Trashion—Eco-friendly Jewelry

The other day I came across a site called Etsy, which promotes upcycling by selling trashion (etsy.com). Basically, someone with creative gusto turns something ready for the bin into something uniquely stylish and cool. I love it! I found out about this through my wonderfully amazing Dinner at Your Door authors, who graciously gave me a necklace made by an eco-friendly artist named Millie Hilgert (misscourageous.com), who is based out of Boise. Because I love my necklace so much, I am going to post a picture of it to go along with this post, but I'm too lazy to do it right now. (Done! Pictures now below.)



Isn't this inspiring? I can definitely see many of you creating all kinds of beautiful works of jewelry art like this! Get busy. Life is too short for only dreaming. (I hope that lit the fire under you.)

PS: Some of you may have noticed that I posted a similar entry on my Egypt blog. I'm torn. I don't know if I should keep both blogs up and running, and keep the Egypt one as a more fun informational blog that the whole world can see and this blog a more personal blog of Katie's deepest-darkest secrets. What do you guys think? Would you still look at both of them?

Silent Night

My blog is officially back up and running! It's been way too long, and I know you all have been missing me. Unless you had your fill of my Egypt blog!:)This is my adorable 15-month-old niece, Emma, at our family Christmas party on Saturday night. She's changed so much since I saw her a month and a half ago! I'm going to post most of the other Lindsay Christmas party pictures on Facebook so that more people have access to them and can say whatever silly comments they want to. Merry Christmas!!

Egypt

I'll be talking a brief haidas from this blog to devote my full attention to my new Egypt blog.I leave tomorrow morning with my friends Mandy and Lori to travel the world and hopefully will return with a wealthy doctor who I bumped into at the pyramids. Please stay in touch!! My Egypt blog is public, so go wild. :)

www.innaharda.blogspot.com

(Innaharda means "today" in Arabic. Today is your day to live!)

My Dad, the workin' man!

Today was my dad's first day of work . . . at his new job!! After being a self-employed actor and writer for the past 25 years, he's finally succom to the rat race. White shirt and tie, a daily commuting to Salt Lake, 8:00 to 5:00 p.m. work hours, but what about that steady pay check! This seriously is the start of a new life for my family.
A couple months ago the church called Dad to offer him a position in the audio visual department. He and my mom thought and prayed a lot about it. Dad didn't want to feel like he'd given up on his dreams, but I told him he's lived his dreams. He's done it all. This doesn't mean he's giving up. He's still going to publish The Baseball Box, and he's still going to make his screenplays into movies. It just means he's experiencing something new and something more stable (!) for the future. Well, he went ahead and interviewed, and they hired him. Dad is now a senior producer for the church, putting his creative juices and acting experience to good use in making movies. I can't wait to hear about his first day! (And Mom is so excited to have good health insurance now, she decided to go roller skating this morning!)

LOVE expects nothing.

"Eric Fromm has said, 'Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.' The perfect love would be one that gives all and expects nothing. It would, of course, be willing and delighted to take anything it was offered; the more the better. But it would ask for nothing. For if one expects nothing and asks nothing, he can never be deceived or disappointed. It is only when love demands that it brings on pain." —Leo Buscaglia, Love

An Earring Tree at Last!

I step off the plane in Dallas (Sam, we stayed at Cyn's house!), get great hugs from my long-lost friends, hop in the car, and ask where we're going. Sam Moon, a jewelry store! A jewelry store? Oh but it is much, much more. It's HUGE and has hair bows and purses and necklaces and belt buckles (didn't it?) and earrings. Quite easily I bought a cute green leather purse (the first thing Em and I saw when we walked through the doors), a gorgeous ring (a style I've been looking all over for! Flat and tall with lots of little dark diamonds), and AN EARRING TREE! I finally found one. I've been wanting one for over a year now. My sweet Grandma Lindsay bought me a green metalic Christmas "earring tree" for Christmas last year. I should take a picture of it too. Gradma wasn't sure what an earring tree was, but she did her best. I just love the one I found. Doesn't it just make you want to buy earrings to fill it up?

Freshman Reunion

Looking at this picture, I doubt you'd know that nine years had passed since the five of us had all been together freshman year. We're eating waffles, with hot fudge and ice cream. I still have my "Hey I am 18" shirt on. No visible gray hair. Not much has changed at all!

Thanks guys for making our little getaway happen. I love how we can get together and we just pick up where we left off . . . seran wrapping Em to a chair or getting into some other kind of trouble.:) Too bad I don't ahve the bow pictures on my camera. Ha ha. I really need pictures from you guys, because this was the only picture I had where we all had our eyes open. Thanks for abandoning your spouses and children for a weekend! It was so worth it. I love you guys!

