the 'burbs

my friends the cheneys recently abandoned hip, urban living (along with cockroaches and run-ins with the literally insane apartment tenants they were managing, but whatever) for a quiet life in the suburbs. this is good news for them because they get to own a house and have their very own dishwasher. it is bad news for me because the suburbs are past 3300 south.

but driving all that way, past five artic circles and the quilted bear and just emissions and po boyz karpets (no joke on that one) is all worth it because when you get to the suburbs, you get to see this baby.







are you in love? well, too bad, because he's mine.

in the suburbs you also eat breakfast for dinner on a cleverly disguised card table, and watch thursday night tv.





and gas in the suburbs only costs $1.95 a gallon! i guess it's not such a bad place, after all.

corn(y)

i was lulled into a false sense of security this morning when i passed a gas station on my way to work selling the good stuff for $2.16 a gallon and i thought to myself, "times aren't so hard! we could all drive hummers with these gas prices! and the terrorists are losing!"

but then i got to work and read this article about how energy independence is still beyond our grasp and the corn farmers aren't helping, (neither, by the way, are the terrorists), and the universe made sense once again.

on an unrelated note (unless you count high fructose corn syrup and ethanol as being related, which i guess you could), i've been eating a lot of leftover halloween candy lately and, for some reason, the garbage can at my desk has not been emptied and the lingering evidence is, frankly, embarrassing. did i really go through that many fun size packets of skittles yesterday?

wait. don't answer that.

change in which we can believe.

{watching the results come in.}

it has now been one week since barack obama was named the next president of these united states. i know that much has been said and written about how it happened and what it means and that is all fine and good and i don't pretend to have some as-yet-uncharted wisdom to add to the existing punditry. (whew. i am pretty proud of that sentence.) after a week to think it over, though, i would love to tell you what it all means to me.

first, let me say that i am thrilled. i hope i don't get into journalistic trouble here by displaying a bias, but this is the first time in my voting life that my candidate of choice has won, and i feel pretty good about that. when obama came out on stage to give his acceptance speech, i told jess and amy that i thought i might start lactating. and i meant it. that is how happy i was.

i wasn't just happy because my party had won, though, or just because i think john mccain is sort of creepy, or anything like that. i was happy because we, collectively, had taken a step forward, taken a risk, made a new choice and embraced change. i realize that the slogan "change we can believe in" is, ultimately, just campaign cliche (not to mention bad grammar), but the concept of change is a powerful and necessary one, for the country as a whole and for us as individuals, and i was glad to be reminded of that. this election broke through prejudice and cracked the glass ceiling, and that is something i think we should all get behind, no matter how we cast our ballots.

obama had a long and stirring list of change we have already embraced: women reaching for the ballot, and now seeing their own names on the ballot; a depression endured and overcome; civil rights; a wall coming down in berlin. and he reminded us of the necessary change yet to come as we work and sacrifice to save our planet, our jobs, our healthcare, our children's futures. of all the things we work for, positive change for everyone should be top of the list.

and now, one week later, it is the need to embrace change, on all levels, for ourselves and for others, that sticks most in my mind. one of the principles of the gospel, and of life, that i love the most is the idea, the fact, that we can change, that we can and should believe in change. we can put off our bad habits, our prejudices, our misunderstandings. we can learn new skills, new talents, new ways of understanding and communicating. we can become more loving, more patient (still working on that one), more grateful and more graceful. we can do hard things. we can do things we have never done before and we can succeed. we can conquer fears. we can make our weaknesses into strengths. we can evolve and we can get better. and better. and better. because we get to change. that is something i believe.

and i believe in it, too.

hip to be square

i broke one of my personal cardinal rules and ventured south of 3300 south on friday night with heather and cindy(mindypindy), to attend the opening of a non-alcoholic bar in provo, which is just as bizarre as it sounds. the drinks served at non-alcoholic bars, from what i can tell, are various mixtures of different kinds of (soda)pop with limes and sometimes sugar, which are just as delicious (or not) as they sound. if you're into club soda, it just might be your scene.

the really bizarre thing, though, was the overwhelming presence of hipsters. i was, literally, almost paralyzed by the coolness, not to mention my lack of it. there were knit caps and artistic scarves and skater shoes and discussions about indie bands everywhere, and i seriously thought i might get eaten alive by a pair of skinny jeans. i was scared. very scared. i had no idea that this provo even existed. since when do kids in p-town smoke and wear leather? it was all news to me.

after the non-bar opening, we headed over to the hip, cool, new restaurant in town, where you sit on cubes (or rather, hunch, since there is no way to have good posture on those things, and the fact that they are on wheels doesn't help anything) and eat the world's smallest portions of food on the world's hugest dishes. one of the girls at our table said it was just like being in san francisco. i beg to differ. it was more like being inside a satire, except no one was in on the joke. it was incredibly weird. and reminded me of why i have that 3300 south rule in the first place.

so, i gave it a shot, but i think it's safe to say that i won't be venturing back to provo any time soon. the good news is, heather and cindy(mindypindy) are excellent company. and the whole thing seems pretty funny now that the p(rovo)t(raumatic)s(tress)d(isorder) has worn off. (clever, eh? i love that joke.)

frances cake, take 11: the pumpkin isn't just for pie edition

let me tell you a little bit about jeremy.

jeremy is the kind of person who will see a vintage copy of a children's book with your name in the title (in this case, "bread and jam for frances") and buy it for you, just because, even though he doesn't know you very well.

jeremy is the kind of person who hosts watch-cartoons-in-your-pajamas parties. and he has all the good ones, including "he-man" (by the power of gray skull!), "smurfs" and "the gummi bears."

jeremy is the kind of person who was raised by a florist father and a jill-of-all-trades mother, who taught him to value creativity and beauty, so he is the kind of person who is majoring in interior design, but also takes photographs, paints with acryllics and writes children's stories.

jeremy is the kind of person who can tap a bundt pan just right, so your delicious pumpkin cake comes out without a problem.







jeremy is the kind of person who doesn't mind that the cake is a little crispy on the outside. he is the kind of person who says he likes it better that way.

and then, while you eat cake together, jeremy is the kind of person who will talk with you about favorite books, favorite paintings, favorite movies, and about how the creative process is less about what you get at the end and more about what you learn along the way.

in other words, jeremy is my kind of person.

snow, snow, go away

scraping this stuff off my car yesterday morning was not that awesome.



finding a wad of cash in the pocket of a coat i have not worn since last winter sort of made up for it, though.



(yes, it was mostly $1 bills, but i'll take what i can get.)

yes we can. yes we did.

amen.