I'm So Excited And I Just WON'T Hide It

As I await my departure to Oregon in mere hours, I am tempted to just bolt away from my desk. I won't do that; I'm not willing to make the eight-mile walk home. And it wouldn't help my flight tonight leave any earlier. Details, details. But I'm quite excited for my weekend. It will be, in the words of Rhino the hamster, fully awesome!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty standard. Just gone to work, come home, and filled my time with random things. Last Tuesday night we had a little bit of a reunion with some girls at the Birdhouse, and it was so fun to see Rebecca, Amy, and Tasha! They are fantastic and amazing women, and I need to see them more often than once every three months.

Two weekends ago I was left alone in my place. Alicia still was mysteriously gone (she was in arizona for a full three weeks! yowzers!), and Esther and Rachel had gone to St. George. What's a girl to do when she has the place to herself? Throw a wild party, of course! (well, if "wild party" translates to "impromptu movie/game night", then it would be "of course".) It was a completely last-minute idea, because I didn't realize I had no plans for Friday night until Friday morning. Unfortunately, basically everyone else that I know did have plans, so my "party" wasn't entirely a grand affair. But I knew that would happen. The evening wasn't a total loss, though. I caught up on my reading of Crime and Punishment. And okay, Jay showed up, which was very kind of him; it helped me not to feel like a complete loser.

To add to the pathetic picture I'm already painting of that lone weekend, the next day I cleaned the house. You ask, "What else is new, Megan?" No, this time it was a deep scour. Top to bottom. Window shades, baseboards, the works. Anything and everything was under my jurisdiction. (getting the picture? i cleaned the entire house.) In my defense, our landlady was coming on Monday to give us a cleaning check, so I would never have been that thorough of my own volition. But it was . . . nice (is that the word i'm really thinking?) . . . to know that it was left up to me to take care of the house while everyone else was off on their own adventures. The hours-long exposure to cleaning supplies didn't bode well for my planned evening of dancing with Jackie. Fortunately, she was a good sport about it, so we stayed in and watched . . . well, never mind what we watched. I'm going on a fast of that movie now, because I need a break from it.

Last weekend, I went swimming with Lexie and Ashley at Salem Pond, which was pretty fun, seeing as how Ashley and I ended up totally bonding over Star Trek. I'll have to remember that place, too. It was a nice place to go swimming; for free, no less! That night I headed to the Hale Center Theater in Orem for a production of Singin' in the Rain, and I found it thoroughly entertaining. The tap dancing just made me happy, and while the lead is no Gene Kelly, he still managed to keep the audience involved during the title song by kicking water everywhere in the seats (yeah, people in the front row were given ponchos because they were most definitely going to get wet). But, in the show as in the movie, my favorite character remains Cosmo Brown. "Big people have little humor, and little people have no humor at all." (thank goodness i'm one of the "big people", so i have some humor.)

I got myself a little sunburned again on Sunday, but of course that would happen when you take a two-hour motorcycle ride in the afternoon sun without even thinking to apply sunscreen. Oops! But the bike ride was awesome. I've known Mike for over a year now and I still had yet to ever go on a ride with him (and he loves to ride that bike), so we decided to remedy that tragedy on Sunday afternoon. We, Marshall (another guy in the ward), and Brother Jube (our ward's high council rep.) took a ride through the Alpine Loop. It was beautiful in the canyon behind Timp! So green and gorgeous. And even though my hair was a matted mess by the time we got back, the ride was worth it.

Happy thing to think about: Making new friends is really fun! We had a speed-dating activity at fhe a couple weeks ago (smart move on linda's part to not tell us what the activity would be until we got to bishop parker's house), and I ended up meeting a few new guys in the ward that I've gotten to be friendly with, so I'd say it was successful. The next week, I drove with Amy to fhe in Hobble Creek Canyon, and I'd never really talked to her before, but that half-hour drive to and from the canyon gave us a chance to get to know each other better, which was nice. Then, of course, there was the bonding with Ashley over Star Trek and Care Bears. And last night I went on yet another blind date (wow, i'm starting to clean up on those) and had a good time getting to know Ben (hear that, becky? i had a good time! please don't gloat too much) at Sub Zero. So the efforts of making new friends these last couple of weeks have been more than satisfactory. Hooray!

So until we meet again, go out and meet new people. It's ultimately worth it. (all the while making sure you're hanging on to the old friends, too, though.)

