I would call this a blessed weekend.
It was the weekend of Stake Conference. Last night Chris was fixing water problems in Erda, Jordan was bucking hay with Grandma and Grandpa, Jemma was playing with a friend, and I went to the evening meeting for youth and adults. It was all about "hastening the work."
Today, we went to Stake Conference together, then Jordan went to a Temple Preparation class before coming home for a quick, but deep sleep. Then, my mom, Doug and Trudy joined us as Chris ordained Jordan to the office of an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. It was a beautiful and special ordinance as Jordan continues to prepare for these next few steps in his life.
We grilled some steaks and ate together around the table, but the grandparents couldn't stay for Seminary Graduation.
The graduation was at the Holladay Stake building and the Holladay South Stake also joined us, which meant that most of Jordan's friends were also there. It was beautiful - full of the Spirit of peace and goodness. Those good kids got their certificates and sang, "I Stand All Amazed."
President Boyer made the point that, later this week their lives will change and never again be the same. He also said that the top of each ladder is the bottom of another ladder.
Indeed, Jordan's life will change and our lives will change. Jemma hardly knows how to account for all that's happening, other than she's feeling sentimental and is missing Jordan already as he spends a lot of time with his friends. During conference this morning, she sat by Jordan and I looked over to see her leaning up against him. He may not understand all of her needs and she doesn't understand his at this point. Someday, they'll be able to meet in the middle.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
The Mission Call
It seems that things happen in multiples. Either we're going along in life without anything too out of the ordinary happening, or all sorts of unique things are happening all around the same time.
It was the last week of April/first week of May. Chris was in Zion for a work trip (hiking Angel's Landing, and I'm glad I didn't know that until after they'd safely back at their camp), we were expecting to receive Jordan's mission call on either Wednesday or Thursday and we were leaving for a week-long trip to Hawaii on Friday.
On Wednesday afternoon, I came home from work around noon and the mail was sitting unassumingly in the mailbox, sans mission call. It was somewhat of a relief, since we would have waited until Thursday to open it when Chris was back in town. But what I wasn't expecting was the anxiety I'd feel as we awaited the next mail delivery.
Thursday was a juggle of working at home; listening for the mail; a trip to Costco which was meant to be a combination of gathering snacks for the group that would arrive for the opening, picking up some chicken salad for a lunch at work and remembering a few essentials for the Hawaii trip; and arranging a vet appointment for Charlie. By the time I left for Costco, the mail hadn't yet arrived. Full of nervous energy, I went to work, went to meetings, and rushed home again just before 3:30 to get Charlie to the vet. No mail yet. As Charlie and I were backing out of the driveway I spotted the mail truck, parked at the end of the road. Then I saw a white convertible pull up next to it, Jordan jumped out, grabbed a handful of mail and reversed his way back up the street. There was certainly a sense of calm at that point, just knowing it had arrived.
But the next few hours were still suspenseful. Charlie got immunized while the envelope sat outside in the Passat. Then it sat on the table in the kitchen while Jemma and I cut up fruit and filled bowls with nuts and other snacks. I knew that whatever was inside would change the course of my thoughts - I would know where Jordan was going, when he was leaving and I'd probably be doing all the research I could about a place I either had some knowledge of or, quite possibly, somewhere I'd never heard of before.
Around 6pm, the house started filling with people. My mom, Chris's parents and grandma, and bunches of boys and girls. I think there were around 20, maybe 30 people. A couple people filmed on iPhones, I got Mark on a Google hangout and I think Doug had Laur on speaker phone while Jordan opened the envelope and read aloud....the Peru Iquitos mission.
My first flood of thoughts and feelings were of how inspired that call was, how that was a place where Jordan's going to have deep and amazing experiences, how I'd wondered if he would go to South America and yes, he is, how Jordan speaking Spanish seems so natural, how I'd never heard of Iquitos before - and I was impressed that he seemed to know exactly how to pronounce it, without hesitation.
Jemma was in tears, Jordan gave me a long hug, the sentiments of his friends were encouraging. Some, who are also going to South America, and one who's going to another mission in Peru, were especially excited. It was amazing to me, to see the support, to see this kids, sophomores, juniors and seniors in high school, having this experience together - encouraging each other toward goodness, preparing to spread out across the world, preaching the gospel and sharing God's love. They put their arms around him and I heard, more than once, "Love you, Jord." It was a moment I'm very grateful for.
It seems like everyone left quickly afterward and it was very quiet. Chris and I were Googling Iquitos, Peru. Finding facts, marveling at the thought of Jordan living in a place that's not accessible by car, along the Amazon River.
I would love to hear Jordan's account of this experience. I can imagine it was quite different for him than for us, as parents. Chris and I both had our mission calls read to us over the phone. I was in London, he was in Alaska. Of course, we didn't know each other then. He was called to Coventry England and arrived a year before I did, which by that time had changed to the Birmingham mission. I don't recall the anxiety or suspense. I do recall, when I heard "England Birmingham" a feeling of familiarity and my instant reaction that I wouldn't have to come home. I remember the hesitation on the other end of the phone, and the concern, and feeling like I'd just have to somehow figure it out. I vaguely remembering telling the people I lived with, and getting mixed reviews about Birmingham.
