I didn't believe it was possible

But it really does snow in Virginia.... a lot.

We had to brave the snow this morning for Marci and Alan's wedding up at the temple in Maryland. So not only did we have to leave the house, we had to cross two state lines. The temple was actually closed, except for the few people there for weddings. It was actually really nice and even more peaceful than usual.

Louise and I are now firmly planted indoors and are watching Jane Austen movies. And here is a picture of the snow from a few hours ago, and there's even more now.

Out the front door. That's Louise's car after we carved in a little nook to park. And can you see my car? Nope, that's because it's covered in snow.
The view out on the back porch. There used to be a table out there.

not cool

I've been working at Mason for two years now. That's two years of working pretty much in the south, where the entire world is supposed to shut down if some snow hits the pavement.

However, in these last two years I have not had a legitimate snow day. Sure there's been a day or two where we opened late, but the boss still thinks it's a good idea to open up the doors at 8:30 anyway.

But then I just got this message:

Attention all Faculty, Staff, and Students,
George Mason University will be closed Saturday, December 19, 2009 due to inclement weather.
To receive this information as a text message go to https://alert.gmu.edu/mygroups.php and join the "Weather related early closing / delayed opening" group.
Sent via Mason Alert
http://alert.gmu.edu/
alert@gmu.edu

What good is that going to do me on a Saturday?

I passed!

But just barely. In 2009, I have already accomplished 71 things on my list of 100 things to do(and I've got 3 more that I'm listing because I know that I'll be able to check them off in less than a week). That's a C-, which isn't great, but I'll do better next year. There were definitely a few things that I was unable to do because of the broken leg, so maybe I should be graded on a persons with disabilities curve.

But we're not going to dwell on the negative, so here is what I accomplished this year.

*put up drapes in my room*make some art*scuba diving*watch bullitt at adam's*get a haircut*spa day*teach someone something*cabin/ski trip in march*use some free kennedy center tickets*go to the gym*run 5k*be nice to rw*go to cherry blossom festival*go to top chef burger place in dc*visit mandy*mt. vernon in the spring*learn to play praise to the lord, right hand*be somewhere cool on my birthday*send miiike a b-day card*hold a puppy*have a girlie sleepover*fly with someone*get a massage*take pants to tailor/cleaner*watch lost with others addicted*go to eastern market*skinny dip with the sparkles*visit a new U.S. city*network*read some sci fi*go to screen on the green*ski with work peeps*go camping on the beach*bear my testimony*watch fireworks from a boat*learn to cook an ethnic food*ski in new england*go to concerts*fly to slc for the babies*go waterskiing*go to choir*see harry potter*find a dentist*pick berries*send letters to friends*wear my beach hat*Horse Race/Polo Match*see a sundance movie*become an aunt x2*swim lesson with Jen*go to a cultural festival*go camping in the woods*volunteer/donate for cancer cure*go to a legwarmers concert*go apple picking*go dancing*kiss a boy or 2 or 3*go to spy museum*start a business*eat at the ethiopian restaurant*girl trip to aruba*corn maze*go to 4 new museums*practice skating*get int'l student ambassadors running*make brent's book*blog at least 4x a month*do christmas cards*sell something I made*watch lawrence of arabia in bed*listen to book of mormon in the am*go shopping with dad on christmas eve*

zoolights

Friday night was zoolights, which is basically an excuse for the free zoo to charge money. The lights were pretty, it was freezing outside, we loved the golden tamarin, and naked mole rats are downright ugly.

But, I must say that the best part of the evening was being pushed in the wheelchair by Mr. Dave Marble. If you're not familiar with the national zoo, it starts at the top of a ravine and then goes down to the bottom- this means that there are a lot of hills. Dave and I would get a running start and then he would jump on the back and I would steer with the cane..... canoe style.

It was a sight to behold...... a terrifying sight I'm sure for those downhill.

I am pretty impressive

I actually cooked dinner last night. That doesn't happen very often, especially since Halloween. We didn't eat until 9:30, but I think it was worth it.

On the menu: acorn squash risotto in a squash bowl, yummy.

One of the student workers calls me Tiny Tim

Christmas Craft Night

Last week, in an effort to give my chauffeur Emily a break, work Jen and I planned a sleepover for last night (she gets this nickname in order to distinguish her from all of the other Jen's that I know). And to get us into the Christmas spirit, we decided the sleepover should coincide with Christmas Craft Night.

