I am a bit of a liar

It turns out I am a bit of a liar. Not a big one. I don't cheat on my taxes or tell people that I am 5'3". But there are a few things that I feel like I should come clean about.

It all started when I was at work the other day. I have an enormously powerful sweet tooth, so when I packed my lunch I had filled a little Tupperware with fresh berries and Cool Whip. (I'm all for actual whipped cream, but there is something delightful about that sweet, room-temperature, stable, vegetable-oil foam.) Berries and Cool Whip is not actually all that bad for you (if you are just looking at calories) so some berries mixed with the Whip isn't too unhealthy of a snack. But when one of my other manager walked into the break room and asked what I was eating I instinctively said "Yogurt and raspberries." Because suddenly I felt sheepish about eating a big bowl of cool whip. I don't know why - it just came out without thought. IT made me think about what other little lies I told for the sake of making myself seem more cool or worldly. So in the spirit of disclosure, here they are:

1. When people ask what I studied in college I say "English, with a creative writing emphasis." I guess it sounds more bourgeois and interesting than just English. Well, I had no creative writing emphasis. I just was a straight up English major. I did take some creative writing classes. Most of the time I didn't even do anything creative. I just turned in stuff I had written for other creative writing classes. That was sort of my MO in college. So, no, I didn't sit in hip cafes and write amazing poems and compelling short stories. I just read (or pretended to read) lots of books.

2. I read a lot of Young Adult novels. I do it because I love young adult novels. I think they are clever and well written and have great stories and characters. And if you are an adult male reading Harry Potter you are good. But if you are a 30 year old and you are reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, then it seems a little weird. (Great book, BTW. My review here.) So when people ask what kind of books I like reading and I say Young Adult, I usually follow it up with "I am writing a Young Adult novel, so I like to see what is going on in the genre." That is kind of true. I am "writing" a young adult novel (I have about 4 pages so far.) But that isn't why I read young adult novels. I don't get myself - I am not at all ashamed to admit that I watch America's Next Top Model but I get embarrassed when I tell people I am reading Delirium (also a great read.) So there you have it. I am a YA reader.

3. I didn't like Battlestar Gallactaca. There I said it. Sci-Fi. Critically acclaimed. Cult following. It seems tailor maid for me. But I couldn't get into it. I'm sorry!

4. I really do LOVE dogs.

Just kidding. I really do totally hate them.

5. I'm really 5'3. I wear really tall shoes.

There. I feel better.

Free at Last!

Gratuitous cute picture of Lila that has nothing to do with this post. Because I think blogs should have pictures.

So we are going public. Or, indeed, we are public now. We took this blog private a couple of years ago. We didn't really have a clear reason or thought process behind it. It just seemed that the blog was mostly about the kids and there were a lot of pictures of them and a lot of pictures of the house and it seemed like it would be a good idea to control who had access to that.  So we went private. And I think our readership went from about 12 to about 3.

Not that we were really worried about readership. We are not trying to retire from our jobs and blog professionally (unless you have 1.2 million friends that you want to have read this blog every month.) We were living in Oregon and the blog seemed an easy way to keep the grandmas up to speed with our adventures in pumpkin picking, and berry picking, and tree harvesting. (Wow, we sure did a lot of agri-tourism in Oregon.)

But we are back in Utah. And it seems less necessary to blog about every cute thing our kids do. (Though, fair warning, we may still blog about cute things the kids do.) So the blog is evolving. And I am trying to write more. (See my 2011 wrap up.) And Amy has told me she probably will be blogging less (even though she is clearly a better writer than me, amirite?) So we are becoming something new. And I don't know what that will be. But it didn't seem to need to be something private anymore.

So tell your friends and loved ones who got tired of trying to remember their password and stopped reading. They are welcome to come back and read every scintillating word! And feel free to weigh in in the comments. Are there particular posts you like or dislike? Things you want to see more of? Or less of? And please note: I measure my self worth by the number of comments I receive. So weigh in.

Magnifying my consignment

In the spirit of meeting my "300 words a day" goal, I am posting again about my furniture. It may be that this blog just becomes a place where I talk about all of the things that Amy and I purchase at consignment shops. You guys are cool with that, right? Good. I thought so. We're all friends here.

