Time for Some Narcissism

Just a reminder to everyone to be extra thankful today, because it is my birthday. Who couldn't be thankful for the day that brought me into the world, seriously? I sure am thankful for my birthday. And I know all of my siblings were grateful for my birthday, 23 years ago, when I ruined Thanksgiving. And then again, six years later, when I asked for Little Caesar's Pizza for Thanksgiving dinner.

How could any of my siblings forget to be thankful for me when this picture is on display all month long in our family calendar, in 9x6 size, no less



Anyway, I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Twenty Bucks Richer

I have already told this story many times, but I just love it, so I decided to add it to the cyberspace archives by blogging about it. Because apparently that is how I document my life nowadays, which is pretty sad for several reasons. Moving on.


On Saturday I went on a little adventure with my friend Gavin, my canyoneering guide. We hiked to the top of Rocky Mouth Falls, just south of Little Cottonwood Canyon in Sandy, and then rappelled down the waterfall. It was so much fun, and such a beautiful hike! The rappel had to be done in two parts. We went down to a small, shallow pool about a third of the way down the falls, and set up the rope again for the second part. While I was waiting, I looked down at the rock I was standing on, and there was a $20 bill laying by my feet! Seriously, I found $20 in the middle of a waterfall.

Now, I acknowledge the possibility that it was mine and fell out of my pocket. But I don't think I've been to the ATM since I moved out to Utah 2 months ago. So if it did fall out of my pocket, I don't know when or how it into those shorts. Either way, I walked away from that rappel richer than when I started.

So I bought myself a delicious Cafe Rio lunch. And a cheap movie ticket. And lunch again today. And I still have $5 left.

My Day Off

I started my rotation at Nebo School District on Monday...sort of. I was told in my email from the foodservice director that he had a morning meeting, and so I should come at one instead of in the morning. When I arrived on Monday afternoon, I found out that he was sick, and really not doing well. They didn't think there was anything for me to do, so I was told I could just go home, and that I didn't need to come in the next day either. And I don't have to be at the office until 2 on Wednesday. So after arriving in Spanish Fork at 1, I was back in my apartment before 2, with 48 hours until I needed to be at work again. So what have I been doing? Researching, watching online lectures, taking quizzes, and really getting a hard start on things for this rotation.


Yeah, I wouldn't believe that about me either. I have spent the last two days watching tv, surfing the internet (including bloggin), shopping at Ikea, and working out at the gym. I did look over my schedule for the next month and the assignments I have to complete for this rotation. And I even read a few pages about menu forecasting while I ran on the eliptical. So I didn't completely waste my time. But mostly, yeah, it was wasted.

Picture Purge

I just recently found Suzy's request for summer pictures in a blog post. I spent a lot of my summer hanging out with Suzy and her kids, babysitting, painting, and teaching piano. Jacob, Ryan, and Alison are super cute, and a blast to hang out with, so I definitely didn't mind. It was a good way to spend my last real summer, since (hopefully) I will be in the beginnings of my career next summer. So here are some pictures from my summer with the Young's. Unfortunately I didn't document everything, and some pictures were taken with my phone, so I apologize for the poorer quality of those pictures.

At the Alameda County Fair.

Ryan and the fish he caught at Sunol.

The group that went on to explore the river in Sunol.

Playing games at Daniel's birthday party.

Jacob, Daniel, Karen, and Ryan.

This is what happened when I fed Alison some yogurt.

Our hike to Mission Peak. This is as far as we got, but I was pretty proud of those kids for making it to this point. At least they got to see the peak.

*Insert Captivating Title*

I am sitting in the Orem WIC clinic, on my lunch break, trying to find time to fill this hour. "How about a blog update?" I said to myself. So here I am.

I started my internship last Monday, so tomorrow will mark the end of my second week. So far it is going fantastically, except for the random moments of panic when I think that it is only two weeks down, and a LOT of papers, training, awkward counseling and presentations, case studies, emails, and general confusion to go before I can take the RD exam, find a job, and end this madness. But really, I am enjoying it. There is a lot of down time at the WIC clinic, so I find plenty of time to do some research and work on various assignments. Which is nice. It has allowed me to take time when I get home to settle into my new place. Tuesday marked the day that I was officialy settled, as I put together the IKEA nightstand that I had stained and placed it next to my bed that evening.