Me

"Vacation is what you take when you can't take what you've been taking any longer." -The Lion

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts . . .

Now I've been made to feel slightly that I am simply a sheep following a pop culture mass hysteria, but to those nay-sayers, I say this: Baaa!!!!!

Yes, I admit freely that I am a nerd. I've read Lord of the Rings and its accompanying appendices and The Silmarillion (i draw the line at speaking elvish, though; i haven't crossed over that much) multiple times, so I'm well acquainted with the workings and history of Middle Earth. I am one of a few among a rising generation who still knows exactly who Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner are and why they are geek-culturally significant. I quote Star Wars freely and engage in discussions about background information concerning the real lines David Prowse spoke when the audience was hearing, "No, I am your father" in The Empire Strikes Back. And yes. I read and love Harry Potter. So that means I watch the Harry Potter movies. So when my roommate wants to see Half-Blood Prince at midnight opening night, I will gladly go. Call me a nerd. I can take it. But just because it's popular doesn't mean it's not any good.

Among the group of girls that I was with last night (four of the five morris sisters; i felt like a giant), there were mixed reviews and feelings of the movie as we stepped out into the nearly-3-am-air. I had grave objections to one scene in particular that was totally pointless. Not only was it not in the book, but it had absolutely no bearing on anything that happened in the movie at any time. I am not a purist when it comes to movie adaptations. If it were a straight shot from the book, I would be bored. In fact, there was an extra story added into one of the character's dialog that was most definitely never in the book, but I thought it was a wonderful addition and a great example of what movie writing can be. However, I was very unhappy with this superfluous scene. Yes, we know Death Eaters are on the loose and are hunting down the good guys and destroying everything in their wake. You didn't need to include that scene for us to know that in the movie already. And yes, there were a couple other things in the movie that I didn't necessarily love, but they were mere pittances in comparison.

So I don't care who calls me a nerd for going to see it in the first place and I don't care what purists and negative critics think of my opinion, but aside from that one scene, I really enjoyed it. The number of things I enjoyed about the movie were far and away more numerous than the things that I wasn't happy with. So there. I liked Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. So go see it. Just please ignore said scene. Believe me, if you've read the books even half-heartedly, you'll know which scene I mean when you watch it.

-Me

"I take the view, and always have, that if you cannot say what you are going to say in twenty minutes you ought to go away and write a book about it." -Lord Brabazon

I Can See Clearly Now, the Rain is Gone

And now back to adventures with Megan, summer-style! Let me just say I've never had such a crazy beginning to summer weather in Utah before. Most of June, it rained. I couldn't believe it. And everywhere I went, if someone found out I was from Oregon, they would immediately ask me, "Remind you of home?" Well, naturally. And while I love rain, I was ready for the sun to come out. We got lucky at our work summer activity, because the rain held off that day long enough for us to have a good time outside with our bbq, etc., and the sun even popped out for a bit! Hallelujah! But the instant it was over, "the rain came tumbling down". It was crazy to drive home in!

The rain also prevented me from going down to Manti on a blind date. I still went on the blind date and everything, but I wasn't terribly disappointed that I didn't have to drive for two hours away from home with a guy I had never met. Had we actually gone to the Mormon Miracle Pageant (which was what was awaiting us in Manti), it would have been a long, late, wet blind date. As it turned out, it was none of those things, so I thank the rain for coming down in sheets that day.

But the rain did eventually go away, thank goodness. A single sunny day in the middle of the days was the day that Alicia and I went to the Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days Rodeo with Sylvia and a couple other people from my previous ward. It was pretty fun, especially when one of the guys doing steer wrestling got out of the gate and got that steer down and tied up in 3.7 seconds! It was amazing. From our angle, I could have sworn the guy just touched him and he went down. Seriously. Wow. Good day.

At the Rodeo

Last weekend for the 4th of July, Esther and I took a jaunt down to Moab, Utah, where Arches National Park resides. We camped for two nights in a campground that's actually in the city, which was interesting (not-so-interesting was the fact that we weren't allowed to build campfires . . . grrr). We got there at night-time, so we were setting up our tent in the dark. Fun. But we got it set up correctly and everything, and it only took us an hour to get everything settled! Anyway, Friday consisted of going to Arches and hiking to Delicate Arch and then around the Devil's Garden trail, which contains seven or eight arches to see. It was quite warm, and we both had issues with our camelbaks at various times, but fortunately, those times didn't last forever, and we were sufficiently hydrated, even in the midst of the heat. We both got really interesting sunburns, despite all efforts with the sunblock to avoid such catastrophes, but at least now we have proof that we were outside, right? Anyway, there were points when my 'fraidy-cat height tendencies loomed their ugly heads, but I see it as a blessing that the wind didn't pick up while we were on top of the rock fins. I still moved forward. Huzzah!

