Trolley cars, etcetera

So I've been traveling. Las Vegas, southern California, and now San Francisco. But in a few hours I'll be heading toward Lake Tahoe for a couple days, and then back home. It's been fantastic. That's about it.

Who needs a mirror ...

when you have a WEBCAM!


So I woke up this morning looking like this. And then decided that yes, I did need to take a shower. The hair was unmanageable. Oh, and I think I'm going to dye it blonde. And then red. And then black. And then back to brown. It will FABULOUS. Anyway, go get yourself a latte while I shower ...


Post-shower. I used:
-Aussie Mega 2in1 shampoo+conditioner (for normal hair)
-AVON Keep it Clean! Multi-Vitamin Cleanser
-AVON Skin-So-Soft Antibacterial Moisturizing Body Wash in Citrus Fresh (yeah, my mom used to sell AVON)
Then, I got out of the shower, dabbed myself dry, slathered some Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine weightless anti-frizz serum Leave-in through my hair, combed it a bit, and brushed my teeth with Colgate Whitening and a toothbrush from the dentist ("Use the Fuzzy End!, -Dr. Tuft").


Then I dabbed some foundation on, because I was suppoused to be going to the college's counselor (whoops, the appointment is for tomorrow). I used Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in Sandy Beige Medium 1. I don't recommend it. Sure, it looks nice, but it's messy.


Plus two shades of eyeshadow. I feel bad because I know that the brand of all the eyeshadow I used was Mark, but I don't know the colors--I put them all in a magnetic quad palette. But I swept a creamy light tan across my brows, and a sparkly sand-in-the-desert-in-Lawrence-of-Arabia color across the lower half of the lid. And then I did some light maintenence plucking.


Then I swept a medium-dark latte with extra cream color along the lower lid to give me that sexy-anemic-house-elf look. Don't worry, I wear glasses and have short hair, so I have to use some extra eyeshadow.


Followed by some, well, a lot of dark Mississipi-mud brown around and along the crease. Note the hopeful adventurous gleam in my eye.


And some brow liner. I don't like whispy ambiguous brows. So if anything, I lean toward the Sedgewick.


And then some green eyeliner along the inner lid (upper and lower) to add depth and bring out my pretty hazel eyes.


"Darn, I forgot to curl my lashes before I put on mascara. WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THAT?"


Here is the finished product. Just a little lipstick and I'm all ready. Well, minus the glasses. I wasn't wearing them because they have this awful glare.

Well, that's the end of it.

Poor abandoned blog...

Yes, it seems that I have discarded my poor little blog. I admit, I have moved on, found bigger blogger opportunities. But now, I have no internet medium to just ... talk. I can converse about fashion, crafts, knitting (so much knitting) ... but nothing for just old plain life.

So I've been living in Springville lately. It's nice - I have the house all to myself (and Winston, of course) almost all day. I never knew I was such a chronic introvert.

I'm learning how to cook while I have all the resources my mom's kitchen presents. This does present a few challenges, though; she and Dave insist on my no-bake peanut butter cookies prettymuch every weekend. And I can only use the oven in the morning, because Dave is crazy about keeping the indoor temperature down.

I've been fighting between crafts - obsessed with sewing one day, and then the next day I'll have nothing of it but will desperately need to make a doily. Collaging, knitting, etc. etc. etc.

Oh, and this is Winston. He's my lovely little Siamese kitten. He's three and one-half months old, and has quite the personality. The weird little thing climbs up walls and jumps into the shower while I'm in it. He's asleep on my lap right now, and quite happy because he just got out of "the dungeon." He was trying to eat my recently made carrot cake, so I locked him in the bathroom, which is where he goes when he's been bad.

I'm starting college (eek!) on the 22nd of August. I'm shooting for a BA in Communications with an emphasis in Journalism. But the curriculum seems to focus almost entirely on broadcast journalism, so I'm hoping that we can work something out. Oh, and did I mention the FREE TUITION! Yes, Dave works at the college (which is going University next summer), so I am a lucky, lucky girl.

I promise (with a cherry on top) that I will write more often. I'm through deflecting my duties to the empty internet cosmos.

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it? Too bad I'm not in much of a talkative mood.

I know, I know...

So I haven't really written all winter. So what? You know how Quaking Aspens get those great little fuzzy niblets on their branches at the very beginning of spring? Well, the niblets are here, folks! I'm incredibly excited. It was so warm today! Like, 55 degrees! Farenheit, that is.

