New Word

Me and Sarah are speaking in church tomorrow. [I know that's improper English. Deal with it. That's how I say it.] Sarah just invented a new word, in preparation:

Eblaborate.

Priceless.

A Charm

Well, we went!

Besides spending the day with Harry's fantastic folks at Pier 39...

We also experienced

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,

Double Rainbow Chocolate Shakes (I will never have eyes for another chocolate shake again),

and we attempted to eat breakfast here at Go and Annie's suggestion. But the line was twice as intimidatingly long as the one in this picture (luckily we found an incredible breakfast place anyway!) and so we were forced to give up on it.

Thanks Reynoldsies! We had a great time!

Third time's a charm

Harry has still not been to San Francisco.

I know. Maximum lame of us.

We have had 2 attempts that didn't really COUNT.

Attempt #1: Alameda Ferry Trip

Our ward has a trip every fall where everyone meets at Giant's Stadium in San Francisco (note the word "meets." As in, meets in a parking lot. Not an official San Francisco experience) and take a ferry over to Alameda, a beautiful city that sits on the water and is also not San Francisco.

That isn't to say it wasn't beautiful! We had a glorious time going through the neighborhoods where the water flows to make a river for all the backyards. Everyone even has little boats tied up behind their houses. We walked along the water to get lunch. These neighborhoods are also teeming with ducks, one of which in particular Harry was particularly fond of.

As we walked by Giant's stadium I attempted to snap a picture of the team at a press conference. If only I was a Giant's fan.

Ferrying.

Walking in the River Wonderland. I mean, suburbs.

Harry's favorite duck-- complete with afro and attitude.

Snapshot of Alameda. That's San Fran BEHIND us (this picture vaguely showcases my freshly cut bangs, but not really). Also a snapshot of hot man with glasses.

Attempt #2:

Driving to San Francisco last Saturday. We left our apartment at 11:20 am, and returned at 1:45 pm, never once getting out of the car. Did we know before we left that there would be an airshow by the Blue Angels that day and that the entire city would be in parking-lot-mode traffic, with not one actual parking spot to be found? Nee-yope. We did listen to quite a lot of Harry Nilsson, though. And I did manage to get one picture from the car. A noteworthy San Francisco discovery.Harrison Street. Where hot blonde men are a-plenty, I'm sure. My camera died shortly after this picture. Just as well, I suppose.

Attempt #3: The Ron-and-Tene-Reynolds attempt.

More to come on that... soon. Rest assured, we will actually spend time in that city, apart from cars/parking lots.

Not to fear, San Fran! We will prevail!

I’m not going to make it a habit to blog about celebrities. I should say that part up front.

These two are getting married.

When I heard it I was really excited. Like, suspiciously excited. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I felt so outrageously in favor of these two getting together, tying their proverbial boats (well, yachts) together, having a wedding with pictures to probably be published in a People magazine and sold in a check-out stand for me to read while Harry pays for groceries, and eventually producing little trust-fund mini-thems.

Then I put my finger on the very thing.

Think back to October 2006- February 2007. Bush was still President, the last Harry Potter book hadn’t been written, and video iPods were about $150 more than they cost now. I was going through my very first real break up, and having an interesting time of it. At the tender age of 19 I felt a little blue about the whole thing. Even though I didn't regret breaking up, the sense of loss was very tangible to me.

(Cue hazy and twinkly montage of my 19 year old self with some unspecified Keane song playing in the background, sitting in my Provo apartment at my desk on Merzy’s Macbook at some unknown but late hour…)

There were two things I watched when I felt a little down. They were


and

(Specifically Season 2. The show has never been able to top it.)

Watching these shows made those quiet and melancholy nights a bit cheerful. I’ll admit I even cut bangs like Anne Hathaway’s after a few viewings (this turned out to be one of my favorite hair eras).

It seems only right and appropriate that an actor from each of my comfort shows should be matrimonially united. The universe has acheived balance. For now.