"On a rainy monday, I feel it inside me!"

Over the years you might remember me gushing, literally, about a Dave guy. I met him snowshoeing the second week of attending the Bair Canyon Branch almost three years ago, but I didn't get to know him until two and a half years ago when I went on my first trip to the Snake River. Dave was the first guy to throw me off my raft into the water, and every time we went down the river his raft was at war with mine. We got to know each other a little bit, but not too much right away. Then every couple months he'd come up to Kaysville from Salt Lake to visit his family, and he'd come to the branch. It was so funny seeing him right after the river trip, because when he spotted me he said, "You're the fighter!" I'm glad that's how he remembered me.:)

He's always been just out of reach with a girlfriend, but I've always come back to him, hoping. I can't believe it's been so long now! Every time we'd see each other we'd catch up on life, but he always had a girlfriend and was living in Salt Lake. I'd see him at church and in Salt Lake at institute and even at his work. Dave's the guy who I told you about last year who I ran into at REI when I was wearing my bibbed snow pants.:) Ha ha ha. He's seen me go through probably six different hair styles since January 2006, which got kind of comical. When I first dyed it black a year and a half ago and had it in a short choppy, messy style, we ran into each other up at the U. He said, "Oh, your hair's different. Do you like it?" I said yes, of course, and he said, "Good. That's all that matters." What a good guy. :) He probably was like, what's with this freaky girl who looks different every time I see her!

So Dave finally transfered to the branch a couple months ago, and then just about a month ago broke up with his girlfriend. We've been slowly getting to know each other better, which has been really, really good. He's not yet over his last relationship, which is just fine. That's all I'm saying for now. We'll just have to wait and see what happens!

(And, by the way, in the picture I was trying to hold a tough, hardened look, but I lost it right before the picture was taken. That's why I look like I'm grimacing. Ha ha!)

Your Input Please

I'm in need of a really good eye make-up remover and wanted all of your input! I want something that isn't so greasy but works really well. Please pass on your good experiences as well as your bad so I don't waste my money on something you didn't like!

Iz

This is the first video I've been able to post on my blog!! I've tried and tried, and it's never worked. Chelsea's here for the weekend, so she let me upload it to YouTube. I definitely need to set up my own account. Thanks, Chels! :)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mother, Lisa Lindsay, is turning 38 years old tomorrow! Yes, she had me when she was in fifth grade. She has taught me how to use coupons and save my money, how to make fried eggs and sew on a button, and how to laugh in every situation—it's never the end of the world. I'm hoping to soon be able to say she's taught me how to play the piano! Ha ha. We'll see how that goes. She makes the best sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, hot fudge pudding cake, and lasagna, and food is what really matters in life.:) And since the accident and hours in bed, she's acquired a gift for knowing "what not to wear." She is the fashion expert!:)

The Flood

Last night, on our way home from the McKell Family Reunion (my mom's mom's side of the family), we got a call from the bishop asking where to shut off our water because our basement was flooding! All I heard of the conversation was Dad saying, "Oh crud. Oh, crud," so I knew something bad had happened. A family in our neighborhood had been on a walk by our house and saw water shooting up in the air. They hurried and called the bishop to see if he had our cell number to know how to get into our house. We gave the bishop our garage code, he hurried and called his wife to get the pump, and luckily the family that saw the water has a shop vac, which sucks up the water from the floor. The water was pouring into my room through the window well.

When we got home, our wonderful friends were running around moving the furniture out of my room, wringing out towels, lifting up the carpet in my room, and sucking up the water with the shop vac. I was amazed at how much water just the cement under the carpet and padding had absorbed! (The pictures show the wet carpet resting on cans with fans underneath. I'm not sure where they put the padding, but they took it all out to dry. The fans are still running with the door shut and the window open, and I'm sleeping in the queen-size bed we have in the other part of the basement.)

Here's where the whole part about being blessed comes in—last Saturday I did a major cleaning of my room, lifting everything up off my floor and putting them on my desk and dresser. I'm known to start big projects and not finish them, so I've had stuff all over my floor for the past couple months. Ever since April I've had the contents to my 72-hour kit on the floor below my window, waiting for the moment when I would strategically squeeze everything into my backpack. Last week, I finally took the time to put it together and then moved it into the other part of our basement. My big maps had been on my floor and piles of papers and a bag of Argentina memorabilia. I am so hugely blessed that only one book and some mail and a few papers got soaked. It was amazing for how much could've happened!

