Top 10 Things to Do When Your Floor Has Been Plastic-Wrapped

Yes, This is happening this week:

In case you can't tell, that's plastic wrap on the floor of our apartment hallway.

So, this post:  

10.  Rub dishsoap on the floor by the elevators and laugh at all the suckers who fall

9.  Play Scrabble directly on the floor with dry erase markers

8.  Shmop a carpeted floor!

7.  Carry leaky garbage to the garbage chute with no remorse

6.  Film a David Bowie music video

5.  Slip'n'Slide!!!!

4.  Shave your head.  I dunno, it just feels right.

3.  String up caution tape, put on a hazmat suit, and redirect people coming off the elevators

2.  Watch Friday Night Lights.  Duh.

1.   

Mountains, ocean, and a serious plethora of pictures

We were lucky enough to steal some time at the end of the summer and go to Duck Creek, UT to the cabin with my cousin Becca and her fiancee (now-husband... more on that coming) for a few days.

We cooked, baked, hiked, ran, read, speed-scrabbled, and watched movies. We also did the Cascade Falls hike together. And we fiddled with the Canon camera that Harry got me for my birthday. I think it's time I learned how to take real photographs, and though this camera has all the knobs and buttons of a spaceship, I'm learning about all of them a little bit at a time.

**I posted so many pictures previously that I have almost used up my allotted free google space.  So a lot of the pictures are now gone, and are available on request, although I would be really surprised  if you did, because this post is now old.**

Then Harry and I got in our little college cars and hauled it back up to Palo Alto. And then 48 hours later, we had our last hurrah of the summer by spending a few days in Monterey Bay and Carmel, a short 2 hour drive from our home, and a dreamy dreamy dreamland of dreams. 

On the way we stopped by Marianne's Ice Cream parlor at the recommendation of some good friends.  We ate Cardamom and Pistachio flavored ice cream, and our taste buds will never be the same.

We stopped in Santa Cruz and wandered down the boardwalk. And saw a bunch of seals who were being rather noisy, and doing what me and my London friends call "The Manheim Steamroller," ie climbing over your fellow beings instead of walking around them.

Planking seals- it's an epidemic

We got to Monterey, explored the town a little bit, found a sushi place, and enjoyed the view from our room.

The next day we drove the 17-mile drive down the coast, and hiked around Point Lobos.

Then we high tailed it home and settled back into our 1960's-era apartment.  Bring it on, autumn.

(no subject)

Why do I feel anxiety when I think about updating this thing? This is not how it was supposed to be! I was supposed to just regurgitate thoughts and the occasional picture when I felt like it. Now it's become a sort of travelogue, which is fine, but it makes me feel an immense sense of inadequacy if I don't consistently have something to say. Which is pretty silly. So here are some things I've been thinking about that need to be said/typed/posted, without regard to chronological order or... any kind of order.

- I can't stop watching these "I'm A Mormon" videos. Especially Brian Kershisnik's video. I remember the first time I saw his paintings was with Harry our favorite restaurant in Provo (Pizzeria 712). They had a few of his paintings on the walls and we used to talk about owning one someday. And by talk I mean dream.



- I'm guilty of watching this season of "Bachelor Pad." I'm currently halfway through this past week's episode. I don't know if I can get through it. And as much as I'd like to think it's because I'm such a righteous person… it's really because I feel like there are germs crawling all over me after every episode. Everyone in that mansion is perpetually wet and in a swim suit. And then they're either crying or throwing paint at each other or making out and… I feel like I need a piping hot shower just thinking about it. Put some dry clothes on, people, and read a good book and just calm the heck down for a minute.

- My sister E was randomly in town! And by "in town" I mean "in Vegas," which is where we were up until yesterday. She brought little baby I in town for a quick little doctor's visit, even though she and her cute fam moved to Utah a few months ago. As luck would have it, we realized our paths would cross in Vegas and she stayed here with us and I got to spend hours and hours catching up with her and laughing. It was really hard for me when she moved out of Vegas-- not getting to see her whenever we're in town is pretty sad. So we made the most of our time together and it's heavenly.



