So Apparently No One Else Finds Chaplin Interesting...

Alright, so I FINALLY finished Charlie Chaplin's autobiography. I loved it. So very interesting. But as my husband has told me, pretty much no one else is interested in Charlie Chaplin....

 

How can this be? Apparently I am alone in my fascination with him, and in general people did seem pretty surprised that I was reading a book about him, and merely polite when I'd start to ramble about the things I had found out about him.

 

He's so interesting. Here's a man, who after being born in the poorest area of London goes on to become one of the most iconic men in cinema. Face it, you may have never even seen a film of his, yet you know who the Tramp is - big clownish shoes, baggy pants, tight jacket, bowler hat, can, and "Hitler-esque" mustache. They reference Charlie Chaplin everywhere - The Simpson's, news, anything having to do with black and white pictures, heck, even Pam from The Office dressed up as him for Halloween - though it didn't go well without the hat on.....

 

I find him so fascinating and his autobiography was wonderful. Now, it was long, and man did the guy name drop. Seriously. He met everyone - Gloria Swanson, Winston Churchill, HRH Prince of Wales (not the current one), the Einsteins (yes, the e=mc2 guy), Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, H.G. Wells, Rudolph Valentino, Igor Stravinsky, Gertrude Stein, Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, Laurence Olivier, Louis Ferdinand (grandson of the Kaiser), Sir Thomas Lipton (yes the tea guy), Nikita Khrushchev (leader of Soviet Russia), Sir Henry Irving, Aldous Huxley, Edgar Hoover, Albert Hirschfeld, Howard Hughes (of "Aviator" fame), William Randolph Hearst, Jean Harlow, Samuel Goldwyn (MGM guy), Mrs. Gandhi, ....anyway, you get the idea. If they lived during Chaplin's life, and had any importance in any field, chances are he met them.

 

So, once you get past the name dropping, the book is great. I am just so intrigued by him. He worked his butt off doing whatever he could to make money, then once he had it, it was so foreign to him that he didn't really know what to do with it. And his fame took him by surprise. He couldn't believe that people knew him without his makeup on. When he started making silent films, his thought process was so basic - he took a simple set up like the Tramp (his iconic character) gets a new suit and then just ran with it, threw in some gags and called it good. No real structure, just him improvising and then meticulously editing and reshooting, and editing again, and again, and again til it was perfect. He would often shoot two hours worth of film, only to have twenty minutes of it actually become the finished film because he wanted things perfect.

 

Then once he became super famous and rich, America's darling and a great movie star, he was basically boycotted, harangued, and eventually kicked out of the U.S. for good, and for no real reason other than they were upset that he didn't hate communism enough, never got his citizenship for America and asked for second front during WWII (which incidentally the U.S. government asked him to say).

 

How do you go from poor nobody, to ultra famous actor, to vilified outcast? Anyway, as you can see, I thought his life probably more interesting than most.

 

On the off chance someone out there does want to read about him, I won't say much more, and let you discover how interesting he is in your own way. Or... you could ask me, and I'll talk your ear off... :)

 

Happy Reading!

 

 





Book Reviews

I am a reader. A crazy avid reader. And I read just about anything; sci-fi, fantasy, biographies, young adult, historical (non)fiction, you name it. The only thing I don't really read is romance. I am living my happily ever after, so I'm good. :)

My love of books and reading came at an early age. My sweet Mom would read to me every night. The classics like Secret Garden, and favorites like any books by Roald Dahl. The BFG is one of my favorite books. I remember snuggling into bed, and having her sit next to me reading the next chapter in whatever book we'd chosen. We had reading lists to do in the summer. Ah, I loved it! I still remember the personal satisfaction of reading my first "big" book - it was The Never-ending Story and it was 400+ pages of small type. I was in the fifth grade.

This nightly tradition of reading is one that I still do today. There are few things that I consistently do every day, beyond the basic necessities of course, but reading is one them. I don't go to bed without reading a bit in whatever book I'm working on. And now that I'm married, and we have no room for all my books (by far my husband's least favorite thing to move) I read Kindle books on my phone.