Some choice pictures from hiking around Arches

Saturday took us into Mill Creek Canyon, where we found ourselves Left Hand, a swimming hole that is a local secret. (we asked three different people for directions to get there, and had a bit of an adventure trying to at least find the trailhead parking lot.) We got conflicting reports of how long it would take us to reach it, so I allowed my discouraging attitude to peek through after about twenty minutes, which was frustrating for Esther, I'm absolutely certain. I am shame-faced. But it was kind of fun crossing the creek a few times and negotiating our way through the jungle-like environment when that was an issue. Missed my machete, for certain. (haha) We did eventually make it, and it was a really fun place. There were a couple of different pools that we could slide ourselves into (really slippery rocks), and aside from a few dogs that liked running around in the water while their owners looked on, we were the only ones there enjoying it. It was a pretty awesome experience watching Esther try to get herself out of the deeper pool. There wasn't really a great way to pull yourself out of there. The first time we were both down in it, I really think it's a miracle that we got ourselves out. So Esther tried swimming against the current of one of the slides, and that caused us a lot of entertainment as her vain attempts increased.

And at Left Hand
(a strategy to get out . . . good luck!)

Our hike back out took a little bit longer, firstly because there seemed to be even more trails presenting themselves to us than there had been on our way in, and secondly, because Esther slightly injured her foot on one of her attempts to pull herself out of the water. But we weren't stressing out too much about her foot injury. That is, we weren't until about four hours later, when we had checked into the hotel, showered, and napped, waking up to Esther not being able to put any pressure at all on her foot. Uh-oh. She was really feeling the pain, so, instead of visiting the 4th of July city park celebration, we drove past it to get to the hospital that was a couple blocks away from it! Fortunately, it wasn't broken or sprained, just a contusion, but I got a few choice pictures of Esther in a wheelchair and then on her crutches. Naturally, the next morning when we woke up, she wasn't in any pain at all. Figures.

After church in Moab that morning (where this cute old lady was kind enough to point out how obvious the burn was on the back of my neck), we drove out to Goblin Valley, which everyone knows is where they filmed a portion of Galaxy Quest. The rock formations there were really cool, but we didn't stay there really long because, well, it was freaking HOT! So, with much trepidation, we made our way back home to Provo. Good weekend.

Last photo opportunity at Goblin Valley

This week was definitely a week of going out to eat. Monday night was Tucano's (mmm . . .) when Tom and Lisa came into town and we met up with cousins to enjoy some excellent meat, and lots of it. We may as well admit that we are carnivores when we go to Tucano's. After dinner, we all went down to Scott and Michelle's house (sans scott and michelle, since they were traveling in oregon at the time) in Payson to hang out and talk more. So fun. I love my family. And I was really glad to see them, even despite hearing the horror stories of pregnancy that Lisa, Kathryn, and Christina were commiserating with. Thursday afternoon we went out for lunch for work, because Brett and Allyson are fleeing the state! (allyson will still work for us from her new home in texas, but brett is going to be gone for good.) So we used that as an excuse to go out, which was fortunate because Sarah Phelps was back in Utah for the week, and it was really fun to catch up with her while we were out to lunch. The week culminated with Thai food with my friend Jackie, who I hadn't seen in at least a year. Oh, man, I was happy to see Jackie, but I was excessively excited about the Thai food. Oh, the scrumptious goodness. What a week to eat.

All right, as ever, I have written an epistle. My apologies. It's not as though people need to know what I eat. But I do feel it an obligation to spread the good word of Tucano's and Thai food. It's just important. That's all.

