Books and Movies of 2008

Books

I read 100 books this year, but a lot of them weren't anything to write home about. However, here are the ones I enjoyed:

-Looking for Alaska by John Green(also enjoyed his other 2 young adult fiction novels as well)
-Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
-The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama(and also Dreams From My Father)
-The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
-Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs
-The Host by Stephenie Meyer
-Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
-Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander
-The Good Fight by Senator Harry Reid
-Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
-The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
-The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
-American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
-Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
-Hamlet and Othello by William Shakespeare

Movies
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Twilight
Penelope
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Under the Same Moon
Lars and the Real Girl

Christmas

Merry Christmas! Right now, I am watching a Christmas classic....



I haven't watched this for so long, and it sure is great. I also plan on watching A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Love Actually and The Family Stone the next couple of days.

2008

2008 is almost over...

Did you do something you thought you would never do?
- yes...got back down to a healthy weight, got pregnant

Did you keep any New Year's Resolutions?
- I don't think I made any this year.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
- not this year

Did anyone close to you die?
- not this year

Did you visit any countries?
- nope

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
- a baby and a Bachelors degree


Will any date from 2008 stay etched in your memory forever?
- October 29th

What was your biggest achievement of 2008?
- losing 60+ pounds before getting pregnant

What was your biggest failure?
- disappointing people


Did you suffer illness or injury?
- just pregnancy-related sickness

What was the best thing you bought in '08?
- seriously...Weight Watchers membership and smaller clothes
but also Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and Twilight movie tickets :)

Did your behavior change over the year?
- My eating and exercise habits did, but I haven't been very good since I got pregnant.

Where did you spend most of your money?
- bills, food, normal stuff


Are you happier this time then you were last year?
- Yes. I'm worried about being a good parent, but I am very excited!


What song will remind you of 2008?
- the song will.i.am did called Yes We Can


What do you wish you would have done more of?
- being kinder to the people I love (and traveling)

What do you wish you would have done less of?
- fighting, worrying

What will you do for Christmas '08?
- I spent time with both Adam's family and my family.

Did you fall in love in 2008?
- I fell more in love with Adam, and fell in love with our baby.


Did you get your heart broken in 2008?
- no

Favorite TV program of '08?
- The Office, The Daily Show, Gossip Girl and Arrested Development (through DVD)

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
- I try not to hate, but I do have more negative feelings towards some people than I did last year


What was the best book you read and/or movie you saw?
- a lot... I'll do a separate post about these because I love pop culture so much!

What was your greatest discovery?
- That Adam and I are going to be parents


What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
-Turned 25... went to The Swell Season concert (the stars from the movie Once)


What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
- less stress


How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2008?
- I just bought what I liked, I like some trends and not others

What will you always remember about 2008?
-losing weight, getting pregnant, Adam's parents getting divorced, going to St. George and Las Vegas


What do you want to do in '09 that you couldn't in '08?
- Move, graduate, have a baby.

Any resolutions?
- I think I want to try, learn or experience something new each month (May and July will be taken care of hopefully with graduation and the birth of our baby)

ABC tag

Sorry I've been nonexistent. I've been working on a blog for my final project in another class, plus trying to keep up on all my other class work. Hopefully it gets better next week when I am done with the semester and the following week when I am out of the first trimester.

A. Attached or single? happily attached! :)
B. Best friend? Adam
C. Cake or pie? cake
D. Day of choice? weekend
E. Essential item? right now... my toilet (sorry to be gross but it's true)!
F. Favorite color? turqouise
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms
H. Home town? SLC
I. Favorite indulgence? chocolate
J. January or July? July
K. Kids? one on the way
L. Life isn’t complete without? love
M. Marriage date? June 19, 2003
N. Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers, 1 sister
O. Oranges or Apples? apples
P. Phobias? driving in the snow
Q. Quotes? I love quotes- my favorites are from books and songs. Here's one:
"Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't aide by majority rule is a person's conscience."
-To Kill a Mockingbird
R. Reasons to smile? School is done in less than a week. I only have to take one class next semester and then I graduate just in time for my baby to arrive!
S. Season of choice? fall
T. Tag 5 people: anyone who reads my blog and wants to do it
U. Unknown fact about me? I question my spirituality all the time.
V. Vegetable? carrots
W. Worst Habit? cracking my knuckles and knees
X. Xray or ultrasound? had both, but loved getting an U/S
Y. Your favorite food? right now...whatever will stay down
Z. Zodiac sign? Taurus

Thanksgiving

This year, I am thankful for:

Adam. Our baby. Family. Friends, especially Karen and Kimberly. Technology that allowed us to see and hear the baby so soon. Books. My Grandma's influence in my life. Modern stuff like cars, heat, showers, computers, cell phones, etc. Twilight. The chance I have had to get a college education. My health. DVR. My job. Naps. Barack Obama. Lower gas prices. Nature. Marriage. Weekends.

And so much more- but it's time for bed! I'm so grateful to be alive in this time, in this country, and with the people I need and love all around me.

7/6/2009

About a month ago (October 29th to be exact), my life changed forever. Adam and I found out that we are expecting our first baby. I kept meaning to take pictures and write about it, but never did. All my energy seems to be gone... I used to question (in my mind) the women who talked about symptoms like being tired or sick before they were even showing. Well, now I know better! I finally decided to sit down and write this because we had our first appointment and ultrasound today. I am most likely 8 weeks and 2 days along, which gives me a due date of July 6th, 2009. We got to hear the heartbeat, which was amazing. Finally gives me something to think about when I am sick and wondering if this is all worth it. Adam especially loved hearing the heartbeat. I think it made it more real for him... well, for both of us really.

-This picture is from the Halloween party we hosted for my family on the 30th. We told everyone there by creating a Halloween wordsearch that just happened to include the words Baby Bishop. We told most of Adam's family that night too or the next day. We had wanted to come up with another creative idea, but we were just too excited and wanted to keep telling people. We called his parents, his sister, and then his grandparents. We couldn't get a hold of his brother John who lives in CA until the next day, but the way Adam told him was pretty great. Adam and his siblings have an uncle named John, so when he called his brother John, he told him there was now two uncle Johns. His brother didn't get it at first that he was now the second uncle John, but he did after Adam said "You are" in response to John wondering who the second uncle John was.

