a post-birthday wishlist update

a pan

shea butter

A pair of puppet mittens that I've been meaning to purchase

a subscription to Real Simple

a best friend for Walter

Vanilla beans (or paste) and almond extract

a cinnamon candle

one of the missing albums in my collection, as well as the matching lunchbox

a heavenly, hydrating concoction

a few pretty soup bowls

These mixing bowls

This cookbook

my favorite movie's soundtrack

and most importantly, the most beautiful poster in the world

Wonderful wonderful news

Great news everybody! My future someday life in the future just got a whole lot simpler and less costly. Can you guess why?
No silly. I didn't win the Coca-Cola scholarship.
My mom informed me yesterday that I can have her wedding dress when I get married AND I can use it as my temple dress as well!
I always wanted to use her dress if I ever get married, but I was too nervous to ask her. Thankfully, she brought it up herself on Sunday night and I've been extremely happy ever since.
I'll post a picture of it as soon as I can find one, but it's everything I've imagined for a dress. It has a very simple skirt with a high neck in the back and a deep-for-temple-standards V in the front. Gorgeous embroidery and simple daisy-like lace around the long sleeves. It comes with a ginormous veil as well (still not sure about that part). Simply put, it is very different from what girls usually think of for dresses nowadays: simple and old fashioned (but still extremely stylish, in my opinion).

I tried it on tonight and to my (and my mom's) delight, it was nearly a perfect fit! Trying it on made me even more excited to someday receive my endowments and be able to go through sessions with my family.

Today I was sitting in my first period class, waiting for the bell to ring, when this girl i'd never seen before popped up in front of me.

(Presumably sophomore) girl: "Hi"

me: "(mumbled) Hello" (I'm never awake during that class. Waking up is a 3-hour process for me)

Underclassman: "I love your outfits so much. You're like a fashion icon in Orem High." I'm not exaggerating. Those were her exact words.

Your's truly: "uh..(still trying to wake up) thanks?"

Girl: "I stare at you all the time. Oh. Is that weird?"

me: "(Trying so hard to understand why someone is talking to me in the morning) I guess not?"

Girl: "My hairdo today is inspired by you (points to high messy bun). "

I'm pretty sure I just stared at her blankly until she had to return to her seat. Weirdest experience of my school day.

Still not sure if I should feel bad that a little sophomore was "inspired" by my bed-head-in-a-bun or If I should be weirded out that I have a gawker in my Current Events class.

Foodie

Here are my top four resources for recipes that never disappoint:

To start with the obvious, Smitten Kitchen. Everyone I've introduced to Deb's website has enjoyed it as much as I have. I'd suggest her gateau du crepes (I've been itching to try her mushroom crepe cake), marshmallows, steak salad (which still tasted great despite my substituting spinach for the arugula and buying the wrong cut of meat), and french toast. She has one of the most established food blogs out there, with an extensive recipe archive containing years worth of great recipes and gorgeous photos.

The always reliable Cook's Illustrated. The only drawback to this site is that it requires a membership. However, if I remember correctly I only pay about 30 bucks a year, and for access to thousands of foolproof recipes and highly reliable buying guides for the best equipment and groceries I call it a pretty good deal. If you don't want to spend money on recipes, you can always sign up for their weekly newsletter, which gives a pretty good sneak peak at what's happening behind the membership veil. They also allow visitors to see most of the posts on their homepage, which they switch around frequently, so there are a few ways to get their recipes without paying. And of course, you can always ask me to shoot you a specific article. Should you decide to sign up for their free 14-day trial, I highly recommend printing out their pan-seared chicken breasts with lemon and chive pan sauce. I made it 5 times in 3 weeks.

Pioneer Woman is always a good read. Her recipes definitely aren't earth shattering, but for the time pressed cook, she does offer above average recipes that are mighty tasty to the non-food critic. Her steak with onion blue cheese sauce was a definite hit, and her tres leches cake is very good. I was particularly impressed with her recipe for cream cheese frosting. The main reason why I hesitate to use her recipes daily is that they are all full-fat (she uses butter excessively) and I feel that there are healthier ways to season your food than with an extra teaspoon of salt. Still a great site, and I enjoy her posts on her other blog sections (particularly confessions and home & garden).

The New York Times has some pretty great recipes, as long as you're willing to go digging. I must confess that I typically only use their recipes after stumbling upon them elsewhere. I've only used a few recipes from their newspaper, but as it's a publication stemming from a city brimming with top-rated chefs (who often contribute) I don't doubt that most of their recipes are as good as the one's I've tried.

I'm curious, what are your go-to recipe sources?

5 things bout FamilyDamily

1. My mom rolls her eyes more than I do

2. At just a year old (his birthday is todaY) my sweet baby nephew is already the biggest peacemaker of the Sederberg bunch.If he had gone to Bear Lake, the most well behaved award wouldn't have even been a contest. Sorry Zach and Tricia.

3. Lo says I'm a granny. Who's to doubt?

4. My Land O' Lakes grandpa literally married the girl next door. Her middle name is Mae. My daughter's middle name will be Mae. Beautiful

5. We all have an A in our name except Timothy.

good thing I ain't 'fraid of needles

wisdom tooth extraction. Tomorrow. 9 AM. Be there or be square.

you never know.

