Allicat's Alley

Conquer Thyself

2009-09-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

My friend, Karina, and I ran a marathon last month. I started a blog post about it that day, but never finished writing it. Tonight I pulled it out of my virtual desk, blew the digital dust off of it, and have posted it here for your viewing pleasure:

Items Learned and Re-learned at the Top of Utah Marathon:

Items Learned:
1. The next time I run a marathon, I'm going to wear a shirt with an inspirational message on the back of it. While running the TOU marathon, a guy that was in front of my friend and I had a shirt on that said "Conquer Thyself." It was a great reminder of why people choose to do epic things like running marathons.
2. Icy Hot is my new best friend.
3. Do not put Icy Hot on sunburned skin. Double the hotness, double the sizzle, double the fun.
4. When I grow up, I want to volunteer at marathons. Or, if my house is ever on a marathon route, I want to sit in my yard with a sprayer and spray people with water as they run by.

Items Re-learned:
1. My parents rock. They met me at the finish line. I hope I get to see them at all of the finish lines in my life.
2. My mother is an angel. She rubbed my swollen, sweaty feet after the race. At that point, I definitely had feet that only a mother could love.
3. Even un-athletic people like myself can successfully train for and run marathons. Regular training and good nutrition are key, and they help to establish good habits in general. Score!

The Bazillionth Time is the Charm

2009-09-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today I promised myself not to find a new blog template again for at least six months because, seriously, I feel like I change this crazy html more often than I do my socks. Umm, yeah, I wear sandals a lot.

Tommy-toe Goodness

2009-09-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

A few of the results of my tomato harvest this year as captured by my cell-phone camera:

My tomato plants survived and bore delicious fruits, or veggies, or whichever definition you decide works best for you. I'm ecstatic and have become hooked on this whole gardening thing.

End of Blog Post Note: There is actually a variety of cherry tomato that is known as the "Tommy Toe." That's not the kind I grew, but they're all "Tommy Toes" to me.

I'm a Professional Your Great Aunt Maude

2009-09-04T12:21:00.001-07:00

I'm a professional genealogist. I don't blog about it much, but that's what I do for a living, and I like my job. Professional genealogists have certain stigmas attached to them. (Hmmm, I wonder what they could possibly be? Hee hee.) Hence the conversation I had with my friend, Sherry, at work today. It went something like this:

Me: Which sounds better, Professional Genealogist, or Professional Family Historian?
Sherry: Professional Your Great Aunt Maude.

She's right, neither one sounds terribly thrilling...no offense to anyone's great-aunt Maude. :)

Never Alone

2009-09-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Some time last night, or rather, early this morning, I awoke to the sounds of sobs outside of my bedroom door. My little niece had woken up and headed to her mom's room, (I'm guessing she wanted to climb into bed with her and snuggle), but for some reason, she didn't find her in her bed. Next, she came upstairs to see if her mom was asleep on the couch, but to no avail. The couch was empty. That was when she started to sob outside of my door that she didn't know where her mom was.

I quickly got up to help my niece look for my sister. Was she on the couch in the living room? No. Was her car outside? Yes. We made our way to the stairs, and I asked if maybe she was sleeping in my nephew's room. My niece went back downstairs and checked, but she wasn't there. Then, she looked in her mom's room again, but this time she must have looked more carefully, because she found her there, sleeping soundly. Once her mom was found, my niece went right back to bed and slept peacefully for the rest of the night, confident in the knowledge that her mom was close by.

I can relate with that experience, and not just because I used to walk in my sleep. Sometimes life gets so busy that priorities get mixed up, and the things I absolutely should be doing fall from the top of my list of daily habits. I become distracted by situations and decisions that seem clear-cut at one point, but then become clouded with confusion and doubt. I gradually find myself metaphorically 'sleepy,' sleepy and stumbling around in the dark for some semblance of the light, wanting to draw closer to my Heavenly Father.

Thankfully, the source of all light and truth never changes. Just like my sister, sleeping soundly in the same bed and in the same room that she's slept in for years, our Father in Heaven and our Savior can always be found in the same places. Sometimes I just have to remember where to look.

Here are some of my favorite scriptures that relate to this topic:

John 14:6
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Revelations 3:20
3 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

1 Nephi 20:13-16
13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; for the feet of those who are in the east shall be established; and break forth into singing, O mountains; for they shall be smitten no more; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.
15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Doctrine and Covenants 88:63
63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Oh the stories I COULD tell.....