She made chili and cornbread, and we made a quick trip to the craft store for supplies. Then we went to work on our wreaths, while watching and laughing along with the ultimate nerdy boys on Big Bang Theory.

Jen's was super cute and healthy if you got snowed in and had to resort to eating your decorations.

Mine will petrify a bit over time and give you some cavities, so probably not the best plan for food storage, but I like the way it looks.

And the finished product, hung between the two doors with care.

p.s. there are not aliens or angels emanating light from within our house, that's the glare from the storm door.

Driving

I may or may not have driven myself to work today. Interestingly enough, the actual driving with a broken leg was the easy part, it was getting the car started that was fraught with peril.

After being blocked in the driveway after over a month of neglect, my car went for a little spin around the block on Thursday, and then actually out to a friend's house on Saturday night (at which point it parked behind the roommies car, and was subsequently moved across the street to the dirt lot on Sunday morning).

I went out there brimming over with a sense of freedom, but couldn't get into the car. Stupid key fob was out of batteries and my copy key only starts the car and doesn't unlock the doors. Hobbled back into the house to get the spare/original key, but alas the reason the fob didn't work was because the car was out of batteries (oops on leaving the dome light on).

I called the roommie and she came out and moved her car over so we could jump mine. I'm glad no one was watching as i scrambled through the car in my skirt and cast to get the jumper cables out of the back (insert special thanks to Mom and Dad for making sure I had some in my car). So it was actually a good thing that the car was across the street and could easily get the other car next to it to hook up the cables.

Kind of funny how the driving to work turned out to be the easy part of the whole affair.

Happy Spainsgiving

I just got back last night from a great trip. It was very busy, and as you may remember, I have a broken leg. This made things rather interesting, but people are on the whole very nice when you've got plaster on your leg and a crutch. I got to cut to the front of the lines in the airport and I never really even had to think about where to go, it was pretty nice.

This is what we did:

Saturday: Tangier, Morocco
Sunday: Estepona
Monday: Gibraltar, UK and Ronda, back in Espana
Tuesday: Granada
Wednesday: Seville
Thursday: Mijas


It was pretty awesome, and I even rode a camel in Morocco. My favorite part of Morocco was whenever someone would say to me as I was hobbling along "slowly, slowly" as if I was going along at light speed, which trust me, I wasn't.

Gibraltar was also pretty amazing, and the apes that live there were so cute. And I learned that monkeys have tails and apes don't.



Granada is beautiful and has the best hot chocolate and churros ever and we had an awesome little adventure driving through all of the tiny little streets, and they really are very very small. And Seville has amazing buildings and I made it about 1/3 of the way up the tower in the cathedral, but then I have a broken leg so I got very tired and I stopped after the 12th ramp up and let Jen and Louise climb up to 34 and take pictures from the top for me.

More pictures will be coming later, because my personal photographer from the trip, Robin, had the good camera and took all of the good pictures.

Mickey

I went to a party tonight, and Derek gave me a ride. Since I am a gimp, I cannot drive and must rely on the kindness of friends. I made it down the front steps, and was looking for his car, but then the lights on the shiny new Cadillac blinked. That's right, Derek (who does have some grey hair but is not nearly old enough to be driving a Cadillac) was picking me up in a Cadillac.

I laughed a little and got in the car, and it was the newest of new car smells that I have ever smelled. Apparently he had a bit of car trouble and now has a rental car. I must say it's a lot better than any rental car I've ever encountered. It also had a total of 34 miles on it, and he's had it over a week.

It reminded me of my Grandpas- oh how they loved their Cadillacs. It was always a bit scary to drive with either of them. Grandpa Morgan would have his arm on the back of the passenger seat while he was looking at us in the back telling stories about WWII battles (while driving mind you). And Grandpa Jones just liked to drive fast. You may have occasionally feared for your life with either of them at the wheel, but at least you were comfortable in the back seat.

So at the end of the night as I was getting dropped off in the Cadillac and Derek was flipping through the XM radio channels, we came across a familiar tune. We started to sing along, but then realized that something was a bit off.....

We were listening to "Mickey" in Espanol. Oh Mickey ¿cómo estás? ¿cómo estás? me gustas más – Ey Mickey! Ey Mickey! (2x)Oh Mickey ¿cómo estás? ¿cómo estás? me gustas más – Ey Mickey

And just in case you want to hear the magic yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs6ns0OVQGQ

Ahhh, the snow

I went to see the new TGR movie Re:Session tonight, and it was amazing http://www.tetongravity.com/re_session/. I'd highly recommend it if you like big mountain skiing and it hasn't already passed by your city.

