sunday best

i have a massive crush on my new pink shoes. and i bet you do, too.

sometimes...

sometimes when life is a little bit sad and a little bit hard, what you need is waffles at jim and joan's.

and then, sometimes, what you need to do is go back to bed for the rest of the day and just not feel bad about it. sometimes being in bed all day long means watching lots and lots of episodes of "arrested development." and sometimes it means sleeping for hours. and sometimes it means both.

and sometimes, even though you could just stay in bed all night, too, it's better to get up and go to dinner with your grandparents and uncle who love you and tell bad jokes and talk about the voter paradox and feed you chocolate.

then, sometimes, the thing to do is get back in bed and, before you leave for dreamland, think about all the things and people and places that make your life happy and good, even though it is also a little bit sad and a little bit hard right this minute.

sometimes, that's just the thing to do.

high rollers

one of the first times i hung out with my now-roommate briana was at a sushi rolling party she hosted a year or so ago. there were so many hip, cool people there that i was pretty intimidated, and my only real memory of the evening is standing in the corner eating eel.

luckily (mostly for me), times change and now hip, cool briana sleeps just upstairs, and our house is the hip, cool place for hip, cool people to roll sushi, like we did last week, ostensibly for john's birthday but he wouldn't let us sing or even talk about how it was his birthday really, so it was mostly just for fun. and fun it was, but that seems pretty normal for raw fish, i would say.


{birthday boy and fish-master}


{when jaren discovered his seaweed was too full to roll correctly, oertel said, "you probably like really fat burritos, too, huh?" not sure if it really translates onto the screen, but it was hi-larious.}


{delicious}


{amy}


{elliott}


{oertel, by the way, drove all the way from provo, which was a really nice thing for her to do since i never, ever, under any circumstances, return the favor. also, lauren is holding her first hand-rolled sushi ever! lovely, isn't it?}


{briana}


{elliott's face makes me happy}


{so does my favorite japanese treat, mochi ice cream. the asian market just around the corner sells it, and i am pretty much permanently exhausted from the exertion of willpower it takes not to eat it every single day.}



{holly and evan stopped by}


{along with baby kyle, who i love with a love that is true. said holly: "sometimes when we come over here and frances holds the baby, i feel like we should put that hospital bracelet back on that keeps people from stealing him."}


{full tummies for days. the end.}

i was here

this might be old news to all of you who are more online savvy than me, but the killers' music video, that source of schoolgirl giddiness (still waiting to hear from you, brandon flowers!) and internet censorship, is finally out. (it appears the censorship might still be on, as the embedding option for the video was "disabled by request." but, click on that link and it will take you there.)

i have to say, i think the whole thing looked a lot cooler in real life than it does in this video. some parts of it are, frankly, downright weird. and there were definitely no mountain lions on set, so i am not sure what that is all about. there is also, apparently, some disagreement about whether the chorus says, "are we human/or are we dancer?" or "are we human/or are we denser?" my first-hand opinion is that the word is "dancer" not "denser," but both are pretty idiotic, so i don't think it really matters.

on a more positive note, brandon flowers is completely hot. and the song might have dumb lyrics, but it's still catchy and i like it. and the aerial shots of the valley (i was in that helicopter!) and other long shots of the set are pretty stunning. and, most importantly, i was there. so, lame or not, this video has a special place in my heart.

and, here's a little bonus for you. i don't know if anyone saw the killers on saturday night live recently, but click here and tell me if mr. flowers' jacket looks familiar...

quirk this

it has come to my attention (a little late, but hopefully not too late) that i have been tagged by anna to share six of my quirks. because anna sometimes makes me homemade pesto with shrimp, and because she is willing to watch obscure and basically ridiculous spanish films with me as well, i am willing to accept this task. and so, here you are.

1. i prefer to eat skittles two at a time, same color (two greens, two yellows, two reds and so forth). there are times, say in a dark movie theater or when too many people are watching, when this is not a feasible option. but, most of the time, i can pull it off. pairings do become admittedly trickier when you get to the end of the bag, but i have provisions for that as well. for example, if you can put a green and a yellow together, that's the best. red can also go with purple, and orange + yellow is acceptable. when all of those emergency combinations have been used up, i break down and eat them one at a time. as a related bonus quirk, i don't like to mix my food. none of this peas and mashed potatoes in the same bite nonsense. i eat all of one thing, then all of the next and so on, until my plate is empty.

