Merry Christmas!

Well, it's Christmas—and Seth is asleep, I can't sleep, and Matt is at Children's for the morning. So here is our year in review! I saw this on a couple blogs and copied. :)

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Vacationed for a month with a kiddo, and only 2 carry-on bags! YES! Believe it! And camped in a foreign country (8 days straight :)). 

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Our new years' resolution last year was to figure out how to move to San Diego. And we did! Woo hoo! I can't think of a resolution this year.... 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Seth has three new cousins this last year. And a few good friends had babies, too.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Matt's Grandma Williams.

5. What countries did you visit? England (and Wales... not technically another country, I guess...), Italy, and France.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? To be migraine-free. 

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? March 20th. Match Day! (We looked toward that date for four years.... Maybe longer. And then it was GREAT.)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? The Match!

9. What was your biggest failure? Not curing this headache problem. 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Matt broke his knee (he has a bone fragment floating on his knee cap now! Ew!) and suffered a Seth-inflicted recurrent eye injury that he just figured out is really cold-sore herpes (on his EYE! augh! antiviral meds are working great, though). I tore some tendons in my foot. We all got our usual bouts of hospital-shared viruses. 

11. What was the best thing you bought? Plane tickets. 

12. Where did most of your money go? Tuition. Then our house. (I know SoCal is supposed to be wildly expensive but, believe it or not, tuition was much more.... Glad to not be paying that anymore!)

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Match Day! Graduation! Moving Day! Woo hoo!!!

14. What song will always remind you of 2008? We heard American Boy literally a dozen times a day—at least—when we were in Europe (I'll never forget walking past a pre-teen German boy who was trying to sing it to his grandma... ha ha!!). Then we came back and no one had heard of it. When the radio stations finally started playing it as "a brand new single" we had to laugh—and also soak up the feeling of being in a pizzeria in Rome, or something. We totally got sick of that song, but it's full of happy nostalgia now!

Compared to this time last year, are you:

15. Thinner or fatter? Just the same, I think.

16. Richer or poorer? Eesh. It seems like we're able to spend exactly the same (which isn't a lot). However, the difference between what we were taking out in loans last year and what we're earning this year is at least a $90,000 raise! [whistle]

17. What do you wish you'd done more of? sitting at the beach at sunset, but the sun started setting too early :-(

18. What do you wish you'd done less of? going to doctors about my headaches. ugh.

19. How will you be spending Christmas? With Matt and Seth at home. When Matt gets home from work, that is.... Hehe. (We might have "Christmas" on another day. Then again, Matt might get home really early. We'll see! :))

20. Did you fall in love in 2008? With Michelangelo. (And pastries and pizza.) So did Matt. Ha ha!

21. What was your favorite TV program? The Mentalist.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Ha ha!! No, I think all the people I hate I already hated last year. (Huh?!) Actually, I honestly don't think I hate anyone. Hillary Clinton...? Hehe.

23. What was the best book you read? The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois; The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis

24. What was your greatest musical discovery? I saw Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in concert and (gasp!) actually liked it! No.... Loved it! I still can't believe it....

25. What did you want and get? San Diego. :) Flowers. Green. Ocean! Gorgeous and pleasant time outside every day. Heaven! 

26. What did you want and not get? A dinner alone with Matt in some romantic spot in Europe. Oh well. (We're still so glad Seth went with us. :)) 

27. What was your favorite film of this year? Uh.... Was anything that great this year...? We haven't seen many movies lately.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 27 and I can't remember what I did! (Old age.... ;))

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? It was a great year.... :)

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? What will fit in a carry-on? Also, I refuse to wear a maternity shirt. (What is with that insanity? You all look pregnant, people!) 

31. What kept you sane? Matt and Seth. (And grandmas taking Seth every now and then. :))

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Did I fancy? Hehe. Barack Obama was totally fascinating—even if I didn't vote for him. And Joe Biden is hilarious. Ha ha ha!!

33. What political issue stirred you the most? San Diego's Prop D! And it passed! (Makes the alcohol ban on all beaches permanent! Thank you, voters.)

34. Who did you miss? Since our year of luxury ended, I miss Matt when he actually has to (gasp!) go to work. That was a long time of being together all day....

35. Who was the best new person you met? We've made some good friends here! And I just met Kristin's baby, Evelynne, who was SO fantastically fun. :)

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008: Being outside is food for the soul! Can't live without it.... :)

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Here Comes the Sun says it all. :) The smile's returning to the faces! :)

The Secret to our Success

Many of you may look at our life and wonder to yourselves, how do they do it?! How do they stay so happily married in the face of such hardship?! (Hehe.) Years of medical school. Years of snow. A wild child. (Just kidding. He's delightful. :)) Memories of (gulp)...no, i can't say! (But our whole "falling in love" and "honeymoon" phases could have failed right away given the anti-ambience of our stifling locale! Ugh.) Years to come of residency, and years to come of eating the same three meals over and over. Hehe (I'm not very creative with cooking). And to make matters worse, it's now the 7th year of marriage, which is the most common year of failure! How do they do it? Well, wonder no longer! I'm going to tell you the secret to our success! It's (are you ready?) . . . sharing one car! [oohs and ahs from the audience, then thunderous applause!] Yes, yes! It's true! Nothing can bond two people quite like sharing a car. Hehe.

We've spent the last seven years or so anticipating that we may soon need a second car. We keep deciding to wait and see how it goes, and then we keep "ending up" in the perfect situation to still have just one. It actually feels kind of Providential. No, not kind of. Very. (It's amazing how when you make something good your priority—in our case, maximizing our time together—you're blessed with ways to achieve it.)

When we got married, I managed to get a job on campus (I know all of BYU's admissions secrets! :)) while Matt finished school—we rode there together, rode home together. Excellent. When Matt graduated and we moved, we were both looking for jobs all over San Diego county and thought, ok, now we're for sure going to need another car! Bummer! But then, guess what? Matt got a job at UCSD and I got a job down the street. No joke! So we commuted together, ate lunch together, and life was great. Then Matt started medical school and we said to ourselves, selves, we are gonners this time. Time to get another car. And then I got a job two blocks away from the medical school.... You may be wondering if this is all a lie. Too impossible. No, not a lie! Well, was I looking for jobs just nearby, then? No! I was looking all over Denver! And I end up a couple blocks away.... I'd drop Matt off at school, then head over to my awesome, amazing special ed kids, and we'd both finish about the same time and go home together. Once or twice a week, Matt was even able to come help in our classroom! It was great to spend so much time together. But what would we do when Matt started his third year and would be working in hospitals and clinics all over the place? Get another car...? Wrong again! Because I just happened to have Seth just as Matt finished his second year of med school (and, believe me, we had no measure of control as to that timing)—he had a couple months when all three of us were home all day together (heaven!), then he started his 3rd-year work. I left my job to be home with Seth, so we just drove Matt to work and picked him up. (And on impossibly miserable days when there was no way we'd go out in the heat or cold, Matt just took the car.) By the time we were moving to San Diego again this year, we were hooked on sharing. :) And found a home only a few miles from his hospitals, so sharing is super-easy.

