Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot ... whatever that means

Last post of 2009! Wow! How time does, indeed, fly. I'm looking forward to a new year and making new goals and moving forward. Being stagnant is no fun, and I never want to feel like I am being that way. Yeesh.

Mom and Craig Christmas morning

Christmas was pretty much awesome. What made it even better was that I didn't have to wait four days to fly out of Salt Lake! My flight to Portland was delayed a bit because of the lovely weather in the midwest making my plan late, but I'll take an hour delay over a four-day wait any time. I came home to intense fog! Has Portland always gotten that foggy in the wintertime? It cleared out on the mornings it dawned foggy, but I was kind of amazed. Oh, well.

Dad opens one of his many (extremely unexpected) P90X presents

In terms of presents, wow. I think my family and friends get the idea that I like to read. (gee, i wonder where they got that idea!) I got a whole bunch of books - all ones that I have read before, but I have wanted them for my personal library. It was exciting to keep on opening up all these books! (my carry-on the flight back was just a bag filled with books) So now I've got some more reading material if ever I'm in the mood! I'm a tad disappointed I didn't get to see Kelly's family open the presents I got them, but I sure hope they liked them. And Mom was sure happy to get her Cuisinart from her children.

Isn't she adorable when she's dirty?

What a funny cutie-pie.

I loved seeing my family. Jack is getting easier and easier to understand, which makes me happy, and Lucy is walking! Wow! How are these kids managing to grow up so quickly? Sometimes I wonder how Tom and Lisa manage to keep their cool when dealing with their kids, but they're pretty amazing in that they do. Will I be such a patient parent? I sure hope so. Tom and Lisa are my models for that. Oh, well. I thought Jack was adorable when he kept talking about the Baby Jesus and when he tried on my stocking as if it were really a sock to be worn. Christmas Eve was spent at Tom and Lisa's, then Christmas Day was at my parents' house. The Tom Kellys came up from Salem, so we had a good time together. A couple days later, we went to lunch with Sean and Kristina and their kiddos, and later that day Sam and Beck showed up at our house for a quick visit. Hooray for my family!

World Tour!

I could have easily spent a couple more days in Oregon, but it wasn't a horrible experience coming back, even if it did start to snow the instant Mom was supposed to drive me to the airport. Another delay, but I still made it back. And I knew someone on my flight, too, so it made the waiting and actual air-time a heck of a lot nicer than it would have been had I been surrounded by strangers. So now I'm back and life will be going back to normal. Whatever that is.

Something tells me I wouldn't fit under the tree.

-Me

"An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves." -Bill Vaughan

Soon It Will Be Christmas Day

There are some times when I just love being an aunt. Saturday morning brought on one of those moments. I visited Kelly's family for a few hours, and when I arrived, Nicole and Jake answered the door, calling to rest of the house that "Megan's here!" Andrew came barreling down the stairs like he normally does, yelling my name excitedly. These three I expected. Then another voice screamed out my name! No, it definitely wasn't Kelly or Nate; it was Ali! I've been certain in the last year or so that she definitely knows me, but this was the very first time she ever said my name totally voluntarily (and excitedly, thank you very much). And it completely made my day. It even topped the moment she hugged me around my knees during Thanksgiving, because she wasn't saying my name then. Looks my quest for the title of Favorite Aunt is being handily won.

Not only did I visit Clinton on Saturday, I paid a visit to Temple Square with Betsey and Lisa that evening. I haven't gone to see the lights for several years, so I was pretty pumped to see them, even with the cold. The price you pay. We had a good time walking around, and of course it was two minutes after we talked about the possibility of seeing people we may know when, shockingly enough, we ran into a family I know from back home! (and it's never me that is the lucky one to run into people, really.) So that was a fun incident, but we moved along, thinking it was a one-time thing. It wasn't, to my utter delight. Twenty minutes later, who should get in my path but the Swensons?!?!? It was the most unexpected thing to see Uncle Brad walking right at me, but I was totally excited to see Camille, Brad, Dane, and Aimee, barely a month later than the last time I saw them. Lisa and Betsey were both kind of astounded at my small-world happenings, but they were good sports about it.