As the mom at this point, I'm thankful and humbled and happy.
It was the last week of April/first week of May. Chris was in Zion for a work trip (hiking Angel's Landing, and I'm glad I didn't know that until after they'd safely back at their camp), we were expecting to receive Jordan's mission call on either Wednesday or Thursday and we were leaving for a week-long trip to Hawaii on Friday.
On Wednesday afternoon, I came home from work around noon and the mail was sitting unassumingly in the mailbox, sans mission call. It was somewhat of a relief, since we would have waited until Thursday to open it when Chris was back in town. But what I wasn't expecting was the anxiety I'd feel as we awaited the next mail delivery.
Thursday was a juggle of working at home; listening for the mail; a trip to Costco which was meant to be a combination of gathering snacks for the group that would arrive for the opening, picking up some chicken salad for a lunch at work and remembering a few essentials for the Hawaii trip; and arranging a vet appointment for Charlie. By the time I left for Costco, the mail hadn't yet arrived. Full of nervous energy, I went to work, went to meetings, and rushed home again just before 3:30 to get Charlie to the vet. No mail yet. As Charlie and I were backing out of the driveway I spotted the mail truck, parked at the end of the road. Then I saw a white convertible pull up next to it, Jordan jumped out, grabbed a handful of mail and reversed his way back up the street. There was certainly a sense of calm at that point, just knowing it had arrived.
But the next few hours were still suspenseful. Charlie got immunized while the envelope sat outside in the Passat. Then it sat on the table in the kitchen while Jemma and I cut up fruit and filled bowls with nuts and other snacks. I knew that whatever was inside would change the course of my thoughts - I would know where Jordan was going, when he was leaving and I'd probably be doing all the research I could about a place I either had some knowledge of or, quite possibly, somewhere I'd never heard of before.
Around 6pm, the house started filling with people. My mom, Chris's parents and grandma, and bunches of boys and girls. I think there were around 20, maybe 30 people. A couple people filmed on iPhones, I got Mark on a Google hangout and I think Doug had Laur on speaker phone while Jordan opened the envelope and read aloud....the Peru Iquitos mission.
My first flood of thoughts and feelings were of how inspired that call was, how that was a place where Jordan's going to have deep and amazing experiences, how I'd wondered if he would go to South America and yes, he is, how Jordan speaking Spanish seems so natural, how I'd never heard of Iquitos before - and I was impressed that he seemed to know exactly how to pronounce it, without hesitation.
Jemma was in tears, Jordan gave me a long hug, the sentiments of his friends were encouraging. Some, who are also going to South America, and one who's going to another mission in Peru, were especially excited. It was amazing to me, to see the support, to see this kids, sophomores, juniors and seniors in high school, having this experience together - encouraging each other toward goodness, preparing to spread out across the world, preaching the gospel and sharing God's love. They put their arms around him and I heard, more than once, "Love you, Jord." It was a moment I'm very grateful for.
It seems like everyone left quickly afterward and it was very quiet. Chris and I were Googling Iquitos, Peru. Finding facts, marveling at the thought of Jordan living in a place that's not accessible by car, along the Amazon River.
I would love to hear Jordan's account of this experience. I can imagine it was quite different for him than for us, as parents. Chris and I both had our mission calls read to us over the phone. I was in London, he was in Alaska. Of course, we didn't know each other then. He was called to Coventry England and arrived a year before I did, which by that time had changed to the Birmingham mission. I don't recall the anxiety or suspense. I do recall, when I heard "England Birmingham" a feeling of familiarity and my instant reaction that I wouldn't have to come home. I remember the hesitation on the other end of the phone, and the concern, and feeling like I'd just have to somehow figure it out. I vaguely remembering telling the people I lived with, and getting mixed reviews about Birmingham.
As the mom at this point, I'm thankful and humbled and happy.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
After Many Years, a Fondue Night
We smell like grease.
I've been thinking about the old days when my family would gather around our dining room table, which was probably covered with a green checked terry cloth table cloth, and fondue pieces of chicken and beef in hot oil. So I asked my mom if she still had the old yellow Oster fondue pot, which she didn't, but she knew of someone that had two fancy new stainless fondue pots which we borrowed.
Instead of doing something sophisticated, like chocolate or cheese, we deep fried big chunks of chicken and need. I'll admit that while it was good, and fun, it was not quite as good, or fun, as I'd remembered.
Still, we had a good salad, potatoes and some amazing bruschetta to go along with it. And the kids got a kick out of the whole thing!
Chris wasn't so find of the fondue.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
It's 2014
January 1st was meant to be a holiday. I was going to catch up on a bit of work, but mostly do stuff around the house, take down the Christmas tree, hang out with the family and go to a family party that night. I think it was around 11am, after being pretty lazy for most of the morning, that I got my first indication that things were unraveling.