And here's why it's the glue that holds us together. (Hehe.) It's so nice to feel like we're sort of living the same life! All from just sharing a car...? Well, kind of! This week we have another car around and, while it's been nice to not get up at 5:30 in the morning to take Matt to work, I'm sitting here feeling like I haven't seen him since we went to bed last night. I kind of sort of woke up very, very briefly while he said good-bye this morning.... And then he left. Off to his life, while I stay here with mine. And then he'll come home who knows when. And we won't be getting in touch with each other about how the day is going and when he thinks he'll be done with his patients. As convenient as it is, we're looking forward to giving back the second car!

I know it's bound to happen sometime that I just can't get up with Matt anymore—kids will be going to school, or whatever, and we'll be glad for another car. But, for now, we love that we've always gotten up together, spent a little more time with each other, gotten in touch with each other during the day, seen each other a little earlier when work is done.... It sure beats a foggy, early-morning kiss good-bye! And helps me feel, too, like I'm a little more a part of his "work life"—like we're doing that together, too. Anyway, it's nice. Who knew having such an inconvenience could be so rewarding? :)

(The video didn't make it to Google Reader.... But it's on here.)

You've probably heard about the tragic plane crash in San Diego this week. I hope you've also had a chance to see this good, good man speak to the press about it. A military jet returning to Miramar crashed into his home when the second engine failed only two miles from the runway. The pilot ejected safely after attempting to steer the jet toward an empty canyon. 

Imagine the sorrow of this poor man. While he was at work, this totally insane mishap took the lives of his wife, his two baby daughters (one was 15 months old, the other a newborn), and his wife's mother who had come from Korea to help with the new baby. They had only moved into the home a few weeks ago. 

When we first heard of the crash and it still seemed like maybe there weren't any casualties, both Matt and I were questioning of the pilot's decision. Did he really eject and save himself while this plane was about to crash into people's homes? Seriously? We wondered. . . maybe he really had no control over the plane and had no choice but to bail. Or maybe he was panicked for his own life and was hating himself for not doing more. . . . 

If we had questions, I can't imagine what might have gone through this young father's heart. He spoke to the press the day after the accident and—imagine—asked us all to pray for the pilot, that he would not suffer because of this accident. He called him a treasure for our country, and said sincerely that he didn't blame him at all. It was heartbreaking when he said that he knew others had experienced even more painful things than this, and "please tell me how you do it—I don't know what to do. . . ."

I can't stop thinking about this man....

I've thought about how litigious our culture has become—how quickly we seek to lay blame on someone when we suffer. But here is one man who, in the crux of his unimaginable suffering, and not even knowing enough details to really be sure the pilot had done all he could do, here he is asking the public to remember him—the pilot—in our prayers. What an inspiring example he has been—a truly Christlike example in this tragedy.

I'm sort of hesitant to post this news video—I wish the extra commentary didn't make the story so trite. But I do hope people get a chance to hear Dong Yun Yoon's words. (His press conference—I think it was 7 minutes long—is probably on the internet somewhere unedited. It's worth watching.) I believe so much in the inherent goodness of mankind—of our truly divine natures. We are subject to so many frailties in this mortal world, and are rarely able to avoid them enough to act up to par with that nature. But we see so much goodness. We really do. And this week, Mr. Yoon showed us some of that great Light. It makes me feel so incredibly petty for the little grudges I sometimes hold. . . . I hope I can continue to grow away from that, and learn forgiveness and love like our infinitely forgiving and perfectly loving Savior. And I'm thankful to see His light in others.

Something Funny. . .

I read the Twilight series.

Ha ha! If you're not laughing right now, you probably don't know me. But, believe me, it's funny. I laugh every time I think about it. I read the Twilight series! Ha ha ha! (See? :))

Not that I never read easy-to-read books, because I definitely do. I just don't tend to be very interested in: A) novels written for 13-year-olds; B) novels everyone—everyone—is reading (makes me very skeptical... :)); C) novels written for 13-year-olds that 33-year-olds are acting like 13-year-olds over. Oh, and D) novels about vampires. Hehe. 

But, here's the funniest thing: I actually liked them! Ha ha! Not in a way to make me carve "I heart Edward" into my furniture or anything. . . . Hehe. Or to bang on Barnes and Noble windows with 100 wild women to get the newest release when the clock strikes twelve. . . . But I liked them. :) So much of the story was really very sweet, and I think Stephenie Meyer actually did a really decent job at creating interesting, whole characters (for the most part). It was kind of fun! 

(Oh, and don't worry—no spoilers here. :))

Here's my great sorrow, though. . . . Oh! The agony! I think my favorite book of the series was Twilight—and its big climax could have been SOOOOO good. You know. . . . The part with the. . . hand. . . . :) OooOOOoooh.... [While I shudder.] Could have been amazing. But it kind of fell flat. I finished and thought, argh! If only she hadn't written it from Bella's perspective! And by the fourth book, when she did experiment with writing from another perspective I was seriously mad at her. Why not in the first book?!!! Why?!! Why?!!! Seriously, it might just be silly teen fiction about vampires, but that one scene could have been a really awesome conflict. I drool just thinking about its awesomeness! But it doesn't exist. So sad.... (I do predict, however, that she's going to pull an Orson Scott Card one of these days, and rewrite the series from Edward's perspective. And then—then!—we'll get that scene in all its glory. We'll see! I think I'll be right. :))

One reason I had fun reading these is that the writing style totally made me laugh! Back before I had even heard of these books, a friend of mine asked if I'd read them, saying they totally reminded her of me! When Matt read them a long while later, it dawned on me that those were the books she was talking about—I told Matt what she had said and he started laughing his head off. "It's true! They totally sound like you! HA HA HA!!" And several others agreed as well. It made me curious to read them! But I didn't, and then I forgot again about all those people talking about it. When I was a couple chapters into Twilight, I suddenly had the thought that "haha! This sounds like me!" And then I remembered that I wasn't the first to think that. Hehe. Anyway, that made for some fun reading for me. Bella talks just how I talk in my journal! See what I mean that my posterity will have the all wrong impression? But I can't help it! It's just too fun to write that way! :)

So Bella and I talk much the same way, but there are also lots of other reasons we're kindred spirits! It was like reading a really tripped-out story about myself! (Not that I attract impossibly perfect vampires. :))

• She's lethally bad at volleyball! (Don't ever, ever ask me to play. Really. :))

• In high school, she was totally disgusted with herself when she was dumb enough to crush on someone.

