Wednesday, August 26, 2009

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. finished bridge to teribithia in time to discuss it tonight at book club.

2. regina and i had a case of the giggles on friday. no explanation, but everything sent us into a fit of hysterics, especially if it wasn't funny at all!

3. school has begun. i'm excited because my classes seem like they're going to be very interesting, but they're also reading intensive, so i basically don't exist in the outside world anymore until december.

4. i had my eyebrows professionally shaped over the weekend. it was lovely.

5. mike and i discovered legend of the seeker on netflix. we have now watched the entire first season. it's decent. a little cheesy (but not as bad as it could be seeing as how it's produced by the same guys who did xena) but it's based on one of those epic fantasy series of novels that have been popular for ages, so i'm going to watch it this next season too. and not to be completely shallow, but the lead character's abs are the most beautiful things i've seen in ages. i would probably watch just for the off chance that he'll take his shirt off.

6. i'm sane. which doesn't really sound like something to be happy about, but i have to talk to certifiably crazy people every so often in my job, and i'm so thankful to be sane and without the need of medication.

7. found a new sandwich shop this week. it's really yummy.

8. simply limeade. super delicious.

9. i spent most of the weekend holed up in my house not doing anything but watching tv/movies and reading. sounds dull, i know, but it was a much needed calm before the storm of work and school for the next four months.

10. john's doctors released him to be sent into the mission field. he flew to new hampshire on friday (i think). he sounds really enthusiastic and his foot seems to be healing really well.

100 books bbc thinks you should read

if you know me at all you know i love to read. so when i saw this list on a book blog i follow i decided to filch it. apparently the bbc believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 great books here... i decided to see how i stack up. i've crossed out all the book's i've read. hopefully i’ll have to update this list periodically . . .


1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (i may have actually read this in school, but i'm not positive i actually finished it, so i'm not counting it)
6 The Bible (haven't actually read the thing from cover to cover)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (i've read the first two, just need to finish the last one)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (began, will never finish)
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (attempted - no desire to complete)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce (attempted - no desire to complete)
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces- John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo 

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total = 35

Thursday, August 20, 2009

65 questions

it's been awhile since i posted something other than my weekly top ten. when my friends and i get together, one of our favorite things to do is to take turns asking each other questions. it's all about the conversation and getting to know each other better. so when i saw this quiz on my friend natalie's blog, i decided to steal it.

1. first thing you wash in the shower? (also stealing natalie's answer) my hair. i like to let the conditioner sit in for as long as possible.

2. what color is your favorite hoodie? red with a black design.

3. would you kiss the last person you kissed again? absolutely NOT

4. do you plan outfits? sometimes. it depends on the momentousness of the occasions . . .

5. how are you feeling RIGHT now? a little tired.

6. whats the closest thing to you that's red?my toenails. my mom says they're the exact color of a candy apple.

7. tell me about the last dream you remember having? i don't want to think about it. it was disturbing.

8. did you meet anybody new today? no.

9. what are you craving right now? i don't know that i'm craving anything. but i am looking forward with longing to indian food for my birthday dinner . . . .

10. do you floss? not as regularly as i should.

11. what comes to mind when I say cabbage? russians.

12. are you emotional? hmmmmm. no. i feel a lot more emotional than i ever display, but i'm not ruled by my emotions.

13. have you ever counted to 1,000? not that i can recall.

14. do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? usually i lick it. but if i'm eating a fudge bar or something, i bite into it a bit.

15. do you like your hair? yes, most of the time.

16. do you like yourself? yes. probably too much.

17. would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? sure, why not?

18. what are you listening to right now? a cat meowing.

19. were your parents strict? yes. at least on me. the plight of the oldest sibling.

20. would you go sky diving? it's on my list of things to do before i die.

21. do you like cottage cheese? yes.

22. have you met a celebrity? yes. a couple actually.

23. do you rent movies often? yes. hooray for netflix!

24. is there anything sparkly in the room you're in right now? my watch. does that count?

25. how many countries have you visited? three. canada, mexico, and chile.

26. have you made a prank phone call? yes. a very, very long time ago.

27. ever been on a train? yes. a couple of times.

28. brown or white eggs? white.

29. do you have a cell-phone? yes.

30. do you use chap stick? yes, constantly.

31. do you own a gun? personally, i don't know. i inherited one when my grandfather died, but a bunch of our guns were stolen, so i don't know if mine is still around. but my family owns several . . . so, yes.

32. can you use chop sticks? yes, grasshopper.

33. who are you going to be with tonight? probably mom, mike, mazur and marc.

34. are you too forgiving? no. quite the opposite, actually.
35. ever been in love? yes.

36. what are your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? they're all probably working.

37. ever have cream puffs? mmmmmmmmm, yummy. (that's a yes, by the way)

38. last time you cried? either when i bore my testimony or i watched the breast cancer dance on so you think you can dance.

39. what was the last question you asked? i asked regina "did you laugh at him?" when she told me her teach mispronounced her name in class today.

40. favorite time of the year? fall

41. do you have any tattoos? no. i have fought the temptation for a long time, it would be a shame to give in now.

42. are you sarcastic? yes.

43. have you ever seen the butterfly effect? no.

44. ever walked into a wall? yes.

45. favorite color(s)? orange, black and red.

46. have you ever slapped someone? yes.

47. is your hair curly? yes.

48. what was the last CD you bought? hmmmm, i bought feist's album on itunes . . . does that count?

49. do looks matter? yes, but they're enhanced or completely diminished by personality.

50. could you ever forgive a cheater? probably not.

51. is your phone bill sky high? no.

52 do you like your life right now? yes!

53. do you sleep with the T.V. on? no! it bothers me.