The east coast was bracing for a massive winter storm - Hercules - and all the airlines were cancelling flights in bulk. Things escalated quickly and by the time I finally broke away from the computer and hopped in the car with the family at 4:30pm we were in a Code Yellow. The yellow means everyone's highly encouraged to work.
Luckily, I'd planned ahead enough to have bought and wrapped gifts for the kids' gift exchange and a white elephant for the adults. I was also pretty happy about our white elephant, which was a Duck Dynasty Devotional book. I figured mostly anyone who ended up with it would be amused by it and also possibly find some use for it. We were meeting mom and all my brothers and sister and their families at Chuck-a-Rama. My nose was pretty much in my phone, responding to email, the whole way to Orem and because I wasn't paying attention I let Chris shoot right past the turn, so we were late getting to the restaurant.
It was a great dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and plenty of scones with honey butter, and fun to see everyone (including Logan who somehow instigated an explosion with his milk!), but my phone was going off the hook with alerts the whole time. When I checked, I saw that we'd gone into a Code Red and were expected to start our 24/7 rotations in the office. Sigh..... Chris, Jordan and I drove straight back home and Jemma went to the party without us.
What ensued was eight days of non-stop madness. We (meaning my team and I) worked around the clock for over a week. It hasn't technically ended yet, but I'm not going to go into detail here. I'll only say that this year at work, so far, has been quite interesting.
During those first few days, there was also a basketball tournament at Olympus. I took enough time away from work each day to go to the game, partly because I promised myself I wouldn't miss any games this year and partly because I was volunteering at the tournament - taking tickets, etc. It was a fun tourny. Fun to watch Jordan and the team play. They had one loss (very close), but mostly great wins. The season has continued with wins by a large margin.
Also, during the days of non-stop work, I was finding myself restless and having a hard time switching my mind off work. (I was also dreaming about work. One night I dreamt that we were going through emails, so many emails, of cat photos and videos and I requested that someone create an email queue and call it Cat Pix.) At some point during those days, I remembered that I'd been meaning to watch Sherlock, but hadn't ever seen it yet. So I started with Season 1, Episode 1 on Netflix one night while running on the treadmill. Because the episodes are 90+ minutes long and I was only giving them about 30 minutes each night, it took me a few days to get through each episode, but I was hooked. Hooked! Loved it. I love the humor, how closely the mirrored many of the details in the books, the characters - Sherlock's focus and lack of social-awareness, John's quick wit, Mrs. Hudson!! I'll only admit to being mildly obsessed. The best thing is, even though I've now caught up on all nine episodes (which span a few years, and the next episode is still a few years off!), I'd be happy to re-watch any of them because they're so full of detail.
I like to think I'm pretty tech-savvy, but quite often, things happen that make me realize I'm hardly ever on the most cutting edge. One night, I saw that Granite School District (which is quite a funny, and sometimes clever, Twitter account), had tweeted something like, "stop playing Flappy Bird and go to bed." I thought they were trying to make a stodgy reference to Angry Birds and figured it was time for them to up their game. But then, a few nights later, we'd just BEAT Orem by a good 14 points (and Orem was THE team to beat for us, this season). Jordan mentioned that while someone was at the foul line, he'd asked one of Orem's star players what his high score was on Flappy Bird. Everything about it cracked me up - the fact that they were chatting during the game like that, the fact that Flappy Bird was a real thing, AND to find out that his high score was 60-something, which didn't sound all that impressive and apparently was impressive...I had to download the game.
I will readily admit that I've never been great at games. I rarely feel competitive or dedicated enough to pursue them for long and my reflexes aren't the fastest. So Flappy Bird, first of all, looked like a horrible low res version of Mario (or something...). After three tries to figure out how to make the bird fly, Jemma leaned over my shoulder and said, "Oh, just tap it to make it flap it's wings." Yeah, it was her first glimpse ever of the game, and she instinctively knew that.
It's a horrible game. Practically impossible. I had a high score of 1 after playing for about 30 (wasted) minutes. Jordan can get over 20 (his high score now is 64!). I've watched him play, but I still don't know how he does it. I guess it's the rhythm and having the right touch. Ridiculous, really.
And tonight, the developer of the game announced that he's taking it down tomorrow. Said he can't keep up. The whole thing is crazy because, despite it's impossibility, it's suuuper popular. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but it's got me thinking about:
Why was it so popular?
What is it soooo hard? And, why is that fun?
What's the developer going to do next?
What does this say about us and what we like?
I think really, what I love about the whole Flappy Bird thing, is just the irony. The irony of it all.
The east coast was bracing for a massive winter storm - Hercules - and all the airlines were cancelling flights in bulk. Things escalated quickly and by the time I finally broke away from the computer and hopped in the car with the family at 4:30pm we were in a Code Yellow. The yellow means everyone's highly encouraged to work.
