Carry On!

Made it back from the family reunion. I really didn't want to come back 'cause everyone else is still there, but that's the price I pay for taking off all of next week to play in Canada. Over the years, I've built up a lot of memories from these events. For some reason, they seem to fall on/near my birthday, so that's what I associate them with.

The year I was 10, we borrowed a cabin near Panguitch Lake, Utah. We had been there all of 20 minutes when my cousin and I went to play in the creek outside. Suddenly she started screaming, and I discovered a water snake crawling over my foot. I refused to go anywhere near the creek or the field beyond for the rest of the week. The only exception was when they dragged me out to play medieval games (Huzzah!). I was also considered old enough to attend A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Cedar City Shakespeare Festival, which remains my favorite of his plays. I believe this was also the year that I threw a book at my dad's head from the backseat because I wasn't getting my way, but my aunt would have to confirm that. It's her favorite story about me.

The year I was 12, I spent a good portion of my time being bitter about not getting to stay up with the adults and being young in general. Case in point: I signed the quilt we made my grandparents as Mindy, age 11 and 11/12. I also remember this as the year my uncle was a buyer for a grocery chain, which meant he brought lots of candy samples. I also learned that my grandpa liked his cantelope with salt and pepper.

The year I was 14, we did the pioneer heritage tour, starting at Chimney Rock, Nebraska. We had cheesecake to celebrate my birthday a few days early; I dyed my strawberry topping purple (I would have dyed everyone else's too, but my mom wouldn't let me). I spent the evening of my actual birthday stuck in a trailer in the pouring rain with just my immediate family while the rest of the family got to stay in a hotel. To my teenage self, this was vastly unfair. They did stick a match in a Snickers bar and sing to me again.

The year I was 16, we rented a cabin at Bear Lake. We had airplane races off the balcony and rented waverunners. But the best part of this one for me was seeing the graves of my ancestors and seeing the old homestead where my great-grandpa was born. My aunt also let me drive her car now that I had a license, making her the coolest aunt ever.

I missed the one when I was 18, and the two when I was 20 and 22 kind of blend together. Both were in Heber. The first had family olympics on my birthday. Other than that, all I really remember is that my parents let me borrow the car so I could work half days. The second was a big event: my grandparent's 50th anniversary (which also happens to be my birthday). I was prepared to let my birthday be a small affair, but was pleasantly surprised by cake, singing, and lots of presents (including my Hello Kitty desk set, which is my mom's idea of a good joke). The adults spent the morning in the temple, while we took the rest of the cousins to see The Testaments. My favorite part of this reunion was the family testimony meeting. Lots of tissues for that.

This last reunion followed the grand tradition. There was the fun of watching my mom do a llama dance in support of her kickball team (named for the llama herd grazing the lawn of the lodge we stayed at) or hearing my marathon-runner uncle describe lunch as calorie replacement. There was usually at least one person reading Harry Potter 7. We had pioneer games (Carry on!) and a huge sourdough pancake breakfast to celebrate Pioneer Day. But this was also the first reunion without Grandpa. We had FHE on Monday to remember him. I think it was good for everyone, especially me. I felt his love, which I needed.

So here's to all those crazy people lucky enough to be related to me. I love you guys!

Someday this will all be hiliarious...

So when I picked up the t-shirts on Thursday, the guy pulled one out to show me what he meant by "jagged lines." Silly me, thinking he meant that the image was horribly pixelated and would be printed as such, boxy outlines instead of my nice smooth ones. No, of course he would mean that the image looked hand drawn, the lines not entirely straight or uniform thickness.

Nerd.

I calmly explained that I was going for the hand-drawn effect, thanked him, and walked out with my exactly-what-I-wanted shirts. I'm just glad it's over.

How I spent my Saturday

Before:


6.5 hours, 2 cans of varnish remover, 16 vinyl gloves, and 2 N*Sync CDs later (old shelf included for contrast/to block glare):


Next project:

A random series of (what I find) hilarious moments of my evening.

* I was walking through Target when a loud voice says "You're from Wyoming...and you painted my house!" Huh? A few clueless blinks later, I figure out it's the lady who's house we painted for Neighbors to Neighbors a few months ago. Apparently I made a distinct impression (or the fact that I was wearing the free t-shirt they gave us that morning helped (I was "on my way running")). She repeated the Wyoming bit, smiled, and we parted ways.

* Does anyone else feel empowered by Home Depot? There's something about walking around that place that makes me feel like I can do anything. Of course, now that I've spent $40 on stuff to refinish a bookcase, I actually have to do the work. (Assuming, of course, that I find someone with a truck willing to transport the bookcases to my garage Saturday morning.)

* I'm headed home, windows down, Shania Twain BLASTING on the radio. I'm singing just as loud as she is until I pull up at a stop light and the two guys in the car next to me start whistling. Considering that these were two old, creepy Hispanic guys, this was not flattering. And of course, the light took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to change.

* And now I should probably go deal with the Level 5 hurricane damage in my bedroom. But instead I'm going to sit here and watch Scrubs reruns.

Under Pressure, or Why I Need to Run More

I have been incredibly stressed the past two weeks. There's been a lot to be stressed about. The lead editor of the big project I've been helping with went on vacation, so I got to be responsible for printing a 2,000 page document (I would have been in charge of most of those details anyways though. It just would have been nice to have her around as backup support.). I volunteered myself to be in charge of the t-shirts for our family reunion in two weeks (have you ever tried to get 25 people to agree on color, fit, and size?). And last week my grandpa died, so I had to make sudden arrangements to attend the funeral (on top of the general grieving stress).

All of this came to a head around 4:30 on Friday afternoon. In the proofing phase of the document, we discovered that about 20% of the graphics were wrong (our fault, not the printers). The t-shirt designs weren't coming through clearly, so they couldn't print. And my head was ready to explode. My coworker very kindly talked me through the worst of my hysteria (I was literally ready to cry), and Mike put things in perspective for me. The stress subsided a little.

But what really did it for me was the run I had when I finally made it home (at 7:30). It was like that Propel commercial--the one with the giant metal thing running through the streets that pieces fall off of until you see just the guy. I realized that in all of this stress, I had neglected to do anything physical. Heck, most days I wasn't even feeding myself properly. No wonder I felt like crap.

So I hereby make this declaration that I will not let my situation get that bad ever again. I will make running a priority. Because this week reminded me that I run not for exercise, but for stress relief.

Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this... and totally redeem yourself!

The world redeemed itself today.

The last time I flew, the nerds who searched my bag broke one of my favorite earrings. I can see how it could happen (it was sandwiched between two shirts and in their rummaging it ended up next to the zipper/bottom), but still, I was mad. I went back to Old Navy (where I bought them), but the earrings were no longer in stock.

And then today I just happened to wander into Old Navy and they had them in stock again! Even better, they were on sale.

Life is good, friends.

Why is it...

...that waterproof mascara is anything but waterproof EXCEPT when you're trying to take it off?

...that a cupcake tastes so much better at the beach (though this goes for almost anything)?

...that drunk people are so funny?

...that bicycles hurt your butt so much?

...that the cute ones are always taken?

...that I'm still up writing this when I should have been asleep hours ago?

Happy Fourth, ya'll.