TBA.

Want to know the story behind this picture? Get Shanna to blog and you’ll hear it. She told me she wanted to write about it – perhaps she just needs a little bit of encouragement. And if she isn’t going to then maybe we’ll just start a contest and have everyone write a story about what THEY think happened here.

so you think you can dance fans only.

I LOVED Kupono and Kayla's dance this week about addiction. Definitely my favorite of the season thus far. And what a great song by Sara Bareilles. I keep watching this over and over again. And then again. And again.

And then again ...

oquirrh mountain

If you haven't been here yet you need to go! It's GORGEOUS.

fashion alert:

Apparently this is what the kids are wearing these days (or so says Forever 21). It's like a strange melting of Madonna and Harry Potter. Once again, if this is fashion then I'll just be over here in my sweats cleaning out my fanny pack.

sheesh, talk about outshining your sister.

It's kinda long so skip through if necessary. Favorite part: 0:23. Someone needs to teach this kid the snake. And maybe The Carlton for a little variety.

via :: Indexed

alice in wonderland.

I'm pretty excited to see what Tim Burton has up his sleeve for this one. Looks like I'll have to patiently wait until March of 2010.

homely and big-boned, curlie? i see.

"New Homely Doll to Improve Self-Image of Young Girls"
The Onion - America's Finest News Source

"She's drab, she's dumpy, she's nothing to write home about, and she's going to make the girls of America feel like beauty queens."

4 is better than 1

Summer has begun. This year won’t consist of a lot of trips because we’re all trying to save for Panama, but we’ll make do. Mini trip #1 thus far was Moab. The only time I’ve ever been there was about 9 years ago and my pillow was stolen so it was nice to go again and create some normal memories. The first half of the group went down on Thursday night … and it turns out that this group consisted of Jim and all the girls. And with odds like that what else can you do but play ELIMIDATE? Since the other half of the group wasn’t going to be there until Friday night, we had an entire day for our elimidate.

Challenge #1: The drive. Who’s gonna be the first to give up and ask Jim to stop for a bathroom break? Ordinarily this is my role in road trips, but not this time. It’s a competition. I prepped by not drinking ANYTHING before or during the drive. Turns out all four girls made it the entire way without begging to stop. TIE.

Challenge #2: The snake. There was a mysterious snake slithering across the railroad tracks. If Jim grabs it by the tail who is willing to touch it? Me and Rebecca. Point and point. Extra point for me for telling my story about the time I ate rattlesnake.

Challenge #3: The tunnel. Who’s gonna chicken out and not brave the 1.5ish miles through the railroad tunnel? Everyone pulled through. TIE. An extension of this challenge would have been in the instance of a train running through the tunnel at the same time. Jump to the side, lay crouched down facing the wall, and cover your head. I would have rocked this one, I just know it. But no train. SIDENOTE: When reading graffiti on the inside of a railroad tunnel, be sure to read it in your head before doing so aloud. Otherwise you might chance reading something really off color to the entire group and not realize it’s inappropriate until the very end. Which can be funny and embarrassing at the same time.


Challenge #4: Hiking. Who needs Jim’s help when climbing up steep rocks? And would that be a point given for needing his help or a point taken away? Not certain. I’ll admit – I needed help. But in my defense, I’m still recovering from my running stuff so I get a waiver. My rules.

Challenge #5: Shooting. Jim brought his pistol. Who can hit the target? I’m pretty sure I got some points on this one, not necessarily because I hit the target (that’s up for debate) but because WOW, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT FORM? Not to mention that I managed to dress matchy matchy with Jim. MAJOR POINT.


The other group came and the next day was jeeping. Which was awesome. As for the elimidate portion of jeeping, all I’m going to say is that I turned my back for two seconds -- TWO SECONDS - and the girls filled the three spots in Jim’s jeep. Elimination by distraction! But does it count if Jim himself didn’t do the eliminating?


We had the jeeps for the majority of the day. I’ve never been before and it was different than I imagined it would be. It was so much fun and I can’t wait to do it again. By the time we got the jeeps back in town and washed off we were all pretty worn out. But here’s the thing – the night before we had tried to make it out to a place called Dead Horse Point to watch the sunset but it hadn’t worked out. We really wanted to go so we raced up there and made it just in time for the last little bit of the sunset. The scenery was almost surreal and it was the perfect ending to the day. Except for the party going on by us. ANOTHER SIDENOTE: if you’re wanting to celebrate your birthday with a little booze and you’re trying to find a good place to go, maybe a steep and deadly cliff shouldn’t even be an option. I don’t know, just a suggestion.



The next morning the two groups split again. Group #2 did the Arches hikes that we did on Friday so we just woke up, cleaned up camp, and headed home. With one quick stop for challenge #6: stealing rocks. What’s the status of the elimidate? Well, at one point during the day Hilda switched jeeps and was considered eliminated. And then Rebecca made the mistake of getting out of the jeep to look at something which thereby caused her elimination. That left Miriam as #1. Or so she thought. Yeah, just let her get comfortable and then … TWIST! JIM BRINGS US ALL BACK! So for challenge #6 we all collected awesome rocks for Jim’s yard and everyone got points. TIE.

So who won? Good question. The elimidate started with 4 and was whittled down to …. 4. I think Jim just got selfish.

Here’s a slideshow of pictures you can watch if your eyes aren’t already burning from reading this freakishly long post.

it's your lucky day

Just what I always wanted: a mysterious toilet discovered outside a storage facility in a sketchy part of Salt Lake City. With "FREE FOR THE TAKING" written on it in permanent marker so I can forever be reminded of the killer deal I got.

