Blake's 4th date

Last weekend, I took Blake out on the 4th date I've ever taken him on. Lol, I swear there have been more..... but he says it was the 4th. I don't remember what the other 3 were besides a near death experience at Antelope Island, which discouraged me from planning another date for quite some time. When I say near death, I am not exaggerating. Most of the dates I plan have major complications, it's a reflection of my horrid planning skills and general bad luck. I am happy to report that this date was a success.

We ate at the Blue Iguana. Downtown was packed. There was a jazz game that night and we saw some High School kids in formalwear so it was prom somewhere, adding to the parking frenzy around Blue Iguana (it's in the same building as Benihana). But we lucked out and got a meter spot - yay! The restaurant was busy and we had to wait for about 20 minutes. We should have gotten there earlier because then we were pushing it to make the play we were going to afterwards. I ate faster than I have ever eaten in my life. Blake is always saying I'm a slow eater but I never believed him until this weekend when I went to Crystal Hot Springs. My friends and I ate at Beehive afterwards and I got my burger first and was the last one still eating. So eating fast was hard for me, but we managed to get there with some time to spare.

We saw Hancock County at my school. It was based on court proceedings for the trials of men charged with conspiracy to murder Joseph Smith. It was surprisingly good. The characters were well developed and it brought up a lot of universal themes which spurred intelligent and meaningful conversation all while telling an interesting story, strongly based in historical facts. Blake liked it a lot, as well which made this date a success :) (Here is an article about the play, from it's presentation at BYU, not Westminster, but I think it gives a good overview if you're interested.)

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The Vagina Monologues

On February 7, I went to my school's production of the Vagina Monologues as part of our V-Day celebration. For those of you not familiar with what V-day is, check out the v-day website. My dad rolled his eyes when he heard I was going. I was a little nervous going because I had come across some potent criticisms of the monologues. (I like to do a little research on things before I participate, I do the same thing about buying anything besides clothes and shoes those are usually impuls buys, and I like tangents aparently). But I really enjoyed it.

I know my mother would be horrified at some of the monologues. They talked about all things vagina related; sex, orgasms, rape, the anatomy of the vagina, the words we use to talk about vaginas, birth, etc. It was a celebration of womanhood and a call to end violence against women. 90 percent of the proceeds all went to benefit the Rape Recovery Center in Sugarhouse. The other 10 percent went to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where women's bodies are becomming the battle ground of a war.

The last and most sad monologue was one that Eve Ensler wrote about an experience she had in the DRC. It was called "Baptized." She told about a 7 year old girl she met there who had been gang raped. From that crime, she had an extra hole in her body and no longer had the ability to control her bladder. While she was sitting on Eve's lap, she accidentally peed on her. Eve said at that moment she was baptized. I understand the critiques about the Vagina Monologues that come from both conservative groups and other feminists, but I don't see how you can criticize what Eve Ensler is trying to do with the monologues and V-Day. No woman or girl should ever have to be the victim of sexual violence or abuse, and that is what V-Day is all about.

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My Boyfriend's Back!

Yay! Just in time for Valentines Day :) even though I will be celebrating the holiday by working at the Joe and then hanging out with my girl friend Tara ha ha. Details on the experience as well as my reaction to V-day (probably including another long paper for school) to follow :)

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My little Bro

I was looking through some old pictures on my computer and found this one of my little brother Luke from a couple years ago. I couldn't help but post it, he was so cute and still is. He used to climb up on the dishwasher door when he was little, that's what he is doing here.

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Photographic Evidence #2

of my car troubles.

Here is my daddy's car after the pizza man ran into me.

And here's a picture of my truck's problematic carborator. My cousin said he should be done with it on Friday, Thanks Jonny!!

and here is my truck and me in front of my house. Isn't it cute? Aw, it totally fits me. If only it would run :( ha ha.

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Photographic Evidence

of my inner domestic goddess.

The cookies my dad and I made for Blake w/ the cookie press featured here:

I only regret I don't have any pictures of my Pizelles!

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So Everybody Put Your Best Suit or Dress On

(Another line from “The New Year.”) All I can say is I wish I went to a nice party to which I would’ve worn my cute black cocktail dress. Alas, my New Year’s Eve was not destined to be so.