The trees are dead now.

Remember how every one of my early entries were written while the leaves on the trees outside my window were glowing? Well, it's winter and now the trees just look dead.
This isn't some metaphor about life or my soul or something. It just makes it harder to write. Probably because my fingers are so damn cold.

I like these.

My room Vol.I

This is my room. Well, bits of it. In no particular order. First, my two computers. Neither of which, by the way, are the one I am using now, as neither of them are capable of internet. The astute observer may also see a half-empty (oh, now I'm a pessimist) box of delicios crackers, and the results of an over-dramatic trial from Springville city. This yellow paper has me confused, because in several places it says things about fifteen days in jail but 1) I think it is ridiculous for a pretty young thing like me to spend fifteen days in jail for going nine miles over the speed limit, and 2) I have heard nothing about said fifteen days. Oh well, as long as the law doesn't catch up with me, I suppouse I'll be fine.

Here is a ridiculous pile of papers explaining why several colleges think themselves to be the best in the business. These papers are arranged in such a disasterous manner because of the next picture...









This is a file cabinet drawer full of mail from colleges. My advice: DO NOT DO WELL ON THE PSAT. I feel so guilty. My doing well on this one inconsequential test has killed dozens of trees. Kept scores of postal workers from their families. Generated stacks of hideous advertising designs. And really, in the end, I'll be going to the local community college for my first two years because my stepdad works there (free tuition!). So how much good will these do me? I'm afraid not very much at all. And really, the only one that sounds appealing is Dickinson, and they don't have the major that I want. Cruel. But at the bottom of the picture you can see my cute little toes.







This is my blurry closet. I'm sick of trying to pick out a bunch of peices to a different outfit every day, so now, I'm just going through the closet from left to right, top row to bottom, and wearing whatever comes at me. Really, I've been very lucky. Of course, I've cheated a few times when it was absolutely necessary. But everyone does that. I really like that I have a lot of clothes. And I like to buy more. Especially making more, out of old t-shirts. Something about cotton jersey is so liberating. It's like being in a Coke commercial.









This is my miniature shopping cart that I have reserved for my very favorite books. A couple about Kennedy, some old copies of Austen, the movie Steel Magnolias, etc. I just like it.











My cactus, Will Forte. It has been with me longer than any of my current friends, which is really ironic, I think. I've killed off one of the three sprouts. Which is why you might only see two prominent ones. I named him after my favorite current SNL actor. If you've ever seen Mr. Forte's Halloween song from a few years ago, you'll know why.













A sampling of bookshelves. I have approximately (actually, let's say exactly, since I just spent an inordinate amount of time measuring) 40 feet and 5 inches (that's 490", or 149.479 meters) of filled bookshelves. Like, filled with actual Books. And the occasional movie. And I will never measure that ever again. This is why on my profile I don't list any books under favorites. There are simply too many. In this sampling you can see Roots, the Horatio Hornblower series (a surprising childhood favorite) selections from the Bronte sisters, Girl, Interuppted, The Best of Nietzsche, The Jungle Books, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Webster's Pocket Dictionary, Cross Stitch something or other, Nine Classical Plays, A few old Journals, Ambling Through History, All Men Know About Women, Sleepless in Seattle, something by Plato, Cliff's notes to The Crucible, Flicka, Moby Dick, Lady Chatterly's Lover, The Jungle, Peter Pan, and ... I don't recognize the rest.


A picture of a picture of my darling nephew Jack picking his nose in Teasdale, Utah. He was probably about a year old at the time. Teasedale is really in the middle of nowhere. Teasdale is about as far East of Beaver as Beaver is North of Cedar City. Really that's the best way to describe it. My family owns about ten acres (including a small mountain which my stepdad keeps on trying to name something obscene) there, and it's absolutely beautiful. My favorite place in Utah, probably. Especially when Jack's picking his nose there.










This is Benson, Jack's big brother, also in Teasdale. He's a bit more subdued than Jack. When I think of Benson, he's usually in this hat. Now he's in the first grade (I can't believe it) and becoming quite the science/math wiz. He likes to tell stories. I have to have these two pictures constantly on display--any others are in a sort of rolling repertory. I love these boys so much. Their mom has a great blog, with much better pictures: www.jennifreckles.blogspot.com, I think.




I couln't put all of the pictures in one entry ... there will be more to come.

It's raining noodles!