2009-08-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

One day I might write a book. It might be called something like The Dating Memoirs of the self-proclaimed Queen of Awkwardness. (I am, of course, the Queen of Awkwardness. It's written on the white board at work, so it must be true.) This volume might include stories with plots that could be similar to these:

1. Girl goes on "friend" date with guy who likes girl's best friend (girl's best friend is currently dating guy's roommate, but guy hasn't noticed it yet...silly guy). In middle of said date, guy tells girl he likes her best friend.

2. First date after girl returns home from mission, girl is set up on blind date. Nice, clean-cut RM. Half-way through date, as girl and guy walk up to the door of a friend's house where they are going to play games, guy asks if girl wants to pretend like they're doing a missionary-style door approach. No thanks, but girl is excited to play Phase 10 once they get inside!

3. Girl registers for dating site. One week, girl gets plethora of matches, many more than usual. Girl already knows one match. Girl quickly closes said match to avoid further awkwardness, but gets a good chuckle out of it at the same time.

4. TBA

I freely admit that the top two scenarios make the guys seem like the awkward parties, but I also freely admit that I create my fair share of awkwardness. I think that, subconsciously, I must feed on it. The awkwardness does make for some great stories, though. :) Once I've stopped cringing, I can't help but laugh at the stories, and at myself!

Have you any awkward dating snippets that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear!

Triple A

2009-08-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

I think it would be fun to marry someone whose last name is Ashton. Then I would be Allison Aston Ashton. I would be endlessly entertained by having people repeat my name. Also, lots of folks naturally add an 'h' to my last name, so why not help them out by making the 'shh' legit? Really, though, who could go wrong with initials that inspire thoughts of towed cars, fixed flat tires, and successfully jimmied car door locks? Anybody know any eligible Ashton men? :D

Pursuit of Happiness

2009-08-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Food for thought today:

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.

~Bertrand Russell

A Smattering of Tho-dules

2009-08-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering what in the world a "tho-dule" is, don't bother googling the word. I made it up. If you DO google it, you'll discover that Thodule is a French given name for man babies. That is not how I discovered it. I essentially took the words "thought" and "module" and squished them together.

There are lots of thodules rattling around in my head at the moment, so I thought I'd let some of them spill out into this blog post. If my brain were a pan full of water, it might just look like this right now:

I've got some things brewing, it's true.

Do you ever come up with an idea for a blog post, and then take forever to write the piece well enough that you feel it is worth posting? Well, I have one that's been simmering for almost a month, and it has become an essay of sorts, the type that I wrote in English classes once upon a year gone by.

For now, to take up space until I complete that concoction, I think I'll post about thoughts that were spurred by random bits and pieces of recent events in my life.

1. Freshly picked strawberries. They are, in a word, delectable. My parents use strawberry plants as ground cover in their garden. This tactic serves many a practical purpose for them. I highly approve, mostly because we enjoy eating the strawberries every summer. About a month ago, I ventured up to my parental home for a night. My dad moved my car at one point during the visit, and when I left to go home, I found that he had stocked my little cup holder with freshly picked strawberries. Very sweet gesture, Dad!

Sometimes I forget what real strawberries taste like. It's true! There are so many strawberry-flavored foods out there, and I'm a consumer of them! Yogurt, ice cream, flavored water, soda, juice, gum, fruit snacks, syrup, and the list goes on. Sometimes it is nice to return to the source of the goodness. Sans added sugar. Sans added "natural" and artificial flavors. Sans those crazy dyes. Just the fruit that Heavenly Father created for us to enjoy.

2. Cool latin words that provide the building blocks of so many English words. For example, the word "expert" is derived from the latin word "experior." Experior means

"to try a thing; viz., either by way of testing or of attempting it."

It's always good to be reminded that the road to expertise begins with trying.

3. Really good laughs. I recently talked with someone who is exceptionally funny. He mentioned the fact that one of his natural responses to almost every type of situation is laughter. Not that he's laughing at PEOPLE, but rather finding the lighter and brighter side of things. He describes laughter as a cleansing mechanism, and I agree. As a person who is somewhat comedically impaired, this is a very important task for me! Now I just have to find a good joke....Any suggestions?

Well, that's it for my thodules tonight. Bonne nuit!

Oh Somebody Had A Birthday...

2009-07-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

Today was a great birthday for some very specific reasons.

Nope, I'm not going to divulge what they are.