And when I heard my room was filling with water, my first thought was, "I hope my LASIK receipts are okay!" Right before we left for the reunion I read a letter from my flexible spending account saying they couldn't track when I'd used my card for my LASIK eye surgery. In order to prove I used my money correctly, I need to fax them copies of my receipts or else I have to pay the amount back! So I luckily found the receipts right before we left for the reunion and was all set to fax them in, but decided to wait until we got home that night. I'd set the two receipts side by side on my bed. When I got home, they were the first things I looked for but only found one of them! So I looked and looked and then said a prayer, and thought to look under my bed again in case it'd blown off when all my furniture was quickly shoved to dry ground. The receipt was a little smooshed, but I found it!:) I was SO relieved.

Me and My Mom

The "content to be cute" look.

The "just try and look as hot as us" look.

The "electric shock but still breathing" look and the "you know you want me" look.

WORDS . . . words

Have you ever stopped and thought about how differently we internalize life? How the guy sitting next to you on the merry-go-round or on the metro can overhear the same conversation as you but he hears one thing while you hear another? How word association in and of itself triggers each of us to make that word an emotion, something entirely it's own creation? And one author may be furious or frustrated about the same thing that leaves another author elated or calm. Ever thought about that? Oh, and for all of you who still owe me money, I'm ready for you to pay up now. I've got plane tickets to buy!! How did those words make you feel? :)

Girl Talk! Slumber Party!

This is me trying to keep up in the blogging world. Last weekend . . . or was it two weekends ago? Oh no. I don't know. Anyways, we had a Relief Society slumber party. Get this. We didn't go to bed until 5 a.m. Then I had to get going with my Saturday at 8:30 a.m., and I was definitely realizing, "Hey I am not 18!" (Christine: I still wear the shirt you made me!!) The party was at my enrichment counselors Amber's house and her little sister has sugargliders, which are the little creatures we're holding. The funnest part of the night was throwing M&Ms and Skittles in each others' mouths and trying to catch them. And then I loved The Sisterhoof of the Traveling Pants. That's when 5 a.m. rolled around.

Ponch and Matching Socks

Have you ever played Go Fish with socks with the "Chips" theme song playing in the background? I have. Yesterday Nicole brought home literally more than 250 socks to be paired. The socks came from her family's home, from her mom, dad, and two youngest sisters. Nicole's mom passed away last week and was sick for about a year and a half, so little things like matching socks slipped down farther and farther on the list of importance. So yesterday, Tracy, Nicole, and I had a race to see who could make the most pairs. I got a little distracted with "Chips: Season One" playing on the DVD player. Now I see that it was a plot to get me to lose. I LOVE Ponch and do believe the love affair started back in 1985 . . . when I was 4. The three of us sock sorters ended up with about 100 pairs and 50 spares. Not bad.

Clockwork

It's been a couple days, but I finally have time to write about Monday—the day that ran like a beautiful clock made in Uruguay. I have a clock from Uruguay, so I know who smoothly they run. I have to share because it was an amazingly fulfilling day.

7 a.m. Wake-up
7 a.m. Push snooze
7:23 a.m. Get up and eat
8:00 a.m. Talk to people who are awake too and eat some more
8:45 a.m. Grocery shop
10:00 a.m. Start dinner
11:30 a.m. Edit a BYU project
1:20 p.m. Email the finished project to Mel!!!
1: 30 p.m. Eat lunch
1:45 p.m. Drive to eye appointment
2:30 p.m. Hit Lowe's and Target—I finally found my dream trash can!!
4:20 p.m. Drive to hair appointment
4:30 p.m. Get my mullet trimmed
5:00 p.m. BBQ the chicken and finish making dinner
7:00 p.m. Eat dinner with the fam
7:30 p.m. Pick up more food from Rose
8:00 p.m. Take dinner to my friend Nicole and hang out

And then the rest is history! I did everything I needed to!! It was a miracle—a Monday miracle. How I edited that beast in two hours is beyond me. I definitely had help from above.

This Week's Highlights

1. Almost tripping down the stairs after saying the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting today. I did a simple surfing move and glided on my slick heels with my arms out for balance. Yes, it was terrifying, and yes, I was so, so grateful I did not hit the ground and have my skirt flip up.

2. Going to my first demolition derby! Yes, it was very much a cultural experience. (Do you like how I keep saying "yes"?) Every round of smashing and crashing, each one of us in our group of five girls would pick a different car to cheer for. Just to increase your pride for the female sex (of which many of us are a part . . . sorry Brad), a woman driver made it to the finals! Once she got out of the car, we had a hard time seeing that she was a woman, but they said her name was Shelly or something. I guess that proved she was a female.