It's raining noodles!
I just like this. I think it's endearing and human.

# Subjects.

1. My dad writes notes to everyone on the back of those stupid Jeopardy calendar notepad things. Today, in addition to learning that I can pay bills or something at utahcountyonline.com, I found out that the arch is indeed in St. Louis.
2. I'm sick of people wearing ugly clothes to be trendy. Nice clothes should come back in style.
3. I love to print things off on the new printer that uses toner, and not ink. It looks so free.
4. Being in Henry V scares me shitless. How on earth can I be the Chorus? I'm not even memorized, and no one knows it yet.
5. I can wear bras I bought (and fit into) in fifth grade.
6. My grandpa wants me to move out of my father's home. But the only indication I have of this is the fact that I feel it. My grandpa has been dead for years and I keep on not giving the gas card in his name back to my dad.
7. I hate it that my dogs match. I want to throw in a hideous great dane just to piss Leslie off.
8. That's me on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. I wore the dress on purpose because I knew it would be windy.
9. Every time I come back to this list, the leaves are glowing like they did in the first entry I wrote in this blog.
10. Cutting up fresh tomatoes and putting them on top of cheap pizza just as it comes out of the oven makes me feel better than Martha Stewart.
11. I can't function in a messy room, but I don't want to motivate myself into cleaning.
12. My best friend has the coolest boyfriend ever, and I'm really really happy for her.
13. Once in a while, a topic about someone else justifies all this crap about me.
14. If I steal subjects from other people, I can be a good editorial writer.
15. I did so well at rehearsal today, and exactly 6 people told me so. 2 of the 6 told me twice. But what do I say back? They're all in the ensemble, and honestly I didn't notice a thing they did. They're all very nice people. One is kind of creepy, and one is very adamant about me knowing his name, but the rest are just very nice (and not the "nice" nice that I despise). But is a plain "thank you" enough? I know, I should make a list of every one that complements me and notice something they do well and tell them about it. I know it's false, but really it's the best I can do.
16. I was just reading back through this list, and I realized that since I wrote about bras in number 5, and then put a picture of myself, everyone will look at my chest. Or maybe they wouldn't have if I hadn't written this.
17. I keep on wondering that if I was in a movie, just as I am now, if I would be the pro- or antagonist.
18. Today is October 25. That means it is 2 months exactly until Christmas. I desperately don't want to buy presents for my family.
19. It snowed for the first time this season today. I don't know how people can think that's a good thing.

I know I posted a blog not even an hour ago, but I like this photo so much. I took it in the Met in April or something. I was just rushing through so I don't even remember any details about it, but I love it. I took it with a crappy camera that makes everything look slightly to the left. This was advantageous in this case, methinks. The lighting is beautiful. Well, the shadows, really. I love it. It reminds me of Oedipus, but I don't know why. Really, it would be more of a Odysseus or someone more "heroic." I like Oedipus. He really was a good guy. He didn't know that he married his mom. He didn't know that he killed his dad. The only thing I don't like about him is that he bosses Theseus around too much. Where does he get the right? But still, he is a poor guy. I pity him. Oh man, look at that lower lip. It's great. The shadows around it are great.
There's this sketch in pencil of my father in my living room, and I absolutely hate it. One half of his face is alive, he looks like he did when I was ten. But the other half is just withered. No one else sees it. But I can't even look at the stupid sketch for too long because it makes me cry. Just a stupid sketch. That makes me so angry, that pencil on paper that looks like my dad makes me cry! It just looks so distorted. Isn't it ironic that my stepmom paid someone else to make it?

I can't stop staring.

This really is ridiculous. I can't stop staring at the trees outside my house. They're all yellow because it's fall, and the sun is setting over the Wal-Mart down the street, but it's just ... beautiful. Woah, I looked away for ten seconds and it's gone. It looks so polluted now. Oh well. Writing like this makes me sick. If I was some schmoe in Ohio or something reading this I'd think the author was a lame "tortured soul." Not to diss Ohio. Great place. Good pancakes. Clean air.
I hate my boss. SO MUCH. He's a pervert. He'll try to stare down my shirt while I file things. But he's so good at what he does, so what can I do. He even hit on my mother when she used to work there. My mother, for God's sake! Just because his wife is psycho and he has a nasty moustache and he's a pansy-ass journalist--woah, the sunset-glowing-trees are back. And now they're gone.
Well, I'm off to Cedar City tomorrow. And all that ensues.