Aside from running into the family and friends, I've got to say that one of my favorite things about walking around Temple Square was when we watched the presentation at the Nativity scene next to the Tabernacle. There was quite a crowd gathered to listen to the narration, and it was kind of a chore to try and see the figures as they were lit up (thank goodness i'm tall), but I think my favorite part of watching it was seeing all the little children up on their parents' shoulders. It's a small and simple thing, but it's sweet. We all wanted to see the Baby Jesus. Joy to the world, for sure.

-Me

"A turkey never voted for an early Christmas." -Irish Proverb

C is for Cookie . . . but B is for Burn!

I love Christmas. So many happy things to be doing and listening to and participating in and enjoying. It's wonderful. Even houses look friendlier at this time of year, thanks to snow and lights. What happy feelings prevail. I've really enjoyed finding gifts for family, friends, and roommates. My home looks like Christmas, with our pretty tree and poinsettias and nativity. And on Saturday, it even smelled like Christmas!

Lisa and I pose with our masterpieces.
We were both pretty proud of the gingerbread house we decorated together.

How does Christmas smell? Like hidden kisses and chocolate diamond squares and sugar cookies. That's right. It smells like sugar and chocolate. Both of which are important ingredients in the cookies I made Saturday afternoon, when the intense desire to bake seized me with a vengeance! My roommates didn't quite know what to make of me, but I didn't care much. I was just happy, jumping around the kitchen, all excited to be making hidden kisses. And all the cookies I made turned out quite nicely. They were enjoyed both at Becky and Noah's Hanukkah party Saturday night and at the dessert night our neighbor Tyler hosted on Sunday night.

Becky and Noah preparing for their Hanukkah party.
Yes, they are still Mormon. They just wanted to make latkes.

Since several cookies of mine were consumed over the weekend, I needed to make more, so I could share my culinary talents and Christmas cheer with my co-workers. However, yesterday's experience wasn't nearly as happy, all because of the clumsiness of me. I somehow managed to burn both my thumbs while getting out a pan of cookies, even while using pot holders! I don't know how I wasn't positioning the pot holders correctly, because heaven knows I've used them many times in my life with success, but twice within about thirty seconds, I did not. 'Twas a painful experience, and Lisa was a tad concerned when she walked into the kitchen to find me crying with the cold water running over my thumbs. I laughed a bit as I told her what happened, but I was still mainly crying because it just hurt so badly. Oh, well. An hour later, I was calling Mom to amuse her with the tale of my woe, so I don't think I was in a horrible mood. But that sure killed my cookie buzz. ;) Oh, well. I survived, and my thumbs shall recover, I'm sure you're all glad to know.

Noah shares the joy of "Calvin and Hobbes" with Brandon.
(the gift i gave to becky and noah)

Hope Esther likes her "Vicar of Dibley"!

Preparing to play the dreidel game.

-Me

"I don't want to live in a world where I have to eat sugar-free sugar cookies." -Takayuki Ikkaku

'Twas the Morning of First Snow

'Twas the morning of first snow, when all through the townhouse
The girls were all stirring, not quite like a mouse.
The socks on Megan's feet were fuzzy with care
In hopes that no cold could reach her down there.

She wished she could stay all snug in her bed
With visions of heaters dancing in her head.
She wore many layers (but don't worry; no cap)
And was already longing for an afternoon nap,

When the alarm clock started and rang with a clatter
She sprang from her bed and knew nothing was the matter.
Away to her window she flew like a flash
Seeing snow outside, she felt her hopes dashed.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Was quite beautiful, yes, but she knew deep below
That, to everyone's eyes would very soon appear
Her snow-driving skills, that could hit a deer.

She's a pretty good driver, lively and quick,
No accidents, no pull-overs, no nothing, no tick(ets).
More rapid than eagles, her shower she took
Because to be slow would be cold--not fun in her book.

"Now socks, now shirt, now jeans and a sweater!
On boots, on scarf, on mittens and hat (er. . .)!"
She was dressed all in warmth, from her head to her foot,
But stepping outside . . . well, there's no good rhyme here.

She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work
And scraped the snow off her car, then climbed in with a jerk.
And laying the key in the ignition, she froze,
But the car started fine and out of the parking lot she rose (kind of).

She sprang to her job, as fast as conditions allowed,
And checking the windows every half hour, she bowed
To the inevitability of Utah and snow
And said, "Tomorrow . . . I'm working from home!"

