Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Is it over yet?

Blah. My tolerance for anything election-related is quickly running out. I will be ecstatic after Tuesday when I'm no longer receiving 5 pieces of election junk mail per day, hearing clips of a "rah, rah; boo! boo!" speech by a presidential candidate, or dealing with the fallout (good and bad) from my church supporting a sensitive state proposition. Politics often make me want to curl up in a fetal position and rock back and forth, but this time around has been especially intense.

Let's take our minds off the real issues and watch this instead. It's an old SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skit that may be the funniest one ever (a shout out to My Husband for bringing it to my attention). Jimmy Fallon's impression of Adam Sandler especially had me in stitches. Sorry for the ad. Wait it out; it's worth it:

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Cat out of the bag

After about 14 months and 2 miscarriages, it looks like Baby #2 is on the way! Yes, I am 12 weeks pregnant today and everything looks good so far. We've seen and heard heartbeats and I've felt decently icky for the last 5 weeks--tired and VERY unmotivated/lazy, nauseous, some throwing up, etc. This is good news in my case though, as I felt "too good" with the miscarriage pregnancies. Baby will be a bit less than 4 years apart from My Boy, and we are looking forward to my May 7th due date.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Celebrity Sightings

In the past two weeks I've drastically increased my life-long tally of celebrity sightings. First, Miley Cyrus was on our London to LA flight:

She was NOT sitting in coach like the rest of us suckers (it really was horrible with the 11 hour flight), but I saw her when she came back to talk to one of her people. She was at times right next to us in the customs line at LAX, and I confirmed with another one of her people in line behind us that it was her. She was small and loud and in a much better, more talkative mood than anyone else seemed to be. She was with her blonde sister and some guy carrying bags for her, but no real bodyguard-looking people. That is my report.

Tuesday at the Oakland airport, I looked over and noticed this guy start loading stuff in a van that pulled up:

It's Adam from The Next Food Network Star, of course! I really liked this show over the summer and thought Adam would win the final 3 tie breaker, but he didn't. This is probably the most personally exciting sighting I've had, especially since I had a slight crush on him and knew a couple of my sisters would be very excited when I told them the news. I'm regretting not saying anything to him, but oh well.

For the record, the only other sighting I'd count is Mike from The Real World several years ago at a southern California airport:

Doesn't he kind of look like My Husband?

And I've seen the always well-dressed Willie Brown a couple times if I can count local celebrities (he's the former mayor of SF):

I've also seen those old lady twins who dress alike twice--once coming up the escalator at Macy's in Union Square, and once walking near Huntington Park on Nob Hill. I wish I had an identical twin to be crazy with when I get older! They are awesome:

Who have you seen?

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

London Pics

Some Big Ben/Parliament, Tower Bridge and London Eye shots (the Ferris wheel thing):











At Greenwich, standing over the Prime Meridian line:



Tower of London:



The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. My guide book told me Queen Victoria's husband Albert didn't want a monument built to him but she did anyway and went all out:



The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Kensington Gardens. Very lovely:



Two more from Kensington Gardens. The palace where Diana stayed after her divorce is in the background of the 2nd shot:





My Husband during his tour of the Chelsea soccer stadium (I walked around a nearby cemetery rather than pay the $25ish dollars to go along):





So sleepy on the Underground:



Hampton Court Palace. We spent close to 5 hours here trying to absorb all the history and interesting info:



Me trying to look regal and stately:










Hedge maze (could only think of The Shining while in it of course):



Trafalgar Square with one of the awesome, enormous lions made from melted cannons:



Westminster Abbey--one of my favorite things. So many famous people buried in the floor!



One of the underground bunker rooms from which Winston Churchill and his people ran WWII:



On a fabulous night walk over the Thames after visiting the Tate Modern Museum:



The incredible Imperial War Museum:





At the British Museum with one of the Parthenon statues that Greece wants back (England says, "Ummm...no."):



Mummies!



