A Shocking Lack of Vomit

I will start out with the depressing part.  Most of the time I am okay with the fact that I don't live near any of my immediate family.  Partly because it's been that way for so long and partly because, well, that's how it is.  But sometimes it just kind of stinks, like when you want your Mama to pat you on the head or when there's a new Fast and the Furious but all of your Fast and the Furious buddies live states away.  Anyway, the point is that when you only see some of your family once a year or so, it is very exciting. 

That is why it was ever so exciting when Marci, my sister of all sisters, came to visit me!  You may recall that her last visit did not go *quite* as planned so we were extra determined that this trip would be all fun and no barfing.  'All fun' apparently translated to 'eat everything in the world'.  So here was our weekend, according to the food:

Thursday night: On the way home from the airport we stopped at IKEA for dinner.  I got the soup and mac and cheese--a winning combination?  (We also got a new shelf for the laundry room, wheeeee!)

Friday: We hit Brick Oven for lunch, after a morning of YouTube and Pilates and probably some kind of healthyish breakfast.  Brick Oven...is not so healthy, but it WAS tasty.  I got a lil calzone and Drew finally got that sandwich he'd been threatening to order for the last 4 years or so.

After seeing G.I. Joe (of course!) we stopped at the mall for some See's, then hopped over to Drew's mission reunion.  They had pistachios sans shells and we ate a lot of them. 

Once home we got some Indian takeout, since Marci hadn't really ever had it before.  Isn't Indian food just the best?  We ate it while watching The Help, because Marci hadn't seen it, and if that's not a mix of cultures I don't know what is.  That was Friday.  Apparently we took no pictures on that day.  

Saturday I had Raisin Nut Bran for breakfast.  Don't pretend you aren't fascinated!!!  After that exciting breakfast we took the train up to Salt Lake and got there just in time to beat the lunch crowd at the Lion House on Temple Square.  Marci had never been on a train OR eaten at the Lion House so maybe this weekend was as much about food as it was about doing things Marci had never done.  Look, we are on the train:

It was much more fun to ride during the day, when we could see all the dirt piles and junk yards.

After lunch, we parted ways for the afternoon session of General Conference.  Marci and I got excellent tickets from a nice random fellow while Drew scurried off to translate.  There was no food involved in this portion of the day, but I did have a lady tell me it looks like I've dropped.  No, I don't think that happens when you still have almost two months to go, LADY.  Look, here we are at Temple Square:

...

(Also, that's a Hmong tie...hearts aren't Drewbles's usual tie aesthetic)

(Not that hearts on ties are a bad thing)

Glamo!

 We were front and center on the plaza!

A few hours later--and a few purchases at H&M later (where Marci had never bought anything before!  So many firsts!)--we rode the train back to Provo for some Skyfall and some dinner from....In-n-Out!  We were nervous.  

(Oh hai, belly button.)

The (only) upside to our prior visit was that we got certificates for free meals and finally, all these months later, we put them to use.  Did we survive the night?!!?!?

Yes, yes, we did.  And there was much rejoicing in the morn!  It was sleepy rejoicing because we stayed up way too late discussing our childhood.  Luckily we had time for naps during the last sessions of General Conference on TV.  Hahaha, just kidding, Mom. 

Earlier that week a copy of the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook had arrived at the library for me, so on Sunday we feasted upon her New York Breakfast Casserole.  I can't link to the recipe obviously, but it is worth checking out her book for.  It's a mix of cut-up bagels, grape tomatoes, red onions and cream cheese, with an egg and milk mixture holding it all together.  Delicious!

For dinner we had grilled Reubens made with a corned beef brisket (I had never had corned beef brisket!).  I have been smelling sauerkraut in the kitchen ever since, but fortunately I love sauerkraut. "Sauerkraut, sauerkraut!...Forget that sauerkraut, you need to get to the store!" 

I told Marci that I would make her a red velvet cake.  So I did.  But since it also happened to be my brother's birthday, we called it his birthday cake.  It was a tasty accompaniment to some Daria and Dr. Doctor Who.

I used the SK recipe--two thumbs up, but double the frosting.

And then it was time for bed!  And before we knew it, it was Monday morning and we were driving back to the airport in the rain.  And parking by the wrong terminal.  And walking to the right one.  And saying farewell at security!  D:  

Baby, why you so big?

Don't I have such a pretty sister?

Alas and alack.  I guess it's back to phonecalls and Facebook.    

