I love my mom because we rappelled out of a tree this Thanksgiving and she liked it. And did it again. :)

i won!

I am very excited to report that I won! So, true confession here, I love to hop around the internet looking at sewing and craft blogs and websites. It's especially fun to find all these young LDS mothers working hard to raise their kids yet still being successful businesswomen using all their talents. I've been admiring one, Toni from Australia, for some time now. She puts up fun patterns online that I've always wanted to try, but can't find them for sale outside of Australia. Long story short, I entered one of her online giveaways, and I WON!


You can look for this finished project on me soon. I will even stand in front of the beach to model it. I'm pretty excited. I hope Toni will mail to America... :)

UPDATE: Toni is mailing the pattern to me! And, should you care to see more of her patterns, they are available for sale in the U.S.

i miss musicfest...

... a lot.

For those of you who did not know me during those years, MusicFest was something I looked forward to all week. A small but dedicated core of individuals came together, each with one song to share, every week. I loved being introduced to new artists and genres. I took pleasure in the fact that I had a coveted job: disco ball spinner. (It's harder than it sounds.) One week, it was quite an honor to be the official MusicFest secretary when Amanda was absent. (p.s. Amanda, I want to read your blog still, but I can't.)

The longing has been growing in my heart. Andrew has always appreciated my eclectic taste in music, though I'm not sure he shares it completely. Though I have worn him down so that Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers counts as Sunday music.

As it is Thursday night, I would like to host my own personal MusicFest. I will be highlighting TWO groups as this is my own personal MusicFest and I can do whatever I want.

1. The Devil Makes Three
I am particularly smitten with two numbers, "Black Irish" and "Sweeping", neither of which can be found for free on the internet, apparently. However, I do have a video of them doing "Old Number 7" below.

Ironically, they played in Santa Barbara last month, but I had no idea, as I only discovered them tonight.

2. The Wailin' Jennys
They are Canadian. Andrew and I constantly play the "will you live there?" game and I am trying Canada on for size. If everyone sounds like this, the cold may be worth it. "Starlight" is below, but I have also been enjoying "Glory Bound". Rather similar to an old time love of mine, Alison Krauss and Union Station. (Alison and Robert Plant turned out remarkably well; I was very impressed with the whole CD Raising Sand, in particular, "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson".)

Special thanks to my spouse who put up with me listening to lots of scratchy utube banjoing in the making of this post.

friday night with the magnussons

I love the show Burn Notice. Every Friday as a treat Andrew and I will watch an episode; tonight was no exception. We sat with our giant bowl of popcorn in front of our computer to enjoy the miracle that is hulu. We have to keep stopping because Andrew keeps dropping popcorn. He has to stop the show, turn on the light, find the popcorn, turn off the light, and start the show, all with greasy fingers. It is obvious that I am exasperated with this (repeated) endeavor.

Being the husband that loves me, he drops popcorn but doesn't want to go through the whole routine. He reaches down in the dark, picks up the piece off the floor and eats it. Then my beloved thoughtfully says, "That wasn't popcorn. That was a speck of paper."

I should vacuum more. Andrew should hole-punch his Arabic homework less.

jenae jeppesen is my hero...

... and not just because she lugs a camera around to photo-document all our adventures!

What is true friendship?

True friendship is riding Star Tours at Disneyland with your friend even though you know it makes you sick.

Thanks, Seth!

i am taking applications

My boss has finally noticed that he gives me eight thousand times more tasks daily than I can physically complete. I think my googly-eyes and incoherent babble tipped him off. Regardless, he promised me an assistant. Four months ago.

Well, the state budget has not yet cleared, so no assistant for me. School has started again and volunteer coordinating is hopping, so in an effort to stop the death glares towards his office, my boss hired me a "temp" for two glorious, wonderful weeks.

This is quite possibly the best thing that has ever happened to my professional life. I consider "my temp" an extension of myself. Like a third arm. Because that's what she is. So, for example, I had many things on my To-Do List for today. Assemble packets for teachers. Make recruiting calls to 200 employers. Stamp 600 envelopes. Make copies. Et cetera.