I did have a hard time with the thought that I wasn't going to be able to ski when I got home for Christmas this year. I personally don't see much of a difference between a ski boot and my cast, but I doubt my doctor would agree.

An update

Yes, I'm broken.

But it's not so bad, here are some silver linings to my broken ankle cloud.

-I read a book in 2 days
-I'm all caught up on the tv shows that I watch
-I have plenty of sick leave so I don't have to feel bad about missing the last 3 days of work
-I have email access so I don't have 3 days of email waiting for me next week
-Nice people come over to bake me cakes
-I will get a walking cast on the 16th
-I only have to pack half as many shoes when I go on vacation
-My arms are getting stronger
-I have provided service opportunities for my friends (I'm just thoughtful that way)
-I got to see back stage at the Black Cat and go in the cool elevator
-My car mileage is staying nice and low

Still Plenty of Firsts Left

I was a zombie roller derby girl for Halloween. My costume was great, Erin did my make up and I had the whole get up: the skates, the knee pads, the elbow pads, the wrist guards, and the helmet. I made it to three different parties, and up and down quite a few stairs, and I was pretty proud of myself.

Then..... after the third party, on my way to see Shawn of the Dead, I was standing there in the road (yes standing, not flips or jumps or even moving) I turned and then down I went. Luckily right beside me was my physician's assistant friend Remi, we missed the movie, but she and Sheila took good care of me.

I could put weight on it and although it was swollen there wasn't any bruising yet, so they put me to bed. I stayed home on Sunday and only left the house for Sheila's birthday dinner (Happy Birthday Sheila!). It had started a nice bruise at that point so Remi told me I should go in to have it checked. I went today at lunch.

And this is my foot

You can see the actual broken bone there on the fibula, and then there is a tiny little bone fragment that came off the tibia, which ironically is where all the pain and swelling is. The nurse said that I won the tough girl award for the day.

So after 29 years, I have achieved my first broken bone..... what's next?

Too Freakin' Cute

#60

Last night I got to cross another thing off the list for the year. I went to eat at the little Ethiopian restaraunt on 23rd, and it was delicious.

This item made it onto the list because I used to live within walking distance, and I thought it was a shame that I had never taken the opportunity to try my first Ethiopian food when it was so convenient. Well, I had to drive there last night, but I still call the evening a success.

Congratulations Dad!

The decision to run 26.2 miles in one shot seems crazy to me. Even crazier is the decision to do it over and over and over again for almost 20 years.



Yesterday my dad and his buddies ran the Marine Corps Marathon, and I got to cheer him on. It was great fun since I can't really remember the last time I made it to St. George to see him run.



Also lots of fun to hang out with them all week and make the rounds of all the tourist sites that I forget to make an effort to see unless friends and family are in town. I even got to see some new things like the Spy Museum which is way super cool.



GO DAD!!!!

Haunted Houses

Last year my family made gingerbread houses at the cabin and I missed out; frowny face. But, in one of my visits to Costco (there were several trips, and it was big, and fun, and I dare you not to like it) we picked up some gingerbread house kits. Mom also got some halloween candy as it is still October and not appropriate to start singing jingle bells yet.

We made a nice little haunted village, and I thought it turned out great. I especially love the gingerbread zombies.

What's dnos?

I have excellent timing. On my last visit home I was able to hit a birthday party, my cousin's wedding dinner and reception, my niece's baby blessing, a fall break cabin trip, and a college fair.

The wedding dinner was beautifuly decorated in a very nice almost finished home. The kitchen lacked cabinets, but had a lovely pair of islands that held a rather extensive cookbook collection right behind our table. Before my lovely cousin lit her paper flower on fire during one of the toasts, she looked behind me and asked "what's dnos?"

but, if you look at it the right way........

We were the fun table that everyone else was jealous of.

My life in DC

On the way out to DC, my mother and I listened to Deception Point by Dan Brown. It was intense and entertaining and a good way to keep us awake while driving across Kansas. It was also fun to listen to a book that was set in a locale that I would soon become a part of. However, it may have given me a somewhat skewed vision of my life in the nation's capital.