• But she hardly ever had a crush on anyone. And she always rolls her eyes at shameless flirts. Hehe. (So dumb. Flirts are, that is. :))

• She'd rather wear jeans! Always. :)

• She loathes the idea of school dances. 

• At any time, she might randomly start comparing life to a scene or character in some book her audience probably hasn't read. :)

• She uses m-dashes and ellipses liberally—as in this sentence—to add dramatic impact to her run-on sentences. . . . Yes!

• She often accidentally led guys on (sorry all...lots of you... :-|) and then acts the same way about letting them down that I always did. Very stressful. ;-)

• She inherently distrusts any female who appears to spend more than two minutes on her hair and/or wears too much make-up.

• She always has a guy sneak into her room for the night. (Oh, um. . . . Uh. . . . ;))

• Her sense of humor is exactly like mine! Haha! Exactly! Especially when she'd crack some cynical little joke in the midst of some actually-horrible thing. That's me! Made me laugh.

• Oh, and she also deals with pain exactly like me. I was totally in her head on that.

• She's almost entirely unreadable and hard to get to know. Does not wear her heart on her sleeve, whether she wants to or not (but she usually doesn't want to :)).

• Her modus operandi (ha ha! That's such a ridiculous term!) is self-control! I was more than totally in her head about that. Bella never would have wanted to get drunk—way too creepy to not be in control. . . . Riding on the back of a vampire. . . ? Having needles stuck into you? Being really. . . thirsty? ;) I was always in her mind with stuff like that because I'm exactly the same! 

It was kind of weird! The only times I didn't feel like I was actually reading about myself were when she'd tell someone off with some beautiful quip—it was always the exact kind of thing I'd think but not have the guts to say. Then again, my life hasn't been quite so intense as Bella's. Hehe. Maybe under considerably more pressure, I'd actually say those things. :) If I hung around with vampires, that is. Ha ha! Anyway, it definitely amused me. Me and Bella. Twinners. :) Go figure. 

So my basic take on the stories were that Bella was fun, and that Stephenie Meyer definitely succeeded with Edward. (Could there be a better Prince Charming? The impossibly beautiful and powerful man who loves you SOOOO much he won't. . . um. . . . eat you. . . . Ha ha! Oh, but of course he really wants to. Because he's sensual that way. . . . Hehe.) And all the Cullens were great. Very intriguing. But I hated—loathed!—the whole Jacob sub-plot. Blech. When it was clear he wasn't going away, I almost stopped reading! Halfway through the fourth book I was starting to find him a little interesting. But up until that point, the whole Jacob story was really lame—and totally brought out things that were entirely uncharacteristic of people! It just didn't make sense. It was lame. I hated it! ("I look upon you with a disgust that amounts to absolute detestation!" :)) I don't think Ms. Meyer got in the groove on that one until it was way too late. . . . (However, to be fair, my favorite chapter in any book—since the hand scene wasn't quite what it could have been—was the one called "there are no words for this," or something like that. It was excellent!)

The rest of my take is summed up with saying that the first and fourth books were my favorite. And the second book was mostly really painful and boring. And the third book was somewhere in between. . . . :) Overall, I enjoyed them about 1000 times more than I expected.

Anyway. . . . Twilight books. They amused me. :) And kind of fun to have such a totally easy read. I don't, however, suggest reading the whole series too quickly. Hehe. I was trying to get the whole thing over with so I wouldn't have to bring any books home with me (from Matt's mom), and I definitely over-consumed. Ha ha! My dreams have been insane. It's really ridiculous! It reminds me of when we watched the entire series of Lost in a just a few weeks a little while ago—bad, bad idea! (Don't do it!)

Oh, and inquiring minds keep wanting to know if we're going to see the movie. :) Eh. Not without a substantial bribe. :) All we needed to see was a picture of "Bella" and "Edward" staring longingly into each other's pathetic teenager eyes to know we'd never see the movie. They were no WAY Bella and Edward. Fun books, but I'd bet my life they made a painful movie! Coffee-shop-flirty-nerd-emo-"Edward" and too-much-makeup-"Bella" can't be as fun a story. . . . :) And I can't watch movies of books, anyway, without the movie images replacing what my own imagination came up with (hence the reason I despise animated scripture videos—I'll never be able to picture Abraham and Isaac as non-cartoons again!). So. . . . No. No movie for us. Besides, it looks like there are a bunch of good movies coming out soon! We've gotta save up. :)

So tardy, I know—but I'm still in a Thanksgiving kind of mood! We've been out and about, and then tired, and then decorating for Christmas, so my pathetic little blog has been neglected. Then I thought it seemed anti-climactic to come back after so long without a post that was really, really special. :) Oh well, though—I'm back anyway!

I hope you all had a magnificent Thanksgiving full of much giving of thanks. And turkey breasts instead of whole turkeys. Ha ha! We were at Matt's parents' house for Thanksgiving—when whole turkeys were on sale for only $9.99, that seemed like a great deal. Until the gorgeous, perfectly roasted, tantalizing bird turned out to be. . . FROZEN on the inside! I had to laugh. I don't think I've ever seen a frustration-free Thanksgiving when a whole turkey was involved. They're just trouble. :) I feel to write yet another Ode to the Turkey Breast. Hehe. (Yum!)

We had a fun Thanksgiving—and even felt full of much thanks. :) A fun anniversary, too! I think our anniversary will be on Thanksgiving maybe. . . next year? That will be kind of fun. When we picked our wedding date we had mischievous plans to visit family for Thanksgiving, then ditch the kids and go off for mini-honeymoons by ourselves! YES! Muwahahahaha! But so far. . . we have yet to implement that plan. . . . Maybe next year will be the year. :)

Happy Thanksgiving. And Happy Christmas, too! :)

Mouths of Babes....