Until tonight, I had no idea Adam took this picture. I remember the day well though. I got home from school and work with plenty of homework to do. Adam was doing his homework on the computer, and wanted me to stay downstairs too since we had been apart all day. Normally I can do homework on the lovesac or bed just fine, but not since I got pregnant. I'm just so tired I end up falling asleep, which is exactly what happened in this picture.

This is me today- just over 2 months pregnant!

And here is the tiny, blurry, lima bean-shaped image that knocked our socks off today! Due to measuring the baby from crown to rump, they put me at 8wks2days, and the baby's heartbeat was 151. I just googled baby heart rate gender, and apparently the old wive's tale is that if the heart rate is over 140, it's a girl. On the other hand, the Chinese gender chart that looks at the woman's age at conception and the month coneption took place, says I am having a boy. Adam is sure excited to know though... even more so than me. Well, tiredness is coming on again, so this is it for now.

President-Elect Obama

This is an editorial cartoon from Slate that gives me goosebumps. I know our country has a long way to go in racial discrimination, along with other types of discrimination as well, but I can't help but feel that we took a big step forward this week.

Young @ Heart

So good! Charming, sweet, inspiring, amazing.... I could go on, but I won't. It's just one of those movies that continues to have an effect on you past just the time it took to watch it.

What I Did on Fall Break

-went on a quick trip up to Idaho with my mom, sister, and nephew to see my mom's cousin Peggy and some of her family- I always love visiting them and it was especially great to see Becky's (my third cousin) baby Eric who is just a few weeks old.

-saw my brother Sheldon compete in his second bodybuilding competition- He did great, placing 4th in novice and 4th in overall.

-went on a double date with Karen and Steve, saw City of Ember, ate at Hong Kong Tea House, and browsed at Barnes and Noble

-got to see Kimberly for the first time in six months- I'm so excited she's moved back... we went to La Luna for lunch and had a good time catching up.

-had lunch with Stephanie, a friend and fellow English major- She let me vent about some family issues, which was nice. She's also a senior, we both grduate in May, so we also vented about how we are gettin burned out with school.

-read Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan and saw the movie on a double date with Nicki and Andy- I really liked both the book and the movie. The book had some great writing- I was highlighting passage throughout the whole novel. I reall like Michael Cera, so I enjoyed the movie too.

-re-read a book called Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal- This book reminds me that every life, including mine, is special, even if it may seem ordinary.

-watched Life is Beautiful- a wonderful movie about the Holocaust

-watched a documentary called Why We Fight- This explores our counry's military actions, our building of a military-industrial complex. One thing that scared me is how much we as average citizens don't know about why our leaders decide to go into war.

-watched General Colin Powell, a man I respected even after my political beliefs started leaning more left, endorse Barack Obama in such an eloquent way

-laughed a lot listening to the candidate's speeches at the Alfred E. Smith memorial dinner

-went to Keys on Main with some tourists we met on the Trax- very fun!

Hilarious!!!

These videos are great... so good to see the candidates make fun of themselves and each other. They both have some great writers, although I thought Obama's jokes were better.




I thought these Op-Ed pieces were interesting- both showed up in my Google Reader today. One is sure Obama is going to win, and one is certain both are terrified of losing.

55 Questions

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00 for work; only got about 6 hours of sleep

2. Diamonds or pearls? I like both. Right now, I wear my diamond wedding ring, but I also have some pearls of my Grandmother's that I love.

3. Last movie you saw at a cinema? Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist...loved it! Tonight we are seeing City of Ember with some friends.

4. What is your favorite TV show? Cannot name just one- it's a three-way tie between The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Office, and Pushing Daisies.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Chocolate soymilk and banana smoothie, and sometimes an apple with caramel dip

6. What is your middle name? Brooke, but I dropped it when I got married to keep my maiden name.

7. What food do you dislike? Seafood, tomatoes, onions (unless they are diced up really small)

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Don't really listen to CDs anymore, but I do always love the Wicked sountrack

9. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry

10. Favorite sandwich? Ham and cheese

11. What characteristic do you despise? arrogance, closemindedness

12. Favorite item of clothing? My Snorg tees-







13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? London is my number one vacation wish, but I also really want to go to Alaska, NYC, and Boston

14. Are you an organized person? In some ways...in other ways, not so much.

15. Where would you retire to? If I don't move there soone, the Pacific Northwest

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I guess this last one, I got to see the stars from one of my favorite movies (Once) in concert.

17. What are you going to do when you finish this? In an ideal world, I'll finally start on my Fall Break homework now that Fall Break is basically over...but probably not.

18. Farthest place you are sending this? To my blog?

19. Person you expect to send it back first? Well, no one, since I’m blogging this one instead of emailing it!

20. When is your birthday? May 4

21 . Morning person or a night person? Truthfully, I go back and forth. Growing up, I was always a morning person. Mostly a night person now.

22. What is your shoe size? about 9.5

23. Pets? none...I used to have a cat, but Oreo is sometimes with my parents and sometimes a wild runaway cat

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Sure- I'm almost to my goal weight and I'm on track to read 100 books this year. Also, I'm halfway through my last full-time semester of my undergraduate career.

25. What did you want to be when you were little? I went through phases, so it depended on the week.

26. How are you today? Tired from staying up too late last night, sad Fall Break is almost over, excited for tonight, and still laughing about the candidate's speeches last night (which I will post later).

27. What is your favorite flower? Roses and Daisies

28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? December 15th...it means the semester is over

29. What are you listening to right now? my Dad, Jackson, and cartoons

30. What was the last thing you ate? a candy bar and a Diet Coke...nice lunch, right? Especially since I'm trying to lose weight. Can't be perfect.

32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Turquoise- my favorite color.

33. How is the weather right now? Warm, but changing. I wore a coat to work and had the heater on in my car on my way, but going home I had the ac on.

34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Adam- proving I was right about some traffic thing we had disagreed about.

35. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke, but I don't drink it very much. I'm trying not to get too attached.