The main character in the book gets swept up in a government conspiracy and takes helicopters from the Pentagon to meet up with the Pres. on Air Force One. While I see helicopters on their way to and from the Pentagon daily, I have yet to board one of them. And while I occasionally drive through the Pentagon parking lot, I haven't made it inside yet. And even though I did get stuck in traffic for what I'm pretty sure was Obama's motorcade, he and I haven't had any meetings aboard Air Force One.

But.... yesterday I did have a sudden awareness of an odd and yet completely normal experience. I spent the majority of the day with a lovely friend of mine who just happens to be the niece of, and roommates with, a certain prominent senator. And we ended up watching the second session of conference from the comfort of his bedroom sofa (he was away for the weekend).

I wouldn't have seen that coming 2 years ago.

Zombies are crap at knitting

It was a great day.

The day included chocolate chip pancakes, lots of hand made crafts, a bit of spiritual enlightenment, my first Ray's hellburger, and a movie all about roller derby.

The highlight however, was definitely the button shown above, my favorite $1 purchase of the day..... Or maybe it was the grown man walking about Clarendon in the blue footie pajamas and bright red sea captain hat, it's hard to tell.

Pickles

I've been eating a lot of pickles lately.

I do like pickles, but until the last week or so, I rarely pull one out of the jar and eat it. In fact, I rarely even have pickles in the fridge. And before you go jumping to conclusions, I am not pregnant, my sisters-in-law have taken care of that for the family for a while.

No, no, I simply saw this post on one of my favorite blogs http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/08/made-with-love-found-terrariums.html and realized that I needed an empty pickle jar.

I made do with a jar of vodka sauce that was almost gone (pasta for dinner that night) and was quite happy with the result. And yesterday with only six pickles left, I jumped the gun and put the remainder into some tupperware and went to work.

This is the result....

Ingrid

I went to the Ingrid Michaelson concert on Friday and it was fabulous. The show further confirmed my belief that she and I would be best friends if we knew each other in real life.

She played my two favorite songs "The Chain" and "You and I." And the intro to her most famous song "The Way I Am" included some totally awesome rapping of "Ice Ice Baby" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air." I am ashamed to say that I grew up in the 80's but do not know all the words to those songs.

Here is the set list (even signed by Allie and Bess from the band)

Tis time to travel

It's fall travel season, which means that my office empties out. Everyone leaves for weeks on end of sleeping in hotels and driving from high school to high school. It makes it very quiet and I don't like it all that much.

The good news is that I am doing a college fair and some high school visits in the good ol' SLC in October, and I'll be in town from the 10th to the 18th.

Camping

So I don't really feel very busy, but I was looking at my calendar last week and realized that if I didn't go camping this last weekend, there wouldn't be a chance until November. Luckily as I was telling a friend this on Monday, she let me know that she had already planned a trip and that I could go.

We had a bit of a slow start, not surprising- one hour late is pretty standard for any group activity. That wouldn't have been a problem, except that instead of a .75 mile hike into the campground, the gate was locked and it turned into a 2 mile hike. No matter, it was a great weekend and I got to meet lots of new people.

At the Zoo

At some point mid morning today, I looked out the window and was quite confused at the site. There were dozens of girls all dressed in white, black, and red. I suspected something connected with a sorority, but as I am completely unfamiliar with the greek world I called in an interpreter.

Although my friend Steve is 27, he still hangs out with all his fraternity brothers and seemed a likely candidate to know what was going on. He did... and he informed me that these were all the girls that were already in the sorority and they were getting together before rush week to practice talking and recruiting.

It was like being at the zoo and watching a flock of some strange animal taking part in an instinctual ritual. Here is a picture of them forming the letters of the sorority AOPi

Baby time

So my sister-in-law is going to have a baby.... any minute now. Her due date was actually on Tuesday. On Tuesday night I got a call from my brother. Excitement built as I answered the phone waiting to hear that my new niece had shown up on schedule.

Nope.

Danny just wanted to find out whether or not he should use "affect" or "effect" in a sentence.

That's just not fair.



Hang in there Amelia!

Polo

Tonight was super, super fun. It was my second time out for polo (not just this year, but ever, last week was the first) and the matches were great. I got my picture taken on the tractor in between chuckers (that's the name for the time period, 6min 30 sec) and I met Musadek. Musadek has been playing polo for 8 years, and I'm going to guess that he is about 14.