The other day we were in the car and Seth asked where we were going.

"We're going to Walmart! Doesn't that sound FUN? Wanna go to Walmart?!"

And he flatly replied: "No. NO go to Walmart.... I want to go to...CIRCLE Walmart."

HA HA HA! (I'm not sure if Target would appreciate that or not.... :))

Number One!

(Does anyone else enjoy The Most Extreme on Animal Planet? I love their countdowns! Maybe I should start doing "most extreme" countdowns of my own.... :))

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for! The unveiling of my favorite, and also Seth's new favorite (he asks to watch it over and over again! Yesss...:)) and also Matt's favorite-by-suggestion movie scene OF ALL TIME! There are so many layers of insanity! And nothing could thrill more than insanity! :) We have an insanely good and insanely dark Mozart piece providing the mood. We have Mozart going insane. We have a young Salieri going insane while watching Mozart be insane. We have an old Salieri who has been insane for years! On stage, there are a bunch of characters not only going insane, but also being DRAGGED TO HELL! Oh, the thrill! (Incidentally, Salieri has plans of his own to "triumph over God," just like the guy on stage who, oops, is... dragged to hell....) Add to that some good ol' 18th-century pyrotechnics and you have a recipe for a really great scene. :) I love it, love it, LOVE IT! Enjoy!

"And NOW...

The madness began in me....

The madness of a man

SPLITTING IN HALF!"

Love it. :)

And I love you, Mr. Editor, whoever you are, who did such a perfecto edit. In the words of Denzel Washington from favorite scene #3: you AMAZE me!! :)

And now in the words of the fun emperor in Amadeus (which is where this scene is from, by the way): "Well! There it is!" Since this top ten list is now complete, I feel I must recognize some honorable mentions! The bowl-fixing scene in The Road Home (a Chinese film that we LOVE—definitely in my top ten movies of all time! And it's a simple, sweet, pretty movie that I'm pretty sure just about everyone would relate to and love. Go find it! You won't regret it!); a few scenes from Stranger than Fiction (another top ten movie! Favorite scene is probably his interview with Dustin Hoffman. Ha! "King of the trolls...?" Or maybe one of the end scenes. Who knew Will Ferrell was such an amazing actor?); OH OH! the Al Pacino-with-the-gun-behind-the-toilet scene in The Godfather! (probably should have been in the top ten! I've only seen the edited version of the movie on TV, though, so I guess I forgot to remember I've sort of seen it...); the near-end of Pursuit of Happyness; the end of Psycho.... I'm sure there are some goodies I'm not thinking of! Any honorable mentions posted in comments will be honored (meaning I won't delete your comment, and it will live through the ages! :)). 

Number Two: The bad blood between Ronny and Johnny. Ha ha!

"What is life?! They say bread is life. And I bake bread—bread—bread. And I sweat."

HAHAHAHA!!! Oh man. I'm already laughing just thinking about putting up this scene. The first time I saw Moonstruck was with Matt and also Amy. When it got to this scene.... HAHA! We were rolling. (I'm almost as amused at the thought of us as I am at the thought of the scene! :)) If you ever want to entertain one of us, all you'd really have to do is blurt out: "I DON'T CARE! I ain't no freaking monument to justice!" (And even better if you go through the motions of the next couple of lines. :)) 

Or a decent runner-up might be: "Crissyyyyy! BRING ME THE BIG KNIFE!! [I won't do it!]...She won't do it... Do you know about me?" Haha!

And a note to anyone planning to audition for, say, a high school play or something: this would make a great monologue! I wish I were still doing stuff like that so I could figure out how to make it work for myself! :)

The basic plot before this scene is that Loretta (Cher) is engaged to Johnny, a totally boring and sappy baby of a guy, but a safe choice I guess (her first husband was hit by a bus, making her majorly superstitious about falling in love...). They get engaged, he immediately leaves for Italy to see his dying mother, and he begs Loretta to pleeeeease, while I'm gone, find my brother Ronny and invite him to our wedding! "We haven't spoken in five years.... There's some bad blood between us!" Johnny and Ronny—the bad-blood brothers. :) So Loretta goes to the family bakery to talk to Ronny (when she tried the phone, he quickly hung up after yelling: "THIS WRONG CAN NEVER BE MADE RIGHT!!" Haha!) and gets this great rant. Plus, an explanation for the "bad blood." 

It's Nicolas Cage at his finest! (I didn't even know I could like Nicolas Cage until I saw this. :)) Unfortunately, I have no idea if the beauty of this scene still comes through when you haven't seen the first 20 minutes of Moonstruck. But I'm posting it anyway. I hope you enjoy it! (And that it doesn't seem like a serious scene, because it's definitely not!) Go watch the movie—it's hilarious!

(The clip keeps going, but the first half is this great bakery scene—ending with a funny, pathetic little spiel that Matt especially loves from the girl who wouldn't bring him the big knife. I think the rest of the clip might end a tad bit scandalously so, you know, proceed at your own risk...! Hehe. No scandal in the bakery scene, though. Just loveliness. :))

Number Three: Oh, sweet Benedick! God give me PATIENCE!

Ha ha! This scene from Much Ado about Nothing KILLS us. SO great! This kid-like frolic in a water fountain is what a confirmed bachelor is reduced to after overhearing (from lying trickster matchmakers!) that the woman he loathes and continually fights with is actually in love with him. And when she overhears the same about him (from more lying trickster matchmakers), she melts just as bad. It's the best set-up ever! Made all the better by the great monologues about, "ew, I'll never fall in love!" and "I'm so excited to have just fallen in love!" Shakespeare is so great. :) (Especially when people know how to make him fun like he meant to be! :))

Kenneth Branagh's monologue always makes me think of my brother, Jordan. When he was only nine years old, I used to find him alone in the tv room watching movies you wouldn't expect a kid to enjoy. This was one of them—he watched it all the time! When Benedick gets all lovesick for Beatrice ("I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit BROKEN on me because...I have railed so long against marriage...." hehe :)), he asks the question, "shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humor? NO! The world must be peopled!" Ha ha! Every time, Jordan would just start cracking up. It's a funny line, for sure—but made SO much funnier now that we always picture this cute little 9-year-old cracking up over it. 

