for lo, that is how i roll

Anew

2010-01-03T23:29:00.001-05:00

Hey y'all. In case you haven't yet figured it out, I've got a new one. And it can be found here.

See you on the flipside!

3, 2, 1: blast off

2008-07-28T22:31:00.005-05:00

yeah, i realize i cheater cheated my way through the last 5 of this list of 30, but i guess that's what happens when you don't have a computer or any time to do anything in the final hours of life as you know it. meh, here's my final three...oh, and p.s. i'm already gone.

3- the waaaaaaard

it's been said that boston is the place where misfits belong. i don't recall who said that, but it was said and i agree, and there's no exception to this rule in the mormon community. i love, love, love the randomness that exists in our relatively small group, and though this kind of self-contained community presents challenges from time to time, i'd take it over, ahem, other...wards...in...other...cities...any day. munch 'n' mingle aside, i'm sincerely going to miss that bunch.

2- skullvia, chreepy, and deathica

my roommates wicked (literally) awesome halloween names above (i'm ghoulie- he he). these peeps have already been stuck into a few posts on the list, but i have to give one final shout out to them. grills, you're awesome. i like us.

1- and the most obvious thing ever...

to all my incredible friends: you are boston to me. i love you.

welp, i guess that's it for boston huh? its been real, fer real. peace out (before i start crying again).

4: beat la

2008-07-26T21:09:00.005-05:00

5: so indy

2008-07-26T20:41:00.003-05:00

the campfire festival at club passim is one of the first boston activities i ever experienced way back when. basically a bunch of indy rockers get together and sit in a half circle on stage and take turns churning out melodies, and sometimes playing together. i know it sounds like a haven for tokers, but even drug frees like me enjoy the scene. also, passim serves some of the best mac'n'cheese this side of the mississippi. go there.

6: battling pink robots

2008-07-23T21:39:00.003-05:00

sometimes my roommates and i find ourselves painfully tired, yet unable to go to bed because we're too busy singing about yoshimi saving us from pink robots. that, or death.

i'm going to miss that.

7: pahk ya cah

2008-07-22T22:51:00.001-05:00

boston townies: the people you hate to love. sometimes in
conversations with these type i get so caught up in mentally noting
their accents that i completely miss everything they say. storing up
good phrases for future use requires quite a bit of mental energy, as
does remembering the many rules of townie speech; such as dropping the
r from the middle of the word (ha_va_d), or adding one to the end
(ideaR). lucky for me i've had quite a bit of practice through my
work, so i leave here prepared with a life skill that is sure to win
friends and influence people.

8: non-profit rocking

2008-07-21T15:17:00.003-05:00

i'm really going to miss my co workers. especially duane (far left). and i can say that because i know he's the only one of them who reads this.

9: sweet caroline

2008-07-20T22:37:00.004-05:00

it's hard to actually put down in words the joy of attending a red sox game, so i'll just let this picture or our happy faces do the explaining.

10: eat up

2008-07-20T22:19:00.004-05:00

why does food show up on this list so often? maybe because going out to eat is just what we do around here. plus, it's all so good! in honor of #10 on the list, and to avoid getting lazy and blogging one of these each day until i leave, i'll just list my top 10 favorite restaurants in boston (in order of preference):

10. mr. crepe
9. au bon pain
8. anna's taqueria
7. felipe's
6. cafe of india
5. mr. bartley's
4. spike's
3. viga
2. boca grande
1. the greek corner

enjoy!

11: no he never returned

2008-07-20T22:09:00.003-05:00

before moving to boston, riding the T was such a novelty experience whenever i came to visit. thinking back on my feelings then, it's funny how quickly something i used to think was special became a source of never ending complaint as soon as it became a necessity in my life. there's probably a lesson to be learned from that, but i'm too tired to figure it out. the point is that i'll miss having a transportation system in my world that can actually get me from point a to point b without first having to use my car. no offense, TRAX.

12: more lies

2008-07-20T22:07:00.001-05:00

*as it turns out, the blog count down has been misleading about the number of days i have left in boston. partly because i moved my departure date up, but also because frankly, i can't do simple math. good luck to me in business school. anyway, i'll have to post a few tonight to make up the difference. read: tonight's entries will be short and to the point.*

number 12 belongs to the boston public library, which is not only the oldest library in the country, but is also an amazingly beautiful structure complete with lion statues and wall murals. i spent many a good hour at the bpl preparing for the gmat, of which at least 1/3 of my time was spent just staring at the walls and ceiling- not out of boredom, but out of complete awe for it's beauty.

i once heard that because of the weight of the books, the bpl sinks into the ground a fraction of a fraction of an inch every year, but that could be a total lie. either way, feel free to spread it around or put it on your blog for everyone to read.

13: and there are these trash piles in the ocean the size of texas...

2008-07-19T23:44:00.000-05:00

considering the fact that about 1 out of every 7 of my latest blog posts is about the beach, it should come as no surprise for this to be included on the list. last saturday and today were both spent playing on the shore of nahant beach for hours on end, and have turned out to be some of my most favorite days i've ever had on the east coast. if i were mayor, i'd declare every saturday to be a beach day. mayor? maybe governor. or president. whatever it takes.

14: cape crusader

2008-07-18T20:11:00.006-05:00

today i made my final voyage to cape cod for work and as i was driving down in my new car* i realized that, as is often the case when something becomes commonplace in life, i have taken for granted the opportunity i've had to travel to such a beautiful place every week, and get paid to do so. among the many reasons i love the east coast, cape cod is very near the top of the list and i'll definitely be missing the beaches, the people, and the taco bell in hyannis.

*pictures and blog forthcoming!

15: it's no WSJ but...

2008-07-17T15:24:00.003-05:00

as much as i complain about the poorly reported and often offensive articles in the metro, i really think i'll miss having the daily news delivered right to my hand as i walk through the subway turn-style each morning. i'm not ambitious enough to research the economy or world affairs on my own, so having the metro cut down and regurgitate associated press stories to me every day has helped me feel at least a little more in the know (even if only about sports and celebs- to which 78% of the paper is dedicated). it may be the world's crappiest newspaper, but every day it becomes my worlds crappiest newspaper, and that makes it special to me.

in truth, the only thing i'll really miss about the metro is the daily crossword. now, if someone can tell me a 4-letter word for "dry watercourse", that would be great.

16: apples and bees

2008-07-16T18:57:00.001-05:00

choosing where to eat based on high ratio of entertainment to food.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

17: tbm

2008-07-15T15:44:00.002-05:00

if you've ever tried it, then you know why it made the list.

18: nothing compares to you

2008-07-14T15:30:00.006-05:00

new england in the fall.

19: stays together

2008-07-13T23:58:00.004-05:00

as a primary kid i had an arch enemy who lived down the street from me who once included the request "and please bless julie will die" at the end of his prayer in sunday school. i was terrified, of course, because if there was one thing we'd all been taught at that young age it was that God answers prayer. luckily for me, God can be selective about which prayers he answers and i've now lived long enough to turn this once traumatic situation into my favorite pre-prayer anecdote. because, well, every good prayer begins with a joke, right?

okay, maybe not, but that's how it usually happens in my apartment. it's usually sylvia and me who can't stop laughing while christy stares us down and jessie sits quietly probably wondering if all mormons are this irreverent. eventually it quiets down enough for someone to inform me that it is once again my turn to pray (somehow it always is) and we commence with a bit more reverence (until sylvia feels the need to supplement the prayer with additional information). by the time the "amen" rolls around, we've usually come out alright.

i make light of this nightly tradition but in all seriousness, praying together as an apartment family is one of my favorite things about my living situation, and probably the biggest contributor to our household success. that and the fact that we're all so freaking cool. it's been a good lesson for me and above all things, this is the time spent with my roommates that i will miss the most.

20: oops, i did it again

2008-07-12T23:55:00.002-05:00

technically i missed blogging yesterday, but it's only because my
yesterday hasn't yet ended and has been non stop party since I woke
up. beach, bbq, friends, more fun than one person can handle-and the
extrordinary thing is that this isn't totally out of the ordinary. my
life rules.

it's a harsh reality to know that my life will never be the same as it
is now. i'm certainly hopeful for better things to come, but like that
one guy once said, or wrote, (or maybe i dreamed it), "you can never
go home again."

the lesson in this? just keep partying like it's 1999.