3. Seeing my dad's side of the family Saturday night! Every year for the Fourth of July, we get together to eat yummy food and play games and, most importantly, allow the men to be boys. They usually tweak their throwing arms and pull their hamstrings--when they get together, they all think they are 20 years younger. Uncle Dave brought a baseball mit that shows how fast the ball was thrown. They had fun with that, and luckily, everyone left uninjured this year.I just love seeing everyone and talking and playing. Aunt Carrie's stick game was SO fun, honestly! :) But I'm never surprised with Carrie's games--they're always a hit.

4. Tubing down Cardiac Canyon at Cherry Hill. I just laugh the whole time, because I get stuck under every waterfall and the whole ride takes 15 minutes instead of 3. One time with Dee, it took about 30 minutes and boy did we have fun!

5. Getting people wet at the Kaysville Parade. I absolutely love 4th of July in Kaysville!! It doesn't quite beat our traditional Rushforth BBQ and pool party in Downey, but it comes in close second. It's helped me not miss the good old days so much. The parade always ends with fire trucks soaking the crowd, street sweepers completely drenching everyone with their huge spray, and people on local businesses' floats dumping buckets of water on us or squirting us with water guns. All the nearby neighbors hook up their hoses to reach Main Street and fill up baby pools with water for refilling water fight paraphernalia. It's so awesome! I love how the whole community, old and young, plays in the street and runs around like crazies. My favorite moments were dumping my water bottle of water on Nate's head and running up to my friends' float to steal water and being attacked with water guns by at least five people on the float and by my one friend in the street. I couldn't open my eyes, so I was just blindly dunking my water bottle in one of their ice chests for water. Then the parade ended, and I had to wring out my shorts the whole way back to the car.

(PS: Sorry there are no pictures. I know how boring that can be, so thanks for reading anyway!)

The Line-up

As some of you know, ove the past 3 weeks, about 10 different people have approached me to ask if they could set me up. Now I already know that I am going to get some hate mail from some of you I've denied because I said I wasn't doing anymore blind dates. Well, I gave in and then the flood gates broke. Where are all of these guys coming from??? Or I mean, where are all of these match-makers coming from. Four of them set me up with the same 2 guys!

Marty—Karen (co-worker) set me up with Marty and invited us to a BBQ at her home last Saturday. He's late 30s to early 40s. No one really knows his age. He's a doctor. Seems like a good guy. He called today about another date, but I haven't called him back yet. I need to get to know him better before I say anything.

Bryce—Jeremy and Scott, two of my good buddies, set me up with this 28-year-old architectural engineer. We went out last night, and I rode a motorcycle for the first time!!! Don't worry. I held on tight. :) I see another date with him in the future.

Tyler—Emily Slater, Dave Herd, and Carrie Romney all had their hand in this, and none of them knew each other. It's a longer story, so I won't tell it now. We're going out in an hour. Blue Iguana for dinner and then paddle boats! Can't wait to meet him.

Simonson—Teresa Bowman set me up with this guy in his late 30s to early 40s. Why is that age group so mysterious? I can't remember his first name. He's been in CA going to film school. I gave in to this set up because this guy's dad actually tried to set us up when I was interviewing with the Rotary Club to go to Argentina! Hah! Go figure. Teresa works for the dad. Date TK.

Christian—Tori is setting me up with a guy she met while she was studying in Nauvoo. He's in Korea right now, but when he gets back she's working her magic.

Ice Boy—Dr. Treft is my eye doctor, and he asked if he could set me up 2 Mondays ago when I was in for my check up. Strangely enough, he tried to set me up with the guy I went out with last year who rubbed ice on his lips!!! Maybe I should give him a second try. :) I said no thanks, that we'd already gone out and things didn't work out.

Temple Boy—Grandma Lindsay overheard some ladies talking about how one of their sons was 27 years old. Grandma's ears perked up. "I having a darling granddaughter who's 27 and single. I'll bring you a picture of her next Tuesday for you to show your son!" And she did. I don't think this one is going to happen, though.

Blair's friend—Grandma Newbold met one of Blair's friends at Blair's wedding two Thursdays ago. He asked how he could be part of our family. She said that there are only a couple of ways and that is through her remaining single granddaughters! When he heard I was 27, he backed off though. Fine by me. I have enough to deal with right now. I think he was 22 or 23.

If I've left anyone else out, I appologize. And I know Cynthia and Michelle and Sarah have been chomping at the bit, so if you would like to set me up now with the guys you'd been thinking of, you may. Updates on these guys will definitely be coming.

