good feeling 15

hi i'm a slacker. its been kind of a long two days... forgive me? i've been busy and feel pretty lame saying that seeing as its not due to school, children, etc etc etc. i'd talk about what i've been doing more but it involves christmas, so my lips are sealed. you know in the book wayside school by louis sachar where there is no thirteenth floor of the school building? well, in good feeling series, there is strangely no 14th day. creepy. moving on, though.
day fifteen- HAVE YOU SEEN THIS TRAILER? i am so excited. i was getting goosebumps up in here while i watched it the first time. these are almost the exact images i had in my head when i read all three over christmas break last year. seriously, so good. i can't wait. i foresee a lot of trailer-watching until march 23.

my summer lists: favorites

july 14: summer is officially half over.
let's celebrate it's half-life with a little reflection on the last few weeks through my favorite medium: LISTS.

albums:
yeah yeah yeahs- it's blitz!
arcade fire- the suburbs
bon iver- bon iver
the sounds- crossing the rubicon
kings of leon- come around sundown

books:
one thousand splendid suns- khaled hosseini
joy luck club- amy tan
the alchemist- paulo coelho
the omnivore's dilemma- michael pollan
east of eden- john steinbeck
water for elephants- sara gruen
the help- kathryn stockett

movies:
water for elephants
the king's speech
gone with the wind
bill and ted's excellent adventure
xmen: first class
jesus camp

places:
utah valley peds
seven peaks
yogurtland
idaho falls, id
provo, ut
boise, id
moab, ut

eats:
peaches & blueberries
zoi greek yogurt
homemade black beans
maranatha almond butter
sweet potato fries
lemon zest
fresh garlic

things:
cheap sunglasses
vegetable steamers
pinterest
front porches
black leggings
espadrilles
this american life
emily's record player
dollar movie tuesdays
cooking with friends wednesdays

blogs:
eatliverun.com
edibleperspective.com
ohsheglows.com
shutterbean.com
joythebaker.com
joannagoddard.com

accomplishments:
incorporating more vegetables
giving a talk in church
exercising 5+ times a week
making it to boise in 5 hours
a full 40 hour work week
minimal mosquito bites (subject to change tonight)

anticipating:
friends' weddings
california sunshine
hp 7 pt 2
red hot chili peppers album: 8/30!
slc twilight concert series: conor oberst
sundance theatre: the sound of music

goals for the remainder of summer:
writing more thank you cards
buying one new thing at the grocery store/week
buying a bountiful basket
stepping up the blog: new post series
keep basil plant alive
snap some more pics

t b c.

what are your lists, eh?

white perusing blogworld

i took a tumble right onto this. via

Date a Girl Who Reads by Rosemarie Urquico 

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by God, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

"lighting! i'm obsessed with this summer."

is what my roommate emily exclaimed tonight upon seeing the flashes provo is rapidly becoming well aquatinted with this season. amen, sister.
rain=green=beautiful mountains=this place stays pretty longer.

this weekend i was once again on the road, but this time my little trip to idaho was in the opposite direction, over to idaho falls. my best frousin. (friend cousin, duh) just got engaged, so i just couldn't help myself. i just had to get over there, hear the story, see the ring, approve of the boy etc etc etc.
it was great. although it was good hanging out with the recent engagees, it was a little depressing to be reminded that most of my friends in southeast idahoare gone away on missions, to college, or other exciting summer destinations. so, naturally i did what any normal person missing their friends would do.
i hung out with their parents.

as for the new obsessions in my life? read on.
1. let's be blunt.

i got me some summer bangs, courtesy of the recent beauty school grad. ...still trying to decide if they make me look like i just got outta the sandbox.

2. cycling. this is my new favorite thing workout-wise. it's a pain in the butt, quite literally. it's changing the way i think about bikes.... like i didn't even know pushups on stationary bike were possible. 

3. utah changing their fireworks law. driving home last night on the freeway i had the best seat in the house! i think i saw every major firework display from brigham city to provo. ...however, i don't advise driving 80 and trying to watch fireworks in your rearview. bad idea.

4. the ominvore's dilemma. so for my entire 8ish hour journey this weekend i listened to this book on tape. it's so great. i am such a food science major because i really don't know anyone else that would enjoy learning about king corn and the problems processed foods, KFOs, and organic food regulations like i do.

5. my parent's trip to hawaii.

okay i'm not really obsessed with is so much as they are obsessed with sending me pictures of their fun every hour on the hour while i scan medicaid cards.
it's fine.

happy hump day tomorrow... even though i feel like tomorrow should still be tuesday. not complaining!

hoy

emily[rummaging for scissors]: i'm going to go steal some flowers. be right back!

