Happy Christmas

I went to a lovely Christmas service at St. Mary RedCliffe in Bristol tonight. I just love cathedrals, whether Catholic, Church of England or Episcopal. This church has beautiful sounding bells that ring and ring and ring. The inside of the church is beautiful, the huge vaulted ceilings and everything, and for much of the service the lights were off, except for a few free-standing candles, and then everyone holds their own candle. (it's a good idea really, you can't fall asleep in church with a candle-first there's the safety issue, plus fire is just too interesting) The candles are kind of magical and the whole thing has an aura that is different than when lights are at full bright, even when they turned them up so everyone could sing, it was still very soft and nice. The choir was amazing. There were lots of sing along moments, which I loved, because I love to sing. But did you know that a lot of the Christmas carols have the same words, but different tunes in England than in America? It's true. I had to be very careful. Fortunately Miss Jarman taught me how to sing like a British person back in high school (never thought I would thank her), so I fit in pretty good pronunciation-wise, except when they sang Beth-LE-hem.

they are winning

don't ever say i am not creative. it is 2:30 am, and i just fashioned a window screen out of kleenex and paper tape. i think it is one of my stupider ideas. i imagine it will hold up for all of 10 minutes. sadly it keeps all the cold air outside (opposite of what i was going for), lets all the noise in (fine, i don't really care one way or they other), and i am pretty sure will do nothing about the DAMN flies!

Crab, Key Lime and Fondue

Visiting Allina and Brianne this past weekend in Seattle. Here we are at the Crab Cracker. YUM!

Brianne was a really good sport going out with us, even though she was due to have her baby ANY minute. We figured crab could be her last meal (before she delivered). We tried to get her to go clubbing (ha!) and told her we could get her a baby doll dress, but she wasn't really into that idea. Okay, neither were we.


This is not a flattering picture of me. Allina really wanted to feed me chocolate fondue. I can't really explain it. You had to be there.
If you ever need reindeer antlers, they sell them at Pottery Barn.
Here is a cute pic of me and my nephew Riley. We were waiting for Brianne to have her baby. I had to take a flight in 2 hours. I told Brianne she had 2 hours to have baby Kaleb. She did not deliver. :( She did have him yesterday morning and they are both doing well. I can't believe I missed him by 20 hours!

someday i will unpack

have just returned from a couple FABULOUS days in seattle with my cousins, one of whom i BARELY missed her giving birth to her first child. i have not even had 24 hours here in new york. now i am off to manchester. leaving behind me still boxes all over my apartment. i don't know where to put everything, where the nearest laundry is, or where to put the garbage or recycle-ables. i am fairly sure i better figure out all of those things pretty quick.
cheerio!

"don't be mad at me"

i parked my car today. a little more in the ghetto, because let's face it, i live in a little shadier of a neighborhood. a guy came over to me, right up to my car, while i was still in it, and asked me for 20 or 30 cents. i told him i didn't have any money. which is the exact truth. i have the opposite of money. debt. i didn't go into all MY financial woes with him, because the poor man is probably living on the street, but i didn't give him anything either, just talked to him through the glass. "no i don't have any money" i said, "don't be mad, okay?" he said. "i'm not mad," says me. i thought, hey, as long as you're just asking me for some change, as opposed to actually robbing me or something, i'm not mad. "have a good day." i told him. "you too." he said.

home sweet home

i have moved into new apartment. it is lovely. interesting (in a very good way). i have partially unpacked. at least to the point that i was able to set up my bed. and put my food away on very very high shelves. i have no idea what i'm doing up. it has almost been 24 hours. my 2nd wind has come and gone, and i have had another 10 winds. one which involved singing michael michlean and total eclipse of the heart with my new roommates. and the wind beneath my wings. i really hate that song. i am ready for bed. tomorrow: home shopping spree at target.

commitment issues

whenever i have dreams of getting married (and they don't happen very often), i am always terrified, and i always am wondering why i am going through with it, although i have a pretty good idea. i never really know the guy, and i feel this momentum leading up to it and then i am like "oh crap."
this post has nothing to do with marriage. i am moving into a new apartment on saturday. we found it on monday, i think, and decided on tuesday. it's a great apartment, but this really freaked me out. not really my normal style of decision making. i like to see a lot of options, think about them, ask lots of questions, explore pros and cons, and then decide on something. okay, maybe this post has something to do with marriage. (or reasons why i am not. ha.) but against my normal way of doing things, and my perfectionist instinct that wants everything that i want, i have decided to go for it anyway. mostly because i know i can't have everything i want. and it's just an apartment, not a lifetime commitment, right?

