saturday is a special day

Like most people I know, Sam and I really like Saturdays for what we don't have to do on them. With this luxury we slept in, read books, read the paper, browsed the internet, lazed. Sam made a delicious buffalo-chicken salad for dinner. But we also like Saturdays for what they allow us to get done. Today was a particularly productive day. Sam cleaned the battery terminals on our car and bought a fire extinguisher and I went grocery shopping. We also did some things together. First, we hung some pictures above our bed-- which is always more work than it seems it should be.


Then we bought a vacuum. It's no Dyson, but it sure sucks well and has some nifty tools. It is a little creepy to be able to see all the dirt in your house flying around in a little plastic tornado.


Our final accomplishment of the day was committing ourselves to two years of monthly bills to T-Mobile. We got a family myFaves plan. This means that I can choose any 5 numbers and call them for free. Other than Sam, I'm having a tough time deciding who they should be. If you want to be one of my faves, leave me a message in passionate language describing why I should pick you. In the mean time, Happy Saturday!

bobby pins from sammy-kins

It's the little things that really prove someone's love, right? At least, that's what we learn from Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer and I'm prone to believe it. Take for example, the actions of my husband yesterday evening. He came home from a stop at the supermarket with a small package of bobby pins for me. But these weren't just any bobby pins. Some background: every time we've gone to the a super-walmart, -target, -Smith's, -Albertsons for the past several weeks I've looked for these special curved bobby pins that don't stick out from my head. No one carried them. Not one single curved bobby pin, just the shoddy plastic tipped nightmares. So yesterday when Sam was perusing the aisles of Kroger and saw the bobby pin section, he looked at every single package they had and brought me home a whole box of beautifully curved, head-hugging bobby pins. What a man.

las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso

The newest collection from the makers of the loveliest chocolates I've ever tasted

an ideal husband: how sam measures up

It's funny to go back and look at my list of traits I'd like in a husband now that I'm married. Sam certainly meets the large majority of requirements. We both wish he had a little bit more of number 11, considering our current woes. Only number 50 seems to not be so important anymore, but that may be just because we're in Houston. I've been pleasantly surprised at just how well Sam does at some of these, like 67, 33, 22, 17, 12, and 5. And of course, he has all the essentials of the list, like 1, 2, 6, 27, 28, 35, 39, and 55. I love Sam!

this month is such a special one...

Yesterday was Sam's birthday. I made him this birthday cake. My parents birthdays are also this month. I wish they were here to help us eat this very large, very rich cake.


Happy Birthday Juners!

my (new) title

I felt like this new blog needed to be updated to better suit my current self. Don't get me wrong: I still feel like traveling teaches us about ourselves and that there are lots of fantastically cool ways to learn. It's just, after a few more years of school, work, loneliness, falling in love, traveling, changing, not changing, in general, after living and growing up, I've gotten to know myself a little better, and I've learned a few things.

I've learned that people are more important to me than most anything else. I don't think I did as well in school, read as many books, went to as many museums or lectures or concerts, or performed as well in my job as I could have had I not spent so much time being with people I liked and who made me feel good and valuable. I've also learned, and am no longer ashamed to admit, that I think its easier to get people to notice us and like us when we look decent-- not couture or over-done-- but I know I feel more confident and out-going when I'm not thinking about my old shirt.

Part of what makes this problem worse is that while I didn't do any of those things I mentioned as well as I might have, I didn't do them particularly poorly either. That provides very little motivation to really get cracking on my intellectual, spiritual, or career development. At some level, I'm having my cake and eating it too. And besides, most of the people I was spending my time with were much more diligent in their self-development than I and it was easy to just go along for the ride.

But when I finally let myself reflect, I still feel like I need to take a little more initiative in my growth as a human being. And when it comes to role models, I find several candidates in my favorite books. Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice. Anne, of Green Gables fame. Kitty from Anna Karenina. And Jo from Little Women.