21: hearting n.y.

2008-07-11T12:28:00.006-05:00

some might say that if you've never experienced the fung-wah bus (china town boston to china town new york) then you've never truly lived. i say you've not only lived, but you've also increased your chances of living. i will not be missing the fung-wah.

however, proximity to new york (and relative ease of getting there) is definitely something worth missing. new york is one of those places that so many people dream of going to in their lifetime, and i've had the great fortune (or mis-fortune depending on the events that transpire during the trip) of going there multiple times. lucky for me, my final (pre-move) voyage to the big apple was amazing, leaving me with a good feeling towards the city. also, we didn't have to ride the fung-wah, so perhaps there is a correlation.

22: melting pot

2008-07-10T22:11:00.005-05:00

it's funny how sometimes i can walk down the street in my own city and feel like a tourist with all of the different dialects being spoken all around me. i admit that when i first moved here i was uncomfortable in this position. however, i now see the diversity in boston as an amazing opportunity to learn about others and to see the magnitude of amazingness that is God's greatest creation. i'll miss this* daily occurrence in my life.

*including this on the list of things i'll miss does not indicate a belief that diversity does not exist where i'm headed. on the contrary, i believe that school will probably afford me a lot of international interaction, but i doubt there is anyone who would (or logically could) argue that for the most part, utah is extremely homogeneous, and finding these opportunities might require a little effort on my part. at least more effort than walking to the local 7-11 for a slurpee**.

**don't forget that friday, 7/11 is free slurpee day!

23: live deliberately

2008-07-09T22:12:00.001-05:00

walden.

a public service announcement

2008-07-09T10:06:00.002-05:00

just a quick break from my regularly scheduled blogging to bring you an important announcement...

our beloved king google has benevolently taken the security of the land into his own hands and developed a new tool enabling his faithful subjects to monitor activity in their accounts. a quick glance to the bottom of your gmail screen will tell you when your account was last accessed, from where, and if it is currently open at another computer. to find out more, click here.

tis all for now. carry on!

24: like sailors

2008-07-08T23:02:00.001-05:00

this is not a post about my roommates, per se, because they probably
deserve a post that takes more than 5 minutes to write. this is just
about one aspect of my living situation that i'll miss
dearly-swearing.

let me clarify up front; none of us go around cursing up a storm in
front of small children or anything, but sometimes the casual swearing
around this joint comes all too naturally. plus, we've all adopted the
parry's heirarchy of swears (ask her about it sometime-it's truly
fascinating), and generally keep it on the lowest tier, so none of us
should be going straight to hell. most often the swears are in context
of quotes, so that's ok too, right? in fact, parry called me a jack
ass thrice tonight under the guise of quoting a canadian sitcom. Maybe
she meant jack ass eh?

11:55 so i better hurry up and publish so as to keep on the straight
and narrow. sorry dad for all the swearing. i learned it from mom.

25: "charles mgh: mass eye and ear infirmary"

2008-07-07T14:39:00.005-05:00

the bus, the train, the walk, the crowds, the smell, the pain in my shoulders and neck, the heat, and the fact that i have to do it again at 5--but then the one moment each way that makes it all worth while:

26: a room with a view

2008-07-06T17:34:00.003-05:00

this is kind of lame to be putting on my list of top 30's, but i just really love my bedroom. it's also heavily on my mind right now since i just awoke from a 3.5 hour nap, which was so needed after this weekend's many late night adventures. don't tell my roommates, but i've had the best bedroom in the house for these past 2 years. sure, the proximity to the main road makes it impossible to sleep past 6:30 am on saturday mornings, and yeah, my heater is the last on the rotation and rarely comes on in the winter, but it's been my safe haven for a long time and i'm going to miss it at least as much as the ice cream here. so i suppose that lame or not, it has it's place on the list.

all this blogging has made me tired. back for another 3.5!

27: el templo

2008-07-05T16:28:00.004-05:00

one time i overheard someone telling another person that the big white house on the hill in belmont was mitt romney's house. they were mistaken. mitt romney lives in the big pink house on the hill. the other one belongs to a higher authority.

who would have thought that moving out of utah would put me in closer proximity to a temple? living two blocks from the boston temple has been a blessing in ways i can't begin to express in one short blog. even more so has been the chance to serve as an ordinance worker there for the past year. the experience has helped me gain a deeper understanding and testimony of the importance of the work, in a way that i otherwise would not have been able to. i have long been convinced that one of the main purposes in my coming to boston was to be extended this calling, and i know that it will have lasting affects and will always be one of my favorite parts of my boston life.

28: duh

2008-07-04T21:58:00.001-05:00

boston on the 4th. freaking awesome. enough said.

29: you scream

2008-07-03T14:23:00.003-05:00

utah may have a corner on the ice cream consumption market, but the stuff that's worth consuming in mass quantities is definitely made right here in beantown. in order of my preference: herrell's, j.p. licks, brighams, toscanini's, and ben & jerry's. on any given day, and almost at any given hour, you can easily access the most delicious ice cream this side of the atlantic ocean. additionally, if the health nut inside ever prevents you from indulging in your baser senses, you can always find nearly guiltless delight at berryline.

oddly enough, as good as the ice cream is out here- no one seems to know how to make a decent milkshake. go figure.

30: dangerous curves ahead

2008-07-02T15:00:00.003-05:00

i came up with the idea of my 30 day blogging while doing the following activity, so i think it's only fitting that it goes down in history first.

the other night seth and i took a drive. this is not uncommon for us, hence, one of my favorite boston activities. the evening was beautifully warm and clear and we zipped through the backwoods of concord, sudbury, and maynard with the top down, the wind whipping through the car, and the music blaring an almost eerily matching soundtrack to the activity. at one point i laid the seat all the way back so that i could stare up at the stars through the frame of the trees overhead. it's always a good time, but that particular experience was nearly transcendental. if you've never done this, you really should.

day 1- check. think i can keep this up?

30 days

2008-07-01T17:17:00.001-05:00

here's an announcement: i'm moving. but that's old news, right? well,
what you might not know is that today marks the beginning of the
end-at least in my mind. i've got 30 days left to pack in all the east
coast action one person can handle. luckily, there's not much I
haven't done. come on, try me. if nothing else, i could use some
suggestions. be ye warned, i'm making you do it with me.

another announcement: i've been a bad blogger Q1 and Q2. i plan to
change that by posting a different boston memory or east coast
favorite moment every day until i leave. a hefty endeavor, no doubt,
but in doing so i hope to kill two birds: restore my readership's
faith in me, and pay tribute to this amazing place i will always call
home. so stay tuned.

p.s. no birds will actually be harmed in the making of these blogs.

your mom

2008-06-13T10:54:00.005-05:00

i love sporting events. i especially love boston sporting events. and i most especially love the celtics and the red sox. since yesterday was pretty much an epic day for bosports (the celtics record setting comeback for the win against the lakers in game 4 of the finals, and a killer win for the red sox which included a grand slam by lowell), i should be jumping for joy today, right? well, unfortunately it's a bittersweet happiness as i grieve over the fact that i 1) had a ticket to the red sox game which i gave away, and 2) don't have t.v. and therefore sat around doing basically nothing last night while others sweat over and celebrated the celtics victory in real time.

you may be asking, "what would posses a person to voluntarily give up a chance to see the red sox?" or maybe, "how could anyone miss any finals games?" to which i would probably reply, "your mom!" and then realize that the answer is actually "my mom." yep, she's back in town for the second weekend in a row, and being the good daughter that i am, i opted to play tour guide rather than sports fan last night. big. mistake.

it should be mentioned that my mother never asked me to give up my plans for her benefit, and she'll probably feel bad when she reads this. sorry ma, you know i love ya more than my luggage.

the worst part now is having to hear the incessant replay's from both games, not only from everyone in my office, but multitudes of random people outside as well. based on the sheer number of discussions i heard about one game or the other while walking through the city at lunch, it's safe to conclude that i'm the only person in the state who didn't see either. ok, lesson learned- always choose sporting events over family. wait, what?

do you feel sorry for me yet? well, don't bother. i was fortunate enough to actually attend game 1 against the lakers, so i already know i have no room to complain. now you're mad. i get it. please at least refrain from throwing raw tomatoes.