The temp did them. All. Allowing me to cross off four gigantic tasks- my favorite part of the day anyway. I have never been so productive.

I need a temp, permanently.

5 Reasons Why I Love Zoroastrians (And You Should Too)

5. The Magi that visited Baby Jesus were Zoroastrians.
(No Zoroastrians=No Christmas presents)

4. Cyrus, the Persian emperor who allowed the Jews to return from Babylon and rebuild the Temple, was a Zoroastrian.
(No Zoroastrians=No Temple)

3. Marrying a parent or sibling is a pious practice in Zoroastrianism.
(No Zoroastrians=No incest?)

2. Zoroastrians worship God through fire.
(No Zoroastrians=No salvation for pyromaniacs)

1. Zoroastrians are my current research project.
(No Zoroastrians=No blog entry)

I rest MY case.

Zoroastrians!

We put our heads together to try and come up with an update about what we were doing.

Andrew's contribution? "Zoroastrians!"

Nothing blogworthy. I rest my case.

Game: Memory Lane

Memory Lane!

The lovely Rileigh Anne Foutz Hansen encouraged me to do this post. As I left a story on her blog about the time she inadvertently became topless in a swimming pool, I expect good retribution. Here is the game:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

river rafting

We just got back from rafting on the Kern River.

karate-chop!

the brother has earned his keep

My brother Dan has been storing his belongings in our spacious abode during his between-homes status. (He is sensitive to the term "homeless".) Presently he has decided to also occupy his bed in our living room while he is on jury duty.

Good news. He brought videos.

Victory is mine.

blogless...

I have to admit that blogging has lost some of its joy. I have the most blog-worthy video ever (almost) in my possession, but I cannot figure out a way to get blogger to link to the connection.

Let's just say, Andrew diving into a pool and loosing his trunks.
(Totally g-rated, but hilarious nevertheless.)

I will return.

upstaged...

...by a pint sized Thundercat!

Thundercats

The resemblance is uncanny.

a garden update...

... mostly for my mom, my biggest garden supporter. Notice the new whimsical windmill my parents made?

911, this is NOT an emergency...

...says Ed Pinegar (yes, THE Ed Pinegar if you're wondering), the magnanimous leader of the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center. It is 6:58 and he closes down shop at 7:00. This follows us sprinting down the Hill Cumorah trying to reach him before he leaves because we have JUST LOCKED OUR KEYS IN OUR RENTAL TRUCK. In the middle of upper New York state nowhere. He just picks up the phone, dials 9-1-1 and greets the responder with "911, this is NOT an emergency... This is Ed Pinegar, and I am awfully glad I pay my taxes because I know you'll be able to come out here and help this pleasant young couple solve a dilemma." Andrew and I look at each other and try not to laugh. "Well yes, we're here at the Hill Cumorah and they seem to have locked themselves out of their rental vehicle. (Pause) Why yes, at the top of the hill. (Pause) Fantastic! I knew that you would be able to help us out here in Palmyra!"

Elder Pinegar has us go wait by our car until the Sheriff arrives. An hour passes. It is now 34 degrees and the sun has set. We are all alone on the top of a mountain with a cat named Moroni. Andrew is threatening to eat my index finger because we are going to starve and die here and because I keep taking pictures of him. (see picture below)

I am jogging in place trying to stay warm. We have tried every way possible to enter this vehicle, which is a bright red truck (how we ended up with this beast will be explained in subsequent posts). We are starting to think about what happens if we have to spend the night here and miss our plane the next day.

Then, the Sheriff arrives. He is a good humored gentleman who greets us with, "Sorry you had to wait so long. A lady got stabbed with scissors, so, you know..." He then uses a glorified blood pressure machine to pump open our truck door until he can wedge a little metal bar in and fishes around until he can hit the unlock button. He wishes us a pleasant stay in New York and goes on his way to save more people from scissors and their own stupidity.

