Mondays, The Blues-days

It's Monday here in West Valley City, and I'm bored at work.  They are the hardest day of the week, hands down, and made worse by the fact that I am usually very busy right up until I have to leave.  Oh sigh....

Tomorrow may not be any better, I am getting at least one suspicious mole removed.  But if they end up taking more and I feel terrible, I take the whole day off!

PS I haven't forgotten about the Olympics Post.  It will certainly be Olympic sized!!

Cake Status: Complete

Day 1: Pureed fruit.  Total time: 2 hours.

Day 2: Making the blackberry/blueberry, kiwi and apricot layers.  Total time: 5 hours, active time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Day 3: Making the papaya and strawberry/raspberry layers and 7 minute frosting.  Total time: 4.5 hours, active time: 2 hours.

 Would I make it again?  Yes.  Tasted like rainbow sherbet.

This Weekend

I found that I get so incredibly tired by the weekend. Some of it is because I get up outrageously early some mornings, some because I go to sleep late, some because I make social plans during the week which keep me going here and there, and sometimes because work can just be stressful.

So Friday I decided to cancel and forgo all plans and just stay home and veg. I started the night by changing into pjs, and settling down to watch Dr. Who with sushi and diet coke as seen here.

It was sooooo relaxing. This next picture is of my sock.

Why is there a picture of my sock? Well, this is the state of about 50% of my sock drawer. I never like throwing anything away, so I just wear the socks until they get extremely bothersome. I decided this Friday would also be devoted to cleaning, and the sock drawer was #1 on the list.

Saturday was not celebrated in a Cinco de Mayo fashion, but was still incredibly fun nonetheless. I went down to Provo to visit Christers and we spent the whole day together. We started at J-Dawgs which I haven’t had for FOUR YEARS!! For those of you who know this place, that is an outrageously long time. Then we saw a movie and before dinner I asked Christa if we could wander around campus. I hadn’t been back since I graduated in 2008, and I was surprised how much I missed it. I don’t miss Provo in general that much, but I loved being a student at BYU. And Christa was the perfect person to walk and reminisce with. We finished the day with dinner, and I headed home.

And what was good about Sunday? SHERLOCK WAS BACK!!!! Everyone reading this blog needs to go to PBS.org and watch the episode of Sherlock. It is a modern retelling of the classic tales and is so incredibly entertaining. My whole family and I were counting down, and it totally didn’t let us down!

I love when weekends are so perfect and relaxing, but that just makes it harder on Monday. I am pretty much grumpy until about 10:00.

Next post: Why I Love the Olympics

The Ultimate Cake

I have another post all written out, and it will end up here at some point.  BUT, I needed to announce my attempt to make, what I call, The Ultimate Cake.  I found this recipe in one of my sister's old cooking magazines, and after much deliberation I've decided I am making it.  And by announcing it here, I can't turn back.  I am taking two days to make it.  Two.  There total cook time is 9+ hours.  So double that and that is probably how long it is going to take me!!  Isn't it so pretty? 

Recipe is here.

The Most Grandest Mountains in the World

Or as I call them, the “big ones by my house.”

Ok, so there are other mountains that may be considered more grandiose than the ol Wasatch mountains. But not that many. These mountains got us the Olympics once, and maybe they can do it again!

I never really paid much attention to these staggering, hulking natural beauties when I was young. I was never much of a hiker or skier, etc etc. But for some reason when I got into college I would find myself walking around campus stressed about something or the other, then I would look at the mountains and it would calm me down. I can’t explain why, but they represent some sort of comfort to me. Maybe it is because they are so massive (and I live so close), maybe because they are such a striking form of nature, maybe because they can be green or white depending on the season, I don’t know.

They do provide a lot of summer and winter fun too. When I was up at the U for school, I was shocked how many undergrads I talked to that said they moved to Utah just because of the outdoor, mountain activities. I do love doing bonfires and picnics in the canyons, and I definitely want to hike more this summer. The idea of being in something so peaceful as nature, it’s just a quick break from real life.