My kindle has quite a few books on it: The Giver, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, Little Women, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Life of Pi, Ender in Exile, The School of Essential Ingredients, The Help, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Busting Vegas, Hatchet, Lectures on Faith, The Maze Runner, Temeraire: In His Majesty's Service, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Wind, Island of the Dolphins, A Wrinkle in Time, Ender's Game, The Host, Unbroken, The Lost Gate, In the Garden of Beasts, Holes, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Joy for Beginners,  Eragon, A Dance with Dragons, Circle of Magic, Fahrenheit 451, Everneath, The Count of Monte Cristo, Treason, Neverfall, The Hobbit, The Peculiar, Beautiful Creatures, The Simarillion, Pope Joan, The Handmaid's Tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Circle Opens, World War Z, The Book Thief, The Gate Thief, The Hunger Games, Inferno, The Night Circus, Divergent, Matched, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, City of Tranquil Light, Mortal Instruments and My Autobiography: Charlie Chaplin.

Whew! That's a fair amount. I LOVE BOOKS!!

So here are my thoughts about a few of these - especially the ones I think not many have read/heard of.

A Monstrous Regiment of Women: This is a book about what happened to Sherlock Holmes after he got older and "retired." He meets a young woman as bright and eager as him in solving puzzles and they work out the best kind of mysteries. BUT - you should read first The Beekeeper's Apprentice. It is fantastic. Subtle hints about who's behind it all, but delicious to try and puzzle out for yourself.

Uncle Tom's Cabin: One of my favorite books ever!! My physical copy of this book is marked up galore. I love this book. It made me cry, but not in the usual places. A must read

The School of Essiential Ingredients: This one was recommended to me by a cousin and I loved this book. It was a quick read, but the characters were so delightful to get to know. The premise is how one cooking class made up of strangers become better people and how simple ingredients in their lives have made up who they are. Wonderful.

Busting Vegas: If you watched the movie 21 about card counting in Vegas, this is the book it is based on. Crazy how intense it gets.

Unbroken: Incredible!! A true story about one man's struggle to survive when his plane crashes in the ocean during WWII. Just when you think it can't get any worse it does, and the whole time you are rooting for him to just make it through everything.

Everneath: This is written by a Utah writer who places her story in Park City, which I enjoyed because I knew many of the places she was referring to. It  is the story of a girl who follows in Persephone's footsteps down in the Underworld. A great retelling.

The Count of Monte Cristo: This book took me a while to finish - and I read fast. But the movie doesn't come even close to doing this story justice. Ah, the intrigues, and maneuverings of a man wronged and who plans his revenge beautifully and carefully. It was a bit slow and there are so many people to try and keep track of, but as the book gets closer to the end  it was a joy to watch all the subtle machinations of Edmond Dantes come to fruition. So so good.

Pope Joan: the "true" story of a woman who hid her gender in order to get an education and who ended up becoming pope. I say "true" because officially the Catholic church has denied existence of her, and there isn't much proof that Joan was a real person, but since many writings were destroyed about her, it's more the lack of proof that makes her story real.

The Night Circus: What if some people had actual powers, and in order to use them without suspicion, they worked at a circus that only opens at night and travels to cities without warning? It's really good. The circus is actually an arena for two magicians to pit their apprentices against each other. You'll love trying to figure out what happens and who wins in the end.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The author of this book found a bunch of really creepy old black and white photos and created a book to tell the story behind them. The photos in the book are so haunting and disturbing and once you know the created story behind the photos, you'll be hooked.

City of Tranquil Light: This was recommended to me by my mom, who shared it with dad, and her book club, and ladies at church, and her sisters, and her friends and basically anyone she could. A book this highly recommended and shared had to be good - and it was. So so good. It made me cry, and love, and hope for the characters. It's based off of real stories about missionaries working in China before WWI and the changes that were happening in the country with the government just make a good story even more compelling. It was so incredibly good. I loved this book. I devoured it. I stayed up till four in the morning reading because I couldn't stop.

If you need any book recommendations, or have one for me, I'd love it! I'm currently reading the autobiography of Charlie Chaplin, and it's fascinating. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Happy Reading

DIY Totes

Alright, well I "got my craft on" today. I decided to work on a DIY tote bag to carry my little man's stuff in when I don't feel like looking like I'm carrying a diaper bag, but don't need much.