Musadek explained some of the rules and told us about the horses and what the positions are- it was great to talk to someone that actually knew about the game. Then after the second match a bunch of us joined the kids out on the field to play.

FYI- polo without horses is very much like field hockey, but still fun.

Musadek actually organized a game between about 10 of us and some of his brothers and sisters and a very excitable girl named Kat, and some blond boys from California. Musadek and his sisters were all quite good and definitely beat us, but we weren't too shameful.

All in all, possibly one of top nights of the summer.

Letter to student #3

Dear Student,

I would like to thank you for the five emails over the course of three hours... all asking the same question. It helps my creativity to have to come up with different ways to give the same answer. Unfortunately, after the fifth and most direct answer of "yes" did not satisfy you, I am going to have to refer you to someone else who might know of a few more ways to answer your question.

Sincerely,

Me

I fought the law and the law won

Question: What happens when your roommate pops up on your g-chat and says "why are you getting subpoenaed?"

Answer: You have a mild heart attack and start frantically thinking about what you might have done to get in trouble.

Luckily all I did was drive to work one day and happen to be involved in/witness to an accident. But it did take several minutes to get to this point. So here's some advice for anyone out there- if you're going to tell someone that they got subpoenaed, you should be able to tell them right away why. Try to avoid having to go into the other room to search for the paper that had been taped to the front door.

I've never been subpoenaed before, what a new adventure.

Letter to student's "friend" #2

Dear Sir,

I very much appreciated the chance to meet you the other day. It was a pleasure to see your dyed black hair and gold chains in our lobby. It was also a pleasure to meet your tall, blond, young Ukrainian friend.

I realize you are very concerned about getting her a visa, but as she does not speak English very well at the moment, she will need to begin studying English before she can be admitted to the University. I also realize that it is a long and scrutinizing process to obtain a K-visa (fiance) and that it will be much easier to get your "friend" a student visa.

Please rest assured that I will do everything I can to guide your friend into her academic career in the U.S.

Sincerely,

Me

Double Negative???

I'm getting my breaks fixed today, and the guy sent me a text message earlier asking where my key was hidden (I found someone that actually comes to your car to do the repairs, cool). Then, 2 hours later, I got another text message from him that said:

"U gotta get ur shit together!!!"

I responded with

"I'm guessing this message was meant for someone else- Amanda" (replied with copy)

I got back

"Oops! Yes it was!!!"

And while I realize that three exclamation points are a pretty emphatic "not meant for you", I still feel like I deserve an apology.

And just now another one from him-

"Oops again. I meant NO it wasn't!!!"

Now I'm just confused and I feel like we need a quick grammer lesson to sort this all out, because I'm pretty sure double negative does not explain it away.

I think I should get a discount for this.

HOME

I went home last week and it was great. This is a picture of the first time I got to hold Lily- and it was on the boat after a fantastic, albeit short, water ski run- how great of a day is that?!

I love how she is always posing with her hands up by her face, and of course how her hair sticks strait up.

Summer Social Wednesday

Wednesdays are great days at George Mason University in the summer. The farmer's market sets up in the parking lot and there are summer socials. I've put up my handiwork from the first arts and crafts day- but these things happen every week.

Last week our Admissions team "T-Rexcellent" dominated at trivia and I won trivial pursuit the game, and another t-shirt and a camping chair, and some more cards. And this week was arts and crafts again. I painted another pot- pretty much the same as the last pot- but BIGGER.

Ahhh, summer camp.

Goop

When I was living in Utah, my friend Brent and I started Dinner Club. We would get together and eat dinner before watching The Office and each take turns cooking. I've been wanting to get this started up again now that I live in VA, but never quite got if off the ground until now.

We had our first dinner last night, and there were about 15 people over (it might have grown a little more than I anticipated). But it gave me an excuse to make some goop.

Goop may not sound very appetizing, but it is a Morgan family tradition and it's delicious. I actually inherited my grandma's cook book and goop is the first recipe stuck inside. I love following the same recipe that she did, at least until she'd made it enough times that it was in her head. Someday I'll get there.

So.....

I just got a call from a girl at UPS asking if I'd had trouble receiving a package that was sent to us on April 30th. When I asked her who it was from she said "Uhhhh, I'm going to have to check on that."

We get 20,000 applications a year, with all of the supplemental application materials that go along with that. I am amused tht she thought I would just know what was supposed to be arriving 2 months ago. And really, if she's calling, wouldn't that mean that we never got it anyway?