36. Favorite restaurant? Love Applebees because of their WW menu, but I also really like Rumbi's Island Grill right now.

37. Hair color? I think it's finally my natural color after a long period of dying it- medium brown. Not too exciting, I might eventually dye it darker.

38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Probably my baby sister! :) I don't really remember any specific toys.

39. Summer or Winter? Neither are my favorite, but I definitely prefer Summer because I absolutely loathe driving in the snow. It terrifies me to no end.

41. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate.

42. Coffee or tea? I drink Chai tea sometimes, but not very much.

43. Do you want your friends to email you back? Of course. :)

44. When was the last time you cried? Teared up when I was listening to Half-Blood Prince, but can't remember the last time I actually cried.

45. What is under your bed? Adam's art supplies

46. What did you do last night? Read, watched some press event that both the candidates spoke at, discussed family issues with Adam and his brother.

47. What are you afraid of? Driving in the snow. Being a good parent. Making the right decisions for my life.

48. Salty or sweet? Both... before I started WW, I would sometime alternately eat torilla chips or crackers and chocolate.

49. How many keys on your key ring? Five

50. How many years at your current job? Two years.

51. Favorite day of the week? Friday/Saturday... whichever I am not working

52. Do you make friends easily? Not really.

53. How many people will you send this to? Whomever reads my blog.

54. How many people will reply? Probably no one.

55. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Yes.

D.I. finds

We went to the D.I. today to look for stuff for our Halloween costume Unfortunately, we didn't find anything in regards to that. I did score some stuff I'm happy about though. I got a copy of Shakespeare's play Othello, which I am reading in my class later this semester. I also got a book by Margaret Atwood called Oryx and Crake, a shirt and a pair of pants. What I am most excited about finding was the first season of Arrested Development on DVD for $6. It's such a good show! Afterwards, we went to Target and I got a new winter jacket since it is starting to get cold. Sometimes shopping is just what a girl needs! :)

rampant like herpes...but for positive

This video is pretty cool. Now, by linking to it, I'm not saying that a celebrity's opinion matters more than anyone else, but I do think it's great when they use their power for positive. I really agree with their message as well. If you care about the issues affecting us right now, you need to vote. In my mind, if you don't vote, you don't really have a right to complain. I know the system with the electoral college isn't perfect, and many people believe that one vote doesn't count, but if everyone thought like that, where would we be?

Politics: The New Reality TV

This is the current cover of Entertainment Weekly. I love it! In case you can't tell, this is Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the article, although you might not really get the humor if you haven't watched their shows before.

About change: "Do you mean change we need, or change we can believe in?" asks Stewart. "Any change is as good as a vacation at this point," says Colbert, who set aside his conservative TV pundit character aside for the chat. "I don't know if you've paid attention to the past eight years, but it has been a s---burger supreme."

Stewart on the campaign in general: "I was convinced an Obama/McCain campaign would be measurably different on almost all standards. And to watch it become Bush/Kerry, Bush/Gore, has been one of the most dissatisfying experiences."

Colbert on his character: "One of the things I love about my character is I can make vast declarations and it doesn't matter if I'm wrong. I love being wrong. So my character can tell you exactly what's going to happen: The Democrats are going to change everything. We're going to have gay parents marrying their own gay babies. Obama's gonna be sworn in on a gay baby."

Stewart on the financial crisis: "We were in this huge credit crisis, out of money. Then the Fed goes, We'll give you a trillion dollars, and all of the sudden Wall Street is like, "I can't believe we got away with it!" Can you imagine if someone said, "I shouldn't have bought that sports car because it means I can't have my house," and the bank just said, "All right, you can have your house. And you know what? Keep the car." [He throws up his arms joyfully and shouts] "Yeaaaaaah, I get to keep the car! Wait, do I have to give the money back?" "No, it doesn't matter." "Yeah, I'm gonna get another car! I'm gonna do the same thing the same way, except twice as f---ed up!"

Here is a link to the article. If you're a fan of either man, it's a good read.

Also, I watched the beginning of SNL last night. Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin, while Amy Poehler was playing Katie Couric. While hilarious, I though it must have been extremely exaggerated. Well, I watched a clip from the real interview. While it was a bit over the top (come on, it's SNL), some of it was authentic to how the interview went. Here is a clip from the real interview and below is the video from SNL. I am sorry, but I just do not like her. For one, when she is questioned further, all she can do the repeat her first statement. This is evidenced in the clip from the real interview. It kinda makes you think she's memorized talking points, and can't say much else.

Forever Strong

Last night, I had the unique opportunity to watch a movie made about my high school, Highland High. Specifically, Highland's rugby team. Highland's rugby team is kinda famous, I guess. When I was a student there, I knew the team was a pretty big deal. I think they placed 3rd in some sort of wold championship while I was there. According to the movie, under the current coach, the team's record is 367-9. Pretty darn impressive in my mind.

It was also kind of cool to see this movie last night because Adam and I actually met ten years ago this month, at Highland's homecoming football game. We wanted to go to the homecoming game, but we didn't make it, so this was close enough. :)

Speaking of meeting Adam... before we went to the movie, I went to an activity at the Deaf Community Center for my ASL class. I sat at a table where three Deaf teenage girls were sitting. They really reminded me of my high school days, because they saw some cute guys they didn't know and they were obsessing over them. Throughout the course of the evening, they went and met the boys and got their numbers. When they came back to the table, the most outgoing girl ran back excitedly and pumped her arm in the air. It was so funny!

Then...I got reminded of my teenage years again! When I got home from the movie, I started IMing a few friends. One of them was a former classmate, and he and I discussed old songs and finding YouTube videos of those songs.

It was a fun night with all that reminiscing!

Fall

Today is the first day of my favorite season.


Things I love about Fall include:
-the leaves! I love going on Fall drives up in the mountain to see the leaves.
-the temperatures cooling
-Hot chocolate
-Halloween
-new TV episodes of my favorite shows

Also, while I enjoy seeing the summer blockbuster movies, I also quite enjoy the more serious movies that tend to come out during the Fall and Winter seasons. There's already some that I am excited to see: W, Revolutionary Road, The Secret Life of Bees, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, etc.

Where the hell is Matt?

This video is amazing! It makes me smile and I could watch it over and over again.



