A few favorites from Outer Banks

Howdy, Stranger

It's been awhile, and by awhile I mean 5 months, since I did anything with this li'l blog o' mine. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if resurrecting it is in my plans, but I figured I would at least give it a go. I'm actually contemplating going private in the near future, so let me know if you'd like to be on that exclusive list (not that exclusive - I am certainly guilty of blog stalking people I barely know or haven't spoken to in years, so if you're lurking, let me know and I'll make sure you get an invite if I go private. This is too long of an aside).

The point is, however, that a lot has been going on in the last 5 months. The most significant change is that we're expecting a baby! In November! So I'm over halfway through!

Sorry if this comes as a big shock to anyone. I was just afraid I was going to run into a good friend at the mall or something and they'd kill me for not letting them know. Or that they'd look at recently tagged photos of me on facebook and think I was just getting morbidly obese. This isn't exactly something I can hide any longer (speaking of, I know this girl who just had a baby. The pregnant pictures of herself on facebook are ridiculous. At 21.5 weeks, I look as big as she was at 36.5! I am going to be the largest of blimps/whales).

Anyway, it's a girl, due on November 28th (two days after Thanksgiving) and we're so, so, so excited! Adam thinks ultrasound pictures are awkward, and when they're not my own I kind of agree, but let me know if you want to see our little one.

Well, I probably won't really try to catch anyone up on what's been going on in our lives, partly because most of the people who follow this blog already know.

Let's just summarize:
We finished winter semester - Huzzah!
I got called to be in the Primary Presidency, which has been awesome and incredibly hard - Huzzah?
I spent 3 weeks jobless - less Huzzah!
Obama gave me a job - Huzzah!
Adam's family had a wonderful family reunion - Huzzah!
We decided to be more disciplined and active - Huzzah, but hard!
Pregnancy plus 100+ degree heat = not the most comfortable summer - Ick!
My family had a humongous family reunion (52 people) on the beach in North Carolina. We have now decided that Outer Banks, in North Carolina, is a pretty accurate representation of what the Celestial Kingdom looks like - Huzzah!
We learned that babies like Adam more than me - wheps
We tie-dyed onesies for the little one and only 1 turned out horrendously ugly - Huzzah!
The Washington Nationals game we went to actually started again after a 3 hour rain delay - Huzzah!
We made it home safely - Huzzah!

And now we're back and you're sick of Huzzahs. HUZZAH!

My Li'l Bro

It was a rite of passage. The atmosphere was tense as, surrounded by his closest friends and many relatives, Li'l Bro slit open the envelope. He was nearly shaking with the anticipation of it all. Guesses had been made, all that remained to reveal his fate was to read the second line of that important letter.Dear Steven,

Blah blah blah blah, blahbitty blah blah blabo. Bloh blah blub, blaihb blah blah, blah blah Bloub blah blat blad blaith blah blah blahblahblah. Blah Blah Philadelphia, Pennsylvania mission. blah blah bolahb June 3rd, 2009.
HUZZAH!!! And who even cares what the rest of the letter says?

Congratulations, Steven!I'll miss you like crazy, especially since you're one of my closest friends. I never thought we'd be this close - when we were kids we were always the ones fighting like cats and dogs. But we've both grown up, and you've turned into a smart, dashing, insightful, thoughtful, stylin', brown-loving, spiritual, funny, curious (oh wait, you've always been like that - we even have a book about it), interesting, handsome and downright cool little brother. I'm glad I know you and I know you'll be an amazing missionary.P.S. Does anyone remember the Strongbad email about Little Brudder? Calling Steven Li'l Bro has always reminded me of that. Not that he doesn't have all his legs or anything.

Even watched on our laptop screen...

...these movies have made me happy lately.

Everything is IlluminatedThis movie is gorgeous and thoughtful and extremely funny at times. And what's not to love about fields of sunflowers?

Penelope
I nearly died when I discovered that you could watch Penelope on Netflix instantly. Seriously, Adam was scared, I was so excited. Anyway, it's a fun watch, and the style (both set and clothes) is lovely (Note to any guys: Adam says that the only thing that made this worth it was being curled up with a girl (me). Just so you're warned).

