This is why life is still good, even during finals.

So what if it's stolen from another blog? Such happiness must be spread, I tell you!

Look at me being all artistic

So in desperate need for creativity I brought out my old watercolors and painted.

This one makes me happy. It's just... yeah. Happy.

Here's another sailboat. I got the idea from a handkerchief I have. I just copied the shape, then played with the patterns.

This one if part of a 10 hour project I have to do for my New Testament class. If I'm being bold I call it "Rejoicers Among the Mourners" (but I don't think I'll be bold about this one). It's the Marys running in to tell the apostles that Christ is risen. Despite how ridiculously long this took me I don't like it much. It's so stiff, and I can't really paint. It just looks so basic. Maybe I'll try this again once my skills are warmed up. But I like the idea.

Good Times

So instead of working on a rather daunting paper that is still very much in the worrying stage (that sits looming before the thinking stage-- which is WAY before the writing stage) I've decided to sit down and rehearse to you an event that happened last week.

Last Thursday I ran into my Asian Humanities class about a minute and a half late. The teacher was at the front of the class, bringing it to order and calling on someone to pray. Now there are many seats in this quite full classroom and I usually sit near the front when I want to see the board, so I was rushing in between two rows which were placed a bit too close together. The praying boy stood up and everybody got quiet then WHAM. My foot went through some Swiss boy's backpack strap and put a very abrupt stop to my scurrying. I flew admirably and landed with a smack full length along the floor. I couldn't quite catch myself since there was a partially drunken breakfast shake in one hand so I landed hard without a shred of grace (save for the shake that miraculously stayed in its cup). Everywhere were feet, backpacks, and I could hear the chorus of Oh's and Are-You-Ok's? scattered above me as every student craned their necks and raised themselves out of their seats to see my spectacle.

I tried to get to my feet, but I only had one injured hand and my knee was stinging. Plus my foot seemed to only get more and more tangled during my attempt. The owner of this malicious bag finally had to get off his seat and unwrap my legs from the bag and I was able to get up. All around me were staring eyes, some concerned, some empathetically embarrassed. The two boys ahead of me scooted their desks away from me, giving me the room I obviously need when maneuvering. When I finally sat down and assured the baited class about 4 times that I was fine the other standing student was finally allowed to pray. I could hardly keep silent during the prayer because I kept erupting in not-so-silent laughter. Chuckle chuckle. So funny!

So cheers to me!

my birthday

It was my birthday, so I had a party. Here is some of what it looked like.

Pewter, pumpkins and candlelight. So enchanting!

Bahahha! Those little dressed up pumpkins make me so happy.

My ring selection is awesome. And so is my nail polish.

Everyone got a mustache! Or monocle. This produced some very interesting results. Just imagine the inner characters that surfaced. All they needed was a bit of fuzz above the lip and accents abounded, both in prose and lyrics, also accompanied with amusing facial expressions. Highly entertaining.

Here is the cake my brothers decorated for me. In the very center was a giant marshmallow, impaled with candy corns and topped with a giant plastic eye. Truly Halloween. They thought they were so clever for not only putting on the googly eyes, but also covering some up with frosting, so as to be a hidden surprise for some poor Bruce in want of chocolate cake.

But it was all fabulous! Very fun and filling. Thank you friends!

Lake Powell

We went to Lake Powell last week, just us adults. And it was all very fun. We wakeboarded, air-chaired, played horse-shoes and told stories around the camp fire. Memorable, fun, and often hilarious.

Here are the spectators of the horse-shoe match. Please note the plethora of cranial protection. Also the fact that the gentle-lady in the pink bonnet is my 98-year old grandmother.

This is me participating in the hors-shoe tournament. Was pretty much awesome, so ya know.

My uncle and me, winning the tournament. Told you I was awesome. My ringer ended the game (only after Danny dragged us all the way to the top).

Grandma again. We pumped her full of sweets then let her sugar-crash out in the water.

Other things of interest:

• There was one wallet lost in the water, which was retrieved with mask and dive the next day.
• This family is highly competitive (which resulted in various strategies of commentary, encouragement, distraction, and eventually evident avoidance of the other team).
• I learned how to play bridge with my 98-year old grandma.
• This family has the best stories to tell around the fire

FOR EXAMPLE:

Hootie once drove his friends for some camping trip up in northern Utah. They were pulled over by a cop and had to use the rest of their money to pay him off. They then continued to drive, and Hootie decided it was fun to light bottle rockets out the window of the moving vehicle. Naturally one flew back into the car and bounced everywhere before landing in the driver's console. This resulted in a moderate crash that tilted the entire frame of the car. But no worries. On to fishing!

They finally made it, and caught some illegal fish but couldn't eat them before the Fishing and Game Inspector came over. But they still had fun by strategically placing a dead snake for one of their friends to find.

But when they needed to go home they had no more gas and no money. So what did they do? Simply they used the windshield fluid hose to siphon gas from a cop's car (since it was his fault they were in this predicament in the first place) while the car was sitting in front of his house. It took a while, but they got home just fine, and rather enjoyed themselves.

And that is just ONE of the tales of the family. They lived quite adventurously, I do say. THOUGH we did have our own share. On the way home we stopped in Green River and the keys were locked in the car. This was bad, as there is no spare in existence and we were trying to get my aunt to the airport just in time to catch a flight. Yikes.

But luckily there happened to be a teenager working at the Subway who has the black-market knowledge of breaking into unsuspecting (or suspecting) vehicles. We rounded his sandy head up and he assisted us with a small set of tools (including the coat hanger and a screw-driver) and in less than 5 minutes he had the door open and we were on our way. Richard to the rescue!

And how does my brother pay Subway back for hiring such ideal employees? By stealing one of their giant sticky signs and adhering it to my other brother's car during the night. Fun fun.

So I have been constantly eating since I was old enough to put food in my own mouth. And I blame it on womanhood, since it's more general than me.

Anyway.

My roommate is watching the Chop Challenge on the food network. That's crazy cool. Knife-yielding genius. I myself own some sharp Japanese blades. Perhaps I should practice so I too can be the chop champion! I have an onion... and canned green beans. Hmm...

I just grabbed another lemon bar. Good compromise.

Yesterday I wore my London tights (or 'stockings' as someone called them) and it was a great day.