-Me

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." -Carl Reiner

And On That Farm He Had a Chicken

Good thing I don't live in Quitman, Georgia. Well, it still would have been all right for me, but it sure wouldn't have been for the chicken I saw today as I was driving home from work. Apparently, the city of Quitman has an ordinance that prohibits chickens from crossing the road. (why? because they don't want the chickens to see what happens on the other side . . . whatever that is, i sure don't know.) Yes, that would have been one sorry chicken, had I been living in Quitman and observed the "criminal activity" the chicken was engaged in. Fortunately, I live in Orem, and the chicken was not violating any city ordinances by crossing the road. Good thing for me, too, because it completely and totally made my day!

How many people have really observed a chicken crossing the road? I sure haven't, especially not in a suburban neighborhood a block away from an elementary school! But that's what happened today. From a distance, I thought that maybe someone had been careless and left a decorative chicken in the street. It wasn't until I reached and passed the chicken (had i been another foot to the right, i would have hit it . . . and the car parked on the street, for that matter . . .) that I realized it was real! It turned its head and, as soon as I passed it, started crossing the road! I observed it as long as I dared in my rearview mirror. I tell ya, it was awesome.

So, if you're a chicken-lover or just an average person, don't move to Quitman, because it's probably strange to see a policeman giving a warning to a chicken for jaywalking.

-Me

"Big nations are like chickens. They like to make big noises, but very often it is no more than squabbling." -Dr. Albert Schweitzer

There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters . . .

Okay, this sentence is going to sound really redundant, but I'm saying it, anyway: my sister and I are soo related. I know that goes without saying (see, tom? i'm not adopted!), but yesterday just reasserted to me that, despite the eight-year gap between me and my sister, we're quite a bit alike. My great-aunt Lillian passed away last week, so my dad flew down for the funeral in Spanish Fork yesterday, and Kelly and I went, as well. Well, she and I had a really good time trying to find the correct chapel (dad came down earlier than we did with his bro), and when we finally pulled into a parking lot with a hearse, we were both pretty happy that the search was over. To which Kelly said, "Kind of morbid to be happy to see a hearse." How true that is.

Anyway, after the funeral and seeing the extended fam, Dad hung out with us, his beautiful daughters, until it was time to go to the airport. So we hung out and chatted a bit before heading over to the music store. It was pretty darn laughable. Dad said he enjoyed seeing us so animated, but I'm sure it looked pretty funny to the outside observer, seeing three people just hunched over the choral music, saying, "Oh, I found this!", "Oh, you like this? Me, too! Grab me one!", and "Dad, go grab us this" (okay, dad didn't say that; we said it to him). What a good sport our dad was to put up with our antics. With probably two exceptions, Kelly and I got the same music (made for a fun time when we stepped away from the choral music and then had to go back to find duplicates). Even after we had definitely decided we were done (after . . . an hour? maybe more?) and Dad was graciously buying the music for us, Kelly and I were still having a grand old time seeing different sections of music and getting a little too excited about them.

Then we headed back to my place and played through all of the music we had purchased, with the exception of one of the four (that's right--four) versions of "Silent Night" we got. Dad says he wants us to move up to Oregon, but I think that he only wants us to do that so we'll sing in his ward choir. So, yeah. Maybe our excitement over finding music is kind of silly, but I think it's a good example of the similarities between me and Kelly. There are more, but this one is easily the most . . . observable. I wonder what it would have been like had Mom been there, as well. hmm . . .

-Me

"It is true that I was born in Iowa, but I can't speak for my twin sister." -Abigail Van Buren

You Had a Bad Day

In the words of Alexander, work today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. After the two days last week when I left feeling like a hero who had accomplished something good, I was not expecting to come crashing down by 3 pm this afternoon. I won't get into the details; it's not really worth hammering out. Suffice it to say that I was feeling pretty dang cruddy most of the day, and was frustrated enough to burst into tears a couple of times in my cubicle. Granted, that's not entirely unheard of, but usually there are other forces at work to make me do so. Not today. Today was all work-related crumminess. I've had those days that drag on, that I'm counting the minutes to the end, but I had never been so happy to leave the office as I was today. -sigh- I sure hope tomorrow is better.

Yep. This is pretty much how I felt.

