Exploring the city!

Here we are at the LDS convention center. Rich history, blah blah blah, OOH! A mirror! Let's take a picture!

Some pretty glass thing hanging above a water fountain.

On the roof of the convention center, in front of yet another water fountain.

Across the way, the LDS temple. I think.

At the Daughters of the Pioneers museum, I literally gasped "LIZ LEMON?" when I saw this portrait of a pioneer.

The view from the top of the Salt Lake City Public Library.

Why didn't I take a picture of the library itself? No idea.

RC and I pose with the mountains behind us. Such beautiful weather there.

Towr and I. This is also on top of the library roof.

We then drove through the canyon and pulled over at this reservoir.

I suggested we start climbing up this mountain/giant hill.

You can see what I shortly thought of my hiking suggestion.

But the view was worth it!

Worth the heart palpitations, ragged breathing, and cough that lingered for next two days.

The eats!

A very small selection of all the goodies I tried whilst on vacay. The first night we ate at a restaurant called Cafe Rio, which I truly enjoyed! Delish Mexican food. And the second day RC and Towr talked me into trying my very first sushi restaurant. At Shogun, I had some tempura (?) veggies: carrots, potatoes, zucchini, and, I think, shrimp. Or was it crab?

Then, on to the sushi rolls. We tried four rolls: spicy tuna (which I confess I never did try), the Vegas, the Shogun, and the California roll. Official verdict? Meh. I'm really glad I tried it, though, and especially with the Rachels.

After attending a farmers market where we got rained out, Towr and I headed to Bruges, a place specializing in Belgian waffles and fries. I ordered the vanilla waffle with dark Belgian chocolate and fresh sliced strawberries. Delish! But I also pigged out on Rachel's order of fries, which, I kid you not, were the. best. fries. I've EVER eaten. Nothing will ever compare. *sigh*


And at a fast food place called Iceberg, you could get a regular soda or a mini shake with your meal. I ordered the house special triple berry mini shake, and Rachel got the butterscotch. I expected a drink smaller than the small size. Yeah. These were bigger than a large size. Maybe they don't know what "mini" means? Also? Not really a shake since you had to eat it with a spoon. Yummy, nonetheless.

Scenery, etc.

Some excellent views as Towr and I drove to Park City.


The awesome outlet mall where I spent $200 *alone* at the Fossil store.
Since I work at a newspaper, I had to take a picture of the building where two of Salt Lake City's newspapers are printed. This building tries to emulate the skyline and "fails, in my opinion," says Towr.

The copper mine, which you can see from space.

At Rachel's parents' house for Father's Day, they all suggested places for her to take me. Her brother, John, suggested the copper mine.

Towr: You can see it from my house!

John: YOU CAN SEE IT FROM SPACE!

Towr: You can see your FACE from space!

John: You can see your BUTT from space!

Towr: You can see your MOM'S BUTT from space!

I'm pretty sure it kept going after that.

Dino Day!

My last full day in Utah was dubbed Dino Day. TOWR and I started out the morning at a dinosaur museum in Thanksgiving Point. Here's the outside of the building.

Standing beside a ginormous leg bone, just to give an idea of how large some of those dinos were.

I don't remember the names of any of the skeletons we saw. But these creepy things remind me of crocs, and me no likey.

Another creepy predator.

I just thought this was a cool picture. I couldn't even fit the whole dinosaur in the camera frame.

I think this is a velociraptor. I'm doing sort of a part "I'm scared!" pose partnered with Will Ferrell's "He's right behind me, isn't he? I knew it."

Yeah. He looks much more frightening without me mucking it up.

Two T-Rexes. Way too enormous to get in the frame.

The museum showed other eras besides the Jurassic age. I don't know quite what this was from, but this was one monster shark! My head was like the size of one of its eyes!

After the museum, we continued Dino Day with a trip back to the Fossil store and then a viewing of "Land of the Lost." I enjoyed the movie, but Rach found it stupid. Not that it wasn't stupid; I just happened to find that particular brand of stupid amusing.

More scenery. Ooohhh!!

Wisconsin

Beautiful Wisconsin sunset on the drive home.

Jersey kept us entertained with songs she made up. "My cloud-shaped heart, whoooaaa, I've got love in my heart! If the love is gone, then my heart stops. But I'm still alive. Whooooaaaaa. I'm still alive!" Okay, that last part sounds a bit like Pearl Jam, but she didn't sing it that way.

Looks kind of like purple mountains!

Good old Wisconsin farmland. Almost home.

Oohh! Pretty!

A few pictures I took outside my house today. I love the colors!

Imagine two people making love on a unicorn ... My life is the opposite of that.

