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.

Booktalks Round 3--Sort Of

You can find my booktalks on the previous 8 Beehive nominees that I have read here and here. I have 4 more books to go and while I had meant to read them and finish up my booktalks last week, a little thing called the World Cup got in the way. And while the World Cup is still in the way, I thought I would give you booktalks on 2 of that 4--sort of. During Round 2 I admitted to not loving a couple of the books but being committed to booktalking all 12 books. Now, however, I have changed my mind and this is what you are going to get from me:
The Devil's Paintbox by Victoria McKernan

A gritty tale about Aiden and Maddy, orphaned on the prairie, who join a wagon train west for a chance at a new life that I did not like at all.
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Kyra, a 14 year old member of a polygamist sect, is chosen to marry one of the elders who just happens to be her 60 year old uncle. Her refusal puts her life and the lives of those she loves and trusts in danger. I didn't love this book because the topic is just not one that I would choose to read for myself, however it is hands down the most suspenseful book I have ever read (and the more I think about it the more I do really like it and think I maybe ought to be doing a real booktalk on it). My heart was lodged in my throat for nearly the entire book--which just might be another reason I didn't love it as thriller books aren't often my thing. Note: There is some violence that makes this a book for mature teens.

Final installment coming next week (hopefully).

La Vie En Rose

I thought I would just say a few words on my new blog title (hopefully the last one since I'm pretty sure changing blog titles is kind of frowned upon and this is my 3rd one--at least I'm not change blog addresses).

La Vie en Rose is both a favorite song of mine and a way of looking at life that I would like to be better at. The translation from French is something like "Life in Pink" that loosely means that life is beautiful (or at least that is what I am told). I just think that seeing life as beautiful--choosing to see life as beautiful because I do think it is a choice--is a wonderful thing and I would really like to be better at living my life like this. So maybe this one extra reminder will help me out a bit.

For those not familiar with the song, here it is (the trumpet just kills me--in a very, very good way):

One Final Word

To my guys of the U.S. Soccer team:

Clearly (as much as it pains me to say this) you are not as good as I was hoping. That said I can see a lot of promise in you. Sure we need a starting forward who can score points for us and sometimes our defense fell apart. However, many of you are quite young and should be playing at your prime in four years (and though the World Cup hasn't even concluded, I can hardly wait). You played with grit and, if for no other reason, I love and respect you for it. You represented our country well (and from the looks of it gained a whole lot of new fans--which is just about as much a victory for U.S. soccer as moving forward in the World Cup would have been for you). Welcome home.

As an aside:

I was entirely gutted when they lost. As in I was nearly in tears. And while I do enjoy my sports, the defeats that my teams experience do not normally drive me to depression and tears--or nearly so. This was a whole new experience for me. I think some of it was because I knew some of these guys had just played their last game on the U.S. national team--and were quite emotional about it themselves--but I think a part of the reason is that soccer has risen to a whole new level of appreciation in my life. Previous to the World Cup, soccer was rating a close second to baseball. Now, though, I'm just about ready to move it up ahead (I think I'll give it another month to see if there is a let down from watching my national team to watching my club teams though).

As another aside:

Since the game I can hardly stop thinking about whether their loss was my fault. I wore a skirt that day. Maybe that was bad luck. (I wore a skirt Sunday as well when Germany crushed England so I'm thinking it was definitely bad luck) I only wore one ring that day as opposed to the two I had worn all the previous games. Maybe I should have changed during halftime like I did to ensure a better conclusion to one of their earlier matches. See what baseball has done to me (baseball players and many fans are a very superstitious bunch). Just for that baseball should probably be relegated down.

Babysitting

I am babysitting for my sister at her house and have run out of things to do (as they do not have cable television and the book I brought is just not doing anything for me) and have been forced to find a distraction from the weird noises this house is making. Hence the new blog title and look. It is still very much in production but it has been a bit of fun to play with--it was either this or wake up one of the kids to play with me.

Beware

I am about to tell you a tale that is sure to curdle your blood and turn your innards to jelly. Okay so that may be a little melodramatic, but my tale is sure to turn your stomach (unless of course you have some serious pet love going on in which case I apologize now and would like you to know that none of what I am about to tell you is directed at you personally--we all have our quirks and just because yours turns my stomach doesn't mean we can't all be friends).

I believe I told you I am volunteering at my local library with the summer teen reading program. Well in addition to the duties that come along with this program the library is teaching me all sorts of fun and exciting things like shelving books and mending torn pages. I don't really do either often (especially with the World Cup on right now) but I am learning how to do these things and, in the process, learning things that I really think I would have been a happier person had I never had them thrust upon me.