Luckily, I'd planned ahead enough to have bought and wrapped gifts for the kids' gift exchange and a white elephant for the adults. I was also pretty happy about our white elephant, which was a Duck Dynasty Devotional book. I figured mostly anyone who ended up with it would be amused by it and also possibly find some use for it. We were meeting mom and all my brothers and sister and their families at Chuck-a-Rama. My nose was pretty much in my phone, responding to email, the whole way to Orem and because I wasn't paying attention I let Chris shoot right past the turn, so we were late getting to the restaurant.
It was a great dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and plenty of scones with honey butter, and fun to see everyone (including Logan who somehow instigated an explosion with his milk!), but my phone was going off the hook with alerts the whole time. When I checked, I saw that we'd gone into a Code Red and were expected to start our 24/7 rotations in the office. Sigh..... Chris, Jordan and I drove straight back home and Jemma went to the party without us.
What ensued was eight days of non-stop madness. We (meaning my team and I) worked around the clock for over a week. It hasn't technically ended yet, but I'm not going to go into detail here. I'll only say that this year at work, so far, has been quite interesting.
During those first few days, there was also a basketball tournament at Olympus. I took enough time away from work each day to go to the game, partly because I promised myself I wouldn't miss any games this year and partly because I was volunteering at the tournament - taking tickets, etc. It was a fun tourny. Fun to watch Jordan and the team play. They had one loss (very close), but mostly great wins. The season has continued with wins by a large margin.
Also, during the days of non-stop work, I was finding myself restless and having a hard time switching my mind off work. (I was also dreaming about work. One night I dreamt that we were going through emails, so many emails, of cat photos and videos and I requested that someone create an email queue and call it Cat Pix.) At some point during those days, I remembered that I'd been meaning to watch Sherlock, but hadn't ever seen it yet. So I started with Season 1, Episode 1 on Netflix one night while running on the treadmill. Because the episodes are 90+ minutes long and I was only giving them about 30 minutes each night, it took me a few days to get through each episode, but I was hooked. Hooked! Loved it. I love the humor, how closely the mirrored many of the details in the books, the characters - Sherlock's focus and lack of social-awareness, John's quick wit, Mrs. Hudson!! I'll only admit to being mildly obsessed. The best thing is, even though I've now caught up on all nine episodes (which span a few years, and the next episode is still a few years off!), I'd be happy to re-watch any of them because they're so full of detail.
I like to think I'm pretty tech-savvy, but quite often, things happen that make me realize I'm hardly ever on the most cutting edge. One night, I saw that Granite School District (which is quite a funny, and sometimes clever, Twitter account), had tweeted something like, "stop playing Flappy Bird and go to bed." I thought they were trying to make a stodgy reference to Angry Birds and figured it was time for them to up their game. But then, a few nights later, we'd just BEAT Orem by a good 14 points (and Orem was THE team to beat for us, this season). Jordan mentioned that while someone was at the foul line, he'd asked one of Orem's star players what his high score was on Flappy Bird. Everything about it cracked me up - the fact that they were chatting during the game like that, the fact that Flappy Bird was a real thing, AND to find out that his high score was 60-something, which didn't sound all that impressive and apparently was impressive...I had to download the game.
I will readily admit that I've never been great at games. I rarely feel competitive or dedicated enough to pursue them for long and my reflexes aren't the fastest. So Flappy Bird, first of all, looked like a horrible low res version of Mario (or something...). After three tries to figure out how to make the bird fly, Jemma leaned over my shoulder and said, "Oh, just tap it to make it flap it's wings." Yeah, it was her first glimpse ever of the game, and she instinctively knew that.
It's a horrible game. Practically impossible. I had a high score of 1 after playing for about 30 (wasted) minutes. Jordan can get over 20 (his high score now is 64!). I've watched him play, but I still don't know how he does it. I guess it's the rhythm and having the right touch. Ridiculous, really.
And tonight, the developer of the game announced that he's taking it down tomorrow. Said he can't keep up. The whole thing is crazy because, despite it's impossibility, it's suuuper popular. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but it's got me thinking about:
Why was it so popular?
What is it soooo hard? And, why is that fun?
What's the developer going to do next?
What does this say about us and what we like?
I think really, what I love about the whole Flappy Bird thing, is just the irony. The irony of it all.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Sunday Teaching, Napping and Eating
Chris and I both taught Sunday School today. I'll admit that he put a lot more time into preparing his lesson for Gospel Doctrine than I put into my lesson for the 14 year olds, and a general authority decided to visit my class today! The secretary from the Young Men's General Presidency was visiting our ward and chose my class for Sunday School.
There were only three kids in my class today, usually there are at least five. I'd been promising them a breakfast lesson ever since they requested it over a month ago, so today I brought cinnamon rolls and orange juice. Too bad our visitor was fasting. The kids loved it though. Our lesson was about inviting others to come unto Christ.
Chris's lesson was about Doctrine and Covenants 104, self reliance. He had an object lesson that had people buzzing afterward.