-Me

"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and to let the food fight it out inside." -Mark Twain

Remember When It Rained

Prepare yourselves for a shock. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was falsely advertised! (cue gasps, dropped jaws, etc.) Now you may ask, how would I know how a movie that is eighteen years old was advertised? And, perhaps more importantly, why would I even care? I should clarify: I don't really think of it as a huge blow to my outlook on life. But it came as a big shock to me, my friend Charity, and her husband, James, last Thursday evening. On a whim, Charity and I made plans to watch Robin Hood (guess i'm on that kind of a kick, thanks to mr. richard armitage, otherwise known as guy of gisborne in the bbc robin hood tv series . . . -sigh-). James, once the movie was done, went to the special features and wanted to watch the original trailer. My initial reaction was, "Why would you want to watch the trailer to a movie you just watched?" But as we watched the trailer, we were all astounded by the music in the background. Was it the Robin Hood soundtrack we heard? Oh, no. To our chagrin and amusement, we all three recognized the music as the soundtrack to Willow (which, coincidentally, was the last movie i watched with charity . . . oh, the irony)! And naturally, we're all very nerdy that we recognized the music, but this poses the question: Did anybody go to the movie theater to watch Robin Hood, hoping in vain to see Val Kilmer in a cameo role?

Last Friday evening, Esther, Rachel, and I were at home, twiddling our respective thumbs and trying to come up with something fun to do. Then, in a moment of sheer un-Esther-ness, Esther took charge, came up with an idea, and made us do it. Well, I wouldn't say she forced us, but usually Esther is so indecisive that it came as a surprise to me when she very authoritatively said, "Let's have a girls' night! And do make-overs!" So we did. And it ended up being really fun, too. I was in charge of Rachel's hair and Esther's make-up, and we were all pretty pleased with the results, with Rachel's Audrey Hepburn updo and Esther's 1940s-movie-star look . . . and my 1940s-mom look . . . (for the record, i looked pretty dang cute; but i will not attempt to deny that i looked like a mom, especially when i put on the apron and posed with the cookies when we took pictures.) It was a long process, even the picture-taking ordeal afterward, but it was something fun and different to do. And thank goodness I didn't have any early-morning plans on Saturday, otherwise I would have been suffering after going to bed at 2 am.

Us lovely girls
And really, it's the return of Doris Macafee
with the cookies.

Tomorrow I'm hoping for three reasons that the weather will not turn into a torrential downpour. Reason #1: Our company summer activity in Provo Canyon. I'm on the Spirit Committee, which means I've helped plan it, which means I most definitely have to be there, which means if we have tons of food left over because nobody shows up, I will not be a happy camper. Reason #2: We have a tri-ward activity tomorrow night, also in Provo Canyon. This is something that I would actually find fun (i guess i don't have a great attitude about the company picnic), but again, if the weather's bad, people won't show up. There is an alternate location in case of inclement weather, but I wonder how many people will be willing to go there. Who knows? But yes. Two activities in the canyon tomorrow, threatened by this very unnatural weather. Reason #3: The Utah Valley marathon that starts in the canyon. (what is with all the events in provo canyon?) Not that I'm running in it; no way! But Esther is. And I hope, for her sake, that it's not raining cats and dogs.

-Me

"'I love you, Sorsha!' I don't love her; she kicked me in the face!" -Madmartigan

I Hope You Don't Mind That I Put Down in Words . . . Lots of Things

In case those who read this haven't figured it out by now, I really like to write. I have ever since I was a little girl, composing four-page stories from the age of nine. It was the pride of my life to read my stories to my fourth-grade class and hear my fellow students tell me that my stories were really good. I continued the story-writing up until I was about fourteen. I stopped when I realized that my old masterpieces really weren't all that great. One of my biggest regrets is that I threw away all but one of my school-girl stories in a moment of teenage stupidity, and now their plots are distant memories. They had really gripping titles, too. "Snow Camp", "Daddy's Home", and "Basketball Wars", just to name a few. But I still really enjoyed writing, even after I gave up writing stories regularly. I took a Creative Writing class my senior year in high school, and I was so proud of myself when I managed to create a sonnet in iambic pentameter within twenty minutes. Shocking. And a long way from my first thrilling epic ever written, "The King and Queen Are Missing!" (gee, i wonder how the plot of that story went.)

I have never aspired to be a great writer, though, and I don't really think I ever will be, but I've been really surprised at the last year of my life and how much time I have spent typing away at story ideas that pop into my head at random times. Sometimes it's a dialog that I think of first, or an image of a scene that I want to describe, and suddenly I think of a whole story to go along with it. Just last week, between the states of sleep and wakefulness, a scene popped in my brain that was crying out for an explanation. Once I was fully awake, I couldn't put the scene aside. I had to create a story to it. Once I had, I shared the storyline with Esther. I'm not sure she was really all that enthralled with it considering it's my hobby and she was lying in bed, but I think she did find a couple of plot points kind of interesting.