I bought some blank pre-made totes at Michael's (it came with three) and did one for my Mom for Mother's Day. For my Mom's I found a cute owl stencil at Michael's that I knew I could alter a little bit to look the way I wanted, and got some felt poms. 

I did this bag with Sharpies, instead of fabric markers or paint because I wanted a slightly fuzzy look. The sharpies bleed a bit on the canvas, and since I was using felt balls (which are also fuzzy) and was putting an owl on it, I kind of wanted an unkempt look to the whole thing. 

After fiddling with the owl stencil a bit, and then picking colors that would match the felt, I traced it onto the bag. Then free handed the branch he'd sit on. Once he was down, and I let him dry for a bit (maybe 20 minutes), then I placed the felt balls on the bag. 

I didn't want to hot glue them down (although that would have been a huge time saver) because I wanted them to be on there really well so you could use the bag without having to worry about them falling off. Sewing them on made the bag much more durable. 

Bam! There is the finished bag. I liked it so much that I bought a second set of felt balls so I could make one for myself at some point. The longest part of this whole project was sewing the balls on. But I felt that it was worth it in the end.

Then today, while my little man took his afternoon nap, I decided to make a quick tote for myself. This one was much faster and didn't require much in terms of supplies. I still had some canvas totes left over from my craft run at Michael's, and my sweet sister-in-law bought some fabric markers for me for my birthday. BTW, birthdays and Christmas are awesome times to ask for things to build up your craft supplies, plus it gives people an easy gift to get you, and most are inexpensive - especially around the holidays.

So, masking tape, fabric markers and a blank tote and you are set. Now you can do any design you want, but chevron is really popular right now, and easy to do. I've seen some really cute geometric designs, like triangles, and abstract looks done with masking tape as well. 

I decided that I wanted a chunky look, so I spaced my stripes out a lot, but it would be easy to do a smaller look. First, you tape the bag out. I did it the easiest way I know, and it helps keep the points in line with each other. You just put the tape down in diagonal stripes all over the bag, and don't worry about trying to tape in a chevron pattern.

Then once you have the whole bag patterned out, then you go back through and cut the extra tape bits out, leaving a chevron pattern. The most important part is making sure the tape it securely laid on the bag - no bubbles, or open parts - especially at the points.

Then taking your fabric markers you get to coloring - and stay in the lines this time. I choose fabric markers for this project instead of sharpies or paint because fabric markers are permanent after 24 hours and can be washed. While I was using one color, I set the other marker upside down so that the ink would be ready to go when I was done with a stripe. It helped it flow easier and made the project go faster.

The most important part of doing this project is to get the edges crisp and thoroughly painted in. The better you do on the edges, the more defined your chevron pattern will look.

With fabric markers just make sure you have a set look you want to do, because how you color it in, is how it will look. So my green/teal area is kind of spotty looking and my blue area is stripey looking because that's how I colored it. So keep it consistent.

Then once you get the whole thing colored in - let it dry with the tape still in place to help prevent it from bleeding.

Now it said to let it dry for 24 hours, but I waited five before I took the tape off, however I won't use it till tomorrow just in case. I don't want it bleeding onto my clothes or arms.

Peel the tape off carefully and admire your new bag!

I'm Back!!

Alright, after a much unanticipated hiatus, I'm back! I've decided that since I'm now a stay-at-home mom that I've got time here and there to show what I'm interested in, making, crafting, cooking, reading etc. 

Since it was the Fourth of July just a few days ago, and since I have been on a crafting kick, I decided to finally get into the spirit of things since 1) I'm no longer working retail which kinda sucks the fun out of holidays, and 2) Last year I was UBER pregnant and just wanted little man to make an appearance.

So I got on Pinterest.....Btw, I'm a major Pinterest junkie. I check it everyday. More than once. More than twice....  okay I'm a total addict. I can't help it - there is so much to make, cook, exercise (though I rarely do this one) and just yeah - I love it. Plus I think it helps me continue to be creative and exposes me to some seriously talented people out in blogger world that I wouldn't know of and having found them, I feel like I'm a better person because of them. Deep, I know. :)

Anyhow, I found this awesome pin for a holiday wreath (HERE) and decided that I could do that my way for our door. So I went out to Michael's and got all the stuff I'd need - foam wreath, yarn, and stars. I already have a glue gun and sticks, and ribbon to hang it with. Now, I learned some good and bad things with this craft; one is that it takes a surprisingly longer time to do than I thought. I figured I could do it while little man was taking his two hour nap and be done - nope. It takes longer for reasons I'll go into.