Fortunately, I have friends that are willing to change their plans around to comfort me in my moments of personal crisis. Okay, maybe "crisis" is too heavy a word to describe today. But I was not in a good place, and I was in desperate need of a hug. So, after texting Esther and giving her a reader's-digest version of the day's events and how I was feeling, she was kind enough to "comfort those that stand in need of comfort". We went to dinner and watched Kung Fu Panda, and it was a good release from the day. Sometimes you need "the big, fat panda" to brighten your day, and Po came through for us.

At least I know that these days come to everyone, even in Australia.

-Me

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." -Charles M. Schulz

Life is Such a Chore When It's Boring

I think I've made it pretty clear that I love my family. I love my family a lot. I also love my friends a lot. So this is no reflection on them or how I feel about them. Really. But, dang it all, I'm tired of suffering from this same malady! And what is the malady, you may inquire? Well, I don't know if it's really a viable disease, but I have christened it "Baby Blogger Envy". And it's not for the reason that I'm still single and most of my family and several of my friends are married and have children (or soon will). It's not envy for that. Okay, maybe a little, but the real reason I suffer from this disease is because they have an easy source of subject matter and pictorial evidence for their blogs: babies. Babies, babies, and babies! They're cute, they're photogenic, they cause havoc in our lives, so really, they are an obvious subject for my family and friends. I don't blame them one bit for writing about these little children. And I'm glad for the updates, especially from my family. I just don't exactly have the same luxury as they do when updating my blog.

I have become known as Boring Blog Megan! Because I do things where pictures aren't allowed to be taken, like go to King's Singers concerts, or where I have absolutely no desire to take pictures, like a typical office workday where I spend my life eight hours a day, five days a week. So that's it. I'm tired of the "not enough pictures" comments. I may not have babies, but I am going to take pictures. I am going to do things that are blog-able, because I wish to overcome the "Baby Blogger Envy" that invades my senses every time I see a picture of Jack or Ellery or Isaac (or the other little children that now grace the lives of those i love). Dang it all, I will no longer be Boring Blog Megan! I declare myself free from this nasty nickname and depressing disease (ooh, alliteration!).

I ate ice cream today. It was delicious. Coldstone generally is. I saw Kim today, whom I have not seen since June. It was wonderful. Seeing Kim generally is. There. That was terribly interesting, was it not? (snicker, chortle, chortle)

We had a roommate reunion at Esther's a couple weekends ago, which was excellent, as always, so we took every opportunity we could to document the occasion. Good times, all.

As ever, me and my gals

The Colemans . . . ah, the times they share

Trying to set up the shot. Is it working?

Happy People!

-Me

"Someone's boring me. I think it's me." -Dylan Thomas

It Was a One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple-People Eater

I had the least Halloween-y Halloween I've ever had in my life on Saturday night. But that's because I had stake conference and had to be in charge of music (wait . . . scratch that . . . got to be in charge of music) for the evening session. However, that doesn't mean I didn't get to dress up in a costume that made me embarrassed to walk into a grocery store. Oh, no. We had our office Halloween activities on Friday, and that was the day I looked incredibly embarrassing. (and really, isn't that the point?) Sylvia and I got to run around crazily that day because we were the ones in charge of setting things up and handing out awards and candy and the like, but it was a successful Halloween in the office.

Mark, enjoying a siesta before the kids come

Andy wants to be a pirate in "The Pirates of Penzance"

One of the best-themed costumes by Will and his daughter

Zarco, our "illegal alien" gets busted by his wife, the immigration officer

David's kids (probably the cutest football player i've ever seen in my life)

The pumpkin-carving contest

Once again, I am on the winning pumpkin team
But it's a tad disturbing.
Kind of a theme of the pumpkins this year, though. Disturbing.

Jared as Harry Potter

Kathy as Minnie Mouse

The back of Mike's head was "riDIkulus"!

Sylvia rocks the office as Miss Piggy

Corey as Sherlock busts Zarco

And me. The nerd. Wasn't much of a stretch.
But I got to wear the orange-and-white socks again!

-Me

"It is kind of strange watching your personal history become costume." -gadgetgirl

Music of My Heart

Music is pretty much totally amazing. I know that I'm a total sap when it comes to most, if not all things, but I tell ya . . . When the simple opening measures of an orchestra piece cause your heart to swell up with joy, God's definitely letting you know something. You love music. That's me. I love it. Love, love, love it.