If you're curious about the kinds of things I end up writing about, it's not really worth it to ask me for an excerpt or anything. I may be an extremely loud and obnoxious person, but I'm incredibly shy when it comes to sharing these little tidbits of stories, especially when I want to expand on them and actually write something book-length. It was a big deal when I read a mere paragraph to Becky and Esther from something I'd been working on for a couple of months (i'd written more than a paragraph after two months of working on it, but the paragraph was all i shared with them). I'll just say that one of my greatest wishes has been to write a really great American Revolution historical fiction epic. Well, maybe "epic" is too grand a word. But I have a tendency to exaggerate, in case you missed that, as well.

I don't think I have the ambition to really try and ever publish anything I write. I think I'd surprise even myself if I ever did. For now, it's still a hobby I love. But just in case I ever branch out and write something that I don't just post to a blog, you can all say you knew me when. Because, naturally, whatever I write will immediately be a big-time best-seller, complete with a feature film option, and I will be a hit celebrity, like Stephenie Meyer . . . but not like Stephenie Meyer. So far, none of my stories have centered around hormonal, teenage vampires. I have a feeling they never will.

-Me

"Typos are very important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they aren't distracted by the total lack of content in your writing." -Randy K. Milholland

Land That I Love

Wow, talk about lazy posting. It's been three weeks! Heavens. I'd like to apologize to those who actually read this blog . . . which is probably, on average, one person per post. So to whoever the lucky person is that has been checking my blog regularly for the last three weeks, this one's for you. (and anyone else that may happen to wander across this . . . really, i'm not picky.)

Two weeks ago, I made the excruciatingly long trip up to Clinton for the weekend, as Mommy Dearest was there watching out for the kids as Kelly and Nate were out of town. I was looking forward to spending time with the family and seeing Mom, but it ends up that it was a really good thing I went for health's sake! Mom had a cold almost from the instant she set foot in Utah earlier that week, and on Sunday, she was completely bed-ridden and I became a single mom for a day! I love those children. But I've never been a mother. And especially not a mother of four all at once. And I never really had much baby-sitting experience as a kid/teenager, either. I wonder why that is sometimes. Oh, well. Anyway, I took the kids to church and attempted to feed them (mom eventually called me up to the bedroom where she could hear our conversations and croaked out, "let them eat cake" . . . oh, the difference between a mom and a grandma . . .) and entertain them the rest of Sunday until bedtime. Phew! And somehow, even though I'd picked Ali up quite often throughout the day, she instinctively knew that this time around was different, and she immediately started crying and struggling to get out of my grip. She ran to Ganny, who she obviously knew was not in charge that day. But Ganny came through. She got Ali in her pj's and everything, and I was relieved that I didn't have to go through a battle to get Ali to bed. I felt guilty leaving Mom there when she was still sick, but as far as I know, the rest of her time there was smooth enough. At least, no one died, which is always a plus.

The following week, I only worked for two days (!!!) because Esther and I left on Wednesday morning for DC and Becky's wedding! Good times to be had all around. I rode the Washington Metro for the first time, from where Becky, Noah, and Becky's sister Raelee picked us up and we went on to Frederick. Esther and I stayed in the house of a couple that are old friends with Becky's family. It was also the home to some raucous birds who really needed a mute button. Badly. From about five in the morning. Esther and I were not pleased in the mornings. It was the first time in my life that I recall ever wanting to strap on a shotgun and go hunting.

On the metro. Exciting!

The wood slide near Becky's house. Awesome.

Thursday was spent at the temple for Becky's endowment, and she was really excited. Her older sister, Ruth, was our chauffeur, and after we were done at the temple, she came with Esther and me to get some breakfast/lunch/dinner (really, it was 3:30, and we hadn't eaten all day . . . starving!) at the Cheesecake Factory. (Delectable!) She also dropped us off at the Metro station once we were done with our fantastically edible meal, and Esther and I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening walking around the National Mall, trying to take pictures before the plethora of tour groups got in our way. It was really . . . wow, I feel like any adjective I use here would be inadequate. I was really excited to be in DC and see all the memorials. There was a lot of walking involved, but it wasn't until we were done seeing things and were on our way back to the Metro that my feet felt a little brutalized. It was a little surreal to be actually in the presence of these places that I have only ever seen pictures of, but it was absolutely amazing. As we were coming down the steps of the Jefferson Memorial, I had to stop and look around me. The whole city just looked beautiful from where I stood, and I was really happy to be there. So, to report, Thursday we saw from afar the Capitol and the White House (very much from afar, we didn't bother walking toward them at all), and then the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial (which i really liked), the Vietnam War Memorial (which was the closest i came to crying in the patriotic part of the trip . . . it was very moving to see little offerings put there by families of the different names we saw), the Korean War Memorial, the FDR Memorial (lots of fountains . . . fun!), and the Jefferson Memorial. (we deliberately put off seeing the lincoln, so don't worry . . . i didn't accidentally leave it out.)