Here's my crafting loot - 

Now don't go crazy with the yarn - one bundle is PLENTY. I got a 12" foam wreath, some simple wooden stars, and yarn in a deep red, a dark blue and a sort of creamy white - to match the wooden stars better since stark white looked odd with everything else. 

The foam wreath was a blessing and a curse. The yarn loves to stick to it, so wrapping the wreath in the yarn was a serious pain - and the main reason why this took so long to do, but the one major advantage to having the foam was that since the yarn loved to be connected to it so well, it meant that i didn't have to glue down my yarn all the time - just when I was starting or stopping a color - so that part rocked. But the foam did get everywhere and I had to sweep up a bit so little man wouldn't crawl along and eat the foam snow that ended up all around me. I've seen it done with straw before, so I'll leave it up to you. Pros and cons to both methods. 

After having done this, I would definitely recommend you mark where you want your yarn to start and stop to give you a better chance of making the wreath look uniform. I didn't do this til the very end and as a result my wreath is a bit off, but it's not bad.

See my super tiny marks?

Alright, one quarter of the wreath is straight blue, and I wanted red to be the color next to the blue on both sides, so after marking it all out, get wrapping. This takes a while. I just glued down a little bit of yarn and put on a movie and went at it. Now since there is no way to get it to line up evenly since the inner circle will always be smaller than the outside, you will overlap. Try your best to make it look uniform and still keep the yarn straight. I did pull my yarn super taunt on this one, so it could have gone by quicker if I hadn't, but I liked the more polished look it gave to the project. 

 Keep at it for a while, sweeping up and letting your hands take a break every so often till you get 3/4 of the way done with your stripes then do the blue quarter.

Now I bought five big stars, since the little ones ended up looking so much darker than my cream/white yarn, but only ended up using two on the wreath itself. But you could do buttons, smaller stars if available or whatever you happen to think of. The button version of this is pretty cute.

Then just position the stars however you think best and hot glue those suckers on. And Bam! Fourth of July wreath!

You can hang it however you want with ribbon or dangling down. I just glued a strip of ribbon across the back that my hanger can slide into so that a ribbon wouldn't get in the way of the yarn or detract from it in any way.

To also help me get into the Fourth of July spirit I found this adorable printable (HERE) and put it in a white frame I have out for the seasons. Then I made some cute sugar cookies and called it good. The sugar cookies were inspired by this blog (HERE) and I made them using this cookie genius - Sweet Sugar Belle. Her cookie blog is awesome.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! GO AMERICA!!

The Greatest Thing Ever Happened

That's quite the auspicious title isn't it.... but so true!!!

Saturday afternoon, after the retreat (which was awesome by the way - I'll post on it later...) I was at home with my husband when I mentioned something that one of my cousins had told me.....there was a new Russian store that opened in Draper, Utah.

This is epic.

Seriously.

While Portland, OR has a nice Russian population, and therefore grocery stores to support that, Utah is a bit lacking. The one we did find in Salt Lake kinda stunk. We couldn't get bread, pelmeni, chocolates, tea, really anything. So we hopped in the car, and decided to immediately check out the new store in Draper.

428 E 12300 S Draper, UT 84020-9503 US

This place is AWESOME!!! They have tea (chai), chocolates, bread, kielbasa, cookies, cheese, just so many good things! I'll admit - Lance and I went a little bit overboard. We were like two kids in a chocolate factory (which incidentally we've been to the Russian chocolate factory - twice). If we saw it was remotely close to something we remembered, then we bought it. If it was shiny... we bought it. We got a little carried away, but it was just so exciting. Finally! A Russian store that carries Russian food that we actually like and would definitely get.