first snow of the season

when i woke up this morning it was snowing. i looked out the window and it was so beautiful i let out an audible sigh. it was the perfect powdery kind, that is easy to brush off your car.

someone at church today said that must be why everyone decided it was "super cute" sunday, because new york was so pretty, so they decided they wanted to be too.

i joined the choir for what will probably be my only rehearsal (i could make it to the performance, but who knows, probably not). but i love singing christmas songs. music does something all the talks in the world can't do.

glimmer of hope for mankind

I went on a date tonight. It was fun. Who knows if there will be a 2nd date (it would be nice), but either way, he was normal (and cute, no lazy eye). It was nice to have a reminder that it is possible to have a good time with a normal guy and relate as human beings. I have wondered if it was actually possible.

New York City is so pretty

Okay, so that is a dumb title, but the Christmas lights are on here too. Yay!
(I promise to write about something besides Christmas next. I promise.)

Limerick Layover

The streets are all decked out in Limerick, Ireland


The Christmas tree in the center of town


An artist sells his paintings on the street

More Christmas Dedications

(As requested)

To Nina: The Christmas version of "Hands" by Jewel, with you, holding the hands that have fallen off the little statue of Jesus. I miss those days, the ones where we lived in the same state.

To Alicia: I don't have a song for you. I'm real sorry. I don't. I have racked my brains. But let me just say that I remember you in MANY MANY concerts, singing Christmas songs, with your really cheesy stage smile and dance that we all love so much. That's what I miss from you.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC AND SO DO YOU

I would like to dedicate 2 Christmas songs to 2 very special people...

"All I want for Christmas is you" goes to Nicole (in the memory of us dancing and singing it around our old apartment)

and

"Tiny Little Baby" sung by none other than Logan's finest Voice Male to D'Arcy

I'll be missing you on Christmas

So I'm sitting in my bed, all cozy in my hotel room in Ireland. Feeling the Christmas spirit I decided now would be a great time to start working on my Christmas letter, and I have already wasted enough time on the internet. I am listening to yahoo launch cast music. And something suspicious comes on. Something that sounds a lot like my Christmases of junior high.
Yep. It was from these guys:




"I'll be missing you on Christmas". There's really nothing like the high notes of Joey McIntyre's pre-pubescent voice singing the sweet cadences of love lost at Christmastime (yeah, I still know his full name, what of it?)

i am the secret weapon

Okay people, some of you may know, some of you may not, but I have been working on my third film. Okay, so that's a HUGE stretch to even talk about my ridiculously limited film experience like that, but my friends and I have been making a little movie, and hey, I would really like a listing at IMDB. I figure that I should be pretty close by now. Anyway, we finished filming our lingo and the editing is done as well. So here is our movie, i hope you like it...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G1Byv1ya2W0

Happy Scottish Thanksgiving!

After my fake Thanksgiving in Utah, I went to Glasgow, Scotland for the real one. I figured we'd go out for fish and chips. But the hotel there is awesome and makes us food on American holidays! So we had turkey and gravy, and pecan pie and everything, with our Scottish co-workers from the airport. We explained to them about Thanksgiving, and I am getting better at clinking the glasses in toasting. Apparently it is VERY important to clink everyone's glass, even if you are drinking water.

fake Thanksgiving 2007

I learned a lot about my family this Thanksgiving weekend. I learned that if my sister were to name her car, she would name it Tyler. I learned my family thinks I am the most sarcastic person in the family. I wasn't quite sure what to think of this, but I guess I will take it as a compliment, because at least I am the most SOMETHING, and sarcasm is funny, even if SOME people say it is the lowest form of humor. We learned other funny things while playing the game "Loaded Questions," but I don't really remember what else we learned, other than we refuse to be serious, and mostly want to have a good time. Here are some pics of the actual dinner.









Everyone came over for faux Thanksgiving on Sunday. We had 24 people-roommates, girlfriends, children, boyfriends, as well as all the family. Some people came in their best dress or suit. Some people came in their pajamas. Other people came with a new hair color, yet again. Alicia and I made pies and everyone else made and brought stuff. It was all delicious and it didn't really matter if it was the real day or not, at least not to me, since I was not in the country for the real one.

i heart utah

So I'm back in Utah for fake Thanksgiving, listening to country music again, eating home-cooked food, hanging out with family, in the land of the mountains and the pretty fall leaves. Loving it really.