And I just discovered he's made another one... here it is. I like that this one gets crowds involved in the dancing.

Harry Potter

This PostSecret made me smile as I have been listening to Harry Potter this week at work. I totally agree with this woman!

NY Times Op-Ed

I read two really great NY Times Op-Ed columns just now.

The first one is No Laughing Matter by Thomas L. Friedman. It's a bi-partisan look at what our economy needs and what Friedman thinks each candidate needs to do to help our country recover.

The second column is The Push to 'Otherize' Obama by Nicholas D. Kristof. This one is about how ridiculous it is that people are still questioning whether Obama is a Christian. Here's a quote from this one:

"In fact, of course, Mr. Obama took his oath on the Bible, not — as the rumors have it — on the Koran. He is far more active in church than John McCain is.

(Just imagine for a moment if it were the black candidate in this election, rather than the white candidate, who was born in Central America, was an indifferent churchgoer, had graduated near the bottom of his university class, had dumped his first wife, had regularly displayed an explosive and profane temper, and had referred to the Pakistani-Iraqi border ...)

What is happening, I think, is this: religious prejudice is becoming a proxy for racial prejudice. In public at least, it’s not acceptable to express reservations about a candidate’s skin color, so discomfort about race is sublimated into concerns about whether Mr. Obama is sufficiently Christian."

I think it is extremely sad if this is even true for some Americans. There shouldn't be any sort of prejudice of course, but if people are disguising racial prejudice as religious prejudice, well, that just lessens my faith in Americans.

More politics... but funny stuff

As soon as I heard that Michael Phelps was hosting the season premeire of SNL, I planned on watching it. When I began hearing rumors that Tina Fey might be appearing for a skit playing who else but Sarah Palin, I KNEW I would be tuning in. Michael Phelps did ok....I did like the skit where Amy Poehler played his mom. On the other hand, Tina Fey was awesome! I'm sure she has been practicing since Sarah Palin got announced as the VP pick and everyone noticed the resemblence, but her mannerisms and her voice were great.

The talk of sexism in the SNL clip reminded me of a spot on The Daily Show last week that I wanted to post but never did. It's about how the Republicans are all up in arms now about sexism, experience, and teen pregnancy now that Sarah Palin is in the picture and how hypocritical that is.

Imagine a Country

One of the first things that I was assigned to read in my Gender Studies class was an essay entitled "Imagine a Country" by Holly Sklar. I can't seem to find the full text online, but I would like to shar some of the tidbits that made an impression on me. The jist of the essay is that states a fact about America beginning with "Imagine a country."

"Imagine a country where one out of four children in born into poverty, and wealth is being redistributed upward. since the 1970s, the richest 1 percent of households has nearly doubled its share of the nation's wealth. The top 1 percent has more wealth than the bottom 90 percent of households combine."

"Imagine a country where health care aides can't afford health insurance. Where food industry workers may depend on food banks to help feed their children. Where childcare teachers don't make enough to save for their own children's education."

"Imagine a country where productivity went up, but workers' wages went down."

"Imagine a country where some of the worst CEOs make millions more in a year than the best CEOs of earlier generations made in their lifetimes. In 1980, CEOs of major corporations made an average 45 times the pay of average full-time workers. In 1991, when CEOs made 140 times as much as workers, a prominent pay expert said the CEO "is paid so much more than ordinary workers that he hasn't got the slightest clue as to how the rest of the country lives." In 2003, a leading business magazine put a pig in a pinstriped suit on the cover and headlined its CEO pay roundup, "Have they no shame? Their performance stank last year, yet most CEOs got paid more than ever." In 2005, CEOs made even more- 352 times the pay of average workers."

"Imagine a country whose constitution once counted black slaves as worth three-fifths of whites. Today, black per capita income is about three'fifths of whites."

"Imagine a country where health care is managed for healthy profit. In many countries health care is a right. But this nation has health care for some instead of health care for all. Nearly one out of five people under age 65 has no health insurance, public or private."

"Imagine a country where many descendants of its first inhabitants line on reservations strip-mined of natural resources and have a high proportion of people in poverty than any other ethnic group."

"Imagine a country whose president "has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution." A newspaper investigation reveals, "Among the laws [he] said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, 'whistle-blower' protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research."

While I saw some of the essay to be inflammatory and reaching for the negative, we need to be aware of what is wrong in our country and try to make positive strides for the better.

....

Well, I have had all these great posts planned, but time has just gotten away from me. I just finished the third week of the semester. My classes aren't necessarily hard this semester, but I'm struggling a bit. I think it's because I had two months off from school and got out of the habit. I'm taking 4 classes:

Gender and Contemporary Issues

This is by far my favorite class. We aren't just studying gender issues, but also race, class, sexuality, age, ability, etc. I've already read some stuff that opened my eyes, and I plan on posting some of it.

Shakespeare

The professor of this class is so knowledgable about Shakespeare and he's so nice. He has so many passages memorized, and he goes into actor mode. His voice gets really quiet and you can hardly hear him, but then he gets loud all of a sudden. It's so fun! We just finished reading Hamlet and it's been interesting comparing it to our current political climate.

Theories of Popular Culture

Well, I have to take an upper level theory class and thought this would be the least painful. Theory isn't my strongest subject, but this class is okay so far. I'm looking forward to some of the stuff we are reading later on.

American Sign Language 3

To get my degree, I have to take four levels of a foreign language. Even though I have a tutor for this class, and review, I usually feel behind. It just doesn't come naturally to me. I love learning about Deaf culture though, I'm just not very good at conversing in ASL.

Anne of Green Gables

A few weeks ago, I was checking the collection of teen audiobooks at my work looking for something to listen to, and I saw that we had Anne of Green Gables. I knew the basics of the story, because I have seen bits and pieces of the movie, but I have never read the book.

Well, I absolutely loved it!! L.M. Montgomery's writing was very clever and entertaining, and Anne was such a hoot. I love that a book with such a strong and smart female character was published in 1908. I loved Anne's imagination as well as her competition with Gilbert Blythe. :) Here is a NPR piece on the 100 year anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables that is quite interesting.