I couldn't find any reasonable soul online who made a clip of just this scene. But if you think, "hey, I'd like to spend 10 minutes watching the funniest set-up of all time!" start the first clip (you can skip the first minute), and by the end you'll feel like you just have to start the second clip and watch the first minute to finish the scene. :) If you like House, you'll enjoy seeing Robert Sean Leonard being so silly.... Hehe. A bunch of silly people in this one: Denzel Washington, Kate Beckinsale, Emma Thompson.... Great movie. :) GREAT scene! Number Three on our countdown!

Number Four: Wit

If you don't watch any of the other clips we posted, watch this one (it's seven minutes). If you don't watch this one, go get the whole movie and watch that. And if you do watch this one, still go get the whole movie and watch it. This movie is... amazing. And not many people have seen it (it's an HBO film) which is really a shame. Emma Thompson plays a highly intelligent and clever and successful literature professor battling ovarian cancer, largely on her own. I think it was Roger Ebert who said of the movie that it "first breaks the funny bone, then breaks the heart." There are so many clever and funny things to laugh with—then such profound things to feel and reflect on. We can't recommend this movie enough. (We bought the DVD online a few years ago—Walmart or Amazon or something—for $4, I think. It's probably easier than trying to rent it. And you'll want to own it anyway!)

This scene comes in a rare moment when her tenacity and wit are all but gone—and when things have been the hardest, she's still been alone. Her old mentor from her youth tries to visit her at the university, and learns she is in the hospital. (When she asks about Donne, in the movie you've already heard Emma Thompson's character talk a lot about Donne—whose poetry she loves—in her conversations with herself.) Obviously, since it's in this list, it's one of our favorite scenes ever. While we're actually watching it, we'd probably have to call it number one. :) (And it's made all the more beautiful with the Arvo Pӓrt music—one of our favorite composers. You might not be able to read The Runaway Bunny again without wanting to shed a tear or two...!) Go find and watch this movie. You'll be so glad you did.

Number Five: Atticus Finch is my hero

Gregory Peck in one of the best scenes ever, ever, ever. :) 

I also love the scene when he walks out of the courtroom after the guilty verdict. His reaction, and the reaction of the people sitting up in the balcony, and the reaction of his kids.... All so powerful. (This is To Kill A Mockingbird, by the way. In case you're unlucky enough to have not seen it yet.... GREAT movie. :))

Number Six: Life Is Beautiful

I can't even bring myself to post this one. But if you've seen Life Is Beautiful, the near-end scene affected you as much as me, I'm sure.... When he's being led off at gunpoint, and he looks over to see his son watching him from his hiding place.... He winks at him, making his funny face, and walks his funny walk as he's led away. He knows he's going to be killed—he'll still do whatever it takes to make sure his little boy isn't afraid.

It's an amazing movie, and all boils down to that little moment. One of the best.

Number Seven: Charlie Kane's awesomely talented wife

Matt and I first watched Citizen Kane a few years ago for the sole purpose of being able to argue against it! Ha ha! It was so universally regarded as the best film of all time that we were just sure it would be a totally clichè "good film" movie that was actually totally dumb. Something trying to be artsy or something, and really just stupid. So we started watching it in a totally critical mood, ready to TAKE IT DOWN!! Yeah! Instead, about ten minutes into it we looked at each other, all surprised, and said "this is actually REALLY GOOD!" By the end, we were different people. Hehe. Not sure how I lived life before Citizen Kane.... :) (Ha ha!)

The movie doesn't have a ton of stand-out scenes (it all goes together so perfectly... :)), but this one is pretty great. Charlie Kane, with his totally complex superiority (or adoration...) issues, builds his wife an opera house when her singing can't get her into any other venues. The biggest opera house in the country, of course. She doesn't even want it (she's content with being mediocre), but he is going to get her recognized. This scene is her painful performance. (I've sat through a few operas where I wanted to be tearing my program up like Joseph Cotton is! Hehe.) 

The moment where he stops clapping as the lights come up is my favorite moment of the whole movie! (Which is where the scene actually ends even though this clip will keep going... I don't feel like doing any work to post just the first few minutes. :)) Great acting. 

(The other scene we initially thought of as the best is when Kane is old and his wife finally leaves him, and he tries to manipulate her into staying like he manipulated everything else but she just walks away. When he finally loses it and destroys the room, totally in character as an old man Charlie Kane, then walks out after picking up the snow globe.... Ahhhh.... So great. :))

Number Eight: "No, it'll be ok!"

HA HA! We only recently discovered the beauty that is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Paul Newman is always wonderful, and I think Robert Redford is at his absolute best in this movie (even outshines Paul Newman I think...). After being chased by unknown chasers for approximately a million times longer than they've ever been tracked before ("who are those guys?!" hehe) Butch and Sundance come to a crossroads. Or a cliff.... :) And Butch has another one of his brilliant ideas. Couldn't love Robert Redford more than in this scene! (If you don't know the movie, you should watch it! Very fun. This scene is so much better in context. :))

And here's a bonus scene which is awesome even OUT of context! Ha ha!

Number Nine: Signs

I know the public didn't seem to enjoy this movie, but we sure did! (We're pretty sure Shyamalan was making fun of his audience with this one! Can't help but enjoy that. Hehe. Plus, the acting was great....) I can't for the life of me find the scene I want, though! When they're down in the basement and they think the alien is going to come get them, and the kid has the asthma attack.... And the dad holds him trying to talk him through it, while at the same time wanting to panic himself, and also wrestling with faith in this horrible moment....

Mel Gibson's acting there is totally wonderful. Love, love, love it. (Sorry I have no clip.)

Favorite Movie Scenes

Last night we were fishing around for fun movie scenes to show Seth, and he ended up latching on to what may be my favorite movie scene of all time. Like mother like son! (This boy has GOOD taste. :)) So after watching it a few times, and saying "ah! What a great scene!" it got us talking about other great movie scenes! We made a top ten list—we'll see if I can find all the clips. :) When I added the following clip, Matt accused me of diluting the strength of the list. It might be silly, but I still LOVE it!

#10—Meet the Parents airport scene!

Ha ha! "All I have to do is do what *I* wanna do and all I wanna DO is keep my bag and not listen to YOU." ..."You said bomb on an airplane...." "I said it's not like I HAVE a bomb." Bomb-bomb-bombbomb-b-bombbomb-b-bomb.... Love it.