and your lovely hostess, little debbie

2008-06-12T11:43:00.002-05:00

as i was running out the door this morning, sans lunch, the new found spendthrift in me took over and guilted me back in the door to make a lunch. too rushed to go all the way to the kitchen, i looked to my oft secondary source of food in a hurry: the 72 hour kit. cup of noodles was on the top. cup of noodles was my destined lunch for the day. and lets be real- in an emergency situation, where am i going to find a microwave?

flash forward 5 hours to right now, and ask if i'm regretting that choice. answer: not at all. in fact, as i downed what could be considered the worlds least healthy lunch, i contemplated the number of "foods" out there that neither a)carry nutritional value or b)are comprised primarily of real food, but that are still a)undeniably delicious and b)totally worth consuming from time to time. things like twinkies and oreos, sugar cereals and hot dogs, and even the occasional box of kraft macaroni & cheese, to name a few. this is the stuff kids used to grow up on, am i right? well, at least the stuff poor kids grew up on...

anyway, the point is that we all have our own disgusting food delight, and i want to know about yours. i've more than overshared about what i can get into, so now it's your turn. come on www, i want to hear what hostess delights hide under your bed...

fresh fish

2008-06-10T17:36:00.006-05:00

may 29th was my last post? boo on me. hello? hello readers? are you still out there? meh.

so this is my life right now: on a weekly basis i spend a day or two on the cape (which my dad referred to as "the cod". no dad, stick with "the ohio" and leave the nicknaming to the natives) engaged in marketing and recruitment activities for our offices down south. yesterday i arose at the lovely hour of 5 am to be to a power-tools show at a local hardware chain at 7 am, where i would be helping set up and man a recruitment table. i was a bit worried to find that the event was outdoor seeing as the forecast was calling for the low 90's yesterday, and by low 90's they must have meant highest 90's as indicated by the "99" that appeared on the thermometer, but heat wave aside, the event actually turned out to be pretty fun. first of all, the majority demographics of those attending a power-tool show are nothing to complain about. i'm just saying, if you're a girl and you've ever walked past a construction site, you know what i'm getting at here...oh don't look at me like that. also, the store had a barbecue for the attendees, so i pretty much spent the entire day getting a tan, eating hamburgers, and chatting it up with some men folk. i casually mentioned to someone that sometimes i like a hot dog straight from the package in the fridge and had another guy perk up and ask if i liked sports and if i was married. might have been the best moment of my week, and heat wave aside, i think there are probably worse ways to spend a work day.

on a more important note, summer has unofficially officially started now that i've had my first night swim at walden. last saturday's intense heat was enough to drive anyone to extreme measures of keeping cool, and ours was to brave the still chilly waters of thoreau's old stomping grounds. it. was. perfect. the only tiny, minuscule hiccup to my every walden experience is this nagging fear that we'll take a moose by surprise as we tromp through the pitch dark woods, and be mauled to death by it's antlers. pretty gruesome, i know. i can't help being a worse case scenarioist in my head- and i'm sorry in advance for instilling this same fear into any who frequent the place late at night. it's probably completely unfounded. are there even moose at walden?

the problem with blogging infrequently is that by the time you get back to doing it, there's too much to say for one blog post. partly because no one likes epistles, but also because you are blogging at work and have a meeting with your boss in 5 minutes. or maybe that's just me.

stardate: this morning- 8 am

2008-05-29T08:55:00.003-05:00

raise your hand if you're sick of me posting pictures of the beach!

"hey colleen, i have an idea...let's post the worlds worst pictures of ourselves on the internet."

2008-05-16T14:44:00.004-05:00

the other night we had the lovely privilege of getting made-over (is that a word?) by the uber talented dr. dre "mac is my middle name" newton. the girl is a makeup genius who has offered to share her magic with the less visionary. she's also a total blast to be with and seeing as colleen and i both know how to spot a good thing, we took her up on the offer.

so here's a prime opportunity for c and i to give up all pretense, and to put aside propriety for the benefit of, well, who knows what. behold, the infamous before pictures! of course, we tried to look as pathetic as possible. think it worked? don't answer that.

we know, we know, the above images will haunt your dreams forever. but never fear! a dash of color here, a little mascara there, and, um, a little comb through the hair and we're saved!

so there you go. thoughts? suggestions? think we should hire dre full time? think that make-up is a little too fancy accompanied by my old cardigan? any guesses on where we went to show off our new look? do we at least get a few points on for being gutsy enough to post those before pics? (shudder, shudder...)

a fire inside*

2008-05-14T09:15:00.003-05:00

i'm starting this blog at 10:15 am and planning to post my most random of thoughts throughout the day until i get bored enough with myself and decide to just publish. the prospect of this type of post may be incredibly unappealing to some, but i feel like there hasn't been much original thought on here lately, and i kind of miss myself. anyway, as i've said before- it's my blog and i can do what i want.

yesterday i was in the worst of moods, for no particular reason. today i have that "world is my oyster" feeling i get sometimes when i realize how amazingly awesome my life is. sorry, world, for not treating you better yesterday.

there sure has been a lot of death and destruction throughout the world lately. myanmar, china, the better part of the middle east- honestly, what have i got to complain about? despite my bad moods and intermittent selfishness, humility and gratitude for my blessings are not completely lost on me.

the above thoughts were kind of heavy. on a lighter note, i think my new toothpaste has a mildly numbing effect. 3 hours later and i still can't taste anything.

does anyone think it's wrong to want to plan future housing based on proximity to a red box?

my roommate and i recently visited the edward gorey house museum on the cape, where i purchased one of my favorite posters of all time- a picture of the gashlycrumb tinies. this is a brilliant book about 26 children (each one representing a letter of the alphabet) who meet their demise through some seriously unfortunate circumstances. delightfully dark and creepy, just the way i like it. what? it helps kids learn the alphabet! don't judge me.

last night i had one of the best steaks of my life.

nat's sister, alaina, is an a-maz-ing photographer. this is not meant to be a plug (though it could be for all my utah friends out there!), i just can't get over how good she is. check her out: http://adigitaldarkroom.blogspot.com/

at 3:00 today i'm going to talk to my boss about my future here. it's going to be pretty intense and i'm fairly nervous. i'd say to wish me luck, but it will be over by the time you've read this. so thanks for nothing.

i've got family coming for 12 straight days in june. to say i'm excited would be the understatement of this fiscal year.

most people probably don't see the o.c.d. side of my personality as much as my roommates. funny enough, it's selective o.c.d.; filing away bills, cleaning up while cooking, hair in the sink, paintings hanging straight on the walls- these are a few things i'm completely nuts about. however, cleaning my room, the state of my desk at work, and letting laundry pile up for weeks have only the slightest affect on my psychie. what does this say about me??

my saturday schedule looks like this: powder-puff football game, followed by a finnish sauna experience, and topped off with salsa dancing. that almost sounds like a meal of some sort.

okay, well, i'm getting sick of this browser being up on my computer, so that's reason enough to publish. thanks for tuning in.

*10 points if you know what this is talking about

hey, how about i post something other than pictures?

2008-05-13T12:45:00.010-05:00

no, i think i'll stick with pictures.

once upon a time my roommates and i decided to take a trip to newport, rhode island, to see some huge mansions. the first house we saw was too big, as was the second, but the third house was...well, too big as well, but we toured it anyway.

once upon a time some good doctors from vermont decided to grace us with their presence. we boarded a boat out to georges island. good times were had by all and there was much rejoicing on land and on sea.

once upon a time laura had a circus birthday party and invited a bunch of clowns. balloon animals and funky costumes were in abundance, and there was happiness and joy all around!

a shameless, shameless plug

2008-05-08T08:10:00.002-05:00

if you've never been to this annual event, then you have no idea what you're missing. come find out tomorrow night at the capitol theatre in arlington. it's for a really great cause. there will also be a silent auction for awesome stuff like red sox tickets, patriots tickets, hand blown glass, and other stuff.

if nothing else, come because you miss the pre-crazy tom cruise.

who wears it better?

2008-04-30T08:43:00.003-05:00

the hair: prince caspian or me? you decide.