At the FDR Memorial

I love coming from where I do. With very few exceptions, my entire family lives on the west side of the United States, but it was a great experience to go to a place that is so historical. I don't profess to be a history buff, but it is a subject that I have always enjoyed. Maybe from my experiences of reading about Felicity, Molly, Samantha, and Kirsten, when I was in my "American Girl" kick as a child (remember those? i was always so jealous that my cousin kathryn had the kirsten doll . . . i always wanted felicity). Anyway, being back in DC really increased my appreciation for being a citizen of this country. It's not perfect, but I know that we always have the chance and responsibility to make it better, and that's because of all the great people who have come before us, be they great historical leaders or everyday men and women. I'm grateful for my freedom.

The Washington Monument

Okay. Enough patriotic schmaltz. Back to business. Friday was spent getting ready for the reception on Saturday, but there were so many people at the chapel helping, there ended up being very little to do. So after Esther and I had done what we could, we took Becky and Noah's car (oops, i mean "borrowed"), took it through a car wash (which it desperately needed . . . so many birds had used it as a potty), and then proceeded to the closest mall in Frederick. There we found the biggest shoe store I have ever seen. I was astounded. We were back in time to party hearty at the "bachelorette party" for Becky. And, naturally, being the Mormons that we are, the party consisted of eating hamburgers, chatting, and playing "Apples to Apples" with Becky's now-sister-in-law. Hardly a riotous event. But it was Becky's last night of singledom, and I think she was grateful to have her close friends and sister with her.

Me and the Capitol Dome.

Saturday was the wedding, and Becky was just glowing; she was so happy. And, despite any tears that may have been shed on the part of her former roommates, we were very happy for her. We took up the very-important post of watching over the presents and the guest book (that noah made! creative guy!) at the reception. Our efforts were very necessary, although maybe our presence would have been better appreciated at Becky and Noah's car, seeing as how those who decorated it went a little too crazy in what was done to it. We could have at least foreseen and talked them out of pouring chocolate syrup onto and concurrently into the car. What a pleasant experience for them to drive away from the reception that night, stopping at Wal-Mart to get some cleaning supplies to attempt to clean up the chocolate in the back seat. For future reference, if/when I get married, don't do that to my car. Cleaning up chocolate in the back seat is the last thing I will want to be doing on my wedding night. Umm . . . yeah. Moving on.

One last roommate shot.

On Sunday after church, Ruth, Raelee, Esther, and I drove up to Gettysburg. Wow. I was amazed by how much land was involved in this battle. We were driving around all the battlefields, and I just kept wondering how much more was coming. Lo, and behold, another turn, another huge amount of land. Incredible. Again, such a beautiful place. So green. (so humid, too, but that's another issue that i won't address here.) After Gettysburg, we were dropped off once more at the Metro, where we miraculously found our way to the Holiday Inn we were staying at (yeah . . . didn't get into our room until about ten . . . pretty laughable). We just dropped into our comfortable bed, turned on the tv, ate our room service (yes . . . we got room service), and it was a good night's sleep.

The WWII Memorial

Another future reference thought: Never, and I mean, NEVER, go to DC on Memorial Day. Not that we could help the weekend that Becky chose to get married, but wow. Don't do it, if all you want to do is walk around Arlington Cemetery without getting herded like sheep into only one direction and not knowing if there's going to be a way out. Oh, well. We weren't really using our heads with that one. Memorial Day=people visiting cemeteries=people going to national memorials and monuments=lots of crowded places=not going to happen to megan ever again.