My Humble Retraction

My blog was inspected for wholesomeness (turns out it's very wholesome :)) and when I saw the stamp I realized the error of my ways! I'm pretty sure when I blogged about voting that I didn't mean FDA when I said FDA. I'm pretty sure I meant the USDA. :) Then again, I may have just been trying to further illustrate my point that I don't know a thing about the farming industry.... Hehe. (Very clever, Auburn! :))

California voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 2, by the way. Even though we don't know squat about farming—and even though the USDA (not the FDA :)) exists and does—we just can't resist campaigns for animals being able to do the hokey pokey. Let's just hope all the other ten pages of text in that thing we approved made some sense...! :) Hehe. Because, going back to that one single thing I know about this, the California farming industry is ginormous. :) 

Let's just make all the eggs free-range. Those are great! Yum.

As for the criminal justice ones, I still don't know what they mean—but the kindergartners wanted haggis, and Californians wanted a couple yes-es and one no. Or was it two noes and one yes...? Hehe.

Because Churchill Told Me To. :)

OK. Yes, Sir. (Could anyone argue with that?)

Hehe. I like it. :) But I liked this picture, too:

The problem is, we just couldn't agree on how to take that pain down.... Scalpel or hatchet?! 

"Well, I say a hatchet first and then a scalpel."

"Well, I say you go in very, very intricately with a high-quality scalpel, and leave the hatchet in the garage."

"No, no, no. You should have a plumber bring a hatchet. Then crush away with no mercy! RARRRRRR!!! ...then get a scalpel. And delicately shave all the tiny pieces into even tinier pieces...."

The argument could go on for years, no...? Hehe. (Especially once the plumber is involved. :))

But because Churchill told me to (I hear he was anti-headache), and because pain is nothing more than a 30-ft. piece of cement sculpture looming over me, crushing my head for months on end (easy foe, right? :)), we decided I should try to deserve victory. Hehe. Or something like that. Actually, I just went to my follow-up appointment with the neurologist to talk about... the infernal headache. [I hope you still read that with a booming voice! Hehe. :)]

Since the drug he had given me several weeks ago seems to lessen the average intensity of the headache I have all day long, every day, he thought the infernal headache that I still get once or twice a week sounded a bit more migraine-y now than he originally thought. And he gave me a migraine medication to take when I felt a wicked one coming on. 

Rewind these past, what has it been now...? Five months! These past five months I've had a constant headache. The one drug over the long-term has seemed to help a bit as a prophylactic, but no drug or combination of drugs (and we've tried everything!) to try to kill the headache or even lessen the pain has ever done a thing. Nothing. At all. The other night I started to get another kill-me-now head explosion and I took the new migraine medication! And...whoa! Blessed surprise of all surprises—it worked! It not only reduced the horrible headache back to status quo headache, it actually wiped everything out altogether! So for the first time since June—June!—I was...ahhhh.... Headache-free.... For a few hours. Hehe. But it was a great few hours.

Anyway, so that's the update! A shocking discovery after all these months—they've been migraines after all. So now we try a few more dosage combinations and see if we can knock this out entirely. Strange to all of a sudden be a migraine sufferer—and around the clock, too. In my sinuses. Weird. And for all this to happen as I move back to our dreamland? Hehe. I can't imagine San Diego was the trigger! Haha! Who knows.... It's all pretty weird. 

But after a million theories, we're narrowing it down. I'm not sure if we used a hatchet or scalpel.... Hehe. I'm leaning toward trying a bulldozer now. :) Maybe a wrecking ball. Or hot lava. (Hey, Amy, tell Finn I need him to throw hot lava at my headache! Haha!)

I love what happened last night. :)

I don't think I could ever be more thrilled to see the candidate I didn't vote for win the presidency. I even shed tears, I was so happy.... Really. (And I keep feeling teary today, too! When will this end? Hehe.) Though I don't generally agree with Barack Obama's political ideas, I feel like whatever harm a leftist government could do might actually be made up for with how good it can be for our country to be led by a black man. Would anyone have believed it so few years ago when, insanely, Jim Crow was the law of the land...? (Gosh, I'm crying again!) Did anyone really believe even just months ago that America could really do this? The looks on the faces of African-Americans with this win say that, no, it was too good to be true. 

So, I may not even care if he turns out to be a socialist cat, stealing my burritos! Hehe. He seems to be a classy, good man. If his leadership can heal some of the divides that still persist in this country, can inspire disadvantaged kids, can help more of this country celebrate diversity rather than fear it... then hallelujah. In the true sense of the word. :) I'll remember forever the images from Obama's rally: a crowd of all types of people—white, black, hispanic, gay, straight, old, young, very old and very young—joining together, rejoicing together, celebrating together. THAT'S the America I've longed to see. And I'm a white girl born in 1981.... Imagine—just imagine—what this means to countless others....

What a tremendous election day. I can't wait to see how things play out.

[P.S. Prop D passed! WOO HOOOOOOOOO!! Thank you, 53.15% of San Diego!]

Ha ha! Such sadness....

Ha! After three days of positively gorging himself on candy, Seth just went to his halloween bucket to discover it's... empty. He gasped and said "NO! All gone!" A minute later he was chomping on a sweet tart and came up to show me. He said, proudly, "look! Look what I'M eating." Hehe. I guess he found one on the floor or something. I congratulated him. A couple minutes later he came up and got in my face (I guess he couldn't find any more on the floor...), putting on his cutest, smiliest look, and said (I swear he was even batting his eyelashes...), "Get more circle treats at the store, mom? Yeah?" He nods a few times, smiling. "Yeah?" Then a nod and whisper, "circle treats? Eat at the store? Yeah?" HA HA! He's a problem solver, I guess. Oh, the bitter disappointment when you first discover your halloween candy doesn't last forever! 

Something I *Don't* Like about November

Sunset at 4:45...? ¡Què horrible! :-(

At least Congress got smart—almost—and pushed standard time back so we don't have to have 5:00 darkness in October, too. But you'd think when Congress said to themselves, "hey, daylight savings saves us tons of resources!" they might have followed the thought with "let's keep it all year!" instead of "let's start wasting resources in November instead of October!" I mean, really, does it make any sense? 

I'm going to write my congressman—by candlelight in the middle of the night (6:00 maybe :))—and beg for reason. :)

I Love November!