I started taking pictures with my phone whenever they looked particularly beautiful. I still do. They won’t win awards, they are tilted and full of telephone lines, but it seems like when the mountains look so beautiful, how could you not want to document it?

It’s been raining around here lately, and yesterday as I was stressing while driving home after work and running errands, I just kept looking up at them. The last picture is from a rainy day and I love how they fade into each other. I feel lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

A Titanic Sized Blog

I was able to step back into my teenage shoes on Tuesday when I went to see Titanic 3D with Christers. I had no intention on seeing it, but I saw the trailer when I was at a theatre to see Hunger Games, and I knew at that point I had to find someone to go with.

I had never seen it in theatres. It came out when I was 11 and my mom wouldn’t let me see it because she had heard the language was rougher and the obvious reason, topless Kate Winslet. She used the excuse that I wasn’t 13, so couldn’t see a PG-13 movie. I had seen plenty before that, but she put her foot down on this topic. I claimed I had seen stuff like that before, and she said “Oh, not like this you haven’t.”

Therefore, I had no idea who Leonardo Dicaprio was, or why everyone was going nuts about him. I knew girls that had pictures of him from Tiger Beat, or Pop, or whatever those magazines were called, tucked into the front of their folders. I had to listen endlessly at recess to girls trying to outsing each other with “My Heart Will Go On.” I knew that whatever this movie was about, it was epic and I was missing it.

As time passed, I cared less. I had sworn up and down that when I turned 13, I would see it. But that came and went, and it wasn’t until I was about 14 or 15 that I watched it on TV. My older sister had taped it because we were doing a family thing. I watched it one night after school and had my first real “tears during a movie moment.” Not just tears, but serious sobbing. It sort of kickstarted the rest of my life in that way (meaning, I cry at everything now)! Suddenly I knew why everyone had loved it, I began a love affair with Leo, and I watched it over and over.

Time passed again, that all faded, and I joke about how cheesy it is. I mean really, it’s easy to poke fun at the one-liners. As the 100 year anniversary of the sinking approached, I noticed more articles about it popping up on the internet. National Geographic did this big thing about it, and I read it thoroughly. I started imagining what it would have been like if my family and I had been there, and what I would have done in that situation. It’s a pretty horrific thought. Especially because I was the kid who dropped to their knees in the fetal position when chased by older siblings. I would rather get the teasing over with than try and “survive.”

So watching it again at 25 gave me some fresh perspective. Yes, the dialogue is not award winning (oh wait, I think it is), there were some eye rolls, but it’s still a pretty good movie. I didn’t cry once, and actually liked the second half of the movie better than the first. Probably because I have been reading so much about how it actually sank. And may I just add that no matter how much you make fun of it, Celine Dion singing “My Heart Will Go On” is still haunting and as lovely as ever. I will defend it until I’m in my grave. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, why don’t people love her? But that’s for another blog.

Mr "The Boss" Springsteen

I love Bruce Springsteen. I know many that don’t. Let me rephrase. I know many my age that don’t. He is the voice of a generation, just not mine. And I’ll let you in on something, I don’t love him because he speaks for the blue-collared man, or sings about politics. I love him because he is the coolest person ever born. You watch one live video and you can see why people say he is one the greatest frontmen of all time. Jon Stewart introduced him during the Kennedy Center Honors and I think he said it best (especially the bit around 3:30 minutes, be patient…).

Mr. Boss doesn’t just have a microphone and a four piece band, he has the entire E Street Band behind him. It’s a wall of sound. And I also happen to really like brass instruments in music. I wish people my age would give him a chance. I’ve discussed this with my sister and she claims that he does not transfer over to our generation. However, he is still extremely respected and Rolling Stone once listed him as an older musician that is still making relevant music today. Please just watch Born to Run (my favorite song of all time) and imagine driving with your windows open with this blaring on the stereo.