A few weeks ago, he and Jordan had been working on something in the backyard and left a wrench on the driveway. It got rained on and neglected. Ultimately, they were not very good stewards of their tool. They had both probably walked past it several times and skipped the opportunity to preserve its usefulness.
Since he had the rusted wrench, he took it to show in class. He also brought another wrench in good condition AND a third wrench that was "gold-plated." (It was actually spray painted gold, but for the sake of the analogy we're calling it gold-plated.) The point was that something that may not seem to be of high value, can be very useful and valuable if it's taken care of, but if you put too much value on it, it becomes just as useless as the one that was neglected (assuming that you wouldn't actually want to use the gold-plated wrench on any of your projects that might make it less shiny).
From what I heard, everyone liked the lesson.
Jemma was the spotlight in Primary and both Chris and I forgot to go in and watch her talk about all her favorite things. We felt bad, but she assured us that it was fine.
The Priest Quorum presidency spoke in Sacrament Meeting, which meant that it was Jon D., Jordan and Bishop Jones. Jon opened his talk with his experience getting home late after Homecoming last night and how his dad went easy on him because he was apologetic and didn't argue. Jordan then got up and admitted that he hadn't dealt with his parents yet after his late night last night. I know from his texts that it was sometime between 1:30 and 2am.
He chose to talk about humility and referenced Preach My Gospel and the scriptures. He did a great job. We went easy on him too. (But really? 2am?)
***
It was raining when we got out of church. We walked home in the rain and, since it was cold and wet outside and we're just getting used to our new 9am church schedule (we've been meeting at 10am for years), we all crashed this afternoon and napped. Jemma didn't actually sleep, but she was watching some of her favorite shows while Jordan, Chris and I zonked out. Later Chris mentioned the irony that he'd just taught a lesson about the importance of not being idle.
***
A few months ago Chris and Jemma planted a small garden in the side yard. The plants all got enormous, but didn't produce much more than a bunch of green tomatoes. It's been so cold lately that I figured the tomatoes were past the point of ripening, but yesterday we went out and found these beautiful red tomatoes! And a handful of deliciously tart blackberries.
This one tomato could win a prize at the state fair if there was a category for medium-sized, perfectly-shaped-almost-like-a-pumpkin tomatoes.
I made a good old-fashioned casserole for dinner because it seemed like a great thing to have on a cold and rainy fall Sunday and I set the table and finally used the bottle I bought last month in New York for water. I knew the bottle wouldn't be appreciated by all, and I was right, but I love it nonetheless.
Why do I love the bottle? Because it's just like the bottles they place on the tables at restaurants in NY, in case you need to top off your water. Also because I got it at Fishs Eddy, a great little shop in the Flatiron District. And, of course, because it's beautifully practical!
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
― William Morris
There were only three kids in my class today, usually there are at least five. I'd been promising them a breakfast lesson ever since they requested it over a month ago, so today I brought cinnamon rolls and orange juice. Too bad our visitor was fasting. The kids loved it though. Our lesson was about inviting others to come unto Christ.
Chris's lesson was about Doctrine and Covenants 104, self reliance. He had an object lesson that had people buzzing afterward.
A few weeks ago, he and Jordan had been working on something in the backyard and left a wrench on the driveway. It got rained on and neglected. Ultimately, they were not very good stewards of their tool. They had both probably walked past it several times and skipped the opportunity to preserve its usefulness.
Since he had the rusted wrench, he took it to show in class. He also brought another wrench in good condition AND a third wrench that was "gold-plated." (It was actually spray painted gold, but for the sake of the analogy we're calling it gold-plated.) The point was that something that may not seem to be of high value, can be very useful and valuable if it's taken care of, but if you put too much value on it, it becomes just as useless as the one that was neglected (assuming that you wouldn't actually want to use the gold-plated wrench on any of your projects that might make it less shiny).
From what I heard, everyone liked the lesson.
Jemma was the spotlight in Primary and both Chris and I forgot to go in and watch her talk about all her favorite things. We felt bad, but she assured us that it was fine.
The Priest Quorum presidency spoke in Sacrament Meeting, which meant that it was Jon D., Jordan and Bishop Jones. Jon opened his talk with his experience getting home late after Homecoming last night and how his dad went easy on him because he was apologetic and didn't argue. Jordan then got up and admitted that he hadn't dealt with his parents yet after his late night last night. I know from his texts that it was sometime between 1:30 and 2am.
***
It was raining when we got out of church. We walked home in the rain and, since it was cold and wet outside and we're just getting used to our new 9am church schedule (we've been meeting at 10am for years), we all crashed this afternoon and napped. Jemma didn't actually sleep, but she was watching some of her favorite shows while Jordan, Chris and I zonked out. Later Chris mentioned the irony that he'd just taught a lesson about the importance of not being idle.