In sum, we recently returned from an illustrious trip to Brockport, New York. We had a very good adventure, overall. The getting there and the getting back was less than smooth. I will endeavor to give you a brief synopsis through pictures. (I don't blame you if you don't want to look at all of these, I will try and provide captions and accompanying stories in the near future...)


The Infamous Chicago Airport, where we spent the first night of our journey...


Niagara Falls, amazing! (And not just because my Dad was born there.)


Peter Whitmer Farm, where our Church was organized. It was very cold there, as the pictures demonstrate.


Palmyra, New York. Very fun for two history nuts to see the old Grandin Print Shop, the Joseph Smith farm, and the Erie Canal, complete with locks. It was awesome.


Last but not least, the reason we were there, the SUNY Brockport conference, and the great Victorian Bed and Breakfast where we stayed. If you ever have a reason to go to Brockport, stay there. Very fun!

i do not heart chicago...

niagara falls

I will be here soon. I am very excited for the adventure. Andrew is presenting a paper at State University of New York, College at Brockport. I can't wait to show you pictures.

playing hooky

Friday was the greatest day ever because I did not have to go to work. Instead, we got a sweet tour of the Santa Barbara Mission from a fellow graduate student of Andrew's, who also happens to live there as a Franciscan monk. Good times.

We got to see books that were several hundreds of years old and stay in the ancient library for a little bit. (I wasn't sure if I could take pictures of that and was too chicken to ask!)

Our garden...

My parents made me this sweet sign for my birthday to hang in the garden. That way no one else will lay claim to my rabbit-nibbled vegetables. Thanks Mom and Dad, for taking care of my plants and me.

This is why I love my brother...

No one else in the world will let me give them a bozo the clown haircut and still love me... :)


(There was so much hair we had to do a preliminary buzz over the whole thing so that the clippers didn't seize up.)

I swear I made it look normal in the end. No pictures of that- how boring!

as promised

Michelle and Angie

Okay, so here it is. The new haircut. I've been busy, at the Banff Mountain Film Festival screening and seeing my friend Jen and generally earning a living. Also doing a lot of genealogy. This is the day we taught my sister-in-law how to drive. Good times. She's pretty good. Maybe next time we'll leave the Church parking lot!

making the cut...

So, I haven't cut my hair in a really long time. I did on Saturday and donated it to a program to make wigs for people recovering from cancer. It was quite exciting. I love my new haircut. I also don't have a picture of it yet, which led me to think about starting a little online challenge for all of those I haven't seen for a little while. How many inches did I cut off?

Closest guess wins the prize.

(I promise I'll come up with a picture of the new, amazingly bouncy and vivacious hair soon!)

i need help!

Okay, all you photographic people. I am green with envy for your lovely cameras and beautiful creations. I think mine has finally "given up the ghost" if you will, and I am in the market for a good one. I've been working a lot lately, so maybe I'll even go for a nicer one... Recommendations?

The Return

So lately (i.e. since October) I've been in one of those "I've lost my tail..." kind of moods where I sit down to try and write about something, but then decide my life is much too mundane to bore others with. (Everyone else just posts pictures of their kids and calls it even. I'm not so fortunate.) Then it got to the point where I realized returning to the land of the living was going to take a truly worthy entry. Like so many other things, I found it in Steve.

Over the last few days, I've been thinking a lot about him. It's been quite some time since he's been gone, but there's lots of things that just keep reminding me. I don't think I'll ever be able to hear Alison Krauss and Union Station without thinking back to good times like the random bluegrass festival. Or seeing the beauty of the lit up Los Angeles Temple like I did that first time with him. Or the time he made me swear my wedding colors would never include rust or orange, five years before I ever married. We once planned out how to fix the education and health care systems over peanut butter sandwiches. I'll never forget when we went running to "one of his favorite places" that turned out to be a nude beach- "I swear they always had clothes on before!"

Thanks, Steve.

Steve and Sofia

Drexel University, College of Medicine tribute