In Shakespeare's backyard at his birthplace:





Warwick Castle further out in the country. My Husband is waving at you from the top of the tower:









The cathedral at Christchurch at Oxford:



Here's where the students at Oxford eat. This room was apparently re-created and used in one of the Harry Potter films (not that I'd know):



The Oxford/Christchurch Commons:

Saturday, October 4, 2008

100 Things

My Husband and I are very fortunate to get away together for a week in London while My Boy hangs with family. Since blogging will be way down on the priorities list for the next bit, I bring you a long post with 100 things about me. I found this to be interesting when a couple friends did it and figure it could count as a personal history of sorts, at least for now. Here we go:

1. I grew up in Orem and Provo, Utah
2. I am the oldest of 5 girls and can be a bit of a know-it-all
3. I am Mormon and love my religion
4. I don’t like to cook
5. I’ve lived in San Francisco, California for 7 years
6. I live in a 1-bedroom apartment with my husband and son (who sleeps in a closet as I’ve mentioned)
7. I got married to a Canadian when I was 22 and he was 26
8. I think people who litter should be shot in the leg
9. I love to read
10. My biggest pet peeve—sloppy, smacky mouth sounds, particularly when a person is eating
11. I’d rather spend money on vacations and experiences than on nice things
12. If I could skip from having a newborn to having a child who is 18 months old, I probably would
13. I love to sleep (and don’t do well without at least 7 continuous hours/night). Napping with my husband may be the best thing in the world
14. I played softball in high school
15. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management with an Information Systems emphasis
16. I don’t usually like eating outside (there’s always a problem—wind, bugs, temperature, etc.) or eating in the car
17. I’d like to be a librarian
18. David Letterman read my letter on his show in Sept. 1997 as part of a CBS Mailbag sketch. I’ve been to a taping of his show twice and once to Conan
19. I attended Brigham Young University and loved it
20. Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is my favorite holiday
21. I only end of playing golf 3-4 times per year, but I really like it and can keep up without embarrassing myself too horribly
22. I like to vacuum and sweep
23. I quickly start feeling nuts if I don’t leave the house for one day
24. Cookies and brownies are my downfall
25. I love caves
26. Even though I have nothing but sisters, I am a little afraid of having daughters given my lack of girl skills and boyish tendencies
27. I will boycott any business that misspells the words in its name like “Krazy Karl's Kar Korral”
28. I hate taking special care of my clothes—Dry clean only? Hand wash? Lay flat to dry? I probably won’t buy it
29. I like playing Nintendo games (the old platform ones please, especially Mario-based games)
30. Some favorite books: These Is My Words, The Poisonwood Bible, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, She Got Up Off the Couch, Roots, The Good Earth, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, about anything by Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, David Sedaris, and Sarah Vowell
31. My favorite type of food is Mexican. I don’t care so much for most seafood and sushi
32. I bite my nails
33. I like doing mindless, repetitive tasks—factory work would probably suit me just fine
34. Bad grammar, punctuation and spelling are very noticeable to me
35. I like nerdy board games—Puerto Rico, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, etc.
36. I’ve never broken a bone
37. I didn’t kiss a boy until I was 19
38. I would like to visit all the national parks in the United States
39. I am afraid of heights and will not live in an apartment that’s more than 3 stories above ground level
40. I was the female lead in the musical Pirates of Penzance in 5th grade
41. I don’t have a dishwasher or disposal in my apartment—blah!
42. I worked for KPMG for almost 4 years as an IT auditor/consultant
43. I like to go for walks at night
44. I manage an apartment building that has 42 units
45. I am usually very resistant to any kind of inspirational or self-help book (funny that I am religious then, I know)
46. I think deserted buildings and cemeteries are creepy yet peaceful and awesome
47. I am fairly cynical and sarcastic
48. I have almost no desire to do the following things: go to a ballet or opera (sorry Neylan), visit Africa or India, run a marathon or any part of a marathon, have more than 4 kids (maybe not more than 3?), do any sort mountain climbing that involves ropes and tethering, become a vegetarian, home school my children, scuba dive or surf in anything but warm, tropical water that’s free of seaweed
49. I like learning about US history, particularly in TV documentary or museum format
50. I cannot stand clusters and clumps of things like barnacles, fish eggs, pimples, bees on honeycomb, etc. (I can feel the panic rising even as I type those words)
51. My least favorite song of all time is “Red, Red Wine” by UB40
52. I am allergic to yellow food coloring, most animals, real Christmas trees, many perfumes and flower/tree pollens
53. I wear hard contact lenses and am very near-sighted without them
54. I looked like this when I was 8 and thought I was hot stuff:



55. I love disco music and used to go disco skating and dancing
56. I am one of those girls who is always cold
57. I really like amusement parks and carnivals
58. I’ve traveled outside the US to Canada, Japan, the Cayman Islands, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and the Netherlands. I get to go to London, England this fall—hooray!
59. I love Disneyland although not necessarily all things Disney
60. I’m not a neat freak but do like things reasonably tidy and clean. Clutter makes me uneasy
61. I play the piano
62. I dated My Husband for about 18 months before we got married (about 14 months until we were engaged)
63. I am distrustful of doctors, especially pediatricians
64. Some favorite movies: Some Like It Hot, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Airplane, What’s Up Doc, The Royal Tennenbaums, Raising Arizona, Corrina, Corrina, A League of Their Own, American Beauty (be warned that it deserves its R rating)
65. My 2nd biggest pet peeve—boys/men who put their heads down on the pews in front of them in church and zone out or sleep. Must get taser gun.
66. We only have one car—a 2000 Mazda Protégé I bought in college—and it’s a stick shift
67. I love drug stores, hardware stores, dollar stores, toy stores, party supply stores, and office supply stores
68. I am somewhat frugal and don’t really like to shop (probably because shopping creates clutter)
69. The stupidest thing I ever did—let my sister fold me completely into a hide-a-bed (I was sandwiched inside the mattress and lowered into the couch). My sister couldn’t pull me out but luckily my dad could
70. I like sappy love songs from the 70s and 80s—Barry Manilow, Lionel Richie, Hall & Oates, etc.
71. I don’t like carrying a purse
72. I was once attacked by a crow (felt it’s little feet clawing at the top of my head 3 times before I ran far enough away that it left me alone)
73. I usually don’t like big parties or gatherings. I’m much more comfortable in smaller groups
74. I probably cannot be friends with a person who says “Vegas, baby!”or “Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” with any degree of seriousness. Same goes for any guy who calls another guy “bro”
75. I love buying toys and treats for My Boy
76. I typically think it’s hilarious when people trip or fall down
77. I had a wedding dinner but no reception, bridesmaids, etc. and rented my wedding dress.
78. I once used Nair on my face and waxing strips on top of that. It’s not something you should do.
79. I gave birth to a 9 lb 8 oz baby
80. I don’t like scary or suspenseful movies or TV shows (I gave up on Lost and 24 because they were too much for me). I am easily disturbed by anything involving kidnapping, torture, or violence toward innocent people
81. I love hot water—a nice bath can solve almost any problem for me
82. I am easily irritated by teenagers
83. I won my school spelling bee when I was in 6th grade—my sister in the 4th grade got 2nd place
84. I can pop my fingers, neck, back, wrists, and ankles (and often do)
85. I think carbonated water is too strange and icky to drink
86. I’m not very ladylike when it comes to burping
87. The words “panties” and “lover” make me giggle
88. My favorite flowers are daffodils and gerbera daisies
89. I typically only cry once or twice a year (the tears-running -down-the-face kind anyway). I once went several years without crying.
90. I’m kind of afraid of the dark and the ocean (even though I certified as a scuba diver)
91. I’m really bad at writing thank you cards
92. Some favorite TV shows: Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Flight of the Conchords, Scrubs, The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Soup, Reno 911, Family Guy, The Simpsons
93. I can get really star-struck and totally understand how those girls feel who cry and scream when they see their favorite celebrities
94. I am a huge picker and cannot leave peeling skin, scabs, or any kind of blemish alone
95. The idea of someone drinking their cereal milk makes me want to throw up
96. Jobs I’ve had before I graduated from college: babysitter, house cleaner, packer/shipper at a small family entertainment company, administrative assistant and computer lab intern at Novell
97. I’m big on people taking responsibility for their actions. I generally have a “deal with it”/tough love kind of attitude
98. I’m not a sit-around-and-relax kind of vacationer. At least not for long. Let’s get out there and see stuff, I say
99. I had a pair of women’s mannequin legs in my room for several years in high school (I bought them at a thrift store because I thought they were awesome and funny)
100. I’ve never read a Harry Potter book or seen a Harry Potter movie