I talked with a librarian about how much I enjoyed reading a book that had such a strong female role model, and she recommended some other books, which I then read. These included The True Confessions of Charlotte Dolye by Avi and two books by Karen Cushman- The Midwife's Apprentice and Catherine, Called Birdy. I enjoyed Avi's novel and plan to read more of his work. Karen Cushman's work is enjoyable as well. Both books were pretty short, so they are fast reads.

I also got two other books read before the semester started today- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. The Handmaid's Tale was somewhat disturbing because it was a story taking place in a future society that has stripped away almost all of womens' rights.

Sarah, Plain and Tall is really short. In school, you were always given a few options for books to read, and I like to go back and read the ones I never got to, like Sarah, Plain and Tall or Anne of Green Gables. I always look at the summer reading display at Barnes and Noble and think I should eventually read all of those books. I'm sure I never will, but I would like to continue trying.

Bella

This movie is amazing! I kept seeing it at the Redbox, and even though I didn't remember it ever playing in theaters, it caught my eye. I had a free rental a few days ago so I watched it. It's one of those movies that reaches inside and touches your soul. Most movies are just mindless entertainment, which I am not complaining abouut. I quite enjoy those types of movies as well, but once in a while movies come along that are just so beautiful- movies like Bella, Crash, or Once.

It's about life, and how one occurance leads to another in ways that we can't see. How something that seems so terrible can lead to something beautiful. How people can have effects on others that they could never dream of.

Demolition Derby, Olympics, and Mamma Mia

That basically summarizes my weekend, which was one of the best I've had recently.

On Friday, we decided to go to the SL County Fair. Other than $5 for parking, admission was free. Granted, it was a lot smaller than the Utah State Fair, but I still had fun. Nicki and I took Jackson into a petting zoo. The little animals were SO cute!


After we ate dinner, we continued walking through. B98.7 had a booth where you ccould spin to try to win something. I won, and he said I could pick anything on the table. Along with movie tickets, Cherry Hill passes, and other things there was a book. A book I actually wanted...it's called Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. She is LDS, and a feminist and historian. She also coined that phrase, which became very famous. I was so excited to get the book. Although, the guy manning the booth wasn't very happy when I asked if that was his book. Since it was the only book, I was unsure so I asked. He assured me that it was not his book: "No, no, no." Kinda funny. We also went to the Demolition Derby, which was an additional $10. I had never been to one, though, and neither had Nicki so we wanted to go.


After the Derby, Adam, his mom, and I went on the Gravitron. Man, that one makes you feel sick! I might be done going on that one.


Saturday morning, I woke up and went to the Farmer's Market by myself. I was very nice. I got there before it got too hot and crowded. I was specifically going because the Main library was have a small book sale there. I got 8 books for $10, which made me really happy. I also got to try a slice of pumpkin bread, and a mini red velvet cupcake. I picked up some sausage to make later that was so good! I did have to work on Saturday, but after work I went over to Jordan Landing and met Sara, a friend from work. We ate crepes over at A Taste of Europe, walked over to B&N, and then went to see Mamma Mia. It was cheesy, but really enjoyed it.


On Sunday, we had church, a family dinner for Nicki's birthday, and the baptism of one of the kids in our primary class. Along with all that, I have been watching the Olympics all weekend. I recorded stuff and would watch it whenever I had time. On Friday night I stayed up pretty late after the fair watching the Opening Ceremonies, but fell asleep during the Parade of Nations. I watched the rest of it on Saturday, and we have also been watching some of the sports. We watched some of the women's beach volleyball, and the swimming. Michael Phelps is so amazing! So far, he has won two golds (one individual and one team), and I hope he continues to win more.

8 things

8 things I am passionate about:
1) Adam
2) my family
3) books
4) keeping an open mind
5) my faith
6) happiness
7) education
8) taking care of myself

8 books I have read and enjoyed:
1) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2) Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
3) Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
4) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
5) What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson
6) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
7) Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
8) The Giver by Lois Lowry

8 words/phrases I say often:
1) honey
2) oh really?
3) I'm tired.
4) I love you.
5) Can we ..... (whatever $-costing event I want to go to)
6) Does this look okay?
7) I'm bored.
8) Work was okay.

8 things I want do to before I die (in no particular order):
1) Go to London
2) Have a child
3) Get a Bachelor's degree
4) Own a home
5) Get a Master's degree
6) Go to Alaska
7) Make a difference
8) Go to New York City

8 Things I learned this past year:
1) Weight loss is possible, and it is worth it.
2) Enjoying your current stage of life is better than hoping for the next.
3) I can be happy even when I have missed some opportunities.
4) I have learned how important it is to like who you are.
5) I waste too much time, but sometimes that keeps me sane.
6) My faith is still important to me, but in different ways.
7) I will never read all the books I want to, or see all the movies I want to. Still trying to fully accept that though. :)
8) Live music is pretty awesome!

8 Things I miss:
1) my Grandma
2) the Holladay apartment
3) being a daily part of the twins' lives
4) my carefree teenage life (sometimes)
5) autumn
6) running through the sprinklers
7) the feeling of new love
8) food (or at least some of my old favorites I have cut back on, like chinese food, cheesecake, etc)

8 things I currently want/need:
1) an elliptical machine
2) a laptop
3) Penelope dvd
4) To Kill a Mockingbird dvd
5) the ability to sleep less and not be tired :)
6) a smaller body
7) a haircut
8) free gas for my car :)

8 items I could not live without (or at least wouldn’t want to):
1) car
2) love
3) cell phone
4) computer
5) books
6) movies
7) bed
8) my glasses (I'd be so blind!)

Books

I've seen this on a bunch of blogs, so I decided to see how many I have read. This is a list of books that apparently the average adult has only read six of. I've read 25, but plan on reading a lot more.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Shakespeare's complete works- I doubt I'll ever read his complete works, although it would be kinda cool.
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
37. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
38. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Animal Farm - George Orwell
41. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
44. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
45. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
46. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
47. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
48. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
49. Atonement - Ian McEwan
50. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
51. Dune - Frank Herbert
52. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
54. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
57. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
60. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
61. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
64. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
65. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
66. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
67. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fiedling
68. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
69. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
70. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker
72. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
73. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses - James Joyce
75. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
76. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal - Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
79. Possession - AS Byatt
80. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
81. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
83. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
86. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
89. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
91. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
92. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
93. Watership Down - Richard Adams
94. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
98. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
99. Night - Elie Wiesel
100. Twilight series - Stephenie Meyer

Megan's mosaic

1. around the bend, 2. the legend on boulevard, 3. Mount Tamalpais, 4. Day 131: Sphere, 5. James McAvoy, 6. water droplets in the shower - o.k. bokeh, 7. London Underground - Zone 1 & 2, 8. Chocolate Cupcakes, 9. Day 106 - I am a librarian, 10. love message, 11. i heart nerds, 12. bookworm...