Tonight I got to see a marvelous group perform. And this is not an attempt to make others jealous, unlike the text messages I sent to my mother and sister before the concert started (teehee). Really, it's not. I just feel so lucky and privileged to have heard them: The King's Singers. Ever since I was a young girl (i can't say "little girl" without thinking, "whatever, megan, you were never little"), this group has been a part of my life, thanks to a certain Christmas album with a certain version of "Deck the Hall" that wished you a "very merry, very merry, very merry, very merry, etc. . . . Christmas". Having heard more as I grew older, I realized that they were more than a silly-novelty-Christmas-song group. So I was pretty excited a few months ago when Esther and I saw the advertisement that they would be singing at BYU. And I (miraculously) got tickets a month ago, and have been uber-pumped ever since.


My enthusiasm was totally worth it. There were (no joke) three or four different times when I nearly cried because the music was so beautiful or because I was simply so happy to be there. What a talented group. What an awesome way to spend an evening, listening to music you love. And they must have known Esther and I would be there, because they sang songs directly relating to us ("it's lonely at the top" and "short people"). Now I need to get me some more music. (one more thing to add to the list, mom and dad!) Awesome.

-Me

"The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning in music?' My answer would be, 'Yes'. And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be 'no'." -Aaron Copland

It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time!

Big decisions coming my way. Huge. Enormous, even! Dare I say, astronomical! And the biggest question is . . . what will I be for Halloween? All right, it won't be for the 31st exactly, because that night we have stake conference and I must attend because I've already been scouted out in the stake as some kind of musical proficient. Where they get these silly ideas, I don't know, but it doesn't come from me. But the day before, which is a Friday, we will be having festivities at my office, like last year. I would be willing to repeat my witch costume, but there's a slight problem with that option. Half of what I wore belonged to Esther, and I no longer live with her. Besides, I should think outside the box. So I will take suggestions. Anything, really. Doesn't mean I'll dress up as whatever you might suggest, but I need help in thinking of something, because I am drawing a blank.

Me and my roommate Lisa

I definitely have gotten into the fall "spirit", though. A few weeks ago, I put up some happy autumn decorations and put out the ceramic skeleton that Mom got me a couple years ago. He's a happy little fella, sitting on the piano. And on Friday, I went with some pals to Thanksgiving Point, where we went through the haunted corn maze! There was also a haunted blow-up dinosaur, which was our first stop that evening, and I'm sure Chad really appreciated me grabbing onto the back of his shirt when it got really dark. The biggest hoot of the night was hearing Lisa scream in the maze. I mean, I get startled, and I was definitely startled a couple of times during the night (especially when the chainsaw guy came out and we had to scurry through the abandoned school bus), but Lisa is a total 'fraidy cat, and it was pretty entertaining. Also entertaining was the hay ride, in which we were jostled to within an inch of our lives. But fun, anyway.

Jason and Tyler, who naturally refuse to take normal pictures

Danny and Chad partaking in the joys of tetherball

So yes. Fall is here, and it's a good time of year, even if I won't be warm again for another six months . . . or more. Probably more.

Oh, good heavens. How old are we?

-Me

"Nothing on earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night." -Steve Almond

One Last Kiss

It's slightly depressing to realize that your three-year old nephew is getting more action than you are. Well, maybe not for you, but just a bit for me. Apparently, little Jack (who's never really been little) is quite the ladies' man! I mean, it's only natural that young girls would be drawn to this cute lightning bolt of energy, but jeepers! He's already gotten his first kiss?!?!? He beat me by a good fifteen years to that particular milestone. Although that wasn't for a lack of trying on my part. I distinctly remember trying to pin Brandon Webb to the trampoline when I was four, but oh, darn . . . he wriggled out of my grasp. (i think if mom ever knew i tried that, she never would have let me out on the trampoline with the neighbor kids ever again.) I wonder if Tom Powers ever would have let me kiss him any of the times we played together in kindergarten. Or Taylor Johnatakis in third grade, for that matter (probably the closest i ever came to having one of those elementary school "boyfriends"). But alas, I was already scared off because of my previously rejected attempt. Oh, the times that try little girls' souls.