My good friend, Sherry, sang me the birthday song that her husband's family always sings at birthday parties, which made me think of the song MY family sings at every birthday. The words go like this:

Oh somebody had a birthday,
Our little [insert name here] dear.
May Heavenly Father bless you
Throughout the coming year.

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear [insert name here],
Happy birthday to you!

Then comes the ceremonious blowing out of the birthday candles, and making of wishes.

I don't know where the song came from. I suppose I should ask someone!

What are your birthday songs of choice?

Freedom: Something I'm grateful for!

2009-07-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

What freedoms are you grateful for?

Of Mushroom Heads and Muffin Tops

2009-06-22T22:18:00.001-07:00

Well, folks, I've decided to separate my health and wellness journal into a blog of it's own. It's at http://mushroommuffins.blogspot.com. If you'd like to check it out, you are more than welcome to. Along with the journaling, I'll be posting healthy recipes that I enjoy, discussing some of the workouts that I'm doing, and perhaps talking about other health-related subjects. I'd love to get tips/ideas/hints from you about how you stay in shape, lose weight quickly, or eat healthy on a tight budget. This note is really to let you know that I didn't give up on my journey to a healthier me after one day. :) Have a fabulous day everyone!

The Journaling Begins

2009-06-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Folks, I've decided to make this new exercise program into a workout for three parts of me: 1) Emotional me - which is rather overly emotional A LOT of the time, 2) Spiritual me - which can always be improved and enhanced, and 3) Physical me - we all know that I should not not not have a muffin top tummy....being a woman who awaits the opportunity to have children, but who has not enjoyed the blessing as of yet. :)

I love to read mommy blogs because they showcase what my mommy friends do so well, and that is to care for and love their kidlets. This requires a lot of self-sacrifice, and I admire all of my mommy friends immensely for the selfless service that they give on a minute-to-minute and second-to-second basis. I've noticed that the service often spills into all aspects of their lives. I've also observed that when you serve one person, or one family, the natural course of events leads you to greater service opportunities in other ares of life. Having seen this in the wonderful mothers and mothers-to-be around me, I want to go out and start a philanthropic organization, perhaps donate a kidney....or make some other sort of positive contribution to society. I am hoping that as I focus on making myself a better, more emotionally, spiritually and physically balanced person, that service opportunities in my community will be more apparent, and more appealing, to me.

The real purpose of this post is to start a daily exercise/nutrition/gratitude journal. This blog might be a bit boring for the next few months, but I'll try to spice it up with other tidbits.

Here goes:

Day 1 - 21 June 2009
EXERCISE:
None. Will do cardio tomorrow.

NUTRITION:
Breakfast - 2 whole wheat Eggo waffles with fresh peace slices on top.
Lunch - Roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, half an avocado and half a tomato.
Snack - Chocolate protein shake.
Dinner - Salmon pasta salad. (Came up with my own recipe...shall be tweaking it in the near future because I think it has potential to be very scrumptious and healthy.)
Snack - Weight Watchers oreo cookie ice cream bar. (It's Sunday...the day of ice cream!).
Snack - Snitched a few bites of the leftover salmon salad.

GRATEFUL FOR:
1. My dad. (Happy Father's Day to a very smart/wise dad.... Even though he's been my dad for almost 28 years, I still have lots to learn from him.)
2. My job. I love genealogy very very very much, and I love helping other people discover their backgrounds just about as much as I love researching my own.
3. My legs. They work like a charm!
4. Spring flowers and summer vegetables.
5. The chance to say goodbye to people you love. (My brother and his family are moving to Georgia this week and I'll miss them sooooooooooo very much. They are letting me drop in on them quite late tonight so I can give them last-minute squeezes.)

Body....for Life!

2009-06-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, folks, I feel a bit strange as I type this post. Have you ever undergone periods where you felt like you were a piece of taffy right smack dab in the middle of a taffy pull? I know I have, and the pulling generally comes from three different sources:

1. First, I am stretched and pulled in different directions by life in general, much like the delightful taffy on this machine. This stuff is automatically stretched over and over and over and over and over and over again:

2. Second, I am also stretched (generally in positive ways) by different people in my life. Sometimes I feel like the taffy in this picture:

3. Third, I find that my own choices sometimes stretch me most of all, and not always in positive directions. The goal, of course, is to make better choices!

I like to imagine myself as peppermint taffy because, well, it's my favorite flavor in the entire taffy world.

