I'm Back and Off Again

I went.

I got dirty and sweaty and smelly.

I was attacked by mosquitoes (but only twice).

I cleaned the bathroom

and didn't sleep.

I hiked and bore my testimony.

I hugged a lot and was hugged.

I know the girls much better (even though I only went for 2 nights).

I'm home again.

I am in possession of a shower and a bed again.

Pure Bliss.

And now I'm off again.

But this time I'm going to Cedar City.

5 Things to do Before Going to Girl's Camp

Yes it is that time again. Time for Girl's Camp. Admittedly not my favorite time of year or my favorite part of serving in the Young Women organization. That said, this year I am going for 2 whole nights. Last year I only went for 1 day. I don't know if this is an improvement, but it is something. Now, in something of an attempt to get myself ready (in a mental sort of way) I have come up with a list of 5 things to do before I head out into the mountains.

5. Get a haircut (a ridiculous attempt to pretend that I am going somewhere fabulous with some fabulous new hair) and maybe a color.

4. Buy cute fabric and have mom teach me how to sew a bandanna (cause the dollar store bandannas are atrocious but I refuse to spend real money on a bandanna).

3. Buy lots of candy to get self through the 2 whole nights of camping I have volunteered myself for.

2. Paint fingernails red (a ridiculous attempt to pretend that I am going somewhere fabulous but also the chosen color theme for camp this year).

1. Get a new attitude (although, I do not feel any need to work on this until Thursday and possibly not until I actually am seen by any of the girls).

Your thoughts, prayers, and advice would be much appreciated--and please don't judge me, I just am not a camper (or a crafter--I believe there are 4 crafts planned!).

Right This Second I

am craving sugar

am trying to resist

am so excited for some sweet jazz tonight

and soccer this weekend

Oh, who are we kidding, I'm totally going to give into the sugar.

In Need of a Little BBC

Well, so much for thinking I was on a new track for being a good blogger with lots of posts each week. I was on a bit of a run last week thanks in part to the World Cup (did you notice how I got every pick right for the matches over the weekend? I beat out every single ESPN analyst! That just proves what taking a purely scientific approach to soccer can do for your gambling habits--not that I did gamble, of course) and thought I would continue on with that--sort of. You see, I've been spending so much time with my World Cup that I have begun to notice that other things are falling by the wayside (or nearly so). My reading is down dramatically, my non-sports-watching TV is down to nothing (not really such a bad thing, though), and my laundry is sadly piled up on my bedroom floor. And that is not all! My watching of BBC-produced shows has fallen off completely--as was pointed out in an email from a dear friend who enclosed the following to remind me of all the things I am missing:

I particularly liked that bit about Americans liking the British accent--which is totally true and is actually where I place the blame for my BBC neglect. You see, the World Cup has this British analyst who has this British accent that I quite fancy:

I haven't the slightest idea at what point I decided a Liverpudlian accent is cute (or even understandable), but I am completely sold and it has caused me to completely lose track of my BBC priorities. Something that I intend to remedy with a little Dr. Who (the new one with the new doctor who I think is just brilliant):

My Friend Landon

I got an email from my friend Landon Donovan the other day thanking me for my "amazing" support during the World Cup--something that comes as quite a relief after all my worries that I had caused their last loss with my skirt-wearing bad luck. Beyond this, the gist of the email was to ask for my personal support and help in bringing the World Cup back to the US in 2018 or 2022. Well, when Landon Donovan asks for my personal support, he gets my personal support. So if you wouldn't mind lending a bit of your own personal support to the cause, please sign the online petition at the link shown below:!)

Do it and, just maybe, you too will receive a very personal email from my friend Landon.

(note: I do actually realize that Landon Donovan is not my personal friend and that he did not personally send me the above referenced email. I do however fully support the cause! And Landon Donovan.)

Another Word

Earlier this week (can you believe how much blogging I have done this week?) I titled a post One final Word about the US World Cup exit. I hope that the title of that post didn't cause you to believe that there would be no more World Cup posts because if so, you were quite happily wrong.

Those of you who are fairly regular readers will have perhaps picked up on the fact that I love my sports. I love the Yankees, the Olympics, BYU sports, and soccer. I don't claim to be an expert, but I do think I can claim to be reasonably well versed in many a sport topic. As such, I thought it might be helpful to some of the less sports-minded individuals if I were to divulge my very scientific approach to picking winners. Let's take the World Cup games being played this weekend.

The Picks (and how I got there):

Netherlands vs. Brazil

There are two basic ways to look at this. First, the Netherlands are the underdogs and I will almost always support the underdog. Second, and really far more important, the best pancakes I have ever eaten were in Amsterdam. Therefore, Netherlands beats Brazil.

Uruguay vs. Ghana

I have not yet officially recognized this game (this would have been Uruguay vs. USA had we advanced) and so I cannot comment on a projected outcome.

Argentina vs. Germany

Now this is a tough one. On the one hand Germany did cause WWII. But, Argentina has harbored of Nazis and Nazi collaborators. Argentina, I hear, has good beef and leather projects, but I am cutting out nearly all red meat from my diet. Argentina, according to some recent press, is a disrespectful team with disrespectful fans. However, those press reports are coming from the Germans. I could go with Germany simply because they are the underdogs, but the reason I am going to pick them is because I'd rather visit Germany than Argentina.

Paraguay vs. Spain

I am going to completely buck the underdog trend I normally follow and pick Spain in this one (and not even just because I would rather visit Spain than Paraguay). I am picking Spain because Torres cut his hair and went brunette and I feel that it is very important to support good fashion decisions:

vs.

Well I hope that was useful to some of you.