Is it Spring Yet?

Provo. Ew.

FriDec 21
Few Snow Showers
26°/17°
30%

SatDec 22
Partly Cloudy
26°/21°
10%

Las Vegas. Good.

FriDec 21
Sunny
50°/32°
10%


SatDec 22
Sunny
50°/35°
10%

Just Studying for Finals

That is if sewing my sister's Christmas present counts as study time.

Disney World on the Back Burner

Don't be jealous or anything, but next Wednesday night while all of you are sipping eggnog by the Christmas tree, I'll be watching this: Awesomeness. I've dreamed of seeing this since 9th grade when we watched clips in my technical theater class. The best part of the experience? It's free. Thank you, Las Vegas Bowl.

HGTV

I absolutely love HGTV, especially House Hunters and My House is Worth What? The best part is that I can watch this full hour of goodness and feel justified because the shows are on back to back from 8-9pm and so I plan my gym attendance accordingly. I can walk on the treadmill if that means I can watch TV for an hour :)

Weird.

Dear Mr. Rick,

I semi enjoyed your presentation today on the joys and woes of book publishing. I have to admit though that I would have enjoyed it more except that you kind of remind me of a pedophile. Is this what drew you towards writing children's books?

Warily, Stephanie

Tell tale sign

Bookbinding

I just signed up for Visual Arts-Studio 330R: Bookbinding for the winter semester. Awesome.

Save money when you fly

By using Yapta.

I can't wait until I get a chance to use this! I only wish I had found it before the holidays. The scoop? You put your flight plans into Yapta.com and they watch the flights for you, alerting you when the prices drop.

So then you buy your tickets, and the next day, the price drops again. Don't be distraught! Yapta gets you a voucher or refund from the airline. Can it get better than this? I submit that it cannot!

In Awe of Isaac

The singles ward we go to had a tailgate party before the Thursday-night TCU game a couple of weeks ago. They had a competition for best poster for "Brother Taylor." I'm so sad we had to miss it! Isaac of course wasn't able to attend because of game prep, and I was in class right up until the game started. I wish they had taken pictures! One group of girls knew that at least I would want to see their poster so they saved it for us! Another boy had painted Isaac's number on his chest and back, and even 3 days later, the dye from the paint still hadn't washed off. He showed us the remnants at Ward Prayer that night.

CSU Game

These pictures are posted way after the fact, but I still wanted to put them up anyway. This was the CSU game back on Nov. 3rd. Isaac played kickoff and punt return, and at the very end, he got in as running back too! Of course the only pictures I snapped were from a distance, and you can't even make him out on here. You'll just have to trust me that he's in there :) The first pic is him on the sidelines and the next two are him on the field. I was too involved in the game when he was in at the end, I didn't even think of taking pictures then. Ugh! Ho hum. Here's a couple of me and the folks as well.

Happy Thanksgiving

These are the essentials to my having a happy Thanksgiving.

1) The savory cheese ball hors d’oeuvre, anticipatory of the feast.

2) Moist turkey

3) Ample cranberry relish atop my turkey, but only if it's my mom's... and if it isn't then I may not eat it.

4) Creamy mashed potatoes accompanied by little or no gravy

5) Sweet potatoes--no marshmellows, yes brown-sugary heaven topping

6) Green bean casserole. This may be my single favorite part.

7) Stuffing. Stuffing with sauteed apples, celery, and onion mixed in.

8) A fat piece of pumpkin pie with real whipping cream.

These are the reasons why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday :)

Shut up!

So whenever you read interviews with famous people, or in my case--BYU football players, you always see that they ask the question, "So what's your pet peeve?" Most people give pretty lame, ambigious answers like, "arrogant people" or "flaky girls." Well I've finally pinpointed my biggest pet peeve, so if I'm ever interviewed this is what you'll read/hear me say--"People who talk or text during a movie. Talking is LOUD and texting is BRIGHT. Both types of people should die by my gouging their eyes out." :)

BYU vs. Wyoming

Isaac is headed to Laramie, WY, today for the BYU vs. Wyoming game tomorrow. He's looking forward to a very exciting night on the town with the other players.