The Hunt for Red October

My fourth version of The Hunt for Red October came today (Thanks Alex and Eva for the birthday giftcard!) I've had to replace this movie 3 times now because I've worn it out, and other than the fact that it's just an awesome movie, I couldn't really tell you why this is one of my favorites (officially in the top 3).

It could be because I like all of the actors. It could be that it was the first grown up type of movie that I ever watched and understood. It could be that I remember when my dad rented it and said that it was supposed to be a really good movie. It could be that I have a crush on Jack Ryan (not Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford or Ben Affleck, but Jack Ryan, and yes I do know that he is a fictional character). I just don't know.

But whatever the reason, I've seen this movie more times than I could possibly count, and every now and then I just need to watch it. And now, I'll be watching the special collector's widescreen edition.

Letter to Student #1

Dear Student,

I very much appreciate the last year that you've been stalking me. It's been very nice to see your weekly emails, listen to your phone messages, and have you crying in my office. I realize that when I told you that you were not eligible for admission because you had not taken a math class since you were twelve, and that you would have to enroll at a community college to take Algebra 2 and transfer back with at the very least a 2.75, it may not have been very clear.

I have also enjoyed you telling everyone that you've not been able to speak to me for months even though we've had the same conversation by email and in my office three times in as many weeks. I am sure that if you come back several more times the answer I give you is going to be different.

I would suggest that you return next week and wait in the lobby to ambush me as I get back from lunch. That way when we go over your transcript again I may be inclined to view the D that you got in Accounting as the equivalent of a B- in Algebra 2.

Sincerely,
Me

Well....

There has been a lot happening this month, so much so that I haven't had a chance to write about any of it. So here goes something, and the most important thing- I'm an aunt now.

My new niece Lily was born on June 8th with a full head of black hair and she is uber cute. And I can't wait to go home to see her in July. And I can't wait for the next baby to get here in August- hang in there Amelia.

Summer Camp

Today was the arts and crafts summer social- I made a flower pot. Well two really because Emily wanted one, but had to go to class so she gets the polka dot one.

I wonder how many jobs let you take a break in the summer for arts and crafts? Well probably quite a few, but jobs that don't involve working with 5 year olds....

LA

So, I'm in LA for the first time for a work conference, and my hotel room has a bathtub in the middle of it and I rode up the elevator yesterday with a gigantic foam foot. If you want to see my digs, check them out here- http://www.standardhotels.com/los-angeles/virtual-tours/huge-room/. I'm in the huge room, and if you want to see the foot, they live in the wow! rooms.

Civil War... The Musical

Last night I went to see Civil War- The Musical. It was actually really good, I have only 3 wee complaints.

1- Costumes. Now I understand the whole dress in modern clothes to make us relate to the characters as real people instead of flat historical characters, but when the dead soldier is singing a love song to his wife from the other side, the armless jean jacket is just distracting.

2- Posed Casualness. Really, when you sit down on the edge of the stage and sling your elbow over your knee as if you show you're just a regular guy listening to your buddy sing- I don't believe it.

3- Costumes #2. This is somewhat tied to complaint number one. Everyone was dressed in "modern" clothes, i.e. leather pants, baseball caps, short skirts- but then after almost two hours in the same clothes, they decided to change into period costume for the last song. Why bother just for the last song????

It's Raining....

Really really hard. And it kind of smells like poop.

Progressive

I got my car back today! And it looks as good as new. The guy called me this morning to tell me that it was ready to pick up, but that I would have to pay the $500 deductible because in order to get it. So I called Lisa, my claims adjuster. I left her a message asking why it hadn't been taken care of with the other person's insurance (remember, I was not at fault here).

I didn't hear back from her until around 4:00- I hadn't thought too much about it given my last insurance company experience- but when she called me back she apologized for it taking so long and that she had wanted to make sure it was taken care of before she talked to me. She had talked to the other person's insurance guy (who also happened to be with Progressive) and gotten him to pay the deductible.

I've got to say that this was all very painless and that I'm quite happy with Progressive.

I heart Aruba

Aruba was fantastic.

Highlights, in no particular order:

-We got there without any problems

-Jen got a blessing from some wonderful church members in Aruba that made it so she wasn't in constant pain from a kidney infection.

-No one got a lobster red sunburn, only a few pink patches here and there.

