i'm still recovering from last weekend

I love the 4th of July. Food, fireworks, sunshine, pool, friends, and red, white & blue. Just love it. I ended up having a four day weekend due to an error at work, and the clinic was closed. What did I do?

Friday-after a delicious morning of sleeping in, I took my mom to the Richland farmer's market. Which, by the way, is ten times better than Provo's, seeing as how I live in agriculture country. Not one stupid flower-hair-bow thing in sight. I tried fudge, cherries and bread. We had fun strolling along and seeing what the vendors had to offer. Even peeking in at a new bakery and a lady shop. I ended up getting huckleberry turnovers and some pink peonies. We even ran into Scott and Katy out to look for someplace to lunch. Then we took our purchases home and went back out to "stimulate the economy." I had to fix my HP7 shirt, that I keep getting the wrong kind of, and we took a little stroll around the mall. Then because we had coupons we stopped in at two different craft stores so I could stock up on my scrapbooking supplies. (After the GRE I'm going to start my DC scrapbook). The ysa activity that night was ice blocking at Carmichael Hill, it was good. Then I hung out with some awesome friends who gathered to see our dear friend Andy who was in town for the weekend. Again, we went to Shari's for pie after 1 am (I really don't understand the 1 am thing, it's not like it's on sale or anything) and I was up super late.

Saturday-after sleeping in again, I tried to mow the lawn, but the lawn mower wouldn't start. Oh darn. I guess I'll just go to the pool. I was there for like five hours. I invited a whole bunch of peeps and we had fun playing in the pool. Then Nikki and I caught the last half of the Dust Devils game, a minor league team associated with the Colorado Rockies. We snuck in subway to eat and had lots of fun watching the game. It was a good game too, close score, coach ejected and 11 innings. There were also fireworks after the game. And because Nikki and I are awesome and my iPod adapter was broken, we rocked out to my Rihanna cd that is like three years old in my car waiting for the parking lot to clear out. Then we swung in Scott's hammock for an hour and then had late night chats with Scott and Andy, who are two of our favorite people. Again, another really late night.

Sunday-went to church. It was good. Got some serious stuff talked about with some important people. Ended up going to a BBQ later that night. Got bit by a mosquito on my forehead and it swelled up really big. Played some gin rummy. Went to bed at a lot better time.

Monday-4th of July! Helped my mom make food for my bbq that I was having that night. Did all the must haves. Potato salad, red white and blue jello, watermelon, chicken, etc. Then I went to the pool again, saw more peeps. Got ready for bbq, arranged awesome music in the stereo, patriotic, Journey, America (duh), The Temptations, got chairs out, helped mom grill and played hostess. The high points were using the van carseat/bench as a seat, cutting the watermelon with a machete, and Scott rigging up a tarp to provide shade from the sun. Then we cleaned up and got ready to go see fireworks. We took Scott's couch and put it on the bed of his truck to watch. On the way to the show, Scott and I saw these two girls trying to ride a bullet bike, rather unsuccessfully. They pulled to a stop, and then kind of fell over. They had helmets on but were wearing skimpy shorts and tank tops. Clearly they had no clue, and it was quite entertaining. We watched a good fireworks show plus plenty of illegal fireworks, Kennewick caught on fire and we watched the flames grow and then the firemen put it out. I tried to take pictures of fireworks, but it's really hard. Might do better with a tripod. More chats with good friends, pulling goat heads out of our shoes and we were ready to come home.

And after only a four day work week, I'm still trying to recover. I love America!!

fantastic weekend

My weekend was fabulous. Por que? Porque I did all this fun stuff that you do in the summertime. Excellent. On Friday I went to the local ysa dance with my bestie Nikki. Yeah, I know. But all I ever expect out of them anymore is for me and Nikki to get our groove on. Which we do. And it probably scares some people. But we got the moves so we gots to share them.