We picked up some pelmeni  - which is a Russian meat filled pasta that Lance is an EXPERT at cooking. Of course some chocolates, cheese, kielbasa, mayonnaise, kinder eggs, and the best chamomile tea in the world. So so so happy about this.....



We're going back on Wednesday.... :)



Juice > Chocolate Milk

Ok, now I know that chocolate is a serious contender in quenching my thirst, but nowadays, juice is number one. While I still love love regular milk and water, sometime juice is simply.... divine.

And thanks to some good friends, we have found the best American juice out there. Now, I say American, because Russian juice is so so so good. Just imagine a nice box of juice that is more puree than watered down and sugar filled - basically just pure delicious juice. And what will really blow your brain is strawberry juice. Yes, it exists, and yes, it is wonderful! There were months when all I wanted to have in Russia was bread, cheese and strawberry juice. Not the best staple, but certainly the tastiest.



And when i came back from Russia, it was a mad search to try and find some sort of alternative - nothing too sugary, watered down, carbonated or what have you. Just plain straight up juice.

Introducing: Bolthouse Farms. Thick, fantastic, good for you juice. They have so many varieties, but right I'm having a love affair with Mango Lemonade. Now I know most of you have enjoyed flavored lemonades at restaurants and I'm not exception, but this is the real deal. Not just regular lemonade with flavored syrup squirted in. It's fantastic. It's..... well, you HAVE to try it. I won't be offended if you don't like it, but I just don't see how that is even possible.

Mango Lemonade - Nectar of the Gods, and my latest find.



Well, as always life gets a little crazy and I neglect to write all about it. It hasn't been overly busy, just lots to deal with.

I work at a jewelry store (they pay me to play with diamonds....not too shabby), and there have been lots of goings on there - sales, end of year (our fiscal year ends in March) sales, and of course, the big inventory of the year. Now, when I say inventory, I mean that we have to count EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF JEWELRY!!, and in a store that's a fairly good size, that means lots and lots to account for. It usually takes a couple of hours, and this year was no different. Now, I'm not saying that I hate inventory, because oddly, I really don't mind it, but it always seems to sneak up on me.... I know it coming.... then.... BAM!!! It's here. Catches me off guard when I am busying working with clients, helping out in the store and just doing my job in general.

Then of course is what I've been major focusing on for the past year - the retreat. I don't know if you know this, but I'm a board member on a non-profit charitable organization called Evergreen. It's been around for nine years now, and while I haven't sat on the board that long, its definitely a new experience for me. Sometimes its maddening how we have to keep going back and forth on issues and where we want to focus our efforts and where we want to contribute, but when I look at what we accomplish, I'm very proud to be a small part of it. We've given to the Christmas Box House, donated hygiene kits to various disaster relief aids, send doctors and medicine to Haiti, helped out with Hurricane Katrina, given blankets to the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, teddy bears to terminally ill children, and lots and lots of other things.

What I'm getting at, is that each year, we hold a retreat. It acts as a fundraising event for the foundation, as well as helping all the members (who are all the women in my extended family over the age of 14) to have a chance to get together. We have speakers, guests, crafts, humanitarian projects, good food, and of course insanely great company. My family is awesome - really wonderful inspiring women, who even though they are often older than me, there is a lot to learn from them.

And this year, it's my family's turn to host the retreat, get things organized and come up with a theme. We decided we wanted a kick-butt kind of retreat - the kind where we hope all the women leaving empowered and uplifted. So we're calling it "Women of Strength." oh, and the best part..... we're focusing on superheroes!! :) I'm so excited!! We are helping (hopefully) the ladies realize that they are already super heroes and need to stop living as their secret identities. I mean, Clark Kent is a great guy, but he's also kind of a dork, and then BAM!!! He's Superman - and way confident and well..... super. :) We have Bam! Pow! Whoosh! signs all over for decorations, and I've drawn a comic book cover to have on the notebooks we are providing for notes, and well, I just hope it goes off as well as we have planned. My husband says we've planned way too much, but that it's like when you are going to give a talk in church, or give a lesson - you always plan more than what you actually use.

Did I mention that it's this weekend? Well, it is..... hence the rush and running around to make sure we have done our very best to make it a memorable and uplifting weekend for all who can attend. Wish us luck! Maybe I'll post pictures afterwards..... :)

Anyway, just saying that's why I haven't been super good about keeping up with this, but I'll get better. I keep following all those cute blogs out there and hoping I get as good as you guys.