I blogged about this once before and the more we shop in antique stores and vintage shops, the more I love it. It just seems like you find cooler stuff, the price is usually lower, and you can feel some sort of self-righteousness that your are repurposing items that already exist instead of increasing your carbon footprint or something. And once we started looking, we found there are vintage shops everywhere. Seriously. Even Spanish Fork has one. So that is your assignment this week. You guys don't mind if I start giving weekly assignments, do you? Good.

Our kids broke the lamp in the loft. And what is more annoying than spending money to replace things your kids broke (i.e. the video camera they broke a couple of weeks ago trying to smash a spider?) But then we heard Amy's grandma had a lamp in her basement she wasn't using, so we went and got this treasure..

Its a tension lamp, which means it is spring loaded and you wedge it between the floor and the ceiling. Originally the room we were going to put it in had too high of a ceiling for it to work. So we bought that little light box to put underneath the lamp. Then we decided we liked the lamp better in this room so we just put some stuff on the light box.

Here is the lamp all lit up and a closeup of the light box, which had a weird orange vase on it that we found at a vintage store. Isn't she grand?

And as long as we were buying a light box, and a vase and a pair of boots for Amy (not pictured) we decided we needed to spruce up the kitchen, so we got this super awesome bread box and little tin bucket utensil holder thing.

Shabby chic? Perhaps. But it looks grand with the yellow owl butter dish. 

So that's all I got. No profound statement on the meaning of finding old things and making them new. No commentary about illuminating our homes and our lives with things from the past. Just some more pictures of furniture I like. This 300 words thing could get pretty boring pretty quick. Someone get me a book deal!

2011

It's pretty cliché to do a year end "best" list anymore. And it seems even sillier when you are not a professional reviewer, critic or otherwise. But I love reading these lists when other people do them, and it is fun to look back on past years and see what excited me in the past and if it has passed the test of time. So here we go...the best of 2011. (PS. This is a long one. Get a Diet Coke.)

Best Movie
As far as I can remember, I saw about 8 new movies this year, so take this with a grain of salt. But the movie that made me laugh and cheer and cry more than any others was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. If you don't love Harry Potter, I am pretty sure you don't have a soul and this movie was an exciting and fitting ending to a great series of movies based on even more amazing books. It was satisfying wrap up to the world of Harry Potter, until that damn Pottermore launches
Runner up: X-Men: First Class. Yes, I am officially a nerd. And the previous incarnations of X-men movies got cheesier and sillier as time went on. But this reboot was fresh and interesting. The performances were great and the action sequences were exciting without being Michael-Bay-ish.
Honorable Mentions: The Muppets (made me nostalgic,) Insidious (did you see this? A straight up scary movie.) Crazy, Stupid Love (It was cute. Real cute) The Help (I have a bit of a crush on Emma Stone.)

Best TV, Comedy
I love TV too much to pick a "Best Show" so I have to break into categories. By far the show that makes me laugh out loud every week is Parks and Recreation. If you are not watching this show, there is something wrong with you. Funnier this season than last.
Runner Up: New Girl. Holy cow. Funny. (Remember when she couldn't say "penis?") I am curious if it can sustain itself and avoid being gimmicky. But so far so good. Also, Happy Endings. You have probably never see this show, but it is a joy.
Honorable Mentions: All the classics are still good - 30 Rock, Modern Family, Community, The Office. 


Best TV, Drama
Is it too easy to say Friday Night Lights? Whodathunk that I would love a show about football so much? The final season did not disappoint, with lots of great coach and Tami moments and happy cameos from past regulars (good to see you again, Landry.)
Runner Up: There was a magical little mini-series on PBS called Downton Abbey. And it was one of the most surprising, delightful shows I've ever seen. Season 2 starts in a couple of days! Get caught up now!
Honorable Mentions: Game of Thrones - my inner nerd rejoiced. American Horror Story. Spooky fun.