Or maybe I'm just ignorant about the actual cost of a toilet since I've never purchased one. This could be a deal. If you're interested I can hook you up. YOU'RE SO WELCOME.

the sun DOES always shine for the cool people

$20 to anyone who can guess why today is awesome*

Anyone? HINT: LITTLE GIRL IN PICTURE, CIRCA 1987. Good guess, Marme. It's Curlie's birthday! She's our little firecracker in the family and nothing would be the same without her. I wish her an exciting birthday full of lemons and limes and Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise pre-crazy. Oh, and pickles.

* I'm lying. I won't give you $20, even if you're right. But wouldn't it be wonderful if people were just GIVING away money like that? Point me in that direction STAT.
Let me tell you a little something about Curlie. She has some hidden talents. One of them being writing amazing stories .... but are they fiction and nonfiction? Take this for example:

MY FIRST BIKE
By Karlee, age 8

I'll never forget my first bike. I was riding my bike in the street (IN THE STREET? AND I ASSUME WITHOUT A HELMET AS WELL) in the hot summer. I was really nerves about it. My mom and dad were hot and working in the garage. I went right in the cirb! It hurt alot because I had alot of scratches and bruses. My mom and dad were botth to busy to see (SOMEONE CALL DCFS). I limped (INTENSE) over and when I finaly got there atenion, my mom took me inside and gave me a few baindaids (GEEZ, MARME - IT'S THE LEAST YOU COULD DO ...)

THE END

I'd love to see how this story played out in real life. I'm willing to bet Curlie wasn't any further than the end of the driveway instead of playing frogger in the street and that there was zero limping involved. But then again, maybe it's all true and offers an explanation as to why she hates "the burn" that comes from things like biking ... or running ... or chasing your dog around the neighborhood. Who knew she'd marry the biking guru? Ironic.

tiiiiny?

So I came across this website that is supposed to make your pictures look like miniatures. I tried one of my New York ones .... I think it sorta does? I'm undecided. I'll test it with some different ones and see what happens.

BUT .... if you're undecided as well and don't want to hurt my feelings, just lie to me and say that it's totally miniature. And the coolest thing you've ever seen. I'm feeling fine with a lie or two today.

cf: lip syncer extraordinaire

So sorry - I know a lot of you have probably seen this already, but I have to post it. It's just such a great example of why believe everyone should stay up late and watch Craig Ferguson.

Or of course there's this little ditty:

dedication:

I'm two days late and much more than a dollar short .... but Happy Mother's Day Marme!


RANDOM SAMPLING OF REASONS WHY MY MOM IS OFFICIALLY #1:

• She listens, even when it's boring. Which it usually is.
• She's a master seamstress which has saved us more than a couple times.
• She likes (and is really good at) Guitar Hero.
• She buys me pineapple. Well, me and everyone else in the family, but considering how much I end up eating let's just say it's for me.
• She can text message without asking for help. In fact, she's quite savvy when it comes to technology.
• She gets her hair done, buys cute clothes, and then turns around and goes for a ride on her 4-wheeler. MY HERO.
• She can legitimately say "Gay is my middle name!"

There's plenty more. Don't be jealous. Or do.

superpost

I feel like I've been slacking on my blogging. I could come up with a million excuses, but does it really matter? I suppose it's just a blog. Now if I were getting paid to blog … well that’d be a whole different story. But unfortunately I’m not. If only.

Had a great Easter … Venable style complete with air soft guns and raw eggs flying everywhere. This is why my family is the best.


Michelle and I learned how to make chocolate cake IN A MUG IN THE MICROWAVE IN TWO MINUTES. Amazing, right? Slap a little Hershey’s syrup or frosting on there and enjoy. It probably would have been best if we hadn’t discovered such a convenient way to eat so badly.


We ran the Salt Lake Half Marathon and overall it was GREAT. You feel like a rock star running down that last little stretch … everyone cheering, cameras flashing. LOVED IT.


I didn’t realize much I loved running until now …. mostly because this day right here did some damage and now I’m struggling to run. I’m only smiling in this picture because #1 as stated before, I'm a rock star and #2 the pain has subsided because my knee has gone numb. I had injured myself on my long run the week before (Side note: I ran over 14 miles! I was so proud of myself ..) and I think it just needed more recovery time. I’ve been seeing a doctor, doing physical therapy, etc etc but it’s looking like the marathon will probably be on hold until fall (I plan to make a decision after the Ogden half next week so cross your fingers for me!) I’m really bummed/frustrated/disappointed/{insert negative emotion here} about it. But it is what it is so here’s to more pain and training!

We spotted a cockroach scuttling across the kitchen floor. Well, technically I never saw it so the girls could just be making it up to give me nightmares (Which DID happen … two nights in a row. Cockroaches snipping at my toes in bed and scaling down from the ceiling onto my sleeping face). Michelle was kind enough to draw an amazingly realistic picture of it for me:

She is our hero because she exterminated it. With her bare hands. And then the real exterminator came to clean up the rest.

And last but not least – this week is moving week. We’ve found a place that we’re really excited about and it’s go time. Anyone who knows me well is aware that change can be a bit … challenging. Which would probably explain why I’m given so much of it. One of these days it won’t phase me – just wait and see. But the new place is great and guess what? WE HAVE A NICE BACKYARD. WITH TREES. AND A FENCE. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to say that. I feel like I should hang up a string and dry my clothes on it like Marme did when we were little. And guess what else? To go with that backyard I bought a very pretty stainless steel BBQ on which to grill my pineapple. And I got it for an incredible deal. See? Change has some perks.