Anyways, I've decided that if I liken my life unto being the taffy in the middle of a taffy pull, in the end, theoretically speaking, I can potentially be a tasty treat and a delight to people of all ages, right?

I hope to end up as a splendid snack, rather than any number of horrid-tasting substances. :) In the process, there are certainly lots of painful moments, and sometimes I forget what the final product is supposed to be like, look like, and, most importantly, feel like.

The stretching part is the best part of it all, and sometimes the most painful. One of the stretches that has been plaguing me lately is my weight. This problem I can only attribute to one source: me. I've never been athletic, but I've always wanted to be fit. I've always wished for more energy, and to be secure in my own skin (and secretly I've wanted to fit into my sister's beautiful wedding dress. Nope, I'm not getting married in the near future, but ever since my sister got married, I've wanted to be able to fit into her gown.)

I've found that making myself accountable to others is helpful when I set personal goals. So I'm setting a goal right here on the world wide web: I am taking the Body for Life Challenge! In the next 12 weeks I hope to transform my diet, my exercise, my mental attitudes, and in the long run....my life! The reason why I'm posting it on my blog, (no need to thank me for not posting my "before" pictures here), is because I will be updating my weekly progress here. I trust you, the few, the proud, the readers of my blog, with this information because you are all kind peeps. :)

There is one section in Champions Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength that caught my eye this evening:

Here's the most encouraging thing about Body-for-Life: It starts with you.

You have the power to make the decision, to begin the journey. For the sake of sanity, we delude ourselves with the illusion of control, but fate and fortune have a way of reminding us that, in truth, much of life is out of our control.

Nevertheless, you do have control over this: to start or not to start, to remain the same or to be different in 12 weeks.

Here I go! I am starting now, and in 12 weeks, I'm going to be a slim, trim, especially low-fat piece of taffy!

I'm a virtual gardener....with aspirations to become a REAL gardener. :)

2009-05-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! Spring is here! I've decided to take up gardening and find myself in a conundrum: which type of gardening should I embark upon? Virtual gardening or real-life gardening? I'm not sure if I have time for both. :)

Here's the other part of my conflict: I'm a much better VIRTUAL gardener than I am a real-life gardener. Check out my FarmTown farm on Facebook:

On Facebook, I have an orchard, plenty of fields to plant seeds in, and aminals! Virtual gardening is easy-peasy...I don't have to water the plants, feed the soil my very own secret-recipe animal dropping cocktail, or grapple with rooty, assertive weedlings. All I have to do is add the FarmTown App to my Facebook account, and click a few buttons every day or so. The veggies and fruits are BEAUTIFUL, but I find myself somehow unfulfilled by them. Perhaps it's because I can only look at their virtual loveliness. I find myself wanting to nibble at my computer screen. Is that abnormal?

Really, what I'm getting down to is a subject that Elder Bednar talked about in his CES Fireside earlier this month. His talk was entitled "Things As They Are," and it made me take a break from my virtual gardening to make a quick inventory of the time I spend outside of church activities and my 40-hour-ish work week.

I have aspirations to become a gardener, and the gene that produces green thumbs is prevalent in my familial gene pool. What, then, is stopping me from pursuing that goal? Sad to say...I haven't spent time getting dirt under my fingernails because I've been taking care of a garden where real soil cannot and should not exist under any circumstances. :) In fact, the internet sucks up much more of my time than I care to admit. How many books could I have read in that time? How many hours could I have spent with friends and family, or doing service for others? Really, folks, it's time that I separate myself from the virtual world a bit more, so that I can partake in the glories of the real world. It's time to get out there and get dirty!

Do I think it's wrong to be part of the FarmTown App on Facebook? Certainly not...as long as it is in moderation. So perhaps after I've tended my REAL garden (which will consist of tomatos, peppers, and cabbage for starters), I will wash my hands and treat myself to the immediate successes that always greet me when I visit my virtual garden.

My New Roommates

2009-05-07T06:00:00.001-07:00

For those of you who didn't know already, I've moved in with my sister and her kiddos. Pretty sure they're the cutest kids on the block!

Pride and Prejuidice and Zombies

2009-04-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today my sister told me about a book called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, written by Jane Austen
and Seth Grahame-Smith. Even reading the description of it on www.chroniclebooks.com fills me with unspeakable joy and anticipation. I thought I'd share it with you (I've bolded some of my favorite phrases):

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -- "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.