Funny stuff, yo:

As I was purchasing some delish chocolates for Mother's Day (okay, and some for myself, too) at a local shop, Kristen perused the greeting cards. She shoved one in my face.
Kristen: Ugh! How come they always have my birth flower on sympathy cards?
Me: Because they're sorry you were born?
The clerk snickered.

K-Lo and I wrote another hit song. And by "wrote," I mean we just sang things that made us laugh, and by "song," I mean it's only a few lines. It's a hip-hop song about robots wanting some lovin'. It goes something like this:

"I was all like, 'Bleep Bleep.' And she was like, 'Bloop Bloop.' Then I said, 'Baaabeeeee, we got to get to get togethaaaa...'"

That's all we've got. I picture Andy Samberg singing it.

The other day as I was leaving for work, my uncle Don tried to get my attention.
Don: Hey, Dad? Uh, I mean April.
Me: *deep voice* Yes, son?
He smirked, then said whatever he'd planned on saying.
Me: *deep voice* Well, just try your hardest, son. I'll be proud of you.
As I was walking out the door, I began singing "Cat's in the cradle with the silver spoon ..."
Don: Great song! Who sang it? (he always knows who sang every freaking song and always quizzes me)
Me: I don't know.
Don: I'll give you a hint. The initials are H.C.*
Gramps: Hillary Clinton?

As Kristen and I drove through Eau Claire this weekend, some creep face swerved in and out of lanes in a jackass manner. I blurted out, "You douche puppet!" Then Kristen and I laughed a lot, and she sang the McDonald's theme song as "Bah da buh buh buh, I'm coinin' it!" She later decided she gets credit for the insult since she yelled "Coin'd!" before me.

We went to the Book It meeting in Rice Lake Saturday. I had warned Kristen that several of the group members were ten thousand times smarter than us, but she still didn't feel properly warned. After they discussed their reading material and gave us history lessons ...
(Sarah: ... four thirteenth-century sisters born into the minor nobility of medieval Provence. Although their origins were not as lofty as many others, Marguerite married Louis IX of France, Eleanor was wed to England's Henry III, Sanchia was married to Richard of Cornwall, who eventually was crowned king of Germany, and Beatrice assisted her husband, Charles of Anjou, in seizing the Sicilian throne.
Jonathan, Sarah's husband: So ... it's about royalty?
Sarah: I will beat you bloody.)
... Kristen whispered to me, "I feel like a moron." That about sums it up. :D

*The correct answer is Harry Chapin. If you were thinking it was Cat Stevens, you'd be in the majority but wrong. According to Stevens' Web site, he never performed the song, "not live, not in the studio, not even privately." Now you're a little less dumb for reading my blog. You're welcome.

"In the end I'm just the mean girl, or somebody's in-between girl"

My Musical Weekend countdown has begun!

Friday night I'll be heading up to Sup-Town, armed with the $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble (sorry, Llew) I received for my birthday. And you can bet I'm gonna wear that sucker out!

Then Saturday Kristen and I are off to Minneapolis/St. Paul to begin our rocking. After many hours of shopping at the Mall of America, where we'll have lunch with dearest Jolene, her husband Mike, and daughter Kate, it'll be time for ... M. Ward! Woot!

Sunday will be spent (literally, I will return home broke, I'm sure) at Ikea, where I have no reason to actually shop there and nothing I really need to buy, but I'm sure I'll find something. And we may go to a movie at MOA, too. I'm hoping for Adventureland. And in the evening ... Neko Case! Woot Woot! (that's double the Woot!)

Did you know I found JV (from Bon Iver) on Twitter? I'm a good little Internet huntress.

And I'm pretty much in love with this print: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15042332

The picture at the top, titled Gingerbread Forest, and this one, Lonely Moon Girl, were recent purchases from the Etsy shop TheBrilliantMagpie. Love everything on her site! I'm hoping one day she paints an authoress with curly brown hair and blue eyes.

Easter 2009

The real highlight of my Easter was making my brother attempt to do a cartwheel, but since he won't let me post the hilarious video, you'll have to make do with these other pictures.

I picked up these sweet treats for the girls in Eau Claire. Yum, yum--frogs and ladybugs!

Jersey and Gram made these delish Easter basket cupcakes for the family.

The hunt for colorful plastic eggs began.

Aaliyah needed a little more help finding hers. In fact, she was happy enough with her first find that she had to be "egged" on to find the rest. haha. Sorry. I'll stop now.

After the egg hunt, they played on the swing/slide set for a while. A very brief moment where I could capture them sitting still and not arguing.

My mom took this picture. She was quite proud of herself.

Baptithed

Jersey and Aaliyah were baptised a couple of weeks ago. Or as Aaliyah says, "baptithed." She has a lisp. It's hilarious. You should hear her say "shrimp."