Saturday, something:o'clock

2008-04-19T14:29:00.001-05:00

Wish you were here!

i'm at work right now

2008-04-17T10:42:00.001-05:00

and this is what it looks like.

thank you world

2008-04-16T09:52:00.005-05:00

for the international readership. i couldn't have done it without you.

more at 10

2008-04-14T08:37:00.006-05:00

thursday night in the midst of fine dining with seth, by that i mean costco of course, i received a text message from one of my roommates with a request for a texas cake that night. it's become somewhat of a tradition amongst my friends to forgo plates in the serving process and just eat straight from the pan- each person creating their own territory of sorts. some of us are a little too o.c.d. to appreciate the abstract art of others, but it's kind of a bonding experience. behold, our thursday night feast:

on friday night i got my hair de-colored and cut. de-colored meaning getting the black removed. in truth, it's hard for the untrained eye to see the difference, but i can. rachel came in to get her hair done and brought me my favorite drink from starbucks. how i love her. later that night, kylee, nat, and i got a little bit fancified and went to a swanky soiree at the silver pearl. it was the mocktail party of the year hosted by the handsome young men pictured below.

marie agreed to meet me at haymarket on saturday morning so that we could take flat stanley around to see the sights. we hit up the major important ones, and he even got a chance to slap some sense into a yankees fan. in the grand tradition of randomness that is mine and marie's fun, we found a ripped up note on the green line, which someone had dropped in a neat pile on the ground. we took it back to the criddles and put it back together, taped it, read it, then put it in an envelope and mailed it to the offender with a note from us reading: "please don't litter." i know that's creepy mccreeperson, but tell me- would you ever litter again with big brother watching so closely?

the picture less portion of the weekend began on saturday night when we met up with laura and jason for dinner at joes and laughed hard enough to drown out the torrential rain outside. my favorite part was the impression that jason gave of a gay camel, as naturally as if he'd been practicing for that moment to arrive all his life. bravo.

sunday was more stake conference followed by the long awaited, much anticipated musical fireside "truth restored", which was organized by the wonderful and talented ms. shields. it was a fantastic event and the spirit was so strong that i could hardly stop crying the entire night- which was bad considering that i was dead center in the first row of the choir. big surprise though, when am i not crying?

all in all, a pretty great boston weekend.

gone to carolina in my mind

2008-04-09T10:04:00.004-05:00

some things that have been on my mind lately...

allergies.
i love las vegas. am i the only one?
i miss having a car
spring should stick around at this point, instead of checking in mid-day and checking out by nightfall. dressing in layers is the pits.
the pits? who says that?
flat stanley arrived in my mailbox a few days ago. i have promised my nephew that his flat stanley will come back to him having had the adventure of a lifetime, so now i need to find some good places to take pictures, and some sweet souvenirs to send back to his 2nd grade class. anyone have any suggestions?
john harvard's makes a really good mandarin chicken salad
flying across the country is ridiculously expensive. like, really, really ridiculously expensive.
having a real job is a catch-22; working to live, but having no time to live because your working. blah.
last night nat and i saw the movie leatherheads which is only mildly entertaining and even less interesting. had it been true to history, i might have been interested- or as nat said, at least felt obligated to be interested. short story: red box this one if anything.
i think i might finally have a firm grasp on boston geography.
one thing i believe men will never understand is the absolute joy that comes from getting a group of girlfriends together to eat some good food and watch an 80's movie or two.
i have a $60 gift certificate to costco. do you know how many churros that can buy!?
i know, i need a new camera
having a blackberry is detrimental to my sleep patterns. i find myself lying in bed reading blogs and writing emails until all hours of the night.
i've found that when things are in abundance to me, i lose interest. i used to crave movies, but then i got a tv and dvd player in my room and i lost interest. i crave candy, but when my desk drawer is full of it, i don't want any. if only i had a plethora of men...
all of the taco bell restaurants found along i-95 south make the most delicious crunchy tacos in the country. believe me, i've tried a lot of taco bells in my day.
in fact, one time my bros, sister, and mom went camping in cali, at moro bay, and we ate taco bell every day for 10 days straight.
i miss my family. and taco bell. and california.

okay, enough. thanks for tuning in.

Quiz: do you know me?

2008-04-05T08:03:00.001-05:00

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Sleepless in SLC

2008-03-31T00:53:00.001-05:00

Am I the only one who can't take those two-wheeled people movers
(scooters?) serious? I just had an airport police whip by me on one at
about 25 mph. No joke, I could feel the wind as he breezed by. He's
probably off to deal with a terrorist. My life is in danger and I
can't stop giggling.

I need sleep.

i think it was the high heels

2008-03-17T15:21:00.003-05:00

a quick update and then i promise i'll be done talking about the gmat. that is, unless, they really did make a mistake and i didn't score as high as they said i did-and i have to take it all over again. in other words, i freaking rocked it.

a few tips for test takers: study, study, study. you won't miss your social life as much as you'll miss that $250 and the celtics/jazz game the second go round. sleep, sleep, sleep, then get up early on the day of the test so that you are fully awake and alert by the time you get there. wear a power outfit; basically whatever it is in which you feel most confident-like, high heels for example. eat a good breakfast, have roommates who leave you empowering notes all over the house (such as "you're so going to do above average on this test!"), and friends who will bring you "test survival kits" full of brain food, send you annoying hallmark ecards, and one who will talk you off the ledge every single day.

most importantly, pray, pray, pray. make sure that you do all that you can and then ask heavenly father to make up the difference because, well, he will.

an affair to end

2008-03-13T08:24:00.003-05:00

being a huge opponent to secret relationships, i'm somewhat ashamed to make the following confession. if you haven't seen me around for a while it's probably because i've been involved with someone since about the beginning of december. this is a relationship of which some of you may be aware, but the intensity of which only my roommates understand. his name is kaplan. he's smart and interesting and has a lot of potential to get me where i want to go. he's been my constant companion for a long time now and though i've learned a lot from him over the past few weeks, i'm planning to end it all on saturday, hopefully for good this time. wish me luck.

blarney and friends

2008-03-07T16:35:00.009-05:00

alright already. i'm back from ireland. does anyone care about that anymore, or has too much time passed that your anticipation of my recap from the emerald isle has all but diminished completely? well too bad, i'm blogging about it anyway.

first off, the trip was A-MAZING. it took me a little while to understand why everything was so expensive and so nice. up to now, almost all of my international travel has been to central america, or other developing countries, so it didn't occur to me right off the bat that i might not have to take my own toilet paper into the public restrooms. the wake up call was brutal, and came in the realization of the fact that my 6 euro breakfast yogurt (6 euros, really?) was actually costing me 9 bucks. breakfast: $9, lunch: $15, finally taking a trip to europe: priceless. wah wah.

rather than post a million pictures that would take 1.75 years to upload and then another .65 years to format- only to have them publish differently than i intended, i've put together an album with short captions to almost every picture. should you feel inclined to look at these 97 photos (this is pared down from about 365 that were taken on the trip), you can find them here. as i mentioned, i've included captions of what i would probably say to you about the picture if we were looking at them together.

and now, for a brief..ahem...rundown of the trip:

day 1: we landed in shannon at around 6 am, got our car, and tried our best to adjust to the no sleep drive through the dark on the other side of the car and the other side of the road. luckily, irelanders have fabulously marked roads, and various castles and other ruins to use as landmarks on your journey. we found ourselves in limerick right around sunrise. it was so beautiful. since we weren't able to check into our hotel right away, we decided to continue driving south toward the ocean. 2 hours later we found ourselves in killarney with very little will to go on. we ate breakfast, turned around and headed back. another 2 hours and we were pulling up to the manor house of our gorgeous hotel, the adare manor, and checking into our townhouse. a few hours nap and we were ready to hit the green. we took a carriage ride around the manor, toured the building, and received our first taste of irish hospitality. really, they were so good to us there- i never even had to pretend to be from canada! that night we went to a local pub, which turned out to be surprisingly empty. no one talked to us until we were leaving- one of the (very drunk) young men at the bar shouted after us, "wait! please don't leave!" like i said, real irish hospitality.

day 2: church. the branch in limerick was a quick drive away and unfortunately we relied to heavily on lds.org to be accurate. we ended up at church an hour early. no biggie, we met the sister missionary of the missionary couple at that branch and had a good chat. still jet lagged and now having spent nearly 5 hours at church, we decided to head back to our hotel for another day of rest and relaxation. the day was too tranquil to go on about it, but suffice it to say it was just as a vacation should be.