But really, when do kids reach that age when you shouldn't kiss without "feelings"? There's some implicit age that I just can't pin down when you would most definitely stop being so uninhibited because you know that someone is going to read into it (that someone most likely being the girl in the "relationship"). But before they reach that awful age, they'll kiss, say they've got a boyfriend (or girlfriend), promise to marry someone and promptly forget about it over a popsicle, and we adults think it's cute, innocent, and pretty dang funny in some cases.

Personally, even though I was frustrated at the time that I had to "wait" until I was 17 to be kissed, I'm glad that it was the case, because it was that blessed kind of situation where the boy I liked also liked me. (yeah, that's actually happened to me before!) I find that far preferable to any alternative. But goodness, sometimes I wish I were as assertive as Jack's "girl next door". Just need to find me a man, I guess. Then we'll see who has the last laugh! (but it won't be me because i'll be kissing . . . someone . . . i hope!)

-Me

"To me, there is no greater act of courage than being the one who kisses first." -Janeane Garofalo

Every Girl's Crazy 'Bout a Sharp-Dressed Man

Just another manic Monday, I guess. Whatever that means. Life continues to run in the same vein. Good things always happen, though. Jeremie got married on Friday, which was pretty fabulous. I was so glad I got to be there in Bountiful for the wedding. Both he and Sabra were just brimming over with glee, at least as far as I could tell. So hooray for weddings and happy times! Because I was already up north of Salt Lake, I gave my sis a call to see if I could visit her once the pictures at the temple were over. Fortunately, she said yes to a visit, so I headed up to Clinton around lunchtime. We and the two youngest kids went to McDonald's for lunch and they played around a bit. Ali attempted to use her baby blues to get out of eating the rest of her lunch so she could go play, so naturally I needed to avert my eyes. It's too easy to say yes to my adorable nieces and nephews. I stuck around for a couple hours longer and saw the other kids, and Kelly was astonished by the amount of calls and visits and extra errands she had while I was around. She kept insisting her life wasn't that "crazy", so I clearly chose a wonderful time to visit. But I am determined to visit more. I was really glad I went there. Friday was definitely a good day.

Time to wax philosophical:

Okay, so dreams are funny things. A couple weeks ago, I had a dream about a friend of mine from high school, Chip. Interesting character for a dream, considering I haven't seen or been in contact with him since graduating over seven years ago. Which begs the question: why? I'm not one to try and interpret dreams, especially after having the dream where I was dead and the entire dream was comprised of my friends' and family's reaction to hearing that I was dead. Clearly, three years later, I am still alive. (thank goodness.) However, it is kind of weird that this random old friend popped into my subconscious. The last time I had a dream about a guy I hadn't seen in years, I saw him in person just a few months later (i was 15). Coincidence? Most likely. But funny, nonetheless. So, if in the next few months, I report that I have somehow been in contact with Chip, we can all be assured that my dreams about random old friends are actually prophetic. But don't hold your breath.

Speaking of guys, isn't it amazing how a change of clothing changes our perception of them? It's the classic nerd-in-a-tux-is-suddenly-a-stud phenomenon. Put a guy you originally thought of as dim-witted in a suit, and bam! He's not too shabby. I was flipping through channels one night last week and stopped on a particular channel because I recognized this guy who was playing a lawyer. And I just thought to myself, "Woah, Roy in a suit?!?!?" I don't know the actor's actual name, but it was Roy from The Office. And considering most people know how I feel about Jim, they would know that I never rooted for Roy. Come on, who would root for a guy who says things like, "Your art . . . was the prettiest art . . . of all the art"? But man, there he was in a suit, and I couldn't get over the fact that I suddenly thought he was totally cute! Probably superficial of me to think so, but I can handle that.
And now that I've totally exposed myself to ridicule (believe me, I'm laughing plenty at myself), I believe I shall close. Besides, I'm tired out from oinking at family home evening tonight. (another story for another time.)

-Me

"If you look good and dress well, you don't need a purpose in life." -Robert Pante

Drink Up, Me Hearties, Yo-Ho!

