking in the sun.




afton is so adorable. she's really developing a personality. she doesn't like it when you talk to other people while you're holding her, or to sit down while you're holding here. if she's mad she doesn't want anyone to talk to her. it's hysterical.


i mentioned my dad ran up to newport beach for most of saturday, so he missed out on the beach outing. but he was the real champ of the weekend, because on his way back down he stopped at wonderland bakery and picked up chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.


my friends. if you are ever in newport beach . . . GO TO WONDERLAND BAKERY. their cupcakes are a dream. and it looks like a fairy princess wonderland inside. i miss them ever so much now that i don't live there anymore.

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it was so nice to escape for a weekend. i know it's going to become almost impossible to get away over the next few months with work and school and relief society, so i'm glad we took the opportunity.

public thank you

this past weekend my mom, dad, mike and i went to san diego to visit heidi, logan and afton (post to follow tomorrow). as is to be expected, i took a book with me. "let the right one in." i had seen a preview for the movie and was intrigued (as i am with most things vampiric) so i decided to read the book. i started reading it and it was a bit more profane/vulgar/obscene than i had expected, but i was brushing it off, thinking that the overall story would make it worth the read. by the time we went to church on sunday i was about 40 pages in. in relief society the lesson was based on the talk "a return to virtue" from general conference, november 2008. we were talking about the many ways we can introduce more virtuous ideas and influences into our life and strain out the impure. well, it just so happened that the lovely lady giving the lesson was a librarian . . .

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needless to say, i am NOT finishing the book, i'm getting rid of it. i was reminded of all the books on my mental list of books to read that is ever expanding . . . classics that have added to the enlightenment of society, biographies of great people and lives to learn from, histories that enable us to view the world and different cultures with greater understanding . . .

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i'm so grateful for timely lessons and the companionship of the holy ghost that allows us to receive the message. i'm so grateful for the teacher (whose name i don't know) who gave of her time and talents to prepare a lesson i needed on that exact day. i didn't have the opportunity to talk to her after church, so i'm offering this . . my public THANK YOU!

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. bull riders.
2. quiet weekends at home.
3. shakespeare.
4. surprise visits from the stake relief society presidency. no pressure there!
5. people volunteering for visiting teaching callings.
6. masterpiece theatre/bbc's new production of wuthering heights.
7. finally lying down and turning off the lights when you're really tired.
8. the singing of "amazing grace" at the national prayer meeting this morning . . . so amazing.
9. edited movies - this week, specifically, "shakespeare in love."
10. starting latin class.

mascots and masculinity

my transcripts from last semester finally made their way across town to fresno state, and i was officially accepted and all holds taken off my account. so i registered for my classes. i'm taking history 4 (which mostly teaches us how to do research and stuff, all history majors have to take it) and latin (which is on my list of things to do before i die). actually, mike and i are taking latin together. i'm feeling pretty enthusiastic about it. classes start on wednesday. yesterday i paid my tuition and bought my books. so i am now officially a bulldog.

last night sharon (my trusty cow-friend) and i went to the professional bull riding event at the savemart center.

that's right my friends . . . . four hours of overt manly-man-ness on fantastic display. there were 45 riders, the top 15 of which rode twice. a little blood here and there, lots of limping, and one very close call. one of the cowboys lost his vest when he was thrown off, and the then bull was right on top of him trying to get him with his horns. the cowboy escaped with a shredded shirt, skin in tact. awesome!

we had such a great time. next up on the cowboy docket is a "man from snowy river" marathon, followed by the clovis rodeo in april.

ye-haw!

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. vollytensocpongball.
2. puffs plus lotion and vicks (tissue).
3. action movies with completely unrealistic action sequences (wanted).
4. finishing the pruning on both of our rows at the vineyard, which means we don't have to go back for several months.
5. i'm super congested and it's throwing off my equilibrium. i'm feeling a little loopy and dizzy, but it's like i'm seeing everything for the first time, which is kind of funny.
6. getting 9 1/2 hours of sleep last night.
7. getting a raise.
8. birthday dinners.
9. eating breakfast food at 2:30 in the afternoon.
10. bbc's latest production of "persuasion." i watched it two night in a row.

just another manic monday . . .

last week i kept waking up with headaches everyday, which was really annoying, and it finally dawned on me that my body was trying to fight off the cold that has been going around my office and family. well . . . . my body lost. it is here in all of its runny nose glory. can i just take this moment to say how much i love the human at puffs that decided to put lotion and vicks in their tissues. brilliant! anyway, my nose is running like a faucet, my eyes are all puffy and droopy and watery, i'm tired, little bit of a headache, violent sneezing, chills on and off . . . and my voice sounds funny. hooray for monday.