Once

Be careful with Once - it's a British film and they don't think twice about using certain words. I watched it on a Clearplay and it was wonderful. It's real - not polished or anything - just honest and real. I love it. Oh, and the music is fantastic.

And, just for fun, North Avenue Irregulars.

Adam's family puts together movie parties every so often, involving costumes, themed foods, and applicable games, and this was the subject for the most recent one. It was made in the 70's and cracked me up. Good times.

*images from here, here, here, and here.

How to explain the economic crisis to a 5 year-old

Actually, the title just came from an article I read on the Freakonomics blog. The real point of this post is to share a documentary (ish) that I watched in one of my econ classes. Less than an hour long, it's called Inside the Meltdown and does a great job of explaining what happened as far as the economic crisis goes, and even goes so far as to blame one person's one decision. YES! We have a scapegoat! If I could embed this video, I would - I am unsure whether this inability is due to my own incompetence or just technological restrictions. Just click the link.

We're so hardcore

My good friends Kate, Scott and I need a name for our band. Any suggestions?

25 randomness

25 things

1. I have to sleep with my feet uncovered.
2. I once ended up at a Prince concert accidentally. It was bizarre and kind of scary.
3. My favorite color is a dark, chocolatey brown. Mmmm good.
4. If I could eat anything, I’d probably stock up on goldfish crackers, bagels and cream cheese, sour cream and onion potato chips, and ice cream. Oh, don’t forget chips and salsa (with cream cheese). Of course, there's always Thai food, specifically Thai Peanut Sauce.
5. I strongly dislike milk and always have. It’s just SO nasty! My parents used to try to make me drink it using various means like threats and deals, but nothing has ever stuck.
6. I don’t remember the Christmas of my Junior year. I got a concussion the next day and forgot it all.
7. I love and adore my engagement/wedding ring. Have you seen it? It’s phenomenal.
8. I have a myriad of guilty pleasures.
9. I knocked out one of my two front teeth when I was 3 (ish) and it didn’t grow back in for YEARS. I have funny lopsided smiles in all my childhood pictures.
10. I won the spelling bees at my elementary school in both 5th and 6th grades.
11. I might tag more than 25 people in this note (don’t tell).
12. I have sensitive ears – I hate it when people use vulgar or crude language, and often think things are inappropriate that are completely accepted in normal society.
13. I am terrible at giving gifts. Let’s not even go there.
14. I would love to get good at photography. My mom took phenomenal pictures of me and my 6 siblings growing up and I want my kids to have the same kinds of memories and photos. Anyone know of good classes to take?
15. I spent a summer in London and loved it. Living in London is basically my dream and I would never, ever get bored. I think I just love the isolationist feel of the city, how you can ride the subway jam-packed full of people and still feel completely alone.
16. While living in London, I found the house one of my ancestors had lived in back in 1850, fell in love with the Tate Modern (truly gorgeous art. Rodin’s The Kiss was probably my favorite) and saw a dramatization of the book Heart of Darkness involving naked people and fire. It was on the banks of the Thames in the middle of the night. Completely scandalous, but really, really thought-provoking.
17. Listening to Indie bands makes me happy, even though I don’t spend as much time trying to find new ones and going to concerts and I used to. I still love that whole genre. The melancholy and the angst just kills me.
18. I enjoy opera, and would like to consider myself a bit on the cultured end of the spectrum, but I’m a sucker for musicals. Mary Poppins in London basically changed my life and I think I could listen to Wicked for a very long time without getting bored. Don’t judge me.
19. I got married to the most amazing man in the world on Friday the 13th. Fitting, considering that we started dating on Halloween. We already have a surprisingly long list of names for our future children, some possibly inspired by classical music. And yes, we are nerds.
20. I wanted to be a lawyer for a long time after competing in Mock Trials in 8th grade.
21. I was born in Boston and still feel strong ties to the city. If I could get away with it, I’d probably claim I was from Boston.
22. I have played (at one point in my life), the violin, piano, flute, bassoon, clarinet, and baritone (the last of which is really, really heavy. Too heavy to carry through the Fourth of July parade).
23. I stalk upwards of 80 blogs on a regular basis. If you would like your blog graced by my presence, just drop me a line!
24. I have never been in an accident, gotten a ticket (that wasn’t for expired registration), or broken a bone. I have had stitches a whole bunch of times, though.
25. Secretly, I want to be famous. I’m not sure if it’s because I’d like to be able to help people with that fame or if I’m just vain and want to be remembered, but I’d like to do something that earns recognition. Like discover a physics principle (unlikely at this point).
26 (as a bonus for the blog). I am a complete and total klutz. Adam just laughs.