Sister Cruise In 6 Days. Celebrate.
On another note, I couldn't care less for change.

Unless, of course, it was the kind of 25 cent change that you can spend wisely at the bubblegum kiosk as you walk towards your ride after closing shift and you feed it to the machine that gives you two (2!) very very cherry bubblegums for the price of one. That is the change I enjoy most.

Life Lately

I noticed a few hours ago that I've been saying dash it a lot lately. Please know that if you ever hear me say this 5x fast that I am not swearing. Even if it sounds like it. Thank you. I've only cussed twice in my life and never plan on doing it again. Unless kidnapped.



Also, I'm excited for Louie Roui Lou to move home. She will be good person to keep in the basement. I always find I feel more at ease knowing that there are a couple reliable people stashed down there. Gma doesn't appreciate being stashed anywhere so this will be a nice change.

Boy do I miss calling her Gma.

p.s. my package is shipped and I'm so thrilled that I keep checking it's unchanged location status 67x a day. At minimum. I hate it when those things show up unannounced on our cob-webby doorstep.
I sometimes like to think that the emotion I get when discovering those unannounced packages must be similar to the feeling some people have when discovering their unannounced and Southern 2nd-cousins on the doorstep.

And they don't even come baring wonderful new Shea butters and exfoliating creams.

Current Best

love this lady.




The top remix is fantastic as well.

While we're on the topic, watch Fantastic Mr. Fox. Especially if you're under the weather.

Anything that starts with the Davy Crockett theme song is clearly a true winner.

p.s I love Lois.

P.P.S.

this is the best thing I've seen in a long time (discounting CWACOM)



This reminds me of you Maria.

P.S.

I really really want to plant a currant bush this year. I always dream huge about how I'm going to become a master gardener (or at least not complain about gardening) every March. Well this year it will*** happen. Currants remind me of summers growing up. They were always my favorite thing in the garden. I don't even remember if I liked then or not.






I just know they remind me of The Sound of Music, when the kids make up a story about picking berries to their dad.






More importantly it reminds me of my best friend and the fact that our old currant bush is her favorite too.






And yes that's a weird cropping job and yes I have no clue how to work iPhoto and how to undo the terrible mistakes it causes you to make.

Miss in u

With just Michelle (the boy who reads a whole entire booook every day)
left at home to entertain me
I feel like I live in a rest home. sans bingo.

In other news this last week has been the most grueling yet of my Junior Year. Up til 1-3 AM every night for the the previous 9+ days and it wasn't even enough time. Goodbye good grades and good colleges. I watched a couple episodes of Community a while back though and it doesn't seem like such an awful thing to go to community college. Since TV is extreeemely accurate bout that kinda stuff.

When I got home from work yesterday I was capital T tired. Plus, no dinner besides wint - o - greens and nutella/cereal left. Luckily my siblings had rented cloudy with a chance of meatballs and it is now the funniest movie I have ever seen. That's possibly partially due to exhaustion and lack of good food. I'm nervous that I'll dislike it under other circumstances so I probably won't watch it again for a while.

This is what I do for entertainment when Michelle eats. or breaths.



Yessiree I could do with a few more people to keep me engaged and distracted from homework.

I'll be watching you

The best part about my job is that I get to watch all sorts of people walk by.

Favorites:

A wonderful old French couple who, I like to pretend, were just stopping by on their way to Vancouver for the games. je t'aime!

A man with overgrown hair wearing an open blazer and no shirt. I'm pretty certain he was in between morphs on account of the half moon.

A teenager who would pretend to trip and dramatically fall every few minutes to gauge the reaction of the crowd. He did this several times until he apparently really did get hurt. Pah!

People watching is dear to my heart.

5 wonderful songs to prove I don't just think about t-shirts all the time

Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest

Ever Present Past by Sir Paul
Dance Tonight by the same gentleman

Hey, Soul Sister by Train

Got to get you into my life by The Beatles

Plus, here's a wonderful moving picture to accompany My Current Favorite Song

Sometimes

I wonder just how many brownie points I'd lose in Heaven if I were to sucker punch Michelle

And stole his shirt while he lay passed out

His new The Beatles t-shirt

That he got from SHOPKO,

The proud sponsor of my childhood's wardrobe

It looks somewhat like this.

It looks somewhat amazing.

FIRST Post

Today was the first time I

1 Watched the US Woman's figure skating championship
2 ate butternut squash lasagna
3 Wore a white girlyfrilly blouse. And then promptly took it of.
4 was booked for a ticket. for a cruise.
5 Wrote a real post

Firsts are fantastic

I always thought it would be helpful to have a shirt like this


for those times that numbers 2 & 3 happen to make each others acquaintances

It's true.

"I can check it! I can check it ten times!"
Yup. What can I say except for that I've been unable to sleep lately before 11:30. Why not write on the internet? We'll see if that really comes about. BCS says someday she'll give me an award for best procrastinator, so don't expect much.

This could prove interesting.