day 3: begin the marathon days of the trip. we headed out early (at least by vacation standards) to tour bunratty castle. see pictures for more detail. after that, we continued on to the cliffs of moher (a.k.a. the cliffs of insanity in the princess bride), and subsequently my favorite part of the whole trip. for some inexplicable reason we were blessed with plenty of sunshine and blue sky on this, the most crucial day of our adventure. i'm sure the cliffs still would have been beautiful under a sky of gray, but they were absolutely astonishing in the bright sunlight. i can't accurately describe my love for this place so i won't, but please go there if you're ever in ireland.

day 4: and day 2 of the marathon days, after another full irish breakfast, we headed back to the airport to hop a jet over to london for a day and a half. we arrived in the late afternoon and wandered around a bit before the general wear and tear of the trip forced us into the local mcd's for a coke zero (from the fountain- they have it everywhere!) and some fries. hey, guess what? our measly american dollars are worth even less in london. 4 pounds ($8) each later we were on our way to find our hostel, dump our bags, and see a bit more of london. the hostel, called the menninger, was located right across the street from the museum of natural history. first of all, i've never seen such a cool and huge building, and second, i didn't know there was enough natural history in london to fill such a structure. notably, they were holding fashion week there at the same time. how fashion is tied to natural history i'm not sure, but who am i to argue? anyway, nat and i headed back out into the crowds to find our way to the theater where we saw wicked. it was my first time and i loved it so much i very nearly cried. ok, i did cry.

day 5: the beginnings of the plague kick in. three out of four of us got sick the night before. how esther escaped the infiltration of germs in our private hostel room is beyond me, but somehow she got lucky. i'm not sure how i got the plague exactly; maybe it was when i fell into the moat at the castle...or maybe it was when that rat bit my face...or maybe it was just the flu, which is more likely i guess. nevertheless, we'd come that far and weren't going to let some stupid virus stop us from enjoying london. together we boarded a double decker bus and began our tour around the city. we. saw. everything. it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon and we were able to get on and off the bus at our leisure. big ben, westminster abby, buckingham palace; it was all very surreal and fantastic and i can't wait to go back sometime when i'm not hopped up on nyquil.

day 6 we were back in ireland for the grand finale. poor mary spent the day in bed, esther struck out on her own for some site seeing around town, and natalie and i did what anyone else would do- we went to the mall! ridiculous? you may think that until you see our awesome euro-style coats and scarves, and many other goods. and listen up family, don't knock it or you won't get your presents, capish?

day 7: back to the airport and 8 hours later we land in heavy snowfall in boston. everyone on the plane cheered upon landing, which i couldn't figure out. were they cheering for the pilot? were they cheering for the snow? were they cheering because i made it through the flight without throwing up? actually, i slept for nearly the entire flight, which is what good drugs and a sleepless night will do for ya.

so that's pretty much it. actually, no it's not. there were a million tiny details of the trip that made it so amazing. if you'd like to read/see more, you can do so here, here, here, here, and here- many thanks to nat for her fantastic blogging prowess, and thanks for making this trip happen. not to get too serious at the end of this lengthy post, but i have to say that i'm truly grateful for the blessing of a good job, good friends, and an all around great life.

with that, i'll end before i get any further inta ta wee hours of ta mornin.

2008-03-03T11:07:00.008-05:00

this weekend the criddles and i ventured out into the wild, or rather, the contained wild, with a trip to the franklin park zoo. what was supposed to be another nor-easter day actually turned out to be quite nice, and the animals were all up and about and pretty active. i think it's safe to say that we, along with the other 12 patrons who dared to brave the winter weather, had a great time. behold the lion king crew below! and, and, and, my first time posting video, yay! they are short, and boring, but even more boring without sound, so don't bother watching them if you can't listen.

rafiki

simba

uh, zazu?

no wait, zazu...?

and the best quote of the day award goes to preston for the following:

"stealing's okay as long as you say 'yoink'."

wonderland

2008-02-28T00:03:00.001-05:00

a midnight walk in the most beautiful snow we've had all year reminded
me why i love this season. few things come close to the beauty of
fresh fallen powder and the silent world it creates.

now, if only i could procure some skis and the time in which to use them!

can you please take a message?

2008-02-26T13:24:00.002-05:00

back from the uk. stop. been bed ridden ever since. stop. will trip update soon. stop. thank you. stop. goodnight. stop.

nobody likes a bragger

2008-02-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

goodbye. i'll be in ireland if you need me.

sorry about your wife's second cousin...

2008-02-13T16:12:00.011-05:00

i have no original thought, so i'll just blog other people's stuff. my bff from a million years ago (read: she knew me at 13 and still likes me- woot!) sent me a greeting card stating, "WE HATE THE SAME PEOPLE". totally brill. anyway, here's a selection of other choice ones i found while perusing the thousands of cards they have to offer. i can't actually recommend the site because a large portion of the cards are, well, completely inappropriate, but i'm sure if you're tech savvy enough, you'll figure it out.

p.s. i hate my blog layout. i promise to change it soon.

savannah '08

2008-02-07T09:39:00.001-05:00

in my opinion:

2008-01-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

strawberry is the best kind of fruit roll-up
rock music can be conducive to the spirit
my family is the best
an apology with an explanation is not an apology, and forgiveness with conditions is not forgiveness
winter is just a bit too long
making the bed is overrated
service is the best way to overcome your own problems
the gmat is hard, but not unconquerable
cookies almost always trump cake, and ice cream beats them all
it is better to love and lose than to never love
yoga is magic
midwinter travel is what every person needs
brunettes have more fun
costco and home depot are fun places to hang out
new shoes will do the trick
earrings: the bigger the better
printing pictures is a lost art
not all lemons can be made into lemonade, and that's ok
prioritization is more important than pride
it's okay to be a midnight cowboy
being too sensitive is a curse
following your heart is not a bad idea
wishing to be a part of the action is not enough
saving money is a skill
a last minute road trip can be the best kind of trip
men are attractive
having low standards for movies equals less disappointment
taco stands beat out most nice restaurants
caring about people is as hard as it is easy
kids and old people are equally valuable to society, and i miss them
having direction in life is a blessing

midnight confession

2008-01-26T23:53:00.001-05:00

i adore my family.

and i have proof

2008-01-25T11:44:00.000-05:00

in familial news today, my brother is a mean dad. see?

big baby

2008-01-25T10:57:00.000-05:00

the night commenced just like any other night; fine dining at the cheesecake factory, followed by a trip to the garden to watch some of our friends play ball, and concluding with drinks at the local 7-11. no wait, a normal night consists of a long T and bus ride home followed by a bowl of cold cereal eaten over the kitchen sink. this was a CELTICS NIGHT!!!

here's nat on her first real venture out of the house since "taking flight" as she likes to put it. dinner was great, but i don't think they could have put us at a more awkward table if had they tried.

being crippled ain't so bad (says the girl who gets all the benefit of someone else's suffering)! thanks to nat, we got to sit in the upper ring--ooh, aah. never mind crutching for .8 miles to get there, the free nachos more than made up for it!

i was going to try to make you all believe that you were seeing me on the jumbo tron in this one, but turns out i'm not asian.
look! there i am! on the jumbo tron!
post game-- it cleared out pretty quick after the C's um...cough, cough...lost, and nat and i began our journey to the sev for post game refreshment. we met some cackling witches on the way, and were nearly offered a ride home in the company limo with some corporate boozers.

people like you when you have a broken leg. i wish i had a broken leg. just kidding universe! just kidding!

computer speak

2008-01-23T15:42:00.000-05:00

be bop boop bop beep beep bop bo bee bop bopbebop bop beep beep bop beep bop bop beep beepbeep bop bop bop beep beep beep beepop bop beep bop bop beep bopbop beep bop beep beep bop bop beep bop beep bop bop beep beepop beeboop boppeep bop bop beep.

blaaaaaahhhhhhhhggggggg

2008-01-17T11:58:00.000-05:00

i can't think of anything good to blog about.

today i was told that i look like a high school student with my hair in a ponytail. i guess that's a...compliment...?

a girl at lunch said she liked my earrings. then she offered to buy them from me. she asked how much i wanted for them. whaaa?

i'm feeling nostalgic today from looking at pictures from the last three years. it's funny how quickly life can change. my life is pretty different today than it was when i first moved to boston a year and a half ago.