Seeing through Wax Paper

The same day my authors came, I had LASIK eye surgery. I left work right before 1 p.m., hurried home to shower to get all traces of make-up, mousse, lotion, etc., off of my body, and dressed quickly. Mandy picked me up and we headed to the clinic, which is about 45 minutes from my house. I wasn't too nervous at that point—mainly excited to know it was really happening. I'd been planning on it for about a year, once I heard my company offers flexible spending—tax-free money for any medical expenses that you pay directly out of your paycheck over the course of a year.
They soon had me all comfy in my booties and shower cap. I took the valium they offered me, but I'm not too sure it did what it was supposed to. Once they had me lie down, I started to get more tense because they instantly dove right into the surgery. It was a little crazy to think about what was happening, but my eyes were numbed with numbing drops, so I didn't feel anything. My right eye was first, and it went really smoothly. I do admit, it was way hard to stay staring at the flashing light—my focal point. I couldn't tell where my eye was looking until the doctor would tell me to keep looking at the light! It was like being under water and not knowing which way was up and which way was down.

The left eye had minor complications. The blade wouldn't lock into place. (I found this out when I saw the video Mandy took of the surgery. She had my camera and was in a room with a TV showing my big eyeball on the screen.) The blade is made up of two pieces, sort of like a zipper is, and so they had to push a lot on my eye to get the top piece to fit into the bottom piece. I felt that, but I first heard the nurses saying stuff like, "Am I caught or are you?" That was not pleasant. It felt like forever! My lower eye lid also got in the way of the blade, so it got a little knicked but it didn't hurt. They told me I have smaller eye lids than most. They are daintly eye lids. It's always interesting to find out new things about yourself. And then it was over! And then it was like looking through wax paper.
Here I am walking down the hall to leave. The goggles were hard to see through. But who am I kidding. I really wouldn't have been able to see very well if I'd had them off! I had to keep them on the rest of the day and then sleep with them on every night until this past Monday night. Waking up the next morning was amazing! I could see perfectly. Blurriness would come and go, but other than that I could see. It took a while to get used to not looking for my glasses after I'd wash my face at night or when I'd wake up in the morning. I can't get over it that normal people see this way without thinking twice. I LOVE being able to see!!!

Dinner at MY Door

A week and a half ago (June 9th), three of my authors came to visit the Barn and me, and to have a sales meeting to talk about how we're going to promote their book, Dinner at Your Door: Tips and Recipes for Starting a Neighborhood Cooking Co-op. These ladies live in Boise, where they say dinner co-ops are springing up like dandelions. They know of about 50 co-ops in their area, so this is for real.

I was the project editor for this book, which means I was the drill sergeant for the authors, designer, and photographer, making sure everything got done as beautifully as possible and on time. From the contracting stage to getting the manuscript to hiring the photographer and the designer, to debating what the title should be to editing the manuscript to inputting the authors' corrections to seeing the book off to the printer . . . but wait. It's not over. Then editing the printer proofs in two different stages to make sure we catch any over-looked mistakes before the book is bound. It's quite the process, but then you have a beautiful book to show for it!! I imagine it's kind of like agonizing through pregnancy and labor, only to forget all of the woes when you see you're adorable baby. I highly recommend this book, and that means a lot. I am an honest person, especially when it comes to my own work! It is well written, hip, funny, full of yummy recipes and gorgeous photography, and oh-so helpful in learning the ins and outs of a dinner co-op!

May30th . . . I'm a little behind

Little Nate-o graduated from high school . . . which means I am VERY old!!! Okay, I know I'm not that old, but having my little brother who is nine years younger than me now be my age is weird. I'm actually still 17 years old inside, so Nate's older than me! Ahhh! Scary. Now Nate can be his own person. He could go rent an apartment in Salt Lake . . . or he could even leave Utah! He could sell his mini fridge and leather desk chair and Palm Pilot and everything else he's purchased since he got a job and move to, oh I don't know. I can't even picture Nate somewhere alone in the world. Weird. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So these pictures are of Nate's graduation.

The Back-Brace Duo

This crippled couple is proud to show off their back braces. They were really funny and wanted me to take this picture of them.:) Mom thinks she looks like a skeleton. They're trying to have angry faces.

First of all, thank you, thank you. We've loved your cards and calls, your texts and emails, your gifts of food and DVDs to keep Mom happy while immobile, and your prayers. We love you and feel so grateful for each one of you. Mom and Dad are doing much better.