Anyway, despite three people bringing cameras to the church to document the christening, we got barely any pictures. All the cameras died. Very mysterious. As I stood up to sponsor the girls, along with my brother and sister for each other's daughter, I heard a loud stage whisper behind me: "THE CAMERA DIED!" Ay yi yi.

Aaliyah was baptized first, the pastor sprinkling water across her forehead. Then after he repeated the action with Jersey, Aaliyah cried out, "Do it again!!" She also cried out a lot of other things during the entire service: "Where's Auntie April?" "Are we done yet?" "Can we have pancakes?"

During a short children's service, where any kids in attendance go up to speak with the pastor, Jersey was the lone participant. The message was supposed to be about how the words of the Bible are sweeter than honey. So the pastor asked Jerz if she liked sweet things, then held the microphone to her mouth. She just nodded. Then he said, "What is your favorite type of sweet things?" He held the mic out again. She replied, quite matter-of-factly, "Sugar!" The congregation cracked up. The pastor chuckled, saying, "Boy, you went straight for it, didn't you?" haha.

So, here's the one pic I was able to snap before my camera rebelled. Such little ladies.

When I got back home, I changed the camera batteries and was able to take a few more pictures. Then, mysteriously, the camera died another death. DUM-DUM-DUUUMMM!

I did take a pic of Jersey since she was the first one seated at the table for lunch. It made me laugh because when I was little, I also was always the first one ready to eat. (Cuz that's totally changed now... Er...) Here's my uncle Don with the Werz.

This actually is from my cousin's children's baptisms about a month ago. The theme is the same, so I included these for your enjoyment. Look at those cheeseballs.

One last pic of LiLi. She was shy around all the strangers. She barely left Gram's (my mom) side.

This and that

I've been a slacker when it comes to blogging. But there are so many other venues for informing friends what's going on in my life that I just get lazy when it comes to my blog. I try to be creative on Twitter, on MySpace, on Facebook, in my writing group. Leaves me too tired for anything else.

So, what's new?

Jersey, 4-1/2, and Aaliyah, 2-1/2, are both getting baptized tomorrow morning into our Lutheran church. Which reminds me, I need to buy some white tights. Uh, for the girls, not for me. My legs already look like white tights.

We're having a small lunch afterward at my grandparents' house. I will be making my magically delicious crab salad. It's Mmm, Mmm good. I know, I'm mixing my food slogans, but I'm really okay with that.

Went to Rachel's (work Rachel) house last night for some Guitar Hero. Her dog is psycho, btw. Then we watched The Dark Knight. It was my first time watching it since opening night in the theaters, so I was anxious to see if it was as good as I remembered. It was better. There are very few times when "villains" actually do their job in scaring me, and even though I'd seen the movie before, Heath Ledger still creeped the bejeezus out of me. The Dark Knight kicks The Watchmen's ass down the road and back again.

And I may start taking a closer look at moving on. From this town, I mean, not the world. haha. *fingers crossed* My grandmother's Alzheimer's is progressing steadily worse. If--when--she goes to a nursing home, I'll need to find somewhere else to live. I'm pretty sure I'll head north, back to Superior. I miss it up there.

I wish I knew how to post videos from my phone to the blog. Ya'll are missing out on some cute Jersey & Aaliyah moments. Especially Jerz's "old chap!" clips. HUHlarious!

Tonight I'm meeting my Facebook Book It! group for the first time in Eau Claire! I know most of the people already, but I'll make some new acquaintances. Plus, hello? There will be pizza, and it will be goooood.

Two cents

So, I guess the blog world is in a tizzy because someone stole posts from other blogs and passed it off as their own. (too lazy to linky link) It's lame, obviously, but it's not the end of the world, people. So this person is completely unoriginal and claimed the posts as her own. Big whoop. From the ones I read, the posts she copied were filled with general observations about spring and all it brings to mind.

I'm not making excuses for her. I don't even know who she is. But you know who I really feel sorry for? Not the people whose blogs were emulated, but for all the readers of Chicky's blog. They invested time and perhaps even an emotional attachment to whoever was writing. Come on, I can't be the only one who was pissed off when that Cordy's Helpless Romance or whatever the hell it was called turned out to be a steaming pile of bullcrap. When that so-called author sought comments and emails, posing as a young girl in emotional distress, that was a shitty thing to do. In comparison, shoplifting some thoughts on spring? Not so bad.

My funniness gets hijacked all the time! If I got angry every time it happened, I'd be on perma-simmer. I once had a girl who was dating the guy I liked (he was one of my best friends, so we had *everything* in common) start copying everything I did. I'd hear her use the same one-liners or jokes I'd said earlier, making it sound like she'd come up with it. She suddenly became a literature expert (until I tested her knowledge and found it severely lacking). People, she even freaking permed her hair!