2. i am an obsessive quoter of movies, probably because i watch my favorite movies and movie scenes over and over again in a row. my family has dubbed this "pulling a frances." (as in, "i pulled a frances and watched "the bourne identity" twice this week.") my record is probably watching "bend it like beckham" at least once a day for a week when i was first home from my mission. i'll also rewind and watch funny parts (or, i'll admit it, romantic kissy parts) two or three or four times before i am satisfied. and i will laugh (or swoon) every time.

3. i like to fall asleep in other people's beds, with or without them. the other sunday morning it was snowing and gray and i went and climbed in with my roommate, briana, because she has a big double bed and a heating pad. we chatted for a while and then i fell asleep there for another three hours until it was time to get up and be late for church. it was the best sunday morning ever.

4. i am an expert in celebrity gossip. i can hardly get anything done at work until i've visited people.com and caught myself up. if you want to know why madonna and guy ritchie are splitting up, or what reese witherspoon is really like (jake, call me!) or who that guy lauren conrad has been spotted with is, i'm your girl.

5. i sometimes make things up, but i state these sketchy facts with such confidence and authority that i am often not refuted. the great carmel/caramel debate is a perfect example, or at least it was until my mom and the oxford english dictionary got involved.

6. i "sing" along with the instrumentals, as well as the words. i like to think of it as a sort of vocal air guitar. i was under the impression that this was a fairly normal thing to do while driving or doing the dishes or taking a shower, but apparently it is not. now that i know it's weird, i am a little bit shy to do it in front of other people, but most of the time i just can't help myself, so you might get lucky and hear it some day.

and now i command that kate, jill and emdawg perform the same task. and, i would also like to hear from you, dear reader what quirks you think i have missed. (everyone be sure to check the comments section to see what my parents say. i bet they'll have some good ones.)

best. announcement. ever.

i think i have made my general aversion to wedding festivities pretty well-known out here on the interweb, but if you send me an announcement that makes me laugh out loud (with you, not at you), you can count on me coming for sure. which is why i will be wedding lunching today with mr. and mrs. darrell and audrey logan/smith. (in addition, of course, to the fact that audrey is a dear and dearly loved friend with whom i am happy and honored to celebrate.)

and i quote:

Dr. Stephen & Jan Smith
are relieved to announce that their daughter
Audrey Elizabeth Smith
has finally succumbed to societal pressures
and will marry
Darrell E. Logan
on October 18, 2008
at the Salt Lake Temple.

like i said. best. announcement. ever.

(and, of course, congratulations to the happy, and hilarious, couple!)

mother knows best

as it happens, i was schooled by my mom in the great carmel/caramel debate and i am woman enough to admit it here for all to see. she left this response (with lightning speed, i might add) to the caramel vs. carmel question of the most recent frances cake post:

Frances,
Didn't you learn at your parents' knee to keep a dictionary in the kitchen? Caramel: 1 sugar or syrup heated until it turns brown, used as a flavouring or colouring (okay, it's the Oxford English dictionary) for food or drink. 2 a soft toffee made with sugar and butter that have been melted and further heated.
Carmel -- not a word.*
But your caramel cake looks delicious and your friend looks nice.

(*not to get nit-picky here, mom, but i might point out that carmel is a word as far as it refers to the california town of which clint eastwood was mayor. just for the record.)

but, i guess that explanation pretty much clears it up. as far as the spelling question, at least. (though i might be the only one who thought we were dealing with two separate spellings. sort of the like the time i realized the opening lyrics to "surfin' usa" were not, in fact, "if everybody had a notion" but rather "if everybody had an ocean." i have been assured i am the only person in the history of the world who has ever made that mistake.) the question of how the word should be pronounced, and when and why, is still open for debate. and my caramel-pronounced-as-carmel for sauces, etc. and caramel-pronounced-as-caramel for stand-alone candy is still a pretty solid argument, i think.

also, i feel compelled to clarify that my parents do, indeed, keep the oxford english dictionary (abridged version) in the kitchen. and it is, indeed, consulted to settle some vocabulary dispute or another at least once a meal.

and, in conclusion, at my friend jill's very good suggestion, hereafter all frances cake recipes will be included in the post, so everyone can enjoy the goodness (except, ironically, for jill who currently lives in africa where cake resources are, well, scarce). holla! so, here is the delicious caramel cake, another winner from southernfood.about.com. if you need to know what something looks like when it's "soft-balling," i suggest you call emily's mom, jayne.