I'm not made of money, despite what my parents say. Really. However, my spending habits on Saturday may have proved them right. Well, I didn't go on a shopping spree or anything. I only spent money in one place and on one item. But that particular item was, in fact, an iPod. I've been saying for . . . oh, I don't know . . . two years or so . . . that I would eventually get one. Well, "eventually" came Saturday. I'm already putting it to good use and everything, so I don't think it was an unwise purchase. But jeepers, do those things have to cost so much darn money? So I think any other "frivolous" purchases on my part need to be postponed for a bit. Unless, of course, some really fabulous deal comes my way. But for what, I don't know. I have everything I need, obviously; otherwise I wouldn't be dropping . . . several . . . dollars on an iPod. At least, that's the thought process.

And that is how I celebrated my "International Talk Like a Pirate" Day. You probably all forgot about that day, didn't you? Tsk, tsk. After my posting about it last year, I don't see how you did. That's okay. I was going to do a repeat of last year's activities, but when it came down to it, I was much more in the mood to watch Sword in the Stone, which I had rented the previous day, than Pirates. Sorry, Johnny. My apologies, Orlando. Better luck next year.

The previous Saturday was much more exciting than TLAPD, that's certain. Not only did I throw a fabulous party (and sorry, i'm not really willing to share the pictures . . . none of them turned out very well), I and two of my co-workers placed second in the Project Read Spelling Bee at the Provo City Library! It was a completely last-minute thing for me, considering I'd been against participating from the instant Christina sent the office an email for it, but they needed a replacement, and I was still available. And you know what? I'm a good speller. But that's of normal words. Although we lost by only a single word, I claim no responsibility for us getting as far as we did. I had no problem claiming my share of our prize, though, which was a $45 gift certificate to Carrabbas. Kind of perfect for me, eh? Yeah, I'd say so. I was pretty happy about that.

Adding to the happiness was the gathering together of my pals that night. It wasn't a terribly exciting event, but I think people enjoyed decorating their cupcakes. It was just an all-around good night, seeing people I hadn't talked to in days, weeks, months, even! So thanks go out to those who came, and I hope you enjoyed yourselves! I enjoyed seeing you!

Okay, life is beckoning, and I must return.

-Me

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." -Woody Allen

Movin' to the Country, Gonna Eat a Lot of Peaches

There's something about my family that always perks me up. Even when I have to deal with the barrage of questions regarding my personal life ("so are you next, megan?" "any special guys in your life, megan?" "why aren't you married, megan?"), I still love being with my family. Good thing, too, considering I saw both sides of my extended family this last weekend. First the four-hour trek out to Grand Junction. Now I will take guesses on how many hours I actually spent in GJ. Anyone? Guesses? No? Seventeen hours. I gave Mom and Dad quite the laugh when we were driving through Spanish Fork Canyon on our way to Salt Lake and I made the comment, "Hey, I was here at this time yesterday!" Funny, but kind of sad. I would have loved to have stayed longer. (several of the family members were lobbying for us to stay, as well.) But the mere seventeen hours were quite excellent with the Kelly family, celebrating Dane and Aimee's marriage.



Once back in Utah and after a lovely wait on the freeway near Lehi where it took us nearly an hour to drive five miles, we got to Eric and Erin's wedding in Salt Lake (miraculously) on time, though the actual ceremony didn't start for another . . . 45 minutes, I think. Oh, well. Eric certainly had a joyous grin when Erin walked down that aisle, which I really enjoyed observing. (usually that's a good sign, eh?) I don't see the Jensen family very often (and whose fault is that, megan? -hanging head in shame-), but I heard several opinions that it would be a good idea to re-institute the Jensen family beach trips. Maybe next summer. That would be cool. Any takers?



Last night I got to play "hostess" to my former roommates, which was totally fun and wonderful. (okay, maybe noah isn't technically a former roommate, but considering how much we saw him when he and becky were dating/engaged, he basically counts.) After a race downstairs to my bedroom, prompted by my request that someone get my desk chair (esther won that race and locked me out of my own bedroom! tsk, tsk), we had a scrumptious dinner and then an excellent dessert. I was especially excited for dessert (who isn't, really?) because it was the first peach cobbler I've made this year. Mmm. Love me my peach cobbler. And with fresh peaches, it's even better! Anyway, the whole evening was nice, seeing my girls (and guy), eating way too much food, and watching the newest BBC version of Sense and Sensibility together (even the boy . . . gotta love him . . . and becky does).



In other news: three-day weekend! No idea what I will do, but yay!


-Me

"Never judge a book by its movie." -J.W. Eagan