***
A few months ago Chris and Jemma planted a small garden in the side yard. The plants all got enormous, but didn't produce much more than a bunch of green tomatoes. It's been so cold lately that I figured the tomatoes were past the point of ripening, but yesterday we went out and found these beautiful red tomatoes! And a handful of deliciously tart blackberries.
This one tomato could win a prize at the state fair if there was a category for medium-sized, perfectly-shaped-almost-like-a-pumpkin tomatoes.
I made a good old-fashioned casserole for dinner because it seemed like a great thing to have on a cold and rainy fall Sunday and I set the table and finally used the bottle I bought last month in New York for water. I knew the bottle wouldn't be appreciated by all, and I was right, but I love it nonetheless.
Why do I love the bottle? Because it's just like the bottles they place on the tables at restaurants in NY, in case you need to top off your water. Also because I got it at Fishs Eddy, a great little shop in the Flatiron District. And, of course, because it's beautifully practical!
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
― William Morris
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Musical Musings
My sister and I had a musical rift for a long time. She liked country music and I couldn't stand it. The very sound of it instantly depressed me. I loved jazz and she couldn't tolerate it. I wondered about that a lot - why was it that what sounded so perfect to me was so agonizing to her?
There's a lot of music from the seventies that I associate with my early childhood. My parents had a pretty good collection of albums and we had a big console stereo in our living room that we'd play records from, especially on Saturdays. My dad always had music on as he worked in his studio, and since my room was right above the studio, I could usually hear what he was listening to. And we always listened to music in the car. I used to thumb through the rack of albums, or sort through the stack of 8 tracks in the car, and match up the artists with the music as I formed some pretty strong opinions about what I liked and what I didn't like.
The short list of what I liked:
The Eagles
Jim Croce
Harry Nilsson
Elton John
The Bee Gees
The even shorter list of what I didn't like:
James Taylor
Carole King
The thing about James Taylor and Carole King was that it bored the life out of me. When their folksy type of music was on I just wanted to get away from it. I didn't like the sound, to me it sounded like neediness and melancholy.
But then, in the summer of 1993, just after I'd come home from England I began to like Carole King. My dad had a new Toyota MR2 and we would drive around in it because he liked to test its capabilities on Sandhill Road and he had a new CD by Carole King called, Colour of Your Dreams, which he really wanted me to hear. I don't know whether it was the wonder of the setting - being home again, being in an awfully fun car with my dad, being enveloped by the music from the Bose sound system - but I loved it. And I still love it. I can't say I started listening to any of her older stuff, but the sound of King's music is now like a link to good times, it's comforting and familiar.
As of last night, I like James Taylor too. He was performing in the Conference Center along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony and I went to see the concert with my mom. I was happy to go to an event, but I can't say I was very excited to hear James Taylor. I'm also not a huge fan of choir music, although I completely admire what they do and how good they are.
Right when he started singing I felt like a kid again. I remembered sitting in the back of a car, going I-don't-know-where, and then I thought about curling up in a warm spot from the sun as it filtered through our drapes onto the green shag carpet in our living room and walking out into the driveway while music was coming from the garage.
The sound of his voice had a powerful effect. For nearly two hours, I though nothing of my life now. It was all just music and memories. And I really enjoyed it. I felt almost a kinship to him, in a weird sort of way it was like I'd made amends of some sort. He was taking me back to a different time and that was really nice of him.
I haven't done it yet, but I may download a few James Taylor songs and just keep listening.
Crazy.
There's a lot of music from the seventies that I associate with my early childhood. My parents had a pretty good collection of albums and we had a big console stereo in our living room that we'd play records from, especially on Saturdays. My dad always had music on as he worked in his studio, and since my room was right above the studio, I could usually hear what he was listening to. And we always listened to music in the car. I used to thumb through the rack of albums, or sort through the stack of 8 tracks in the car, and match up the artists with the music as I formed some pretty strong opinions about what I liked and what I didn't like.
The short list of what I liked:
The Eagles
Jim Croce
Harry Nilsson
Elton John
The Bee Gees
The even shorter list of what I didn't like:
James Taylor
Carole King
The thing about James Taylor and Carole King was that it bored the life out of me. When their folksy type of music was on I just wanted to get away from it. I didn't like the sound, to me it sounded like neediness and melancholy.
But then, in the summer of 1993, just after I'd come home from England I began to like Carole King. My dad had a new Toyota MR2 and we would drive around in it because he liked to test its capabilities on Sandhill Road and he had a new CD by Carole King called, Colour of Your Dreams, which he really wanted me to hear. I don't know whether it was the wonder of the setting - being home again, being in an awfully fun car with my dad, being enveloped by the music from the Bose sound system - but I loved it. And I still love it. I can't say I started listening to any of her older stuff, but the sound of King's music is now like a link to good times, it's comforting and familiar.
As of last night, I like James Taylor too. He was performing in the Conference Center along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony and I went to see the concert with my mom. I was happy to go to an event, but I can't say I was very excited to hear James Taylor. I'm also not a huge fan of choir music, although I completely admire what they do and how good they are.