My personal favorite is Kitty. She begins the novel as a flighty young woman, jealous and vain. Kitty gets so ill from the angst of unrequited love that she leaves the country to go to recover at a spa in Germany. There she meets a woman who is unselfish and self-sacrificing and yet so happy. Kitty tries to emulate her, but realizes she cannot maintain her friend's level of piety and service. Still, Kitty is changed for good.

It's at this point in the novel that I think Anne Shirley's comment that I've posted below my title is particularly fitting. Kitty wants to be good. She wants to be faithful. She wants to serve God and her fellow man. But she still wants to look pretty, and life's tests and trials seem to be marginally easier when we look good.

Kitty goes on to fall in love with a wonderful, hardworking man of the land. She's a doting wife and gentle mother. When her husband's brother falls ill, she immediately jumps in caring for both the dying man and her grieving husband, making everything better by the beauty and care she brings to their lives.

I guess I'm hoping my own story will have a similar ending. I probably won't ever read as many books, or have as many ideas, or know as many current events, or attend as many lectures as I could. But I hope I can make things beautiful like Kitty, and temper my pride like Elizabeth, and be full of gratitude like Anne, and make my big dreams fit my small life like Jo.

try number two

After a recent email conversation with my friend Liz, I decided to try my hand at blogging again. I'm a regular on facebook, but I like words and pictures and links to all go together, and a blog seems more suited to that.

I must be honest, I'm a little wary of keeping a regular blog. It seems a little presumptuous to me to think that anyone would care to check it regularly. Of course, there are blogs that I check regularly, mostly to keep up with friends and family, and I suppose that they would check up on my blog to do the same thing, but one can never be sure. So, I think if this blog succeeds (read: last for more than five posts like my last blog), it will be more because it is a satisfaction to me than because of its merit to anyone else.
With this in mind, welcome to my blog.

as promised OR an exercise for heather to learn how to create in-text links

Here's the list (so far) of the ideal husband:
1 A man who loves God above all else.
2 He uses the priesthood righteously and puts the needs of others before his own.
3 He is inquisitive and self-reflective.
4 He loves music and enjoys singing.
5 He plays an instrument
6 He loves finding connections in the scriptures and looks for deeper meaning within them.
7 He actively pursues ways to make himself a better person.
8 He values education and learns about things outside the realm of college just because he's interested.
9 He is clean and hygenic.
10 He likes the way I dress and the way I cook .
11 He knows how to take care of our cars.
12 He thinks old people are cool
13 He likes trying new things
14 He loves the outdoors
15 He's willing to go to big cities
16 He's willing to go to museums and looks for something good in the experience
17 He makes me laugh.
18 He laughs at me
19 He tells me what he's thinking about
20 He likes movies
21 He'll exercise and support me in exercising.
22 He'll work hard at what he does and look for the positive in his job
23 He likes to read
24 He wants to travel
25 He's willing to live frugally so we can travel
26 He helps me to live frugally
27 He loves his parents and brothers and sisters
28 He thinks kids are cool
29 He dances with me
30 He lets me turn the music up loud
31 He lets me take pictures
32 He likes my family
33 He thinks I'm pretty even when I don't have make-up on
34 He opens doors for me
35 He often tells me he loves me, especially in front of our kids
36 He doesn't get embarrassed easily
37 He doesn't watch a lot of TV
38 He is tactful
39 He is patient
40 He lets me drive sometimes
41 He likes sunrises and sunsets
42 He can get up early
43 He can stay up late
44 He's not meanly sarcastic
45 He thinks I'm hot
46 He buys generic brand and second hand
47 He's tall
48 He knows how to fix stuff
49 He fixes stuff for other people
50 He owns a cozy sweatshirt
51 He's creative
52 He will climb trees or mountains with me
53 He will accept any calling in the church
54 He will put his dishes in the sink after dinner
55 He stays worthy of the Holy Ghost
56 He appreciates art
57 He prays with our family each night
58 He reads the scriptures daily
59 He talks privately with our children and is their friend
60 He builds things with our kids
61 He doesn't mind not having potatoes very often
62 He will let me name our children
63 He will buy me flowers
64 He helps me in the garden
65 He helps me clean our house
66 He reads to our kids
67 He is naturally happy
68 He forgives easily
69 He is not easily offended
70 He's cute

spring

Saturday was a warm and contemplative evening. I picked up a little, blank, leatherbound journal that Mary Beth and Jill gave me when I left for college 3 years ago and made a list of 70 characteristics or habits that my future husband should have (some are obviously more necessary than others). Hopefully, I'll get that list posted soon. In the mean time, any suggestions?