54. can you handle the truth? i hope so. it's the whole point of living. if you can't handle truth, then you're just wasting space and time.

55. do you have good vision? according to my visit a month ago i have perfect vision. but the nice man gave me reading glasses because my eyes get tired because i read a lot.

56. do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? yes.

57. how often do you talk on the phone? not very, if i can help it. i answer the phone all day at work, which is basically torture for me, so the last thing i want to do on my down time is have the phone stuck to my head.

58. the last person you held hands with? afton. only it wasn't so much holding hands as her holding on to my finger while she stood up. if we're talking holding hands with someone who actually registers the phrase "holding hands," then drew.

59. what are you wearing? jeans and a white shirt.

60.what is your favorite animal? elephant

61. where was your profile picture taken? in my car.

62. can you hula hoop? not any more.

63. do you have a job? yes.

64. what was the most recent thing you bought? manicure/pedicure last night. lovely.

65. have you ever crawled through a window? oh yes, many a time.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. terminator salvation. it was really intense! so good. i wish i'd seen the rest of the movies so i really knew the whole story . . . but wow . . . well done.

2. michael's birthday lunch with the family.

3. heidi found a job in fresno, which means they will be relocating up here for the next year, at least. which means lots and lots of face time with afton! also excited that heidi and logan will be around, but they can't really compare with afton . . . =)

4. i just discovered that fresno hosts the highland games for the central valley each september. i don't know how this has escaped my knowledge thus far! i am making plans to go this year. i have always wanted to see highland games . . . i'm so excited! now i need to find something plaid to wear . . .

5. regina just told me our friend has met a girl named "la-a". (clue: you pronounce the dash . . . so it's ladasha) i'm not going to make further comments . . . . i will just tell you that i laughed really, really hard. very loudly. it's probably best i don't meet this girl ever. i would laugh in her face.

6. i bought all my books for this next semester this week. $191.00. while normally it would seem outrageous to spend $191.00 on books in one purchase, i take into account that i got 8 books and a clicker, and some of my friends are spending about $500.00 on books. so i'll just be happy.

7. i got three new pairs of jeans. hooray for old navy $19 jeans sale.

8. i've been indulging in robin hood, season 2 on dvd in preparation for robin hood, season 3 on bbc america starting september 12. i. can't. wait.

9. michael wrote me the sweetest note at church on sunday. this also made for a moment of hilarity as he signed someone else's name to the note (a name which i cringe at) so when i first received the note i was disgusted and unwilling to read it. when my mom finally forced me to read it, it was a delightful surprise.

10. for michael's birthday my mom made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. and just in case that wasn't quite enough chocolate . . . she added milky ways to the frosting. it's was really good. oh . . . and the termeers were there ;)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. jeanine won so you think you can dance! i'm so happy. she was amazing.

2. my faux-hawk. i found an excuse to do it again.

3. visit from heidi, logan, and afton.

4. afton makes this adorable face. she scrunches up her face like she's pouting, and breathes in and out really hard through her nose. you think she's about to throw a fit, but she's just messing around. it's hysterical.

5. this weekend was our state-wide young single adult conference. overall, it was a let-down. the classes were weak. but at least it's over so we don't have to listen to a 20 min. lecture about how fabulous it will be and how we need to make sure we go . . . blah blah blah . . . however, it did provide the funniest moment of the week, hands down, so i guess it's not a total loss. (warning: this will be sacrilegious . . . if you read on, you may be offended. if you're offended . . . i don't want to hear about it. it's your own fault for reading on . . . ) one of the classes i went to was on prophets (which makes the following comments even more bizarre as i have no idea how he got on this subject) the speaker asked "in the old testament, what happened when you committed adultery?" and everyone mumbled to themselves, "you were stoned to death." the speaker said, "right, and Jesus had a problem with this, too." at this point my group burst into uncontrollable laughter. i'm pretty confident the guy didn't mean to imply that Jesus was an adulterer, but that's pretty much what it sounded like . . .

6. i went to the stake youth conference monday - wednesday as a driver. it was fun. i spent three days at the coast with no responsibility except manning a gas pedal. got some reading done. ate some gelato. went to the beach. it was a welcome break from the ridiculously hot weather here in fresno.

7. i have been to three dances in the past five days. that's a lot of booty shaking and a lot of burnt calories. i love dancing. it makes me feel good. i secretly dream of having a dance studio in my basement where i could retreat for an hour every day and lose myself in excessively loud music and movement. it would do my body and soul good.

8. the coastal trip took us past the tree james dean crashed into and died. it's way out in the middle of nowhere. i love all the small yet interesting things you come across in life.

9. campfires.

10. the smell of clean hair.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. regina's birthday lunch. rio grill is divine. i eat their parmesan crusted pork until i almost throw up . . . it's that good.

2. colorful curly ribbon.

3. i finished north and south by elizabeth gaskell. it's perfect. shot straight into my list of favorite books. and mr. thornton is at the top of my list of literary dream men. (don't act like you dont' have one)

4. mike and i named the gecko's this week. prometheus and nike.

5. netflix instant play. i'm watching spooks (mi-5 in the states). it's a british spy tv drama. loving it.

6. so you think you can dance performance finale!!! i'm so happy that we don't have to wait till next summer to see more dancing.

7. john's foot surgery is over. it went well. he seems to be healing quickly.

8. freakishly cool weather for august in fresno. i'm really enjoying the reprieve. i'm longing for fall . . .

9. the bebe sunglasses i ordered were on back-order, then the carried decided to stop carrying them because they were having so many problems with the provider. then, magically, they showed up this week! surprise!

10. because i've been reading british literature, and watching an excessive amount of british television, i am speaking with a british inflection (not accent) . . . . which most people won't notice unless they're familiar with it in the first place. but it's amusing me.