And by the way -  YOU ARE ALL SUPER HEROES!!! BAM! POW! ZOINKS! GADZOOKS! YOWEE!

A legend is gone...

Well, today it came as a total shock that revered coach Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz has resigned. Now while I won't claim to be the biggest sports buff by any means, I do love the Jazz. I love the game, the players and seeing Coach Sloan on the sidelines getting worked up. For me, I don't remember anyone else coaching the Jazz.



He was the coach for the great duo - John Stockton and Karl Malone, and watching now, even though sometimes the games drive me nuts, he's all I have ever known. My husband and I try to go as often as we can, and last night we were there at Jerry Sloan's last game as Jazz head coach. It was a disappointing loss, but I would never have dreamed that that would be it - goodbye to Coach Sloan.

He is a legend and it's sad to see him go. Going to Jazz games have been a favorite past time for my husband and I. Not to say that we won't still go to games, but it won't be the same. I don't envy Tyrone Corbin, the new coach, trying to follow in the footsteps of an NBA institution.

So thank you so much Coach - for creating great players, for many exciting games and even more memories. You're the best there ever was or will be again.



Fancy Cheeses and Breads

So, in today's adventure, my husband and I stumbled upon a very fancy (almost snooty) grocery store while running errands. What was supposed to be a light stroll just to see what was on display ended up setting us back a few bucks, but on some really cool finds.

Jazz Apples - this is the first that I had heard of them. My favorite tends to be the Honey Crisp, but I'll give this one a whirl.

Artisan Breads - while this isn't new to Lance and I, its the first that I can recall so many different kinds being made right there in the store. After some consideration, we settled on homemade chibatta, and sourdough. Not exactly new to us, but they smelled fantastic. Should make some really good toast (ah, toast how I love thee!).

Horseradish Cheese - Definitely not what i would pick out at all (I selected a nice Gouda), but Lance was crazy about this. This one is all him; I tried a bit, but the aftertaste about killed me. Now, if only we could have found some nice kielbasa. I miss picking out bread, cheese, and meat in the stores in Russia.

Squeaky Cheese - I'm not sure what the actual name of this is called, but it's called Squeaky Cheese when it comes from the Tillamook Factory in Oregon. While not as good as the true Tillamook version, we did find a Chipotle style. Here's hoping that it's good!

And then, just for fun - Thomas Kemper's Orange Cream Soda - nothing to say but mmmmm!!! This company makes the best flavored drinks out there. Oregon Marionberry, Orange Cream Soda, Spiced Ginger Ale.... all unique and all extremely delicious.

So we didn't get anything that was actually on our grocery list - but its kinda fun to pick up unusual foods and trying them out. I'll let you know how it goes.... :)

The World's Biggest Fish... sort of.....

This amazing narration chronicles our discovery of the world's biggest fish.... well, maybe not the biggest, but certainly bigger than I've ever seen. Ok, I've seen bigger, but we had fun filming them.... in case you couldn't hear me laughing.

The Four-eyed Fish

Here is a short video as proof of our adventures. This was filmed at the Living Planet Aquarium and features me narrating with additional information provided by my husband. Please also disregard the red dot - it's just there to show we were recording.

Wednesdays are the Best

So, my sweet husband and I usually only have one day off a week from work (besides Sunday thank goodness), and it's usually a Wednesday. And once in a while we spend the whole day not being super productive but having a nice day date.

So last Wednesday we started our adventure (after sleeping in a little bit) with a drive to the races. :) Now the races are the best arcade game we have ever discovered. I've talked about it before, but it's just so much fun (and a little frustrating when your horse doesn't do well). It's only fifteen dollars for admission and ten dollars worth of nickles, which if you start a new horse will take you all the way to retirement for your horse. It's fun and frustrating, and and just plain nice to sit next to each other cheering on your horse for the win or at least a good photo finish.

After the races, Lance drove around mysteriously without telling me our next destination, which ended up being the Living Planet Aquarium. We only had about 45 minutes till close which ended up being enough time to walk around and video tape the animals and enjoy the grocery store-esque layout. The penguins were of course the highlight and the sea turtle that apparently escaped the clutches of a great white shark; only to be captured by us.