Right when he started singing I felt like a kid again. I remembered sitting in the back of a car, going I-don't-know-where, and then I thought about curling up in a warm spot from the sun as it filtered through our drapes onto the green shag carpet in our living room and walking out into the driveway while music was coming from the garage.
The sound of his voice had a powerful effect. For nearly two hours, I though nothing of my life now. It was all just music and memories. And I really enjoyed it. I felt almost a kinship to him, in a weird sort of way it was like I'd made amends of some sort. He was taking me back to a different time and that was really nice of him.
I haven't done it yet, but I may download a few James Taylor songs and just keep listening.
Crazy.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
It's My Birthday
In celebration of today, 42 things about my birthday:
13. I keep this card from my mom and dad in my desk drawer and look at it often. I think it's the last birthday card I got that was written by my dad.
14. My dad made some really smashing birthday cakes! (Mine were always great, but I think Kristin's were AMAZING.)
15. August is the only month of the year that doesn't have a nationally recognized holiday of some sort, so I always considered my birthday to be the holiday in August.
16. When I was young, my birthday actually felt like a holiday most of the time. There was always an air of festivity and excitement.
17. Grandma Jessie, Mimi and Jack used to come for every birthday - all of our birthdays, which helped make it a special occasion.
18. On my 17th birthday, my mom sent balloons to school for me. I was in English class when they arrived and, even though it was very nice, I was tres embarrassed.
19. We were in Lake Powell on my 40th birthday. It was a hot and busy day as we arrived and set up our camp, but that night Chris took me and one of our little nephews (it may have been Kade) out on the boat and I remember wakeboarding just as the sun was going down and I remember how beautiful the scene was and how perfect the water was and feeling happy.
20. If I had to pick a favorite kind of birthday cake it'd be German Chocolate.
21. When I turned 6, on top of getting a baby brother, I got my first bike. And a trip to Burger King for dinner. I still don't know how my dad managed to pull off the surprise of the bike with everything else that was going on that day.
22. When I turned 7 I got a skateboard. It was orange.
23. I've always thought of the number 29 as my lucky number.
24. When I turned 8 we had a picnic in Provo Canyon. My friend Jodie, who had just moved to Canada, was with us. I've wanted to have another picnic in the canyon on my birthday, but it hasn't happened yet.
25. My half-birthday is on Leap Day! When I was in third grade I mentioned this to my teacher and she somehow misunderstood me and told the class that my birthday was on Leap Day. Despite my horror and shyness, I had to correct her. Last year on Leap Day I made a big deal of it on Twitter and ended up with a giant cookie that had my name on it - in honor of my half-birthday!
26. Part of the reason I have vivid memories of many of my birthdays is because my dad was so good at taking pictures. Thankful for that.
27. My mom usually get sentimental around my birthday, which I love. My family has five birthdays between August 29th and September 29th.
28. I have to admit that I was dreading entering my 40s. It sounded old and distancing, but now I think it's a good place to be and 42 is not a bad number!
About Today's Birthday
29. Jordan left me a nice note!
30. I spent the morning at the 5th/6th Grade Open House at Jemma's school. It was cute how all the parents sat in their kids' desks in the classroom and the kids sat on their laps while Mrs. Day gave us an overview of 5th grade.
31. I went to work, but spent most of my time in meetings and skipped out early, leaving a lot of unread emails behind.
32. My work friends gave me some gifts: LeAnn gave me a doodle journal, Mary gave me a gift card to Target, Suzanne gave me a snazzy shower cap from Dry Bar (wish we had a Dry Bar in the neighborhood) and Jeff gave me an awesome book. (I haven't read it yet, but I know it'll be awesome.)
33. My team took me out for sushi at lunchtime.
34. I got to play with Google Glass!!
35. Jordan's friends also left me a note, which I thought was nice...until I found out they'd pushed their way into the house and made hamburgers for lunch - without Jordan.
36. Jemma and I got our nails done.
37. We met up with Mom at the Pizza Factory for dinner. Pizza, pasta and those delicioso garlic bread twists!
41. I hijacked some wedding cake and one of the candles and called it my birthday cake.
1. My sixth birthday is the most memorable because that's the one when David was born. No one knew if he'd live past that day, but he did and I've always been thankful for that.
2. Yesterday I realized that my 21st birthday was 21 years ago!! I've been unsettled ever since.
3. I was living in London on my 21st birthday, in a row house on Tooting Broadway. I opened an amazing care package from my family - full of balloons and other fun things and I got phone calls from a lot of special people. I spent the evening scouring all the corner shops for the makings of tacos. I think I finally found pita bread, or some kind of flatbread, and some black beans, but I don't think the result could actually qualify as tacos.
4. I celebrated my 21st birthday with my mom, dad and Kristin a couple weeks earlier in Paris. We had a beautiful (rum) cake.