said pictures made me crave summer nights, my nephews and niece, and 4-wheeling in the country. too bad it's the dead of winter, i'm at least 2000 miles away, and i don't own any quads.

i wasn't crying over the pictures. my co-worker claims he heard sniffling. i wasn't crying. it was allergies.

i'm going to vermont this weekend. i like cheese.

vitamin water is good.

ok, i'm done now.

new name mcnamerson

2008-01-09T10:57:00.000-05:00

for the past few nights i've started to again feel the luxury of having my nights free. the gmat is over, it didn't go as well as i'd have liked, but at least it's done and my after-work hours are no longer spent agonizing over why i can't remember how to find sin and cosine, or how to appropriately apply the pythagorean theorem. indeed, little parts of my soul are beginning to reappear.

to further boost the enjoyment of my evenings, mother nature decided to be kind and grant us some 60 degree days. accordingly, i've bypassed the first two stops on my redline commute home and have opted for walking all the way to charles mgh for the past few nights. it's not terribly far and it affords me a walk through the boston common and then down historic charles street- which is quickly becoming my favorite spot in boston. this thoroughfare spans only a few blocks but contains some of the most interesting shops, restaurants, and markets i've ever seen and perfectly embodies the quaintness of boston. every time i walk down the cobblestone street i can't help but feel like i've entered a different world. it's the perfect post-work mini vacation. anyway, check is out if you get a chance.

not much else going on in my world these days. 2008 has gotten off to a bit of a rough start with some health problems and subsequent useless medical advice, but i figure that means there's no where to go but up at this point. how could that not be the case when i'm going to ireland in a month?!?!

and now, since this post was so boring, i'll finish it with a random mix of pictures from 2007 that didn't get blogged, but should have.

next time, trust your instinct

2008-01-07T18:08:00.000-05:00

last night i thought i was going to die. literally. i laid (lied, lay?) in bed with a distinct feeling that it would be my last night on earth. i thought about my friends and family, and actually felt really bad that someone would have to clean my room. at one point i was pretty sure i saw a light.

until my not-so-near death experience i had spent most of the weekend in bed with a raging headache and shooting pains down both my legs. nothing, save sleep, brought any kind of relief. today, after much coaxing from roommates and friends i finally decided to go to the doctor. i've never been to a doctor in boston, so i set out on the first task of finding one. luckily, harvard pilgrim health care has a handy dandy website in which you can locate doctors near you. the site even tells you if they are currently accepting patients or not. neat, right? wrong. after i had been rejected by the 7th doctor i called i started to get quite frustrated. the pounding in my head got worse, my vision became blurred. then i realized it was time to eat.

back from lunch and one last attempt. i finally, FINALLY got someone who was willing to take patients. however, the earliest appointment i could get with this doctor was in march. great. oh, but wait! they can put me in with dr. mcdoctor later on today. hooray!

at 3:30 i sojourned down to the medical plaza for my first ever experience of being a responsible and healthy adult in boston. the following is an almost minute by minute or word for word account of my adventure. note, there is no exaggeration:

3:35 fill out paperwork, pay co-pay, venture upstairs to the waiting room
3:55 receptionist: "who are you waiting for?" me: "dr. mcdoctor."
4:20 nurse: "julie hullllllet" me: "me." we go back to tiny and dingy exam room.
4:22 nurse: "hang up your coat and purse and sit on the exam table. i'll take your blood pressure and temperature. ok done. here's a gown- if we can have you remover your pants." nurse types away on computer for 35 seconds then exits without another comment.
4:55 nurse re-enters room. "doctor mcdoctor will be with you in a few minutes"
4:58 doctor: "hi, i'm blah blah blah. what can i do for you today?"
me: "well, i have had a headache for about 6 days and severe leg pains for about 2."
dr: "ok, what is the main reason for you coming in today?"
me: "um, i've had a headache for about 6 days and severe leg pains for about 2."
dr: "ok, well, which is worse?"
me: "i...don't know...they're both pretty bad."
dr: "well, choose one, we've only got 20 minutes."
...
...
...
(did he just say that?)
...
...
...
me: "uh, i guess my legs."

the doctor proceeds to rub my legs and asks, "does that hurt?" to which i reply, "no, it feels better when you rub them. that's the problem..."
dr: cutting me off "well, i don't know what to tell you. have you taken any pain meds?"
me: "yes-but nothing has worked."
dr: "ok, i want you to try to take 800mg of ibuprofen. if the pain gets worse, come back in a few days."
me: "no way in hell."*

5:05 the doctor is out the door.
5:06 i'm out the door.

and that, kids, is why i don't ever visit the doctor.

*of course i didn't actually say that, but i wish i had.

she's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-21T12:51:00.001-05:00

they're beginning to look a lot like...santa's secret service?

2007-12-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

*note: i did not add the moustaches.

oh yeah, and he's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-14T11:24:00.000-05:00

*don't smoke, it's bad for you.

snow shovel revelation

2007-12-14T10:28:00.000-05:00

last night i was shoveling the driveway (reader: "wait, you were shoveling the driveway? you're the one without a car." me: "yes, i know.") anyway, i was shoveling the driveway and a thought occurred to me. the thought was this:

maybe my pancakes aren't actually that good.

i know i have a tendency to project my opinion onto others. i know this because i once had a cruel boyfriend use this character flaw against me. i try not to be this way, but i think sometimes i can't help it- especially where my pancakes are concerned. so, if you're a person whose ever had my pancakes, and they're actually not that good- will you just tell me? and really, anything else for that matter. i'm not afraid to be wrong.

and now that you all feel awkward from that part where i revealed too much about a bad relationship, i'll leave you with this: does anyone else see an eerie resemblance between franco zeffirelli's romeo and zac effron?

this weekend looked a lot like Christmas

2007-12-10T15:05:00.000-05:00

click here

they're beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-06T18:56:00.000-05:00

he's beginning to look a lot like christmas

2007-12-05T16:16:00.000-05:00

we're beginning to look a lot like christmas

2007-12-04T15:54:00.001-05:00

off with her head

2007-11-20T14:26:00.001-05:00

or just her hair.

gee (i hate this) matt

2007-11-15T16:05:00.001-05:00

Answer the following question* using the data:

What was the maximum temperature in city A on Saturday, May 14?

(1) The average (arithmetic mean) of the maximum daily temperatures in City A from Sunday May 8 to Saturday, May 14 was 72 degrees, which was two degrees less than the average (arithmetic mean) of the maximum daily temperatures in City A from Monday, May 9 to Friday May 13.

(2) The maximum temperature on Saturday, May 14 was 5 degrees greater than the maximum temperature in City A on Sunday, May 8.

this is how my nights are spent. how about you?

*a prize to the first person to answer correctly!

well, it has been one helluva...

2007-11-08T11:41:00.001-05:00

today is my birthday. my 25th birthday. i'm a quarter of a century old. 9,125 days old. 219,000 hours old. 13,140,000 minutes old. 7.9 billion seconds old (i think, but my calculator gave that wierd E in the corner, so i don't know what that means. shouldn't i know at least that by now?)

anyway, here's a look back at some of the momentous, um, moments of my 24th year...

as a 24 year old i:

became a boston temple worker
spent new years eve in the hospital and then at the movies
saw holsts "the planets" performed by the b.s.o. and joshua bell
took 5 trips to salt lake city,
4 trips to columbus
waited in line to see guster
sang a duet
saw jewel for free at south station
attended a live taping of "this american life" with ira glass
sold the cheat
became a youtube star
went to the bahamas
attended the marriage of my favorite peeps
went to phoenix for my first time
saw a fist fight at the boston pops
quit my job
started a new job
dated a great guy
went to seattle for my first time
travelled to anchorage for the first time
saw bears and porcupines in the wild
stood on a glacier
saw ben folds perform with the boston pops
had a basement flood in my house
saw muse by myself
went to 3 red sox games
saw owen plant live
saw brian webb live
participated in the great boston adventure, the great connecticut adventure, the great vermont adventure, and the great maine adventure
joined a book club
attended the the hill cummorah pageant
went to sharon, vermont, palmyra, ny, and kirtland, ohio and all church history sites associated with each
saw niagara falls
watched the boston pops on the 4th of july
went to the circus
prepared a 72-hour kit
shook hands with an apostle
watched the red sox win the world series and celebrated in the streets of boston
purchased a trip to europe
became a celtics season ticket holder
witnessed a family sealing
got one new niece and one new nephew
swam in walden
got a speeding ticket
threw a halloween party
got rid of that shirt i've had since 7th grade
read through an entire issue of the economist
wrote a grad school essay*
and many more...at 24...la la la la...

so it's been a pretty good year and based solely off the fact that the staff at bertucci's sang the entire happy birthday song to me (grossly off key) today, i can already tell that 25 is going to be even better!

