Halloween

This year's Halloween included a Harry Potter pumpkin, a super cute baby monster, fairy wings, a storm trooper, and my "nerd babe" friend Tiffany. Good times.

Cycling Thru

My darling friend Tiffany came to visit this weekend. Oh so needed girl time... mixed in with some halloween parties, and a roommate reunion...good way to spend a weekend. We flirted with boys (it's been too long since a boy got my number, but we fixed that several times this weekend)... talked about dating (of course), and reflected on the cycles of life that teach us the lessons that we need to learn.

Currently I'm in a single, stay busy with work and school, and make new friends cycle.

Single: not my favorite state of being, but I think I'm dealing with my singledom pretty well these days. Still, while I was in the middle of making meatballs this weekend, a really stupid song came on pandora and I couldn't change it. (John Mayer writes really dumb songs) One line said “when my loneliness is through, I'm gonna find another you.” I was like... first, why do you need another girlfriend just like the jerk you had before... why not instead find someone different and better? And two...when is loneliness “over”?? That's the thing with being single. I'm always lonely. Just in varying degrees. It doesn't end, you just learn to ignore it.

Stay busy: I thrive on multi-tasking. When you're taking 15 credits and working 50 hours a week, you've got to multi-task: laundry and lectures, playtime and homework, feed the baby and empty the dishwasher. I pretty much have the to-do list thing down to an art now, and thrive on getting as much checked off a day as I can. 

Make new friends: Okay, so this isn't so easy. But I did love the intimate little pumpkin carving party that happened at my apartment this week. Yeah, freeing up a whole night in my homework schedule to make cheesecake and entertain guests isn't the easiest thing, but it was nice to have something to look forward to in the middle of the week beside acoustics lectures. I figure coming to terms with my life in salt lake is a much better idea than hating it, and so I'm going to make a concerted effort to enjoy what I can.

And I'm not sure what's gotten into me, but I've really been on a cooking spree of late. I made DELICIOUS pumpkin cheesecake for the party, and when I ate the extra today...it was even better. I've also made pumpkin muffins, chicken pot pie, spaghetti and meatballs, corn chowder soup this week. They all got good reviews. Man, if I ever get a husband, he is going to be sooo lucky.

Pumpkin Patch!

Dear engaged couple sitting right in front of me at conference:
Not sure which was more annoying--your inability to go more than 10 minutes without kissing,
your incessant whispering in each others' ears, or the fact that I couldn't look up to watch the Apostles of God speak without being distracted by your flirting and cuddling (even during the prayer). Next time, please stay home. There's was no way you got anything out of conference anyway and you ruined it for those of us who couldn't find any good way to ignore you. Thank goodness there were three other sessions that I actually enjoyed instead of desperately wanting to escape from.
Sincerely,
The girl sitting behind you who wanted to strangle you (though was deterred by the fact that the Prophet wouldn't have appreciated the interruption during this talk)

beautiful start to Autumn

getting an early start on halloween with L. You can't really tell but his lip is all swollen from a bee sting in this picture. Next time you drink from a chocolate milk jug that's been sitting around outside, watch out!

 I carved both of these... obviously, one took a lot longer to carve than the other.

An artist friend of mine, who has a line of t-shirts with panda graphics, decided to carve this original pumpkin.

Adam's Canyon Waterfall.

sweet view from Adam's Canyon

Bet you didn't know

Many of the words we use in everyday conversation were originally just people's names:

cardigan: Earl of Cardigan, a British officer who soldiers wore the knitted sweater during the Crimean War.

frisbee: William Frisbie, a pie company owner in Connecticut in 1871. Yale students played catch with the pie tins

poinsetta: Joel Poinsetta. u.s. Ambassador to mexico

cereal: Ceres, a Roman goddess of agriculture

Maybe someone will name something cool "devany".... It's doubtful, though, as no one would know how to pronounce it.

P.S. The examples above were just a few of the ones that we're studying in my grammar class. I realize most people couldn't care less. However, being that I'm turning into a total speech and word nerd, I find it interesting :-)

Oh, and if you didn't know my life is being taken over by Speech and Language Pathology. Find out why at my career blog.

Donut Falls Hike

Perfect hike for an end-of-the-summer Saturday. This waterfall goes through a hole in the top of the rock and then runs down the rocky hill below. The hole looks kinda like the hole in the middle of a donut, thus the name. Sure worked up an appetite though and LOVED eating at the Cheesecake Factory afterwards.