I've been seeing these on a few blogs, but one of them actually gave instructions, so thank you! This is copied over from her blog.

Here´s how you do it...

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search, using only the first page, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows).

The questions:
1. What is your first name? (Megan)
2. What is your favorite food? (Chinese)
3. What high school did you attend? (Highland)
4. What is your favorite color? (teal)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (James McAvoy)
6. Favorite drink? (water)
7. Dream vacation? (London)
8. Favorite dessert? (chocolate)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (librarian)
10.What do you love most in life? (romance)
11. One word to describe you. (nerd)
12. Your Flickr name. (Bookworm Bishop)

Breaking Dawn

-Yes, we were dorks and decided to get Breaking Dawn shirts. Although, in our defense, they were a lot more people even more dressed up. The theme was a wedding of course, and so people were in prom dresses to be like bridesmaid's dresses.



-It was so packed. This is outside B&N after 11 when they had everyone go outside to wait until midnight.



-Yes, that is a silver Volvo. That is also "Alice" and "Rosalie" confronting "James." You can also slighty see "Edward" behind the redhead in blue.

-On Friday morning, I went to get wristbands for Karen and me. Unfortunately, we were in the 576-600 group. I could have been worse, but it still meant we would be pretty far back in line. Adam and I met up with Karen and Steve for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which was yummy. After doing a couple of other things, Karen and I headed to the Barnes and Noble. It got so packed by the end of the night. They had activities going, although we didn't do any of them. It was pretty crazy. They made everyone leave at 11 and wait outside, like I mentioned. You had to be in your wristband group of 25, and then each group of 25 was let in. We were pretty far back, so we didn't actually leave with our books until after 1:00. Altogether, it was fun, although I wish they could have had the distribution of books handled better. It would have been nice if we could have pre-paid for our books. Anyways...

I got home and started reading at about 1:30 after Karen and Steve had left. I read until 4:00, then slept until 9:00, then woke up and continued reading. I had to go to work at 12:30, but it was okay because I needed a break. There are some pretty big ideas to digest, so I went to work for the four hours, and came home and read more. With bathroom breaks and a longer dinner break, I finished around 10:30 tonight. Less than 24 hours after I got it!! I still don't quite know how I feel about all of it....so I'm off to look at some websites like the Twilight Lexicon and then I am going to go to bed since I only got 5 hours of sleep last night.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

This show is so funny! It's about Dr. Horrible, who is trying to get into the Evil League of Evilness. Captain Hammer thwarts his efforts with this, as well as his efforts to catch his crush's attention. All of the songs are good, but this is my favorite song- it's called Laundry Day.

My Weekend

We had a big day on Saturday. Adam took the Praxis, which as long as he passed means he can do his student teaching and graduate in May. It was down at UVU in Orem, and I went with him for moral support. After I dropped him off, I went to the University Mall to waste time during his test. I was so nervous for him, though, that it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I did try a place in Provo called Pudding on the Rice that was really good. I was so happy when I went to meet him after it was over and he said he felt good about it. Hopefully he was right, although we won't know for sure for a month.

After that, we headed up to his family's big reunion they have every year at his grandparent's ranch. It's so beautiful there. We didn't take any pictures, but we'll be up there again in late August. I talked a lot with Adam's grandparents, which was nice, but I also talked a lot to his uncle Greg and his 2nd or 3rd cousin Katie, both of whom were English majors. We spent the night there, and came home in time for Adam to go to work Sunday night. No one was home, so I got to have a relaxing night by myself. It was so nice. As I was watching tv, my old friend Diana called. It was so fun to talk to her. She is so upbeat and always has been. If she sees this, hi Diana! Thanks so much for calling. After I talked to her, I got on the Facebook website and got to talk to another old friend, Matt. I had no idea Facebook had a chat application, so that was cool too.

Basically, Saturday was busy and Sunday was totally chill. It was just a fun weekend. And even though I ate at Chick-Fil-A and had 2 smores at the ranch...I lost 3 lbs this week! I've had a couple iffy weeks where I would only lose like 1/2 a lb so I wanted to prove that I could still lose over 2 lbs in one week. I officially only have 9.8 lbs until I reach the goal I originally set, but I might try to lose 5-10 more than that.

Politics

Warning: This is long, and about politics. I understand that politics may seem boring for a lot of people. That makes me sad. If you aren't very interested in politics, you probably will skip this post, but you should read it because politics should be important to everyone.

About a month ago, a man named Rick Shenkman was on The Daily Show. He has written a book called Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter. I decided that he was probably right, so I put his book on hold at the library and decided to read more political columns and blogs online. I just finished his book this morning. It was a quick read, and pretty convincing. He argues that voters are sometimes ignorant but oftentimes misinformed.

For example, 1 in 4 Americans cam name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. However, more than half of Americans cam name two members of the fictional cartoon family The Simpsons. 22% can name all five members, but only 1 in 1000 people can name all five freedoms. Just so you know, I couldn't either, but I'll hopefully never forget it now. I knew four, but here are the five: speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition for redress of grievances.

He also speaks of our nation becoming a nation of slogans and soud-bites, which is totally true. If someone can't explain something quickly, we lose attention. We need to overcome this. He argues that "If an abstract word is used in a speech with no meaningful referent, the listener should disregard it. If the word freedom is not defined precisely, it should be ignored." Now, I don't think every thing needs to be defined, but we need to be more able to recognize when they are using words as propaganda or slogans and not as real substance.