"how do i guess the future? based on the omens of the present. the secret here is in the present. if you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. and, if you improve upon the present, what comes later will also be better. forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that god loves his children. each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity!"
                                                         - the alchemist

i just finished this book last night, part of my summer reading list. it was so great, so weird, so unlike anything else i've read lately.  (and contrasts quite well with the ellen degeneres book on tape in my car right now... books on tape. life doesn't get much better.) next up on the list: joy luck club. then east of eden. emily tells me it's the best book ever. i trust her judgement.

i sat at work today dreaming of sunny weather. it has been raining here for about, oh, a good two weeks now. i am feeling like i'm living on the western seaboard, not provo utah. everything is green though! and i'm sure everyone with a lawn likes it.

after work i went to winco and only bought vegetables. and cottage cheese and gum. and kashi tlc granola bars, the best granola bars on this planet. seriously, try them. (but be prepared for a MAJOR jaw workout.) anyways, i bought some basil because this week i am making caprese salad and i am going to slow roast tomatoes and sit in my kitchen and savor every bite. that's what my calling is this summer. anyways, the whole way home from the grocery store i smelled my hands (but not in a weird way) because they smelled like basil and that is my favorite smell. it reminds me of the days of high school when we'd ride bikes to pie hole downtown and buy huge slices of red pepper basil pizza. man, we thought we were cool.

tonight i fried up some aubergine, which is a fancy word for eggplant. aubergine is just a better word. it reminded me of spain and how pili would always fry it up for me because she didn't know what else a vegetarian from the states ate. little did she know my first encounters with those beloved berenjenas was in spain. that blast from the past was definitely worth the 1.73 i paid for it. fresh produce= made of gold. i need to learn to garden.

time for the gym. did i mention i sold my soul for another three years at gold's? looks like i'm not moving any time soon... good thing i like that place.

Twilight Nation!

So, as you might know from the posts by my sister and Mom, Twilight is not the favorite book of our household... however I do find it hilarious that it took them reading ALL THREE or FOUR for them to figure this out. :) Anyways, without further adieu, I would like to write my own thoughts on Edward, Bella, and all of Forks, Washington.

I read Twilight in the summer of 2007- before "Edward" was commonplace. My friends were raving about it, and so I had to figure out what all this vampire nonsense was... and thats what I found it to be- nonsense. Now, I will say that I really don't enjoy fiction all that much, and when I read, I like non-fiction about people doing great things, finding themselves, experiencing new culture, or finding enlightenment. Yeah- all Bella finds is Edward. (Who reminds me of the vampire in the movie, "The Little Vampire", so really I couldn't ever get past his paleness and 12 year old features) I found myself struggling through the entire thing, and wondered constantly when it would get good. Much to my dismay, it never did. I was the first person I knew to not want Edward as a boyfriend. I mean seriously? His body is cold and hard as marble, his skin glitters like he's been heavily perspiring, and basically he is albino. Ahhhh... dreamy, right? After the first, I decided I wouldn't continue. And, when my mom and sisters picked up the books, seems they drew the same conclusion.

The best part about these books I think is the hype- no, HYSTERIA girls under 12 & over 40 are experiencing. While discussing this with my friend's parents over dinner tonight (yes, that's right) I learned what this Twilight plague is doing to the US. First of all, many girls think the actor playing Edward is really a vampire, and line up for days and days to see him sign autographs, cry hysterically when they meet him, and my favorite, ask him to bite them. Yeah. Healthy.

Another reason I think this movie/book sleaze is hilarious is because of the message it sends to females. My friend's dad asked us what we thought it was that makes women so drawn to vampires, and so I thought a little. I think the biggest reason is that women want to be WANTED, and hey! A vampire wants his "woman/meal" SO BADLY he would do anything- namely suck their blood, to get to them. Hmmm... yeah, nice. But seriously- what is this teaching girls? In the book, Bella is totally miserable and suffers from low self esteem. When Edward comes along, she throws herself at him, and will do anything to be with him- even if that means separating herself from other people her own age, and subjecting herself to his sometimes emotionally abusive behavior. Now if this isn't the perfect equation to a healthy relationship, I don't know what is! Mainly I don't like it when girls feel that they must have a boy to feel self- actualized, and I feel that this book (I only read the one) puts this ideal on a pedestal and says that having a boyfriend is the only true road to happiness.

RUBBISH.

Want a good book? Read....
1. Born Confused
2. Mutant Message From Down Under
3. Eat, Pray, Love
4. Three Cups Of Tea
5. The Great Gatsby
6. The Good Earth