*note: i did not watch goonies. i was sufficiently talked out of doing so by a true friend. friends don't let friends watch bad 80's movies.

and barbeque's on the roof

2007-11-07T14:02:00.000-05:00

dear utah friends,

remember when we knew each other? that was cool. today i spent a few hours stalking you all on myspace. i'm glad to see that you're all still in each others top 8's and that not too much has changed except some of you have longer hair. i miss you guys. who's up for bacon and eggs at the corner?

love,

me

a quarter of a century

2007-11-05T11:15:00.001-05:00

i've started to compile a list of things i want to accomplish before i'm 25. i've only got a few days left. here's what i've got so far:

1. eat 3 square home-made meals at normal times, sitting at a table- all in the same day.
2. read through an entire issue of "the economist"
3. see Goonies
4. get rid of that shirt i've had since 7th grade

i'm sure there's more i can accomplish in that in the next few days. i need your suggestions...

yankees suck

2007-10-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

apparently today is the day to catch up on blogging. and why not, with so many good things going on in the world- especially my world- and especially last weekend. the following blogs recap the past 4 days. that's right, all this happened in 4 days! including....

THE RED SOX WINNING THE WORLD SERIES!

ohmygosh you have no idea how exciting it is to live in the city of the champions (unless you do live here, or lived here in 2004, or lived in some other city wherein dwell the world series champions of yesteryear, or if you've ever lived somewhere where anyone has won any championship, then you might have some idea of how exciting it is, unless maybe you don't care about sports or winning or maybe you don't care about anything. but i digress.) today the city of boston held a parade in honor of the Sox return to beantown and nat and i used our lunch hour to contribute our beings and our shouts of jubilation to the masses.

here we are just happy to be out of work for a bit. who loves our twinner hats? early b-day present from nat!

we really wanted to jump on this guys back so we could get better pics, but in the end decided he probably wouldn't appreciate that.
this is our small section of the 3 mile parade route, which gives you an idea of how many people were there. honestly, the streets were filled. half of boston must have been out on boylston!

nat's mesmerized by the stars among us. jacoby ellsbury? breath nat, breath.

at the parade i was put in charge of video while nat took care of the pics. video didn't work out so well, mostly because i couldn't stop jumping up and down and screaming for the players. oops. see here for shots of the players themselves.

and for that matter, since nat and i spent the whole weekend together, you can find corresponding updates to my updates on her blog here.

how did this happen?

2007-10-30T13:45:00.000-05:00

i dislike cats. how i ended up becoming one last night is beyond me- just proves i'll do about anything for this holiday.

kylee's lookin hot as a flapper.
thank you to these wonderful ladies above (and the rest of their roomies) for the fantastic halloween bash last night! who knew monday night could be so fun?

and thanks, nat, for the fantastic make-up skills! meow!

sick.

leaf peeping is not dirty, unless you want it to be

2007-10-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

no really, that's what they call it when you look at leaves. um...anyway. new england is the place to be in the fall. if you don't believe me, see for yourself:

thanks to krista and jenny for visiting nat and forcing us out into nature!

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

2007-10-30T09:23:00.000-05:00

no, not christmas. halloween! best holiday of the year! i can't begin to express my delight in the season, the parties, the costumes, the...blah blah blah, no one cares about this. give us pictures! ok! here we go:

behold, the 2nd annual park ave creepy night

the humble hosts! skullvia pierced: witch of the south (with critter), deathica haurror: witch of the west, chreepy vamparry: witch of the east, ghoulie howlet: witch of the north

ipod commercial- genius.

me and indiana jones and...um...female character from raiders of the lost ark.

two rockers: steve perry and slash

mitt romney campaigners. they're too busy to look up for a picture.

boo! wait, didn't we all wear this costume in...3rd grade?

me and amy winehouse- look her up. this was my favorite costume, and not just cause i like the person wearing it. the fake tat's are hot, no?
luke skywalker and steve perry

popeye and olive oil
ellsbury's bride- go sox! woot!
lindsay lohan, nicole richie, paris hilton and britney spears
this was one of my favorite group costumes of the night!

we were jam packed for most of the night! crowd 1
crowd 2
crowd 3

there were so many good costumes this year. can't wait for next!

i felt the pain of public transportation...and sheer stupidity

2007-10-25T15:54:00.000-05:00

yesterday. was not my day.

after arriving home from the cape at 11:00 pm on tuesday night, i was a bit dazed wednesday morning. i left for work a bit late, waited at the bus stop outside my house for at least 10 minutes, then proceeded from the bus to the inbound train at alewife. the ride proceeded for another 25 minutes or so, when at the park street stop it hit me: i'd forgotten my computer.

off the train, cross the platform, the doors to the outbound train shut in my face and it pulls out of sight. i wait for 12 minutes for the next, which i hurry onto and arrive in 25 minutes back at alewife just in time to see my bus pulling away. i wait for another 30 minutes for the next bus, arrive home, get the computer and turn back around for my second commute of the day.

i get to work two hours past start time and realize, i've left my phone at home.

the end.

nerds are not just candy

2007-10-16T12:45:00.001-05:00

so i sit here at my desk wolfing down my soup/sandwich combo while frantically trying to complete today's assignment: master a new computer program by 4 pm and teach it to the rest of us. stress. i text nat with a question about smart quotes, and this time it's no joke. she responds, it works, i celebrate. in the corner of my screen a box pops up indicating there is a new email in my outlook. it's today's issue of my daily 'chief marketer' publication and is titled "a beautiful day in the virtual neighborhood". i view the articles and find that today's issue isn't nearly as interesting as yesterdays "what's awol from web 2.0" issue, and even less exciting than the webinar invite i received on demystifying online customer behavior. i'm disappointed. but then another email appears; it's my daily dilbert, and it's a good one.

and that's when it hits me...i'm a huge nerd.

o to the hio

2007-10-10T15:11:00.000-05:00

i've been holding off on a trip update because mary really has the gems of our weekend in ohio on her laptop, waiting to be pieced together into some kind of wonderful blog. (yes mary, this is my foot on your back.)

suffice it to say that we had a great time. somehow it just felt right to be spending columbus day in columbus. we embarked on the usually 12 hour (775 mile) journey on friday night around 7 pm and arrived at my parents doorstep at 9 am on saturday morning. in my opinion we made pretty good time considering we sat for a few hours on the mass pike in stop and go traffic, took a pizza break, stopped every 200 miles for more caffeine, and slept an hour and a half in a parking lot in buffalo. still, we arrived with plenty of time to stretch our legs and prepare to sit a few more hours (well, let's be honest i laid on my bed) and be nourished by the good word. speaking of, wasn't conference awesome?

the weekend continued in the same manner. we left the house only once to go to dsw, and that was subsequently the only time i changed out of my pajamas and into real clothes. it nearly did me in. otherwise, my time was spent sleeping in, lounging on the couches and floor (they have carpet...mmmmm....carpet), watching movies, and partaking of the wonderment that is my mothers cooking. my parents were a delight, grandma was her usual fun 92 year old self, and geoff wasn't around to bother me (jk weff, i loves ya).

on the drive home we stopped in kirtland for a quick tour of some church history sites. this was shortly after we made a completely necessary stop at the local hardees for some hamburgers and fries. what was it, like 10:30 am? but come on, it's hardees! how many times i played in the ball pit of our local hardees as a child i can't count. there was no ball pit, and no fried zucchini, but we did experience the best fast food service this side of the mississippi, not to mention a good look at some sweet mullets. ohio is weird. anyway, and yeah, kirtland was cool too. the best part, which i almost forgot and am sure mary won't mention, was the challenge i gave her to tell me a story about making a peanut butter sandwich. this story, however, had to last for 40 miles. she did it people. let it be known that just when you think things can't get any less interesting, they can. well done, mar.