He had an intersting story about the effect of tv. In the 1960 presidental campaign, Kennedy and Nixon debated. If you read the transcripts, they come out looking even. However, people who watched it on tv were likely to say that Kennedy had won the debate. This is only because Kennedy's staff manipulated conditions to their advantage. They knew Nixon was a sweater, so they raised the room temperatures. They knew Nixon had an injured leg, so they made it so the candidates had to stand a lot.

He argues that polls have too much influence, without really showing if the person being questioned really knows about the subject. Therefore, he thinks those types of questions should be asked before asking their opinion, which I totally agree with.

He had a lot of good arguments. He was biased towards one political side, as authors usually are. One thing I have to mention that made me mad, though, was that he quoted Virginia Woolf and he didn't even spell her name right. (Of course, I believe that she is one of the world's greatest authors, so I'm biased in being upset.)

I've also recently read The Good Fight
by Senator Harry Reid. He is the Democrat Senate Leader, and he is LDS. It was very interesting to me, since I am also LDS and lean to the more liberal side as well.

Here are a few online things I've read recently:

Americans Move to the Middle
- This is about how more and more Americans are movind towards the midlle of the political spectrum.

Getting to Know You
- This is a profile on John McCain. It's negative, but don't worry... if you're Republican, the next link will be more to your liking.

The Senator Hasn't Shown Us Much Yet

-This addresses Barack Obama's recent trip and if it has had any effect on his opinions about the war.

TV

A few weeks ago, I checked out some DVDs from my work. I got the complete series of My So-Called Life. Since then, I've been slowly watching all 19 episodes. I remember why this was one of my favorite tv shows. Sure, it dealt with some heavy stuff this wasn't part of my sheltered teenage life here in Utah, but I think I identified with Angela. All the introspection, and all the boy problems. :)

My favorite shows from my childhood years would have to be Full House, Saved By the Bell, and Little House on the Prairie.

My other favorite shows from my teenage years are Dawson's Creek and Felicity.

My current favorites are The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, The Office, Family Guy, 30 Days and Pushing Daisies. I would also have to add Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars even though they are over.

Shows I want to watch:
30 Rock (I have the 1st season from the library)
Arrested Development
Freaks and Geeks
The Office (U.K. edition)
Flight of the Conchords

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Best. Show. Ever.

This has got to be one of the funniest Daily Shows I have ever seen! My favorite parts are from:

1:04-2:20 "Don't take our hope away!"
5:18-5:40 "The Iraq/Pakistan border, also known as Iran."
6:00-6:35 "Gaa... Maliki (Iraqi Prime Minister) is SO naive about Iraq!"
9:50-14:40 "Stop interrupting- you are filibustering me!"

Also, the skit starting at 6:40 is hilarious too, but a little crude.

The Dark Knight

This movie was so good! Granted, I'm not too picky about movies. I enjoy the escape from real life, and it takes quite a bit for me to not think that the movie was at least okay. However, The Dark Knight was AWESOME! Great story, easy enough to follow if you don't know the comics that well like me. Amazing acting, especially by Heath Ledger. He was such a talented actor, and it made me sad knowing this was his last finished movie.

Just a sidenote: Slate Magazine has a review on The Dark Knight that I found interesting by Dana Stevens.

5

5 Reasons I Am Happy Today

1- I will be watching The Dark Knight in about 10 hours. I am so excited!

2- Breaking Dawn comes out in 14 days!

3- I got asked if I could be featured on a newsletter that is part of the weight loss program I am enrolled in through my work.

4- I am reading a wonderful book that has inspired me to eat better. It's called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.

5- I've been listening to the Harry Potter series on CD while I am at work. I love Harry Potter!! Plus, the guy who narrates them, Jim Dale, is awesome!

Darfur

The library system where I work has a section on the website that is updated every month with new arrivals. I saw that there was a film called Darfur Now in the documentary section, so I put it on hold. I had heard about Darfur, but didn't really understand what was going on. Well, it finally arrived and I watched it a few weeks ago. When I checked it out, my co-worker wondered why I wanted to watch something like that that I knew would be sad. I guess I feel like I want to be aware of the issues that are affecting our human race. It was sad, just like she thought. This website has a good summary of the situation.

Since the film has come out, though, steps are being made. The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrestof Sudan's president. Pressure is being put on China to stop supplying the weapons to Sudan. A NY Times columnist, Nicholas D. Kristoff, wrote a column about it today: Prosecuting Genocide. Hopefully the next few months will begin to bring about an end to this horrible occurance.

Dog Lake

Recent Reads

Feminist Mormon Housewives I really enjoy reading this blog, especially this post from July 4th. I agree with almost everything she wrote, and she explained it a million times better than I ever could.

Stuff White People Like- There's a blog, and then they just put out a book last week. I bought it last night at B&N, and finished it today. I think it's really funny, although my mom thought the premise of it was offensive. It's basically a white guy making fun of white people. Some of it is totally true, though, at least for me. Only look at it if you have a sense of humor and can laugh about yourself.

The Salt Lake Tribune- We get the paper on Sundays, and reading it is the first thing I do usually. I really enjoy the Arts section, and sometimes the Editorial section. There was a really good editoral in today's paper.I really do think that churches should not get involved in politics. This whole California issue just makes me sad, because the church claims to love everyone, but they are obviously not acting like it.

Eliza magazine I read about this on someone's blog and decided to check it out. I got an issue last night at B&N. It's pretty good. I'm not really that into fashion, but I have been making more of an effort since I have lost weight and feel better about myself. It's also got good articles about social issues that are pretty informative.

Week in Review

-On Monday, we drove home from St. George and went to a concert. We saw Marie Digby. At first, we were a little annoyed because it was supposed to be at In the Venue, but was moved to Kilby Court. Once we found Kilby Court, however, I didn't mind the switch. Kilby Court is the smallest venue I have ever seen, and this was the most laid-back concert. She came out to watch her openers and stood right next to Adam and I for part of it. Of course, this was the first concert we decided to not bring our camera too. Oh well. We still had a great time.

-After I got off work on Wednesday, we went to two movies. David, Adam and I went and saw Wanted. I thought it was such a cool movie. And of course, it had my favorite actor/crush James McAvoy. After that movie, we got dinner at a crepe place right next to the theater. Andy met us, and we saw Hancock. I didn't like it quite as much as Wanted, but it was still enjoyable.