Go Green

Here's my plug for being environmentally friendly. A use for some old t-shirts: make reusable grocery bags. Now I'm pretty self-confident and don't mind too much what people think, but I don't know if I would ever be brave enough to bring these with me to the grocery store and demand the sackers use them. It'd be way cool though. But I wouldn't use the cliche I Love NY shirt. I found the idea at MarthaStewart.com.

They Taste Good to Her

It's been about a year (give or take) since I've posted so I thought I'd post a poem or two from my favorite poet, William Carlos Williams.

"This is Just to Say"

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

"To a Poor Old Woman"

Munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand

They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her

You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand

Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her

NaNoWriMo

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2007. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Happy Halloween!

We Need These Bad

I was perusing at Apartment Therapy and stumbled upon this wonderful creation. I should have thought of this first since I'm constantly tripping over my phone/phone cord all the time. Genius.

The Tag

Tagged again... but that's ok because I love talking about myself, right?

4 places I've lived...
1. Littleton, CO
2. Kingwood, TX
3. Provo, UT
4.

4 jobs I've had...
1. lifeguard
2. cleaning lady for Dr. Thorn
3. Akal Security
4. Agemni Inc.

4 favorite desserts...
1. vanilla ice cream
2. brownies with hot fudge
3. pumpkin pie with real whipped cream
4. peach cobbler

4 favorite TV shows...
1. The Office
2. House MD
3. House Hunters
4. My House is Worth What?

4 interesting facts...
1. My favorite color is purple, and I'm working on a purple quilt right now.
2. My husband and I dated for 6 weeks before we were engaged.
3. My new favorite thing is hot apple cider. This is the best.
4. My favorite storie is Anthropologie.

My favorite color! Not a coincidence

I don't know why I like to take all the silly quizzes like this. I like to pretend it's because I have 4 hours of internet to my disposal everyday. Who am I joking though? I'd probably still take all of these if I didn't work at a software company.

you are violet #EE82EE

Your dominant hues are red and blue. You're confident and like showing people new ideas. You play well with others and can be very influential if you want to be. Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Lavender Lime 03

Give me a lever long enough, a place to stand, and I shall move the world. -Archimedes

http://www.d-pan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=45

Oh, The Places You'll Go

I finally applied for graduation yesterday!! Exciting and scary at the same time. I can't decide when I want to walk though. I have to take 1 to 3 credits during the spring term, so I don't know whether I want to go through the big hoorah of walking and then have to back to school for a month and a half. August just seems so far away, and the ceremonies are so small compared to April. We'll see... The important thing is that I'M GRADUATING SOON!

Q is for Quilt

I bought these cute fabrics today on Ebay, and on Saturday my dad brought me my sewing machine when they came down for the football game. It's quilting time.

October

I had to mow the lawn on Saturday since Isaac was at football. In order to do this, I had to rake some serious leaves all from one tree in the corner of the backyard that has lost all of it's leaves in the space of two weeks!! Of course Isaac surprised me by coming home earlier. If I had only waited...

Bored at Work

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core. You often find yourself on the outside looking in. Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works. You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Your Ideal Hairstyle:

Short and Bouncy

What Women's Hairstyle Is Right For You?

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Oridnary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Witches Night Out

This Friday night my mom, sister, grandma, aunts, and I are all going to Witches Night Out up in West Jordan. It's at Gardner Village which I've never been to, but supposedly it's a pretty fun place. It's a mini town of crafty shops, and, of course, now they are decked out for Halloween--my second favorite holiday. Awesome times two--this weekend is their annual Witches Night Out for ladies 18 and up. Everyone is supposed to come dressed up--pointy hat and all--to shop around with all of the outrageous witches they'll have there. There's going to be music, scary stories, and fortune too! Every night this month they've had a dinner show there called Witch-a-Palooza so we're going to that too while we're in the neighborhood :) It's basically going to be awesome. I want to eat pumpkin fudge, carmel apples, and cinnamon glazed pecans until I barf. Here's an awesome picture of one of the witches that will be walking around.