May: It Was Big

I'm really not even sure how to begin this post. May was one of the more eventful months in recent history, probably the most eventful since I last did the graduation thing at BYU in 2006. At any rate, I've been putting this post off for a while now, but I'm leaving for Disneyland tomorrow and I know I'll want to post about that as soon as I walk back in the door. So I have to do this post now. You know? Hmm. Well let's get to it.

I finished classes, as you all know. A few days later about half my family came to town and we picked up this fellow at the airport. More on the termination of our long-distance affair to come...I should say termination of the long distance aspect, since the affair part is still in full swing.


A few days later, I graduated. It was great, though a bit sad as these kind of conclusions often are. I think this one is still kind of sinking in, and it will probably still be sinking in until a) the fall, when I am not in school and/or b) my degree gets me a job. But it was good, and it was nice to have my family around to fawn over me and take me to dinner. My last graduation was a little overshadowed by other, less pleasant circumstances and so this one seemed even more celebratory. Also, Drew got me a pink Shuffle and I named it Miranda. I suspect this was all a ploy to get me to use iTunes. To sum up: graduation=fun and good.


This is maybe one of my favorite candid pictures ever. It's a caption contest waiting to happen!

So that was graduation. It was fun. This was also my last weekend in Bloomington. Maybe I was little crazy to have this idea to graduate and move in the same weekend, along with having family about. Still, it all worked out, and William and Marissa were so helpful in carrying anything and everything I put in their hands out to the cars.

In the end, it was sad to say goodbye to Bloomington. I never planned on really settling in there, since I knew I'd only be there for 2 years at the most. I just wanted to get in and get out without forming any serious attachments. But confound it all, it happened anyway. So, my list of people to miss just got a lot longer, but life goes on in this way, I suppose. One of the very best things about Facebook is that it makes it so much easier to stay in touch with people. So, thank you, Facebook.

So then it was back to Rolla, where we stayed from Sunday night until Friday morning. It was nice visit, though it went by so fast I forgot half of the things I meant to do/pack. I also got a cold on Thursday and was pretty much out of it all that day, but la dee dah, it was a nice place to stop for a bit. We saw fish, ate delicious foods, played some Lego Star Wars, petted the kitties, Drew showed off his mad puzzle skills and I, for one, stared around at all my belongings in awe. On Thursday night we put a portion of these belongings into trusty little Leeloo, and headed off on Friday morning. Oh, by "we" I mean myself and Drew.



The roadtrip to Utah was pretty uneventful. No bad weather, no mishaps, just rolling hills/flat plains/moutainous mountain scenery and roadkill. We stopped at two little diners in an effort to find one of those magical local places with food like unto perfection. While we did get some good food, we also got this rather wretched Milky Way pie in the middle of Kansas:


The texture was weird and gelatinous, it didn't taste like a Milky Way and it was just kind of goopy. Also, there was a ridiculous amount of unnecessary meringue on the top. It didn't even look pretty! Then again, once you've had Slice of Pie, every other storebought pie is bound to be a disappointment.

So now here I am, back in Utah, right where I never thought I would be again. I still feel pretty transitory, since I don't have a place to live or a job and all my things are in piles and boxes. Still, hopefully I will soon have both of those things and clothes on hangers to boot. Pretty much everything is still sinking in: no more school, no more trips to MCPL, no more permanent living in Missouri, no more webcamming (phew), etc. etc. But so far, so very good and I have survived my transplanting with only a wee bit of trauma.

Oh, and did I mention I'm going to Disneyland this week?

Lucky: That's What I Am

Last night on Facebook I changed my status to say that I'm the luckiest girl in the world. People seemed to interpret this (understandably) as a reflection of my current romantical status. That is true, but it's actually not what I had in mind when I wrote that status. I will enlighten you all now, since it is a pretty good resolution.

For my web design class we've been making websites for a client all semester. Mine was mostly together on Sunday night, and I was just going to add some things on Monday afternoon before class, when we were all going to show our websites to the class. But sometime in those hours before class the whole site kind of fell apart and it looked like garbage. So I sat there and cried to myself and emoticon cried to Drew and decided to skip class and lose 5% of my grade. I did get it all back together and nice looking after about 2 hours, but class was over. Sad. But! As it turns out the SLIS server was down just during class and no one could present and class was cancelled! And now we're just doing all the reviewing and commenting of each other's sites online! Magical! I really couldn't believe my good luck.

I have been feeling pretty lucky lately. Here are some reasons why:

• I found the entire second season of Battlestar Galactica for $35. Normally it is sold in halves for that price. SCORE.
  