In short, I think Seth Grahame-Smith simply added a few manly elements to Pride and Prejudice. Throw in some rotting flesh, a few of the undead, a bit of bone-crunching here and there, and perhaps you've attracted yourself a whole lot more male readers, and a few females too.

Just curious...I wonder if Grahame-Smith changed the main story at all...perhaps made some of the original characters into zombies? Perhaps Mr. Collins? Now THAT would be FRIGHTENING!

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-04-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

My old roomie, Katie, is a chocolate chip cookie lover/aficionado/expert. She was always in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe until one fateful Sunday afternoon.

Our position in Salt Lake at the dizzying, runny nose-bleedish, height of approximately 4350 feet above sea level means that we have to be mindful of our cooking creations and what ingredients we need to adjust in recipes so they can be masterful works of genius after a few tries. :)

Well, Katie stumbled on a lovely blog that contains the following lovely high-altitude chocolate chip cookie recipe. These cookies are quite scrumptious!

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon water
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
2. Beat the shortening until fluffy.
3. Add both sugars and beat for several minutes, until light and fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla, water, and egg and beat until incorporated.
5. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir on low.
7. Add the chocolate chips.
8. Scoop tablespoon size balls of the dough onto a cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

What's your favorite Cézanne? Uhhh.....winter?

2009-04-22T11:37:00.001-07:00

I really really like this Brian Regan clip:

Majestic Outdoor Aerobic Benchmark

2009-03-22T14:57:00.001-07:00

Moab Half-Marathon: Done and done. :)

You'll notice that I've turned the word Moab into an acronym for this blog post. Yes, MOAB now means something entirely new to me. I LOVE Moab, and now not just because of the great eats at the Moab Diner, or the romantic red rock that woos the poet lurking in my heart. I love Moab because that's where I completed a major exercise milestone that has been tugging at the back of my mind for years, yes, YEARS. Yesterday I covered the entire 13.1 mile distance of the Canyonlands Half-Marathon. I started and finished the race. Whee!

I believe there will be marathons in my future. I don't know when or where, but there will be marathons. It might take a while to work up to them, but I will take part in at least one marathon in my lifetime.

That's all.

Oh yeah, and thanks to all of you who gave me words of support and enthusiasm before and after this race. You rock!

'Urricanes 'Ardly Hever 'Appen

2009-03-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

One of my all-time favorite movie musicals is My Fair Lady. I can't tell you how many times I've waltzed around my bedroom to "I Could've Danced All Night," or burst out singing "The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plane" during the throes of a gusty rainstorm. What normal, well-adjusted and devoted Audrey Hepburn fan doesn't???

Remember the part where Professor Higgins tried to teach Eliza her "H's"? Just in case it's slipped your mind, I'll gladly help refresh your memory: He taught her the phrase "In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen." Eliza's pronunciation went something like this: "in 'artford, 'ereford, and 'ampshire, 'urricanes 'ardly Hever 'appen." Oh how I love that distinctive Eliza Doolittle accent! Well, this little snippet came to mind as I searched the 1911 Census of England for my third-great-grandfather, Alfred Roberts. The search took me a bit longer than expected and I wondered why. How hard could it be to locate a man named Alfred Roberts? His name wasn't difficult to spell, and it was common enough. Finally, I located the family by searching for his wife, Elizabeth Roberts. When I saw the digital image of the census page, I understood why I couldn't find Alfred before:

It seems that the census taker recorded Alfred's name phonetically, as he likely pronounced it..."Haffred," rather than how it was actually spelled. I imagine that when I meet Alfred Roberts in the next life, he'll come up to me and introduce himself as Grandpa Haffred...accent and all. :)

I'll Say It...Out Loud...VAMPIRE!

2009-03-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

If you've seen the movie version of Twilight, you might enjoy this spoof. Quite entertaining, and Tedward is a looker! You'll see what I mean. :)

One Small Step for Marathoners, One Giant Leap for Alli

2009-03-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

I ran 10 miles today, for the first time EVER. :)

Viens Donc Me Rechauffer

2009-02-14T18:10:00.001-08:00

How do you like the new photo on my blog? Look past the somewhat grody spill on the concrete beneath the bench, and you'll find the phrase "viens, donc, me rechauffer" written on the seat. I saw this bench on a street in Paris and was immediately drawn to it. In French, the statement means "come, then, and warm me up." What an inviting message! That is why you must overlook some other unsavory parts of the photo. Maybe I'll photoshop those out one day, but I feel that they add character and grit to the shot. :) Here's an interesting question: when you visualize someone actually sitting on that bench to "warm" it, what does that person look like? Man or woman? What type of clothes are they wearing? Young or old?