After staying as long as we could tolerate, we headed over to Tour de Marshall at Scott's house. Tour de Marshall consists of each participant getting on a bike and riding around the block as fast as they can. A time trial. And Scott lives on Marshall. Thus, Tour de Marshall. It started as something to do when we were bored, but now it's serious. We keep track of our times and the winners get bragging rights. The boys and girls are separate though, and we ride different bikes. Which is fair because Scott is 6' something and I am 5'2" so the same bike would not work for the both of us. My goal for this edition was to improve on my time. I didn't really try too hard the previous times we've done it. I also donned my full body black spandex suit with hood to make me more aerodynamic. (Really I just wanted to wear it). This week we were more legit, Scott got lights for the bikes-we ride in the dark which makes the event more exciting, but if cars are coming, it's a bit dangerous-and we also had yellow jerseys for the leaders. When it was my turn I got all stretched out and warmed up. I have to have my bestie Nikki hold me up on the bike to start because it's too tall and it wastes time getting up onto the pedals. I called Nikki and Scott my pit crew. As I cycled to the first corner I saw a car approaching and it saw me, we both slowed down and didn't know what was going on. So I just casually finished the route to come back and rest to try again. The second time I went I forgot to put the helmet on, which on one hand probably made me faster, and on the other it was kind of scary because if I was going really fast and wiped out, that would be bad. The second time went a lot better, but man, I was breathing hard! I crossed the finish line and circled back around. My peeps were cheering for me. I was afraid to get off the bike because not only could I not reach the ground, I was really wobbly from the race. Scott tried to hold the bike up for me but I kind of managed to fall off anyway. Then they let me know my time: 1:30! Totes better than my other times. And then the best news of all, I beat all the other girls times of all the Tours! I was pretty proud of myself. Scott gave me the yellow windbreaker to wear as the other leader. We took pictures. Later we celebrated with pie at Shari's, it was really for Ariel's birthday, but I was celebrating.

The Black Spandex Body Suit with Hood is not forgiving on the body, so I have to wear shorts.

Scott and me, Tour Leaders

The next day I took my bike gang, Crank It Slow, on a new route. We met at my house and had a pretty good turnout. It was me, Bonnie, Jenny, Michelle, Will, Brian, Scott, Ariel, Nick and Canadian Mike. The route I took them on was the shelter belt around Richland. It actually was really shaded and quite pleasant. We biked all the way to Fred Meyer and got ice cream at the McDonalds next door. Then we biked back. The only down side of that path is that we had to cross highway traffic a few times. But hardly anyone else was on the trail.

Crank It Slow at Mickey D's

After the bike ride, I took everyone to my neighborhood pool. It was so nice because it was actually warm and sunny outside. We did lots of different stuff, diving board, baseball, handstand contests: I won best handstand, and we made a whirlpool in the baby pool. I even got a little bit of a tan. I was pooped after swimming.

But that was not the end! On Sunday we had a BBQ at Scott's house after church for Ariel because it was his birthday. We had carne asada tacos, which were pretty tasty. Scott has a sycamore tree in his backyard and I really wanted to climb it. But having a 5'2" frame is not super conducive to reaching branches. I tried, but I am not 10 years old anymore. Then this other kid kind of broke the lowest branch. But Scott really wanted me to get up in his tree. So Scott and Katy got me into a climbing harness and showed me how to repel myself up the rope. It was intense, and I have zero upper body strength. I had to put my foot in a loop of rope and then stand up, then hitch this thingy up the other rope and then sit down in the harness so I could move the rope for my foot up more. I soon got the hang of it and went up the tree. It took me awhile, and everybody was watching, but I'd never done anything like that before. And I made it. Then I unhooked my harness and climbed up the tree a bit. Scott also showed me how to repel down and that went a lot faster. I thought it was a pretty cool way to climb a tree. After that we played a few rounds of Mofia which were pretty fun, I get singled out a lot because I accuse people and I have a loud mouth.

It was a pretty fun weekend, you'd think I was 12 by the stuff I did. But it just goes to show that you can have fun in the Tri-Cities.

i forgot how good HSM is

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my iTunes for shuffling onto "Gotta Go My Own Way" from HSM 2. It reminded me that even though those movies are: for 10 year olds, super cheezy, not a real depiction of high school or real life; that I highly enjoy them. And they have good songs.


Also, when I saw HSM 3 in the dollar theater in P-town, it was highly entertaining. So much hollering and laughing at the cheesiness, and tell me who doesn't love Zac Efron doing his Kevin Bacon/NSYNC punch dance through the school?


Mmmm, Kevin Bacon

I like and I don't like

So I had a few ideas that I wanted to write about but they don't all necessarily deserve their own post so it kinda got amalgamated (see, I'm prepping for the GRE) into a like and dislike list.