- I love when Harry gets really into a good book. He usually starts fiddling with his hair while he reads, twirling it, patting it, all while he can't look away and is deaf to everything else in the room. Someday his ability to tune everything out may bug me, but for now, I really love it, and wish I wasn't so easily distracted while I read.



- I'm itching to sew again. I happened upon a little sewing blog that I really like! There are a few projects I'm really interested in, the main one being this one:



Since my most glorious cousin Rebecca is getting herself hitched next month, there's no better time to create a good skirt to wear in the exact color and trim that I want!

- I'm getting homesick for Palo Alto. This is bad. Very bad. Because it will only be home for one more year. I know it's a dumb thing to grieve way in advance, but I can't help it. My heart already hurts.

- Fall is coming. Cameron is going back to school. Pencils and spiral notebooks are on sale. I know when we get back to Palo Alto the marching band will be practicing near our house (this is a major blessing/curse) and I'll start concocting a plan for the best Halloween costumes possible. Especially one that can stand up to the glorious ones of the past:

2007: Christmas Elf and Eminem



2008: Road Kill and Camoflauge Man



2010: Reynolds Wrap




Suggestions are most welcome.

- Series 2 Premiere is September 18 (according to Wikipedia). Set your DVRs, ladies. It's going to be epic.

Might maybe may

We might have gone to the famous Backstage Grill & Karaoke Bar in Culver City last night.
Harry and another intern may have been encouraged (forced?) by their superiors to sing a song together.
That song may have been originally recorded by Miley Cyrus.
I might have taken video.

It might be here.

(Disclaimer: whatever video might be hyperlinked might also be a tiny bit shaky.)

A lot.

The other day, my friend K from Palo Alto called me just to say hi. It made my day. She also mentioned that if we're going to be away in La La Land all summer, would I mind getting off my lazy duff and updating this silly little internet blurb so that it was obvious I was still alive and kicking?

I told her I would gladly oblige.

Many many things have happened lately, and when I think about uploading all the pictures it makes me dizzy and faint and call out for some smelling salts. But I shall do my best.

We have moved to Santa Monica for the summer. Leaving Palo Alto and all our buddies (just for two months) was really hard. I can only imagine what that will be like in a year when Hal's graduated and we'll be leaving the bay area for good. I can't even talk about that anymore. I'm welling right up like a nincompoop.

In the name of chronological order, I will start from the beginning. And when I come to the end, I will stop.

I ran the Spring Fling 5K at Stanford. Harry met me at 3 different spots on the course (around campus) to cheer me on. It was so sweet of him! He got a few shots of me, and these are the only ones I will post on the internet ("mid-stride" isn't really my proudest camera pose). Harry and I attended a BBQ after and got to catch up with our Law School pals.




At the end of May, we drove up to Marin County to visit the MartinandSuzi chapter of the McOmber fam. We ate delicious barbequed delights, swam in the pool with the kiddies, and topped everything off with ice cream. Plus we got to drive on the Golden Gate bridge and through a long winding highway of vineyards for 2 hours each way. One of my favorite things.







Uncle M had a putting green installed in the backyard. I got a hole in one, and so did Hal! I never knew golf could give my sense of well being/confidence such an outrageous boost.

My beautiful and witty cousin Erin sang in "Don Giovanni," one of Mozart's operas, at the Presidio in SF (used to be a military base, but now all the beautiful old brick buildings have been converted into homes and offices and a concert hall that are right on the peninsula). If I could, I would make sure everyone could hear her amazing (and POWERFUL) soprano voice before dying. Oh, wait, maybe I can.





I love my cousins.

Before leaving Palo Alto, I got together with some girl friends (one of whom I would see for the last time!) and we ate Mexican food and gathered at the Redwood City Center for a giant outdoor broadcast of "Hitch." We all brought blankets and G brought milk duds and red vines. It was so much fun! Leave it to me to blink in a photo where THERE WAS NO FLASH (eye roll).