Funny and True (Double-whammy!)

Everyone should check out a new, up-and-coming blog that has me laughing. There's not a person on this planet (with any kind of social skills to speak of) who hasn't had those bad dating experiences. Sometimes they're miserable, sometimes they're awkward, and sometimes things are just too funny. At that point, you pass the ice cream around and laugh about it with your friends.

So, without further ado, passtheicecream.blogspot.com
Send in your own stories! If the keeper of the blog gets enough material, she'll continue posting daily! Huzzah!

*image from glamour.com

One year closer to the grave

I don't know what it is about today, but all sorts of people have birthdays.

So, Happy Birthday, Salutations, Many Happy Returns, etcs, to:

• My wonderful, thoughtful, cool, quirky, and good-looking brother, Clark. He'll always be Superman to me.
• Hilary, the first of our group of friends to brave the marriage world (she gave the rest of us courage), who is now the cutest pregnant person I know.
• Teresa, my oldest coworker (unless you count the full-timers, and who does? And by oldest, I mean "has been my coworker for the longest") who has made the last 4 years fun, random, and full of craziness.

I love you all!

I'd rather be a motley gaggle

What on earth does motley even mean? The word is inseparable from crew, and I have no idea what it means on its own. Such a great word.

I'm totally musical

I'm thinking of picking up the bassoon again.

Chantelle, there are no words.

My freshman year of college, I moved into an apartment full of strangers. When I moved out of that apartment, I had lifelong friends. The whole group seemed to have been meant to be. We laughed together, hung out together, teased each other, angsted to one another, played nertz late into the night, and occasionally studied. I could not have imagined a better freshman year and it was made that way by the girls I lived with. Their love of life, strength in the gospel, complete goofiness and open hearts made the whole experience one I wouldn't trade for the world. One of those 5 girls is Chantelle. She was always the responsible one - the girl who got up for class even if we had kept her up until 2 in the morning. She was tidy, smart, motivated, fun, not afraid to be crazy once in a while, and incredibly gorgeous. I was impressed (and intimidated) by her from day one. I came to rely on her as one of my roommates that I could talk to about more than the cute boys in the ward or the bad score on my math quiz. The girl has depth, and wasn't afraid to share it.
Obviously, we're no longer freshmen, but we've remained friends. Various iterations of the original group have roommed together in subsequent years, and we've never lost contact. During some of the hardest times of my college years, Chantelle was there for me, always ready to listen, but full of optimism and hope at the same time. Wherever she goes, Chantelle reaches out to those around her, selflessly serving, quick to do the right thing. I don't think I know a better person. I know for a fact that she has left a deep imprint on many, many lives.

All 6 of us have gone our separate ways. As of this moment, 3 are married, one is engaged, on is in Korea serving a mission, and Chantelle leaves for Belgium on Wednesday, also to serve a mission.I'd just like to say, Chantelle, that I love you, and that I'll miss you. I admire you tremendously for what you're going to do, and what you've already done in your life. The people of Belgium and The Netherlands have no idea what they're in for, and I envy them. They better work hard to deserve you.
Have fun!

My Husband: Singer of the Year

As promised, pictures from Adam's night of triumph.
Adam broke Katie and Sterling's rear-view mirror. It was a moment of supreme shock and mirth. The moment when I had to borrow Katie and Sterling's car because our own was stuck in a snowbank 4 minutes before Adam's performance was to start was not of supreme shock and mirth. More terror and panic. I like him.