And I swear to God Kristen and I came up with Beardface (pronounced Bay-ard-fah-say) long before Scrubs did.

Is it okay, then, for people to take credit whether credit certainly isn't due? No, not at all. But from what I've been able to see, the actual authors of the blogs that were getting ripped off are quite genial about it. Laughing, even. It's some others in the blog world who appear to be fanning the flames of self-righteousness. So before anyone decides to continue the finger-pointing, how about asking yourself when you last quoted a movie or TV show and didn't immediately follow it up with a disclaimer. Open blogs are in the public domain just as much as films and television.

Let's just hope this stealer-of-posts has learned her lesson, not to mention anyone else who may have been tempted to blog-lift. And if not, you know what they say: Imitation is the highest form of admiration.

Cuckoo-Cuckoo!

I swear by everything that's holy, I'm surrounded by idiots like this every day of my life. (from my new favorite Web site, notalwaysright.com)

Surprisingly, This One Knows How To Read
Library USA

Library Patron: “Do you guys have books?”

Me: (I turn and give a side glance to the shelves of books on my right) “Nope. It’s all online.”

***

Accidental Lemonade From Lemons
Public Library Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Me: “Hi, can I help with anything?”

Customer: “Yes, I’m looking for a good book.”

Me: “Do you have any specific genre or subject in mind?”

Customer: “Yes, a good one… one that I’ll like.”

Me: “Um, you’ll have to be a bit more specific. I don’t really know what you like. Science fiction, thriller, fantasy, horror, that sort of thing?”

Customer: “Well, don’t you know any good books?”

Me: “I haven’t actually read them all, but–”

Customer: “You haven’t? What kind of librarian are you? Isn’t there anyone here who can help me?”

Me: “This one–” *holding up a book* “–is pretty popular at the mo–”

Customer: “How do you know I’ll like it?! You can’t know that. I want a book that I’ll like.”

(I get frustrated and just grab a random book that was recently turned in.)

Me: “Here, you’ll love this one!”

(Unfortunately, she did like it, and told my boss to thank me for my great suggestion. Darn.)

***

Don't forget I've blogged about my fair share of the wackos.

2009, an update

I'm sick of winter. Bring on spring already! There are rumors that next week will bring temp highs in the 40s. And in Wisconsin, that means shorts and tank tops. I mean, not me; I'd sweat to death before putting on shorts.

I joined a Facebook group that's reviving Book It! Remember when you were a kid and schools had Book It! challenges where you would read a certain number of books and earn a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut? Well, I think I enjoyed it a bit too much since my two favorite things are reading and eating, especially at the same time. *sigh* But I digress. I joined this group on Facebook, and we're gonna get together at a Pizza Hut next month. Fun!!

Kristen and I are going to see M. Ward in the Twin Cities in April, and then Neko Case the next day. I'm sure we'll hit the Mall of America, too. Will be a freaking awesome time! Maybe she'll knock some hotel sliding doors off their track again. One can only hope.

And in June I am packing my bags for a trip to Salt Lake City. It's part of our blogger exchange program. Last May, Towr came out here to visit, so now it's my turn. I'm hoping that Kristen will be able to come, too. And, fingers crossed, I'm hoping to finally meet RC and Azucar, as well. (Surprise, Zuc! Plenty of time to come up with an excuse not to meet me, though! haha)

2009 is looking pretty good so far.

I am the All-Knowing One. Sometimes.

Do I know myself or what?

Last month I prophesied that on Valentine's Day I'd probably be watching the movie "He's Just Not That Into You."

Well, can't say I didn't warn myself. I'm going after work with my aunt. (Sidenote: I keep wanting to say "Oh my giddy aunt!" for some reason. Wonder what that's all about.)

I don't have any other V-Day plans, being single and all. Though I did mail out Valentines and mix CDs to my Lib+ ladies this morning. Yeah, you'll get them after the holiday, but big whoop. Better than nothing, right? Big, fat, lonely nothing. *sigh*

I guess I should've known Feb. 14th would be a let-down. My Valentine's Days peaked here, and nothing will ever live up to it. Well, I'm gonna go daydream about John Mayer now, and don't you dare interrupt with talk of his current girlfriend. Hmph.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm so money ...

I have a guest blogger at my book blog, New Dork Times. Her name is Kelly Simmons, author of the book Standing Still, which I adored and reviewed here last April.

Please check out the post and make sure to leave a comment because Kelly will be giving away an autographed copy of her book!

Can you tell the difference ...

... between Amy Adams and Isla Fisher?



Neither can I. I'm pretty sure they're the same person.