Dad's been going to a physical therapist. He's not supposed to plant a garden or do any bending—basically a great way to get out of chores. But for Dad it's torture, and I still catch him leaning over to put the silverware in the dishwasher even though it's hurting him! He loves his garden, so we'll see how long the doctors can keep him out of there. His leg isn't swollen or yucky looking anymore, and he seems to be walking on it okay now.

Mom is to wear her brace for 4 more weeks, about half the time they originally told her, so that's great news! The break is in her L2, and it's actually on the anterior of her spine, not the interior, which is a lot less dangerous. This coming week, she is to start going with Dad to physical therapy. She can have her neck and shoulders worked on, but not her spine. She's taking less of her pain pills now, which is great because she's awake and out of bed more, sitting on the couch or standing. Dad and I used to get up every three hours to lift Mom up out of bed to give her her medicine, so it's nice to sleep through the whole night. I don't know how you parents do it with babies! Those first two weeks, I was so tired the next day for work. I could never fall back to sleep right away.

Tagged 2 Months Ago!

So a creepazoid has been commenting on my blog, so I started searching each post to delete his comments and I came upon a comment from Tiffany back in March. She tagged me, and I didn't know!! Ha ha. Sorry Tiff. So here goes.

1. What was I doing ten years ago?
This is going to be good. I have my journal here in front of me with an entry from May 23, 2008 and one from May 30, 1998, so this is literally what I was doing ten years ago. Basically, I was crying over how Mohammed was going back to Monica, his ex-girlfriend who went to Columbus the drop-out school. What was I thinking??? "He says he feels bad about getting back with Monica, but I'm sorry. That isn't gonna make me feel any better. I am like his girl at school for when Monica isn't around. He doesn't realize how much he is hurting me. I feel like such a retard—like an inexperienced little girl. What am I gonna do? I think I'll go cry." That's it for the 23rd. May 30th I went to a bonfire at Huntington with friends. Karina's going to love this . . . "Karina was freaking out the whole time because Jeff Steadman was there. He looked so cute! Mohamed came, too, along with . . . ta-dah . . . Monica. Yipee! Gosh, I truly can't stand her." Then I talked about how Monica and Mo faught the whole time they were at the beach, and how Mo came over to talk to me and then said good-bye when they left. Good times junior year. Ugh. I would never go back. And just for fun, the next entry in my journal says that Nick was now saying all of our names, and when you asked him who built the ark, he would say, "Noah!"

2. Five things on my to-do list today:
a. donate all my Baby-sitter Club books to Nick's school
b. finish getting everything for my 72-hour kit
c. update Relief Society visiting teaching
d. look up costs of flights to Egypt, Kenya, and Ghana
e. do laundry, fold laundry, and clean my room!!

3. Snacks I enjoy:
a. chips and salsa
b. homemade chocolate-chip cookies with milk
c. Oreos with milk
d. Kosher dill pickles
e. kettle corn

4. What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire?
a. create nonprofits to help people all over the world
b. buy houses and cars for all of my family and friends
c. spend my days learning languages, writing, traveling, spending time with people I love, doing humanitarian work, and visiting my island
d. fund all of my dad's screen plays
e. invest

5. Three bad habits:
a. showering for too long
b. taking on too much and thus not getting enough sleep or katie time
c. jumping on my bed

6. Five places I've lived:
a. PA
b. UT
c. CA
d. Venezuela
e. Mexico

7. Five jobs I have had:
a. age 6: front-lawn seller of sea shells—10 cents for a whole one, 5 cents for a cup of broken ones
b. age 7: front-lawn seller of paper fish—5 cents for small fish, 10 cents for larger catches
c. age 7: door-to-door salesgirl of handmade bookmarks—20 cents each
d. ages 19–24: door-to-door CD saleswoman—$16 for In Him Was Life, $15 Covenants and Crucibles
e. age 22: resource teacher at an elementary school

8. Five things people don't know about me:
a. I love water and I LOVE the ocean, but it's also one of the things that scares me the most.
b. I adore the history and the rules of the English language. I'm a nerd! I could just read my usuage dictionary all day long:)
c. I can't stay in one city or one country for very long . . . but I guess that's something you probably already knew.
d. I LOVE clothes. If I did have lots of money, I definitely worry that I would form a teensy bad habit of buying in excess.
e. The day before I left on my mission, my eye doctor found a hole in my retna. I had to go see a surgeon that same day to laser it shut.

Tagged: Sam, Chelsea, Jacqui, Dee, and Brenda. Copy, paste & answer for yourself. Have fun!