Esther and the Vietnam War Memorial

Anyway, after our adventure at Arlington and finding our way back out, we crossed the Potomac and walked to the Lincoln Memorial. That was where I was the most anxious to go. Honestly, I could have skipped everything else and been happy just seeing the Lincoln. I think it's because I love Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He has a connection to that memorial, and I do, too, after seeing Jimmy Stewart talk about how Mr. Lincoln is just sitting there waiting for him. Anyway, naturally the place was totally crowded, but I still managed to get completely choked up reading the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address. What incredible words. And what incredible things happened even at that place. I got a thrill seeing the step from where Martin Luther King gave the "I Have a Dream" speech. Absolutely amazing. What a place.

Me and Mr. Lincoln!

We found our way back to the hotel and the airport after that and returned to our regular lives that night. A pretty awesome weekend. Becky and Noah's wedding was beautiful, and the time we actually did get to spend in DC was awesome. And I have written WAY too much. Please forgive me my tirade. I could have said a lot more; believe me.

-Me

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." -Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address

Climb Every Mountain

It's strange to say you love inanimate objects, but I'm going to say it, anyway. I love our new place. It's so incredibly nice! The Halfway House, while it was good enough for a year, was just such a dump compared to the new place (we may have to come up with a name for it). We have stairs! I'm excited about having stairs! We also have a ton of storage space, and the kitchen is so cute with its one red wall! Extra perk: we have a dishwasher that is NOT named Megan! It's an actual machine! Huzzah! (i've been saying that a lot lately. must be my new "awesome" . . .) Esther, Alicia, and I got all moved in a couple weeks ago, then Rachel came last week. So it's the four of us, and I think we're handling the new arrangements all right. Especially since we have yet to experience even one day with all four of us actually here. Crazy. But we love the new place, in case you didn't infer that.

Just a couple shots of the new place

I had quite the kitchen-oriented start to my week, actually. I've been determined to actually cook more, and that determination has been kind of succeeding, especially since I was involved in a work potluck and a dinner group potluck all on the same day, and then the actual cooking for myself (and roommates/friends) in addition. Fortunately, both my potluck dishes (enchiladas for the cinco de mayo potluck at work and the amazing jensen lemon cake dessert for the dinner group) got rave reviews from all who partook. Yay! I'm in charge of the dinner group on Thursday, too, and I'm really pumped to make this absolutely awesome and incredible soup that I've been looking for an excuse to make.

I completed my first Y hike of the summer season on Thursday evening. First time I ever did it by myself. Not something I'd recommend, but I wanted to do it, and I guess I was just too lazy to call anybody to come with me. It's a short hike, yes, but it's so darn steep that I always feel as though I've conquered Kilimanjaro once I've reached the Y. The first time I ever tried to hike the Y ("tried" being the operative word), I didn't make it all the way because my 200-above-sea-level, Oregonian body did not appreciate it and I subsequently became extremely light-headed and nauseated (hurray for altitude sickness). Fortunately, my date that day (yeah, it was a date . . . embarrassing to not make it on a date) was really nice about it. A month and a half later, I actually made it (that time, i nearly blacked out halfway up, but i refused to stop and be humiliated by the mountain again). And ever since then, hiking the Y has been a great accomplishment for me. And now you may all mock my history of lameness when it comes to mountains. -gives five seconds- All right, stop laughing. No, really, I mean it. Hey, stop!

The south view from the Y

And Megan, the lone explorer.

Now that you've all recovered from your Megan-induced hilarity, we'll move on.

I'm really looking forward to seeing my mom later this week. I've been really missing her (and dad, naturally, but he's not coming down to utah, -insert sad face here-), so I'm glad for the opportunity to go up to Clinton and see her and (help take care of) the kids while Kelly and Nate are back east. I'm not sure when exactly I'll get the opportunity to go up, but I'll probably try to swing it this weekend.

And one more parting image of the lovely Jeremie Jones.

This time he really DID leave Provo.
And Cher gave her final concert.

Yesterday, I got to see my friend Andrew for a large chunk of the day. I haven't seen him in quite some time. We talk occasionally, but the last time we actually laid eyes on each other was probably in January. So we ended up going to dinner (i introduced him to carabbas . . . needless to say, he really enjoyed it) and then he suggested seeing the new Star Trek movie. I really hadn't been planning on seeing it (and i had told esther so the night before), but he wanted to see it and was willing to pay for me, so I went along with it. So. Good. It was an awesome movie, so I'm really glad that Andrew got me to change my mind. Everyone should see it.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm looking forward to a new week, and my new determination is to have a better attitude about work. So we'll see how that goes. Wish me luck!

-Me

"I don't even butter my bread. I consider that cooking." -Katherine Cebrian