Also, we went to dinner at Il Fornaio with some friends to celebrate my birthday early, since we would be in LA when it actually happened. G even made me my own lemon birthday cake. True story: this cake is so tasty I couldn't bear to get rid of it when we moved. It's sitting in my freezer in Palo Alto. When I get back, I'm thawing it out and eating it.



My birthday rolled around. We had just made the move to Santa Monica the night before. So we went to the store, stocked up on essentials (milk and cereal), and then later wandered around Santa Monica. We hit the pier, the 3rd street Promenade, and the beach on foot- everything is within a mile of our home. Harry bought me some fun b-day clothes at H&M and we had a blast checking out shops and restaurants. I am one lucky duck.



That night Hal took me to get some sushi and frozen yogurt, and we came home and watched "The Company Men." True to form, I fell asleep for the last 15 minutes. But it was still an excellent movie. And an excellent way to celebrate turning a quarter century. My quarter-life crisis has yet to hit. Pictures of an Irvine family party are yet to come!

A fun part of living in LA is that we have family close by! We got to see Harry's cousins for dinner one night and play the Michael Jackson dancing game on Kinect. Everyone's inner-MJ came out. It was awesome. Harry and Chris delighted us with "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."








We also got to hang out with Dan (sadly, the stunning Aja was out of town). We ate amazing food and got to catch up (I didn't get any photos, like a dufus)... right across the street from the Scientology Celebrity Center. Oh, LA. I think I might love you.

I've been working from home this summer (for the company I was working for in the bay area). Four hours a day I am sitting at a desk on my laptop, in my "uniform" (read: pajamas). It's been awesome.



Now for some BITTERsweet news. My sister E and her adorable family are moving to UT. It's going to be awesome for them in so many ways, but for me, it's like "The Wonder Years" aired it's last episode all over again. The melancholy will haunt me for months.

All the Eaton siblings gathered at her house last week to help pack up and move (Mom and Dad couldn't make it this weekend). That was actually a lot of fun. I remember once when I was 12, my parents took off to visit my grandparents, and it was just us kids at home. Elizabeth was 18, Mer was 16, and Cam was 10, and we had a blast hanging out together. I remember thinking, "Wow, we've got a good thing going here." This was kind of like that. Only even more fun.

We even spent some time with photo booth to commemorate the late nights laughing at our own stupid jokes.









Merzy called this one "Families are Forever:"


Weird thing about this one... it wasn't planned....


Babies J and I got to spend some QT together. They are just about the cutest and happiest babies I've ever laid eyes on.



If you've read to the end of this, you must be my mother. If you're not, hey, thanks for reading. You're a peach. I will leave you with a little diddy I can't stop listening to.

Imagine Dragons "It's Time" from The Occidental Saloon on Vimeo.

If only

The cutest thing I've seen all day.

If you don't find this utterly adorable, you may not have a pulse.



Videos of niece J never fail.

Ba Ha Ha Ha Ha

Christmas Present to the internet

from us.



(credit where credit is due: thank you Luke for having this video on your g-chat status, and thank you Harry for showing it to your wife who subsequently blogged it.)

Steven Slater - Jet Blue Flight Attendant had the Monday Jet Blues

Horses and Dreams.

I share a few key characteristics with horses.



Namely, a busy mane, brown eyes, and thunder thighs.

Today, friends, the list grows.

I have eaten my way through one of these bad boys

ENTIRELY by myself.

Yep (Whinnying with pride).

It's the perfect way to start my day at work. I get to steal a minute of alone time at my desk with a steaming bowl of nature's finest (and Black Beauty's favorite) breakfast. Something about a warm bowl of something that I can shovel in with a spoon and don't really have to chew very much in the morning steels my nerves for the day ahead.

The fact that consumption of a large container of oats is on my "recent accomplishments" list reminds me that college is over. My big accomplishments now consist of my ability to eat the same thing for breakfast for two months.