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in other news. one of the girls at my office is a never ending example of what NOT to do in pretty much any instance. she's a drug addict. cps has taken her youngest kid away. she's been in 3 or 4 accidents (i lost count) since i started working here in april. she calls in sick constantly. when she is at work she spends about 75% of her time making personal calls or running across the street to the convenience store, or better yet, asleep! if the boss confronts her on anything she's done wrong she leaves early because she's going to "have a nervous breakdown." seriously, such a joy to be around. well, because of the multiple accidents she does not have a car (yes, it is true). in order to make it possible for her to come to work (using the term loosely), our boss loaned her one of his old cars that he doesn't use. he also gives her gas money. he also loans her money on a constant basis. happily, she decided to go through a rehab program. she was doing really well. sadly, she was pulled over for some erratic driving movements last week. the police officer suspected her of being under the influence of something or other and impounded the car. my boss bailed the car out and gave it back. however, this was just entirely too much for her to cope with, and she has lapsed back into her drug usage. further - somehow or other, she has managed to get the car impounded for a second time within one week.

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i know what you're thinking . . . i'm making this up. no, my friends. i am not. she really does exist. and this isn't even half of it.

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back to the impounded car. as it happens, it is time for this car to be re-registered. did i mention that this car is a dinosaur? well, it is. not surprisingly, it did not pass smog. the mechanic told my boss not to bother, it wasn't worth sinking the money into. this conversation happened in between the first and second impounding incident. and my boss has wisely decided to not bail the car out.

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what does this mean for ashlee, you may ask. well, it seems that ashlee is now the only legal assistant to mr. boss now. there is no plan for her to return to work in the office in the foreseeable future, if ever. for one, she can't get here, and two, i think mr. boss has finally had his fill of her antics. as for me . . . i am buried under discovery (legal jargon) and filing and the phone will not stop ringing (stupid alexander graham bell)!! i'm supposed to start school next week and only work part time . . . not quite sure what is going to happen . . . .

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on the plus side, i did get a $1.00 per hour raise as a reward for being good employee. but seriously, how hard is it to look responsible and productive when compared to the above described craziness? whatever, i'm taking the dollar.

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and that's how my monday is going . . .

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. craig and jared's matrix-fight dancing.
2. being home alone for a few days.
3. only working two and a half days last week.
4. finding myself with an excess of free time and renting movies i never got around to seeing.
5. roller coasters.
6. getting a yearlong pass to magic mountain for the same price as a day pass.
7. the beginning of a new classics season on masterpiece theatre.
8. finally pulling my relief society lesson together.
9. john moving to provo this week and calling from the road to ask me to mail all of his hanging clothes, which he forgot to get out of the closet . . . seriously.
10. splitting firewood. i don't know why, but i really like doing it.

Lost in a good book . . .

last year i read an article about how 40% of americans read one book or less per year . . . and i was horrified!! how can this be? anyway, i've tried to amp up my reading habit ever since. so, here is the list of books i read in 2008. i'm pretty sure i got them all. i didn't start keeping the list till about half way through the year, so i might have missed one or two . . . oh well.

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1. Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli
2. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
3. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
4. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
5. Milkweed - Jerry Spinelli
6. Inkheart - Cornilia Funke
7. What I Was - Meg Rosoff
8. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
9. The Host - Stephanie Meyer
10. A Grief Observed - C. S. Lewis
11. Atonement - Ian McEwan
12. The Frozen Deep - Wilkie Collins
13. The Uses of Adversity - Carlfred Broderick
14. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
15. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
16. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
17. Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer
18. In The Woods - Tanya French
19. Vampirates - Justin Somper
20. How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff
21. The Mysteries of Udolpho - Ann Radcliffe
22. Bread and Roses - Bruce Watson
23. All the Shah's Men - Stephen Kinzer

Happy New Year

new years eve was actually decent this year. i've had a long run of dull, if not horrific, new years eves . . . so it was a welcome change. i watched mamma mia (again. i will never get tired of it) until i was ready to head out, then i caught up with my friends at the young single adult dance. here we are . . .

we were supposed to dress "formal" which i'm completely against. how am i supposed to bust a move in a dress?! (please, can someone explain this to me) my compromise was to fashion a flapper-esque headpiece, which was semi-elegant and totally fun.

after the dance i went home. i know what you're thinking, boring . . . but i needed my rest as we got up bright and early new years day and went to magic mountain. it was a great day to go. we basically walked on every ride, which is great because standing in line is NOT on my list of favorite things to do, but not so great because when you don't have any time in between roller coasters your body doesn't have any time to recalibrate, and i get a little motion sick. but can i just say that i love, love, love roller coasters.

my body is not loving them as much as my soul anymore, but that does not stop me. hopefully i will be riding them when i'm 75. a few of us bought year passes because it was the same price as a day pass, so i predict several trips to the mountain this year. i'm pretty stoked about it.

this was our last ride of the day. x2. it is freaking awesome! props to the guy who thought that one up. major props also go out to the inventor of tatsu. that headfirst dive into the ground is absolutely terrifying in the best possible sense of the word. *sigh* can't wait to go back.