-Beverli, Jen, and Robin all came away with some new bling

-Jen and Kelly are now certified scuba divers

-We all have crushes on Josue, Osman and Norman

-My favorite dives were on the south shore where we saw two stingrays (one reeeeaaallly big one that flew right under me) a turtle, some cuttle fish, some eels, a queen angel fish, and a submarine.

-Some things that happen in Aruba stay in Aruba.

-Thanks to Demitri Martin we know that it really is true that if you say "laaaadies" after anything it makes it instantly more creepy.

-Kelly was the only one that made it on the flight on Tuesday when we were supposed to go home, and while we missed her dearly, that extra day was pretty awesome.

-On the sunset cruise, we overheard the young honeymooning couples saying "They must be really young" about us. Ahhh it's good to be young at heart.

-We complained enough that they finally let us change our diving reservation the day of to go to the south shore instead of the west shore again. How are you supposed to change it the day before when there is no one at any of the desks at any of the hotels? It pays to be persistent.

-We ate a fabulous dinner on the beach at the flying fishbone. And when I say on the beach, I mean that even though there was linnen on the table and in my lap, there was sand under my toes.

-We saw actual flying fish in the ocean.

-We had a rainy afternoon yoga session.

-Robin bought a timeshare so we get to go back.

Aruba, Jamaica, ooooo I wanna take ya'

I'm heading off to Aruba this week, and I'm so excited. It's a girl trip with some of my favorites in the world and I'm pretty sure it's going to be awesome.

It's true....

I was in another accident. Neither of these accidents have been my fault, but my poor car is not happy. I dropped it off at Progressive this morning, and so far Progressive is definitely winning on customer service over the shady cab insurance company- not to hard to do, but still nice.

So this is what happened....

I'm driving along 395 south on Friday morning going to work. I was listening to the Book of Mormon (usually keeps me from getting mad, but maybe keeps me safe too) and minding my own business when I see the minivan in front of me slam on the brakes. I slammed on the brakes too and had to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid hitting anyone. I had just enough time to notice that I hadn't been hit and that there was a stupid red honda civic stopped in the left lane with a flat tire, then crunch and a second crunch.

The first crunch was the CRV hitting the minivan and pushing it into me, the second crunch was the minivan hitting the civic in the front. The minivan and CRV both pulled in front of me and the civic and off to the shoulder. Guy from the minivan checked on everyone and it seemed like everyone was mostly ok. At this point I had to get out of my car and tell dumb civic guy to turn on his car and move it out of traffic and onto the shoulder. He got it kind of onto the shoulder, but minivan guy had to tell him to move all the way over.

Sorry everyone going south on Friday- that was us stopping traffic.

Originally I had thought that there were 5 cars involved because I had felt two different impacts, and I couldn't really see behind me. The cop was kind of mean to me as I was telling him what had happened, but then once I thought things through (that's not as easy as you might think in the circumstances) I realized what had really happened.

The CRV and minivan folks all went to the hospital- I don't think anyone was seriously injured- and it was just me and dumb guy left with the cops. Dumb guy was trying to say that he hadn't stopped in the traffic lane, and that it was ok because he turned on his hazard lights. At this point officer man is much nicer to me, because I'm the only credible witness left.

He told me that I was the only one that did the right thing and that I was the only one who didn't get a ticket (although mini-van only got a ticket because the driver didn't have a license). I may have to be a witness in court if dumb guy contests the report, but I have a feeling he won't.

Celebrate Today

I'm 29 now, that's a little bit weird, but I guess these things happen.

I got to go to Disney World with Jen, and that was super fun. It's kind of annoying when your friends travel all the time and you don't get to see them as often, but when they travel to cool places and you get to stay on their company's dime, it's a little easier to come to terms with.

I have cool friends

This is my friend Beverli who has been around for a whole three months and who we get to keep for at least one more before she gets shipped off again. Go Bev!

Abdul

Tonight my neighbor Abdul came over and brought me dinner. It was great, a traditional lebanese chicken and rice dish and then a big bowl full of mangos and oranges. He's a chef at a super fancy Lebanese restaraunt in Georgetown. He's also one of my neighbors that lives in the crack house next door.

I guess it pays off to deliver valentine's day brownies to your neighbors.

The Taco Truck

My friend at work and I have been hunting taco truck for quite some time now. We first tried last summer when we had seen it on campus. Our first outing was unsuccessful because it was move in day and we suspect the administration didn't want the unsightly taco truck ruining the experience for new freshmen and their parents.