-On the 4th, we went on a hike and saw some fireworks. We woke up pretty early and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We hiked a trail at the Brighton resort. It led to Dog Lake. It was really pretty and not a hard hike at all. Although I was a little nervous at one point, because we had to go downhill on snow. I have pictures that I will post later. Later on, we had a bbq with some of my family, then we all walked over to Sugarhouse Park for the fireworks. I got to see some old friends, so that was nice. In the words of my 6 year old nephew, the fireworks were "radical."

After work yesterday, I headed up to my Mom and Dad's in Sugarhouse. My mom is awaiting results on some medical tests that are making her nervous, so I wanted to get her mind off of it. We went to a restaurant called The Dodo for dinner. It was so good! After that, we went to Barnes and Noble where I spent too much money. It's not like I don't have more than enough reading material, I needed to go and find more! :)

St. George and Las Vegas trip

Highlights of the trip

-hanging out with Adam's brother John and getting to meet his new girlfriend Christyn

-going to the Shakespearean Festival

-seeing Cirque de Soleil's Mystere

-eating some great food at the Bellagio buffet and the Top of the World restaurant at the Stratosphere

-going on Insanity (the ride on top of the Stratosphere)

-swimming at the condo and getting somewhat tan

-random tv watching (Get Smart, VH1's I Love the New Millenium, America's Next Top Model)

-having no homework to worry about and being able to just relax

Peace out!

I leave tomorrow for St. George and Las Vegas. We haven't been there for almost four years, so I'm really excited. Plus, we are doing all different things from the previous times we have been. We'll be there for a week. I'm so thankful for breaks from school so we can do this.

Marriage (and a concert)

It's hard to believe I have been married for five years. Most of the time, I don't even feel old enough to have been married for five years. I was 20 when I got married, and in all actuality we probably were too young (Adam was 22). We have changed a lot, but fortunately, we have changed together for the most part. About a month ago, I was talking to this 18 or 19 year old girl at my work about popular songs. She told me about how her and her sister critique songs- the lyrics, the voice of the singer, etc. She then said, "There's this weird song playing on the radio a lot right now. The first line of the song says "The best part about tonight is that we're not fighting" and the chorus says "Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you over again." We just think it doesn't really make sense." I almost laughed (for a few reasons). One, the song is "Fall For You" by Secondhand Serenade, and it os one of my current favorite songs. Two, it just shows how young she is and that she has never been in a serious relationship. Anyone that has (and will be honest) knows that those lines are true. Sometimes, the best thing is that you aren't fighting. Things are never perfect. Along the same line, sometimes you do need to fall back in love. There's a quote I like that states "Marriage is falling in love over and over again with the same person." Marriage isn't always easy, and it's not always how I thought it would be when I was 20, but it is worth it to have your best friend by your side.

Now, the concert tie-in. Secondhand Serenade played at Thanksgiving Point last week. It was a great concert. I love live music. I love seeing people so passionate about what they are doing.

His songs are pretty romantic, so it was frun for an anniversary activity. I mean, just look at his name. He calls himself that because first he serenades his wife, then we get it secondhand.

5 Years

Five years ago (yesterday), Adam and I got married. I was going to write this yesterday after Adam took me out on a surprise date, but we never got home last night. He had reserved a room for us at the Castle Creek Inn, where we had stayed on our wedding night. Whenever he tries to surprise me, I usually find out, so he kept his secret this time. I really wasn't expecting anything, because we went to a concert last week, on Wednesday night we went to dinner and a movie because I thought he had to work on our anniversary, and we're leaving on a trip next week.

It was a great night. We took Trax downtown, and went to Cedars of Lebanon for dinner. We had gone there for my birthday too, and really liked it. After that, we went to the Sam Weller's bookstore. So big inside, and just what a bookstore should be. I could have spent so much more time there. However, we had another stop. Right next door, in fact. He took me to Keys on Main, a dueling piano club. I had wanted to go to both of those places for a long time, especially since I saw them so many times standing at the Gallivan Trax stop on my way to or from school. We will be going back to Keys on Main for sure. It was a lot of fun. After that, we went to the hotel.

Happy Day!!!

I'm so glad that Barack Obama got enough delegates for the nomination tonight!! That's all, just wanted to say that. :)

Favorites of 2008 (So Far)

Since we are almost halfway through 2008, I thought I would make a list of my favorite books and movies this year. This list will include things released earlier, just as long as I saw or read it for the first time this year. I watch a lot of movie and read a lot of books, so I'll be doing however many I feel have been a favorite.

Books

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
This book was so interesting to me. They really do explore everything. Stephen Dubner came to the U, so I got to hear him preview a chapter from their second book, which he said would probably be called Super Freakonomics.

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
I read this is February, back when it was a complete toss-up who would win the Democratic nomination. Luckily, he is now likely to win. I really believe in his ideas, and I like that he is not from a political or powerful family.

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
I have read almost all of her books. She is a good writer, not the best, but good. However, the issues and questions she raises fully make up for any lack in her writing. Each book deals with controversial issues, and this was is not different. An inmate is scheduled to be executed for his crimes, but he wants to donate his heart to the sister of his victim. Very thought-provoking.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
This is a collection of short stories that deal with Indian characters. The last three are interwoven stories that are written so beautifully.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Like Jodi Picoult, she is not the best author, but she does excel at one thing in her books. Her characters. She writes the best characters, and the best stories for those characters.



Movies

Penelope
Very cute story, but best part about it is that my favorite actor is in it- James McAvoy.

Under the Same Moon
This movie shows the humane side to the issue of illegal immigration, which means a lot of conservative people wouldn't like it. To me, that part of it doesn't matter. It's about a mother trying to make a better life for her son. We are not any better than anyone else just because we were born here in America (Ok, off my soapbox for now).

Lars and the Real Girl
Ryan Gosling is an amazing actor. He is so talented. The premise of this movie is weird. He plays a man who has a blow-up doll for a girlfriend. He plays the character so well.

Iron Man
I've never been a comic books fan, but I do enjoy seeing all the superhero movies.

Other favorites:
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
The Kite Runner
Lions For Lambs
Sex and the City