Ribbons, ribbons, anyone want ribbons

I watched four movies Saturday. Two of them were with my by myself. How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Million Dollar Baby, Bucket List, and Robin Hood. I haven't watched that many movies in a long time. Especially in one day. I was going to visit the library, since it was a beautiful day, and I love reading outside so the sun reminds me to get books- but I live in Dublin. Therefore, the Dublin city annual St. Patrick's Day celebration was in full swing, right by the library, figures. So I couldn't get there because the road was blocked off. Instead of parking and walking around, I went home. I know, I'm a bum. It would have been fun. Maybe next year. 

Instead, I read outside my complex by the pond and fountains. It was a beautiful day, so I ended up falling asleep outside instead of reading much, but either way it was enjoyable. 

My hair needs a trim. I should have done it Saturday ie. the only day I have to do stuff like that, since most hair places close by 6. I get home about 6 every day. However, I was too busy sleeping to think about important stuff like that, so it didn't happen. 

Another piece on my to do list- stop watching horror shows and murder shows. Why you ask, well, because I think by watching that stuff every day my mind is bombarded by terrible images and trash taking up space that could be occupied by positive images and programs.  I'd rather have that stuff in my head. Speaking of space treats, right now I'm listening to the Backstreet Boys. Is it using up space, yes. Is that a bad thing? Never. 

And here's a list, since everyone loves lists:

1. Cream of wheat becomes a part of me every morning, with nothing added. No sugar, no nothin.

2. There's a stash of candy in my office desk drawer. I used to think that was so trite. Now, just a necessary evil.

3. Candles smell good. Not vanilla candles, just other kinds. Especially pine candles. Thanks Adrienne. 

4.  In my car, a candle melts and puts goodly scent into the air all day long. One time it spilled everywhere. Apple scented. How could I take it out of my car, when it smells so good? It's still there. Messy habit. Sometimes.

5. I have no kids, but will be an embarrassing mom: I still put my hands up in the car. 

6. Ribbons are lovely. I have an inexplicable desire to put them in my hair on a every other daily basis and don't. Coming soon.

Truffles

If we're talking about truffles right now, I need to find a chocolate truffle finding pig to rent. I don't really like mushrooms and I don't want to take care of a pig, so I think that's the best option for me right now. Pigs are stinky. We had one in our back yard in Guatemala. Until they sold it. To make bacon. And pork rinds. And pig ears. Each sold separately. 

Today, instead of wearing my hair down and curling it, I pasted it to my head with shellac. That's day three hair for you. I didn't even use a hair tie. I just twisted it into the semblance of a bun and bobby pinned it to my head. Then I doused it with an unhealthy amount of hairspray. It hasn't moved all day. However, I am going on a run after work. We shall see what this do can do. 

What is day three hair you ask: Day one, I just washed my hair last night, better curl it, blow dry it, or straighten it. That could last three days. That means I won't have to do my hair for three more days. If I live right. Day two, I didn't wash my hair last night. I can leave my hair down, put it halfway up, or recurl some parts to refresh it. Still looks good. Day three, better put it up. Doesn't matter if it's in braids, a ponytail, or a hat. If I leave it down, it's going to be weighted down by product and/or natural oils. It's going to look gross. 

The only thing that might redeem it, dry shampoo. That usually takes care of the smell. Day four, if it gets to day four, it had better go up. If I don't put it up, it parts itself all the way down the back, like unplanned pigtails. Thank you dear sweet cowlick, you keep me from repeatedly trying to get away with four or five day hair. I admit, I have wondered what that smell was, and realized it was my hair that needed a definite wash. Yep. That's me. 

This was an eventful and surprising day as per usual. I had burritos for lunch. They were delicious. I also wiped the giant wipe board clean today. It took forever. I like focusing on arm muscle growth when I do stuff like that. Other times my mind wanders to Mr. Miogi. He would have been proud. Our office is long and the wall is painted in wipe board material, so it was like painting a fence and waxing a car at the same time. 

Tonight I'm going to the Oakland temple. It's beautiful there. I've also got some friends playing water pong. I hope to see some of that goodness. I'm also on book three of the Wheel of Time. It's getting more interesting. Very interesting. 

Pendulum

Last week was a pretty crazy week. Monday I had a date with a guy named Derek. He is a funny guy and we ate ice cream at Safeway. It turned out we had lots of common television show interests. We talked about that for a while. He watches shows with his mom. I do to, when I'm home. I ate two drumsticks. He ate one. Good self control Derek. 

When I went out with Nick on Wednesday, we played soccer for a bit. Afterwards, we again ate ice cream balls at Safeway again. After talking a while, we'd only eaten 5 of the 6. After about 90 minutes of great conversation, a sketchy lady wearing a fanny pack and five belts walked up and asked if we wanted her to eat the last one. We were like, "Of course we do. Would you?" Weird. Then she stayed and talked to us for 10 minutes. 