Hello, my favorite month! I'm SO happy for it to be November finally. All the Halloween decorations go away (they just aren't pretty.... And if pumpkins are involved, they stink too!). Christmas decorations come out (which is a good thing, since turkey and cornucopia decorations are also very ugly...). The weather (here in California, at least) is AWESOME. And, as if all that weren't enough, Matt and I get to celebrate not one, but TWO anniversaries. It's fun. :)

First, we get to celebrate the exciting day we met each other. Aw.... We actually remember the date! It wasn't one of those slow-to-get-to-know-each-other friendships. We met one night, and were best friends right away (he totally fell in love with me—ha! ;)) making the date a little more memorable. That was TEN years ago this week! Ten years! It's hard to imagine how the same amount of time elapsed between being 7 years old and meeting Matt, as between meeting Matt and now. We've been a part of each other's life for a whole lot of our life now...! I'm so glad. :) (Imagine how cool it must be when you've been together for a hundred and ten years! Ok...maybe that's stretching the possibilities.... :))

A couple weeks later, we'll have our sixth wedding anniversary. We're hoping for a great dinner to celebrate, maybe a day up in the mountains for some good ol' romantic skiing. :) (We'll be in Colorado—we've just GOTTA ski!) November has treated us well. So, happy 10th and 6th anniversaries, Friend! And happy November to everyone—the best time of the year! (Unless you get snow soon, in which case...I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry. Go skiing! :))

I'm Perplexed!

Hey, don't forget to vote!

I've been perplexed about voting this time around—and maybe a tad bit more earnest. I think it's because we're back in California! Of course, for the presidential election, a vote in Colorado this year is about as important as it gets. But for all that other stuff, things just feel substantial when you're talking about California taking them on. It could change the world! Everyone everywhere is talking about Prop 8, for instance. Would they care about North Dakota's Prop 8? Not so much. Prop 2 has gotten a bunch of exposure as well—I heard Oprah did a whole show about it. Prop 2 says in a bunch of legislative mumbo-jumbo that certain farm animals need to be able to spread their wings and/or turn around and do the hokey-pokey.... :) Sounds nice. But, and here's getting to my point about voting, what do I know about the farming industry? [Uh....] What do I know about legislative mumbo-jumbo? All I know is that California's farming industry is ginormous! That's not a lot of knowledge. Hehe. I also know that the FDA exists to do things like... tell farmers when and how to make sure their animals can turn around. So why are a bunch of farming-industry know-nothings voting on something that has a major impact on the farming industry? I think animals should be able to flap their wings while they lay my breakfast eggs, sure. But for all I know (which is nothing...) Prop 2 will bankrupt California farming or something. My point is this: I shouldn't have a say in this. I'm an idiot.

There are also a number of propositions that impact the criminal justice system. Once again, what do I know about the stinking criminal justice system...? Um, nothing...? I voted against one proposition because one sentence indicated a broader definition would be used for allowing minors to be tried as adults. I'm vehemently—viscerally!—opposed to minors being tried as adults so, there you go. (And, yes, I already voted—I love being a permanent mail-in voter!) But absent a one-liner that catches my visceral attention (hehe), I'm totally lost. I'm hugely in favor of criminal rehabilitation, for instance—but the proposition allocating more resources to it might be tremendously flawed in some way the voters (who are stupid—myself included :)) could never anticipate. Why are they asking our opinion? It's pointless. It's like taking a poll from kindergartners: "what would you rather eat on our field trip—filet mignon or haggis?" Oh! Look! 58% said haggis as opposed to only 42% for filet mignon. We're having haggis! Hehe. Pointless to even ask. Isn't this why we elect representatives? So they can learn what we don't know and make educated decisions that the masses aren't qualified to make? That's the idea, I thought....

I especially love how they spell out the fiscal implications of passing or failing a certain measure. "This would cost California 85 billion dollars, compounded with interest, paid by bonds, shared with squirrels, and then potentially refunding to the budget another 31.8 trillion dollars." Are any of us supposed to know what that means? Even if you understand a thing or two about economics and finances, what do we know about our state's budget? I don't even know how much money 85 billion dollars is, let alone what that means to the state of California over 20 years, plus interest, minus squirrels. It makes me laugh! Go ahead! Give me the specifics! We'll all fool ourselves into thinking we know what we're talking about!

It's like the whole "jury of your peers" problem. Scariest thing in all our rights, if you ask me. Heaven help me—pleeeease—if I ever get to be judged by a jury of my "peers"! Peers deciding on the legalities of a case who: 1) didn't have anything better to do, so weren't excused from coming to court; 2) didn't appear to independently think, and so were not excused by the plaintiff or defense attorneys; 3) don't know a single thing about law; 4) have an average IQ of—let's be very generous—99. :) Call me crazy, but I think a case should be decided by people who actually know what they're talking about, what they're listening to, and all those pesky intricacies of the law. A random bunch off the street....? Minus any of the smart ones, since the attorneys don't like to keep them around...? Hehe (it's true). Yikes. :-|

So, yeah...voting.... About as random as a jury of your peers. That's why whoever gets the most airtime wins. Which side was better at managing money and was therefore able to purchase more tv ads? Because people will vote how their tv ad tells them to vote—we just don't know any better. Farming? Criminal justice? The maritime dock in San Diego's harbor? There is one proposition I know for sure I can wrap my head around, and that's San Diego's Prop D—making permanent the temporary ban they've had on alcohol at public beaches. Hallelujah! Please, PLEASE pass Prop D, San Diego! This most lovely of laws has made the beaches safer, less crowded, less littered.... Better in every way. :) Something I can really get behind without wondering if I don't know what I'm talking about. Simple. To the point. Basic consequences you can anticipate.... That's my kind of ballot initiative. :)

None of this is to say I don't think people should vote. We need to vote! If all the people who sit out an election because, eh, my vote doesn't count or eh, who knows about this stuff anyway, would instead try to make as informed a vote as they could, that would be a really good thing. It could change the world! Hehe. So, even though my one vote doesn't actually make a difference (and I don't really know what I'm talking about...), at least I can be part of the group that makes a difference. But, hey, legislators, do more of this yourselves! You wusses! Sending stuff to the voters...! Shameful.... Hehe.