There was one outing where Jen and I dragged Pat all around campus trying to find it- then we realized that construction worker start around 5am, so our hunting would have to be earlier in the day.

We finally caught the taco truck last wednesday and it was glorious. We decided to inititate Taco Tuesday and life was grand. Then yesterday for the first Mason Taco Tuesday- it wasn't there, we were heartbroken. The truck lady had promised us that they were there every day until noon, why would she lead us astray?

Jen and I set out again today on our taco truck hunt alone because everyone else had lost faith, but we believed in the taco truck. We had gotten up to the new parking garage construction site when lo and behold the taco truck was driving towards us. We jumped for joy and waved at them. She pointed to the left (where they were parked last week) and yes, we did run after the taco truck.

It was worth it.

Symphony

One of the items on my list of things to do in 2009 was to take advantage of the free Kennedy Center tickets that one of the mormons around here gives out occasionally. It's great that he gives out the free tickets (I think it's to make sure the place looks sold out), but he's kind of scary and practically makes you sign away your first born to promise that you won't skip out on the tickets.
But I got to go last night and it was great. It was the National Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 and Bruckner's Symphony No. 9- amazing.
The highlight, however, came after the curtains were down. After the concert Jen and Ashley went to the bathroom and I sat down on the couch to wait, mostly because I'd been wearing my orange heels all day long and they usually expire in comfort by 3pm. It was a long couch and I sat in the appropriate spot so as to be clear of the people standing around after the show.
An older couple comes over and she sits by me on the couch and her husband says to me "So, how did you like it from row D?" "It was great, thank you." all the while I'm wondering how he knew I was sitting in row D....
They talk for a while- she liked Mozart the best and he liked Bruckner, and they're waiting for the woman in the other couple that they came with to get out of the bathroom. The people milling about disperse and now the lobby is pretty much empty. Then husband comes and sits on the other side of me, and on this very long couch in an empty lobby I'm sandwiched between a couple in their 70's who stalked my seating arrangements.
We all sit quietly and politely for a while waiting for our respective friends in the restroom. Then when it's time to go, he helps her up and then looks at me and says "Well... are you going to come with us?"

"No thanks, I think I'll just stay here"

Then the wife told me she liked my shoes.

The First Annual Biker Club Ski Weekend

No bikes involved, but Scott said that he wanted to start a biker gang- so we did. It was a great weekend despite a bumpy start. My flight from Dulles was delayed a bit, I wasn't worried- I had a 4 hour lay-over at JFK, and how can you miss your connection with a 4 hour lay-over?

This is how: you board your plane two hours late and then take an extra hour to jump start the plane and then when the hose used to jump start the plane breaks off the engine and then flips around and dents one of the bottom panels, they have to see if the engineer will let them fix it with tape (that's right, tape) but then he says the tape won't work (thank you Mr. Engineer) they have to steal a panel from the plane next door and replace the dented one, but then the when the plane has actually started you have to sit on the runway for another hour.

So after a night on the floor at JFK, I got back to Salt Lake City with some help from my parents (they're pretty good at that) a mere 13 hours late.

Emily and I hit the highlights of the city, Hatch's hot chocolate, Temple Square, and Cafe Rio- then we went up to the cabin for three days of snow, skiing, food, sleeping, talking, movies, and games.

I've decided that next year (it's the first annual ski trip remember?) there needs to be an extra day for sleeping in and relaxing, but other than that, it was perfect.

In the photo: Roshelle, Dave, Jen, Scott, Alan, Lisa, Emily, Ben, Matt, Leslie, and Me

Boston/New Hampshire

Last weekend was another fun filled couple of days with my friend Jen Gruz. I flew up to Boston on Thursday night, kicked around the North End for most of Friday, had one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches of my life, went to my first Celtics game in the Gahden, and then went ice skating down a hill on Saturday, tubing that night- no wonder I'm tired.
Highlights-
-my first grilled cheese sandwich that included apples and powdered sugar
-wearing lobster hats around Boston and to the Celtics game
-watching little kids rock on guitar hero in the lodge
-the guy who said i could sell the hat that i made for $30 but that he wouldn't buy one
-getting a big push down the tubing hill from the teenage boy that said "oh you girls again"
-playing six degrees of kevin bacon through 6 New Hampshire towns.
-discovering baby bananas