Anyways, I've grown quite fond of my little message scrawled on a bench somewhere in Paris...maybe one day I'll revisit that bench, and provide some warmth for it on a chilled evening.

On to another subject...that of love, because yesterday was the day to express that emotion, if one should choose to take up the task, right? Someone told me a few weeks back, jokingly, of course, that people should only celebrate Eros on the fourteenth day of February, and not any other type of love. Now, this will not be a shock to anyone, but I've never experienced Eros before. Yes, I've been "in LIKE," or maybe "in-FATUATED," but never "in LOVE," er... in Eros. It's the blatant truth, and yes, it does sting a bit now and again. Eros, however, is not something I've given up on, and I'm determined that one day I will feel it towards a good man, and that man will feel it towards me, and we'll get marrified and join our lives together. Done and done.

That being said, I think that Valentines Day is the perfect day to express other types of love, ESPECIALLY for those of us who do not have a honey-pooh to shower with gifts, compliments, and attention. Why should we be left out of the love-showering, even if it isn't through affectionate terms of endearment, high-quality confections, and bouquets of fiery red roses? Well, I say we shouldn't be cut out of the Valentines fun just because we sneezed and mistakenly moved our heads a fraction to the right when Cupid was aiming his arrow at us. Single hood is still a good hood to live in when the big V-Day rolls around each year (play on words not intended at all, but I suppose Valentines Day COULD be considered Victory Day, depending on what situation you are in at the time). I can provide sugary treats to excited nieces and nephews, express my love for friends and family, (if you haven't guessed, my "Love Language" is Words of Affirmation), and find other ways of expressing affection to others. My ward, for example, helped out at the Food Bank yesterday, another great way of extending love to others!

Anyways, now I'll hop off my high-horse of love, but I would love to hear some good love stories from those of you who are right smack dab in the middle of your own love story. Do tell me how you felt when you fell in love with the love of your life, and be descriptive because I'd really like to know!

Adieu, mes cheres amis, je vous aime beaucoup. :)

Wit and Irony On Demand

2009-02-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

Ya know how you can get movies on demand, tv on demand, instant wireless internet access through a small, hand-held, device that also calls or sends texts to people in seconds? Well, I've decided that I'd like to have a bit of software programmed into that small device that could provide me with what I'd like to call "Wit On Demand." This software would hear my conversations with others, and provide me with witty responses to their quips....in seconds.

This is what typically happens to me when I converse with people who are funny:

During the conversation I think "hehehehe, that was SO FUNNY!" FIVE HOURS LATER, I think "MAN! I could have said (insert random witty comment)!"

Anyways, I hear that anyone can apply to write iPhone apps. Could someone write that one for me? Please? Thanks!

And now for the irony......

I never have any trouble coming up with irony, trust you me. To borrow the title of the Lemony Snicket series, I've had a "series of unfortunate events" lately.

Event #1 - The trunk on my dead Audi can no longer be opened with my key.

Event #2 - I waited a couple of months to call AAA to come open the trunk so I could remove my belongings from it before having it towed to the junk yard.

Event #3 - I was unaware that Salt Lake City has an ordinance stating that no one can keep a car parked in the same spot for longer than 48 hours at a time. Since my car had been in the same spot since NOVEMBER, I shouldn't have been at all surprised when it was impounded three weeks ago.

Event #4 - Two weeks ago, I lost my drivers license, something that I need when I go to the Salt Lake City impound office to get the stuff out of my car. You see, they said I don't have to pay the impound fee if I sign the car over to them. The car will then be sold at a police auction. My car. sniff sniff. It's in the slammer, to be sold to a stranger. Sigh. Okay, I'm over it!

Event #5 - I finally made it to the DMV to get a replacement license....it took 2 hours to get everything wrapped up.

Event #6 - Tonight, I put my hand into the pocket of a jacket that I don't use much, and lo and behold, there was my driver's license!

Event #7 - Tomorrow I guess I'll go get the stuff out of my car. :)

For some reason, this experience jogged my funny bone a bit. :) Oh the irony! In other news, I can't believe that February is here already. This weekend, I'm going to see "He's Just Not That Into You," which looks very very funny. Who knows, I might just post a review of it on this blog later...