Then we went to the Mayan restaurant and were sitting up in the tree foliage to eat in peace and enjoy the diving show. Good food, but great atmosphere. I wish there were more themed restaurants. Then we went next door to try to see if Tron was any good. :) I won't give anything away, but I'm glad we shelled out for IMAX 3D, because I doubt I'll see it again. It was entertaining but certainly no Young Victoria. :)

Anyway, back home to relax a bit and enjoy a quiet evening before jumping into the fray again. We don't always go all out for our dates but it was a ton of fun to spend the whole day doing things we like to do with each other and things we haven't gotten around to doing for a long time.

Dreaming weird things again....

So last night, after thoroughly enjoying a great date night with my husband (more on that later) I dreamt that my friend Katie was very obliging and came over to help me get this blog looking better. :) Which just tells me that I still have work to do. Even my subconscious knows it.

Moving on.....

So one thing that I just love doing is going to the Nicklecade in Sandy, to play "the races." With the slightly ratty chairs and a couple of dollars worth of nickles, you can create your own race horse, train it, encourage it and of course, race it against other horses. This is a particularly fun date option for my husband and I. We have done this several times and have a variety of our own horses to use to breed new ones. But last night I decided to start completely from scratch and not use any of our previous champions. I raised a male brown horse. (I always raise a male brown horse - it's just inevitable). And I trained this horse beautifully, raced it well, and .... came in second every time. My husband's horse didn't compare to mine in terms of its abilities, but it's track record was insane. Won every time. It was infuriating!! To have this horse that was just amazing and favored to win over my husbands, and then come in second every time. But just to show how wonderful my husband is, he let me win a couple, and even let me win a championship race even though he could have smoked my horse.

I write all this to say, that some times the simple, cheaper things in life are what you really enjoy and remember. For ten dollars, my husband and I can have a competitive and fun evening and something to talk about and enjoy later. I love things like this.

Whoopsidaisy!

So, after getting excited about starting this blog, I sort of neglected it for a bit. Things got a little busy around here......

But there has been much lately that has made me wonder and enjoy.

For the Fourth of July, my sweet husband took me to "Stadium of Fire." Carrie Underwood was the guest that evening. We got hot dogs and my husband bought a light up mug, while I did a little bit better by getting a shirt. We enjoyed the pre-show and were even more grateful when the sun went down and was no longer shining in our faces. Of course, the sunset was gorgeous and I couldn't stop telling my husband about it. And at long last - Carrie Underwood came out. I just enjoy her music, so it was especially nice of my husband to get tickets for the both of us to enjoy that evening.

She was really really good and we had a lot of fun. Then the moment she got off the stage, the fireworks started. And to make the evening even more wonderful, they choreographed the fireworks to my favorite orchestral piece - George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." Perfect. The whole event was just so much fun, and a great way to celebrate this amazing country's independence. The only damper on the whole evening was a misfiring of some fireworks that ended up shooting into the stadium crowd and catching one individual on fire. They are fine, but it was a bit shocking to see someone waving around on fire.

Memorable evening.

Some other things that I have enjoyed since then have been the movie "Inception." A unique plot in a movie that had some good twists and a great ending. I didn't think it was all that confusing as others have said, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Our movie theater was packed and there were a lot of people who audibly gasped at certain parts which just made it even better. I, of course, won't give anything away, but will just say that it was a good movie - go see it.

There is always more that I could say at this point, but to avoid making this a lengthy post, I will just end it here for now until I write again.

Be happy!!!! :)

Toy Story 3

I just saw Toy Story 3 last night, and don't worry, I won't give anything away, but it was amazing! It was, hopefully, the final movie in a great childhood trilogy. It did however, make me a little bit sad about the toys that I have outgrown.

I had several of the toys featured I played with - the toy phone, the spinning wheel of farm animals, the three animals that pop up when you hit a button. The only toy missing was My Little Pony.