Celebrity Sighting

Friday, I ran into a person who's blog I stalk who does not actually know that I exist. Exciting, huh? Sister of a little sussy, just returned from New York after Grease closed on Broadway, and ripe out of surgery on her big toe due to an unfortunate altercation with a shower door, sitting in Macaroni Grill as nice as you please. Freaking out ensued, but don't worry, I felt a little sheepish. "Hi, I know you, but you don't know me. You're cool..." Don't worry, I didn't say anything, or try to snap pictures, or get a better look, or try for an autograph (Macaroni Grill provides crayons for this exact purpose, I'm sure). I hope I'm not that pathetic. She looked good, though.

Now, if I can just sight cjane and the kiddlums she's tending (Did I tell you that my sister and I considered trying to find them out trick-or-treating on Halloween? No, we're not creepy).

Ever done this? Run into someone you feel you know intimately because you read their online journal, but then become acutely aware that they have absolutely no idea that you're crawling around on the surface of this planet with them?

...I have no response to this

My bangs have been too long for awhile. En serio. I've been pinning them back, a look I don't mind (shake it up a bit), but Katie and I just decided to trim them today. Maybe trim is the wrong word. Chop. That's the one I was looking for. Things may have gotten a touch out of hand. The result is that I now have to choose between:An attempt at my old style of bangs. Looks weird to me, and things aren't even (which could be fixed, if Katie or I decide to demonstrate anything resembling hair-cuttings skills).I call this style the "Girls with bangs that hang straight down" look. Creative, eh (once again, they're not even and we have issues. Deal)? I've always wanted to be stuff white people like. I might try this, going out on a limb, if I can look like naomi from rockstar diaries. Longshot. Unfortunately, this look also resembles the "Bonnie in Second Grade" look, which just doesn't do it for me. Or I could continue to pin it back for a couple weeks. My grandpa used to say the difference between a good and bad haircut was 3 days. I wish. And another washed out image of me with all hair pulled back instead of the ever-so-attractive-half-dry-and-not-remotely-straight locks previously pictured, because you know you love this. You know it. C'mon, you know it....maybe?.......dang.

So, go vote on what to do with my hair. Now. If I weren't lazy and tired (because of my first ever gym experience - more about this later), I'd set up an actual voting mechanism widget thingamagig in the sidebar. And now you're just thinking about what you're missing.

By the way, these aren't the only options. Shaving the head might just win out.

The Awesome, Amazing, Awe-inspring Ali!

I have made an egregious error. Egregious, I tell ya. In my Christmas post, I was certain I had a picture of every single member of the family. I was wrong. Due to a series of unfortunate events involving Blogger hating me, an extraordinarily important member was omitted: the one, the only, Alison Joan (pronounced Jo-Anne). I am ashamed (name that movie). And here, to remedy the event, I present, not one, but many Ali pics. So, here she is, the queen of the hour, along with many reasons I love her.She has great style. Check out that scarf!A smile is always on her face.

She wears cool hats, both traditional...And un...She likes my husband even when he is strange and odd.Rebellious punk that she is, she makes funny faces and gives Laura bunny ears.
She's a fighter. You just try and get her to give up that bouquet.

Quite a compact little bundle, she fits into my great-grandmother's clothes. In addition, she doesn't protest when I call her funny nicknames, such as Als, Alsison, Ali-Jo, Ali-bug, Ali-boo, etc. She was happy for me when I got married and looked positively spiffing in her jacket. Way to upstage the bride, lil' sis.Her adorable hair. 'Nuff said.More of fashion sense and hair. That girl has style. Have I told you about how creative she is? She makes little artsy things and sells them. Crazy man, that's a marketable skill.Her Mischievous side is quite well developed (This is them decorating our "Just Married" car).She is generous and kind, even tagging along on the boring task of taking bridals. The veil looks nice, eh?A thoughtful gift-giver, she gave Adam and I a gourmet hot chocolate kit. And she sat by me all during Christmas. Thanks, sis.She is smart as a button, and looks great in pajamas.
I like her a lot.

Sorry, Als, I really didn't mean to leave you out.