Nothing to Lose

Too often we are scared.
Scared of what we might not be able to do.
Scared of what people might think if we tried.
We let our fears stand in the way of our hopes.
We say no when we want to say yes.
We sit quietly when we want to scream.
And we shout with the others,
when we should keep our moths shut.
Why?
After all,
we do only go around once.
There’s really no time to be afraid.
So stop.
Try something you’ve never tried.
Risk it.
Enter a triathlon.
Write a letter to the editor.
Demand a raise.
Call winners at the toughest court.
Throw away your television.
Bicycle across the United States.
Try bobsledding.
Try anything.
Speak out against the designated hitter.
Travel to a country where you don’t
speak the language.
Call him.
You have nothing to lose
and everything,
everything,
everything to gain.
JUST DO IT.

Carol gave me this poem when I graduated from high school. My sophmore year of college, I put it up by the front door of our apartment. Every time our friend Corb would come over, he would read it to us, emphasizing "Call him" and "Speak out against the designated hitter" (because we thought that was a weird thing to do). I found it as I was cleaning my room, and it brought back lots of funny memories. All of you who were my roommates at the time (Jenn, Cyn, and Em), those of you who visited, and everyone who reads this, I hope you take advantage of every opportunity to fulfill your dreams and become a better person!

From Sponge Bob & Patrick

This card is from our neighbor Michael. He has autism and is 18 years old. He weighs twice as much as my mom and just adores her. Every Sunday he finds her at church, yells out, "Lisa Newbold," and then goes to put his arm around her. When he sees my dad and my brothers, he calls them Lisa Newbold, too.:) The ladies he lists in the card are in our ward. And Michael's an amazing artist—look at how detailed Sponge Bob and Patrick are! He makes me smile—I love reading this card. We got to talk to Dan (in Spain) this morning, and we read the card to him, too, and he laughed. He knows Michael.

I am so glad Michael is watching out for my mom. I just hope he doesn't crush her the next time he sees her! Ha ha!

Celebrate Sweden

Sugarhouse rocked tonight. First because they hosted the Swedish Celebration. Mandy and I dropped in, scanned the crowded firepit, noticed that money was required to eat the hotdogs (we were misinformed), and briefed the table of Swedish delights. Then we decided to go grab some real food and come back for the festivities. People were actually speaking with accents (which we assumed were Swedish), so we knew we were in for a real treat!

We headed to the cute little strip of shops where the King's English is located. It took us about 20 minutes to find it!! Ha ha. We had so much fun looking at the picture-perfect houses and are more determined than ever to buy a house up there. Once we found 15th and 15th, we parked and walked to Mazza's for some Middle-Eastern food. We splurged just a tad and tried a little of everything. The humus was too sweet—we got the kind with bell peppers and pomegranite seeds—so I advice you try a different kind. But the pitas were SO yummy and warm!

A resort shuttle pulled up and dropped off a whole load of out-of-towners. Then a couple walked buy with ears and tails on. We figured they were on their way over to the Swedish Celebration for their part in the skit. Who knows. We didn't see them again, but a lady did walk out of the restaurant next door to check them out! No one knew what to do.

This was the cutest thing out front of the restaurant. I think I'm going to bring Izzy here and tie her up and take her picture. I think she would make friends okay if I left her there. She's a social butterfly.

Mandy and I didn't really want to leave this bookstore, but they were closing so we had no choice. I think bookstores are like airports. See if you can figure that one out. I found an author/illustrator whose work I bought in Argentina. I recognized his book for the watercolors! It made me happy and sad and motivated to pull out my brushes and go buy 140 lb paper. And then I bought the book so I can keep looking at his beautiful work and be inspired by it. Oliver Jeffers. Check him out. I now own Perdido y encontrado and The Way Back Home.

Piano Is Canceled

Sunday night at 10 p.m. my family (Mom, Dad, Nate, and Nick) was hit from behind by a Davis County deputy sheriff. He was going 55 mph, and Dad was barely creeping forward, waiting for the traffic to move as the light turned green. They were on the highway just a couple minutes from our home. The car is totalled, completely smashed in in the back as you can see in the pictures, and smooshed in the front where they hit the car in front of them.

The air bags deployed and everyone had their seat belt on, but the impact was so great that the front seats didn't remain locked in their upright position. As Mom and Dad bounced back from the air bags, the seat backs reclined, Dad's seat colliding with Nate's face. His jaw is out of line now and his upper back is super stiff. Dad has cuts and goose eggs on both his forearms and elbows, his right shin, and above his right eye. His shoulder and back are very sore, so don't hug him too tight—he yelps.