I don't like-When all the boys in my YSA branch get candy bars for Father's day. Now, it's not that the girls didn't get anything. They did. I was just absent that week. And if I were there I would have totally protested. I think it's dumb to honor the boys when they are not the reason we have that special day. I flipped out a lot yesterday when they announced the passing out of candy bars after the closing prayer. Someone told me "Well they are going to be fathers someday." Cool. But they AREN'T right now. And not all of them will be. It's not a guarantee. And they're not MY father. It's not honor men day, honor people who hold the priesthood day or whatever. I can see handing out treats to a family ward to all the males, hey, I like to include people. But in a Singles Branch?!! It goes for girls too. I am not a mother. I am not your mother nor will I ever be. Someday I hope to be a mother, but don't go throwing candy at me for something I didn't do. Keep it for the real moms. If it's about having respect for priesthood holders or motherhood/womanhood and you are trying to do that in a singles branch there are other ways.

I don't like-my uterus. Some days I wish I could rip it out and throw it at the wall. TMI? Whatever. I'm a girl, so deal with it.

I don't like-my brother leaving me. Now I am an orphan. I had him for a month. Vaya Con Dios.

I like-babies. Baby Jace specifically. I got to snuggle with him on Saturday and he fell asleep in my arms after being unsuccessfully held by someone else. Ha ha. I was proud. He knows who his Aunt Megio is.

I like-summer. Happy First Day of Summer tomorrow! And summer solstice. Light out until 9:30? Yes, please.

I like-singing in the shower. It has the best acoustics and my voice sounds really great in there. And loud. Except I only do this when I've been awake for awhile before I shower. Some of my roommates could probably tell you that I do this. I hope it was entertaining. I even do show tunes, Lion King, Aida and Wicked work the best. Singing in the car is the next best place. All the sound does is bounce around inside the car so you can hear everything really well. If I am driving by myself on a long road trip my throat gets sore by the end because I have sung myself the whole way home. I'm pretty good entertaining myself with my iPod.

I like-planning parties. I am currently ruminating on a garden party in my backyard. Like all Martha Stewarty with fancy plates and tissue paper flowers. It has the potential to be fantastic, but it needs a little moolah to get it how I want, so I'm debating. Also, I was looking at the guest list last night, and in order not to offend anyone, I am now up to 20+ people. ...it may have to be a potluck.

And finally, I like and I don't like the new HP trailer. The movie itself will be amazing. I think I'll have goosebumps the whole time/cry/be antsy. But I don't like it because then there will be no more Harry Potter movies, ever. Que triste. If you haven't seen it, you should probably watch it. If you don't, then you are unamerican. Yeah, I went there.

the end is near

That's the slogan of the new HP 7.2 movie. I am super excited to see it. But at the same time, I feel like a huge part of my life is over. I don't read the books anymore before the movies because then it's really fresh in my mind how the story goes and I get really mad when they change it. I'm still debating over whether I want to go to the midnight showing or not. I want to have that whole experience, but I also want to stay awake and enjoy the movie. Also, I need to buy another t-shirt for the premiere, but I can't decide. There's two I like.

Which one should I get? Or maybe both. The Voldemort face kind of scares me. Some people know that I have problems watching 7.1 because it scares me. All I got to say is that when I do finally get to Harry Potter World I will have an entire wardrobe ready to wear there for an entire week.

And I think after I see 7.2 and take the GRE then I will commence reading HP 1-7 all over again for the jillionth time. It's my summertime tradition. Also I'm still waiting for them to make Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit. Don't laugh. They have a Lord of the Rings edition. My roommate Audrey and her family play it and actually know the answers. And LOTR would be hard because you'd have to know elvish and stuff. HP Trivial Pursuit would blow my mind.

this makes me scared for america

I've discovered something lately. I am valuable in my job for two reasons. 1. I can follow directions. 2. I can actually complete my task. What I do isn't that important in the grand scheme of things, but I figured out several things in a new task I'm doing, and it was news to the person who is teaching me said task. And they've been doing it for several years.

Also, the other day I overheard two coworkers discussing the greater than/less than symbols (> and <); being confused as to which one was which. "Wait, the alligator eats the bigger number?" And I work in a MEDICAL CLINIC. Seriously?!

So because I can understand and follow directions I have some weird kind of job security.

baby steps

Guess what? I signed up for the GRE. Yep. I'll be GREing on July 18th at 8 am. Wheee! I've been looking over stuff, it won't be hard necessarily but I am worried about getting my brain turned on by then. It's pretty much been dormant for the past 18 months. And I haven't done math in like six years...so that'll be fun. But, hey, at least I'm making motions to get my life going somewhere. And they tell me I can GRE once every calendar month.

baby steps sign up, baby steps study for test, baby steps take the test, baby steps apply to grad school? (WTF)