How to Tell You're Not the Favorite

Happy Recognition

I finally know what I want to do! This might sound a little crazy, but I think I want to start my own little business making cards and premade scrapbooking pages for people. I'm not sure how I will successfully sell them, but I've a got a couple months to think about it until I exit the job I have now. I think Isaac's entrepreneurial excitement is rubbing off on me. I'll keep you posted. I'll scan some of my creations when I get home. Lavender Limes is about to become more than just a blog...

It's Halloweeeeen Time

I love Halloween. Halloween and Thanksgiving are my two favorite holidays. They are just so darn fun. I have way more decorations for Halloween than I do for Christmas. I saw this picture on another blog ("I Love You . . . I Think") and I want to try recreating it in our yard. We'll see how it goes though. This sounds like a craft I'll have to do this weekend while Isaac is away so he can't rebuttal it.

Isaac and Homework

At 8:30 Isaac told me that he had a lot of homework to catch up on. At 9:15 I found him like this.

Our house, in the middle of our street

I finally got new batteries for my camera after 6 months because I decided that I should be documenting our new life together. Anyway I realized that most people haven't seen pictures of our new house. Now I know it's not ours to keep, but in excitement of my "new" camera, I thought I'd still show off a picture or two. I had to mow the lawn this evening since it rained all weekend, but I'm glad I was forced outside or else I wouldn't have taken all of these pictures. (I'm having to rediscover my camera so I realize they're a little blurry, but you get the point.)

Also for nostalgic purposes for a select few, here's an oldie but goodie I took when we were in our last apartment:

Conference Weekend

Ya know what one of my favorite things about Conference weekend is? I wear pajamas for 2 days straight.

All the Pretty Horses

I'm reading a fabulous book right now, and I'd like to recommend it to anyone who has the time. It's called All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. It's about a Texas boy named John Grady, who after his parents divorce and his grandfather dies, takes his horse and runs away to Mexico with his friend Rawlins. Everything McCarthy writes about in this novel is so beautiful and your attachment to the characters and setting is so intimate. It's one of the few books I would spend money on in order to add it to my library.

Isaac Is Home!

I'm excited for this weekend!! Why? Because Isaac will be home all weekend with me! Yesss!! Tonight we're going to go shopping and then watch Gallipoli. If I'm lucky, Isaac will take me out to dinner too :) Since we never get to spend long periods of time together, I'm not sure if we're going to watch conference with either of our families, but we'll see what happens. Happy Friday everyone!

Pinkberry

I stubbled across this site over the summer while I was working 8 hours a day on the computer. I wish we had one close by! It seems awesome. They sell only two flavors of Pinkberry--plain and green tea--and their toppings range from Cap'n Crunch and Fruity Pebbles to kiwi and blacberries. There are a ton of locations; the only problem is that they are all in the LA and NYC areas.

Life After College

I was informed a few weeks ago that if I want to graduate in April 2008, I need to fill out an application soon. Anxiety flooded my body. Can I really be so close to finishing? I feel like I there can't be an end to my schooling yet. It's only been 17 years; isn't there more? It's all I've ever known. I don't know which sickens me more though, the thought of graduating or the thought of getting a masters... I'm at the point now where people are asking me what my plans are, and honestly, I have no idea. Before I got married , my dream was to go to graduate school in California or New York. After I wanted to go to a publishing convention for 4 months in NYC, DC, or Denver to work with the top publishers and editors, spending a mere few thousand dollars just to be there; and then I would live in San Francisco, rent a flat, and work for a publishing company. As a married woman... cricket noise... We'll see what happens.

Shabby Apple

I love this website! I don't know if they have an actual store, but I love all of their dresses. Why? Their slogan tells all: A return to what dresses were always meant to be—a one piece outfit. No need to add anything…no tank tops, no cardigans, nothing.

Awesome.