Nicholas got a scratch/burn on his right arm and bruised his right leg, but other than that he hasn't felt stiff or sore. He went to school a couple hours late this morning, anxious to tell his class what had happened. Mom was injured the worst. She has a compound fracture in her back, so basically she broke a vertebrae. She's flat on her back and needs help to get up and shuffle to the baño. She also drinks through a straw, just to give you a better mental image.:) The back windshield shattered and some of the glass hit her in the head, so I got to clean the blood out of her hair this morning. I love my mom. Okay, I love my family.

When the accident happened, President Prows, who is in my parents' stake presidency, drove past in the right-hand lane on the highway. His wife saw our van and said, "I think that's the Newbolds!" He dropped her off at home and then drove back to the scene right as they were putting a neck brace on Mom and loading her onto a stretcher. There were two cars that were so nice to pull over and let my family sit in their cars, since my family was worried about sitting in the van in case of a gas leak. The guys in the car stopped the bleeding from Mom's head and let her wait there until the ambulance arrived. By the time Mom got to the hospital, our bishop was there with his wife and President Prows, and gave her a priesthood blessing right away. Dad and Nate came later in another ambulance, and Nick and I met up with everyone in the ER.

Nate's the one who called me after the accident. I was in my jammies in bed. I'd ignored the home phone ringing and the doorbell ringing, but luckily I was still awake when my cell phone buzzed at about 10:30 p.m. I'd gone with my family to visit my grandparents, but I drove over in my own car because I wanted to be in bed early to start the week off right. I'd left G&G's at 9:40 p.m. I threw on jeans, a sweatshirt, and flip-flops. Nate made it sound like the accident wasn't that bad, but when I got there I wished I'd worn shoes. There was glass all over and about 10 cars with flashing lights on top. The intersection looked like it'd been shut down, everything was so bright and there was only one lane open! I parked in the middle of the highway, behind the fire truck, and turned my flashers on.

I saw our van before I could find my family. It was really emotional. Then a police officer walked me across the highway to my family. Mom had already been taken to the ER, but they were checking out Dad's cut leg and were loading him onto a stretcher. Then as Nate's back and jaw started tightening up, they loaded him into the same ambulance as Dad. Both of them were also given priesthood blessings once they got to the hospital. We are surrounded by good, caring people!

We were so, so blessed that I hadn't been in the van with my family. Nick most likely would've been the one in the back seat of the van (because he's the youngest and usually gets told to sit in the back). I don't like to think about what would've happened to our little Nick or anyone who would've been sitting back there. In the picture you'll see that the back seat got pushed right up against the back of Nick's seat in the middle of the van. Angeles were protecting our family.

The latest news we have on Mom is that she got fitted for a back brace Monday evening and is to have it delivered today. She has an appointment with a neurosurgeon in two weeks (he said that he wouldn't be able to help her if he saw her any sooner), and she is to wear her back brace for six weeks. Her vertebrae will heal, but since her spine was also compressed, they may need to do a procedure where they pour cement in there to add space back in between her vertebrae. Or something like that.

Thank you to all of you who have already shown so much love and concern, and have let us know we are in your prayers. We're so grateful for you and for your friendship! We will do our best to keep you posted on everyone's health.

And here's Emma in a bag, to end this blog the right way! We love this baby! She came to visit yesterday and now is in Pennsylvania with her mommy, visiting her grandparents for six weeks while her daddy goes to Jordan on an archaeological dig.

Independence Day

They move in silence as if someone had a gun to their back.
But yet they are calm—
Dress gliding across the cool wood floor,
Heads held high,
Elbows up,
One in form migrating to an unknown land.

Why aren’t they afraid like I am?
Or am I? Envy does not connote fear.
Tranquility in flight versus anxiety in combat.
Must keep moving. I feel like I’m trapped in a Super Mario Brothers game on the level where the time clock is running and you have no choice but to push forward.

What if I can’t keep up? Do I have a choice?
I’m here because I made a choice.
I choose. I too can move with confidence because I know.
Too much, too little. One step, don’t fly.

a Glimpse

It’s warm like wind chimes.
It’s cool like blue walls and creamsicle striped sheets.
It’s muffled like traffic in a glass box.
It’s uneasy like my neck on the bulges of a floppy pillow.
It’s hot like creased vinyl in the sun’s entrance.
It presses, prods, pokes, and pushes.
It pulsates, waits, rips the air apart with a burp, and you know it’s come.
It’s deep with glitters and light drowned by shades of turquoise.
It’s open like a dance of shadow and light.
It’s soft like sincere words seeping through to your heart.
It’s still like a door shut in place.