back on the road after kirtland, we still had about 11 and a half hours to go. deep breath, deep drink from my coke and 90 east for another 600 miles. done up right, mar. done up right.

i've still got 90 East on my mind.

moon child

2007-10-04T13:06:00.000-05:00

one of the great mysteries of life- solved.

here

thanks, jake

dreamer

2007-10-03T08:32:00.000-05:00

crazy.

last night i had an extremely vivid dream about something so sad i feel like repeating it would be taboo. in my dream i was sobbing uncontrollably. i woke up this morning with wet eyes and a soaked pillow.

does that ever happen to anyone else?

a random dump with hidden gems

2007-10-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

i am a horrible life historian. these are the only two pictures i took from my weekend spent at camp joseph. it's a good thing that other people often blog my life for me.

on another note, i've been freaking my co-workers out all morning talking about my 72 hour kit. a few of them had never even heard of one before so they are taking the fact that our church leaders have asked us to have one by october 28th as a bad sign. i don't argue with them. one guy has promised me that he'll join the mormon church if anything happens on october 29th in anywhere in the world that would necessitate a 72 hour kit. i don't think he knows what he's promising...

i've been studying for the gmat lately and have been acing the practice tests so far, i'm hoping to stay consistent for the real deal. congrats to seth who just took the lsat on saturday! hooray for wannabe students!

last night i had my 4th ever voice lesson with mary. she's amazing and fun and i think i'd be more frustrated if we didn't spend half the lesson laughing. last night christy said, "hey, i could hear you doing a seal impression upstairs." (referring to the animal, not the singer) um, not encouraging. however, i think some things are starting to click in my brain, which is encouraging. anyway, if my singing profession fails i could always just become a marine biologist, right? thanks christy.

did i mention i'm going to ohio this weekend?

oh, and did i mention i'm going to salt lake in 3 weeks?

ok, lastly, welcome october! you are the best month by far because you house the best holiday of the year. and no, i'm not talking about columbus day.

are you calling 1989?

2007-09-28T15:56:00.000-05:00

a piggyback.

i saw this in the boston common. be ye warned, i have no discretion when it comes to taking pictures of anyone i want. (more to come on my incredibly creepy stealth picture taking of children on the t today.)

but talk about flashback friday: people using payphones.

H.A.G...W!

the loves of my life

2007-09-24T11:16:00.000-05:00

never

2007-09-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

i never wanted

to let you in
to keep you out
to cut you off

to be a page in your scrapbook
a note in your journal
or an unwelcome muse.

to fight
to cry
to lose

to learn this lesson
or that one
or that one again

i never knew better. i'll never know worse.

i never meant to love you

i never could have stopped

i never would have anyway.

not much to say

2007-09-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

thanks to a good friend who blogs consistently, you can read about my last five weekends here, here, here, here, and here. suffice it to say i've had a lot of fun lately. i know that's kind of a cop-out, but really, i can't say it much better than she already did.

in other news, i woke up happy this morning. that hasn't happened in a while and i thought it was worth remembering.

poignant

2007-09-14T11:56:00.001-05:00

No really. His hair is so distracting. And, he's not really teaching anything, he's mostly just reading from the manual. He pronounced the word "poignant" as "po-ig-nant". Why am I here?

In other random thoughts, why do the sketchiest people hang out on termont street? Seriously, I fear for my life there, no matter what time of day. Also, why does 7-11 have every flavor of mt dew slurpee except for the original? I miss the classic.

Ok, enough. Only 3 hours to go. We'll see if his hair can make it.

real time blogging is where it's at

2007-09-14T10:23:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting at a creative marketing conference at the hyatt downtown. I'm happy to be wearing jeans on a work day. The guy giving the seminar has perhaps the worst hairpiece ever made. I wish I could get a picture, but I think he might notice. Still, it might be worth a try. Ok, breaks over. More later.

if i can't be happy, i can at least be grateful...

2007-09-12T13:28:00.000-05:00

for:

the colder weather
good friends
a paycheck

text messages that read: "just wanted someone to talk to and you came to mind"

the internet
legs that can run
and good hair

men who honor their priesthood
a friend who will sing a primary song to my message machine

G_A's
the prospect of going home. like, home, home.
public transportation

dogs

slurpees

sleep.

that's good, and i feel a bit better.

my lucky green thumb

2007-09-06T11:06:00.001-05:00

this is a blog about the most boring thing i can think of right now. also, it contains emoticons.

you see, it all stated last week when i left my poor pink plant in the sun for about 6 days straight without water. sad :(

i dumped my whole bottle of water in it. hours later- it seemed to be getting a bit better. :/
and here we are just 2 days later and the plant is again thriving! :)

the end.

today is the first day of the rest of my life

2007-09-04T15:51:00.001-05:00

i hate that saying.

hello september! you're going to change my life, i've decided. starting today. starting in about 8 minutes.

this is going to be good. stay tuned.

gba recap

2007-08-28T14:54:00.000-05:00

wow. my blog has really consisted of cop-out posts lately. not unlike this blog, this blog, or this blog (which has been so badly neglected that it can hardly be called a blog at this point), i might add. sorry to call ya'll out. no, no i'm not.

this weekend was pretty good. it was all started off with a beautiful night swim in walden pond, one of my most favorite summer activities. it was perfect, except to some people who thought it was too cold. but, thanks to the overexertion of having to swim much further than i anticipated, i slept well friday night, and awoke super duper early to prepare for the great boston adventure. a day to play the ultimate boston tourist. brian, mike, annie, tim, natalie, clayton, and i (without cyrus) headed downtown in the wee hours of the morning (ok, it was 8:30- but on a saturday morning in back bay, that may as well be 4 am) and over to the museum of science to catch an infamous duck tour. we missed our first opportunity, which left a few minutes to mill around the museum- long enough to see some chicks hatching from eggs (one of which was getting trampled on by the other satanic birds in the pen- i nearly cried) and to take a moment to stop and smell the…wildlife.

the duck tour-ed us around the great city of boston, past many national and local historic landmarks. turns out boston is the city of a lot of firsts for this country; first hotel, first subway system (no, the correct answer is not new york-try me), first place to see a fist fight at the symphony...some people didn’t like our tour guide, but i thought he gave plenty of useless trivia, which is the only thing my brain retains anyway. did you know that if you made a sidewalk out of all the concrete used in the big dig project, it would stretch from here to san francisco and back 3 times? 3 times people!

post duck tour, we ate lunch at fanueil hall. despite the 99 degree 80% humidity sweltering heat, most of us got clam chowder in a bread bowl, which was not smart, but delicious and very touristy. then we headed to the aquarium to view the fishies and the penguins, and the seals who couldn’t be coaxed to put anything but their noses out of the water. not that i blame them, did i mention it was 99 degrees?

when we’d had enough of the aquarium we boarded a yacht, or maybe just a boat, and set sail to sea to see whales. and see whales we did! i believe the grand total came to 9 or 10 whales spotted. the "marine biologist" claimed she could tell the difference between the whales, and even made up names for them, but i think some just swam under the boat and came up on the other side- a trick they’ve probably worked out to boost the numbers to ensure customer satisfaction. in fact, i'm not totally convinced those were real whales. whatev, it was pretty awesome. them’r big fish.

the weekend concluded much as it began. not as much with a swim in walden pond, but with a three and a half hour post-church nap, dinner at this person’s house, and a long restful nights sleep. ahhhhh.

well, the end. this weekend= the great connecticut adventure. i hope there will be penguins.

minivans are the new porsch 911

2007-08-24T13:52:00.001-05:00

see minivan

see minivans licence plate cover

am i missing something here?

i'd like to thank the academy

2007-08-20T12:13:00.000-05:00

i'd just like to mark this momentous occasion...

i have made it to this person's list of current obsessions!

tears. lots of tears.

a survey. please respond

2007-08-17T09:53:00.000-05:00

let's say you have a friend.

and let's say that said friend is on a slippery slope to self destruction, a path that is marked with subtle pitfalls- many that are hard to decipher unless you yourself have actually been on a similar road, or at least seen that road taken by too many others...

but let's also say that you're no longer close enough to said friend to be comfortable in voicing your concern to them directly. however, you know said friend has other friends who might be more influential, and you could probably say something to said other friends. what do you do?

no really, i want to know.