Story #1:

I was peacefully shelving books for a few minutes the other day in the non-fiction section (not my favorite section to shelve books--young adult claims that category) when I found myself with a large pile of knitting books to put away (there seems to always be a large pile of knitting or cooking books to put away at my library). So, as I was saying, I was peacefully shelving these books when my eye fell upon a title that couldn't possibly be correct. Not in a million years would anyone write such a book--much less read it. I pulled it down off the shelf sure that I had forgotten how to read or had somehow simply gotten the title wrong. That is when my stomach turned just a little because I, sadly, had not forgotten how to read. Right there in black and white was was an entire book on knitting with your pet's hair. An entire how-to guide on collecting, spinning, and then knitting fashion accessories with you pet's hair. An entire book dedicated...right so you get the picture. I quickly found a librarian to enquire about the appropriateness of such a book in our library (and where kids could actually see it) and was told that a patron actually requested that the book be purchased. The horror. (Remember how I said that I don't mean any of this to be taken personally should you be such an individual that would read and do the things suggested in this book? Good.)

Story #2:

I was peacefully washing the book covers of a few books whose pages were all mended when I came across a board book that someone read while apparently eating spaghetti. Now while most board books are all cute and bright and kid friendly, this particular board book was none of those things. This particular board book was about spiders--and not cute little cartoon spiders that perhaps help friendly farm animals. No, this book contained nothing but large pictures of huge, hairy, ugly spiders (as in the kind that live deep in the jungle an carry off small children when their parents look away for a minute). Who would give this kind of a book to small, unsuspecting children? And who, in their right mind, would eat spaghetti while reading this book. I'm sure that I am going to have nightmares tonight and that it will be some time before I can eat spaghetti again.

Really, there are times when I think book burning might not be such a terrible idea.

I'm kidding, of course, sort of.

Mr. Vaughn was Lovely

That just about sums it up. It was a wonderful program and Brian Vaughn was charming and insightful and just really as wonderful as you hope that he is. The other two men speaking that night were also wonderful but their names escape me because, well, Brian Vaughn was the real draw--something they were very gracious about. And now thanks to all of these guys I can't wait to see Pride and Prejudice on the stage this summer (oh, and for any single ladies out there, the Festival is auctioning off a date with Mr. Darcy (who I hear is quite the catch) should you be interested--my mom has offered to make a bid on my behalf but the entire thing sounds too embarrassing and thankfully I do not come from a wealthy family. Funny that should they be able to convince Brian and his wife to let him out on a date with another women it might just be the only time the Mr. Collins was far more popular than Mr. Darcy).

Anyway, there were two areas where Mr. Vaughn did disappoint. He refused to do his British accent (entirely understandable) and he refused to give any details on next year's line up (it is the 50th anniversary and he is very excited about it but still wouldn't spill any details) which is he privy to because he and David Ivers are the Festival's new Artistic Directors (did you know that? I am absolutely head over heels about it).

Alright, there are far to many dashes, parentheses, and other grammatical errors that I am claiming ignorance on so I think I shall wrap this up with one more comment:

USA, USA, USA

Green with Envy

Not me, you. You will be green with envy when you read about where I will be tonight:

“Bringing Pride and Prejudice to the Stage”

June 21 at 7 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Public Library, Salt Lake City, Utah

Join playwright Joe Hanreddy, director Blake Robison, and actor Brian Vaughn (Mr. Collins) as they discuss the process of bringing Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to the stage. These gentlemen will discuss adapting the script, creating famous scenes onstage, and bringing Austen’s beloved characters to life.

Yes, I will be in the same room with Brian Vaughn listening to him talk about being Mr. Collins (which I just think is brilliantly funny casting). And if you don't know what I am talking about here, well, shame on you--and get yourself down to the Utah Shakespearean Festival!!!

Disgust

I couldn't be more angry, disgusted, gutted at a referee than I am right now (I'm talking World Cup here). And after I did everything I could for my side: changed shirts at halftime (sorry Boston but your apparel is a jinx for my sports teams right now), continuously chanted "come on guys" (I've found they respond well to that chant when I use it while watching them on TV), and standing nearly throughout the entire match. And after they did everything they could and fairly won that match. Grrrrrr!!!!

In an attempt to mollify my feelings I am off to visit the libraries of Utah. Some people do LDS Temple tours (where they attempt to visit a number of Temple in a specified period of time or in a geographical area) but I do library tours. Actually my sisters are doing something call a quilt shop hop for which they get prizes for visiting different quilt shops throughout Northern Utah and I am tagging along to drop off Timpanogos Storytelling Festival brochures at some of the libraries (I am now an official festival board member and I have lots and lots of brochures if anyone wants one). If anything will help me feel better this will because, as I discovered yesterday, we have some lovely libraries in this State (an England v. Algeria draw would also do much to improve my feelings).

Have a lovely weekend.