The highlight of our conversation was the story about the lemon peel. She one time ingested an entire lemon peel and it left her craving...(what? onions? pretzels? Candle wax?)...sex. Awkward. She then encouraged us to eat lemon peel sometime to see what happened to us. I told her I didn't need anything else pushing me to that feeling. We had to get up and walk away from her, as she continued talking to us until we left the store.

Blitzing showed me difficult it is to ask multiple people out and keep the dates interesting. It also showed me how chill the guys feel when they ask me out; it's just a date. I always felt a little bit of pressure to figure out how I felt about him. Apparently I stress about dating more than I should. 

My brother got his mission call to serve in the Taiwan mission, speaking Mandarin Chinese. He leaves April 17. He's sooooo excited.  He's going to rock that mission!

Tuesday, after a nice talk with Charles, we started dating again. He gave me a choice and I picked him. I couldn't imagine never dating him again. And yet I wonder if I'm ready to commit my life forever to anyone. And why not? Charles is the kindest man, we have fun, we are both crazy. Sounds like a recipe for success. Things like this reassure me.

If I learned anything from our dating blitz, I learned there are lots of great guys out there. Why is it, when I'm in a relationship, I am looking for reasons to cop out and when I'm not in a relationship, I want to be in one? What keeps me trying? Hope, faith, and charity. Also, I pray a lot. 

"We are waging a war with sin, my brothers and sisters, but we need not despair. It is a war we can and will win. Our Father in Heaven has given us the tools we need in order to do so. He is at the helm. We have nothing to fear. He is the God of light. He is the God of hope. I testify that He loves us—each one.

Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order to be tested, we must sometimes face challenges and difficulties. At times there appears to be no light at the tunnel’s end—no dawn to break the night’s darkness. We feel surrounded by the pain of broken hearts, the disappointment of shattered dreams, and the despair of vanished hopes. We join in uttering the biblical plea “Is there no balm in Gilead?”  

We are inclined to view our own personal misfortunes through the distorted prism of pessimism. We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone. If you find yourself in such a situation, I plead with you to turn to our Heavenly Father in faith. He will lift you and guide you. He will not always take your afflictions from you, but He will comfort and lead you with love through whatever storm you face." President Thomas S. Monson, General Conference April 28, Looking Back and Moving Forward.

I therefore keep breathing and making decisions. Even if it's hard. To breathe. 

Blitzkrieg week 1

Hello there family. Long time no speak. I've been busy. This last week and next week, we had a dating blitzkrieg for the Relief society. I've been trying to be a good example for the sisters, so I went on a date a day..2 on Sunday. That around all the other activities I already do made my schedule pretty tight. My week was busy.

I went to FHE Monday and we made a video for the Untalent Show scheduled for Saturday. I pretty much just pulled random girls and guys out of volleyball and pizza making for a video. I thought the shy people would be more likely to be in a video than in a live performance. We made a great video. It's on youtube. It was also shown first at the Untalent show. It was called the Untalent show because half was a performance portion and the other half was a showpiece portion. There were some dresses, paintings, stuffed animals, and drawings. It was cool. 

After filming for the movie, I went on a date with Robby. He's a guy in our ward who's really nice. He's a talented pianist-which he shared at the untalent show. We had froyo. I had a great time, but I think he knows now how crazy I am. He probably wasn't super surprised. 

After Institute on Tuesday, I took Kyle back to my place for a triple date. We played games and had milkshakes. It was fun. Kyle's a pretty shy guy, but he is coming out of his shell, which is great. 

I went out with Matt on Wednesday after practicing my clogging number with two girls from my ward- Susannah and Karen. We went to a bbq place called Armadillo Willie's. I liked it there, it had a cool atmosphere. We walked around the strip mall afterwards and just talked. We took some pictures, including one of a pamphlet vending machine. What? Never seen that before. They sold pamphlets, maps, travel books. Now I know. 

I went to the temple Thursday, got home taught, did some baptisms, and went to In'N'Out with Jimmy. We had a good talk. He loves dangerous things and camping. He's a redheaded swimmer. It was a good conversation. 

I went on a date with Scott Friday. I know him from soccer. He was surprised by our date,but we had fun. We went to Berkeley, right by where I work, and got burritos. We ate in a sketchy looking park by UC Berkeley campus and drew some pictures. We looked over Berkeley from the science center. 

I woke up Saturday morning at 6:30 am. I helped America sell games for cheap at a flea market. I also ended up spending some money on some jewelry. I should have kept my eyes closed, because I couldn't keep them from staring at that beautiful jewelry. This jewelry has the same colors, but isn't in the same design. Still fancy though. At 2, when I got home from helping, I went on a date with Patrick.

He's actually a really funny guy from church. I laughed the whole time. After eating smoothies, we just sat by the lake and talked. After my date, I went to practice with the girls for our clogging number. It was to Michael Jackson's ABC.  After practicing, we went to the Talent show. It was great. Our ward has a lot of talent. I was exhausted afterwards, so I didn't try to go on another date, I just went to bed.

Sunday, after the epic break the fast meal, inclusive of bagel pizza bites, tater tots, and chicken nuggets- I went on a date with our EQP Chris. Epic, not really epic, since it may have been equal to the pork and beans fast Sunday in which I was forced to make and then consume an entire pizza to prove a point. 

