Well...hi there :)

So it's been a while since I've posted. Yup. Had my birthday, did the first half of my pilot study (aww crap I KNEW there was something I was supposed to get done today...), went to the temple a couple of times (including today - hoorah!), what else?

I'm still looking for funding for next year, although this week I was offered something that I'm currently considering a back-up option. But as my sister reminded me, "hey - your worst case scenario just got better!" :)

My dearly beloved roommate of the last almost-two years has decided that she's moving west, closer to her family, so I'm on the lookout for someone with whom to split the rent. Still hoping that Elise gets a job in my town...

So remember when I was in charge of that student symposium two years ago? Well, it came around again this year, and in the spirit of this...

...hi friends. :)

 (And call me vain if you want, but there aren't a ton of pictures of me that I like, but I looked at these and thought, "Hey! I get to be her!" and that was a fun moment for me. :) )

shots from today

One of the labbies at work was getting to know a fancy camera today, and thus we have preserved this:

...shirt I bought in Abu Dhabi when our luggage didn't arrive and I didn't want to wear my "I've been wearing this for 24 hrs of traveling" clothes to meetings at the university, new haircut that I am LOVING, aaaaaannnnnddd...dumb expression. Terrif.

And this:


...action shot of me and the pizza. ?!?

For the love.

The price you have to pay

Wading in the [in the US: Persian, here: Arabian] Gulf in December while my friends are buried in snow: Priceless

Having sand in my socks for the rest of the day: TOTALLY worth it. :)

P.S. I'm not ready to go home yet. This place--this experience--is just incredible!

Just in case you forgot...

...this is what I look like when I'm talking:


And also - this:


And for those of you who need it - photographic evidence that I DON'T actually talk ALL the time:

The end.

Location, location, location

I was there Monday:

He was there Tuesday*.

Doesn't that make me famous?

Or something?

...please...?

*Click "gallery" in the bottom right corner of the picture, and then click to picture #17. It's the same podium, I swear.

Thanks for the picture, Jae! :)

You might be in the south if...

A friend of mine recently got back from a trip to Tennessee. This is an ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPH she took down there.


And that's all I have to say about that.

Delivery!!

I received these in the mail yesterday...


Hee hee!!!! knee-high, awesome colors, super soft, and accompanied by a hilarious note from my dear aunt, and the best part is...

They're...


That means I can wear them with ANYTHING!!

And oh baby, I plan to. :)

Thanks, Aunt Cathy!!!

Al-hijab

I just spent all day with a group from my Arabic class, filming our final presentation. We did a TV morning news show, and one of the parts I wrote and recorded was a (spoof) commercial for hijab. We thought we were very clever, even if we couldn't get all our jokes to go smoothly into Arabic. :)

So if you show up in our class on Tuesday, you might see a little of this...

Self-portrait

Here's hoping that getting a haircut can also ward off mental illness...

Sometimes I take cool pictures.

I'm really enjoying this one right now.


P.S. That's San Diego in January. I only wish I lived there.

For the birds. Or something.

I got a fun visit from these folks - hoorah for family events that bring my friends into my state!!

We went to the zoo...

...and maybe had a little too much fun...


Did I mention I cut my hair and got glasses? Yup.

Evidence

If you're going to crawl around like a crazy woman on playground equipment at an amusement park with your friends' kids, I supposed you'd better be prepared to have it documented.

(Yes, I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now; yes, it's due Monday. What do you want from me?!)

In which I get political (ok, not really, but weren't you excited about it, just for a second?!)

Maybe the problem with our government is that they spoil all the fun...



and make no sense.

I visited some old friends today...

I was in the neighborhood, so I stopped by to see George...


...Abe...

...and Jeff.

It was nice to see them again. (Hi, guys! :) )

Happy happy joy joy!!

I was chatting online with my sis just now, and then my niece woke up from her nap, and my sis typed, "incoming" and I got this in my inbox:

Subject: There's a message for you on the card



You can click on the picture to see the message on the card, and if her little pudgy hand holding the card and her tousled bed-head and her pink cheeks and her cheery little "I just woke up" smile don't just melt your heart...then maybe you aren't ME!

So I quickly took a (really bad) picture of myself with my cell phone, signing "I love you," and sent it to them, and my niece babbled excitedly at my picture. :) I love it. :)

There is no subject for this post.

So my brain is a little

Yeah, that's as far as that sentence got. Reminiscent of another time when I stopped partway through a thought. No, I'm not saying that my brain was a demon.

Hey - another of my hilarious cousins started blogging! Check her out!

And my sister posted about something important - Yes on Prop 8!

And I'm just a leeeeettle obsessed with this right now. I know, we've been over this before, but if I can live vicariously through my curling iron, surely I'm allowed to be really thrilled about someone else's romance. Seriously, grab a cup of hot cocoa and a fuzzy blanket, cozy up on the couch, and start at the beginning. It's a good story. And then you'll get addicted like me and keep on checking for updates 9 million times a day, when digging up citation information and transcribing interviews (1 hr to do FIVE MINUTES of an interview - you have GOT to be kidding me!!) just isn't puttin' bubbles in your milk anymore.

And speaking of milk, did you notice my new profile picture? Here, have a closer look.


So I went to the Minnesota State Fair over Labor Day. This is one of the many fun things I did at the end of the summer about which I have not yet blogged. Like the show in Chicago. And the concert. And the family vacation where I did not lose the pictures but did get to hang out with some of the people in the tractor picture. Oh, and France 2007, which was not at the end of last summer, but which is yet another cool thing about which I have not yet blogged.

But I digress.

So they do this cool thing at the Minnesota State Fair, where you spend $1 for a cup, such as the one I'm holding in the above picture, and then you can get free milk all day long. (And a week later, as long as you bring back your cup, right, R? :) )

DOESN'T THAT JUST SOUND AWESOME?!?!

:) :)

OK, but really, it's pretty cool. And you can get chocolate or white milk. And it's actually quite hilarious, because, um, everybody's doing it. Really. A couple of the images that I hope I never forget from that fair were of really tough looking guys, or really punk teenagers, standing around...drinking milk. And eating chocolate chip cookies, because someone had the brains to say, "Where there is milk, there must needs be cookies," and so put up a cookie booth. $16 for a plastic bucket of chocolate chip cookies. Yeah, um, we stuck with milk.

And we drank a lot of it. I'm holding up four fingers because I'm just then drinking my fifth cup of milk for the day. Yes, four fingers for my fifth cup of milk. Apparently my brain was a demon that day, too.

Wordless Wednesday: Another reason I think San Diego is really cool

One Reason I Think San Diego is Really Cool - A (Very Short) Essay

One reason I think San Diego is really cool is because you might just get out of the car at the grocery store and see this:

The End.

So should I be honored...?

...that her biggest spit-up to date was when I was holding her?

Or should I just feel stupid that I was too lazy to get a burp cloth that time?

There's magic in the air...

...but only for a minute.