Best Book, Adult
Did calling this category "Adult" make you think I was going to review erotica? That is on a whole other blog. I only mean that to differentiate it from Young Adult. And really, in principle I don't like to distinguish between the two categories. A good book is a good book, right? But splitting them allows me to ramble about books I love more. So, my favorite non-erotica, non-young adult book was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This book has been getting a lot of press and deservedly so. I went into it not knowing much about it except that there was a mysterious circus that appeared only at night. And that there were some magicians. I also happened to listen to the audio book, narrated by the incomparable Jim Dale, which made it all the more magical.
Runners Up: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline if you were a nerdy boy in the 80s then stop everything you are doing and go read this book. Nerdtastic.
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta What would happen if the rapture happened, but it wasn't necessarily the good people who got taken up? What would that mean for everyone else left behind. I found this book haunting, moving and thought provoking all at once.
A Visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Eagan I guess this won a Pulitzer, or something and it is easy to see why. It is full of somewhat unlikeable characters, but it so masterfully written and executed when I finished it I wanted to start over and read it all again just to see how she did it. And the power point. Oh, the power point!

Best Book, Young Adult
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness This is the sequel to a book called The Knife of Never Letting Go that I read a while ago. I liked the first book OK. It was creative and original. But I wasn't compelled to read on. Then on a whim I picked this up and the library and it blew me away. It raises questions about war and morality and what it means to be a terrorist. All on a crazy planet where everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts.
Runner Up. East by Edith Pattou this is another book I picked up on a whim. It was actually sitting on a shelf in the house we stayed at in Bear Lake this summer. It is a retelling of the old "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" fairytale that I remember fondly from my youth. But it was beautiful and fun and a perfect bear lake beach read.
Honorable Mentions: Delirium by Lauren Oliver Post-Apocalyptic Teen novel about the outlawing of love. Divergent by Veronica Roth Post-apocalyptic teen novel about a world where everyone is divided into classes based on personality traits. What's literature without some good post-apocalyptic teen tales?

Best Book, Non-Fiction
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe I kind of read this (OK, I listened to the audio book - narrated by Rob!) as a joke - and then I 100% loved it. It is super full of insider Hollywood tales, and Rob Lowe is funny and a pretty good writer. I recommend it to all children of the 80s, or fans of The West Wing (we'll always miss you, Sam Seaborne.)
Runner up: Born to Run by Christopher McDougal I love this book. It made me want to run more, and further, and barefoot.

Favorite Status Updates of 2011

(I was too lazy to retype them all)

Memorable Moments of 2011

• Disneyland with the family. It is always a great time, but this year was the first year we had a special needs pass for Noel and it made ALL the difference in the world. Plus, it made Noel super popular
• Dance parties with the kids
• Hosting our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt in Oregon after the family who had done it in years past moved away. 
• 2011 was the year of watching baseball. It feels like we were in 10 leagues this year (I am sure this is just the beginning)
• The phone call that signified the end of my career with Carter's
• Making the decision to move back to Utah (about 3 days before we moved.)
• My surprise birthday party. I have never had a surprise party before and it was AWESOME. Great food, great friends (some I hadn't seen in years) and a great time.
• The death of the Northwest Book club
• The birth of the Bonne Heure, our Utah book club
• Running. And loving running.
• The week of moving - I can never thank Beccy enough for her help in boxing everything up and Mark and Tony for loading the POD like a tetris master.
• The day we found La Settanta. We were so elated.
• Lagoon - I hadn't been for about 40 years and my kids loved it.
• Mike and Andrea's wedding, and how Noel became some sort of unhygienic waiter and brought everyone food from the buffet all night (That he would sample on the way to the table.)
• Our Ward here, which has been so great and so welcoming.
• Not having to travel on Christmas.

What I am most excited about in 2012

• Living near family and friends and getting to celebrate holidays and special occasions with them.
• Reliable babysitters
• The Hunger Games movie
• Reading the end of the Wheel of Time series (which I started reading approximately 20 years ago.)
• Running
• Writing. This is my one real "resolution." An author I love says he writes 1000 words a day. No more, no less. He says now that he has been doing it for a while he can do that in 1 hour. He started out at 300 words a day. So that is my plan. That may mean more blog entries. It may mean I write that novel. It may mean some really long facebook status updates.
• The launch of my NEW blog (more details to come soon) and the release of a book that I allegedly helped write.

Are you bored yet? Just wait till I am writing 1000 words a day.