My mom said she was shopping with my cousin who just went on a mission at the MISSIONARY MALL. Did you know there is a missionary mall in Provo? Apparently there is one for sisters and one for elders? With a huge blow-up elder standing outside? I told her she should have taken a picture. It sounds too good to be true. Sometimes I just forget they have things like this here.

My mom got a perfume sample there she said she'd give to me. I was excited about this-free travel-size perfume-great. Till I heard what it was called-"SWEET SPIRIT" No, I'm not kidding. I was pretty sure I didn't want it at that point, but I was morbidly curious. Yeah, it's one of those really cheap perfumes, I think the point is to actually repel the opposite sex.

your calendar for next year

Okay, I know some people might be offended by this. But seriously, this is way funny. I had a bunch of people over last night and one of them just had to borrow my computer to look up this site, and we couldn't stop laughing about this, so I am posting it.

http://mormonsexposed.com/


Okay, by the link you might think its some anti-mo site or something, and no, it's not naked pics either. Just a bunch or RMs making a calendar...



Okay, and then it gets better, you can buy these shirts:



or these shirts:



It's called a Family Values T-shirt, people. In Palmyra pink. Okay, so I won't be actually buying one. But I have to give it to these people for creativity and all.

a chilly Sunday morning walk

I was feeling restless and took a walk this past cold Sunday morning. This is what I saw.

Shopping Spree at Fairway

So right before my fateful date mentioned below I had to make a choice. A choice I never like making. I had just come in from Oslo and I was really really tired and really really hungry. I chose sleep. I didn't know if we were eating on our date, but I guess it didn't matter either way, because all I had in my cupboard was a Toblerone, some cookies from Switzerland, and some random cooking ingredients that you can't just eat. So I went without, all the while being scolded by Allina that I really needed to buy some groceries. Duh.

So yesterday, for the first time since living in Manhattan, I drove to Fairway. Being a Fairway virgin, I was a little overwhelmed. For awhile, I just drove my empty cart around the store. Finally I started putting the stuff on my list in there. Then I started putting random stuff that looked good in there. Smoked salmon, butternut squash soup, random cheeses. At first I thought the store was all organic. I bought 3 boxes of organic Peace cereal, which I am happily eating right now. Who doesn't want their cereal to have quotes from Mahatma Ghandi on it? And the berries in the cereal taste just like fresh berries!

$113 later, I was all checked out. I figured it's okay, thinking of how I haven't gone grocery shopping for 6 months, and thinking of all the meals I've skipped because I didn't have food around. I took 2 trips hauling it up my 4 flights of stairs and set to eating. Yum.

You don't know a thing about me...

Lately I have started feeling as though all men might be derranged. I know they're not. I know lots of wonderful guys. There are great guys in my family, at work, in my ward. Men I see on the street even appear to be well-adjusted individuals. All of these people have normal relationships with women, etc...But the ones who have been calling and contacting me lately have been doing some disturbed things. I am in a phase where I am a magnet for the weird ones and I am over it-get me out! It kind of makes it less enticing to actually make an effort to um, date.

I went on a date 2 nights ago. I was so traumatized by aforementioned date, that it has taken me a couple of days to write about it. Ever go on a date where it feels like you're on a quiz show? Question after question, and WEIRD questions too. Finally, when he had run out of questions, he asked me what else I wanted to know about him. NOTHING, I thought, I know all I need to know. But I came up with a few other questions, since that was what he was into. Finally, I just said, "what else do you want me to know about you?" He told me some more stuff, that I didn't really need to know, but whatever. Apparently he thought he was a lot more mature than he is, and he was telling me how he likes to date women older than him, lucky me, but I am thinking he should stick to girls his own age. And I should stick to guys my own age. Or older. I got to hear all about how he had been hurt in the past by some crazy girl and now he was just looking for a nice girl. He seemed to think I was that girl. But honestly, how could he know that? Anyone can be nice for a 2 hour dinner. In reality, I could be a total beotch. I'm usually not, but I could be. I just don't think it's really useful to start analyze someone's personality to them on the first, very short, date.

random sunday thoughts

This week I've really felt like a New Yorker. Like a normal person. Not that those are one and the same really. They're probably not. But I've been off for a few days, and actually felt like I've lived in the city, and that has been nice. Doing normal people things. Waking up in the morning. Going to bed at a reasonable hour. Not ordering delivery every meal. Not flying anywhere, not driving back and forth to the airport or riding the bus where the mean man checks your ID even though you're in a FLIGHT ATTENDANT UNIFORM. Now I'm back at work, going to Oslo tonight, and it's like, 'oh yeah, I have a job.' I think it will be a little hard to get into work tonight. But I'm pretty sure I'll get into it quick cause I hear that those flights are CRAZY and the people are thirsty.