Domesticity Part II

Fall is my favorite season and always has been. It's sandwiched between a sizzling summer and a cozy Christmas. Between September 22nd and October 31st the world is a pleasant spectrum of all the best earth tones. And I shamelessly obsess over all of the following:

crunchy leaves

Halloween

"The Nightmare Before Christmas"

crisp, but not chilly, breezes

my boots!

turtlenecks

"fall medley" (my Aunt Kathryn's ingenious mixture of candy corn and peanuts. Amazing.)

cranberries/pears/oranges

scarves

pumpkin ______ (fill in the blank with bread/cookies/soup/pie/pancakes/ice cream/yogurt)

I wanted to do something to make our apartment feel Autumn-ish. So I bought some eucalyptus branches (thank you grocery store, it smells so Autumny in here!) and I decided to reenact something I saw on one of the many blogs I stalk.

I learned how to make this during my breaks at work (thank you, internet/printer paper/camera phone)

(which has actually led to an origami obsession. I will have my hands very busy during

General Conference)

and combined it with our eucalyptus branches (and an abandoned-coffee-tin-from-work-turned-into-a-vase) to create

on our entryway table.

Now I just need some pumpkin ______ and I'm set.

Domesticity Part I

We are conoisseurs of food made from scratch. Ingredients that haven't been tampered with too much often come together to make something that is more than the sum of it's parts.

If I may quote Virginia Woolfe, "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." That's my excuse for eating good food, anyway.


We've done Apple Pudding Cake (in the kitchen of my apartment from 2 years ago that felt like it had been built during either of the Roosevelt administrations)


We've tried salsa (in the kitchen of Harry's apartment that was built possibly even before that apartment of mine, but was way cooler. I mean, giant jacuzzi bathtub? What?)


and tried apple pie

and Chocolate-Banana ice cream (apparently, it made us smile with our chins sticking out).

And we cannot forget the age-old Reynolds tradition of homemade pizza

Today was the day for Banana Cream pie

I was going to take a picture of us eating it, but it was so euphoric that I forgot, and it's all a blur to me now.

Stay tuned, because I think Buffalo Hot Wings may be coming soon (we even bought a deep fryer for the occasion).

Big Hass Avocados

Yeah, so my post titles have been a little redundant lately. So what.

Yesterday while at the store buying salsa materials (along with pizza-making supplies and my new favorite brand of ice cream) we came across a giant bushel full of "Big Hass Avocados" for sale. Apparently Hass is some variety of avocado. Who knew? Anyway, that inevitably led to our lunch today consisting of fresh homemade salsa, fresh homemade guacamole (yes, inspired by the Billy Idol song), and nuked tostitos cheese dip. And white corn tortilla chips. Delicious. And actually remarkably good for you (aside maybe from the plastic cheese dip, a new guilty pleasure of ours). I'm going to open a restaurant someday that only offers dips. It's going to be upscale, dimmer-ly lit, and adventurous. Imagine sitting down to hot bean dip, cheese dip, artichoke-spinach dip, french onion dip, dill dip, salsas, bruschetta, clam dip, etc. No silverware--just a variety of dipping devices (baguettes, vegetables, various chips) that you use your hands with. And it will mostly be a pretty healthy meal, too. It'll start as a rumored, word-of-mouth kind of place, with a non-desrcript exterior but really nice interior. Just barely pricy enough to discourage families from coming, it will be more of a date spot. Inevitably, though, the Applebee's-Chili's-Macaroni Grill conglomerate will open a franchised "family-friendly" knock-off called Skinny Dipping and then we'll end up in the courts even though I'm a nice guy and I'll get nothing and then I'll write a book and sell the movie rights though no one will make the film and I'll end up with just passing mention in a Michael Moore film and live out my days in comfortable retirement with my grandkids sweeping up the shop on the weekends. But, hey, that's the course all dreams run.