• I passed the website along to my client last night and she raved about it. I do believe the phrase she used was that she "kind of loves my guts."
• I'm almost done with school for good! Less than two weeks to go.
  
• I'm going to Disneyland next month! I predict it will be the BDTE.
• I have three kinds of delicious cheese in my fridge. Gouda is so gooda.
  
• I found jeans at Kohl's that were on sale and in my size. Needless to say, I bought them.
  
• Hugh Jackman made a movie for me and it comes out next week.
  
• I came to work today and got a mini cheesecake.
  
• There are flowers everywhere!

If I were a really irritating and inexplicably popular blogger, I might say something about being seriously so blessed. Instead I will say I am the luckiest girl in the world. There are a number of things coming up in the next couple weeks that I'm really not looking forward to, but that's okay. Life is good.

Spring Break: I Hardly Knew You

It was a long 68-day wait, but I finally went to Utah this past Friday the 13th to pay my man a visit. You know how they say anticipation is half the pleasure of a thing? Well, I think I would have enjoyed the trip just as much without all the time to anticipate it so take that, Anne Shirley.

Instead of just throwing random pictures and anecdotes at you lovely readers, I am giving you a handy top ten list. I may or may not have stolen this idea from my lovely man.

10: A Wedding! A Wedding!
We stopped in Salt Lake on the way back from Logan to check out my friend Jaime's wedding reception. It was delightful in many ways and included some very tasty eclairs. Speaking of eclairs, the father of the bride told a guy at our table that I made all the food. We thought this fellow knew it was a joke, but...somewhere there is a guy thinking I made every food item at that reception.

9: Shamrock Shuffle!
Things started off with a bang in Logan where we did a chilly 5K. Silly me, I forgot to pack my running pants in my excitement over new running capris.* And yes, his Mum ran it too and she totally beat me. At least I was capable enough to beat his Grandma, but she's still way more hardcore than me.



8: What the pho?
We ate pho (or fawm, if you prefer) at the Saigon Noodle House. It was very tasty and noodle-ly. I tried eating it with chopsticks, but apparently I can only eat things like cupcakes with chopsticks. Drew showed off his chopstick skills and I used a fork, as you see here.


7: School!
Technically we were at BYU together already, but it was more fun to do it knowingly. I hung out in the hall and fell asleep on the grass (hello, sunburn) while Drew was in class and then we made out on the grass like all those other BYU couples. OK, just kidding about the making out. Just replace "made out" with "ate bagels and read the newspaper."


6: Get LOST!
I have been hearing about this LOST club for months on end. They eat gummi bears and sticky rice and cookies! They have t-shirts and assigned characters! And finally I got to be there and it was just as good as I had been told. Gummi bears, red velvet cupcakes and yes, I got myself a shirt with my character name on it (Juliet).

5: A birthday! A birthday!
So far we have been apart for all the important dates (aside from New Year's) so it was nice of spring break to include his birthday on Monday. We may have missed Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's, but dang it, we got a birthday. The celebrations included Hmong egg rolls, a delectable chocolate cake and my first outing of laser tag. I hit the birthday boy 10 times, which did wonders for my score.

4. Going forth!
One of the best things about proximity is that you get to do things. Together. In the same place. I mean it was fun and all watching movies at the same time in different states, but this was much better. We went to many exciting places like Wal-Mart, the gym, Borders, Bajio and locations in general. Did I mention the Bean Museum? It was very exciting and we took a lot of pictures there (we had a goal of taking more pictures).

3: Various and sundry peoples!
I finally got to meet some of the people I have heard about (and corresponded with) for many months. Plus I got to get better acquainted with people I met only briefly in November. Unfortunately I have this problem where anytime I leave my primary base of operations I'm tired all the time and need 10 hours of sleep. I..did not ever get 10 hours but hopefully I wasn't *too* lifeless and dull. Anyway, it was great meeting more of Drew's friends and family and then shooting some of them at laser tag. Speaking of which, can I play the Wii?


2: All manner of togetherness!
OK, so maybe this one is kind of similar to #4, but it's totally more encompassing. Watching movies and TV, eating meals, driving about, taking walks, conversating...all of these things were great because we got to do them together for once. No webcams required. Even when I thought I was going to die of suffocation in the gym's steam room it was okay because I was trapped in there with my favorite and my best.

1: Other forms of togetherness!
Some things you really just can't do with a webcam. Like this:


Only ## days to go!

*Except I totally did pack those pants as I discovered days later.