the gates

I've been really fascintated by the installation of The Gates, by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in New York City's Central Park. If you look at the website below you can see pictures of his other works. My favorites were "Valley Curtain" and "Wrapped Trees." I especially liked the skeleton of the trees seen through the transluscent fabric.
I just finished watching a documentary on the creation of "Surrounded Islands" in Biscayne Bay in Miami. In it he said that part of the reason for wrapping things is to get people to re-look at them, to reexamine the object's place, purpose, and design. For me it achieved its goal. Both The Gates and the Surrounded Islands make me look at the world around me and see its potential for more. I think that's why artists start out their training by mimmicking the masters: once you force yourself to see the world in the unique ways they saw it, you begin to learn the pattern of looking for potential and novelty in the familiar.
http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/gates.html

on this day in history

Twenty-one years ago today, not only was it the 55th anniversary of the deaths of seven of Al Capone's rivals, but en even more exciting event happened. Yes, my dear friend Dakin Chamberlain was born. And we're all better for it. Wish the Daxxter a Happy Birthday if you know him, and kiss the one you love in honor of his special day if you don't. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAKIN!!!!

pirate luau

ARRRGH!
Our ward had a pirate luau yesterday. We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and then danced a few pirate jigs to the swarthy sounds of blokes the likes of Nelly, Usher, The Darkness, and Outkast. It felt good to get dressed up, eat free food, and then dance the night away in the Eyring Science Center lobby, watched over by the preserved remains of an allosaurus. I think we all arrived at a very special place--spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically. Here are some highlights.

yes mom, that's your belt on my head 

the evil scallywag Hometeacher Dave and his accomplice Paisly Mark apprehended the beautiful maiden pirate wench. I was disinclined to aquiesce to their requests.

my fierce roommate michelle and me 

see where I live

www.utahpictures.com

check out Timpanogos and American Fork Canyon

my title

Here are some reasons for choosing "patagonia" as my title:

During my freshman year of college, my friend Allison had an assignment to learn from others life experiences. It was for what she always referred to as her "Patagonia class." I assume the class was centered around Bruce Chatwin's "In Patagonia," I book I have yet to read, but long to. To fulfill her assignment, she and I set up a table with paper, crayons, and a sign that said, "Come tell us your life philosophy." As people passed, they drew pictures, told stories, and shared with us everything from silly catch phrases to significant turning points in their lives. It was one of the first of many moments I've had in college where I've seen the power of creativity in gaining knowledge and the universality of human experience.

This year I went to a slide show/ lecture given by an alpine climber who has done first ascents all over the world, but whose favorite place is patagonia. He told us a story of doing a seemingly impossible climb with 3 other friends. They got stuck in storms; one climber nearly died. They stayed on the mountain for 26 days with only 15 days of food, attempting the summit again and again. They finally gave up, and came down, having to eat their first aid kit on the 9 day hike back to civilization. As I watched the slides of jagged peaks (http://www.trekkingchile.com/DE/fotos-patagonien.htm) intermingled with faces of frozen beards and children herding sheep, I realized that I needed to do something like this in my life. I needed to go places that would change my ideas of what mountains looked like, that would challenge my concept of time, that would bring me closer to others than everyday living ever could, and that would make me revere God's grace in giving us such an awesome planet to live on.

Patagonia is on the southern tip of South America. Its people have lived lives that are probably about as far from my experience as its possible to get. I love studying people, how they think, why they act the way they do. Its why I love psychology and sociology. They teach me the mechanisms behind human behavior. But the necessary subjective element-- the empathy, the respect, the understanding, the compassion, the charity-- this comes from learning from, living with, and loving those different from ourselves. That is what Patagonia symbolizes for me.