Let’s start the day before New Year’s Eve (as Brando would say, New Year’s Adam – Adam came before Eve, get it?). I go ice skating with the six- my girlfriends from HS. Ice skating was fun and we began to discuss plans for New Year’s. So my friend Beth is doing her family tradition of going to the Kaysville city’s New Year’s party. She’s really into Bingo apparently lol and Sarah doesn’t stay out past midnight. Plus it’s hard for her to make plans. Kaylynn wants to do First Night. My heart’s desire was to go to Studio 600 because I miss country dancing like crazy. I have been wearing my cowboy boots to work for a few days. Kelsey was also into this idea, but she has this new fling from her ward who invited her to a party at his friend’s cabin. We encourage her to go although we will miss her – it’s a good opportunity for a first kiss! Beth adds it’s a good way for them to get to know each other. Anyways, hopefully Kelsey doesn’t mind my sharing. Ha ha, so the plans are I, Kaylynn & Fiance, Tashi & Brando are going to First Night. I should have seen it would be a disaster from the participants. Fifth wheel outings are never too much fun.

I don’t think it would have been as bad if I wasn’t sick. I started feeling down in the afternoon. I went home from my internship meeting and slept the rest of the day. I got up around 7 PM and took a shower, got dressed, etc. The couples were eating out with their in-law type families. We agreed to meet at the Gallivan Center around 8:30, which naturally means 9. My family hadn’t made dinner before I left. (My family is weird like that.) But I knew it was going to be steak and shrimp and nothing sounded more delicious than that. I told them to save me some so I could eat when I got back.

So here I am, sick and hungry. We arrive at the Gallivan Center and I realize I should have worn an extra layer or two plus a scarf and a bigger hat – one that would more sufficiently cover my ears but it was too late. There were a couple of warm tents with events or activities. The first one we went into provided cardboard honeycomb shapes that you could write your resolutions on. That took like 5 seconds. So we headed back into the cold and looked at some bad art installations. One was cool. It was like the ball they drop in New York but made out of empty water bottles. The others were dumb. We went into the next tent and watched some B-boys which was cool but you can only do that for so long.

We wandered for a while then got on trax and checked out the Leonardo ‘cause there was stuff going on there. But it was like all little kid activities. We did some of them anyways lol. I was miserable. Starving, freezing, sick, and becoming lonelier by the second as I was deserted by the pair of couples and the only one with out someone keeping me warm with their arms.

We went back to the Gallivan. I went up to a booth selling soup but only had my card and they only accepted cash. Ugh. More starvation set in just because I knew getting food was now impossible. My feet were getting numb. Like you’d think they would shovel the area but there was like a couple inches of snow everywhere. I was wearing two pairs of socks and still couldn’t feel my toes. And then more loneliness set in as the countdown approached. We watched this artist named “Wisdom” perform while a local latino/rock band played. It was cool for a while but the novelty wore off pretty quickly and all I could make myself hope for was the steak and shrimp waiting for me at home.

Finally, the countdown came and passed as I was surrounded by kissing couples for a solid minute in the first moments of 2009. Then fireworks lit up the sky while snippets of some good classic songs played. That cheered me for a bit but the cheer was fleeting. Tashi, Brando and I ran to Brando’s car and headed home.

But when we finally got there, I found the shrimp bowl empty. And I’m embarrassed to admit, it pushed me over the edge. Ha ha, I was told there was a steak in the fridge but I couldn’t find it. There was also shrimp in the freezer I could boil. I didn’t see the shrimp bag either. My ailments blinded me and I broke down on the kitchen floor. Oh, it was bad. I started crying, not hysterically, but I was crying over steak and shrimp! Brando laughed at me and I was laughing too, in between my sobby breathing and tears. Tashi got out her camera and snapped a few photos despite my protestation.
Then my dear, sweet mother came to my rescue as I began eating a baked potato like an apple. She cooked me shrimp and reheated my steak and even prepared another baked potato, complete with sour cream and pepper on top. It was so sweet of her lol. I love my mom. My little sisters started teasing me for my emotional breakdown and my mom defended me. She knew what it was all about. She said, “Oh, leave her alone. She’s a noob at missing Blake for the Holidays.” Ha ha. Seriously, I love my mom.

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