(And here's my tv ad for all you Californians. Vote yes on Prop 1! Hurray for infrastructure! It cures an ailing economy and gives us cool things. So go for it. Hehe. And yes on Prop 3! Hurray for good Children's Hospitals! :))

(Should I have done a nastier tv ad...? Did you know that 95% of death-row inmates oppose Prop 3? Don't be a death-row inmate. YES on Prop 3. I'm a good person. . . and I approve this message. :))

Quite Possibly the Coolest Thing Ever!

(Courtesy of this link, where an even better but non-attachable picture is found. If we have another baby someday, I think I need this mobile! Maybe even if we don't.... Hehe.)

More Disclosure. :)

Hillary tagged me! Here I go...!

8 Shows I Love to Watch

1. American Idol

2. House

3. The Office

4. Project Runway

5. The Amazing Race

6. The Mentalist (so far, so good... :))

7. Ummm...Pushing Daisies (I'm very behind, though...)

8. Ummm...Cheers re-runs? Hehe. The Cosby Show? 

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. George's at the Cove (La Jolla)

2. The Prado at Balboa Park

3. Outback

4. The Cove (La Jolla)

5. Tacos Olè (taco shop in Murrieta)

6. Claim Jumper

7. Bombay House (in Provo; we may never eat there again, but there's no question it was the highlight of Provo for us :))

8. El Azteca (hasn't existed in a while; but MMMM!! Maybe the best Mexican food ever. Right, Hillary? :)) (Taquito House in Perris, CA is a pretty good alternative. YUM!)

8 Things that Happened Yesterday

1. Seth and I met my parents for lunch at Rubio's.

2. Seth charmed all the grocery store shoppers by walking around clutching his box of Life with a big grin on his face (and barefoot, as always). :) 

3. We watched the sunset at Coronado.

4. We saw dolphins closer to shore than ever! Tons of them! We've seen several there, and close, but never this close, and never so many at once. A bunch of pelicans were also diving for fish. It was awesome—and right at sunset, too. Very picturesque.

5. I voted. Matt voted. We all voted.

6. Seth and Matt saw a UFO while checking the mail. Seriously. (When Matt can't scavenge through his brain to find any sort of explanation, you know something is up.... Hehe.)

7. Seth helped me finally catch up on laundry (he puts away the kitchen towels :)) while we danced to funky music.

8. Seth helped me unload the dishwasher (he loves to put away the silverware! :)) while we listened to the Chichester Psalms (the second part is incredible...!).

8 Things I Look Forward to

1. Picking Matt up from work.

2. Seth doing...anything.... :) He's totally delightful!

3. Seth waking up to go play.

4. Matt getting a real job (5 1/2 years, baby!).

5. Our dream house with amazing ocean views. :)

6. The burial of all power lines in all the world!

7. The planting of grass and flowers through all the world! (It would require a lot of sprinklers. Hehe. But worth it! When I was a little girl, I'd dream of how to do this myself when I grew up.... I was pretty confident I could do it. Haha! :))

8. Enjoying art or theatre or a book or concert or hike or basically anything with Matt! (Who always gets it. :)) It's fun to share. And I like Matt. :)

8 Things I Love about Fall

1. That it's not Summer anymore! (I loathe Summer.)

2. Watching the sunset at a quiet, empty beach before dinner.

3. The crisp, cool air! I love it.

4. Drinking hot chocolate or caramel apple cider.

5. A jaunt in the pretty mountains. Especially if french crumb apple pie is involved. :)

6. The colored leaves that stay on the trees clear until Spring! It's so cool! (I also loathe bare trees. Fall leaves for months...is...AWESOME....)

7. The chance it might rain!

8. The smell and sound of a wood fire burning in the fireplace, especially if it's raining outside.

8 Things on My Wish List

1. That house I mentioned with the ocean views. :)

2. Another awesome year like last year. :)

3. Wii Fit. Hehe.

4. That Matt always loves his job so much!

5. That my headache would go away. Blech.

6. A full night of perfect sleep.

7. More subways and trains! (Rrrrighttt.... Keep wishing.)

8. That Barry the grey socialist primadonna cat (primadonna cat is redundant, I know...:)) doesn't actually figure out how to sneak through the window and keep stealing my burritos. Haha!

8 People I Tag

Um.... Ok, I guess if I HAVE to.... Christy, Elizabeth, Angela! Kristin! And, what the heck...! Amy! Hehe. That's only five, but it's a lot of exclamation points. (Besides, Amy loves being tagged so much that she'll respond four times. Right? Hehe. :))

My subconscious is HILARIOUS!

I had a bunch of nightmares last night about a grey cat named Barry, who was a known socialist. Yeah, you heard me. The cat was a socialist. :) And he kept jumping through a bus window onto my seat and stealing my burritos.

HA HA HA!! (As far as dream interpretation goes, it doesn't get any easier or funnier than that! HAHA!)

Depressing Flickr Mosaic

Everyone and their dog keeps making these for their blogs! Some of them have turned out kind of pretty so, you know.... I got curious. :) And since I went through the trouble of making one, I may as well put it on my blog. But...the SADNESS! The best picture of them all was protected and just showed up as a big white space. I loved the picture too much to put a different one in its place. And so...my mosaic is pathetic. So sad.

But you should go look at this picture! It's gorgeous. (See why I couldn't put something else there? :))
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindsaystark/647606426/

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. 

2. Using only the first page, pick an image. 

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. (choose three columns and four rows, also choose individual URL's)

Questions:
1. What is your first name?   Auburn
2. What is your favorite food?   burritos (and lots of other Mexican and/or cheesy foods)
3. What school did you go to?   Stanford in my dreams :) (I couldn't bear to have a picture of BYU in here. They all made me feel anxious! PTSD. :-|)
4. What is your favorite color?   deep red
5. Who is your celebrity crush?   Puh-lease! Matthew Williams! (I don't need no other crush.... :))
6. Favorite drink?   dark hot chocolate (I love Godiva Dark Chocolate Truffle.... MMMM!)
7. Dream vacation?   a year in Europe
8. Favorite dessert?   french pastries
9. What you want to be when you grow up?   humanitarian
10. What do you love most in life?   transcendence (hehe—that sounds kind of funny! But it really is the best word I could find to describe what I love in life!)
11. One word to describe you.  passionate 
12. Your nickname.   Mrs. Fabulous (hahaha! Ok, well, I'm just assuming.... It IS true that a bunch of us used to call Matt Mr. Fabulous.)