We had a fireside after my date, during which I was going to skype, but nobody was on. So I went to Elder Bednar's fireside and then to America and Don's game night with Andy- date 8 for the week. I had another date yesterday. I went to Safeway with Derrick and we talking about tv shows over ice cream drumsticks.

Tri-Valley 2 week Triple P Blitzkrieg

Saturday at football, some girls told me they didn't believe they were dating enough. I agree. They are wonderful, beautiful, talented girls. They don't get asked out enough. They told me about a dating plan. A contest.

The dating contest will last two weeks. The Triple P's are: planned, paid for, and paired off. They can be asked, or they can ask guys on dates. They must list them out by activity and date. The incentive is a pair of tickets for a nice restaurant. We told the guys at church, so they'd know why the girls were going date crazy. The dates start today.

I thought it would be fun, easy, and interesting. All the girls interested in participating are competitive and proactive. It has been one day, and it has not been easy. Turns out I don't have much discretionary time during normal weeks and dates every night of the week will take the rest of my time. 

I didn't expect it would be so complicated to plan dates every night of the week. It's hard to decide where to go. It's difficult to know what kinds of activities we could do in the time available. It's hard to change plans. It's hard to decide who to take. Who is already going on a date? Who could I ask that I would like to know better? Who could really use a date to lift their self-esteem?

My sister asked me what happens when guys don't get asked out. Good question America, maybe this contest will be as good for the guys as for the girls. I also noticed the girls asked out the guys who date a lot. I guess they were more comfortable asking guys out on dates if they already knew them pretty well. 

It's enlightening. Now I've got to go and figure out what I'm doing for my dates...hmmm.

Dickens Day

I've been listening to The Eye of the World, the first book in the Wheel of Time series. I finished today. It was quite interesting. Sucked me in all the way. Now I have to read the other 13 books of the series. I also heard there's a prequel, but I haven't read/listened to that yet. What kind of reading black hole did I jump into? I've started book 2. How do people write such long story lines and keep them interesting and viable? I don't know, I can't explain it, but it inspires me.

In other entertainment news, Arrested Development is going to debut on Netflix in May. My roomie Hayley heard about it on the radio. Prets exciting!!!! It's going to be awesome. Then, after the new episodes, a movie. You should read up on it. Something to look forward to.

In another change of thought, I am pleased to announce it's cold here in CA, but not as freezing as Missouri, where it's been blizzarding all week. I'm pleased to announce last Monday I just watched tv, read books, and watched a Jet Li movie. Not my fav. unfortunately.

My favorite tv shows right now are: Scandal, Carrie Diaries, Grey's Anatomy, The Middle, Parenthood, Chicago Fire, and Modern Family. These shows are very interesting.

I scratched myself this morning and I just now scratched my scratch. That felt less than awesome. Almost worse than gluten free cookies. Almost.

Last night we had a girl's night. A ladies night. A night for the ladies. At my house. With lots of delicious food and nail painting. I did not get my nails painted. I did accomplish some braiding. It was a nice night. We did have a special guest cosmopolitan man. He didn't massage my feet or hands, paint my nails, or do my hair, but he did for others.

Dream Weaver

Last night I had a dream. It was a longish dream. I was on an island coast, or next to the ocean. There were many of us. Half of the fight was in my front yard at home and the other half was on the coast. It was a cool fight. It was a war between lots of early 20's aged youths. Weirdest part was it was like a giant zone conference on my mission. 

So all of us were warring, but our weapons were straws. We inserted mini pencils made out of paper into the straws and blew them out like dart guns. At the end of all the fighting, we had a banquet. There were lots of cakes and cookies on tables. It looked like a wedding reception setup. There were nuts sprinkled on all the cakes and the cookies were all bland looking and unappetizing.

Even though we had a war, we were all very chummy at the reception. We also walked down a sidewalk that had a bunch of mangoes, peaches, or tomatoes fallen from a tree. I couldn't tell what they were, but they transformed a bit as I was trying to figure them out. I believe I realized they were tomatoes growing in the tree, which means they were probably just persimmons. 

I told the person walking with me it was a waste to have such a lovely fruit tree unappreciated- nobody was eating or gathering the fruit. In all fairness, the tree was on a sidewalk by the street, but the fruit was abundant and the fallen fruit had the coloring of peaches and looked delicious. 

We ate vegan food for lunch at work. Nobody really wanted to eat vegan, but I said it would be ok. I was wrong. It was gross. No more bbq tofu for me. Unfortunately all the people  who got other food were right. Not my fav. I'm just trying to widen your horizons people. The sun is shining hard in veganland. And it hurts my eyes. 

Also, our PG&E was like triple the norm this month. We realized that turning off the heat when we left the house increased our bill by a mil. So we looked at the stat and realized, instead of turning it back to Heat Auto, we just put it on heat. So we blasted the heat when we got home instead of just putting it to auto. Stupid expensive mistake. Not cool thermostat. Not cool.