While many of my toys did get donated, a few got thrown away in heated cleanings with my mom, but most still sit in bins in my parents basement. Thankfully getting a second life with my nephews. Except my barbies. Boys don't play with barbies - at least my nephews think that way. Maybe some day when there are daughters and nieces, they will get played with and accessorized as well.

The whole movie was wonderful, but perhaps the cutest thing was the little eight-year old boy sitting next to me. At the end of the movie he was bawling (it will probably make you cry for those who haven't seen it yet). He had his shirt up by his eyes and was using it to wipe the tears away as the movie was concluding. I was crying too but that is beside the point. It is just a really great movie and Pixar did a very good job of wrapping up the stories of some of my favorite characters.

If you haven't seen it yet - go. :)

The BFG

The Big Friendly Giant was a long time childhood favorite book of mine. My mom used to read to me every night, and there are few nights even now as an adult, where I don't read something. A life-long love of books has meant that I have scoured through libraries, read classics and new fiction, and even had a book club when I was younger.

But the BFG by Roald Dahl was always one of my favorites that I still continue to enjoy. It's a great story about a giant who would rather not eat children, like his cousins do, but rather catches and mixes dreams for children to enjoy at night. One evening, while giving children dreams, a young girl sees him and he takes her with him. Adventures follow....  I won't spoil it for anyone.

I just finished reading "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight Into Heaven." It wasn't my favorite book, as it mostly deals with Native Americans on a government reservation, and alcoholism, but some of the stories were really good. I just prefer books to have a linear plot.

I am also reading a biography about Stalin. It is an intense book and I have to keep taking breaks from it because it tends to get a little depressing. Did you know that he killed almost everyone from his childhood because he only wanted to be remembered as a revolutionist and not who he was before that? Its tidbits of knowledge like that that make this book intense and hard to just read through. But I will say that it is really interesting. Having lived in Russia, and gotten a sense on how Russians feel about Stalin, I better understand them now. Lenin is everywhere as a visionary. There are statues of him in every Russia city I was ever in, but none of Stalin. The atrocities he committed are not soon forgotten, and I dont' blame him.

Ok, after that macabre note - all I am trying to say is that I love books, especially those that make me think or help me understand something better. Since finishing the Tonto book, I am looking for a new replacement. Any ideas?

Nooks and Crannies

Is there anything more wonderful than a perfectly toasted english muffin with all the "nooks and crannies" filled with melting butter? I could have them with every meal - sadly, that never ever happens. But on the rare occasion my husband and I actually pick them up at the store, they are a surprising delight. We always seem to wait too long between purchases in my opinion, but I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder as they say, because every time I enjoy one again, I am surprised by how good they really are.

There are so many foods I adore - but things that I can toast, for some reason are a real comfort to me. While I was in the Provo MTC, my companion had a toaster mailed to her and I had my mom send me Great Harvest wheat bread, so we could have toast any time we wanted it. And a toaster in my apartment in Russia was a near miracle. It is surprisingly difficult to make toast with a skillet.

So today, thank you toast machine inventor man - Charles Strite, for making my day just a little bit better.

A New Beginning

Well, after much deliberation, I have decided to try out this blogging thing and simply put here whatever interests me and makes me happy. I have been making lists and writing down things that make me happy since I was in high school. Heck, I even made it into a book - not one that got published, but rather just one years collection of some of my favorite things. So as my first forray into blogging, I thought I would just write about whatever strikes me as interesting - a good movie I watched, a book that made me think, people who are wonderful or inspiring.

Today it is Chihuly.

Dale Chihuly.A genius of art. I was first introduced to Chihuly by my amazing mom. There was a display of his art at a downtown musuem and from that moment on - I have been transfixed. I never knew you could create such things out of glass.

He even suspended his artwork off of the canal bridges in Venice, Italy.

They are vibrant, and delicate, and bold in color. And because they are made of glass, they are unique. Sadly, there isn't a gallery that displays his works in Utah, but if you ever get the chance to see his work - jump on it. You won't be disappointed. At the very least, check out his website - www.chihuly.com. Oh, and did I mention that he works with flaming hot balls of glass with one eye? No depth perception and yet he makes things that are incredibly deep.

Anyway, that's todays wonder. Since I am new to things, who knows what will show up on here next, but at the very least, this is my optimistic proclamation for now.