On another, unrelated note, on my way to church, I was driving along, enjoying the ride (perhaps too much), listening to music, and I guess I just went into autopilot. Apparently I thought I was going to work, and I took the exit for the George Washington Bridge. There is nowhere to turn around from that point on. So there I was, going across the bridge, into New Jersey, instead of North, to church, where I really wanted to be. So I exited at the first exit, the Palisades, and all I could think of was the Billy Joel song "See the Lights go Down on Broadway," but sadly, that song offered me no clues on how to get back to Manhattan. I drove around the Palisades for a few minutes, looking for signs back to the GW bridge, and eventually found my way back. Fortunately I had $6 to get across the bridge, because that's what it costs to enter my lovely island. Where else can you get lost and it costs you $6? As soon as I was driving back across the bridge I turned my radio back on and could see a lovely view of Manhattan. This is exactly what I heard on the radio: "if you're lost you will look and you can find it, time after time..." Seriously. Uncanny.

Conan

Last night I went to see Conan O'Brien. It was awesome. The NBC people were really mean before you get into the show (have you ever taken a tour of their studios?), but once you get in there (does anyone want an extra large Conan T-shirt? Maybe I'll auction it off to the highest bidder on my blog) they are pretty nice and funny, and put on a good show. Conan is kind of a freak, but in a good way.



Jerry Seinfeld was on, he was way funny. There was a surprise visit by Larry King, who was only a few feet away from us in the audience, and somehow I felt like he was like my grandpa, or someone who I should know and should know me. Strangely, he didn't seem to recognize me...

Then Big Poppy or something like that from the Boston Red Sox (obviously I really follow baseball), but he was cool.

I love living in New York. In a couple of weeks I have Jon Stewart tickets. Yeah baby.

I don't need glass slippers, I just want some freakin' boots!

so um, i woke up at 7 am today. and actually got up. it was a total switch from 2 pm yesterday, where i was a lazy sloth. but at least i have jet lag for an excuse. anyway, i immediately turned on my computer in red-hot pursuit of beautiful flat leather boots like the ones that had been in all the window displays in every store in Switzerland. Ha! Apparently my hopes were too high. Because all they make for Amazon women like me are horrendous items like these:


or these:



when what I really want is these:


or these:


Actually, these are not exactly what I want, but the ones I want are in SWITZERLAND. And ITALY. And actual stores. Not online. But at least these are closer. And like so many times before, I was in a rage that is only reserved for George Bush and shoe shopping. And somehow I happened upon a website and found myself emailing someone who makes hand-makes shoes for cross-dressers. Yeah, that's right. Chandler's dad had to go somewhere. You know, this is a market I may have to look into. Ah, the sad similarities...

Switzerland

So D'Arcy and I went on a little fall vacae to Switzerland (I know, my life is rough). Here are some pics.

What I DID do in Switzerland:

ate fondue, rode the train, smiled at all the really hot, stylish Swiss guys, took a TON of pictures, re-enacted 007 in the rotating restaurant at the top of the Alps, bought clothes, burnt the hell out of my flat iron,

What I did NOT do in Switzerland (tragically, for the most part):

open a Swiss bank account, find a Swiss man to marry (they are all good looking and stylish) and therefore give me dual citizenship, buy really hot flat leather boots, find a Swiss man to have a fling with, learn German or French, have pretty hair


Bridge from the 1400's

Great view of Lucerne
Me, before European hair happened


They really like dogs here. As do I.


Really great lion sculpture.



Yummy swiss dinner

We happened upon a classical concert at this beautiful church




No, we didn't actually compete in the marathon.

View from the train to Murren





The Alps


I am a deep thinker
Old church that we climbed to the top of in Zurich


View from the top of the church in Zurich


For more pics and stories, go to D'Arcy's blog.