Sometimes I wish that it were normal to get at least 3 degrees in 4 years (those prodigy kids who become professors before they can drive don't count). By the time I got out of BYU, I realized there are at least 4 other programs I would have loved to try. If I could go back, I would jump headlong into the Clothing Construction program. And I would have gotten a degree in American History. And then I would have studied Graphic Design or Illustration. And then maybe I would become a nurse. I miss learning in a classrom, instead of doing the same things I do at work, which mainly numb the brain.

My job does teach me that earning money and working with people who are decent and nice are good things, and I can't knock that. Still. Is it wrong that I find myself visualizing the BYU Testing Center and I no longer break out in a cold sweat, but feel a glistening perspiration of nostalgia and longing?

Everytime we see something that dazzles me, like that gorilla playing the drums for the Cadbury ad, or read something really moving, or see something that requires a lot of skill, I think, "Oooh! Let's get a book on that!" so that I don't have to feel like all that learning is over.

I think this thought is inspired by "Good Will Hunting" when Matt Damon says to a Harvard know-it-all, "You dropped 150 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library."

(Disclaimer: This is not a slight to higher education-- in case you didn't know, we've dropped a pretty penny ourselves on some hefty tuition of late.)

Case in point: I want to be someone who can do 500 things really well, and for now, I do maybe 4 things kind of well. And one of those 4 things is eating oats for breakfast.

Here's to a lifetime of reading up on how to do the other 496 things.

I'll raise a goblet of steaming oatmeal to that.

Bottoms up!

Happy Valentine's Day Eve Eve Eve

I don't have lots to say to explain why you should drop what you're doing and watch the following video. That is, other than "You should drop what you're doing and watch the following video." If you possess the physical capacity for laughter, this SNL clip will most likely send you into convulsions. In the best sense, naturally.

I almost choked on my Lucky Charms and then almost accidentally kicked Harry with my flailing ankles due to unbridled chortles.

Happy (T minus 3 days to) Valentine's Day.

I still laughed maniacally when I saw this for the 12th time.

You may or may not think it's as pink-tickling as I do (which is difficult for me to imagine) but I can't help myself.

Bad-A

When I was a kid, my mom used to take me with her to her aerobics class each week. A whole bunch of young to middle-aged women would dance around in the gym



while us kids would play with our tonkas.



Anyway, it was the same CD every week, so I really have this engrained heritage of 80s songs that are on automatic play in my brain every time I work out. The trouble is, they're not exactly the kind of songs that I would ever listen to on my own, so I only know the songs through the filter of a three-year-old mind.

Like today, after Sarah and I ran to the gym, worked out, and ran back, I just couldn't get the "guacamole" song out of my head. The trouble is, I couldn't get enough of it in to my head to explain to Sarah what song was stuck in my head. So I went to www.midomi.com and spent three unsuccessful minutes singing "guacamole, mo mo mo" with no tangible results. Aparantly I sound more like Daft Punk's Technologic. Bummer. Anyway, I finally figured it out.

It's Billy Idol's "Mony Mony." Maybe I would have guess that if Mony was actually a word. So, I had to hear the song again, which meant coming across this little gem of a video:



I think I understand now why those women wore those leotards. I mean, Billy Idol was pretty bad-a.

San Francisco

We're going to San Francisco next weekend with the ward for an all day event. I know it's NEXT weekend. But I can't contain myself. Harry's never been and I've been a handful of times.

Basically every time this thought even passes through my mind, I can't help but remember this priceless Martin Short moment.



And yes, I plan to reenact this on the Golden Gate Bridge. Knee shorts, red sweater, and all.

If This is the Last You Hear From Us

If this is the last you hear from us, Mac, you can have my room.

Never can quite tell if this video is legit or not.

Some say it was staged, others say it's totally convincing. Either way, it makes me even more grateful that I'm NOT getting married by a swimming pool.

And just since this wedding video makes me (and everyone else who's ever seen it in my presence) CRINGE, here's one to take the edge off.