5. When I was a teenager I felt somewhat special to know I shared a birthday with Michael Jackson.
6. I found out this morning that I also share my birthday with The Onion.
7. I was born on a Sunday and Salt Lake City was flooded that day.
8. My birthday was often on the first day of school.
9. On my 15th birthday I came home from school and saw a Rolls Royce in our driveway. My dad was borrowing it from a jeweler for a photo session.
7. I was born on a Sunday and Salt Lake City was flooded that day.
8. My birthday was often on the first day of school.
9. On my 15th birthday I came home from school and saw a Rolls Royce in our driveway. My dad was borrowing it from a jeweler for a photo session.
10. In 2005 there was Hurricane Katrina. It wasn't a good day, knowing what was going on in New Orleans. Devastating.
11. In 2007 I had four cakes!
12. The birthday I celebrated as a missionary, in 1993, was great because I was in Loughborough with a good companion and a lot of good investigators that threw me a couple parties. I also got a package from home with a puzzle that was a photo of the cake my family had made me and a box of Oreo cookies.
12. The birthday I celebrated as a missionary, in 1993, was great because I was in Loughborough with a good companion and a lot of good investigators that threw me a couple parties. I also got a package from home with a puzzle that was a photo of the cake my family had made me and a box of Oreo cookies.
13. I keep this card from my mom and dad in my desk drawer and look at it often. I think it's the last birthday card I got that was written by my dad.
14. My dad made some really smashing birthday cakes! (Mine were always great, but I think Kristin's were AMAZING.)
15. August is the only month of the year that doesn't have a nationally recognized holiday of some sort, so I always considered my birthday to be the holiday in August.
16. When I was young, my birthday actually felt like a holiday most of the time. There was always an air of festivity and excitement.
17. Grandma Jessie, Mimi and Jack used to come for every birthday - all of our birthdays, which helped make it a special occasion.
18. On my 17th birthday, my mom sent balloons to school for me. I was in English class when they arrived and, even though it was very nice, I was tres embarrassed.
19. We were in Lake Powell on my 40th birthday. It was a hot and busy day as we arrived and set up our camp, but that night Chris took me and one of our little nephews (it may have been Kade) out on the boat and I remember wakeboarding just as the sun was going down and I remember how beautiful the scene was and how perfect the water was and feeling happy.
20. If I had to pick a favorite kind of birthday cake it'd be German Chocolate.
21. When I turned 6, on top of getting a baby brother, I got my first bike. And a trip to Burger King for dinner. I still don't know how my dad managed to pull off the surprise of the bike with everything else that was going on that day.
22. When I turned 7 I got a skateboard. It was orange.
23. I've always thought of the number 29 as my lucky number.
24. When I turned 8 we had a picnic in Provo Canyon. My friend Jodie, who had just moved to Canada, was with us. I've wanted to have another picnic in the canyon on my birthday, but it hasn't happened yet.
25. My half-birthday is on Leap Day! When I was in third grade I mentioned this to my teacher and she somehow misunderstood me and told the class that my birthday was on Leap Day. Despite my horror and shyness, I had to correct her. Last year on Leap Day I made a big deal of it on Twitter and ended up with a giant cookie that had my name on it - in honor of my half-birthday!
26. Part of the reason I have vivid memories of many of my birthdays is because my dad was so good at taking pictures. Thankful for that.
27. My mom usually get sentimental around my birthday, which I love. My family has five birthdays between August 29th and September 29th.
28. I have to admit that I was dreading entering my 40s. It sounded old and distancing, but now I think it's a good place to be and 42 is not a bad number!
About Today's Birthday
29. Jordan left me a nice note!
30. I spent the morning at the 5th/6th Grade Open House at Jemma's school. It was cute how all the parents sat in their kids' desks in the classroom and the kids sat on their laps while Mrs. Day gave us an overview of 5th grade.
31. I went to work, but spent most of my time in meetings and skipped out early, leaving a lot of unread emails behind.
32. My work friends gave me some gifts: LeAnn gave me a doodle journal, Mary gave me a gift card to Target, Suzanne gave me a snazzy shower cap from Dry Bar (wish we had a Dry Bar in the neighborhood) and Jeff gave me an awesome book. (I haven't read it yet, but I know it'll be awesome.)
33. My team took me out for sushi at lunchtime.
34. I got to play with Google Glass!!
35. Jordan's friends also left me a note, which I thought was nice...until I found out they'd pushed their way into the house and made hamburgers for lunch - without Jordan.
36. Jemma and I got our nails done.
37. We met up with Mom at the Pizza Factory for dinner. Pizza, pasta and those delicioso garlic bread twists!
38. We took a bunch of pictures.
39. We ended up at a wedding reception for Cam's brother Adam.
40. The band was great and Jemma did a lot of dancing.
39. We ended up at a wedding reception for Cam's brother Adam.
40. The band was great and Jemma did a lot of dancing.
41. I hijacked some wedding cake and one of the candles and called it my birthday cake.
42. And last, but certainly not least, Chris got a haircut!!
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