Some things that I have noticed over the past two weeks:

Mountain Dew is quite the popular beverage among the working LDS woman. Both WIC clinics that I have been at have had 12-packs in various flavors available to the staff. Just donate a quarter and take a soda. Good thing Mountain Dew isn't a strong temptation for me.

There are way too many cute kids and babies out there. One of my favorite things to do here is sit in on the certification of a newborn or a midcert of a 5-8 month old and smile at the babies.

I had a dream the other night that I was a new mother. I was determined to breastfeed my baby, but was struggling because I had to be away from the baby too often for some weird dream-world reason or another. No I wouldn't think anything of it, because I have read and heard a lot about breastfeeding in the last two weeks, but this is the second dream in the last 6 months that I have had where I was a mother struggling to breastfeed. What does that mean?

The previous owners of the condo I am living in clearly didn't vacuum, like, at all, because the first time I vacuumed my room, I had to empty the canister 5 or 6 times. I guess the carpet is pretty new, because mostly what I was getting was a whole lot of fluff. I think my new pet peeve to replace hairballs on the couch (we have a leather couch!) will be fluff-balls on the floor.




I thought I had made more observations that that. Oh well.

Wish List

Warning: This post is materialistic in nature.

Having been a poor college student for the last 4 years, and now a graduate with no paycheck in sight, I find myself saying, too often, "Someday..." This is usually in reference to things I would like to buy. To give you an idea of how distant "someday" actually is, my current dream and ambition is to just have the ability to save money, to set aside a little each month and watch the amount grow in the hopes of one day having enough to buy something. Here is a list of what I dream of saving for:

1. A bike
2. Some kind of hybrid car, though I would be happy with basically any kind of car
3. An iMac
4. Good kitchenware, specifically a few good knives and saucepans
5. A newer and nicer camera
6. An account with Charles Schwab


That is basically it. Not too long, right? And not very unreasonable.



But as long as I am being worldly, I am going to throw a backpacking trip across Europe on my wish list.

Summer Vacation

Here are some Highlights from my trips to Provo and Seattle.

• Being in the bookstore with John and Dakin on Tuesday at 11 am (while it was technically closed) and not feeling guilty about missing devotional
  
• Seven Peaks with Dan and John and their families
• Seeing Donna and Mark's house in Bothel for the first time
• Canoeing with Donna, Mark, Mia, and Sam, which included several misadventures with canoe steering, inhaling second-hand weed, and Sam standing up and peeing out of the canoe
• Trying to keep myself from laughing at Sam, or at least hiding the fact that I was laughing, to keep him from yelling at me. And despite that...
• Making both Mia and Sam scream most of the way home from church because I was laughing, which screaming made Donna and I both laugh to the point of tears
• Donna converting me to coupon-ing ($40-some value of groceries, $8 paid- that was the clincher), and introducing me to Seriously, So Blessed
• Literally eating my weight in pie and root beer
• Watching illegal fireworks from the driveway- there were so many that it was hard to decide which ones to watch
  
• Taking a ferry to Kingston, watching Sam do his excited-dance while he waited for the boat, and eating delicious crepes

• Nate being super cute: dancing, taking little steps, singing and gabbing, pointing at where he wanted to be taken...such an adorable kid
• Hearing Sam ask Donna, "When is that girl (aka me) going to leave?" and then his refusal to be near me while he was eating for the next two days. But we were buds when he wasn't eating.
• Turning around about 5 times in our efforts to go on a hike
• Eating at Small Fryes, where Nate peed on Donna and Sam and I ran around looking for a potty, as the porta-potty was not up to his standards
• An afternoon in Seattle and nearly missing my flight (it actually wasn't that close, but Donna and I were panicked for a few minutes while we waited in traffic to get onto the freeway)
• Finishing 3 books (In Defense of Food, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Their Eyes Were Watching God) by the time my plane landed in California
  

All in all, the trip was really fun! I had a great time visiting Donna and her family. Mia, Sam, and Nate were very entertaining, even when that fact ticked them off.