Opportunities missed.

A couple weeks ago, the real Navajo princess's parents were desperate enough to let me babysit despite my continued assertions that I would like to permanently borrow their child. I am slowly working my way into her affection – she didn't cry at all and even tried to follow me into the lady's chamber (luckily, I am much faster than she is because I do not insist on crawling about).

We had a grand time reading stories, tasting home decorations and potted plants, and throwing toys (and maybe a couple home decorations) all over the floor. She giggled effusively and really is a delightful baby. Of course it occurred to me that I could steal away with said delightful baby while her parents were celebrating their anniversary, but I was deterred by a) my Conscience, and b) my fear of the United States Constitution, which I believe (though I cannot prove, since I have never read the far-too-lenghty-for-my-taste document) states, "It is explicitly forbidden to steal real Navajo princesses, even if they are beautiful and as pleasant as a snowy winter morning. Especially if you don't even have a car-seat or a huge vat of Eucerin, and stuff."

Don't worry, I haven't abandoned the ploy entirely; I simply need to work out some bugs. I might start by kidnapping something with less-weighty consequences, like a very small dog or a kitchen fern.

Questionaire (tagged by Cousin Diana)

What was I doing 10 years ago:
Ten years ago, I was (ahem) a 20-year old sophomore at USU. I had a computer-aided-design class with (and was in hot pursuit of) the late Anthony Steinfeldt (I was even the first one to ask him out… very brave I dare say). In addition to my regular classes, I took a skiing class every Thursday with my friend Daniele. Can you imagine a schedule so flexible that I devoted an entire day every week to pure enjoyment? It all seems like some dream now. I took that class every year. Oh yeah, I was also faithfully pining away for three missionaries.

Things on my “to do” list:

1. Buy more underwear (it means doing laundry less often).
2. Clean my house, do laundry, go grocery shopping, plan meals in advance, do NOT eat anymore food from the hospital cafeteria, lose 30 pounds, start exercising, water all my truly-ready-to-kick-the-bucket-this-time plants, buy a water pail so that I don’t spill water all over the floor yet again, buy some more bottled water since the last flat froze in my car and caused the containers to swell at the bottom (which makes it impossible to stand them up), do another RNA-detection exposure, type up my protocols, update my lab notebook, clean the tissue culture room, read 6000 papers and come up with a qualifying exam hypothesis with corresponding brilliant experiment proposals, get a new umbrella, throw away the dozen or so umbrellas that have broken in MA windstorms, call my mom, write thank you notes from Christmas, send birthday package to Sarah, try to remember when Joanne’s birthday is, do the bag-tag blog, cut Chris’s hair, take good-will bag to… umm.. good-will, shovel my car out of the blizzard we had today, air out trunk of car somehow (see bottled-water -expansion fiasco), bake a kick*^% batch of cookies for Chris, make copies of my car and house keys, get baby present for Julie’s baby Joyce, now I’m going to stop because I clearly cannot afford to waste all this time list-making… except:
3. Try a new kind of cheese. Preferably one that can be enjoyed with pears and crackers.

Places I Have Been:

Yellowstone national park
Glacier national park (with the late Jeff Fraser)
Arches national park
Canyonlands national park
Zion’s national park
Moab, UT (with Tyler, Mace, Chris, Amychoate, Owen)
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Seattle (With the late Mace Johnson)
Dominican Republic (best senior project ever)
Washington DC
Philadelphia
Denver
Tokyo
Nagano (Olympics of 1998?)
Kyoto
Thailand (all over)
Malaysia (Penang)
Taiwan (Taipei; was there for a layover, so decided to check it out with a complete stranger)
St. Louis
New York City
Boston
Maine (all I saw (and tasted) was rain)
Vermont (Rutland)
New Hampshire (white mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee)
New Jersey (best mountain biking in the east)
Rhode Island (awesome road biking along the coast)
Canada (Toronto… ASM meeting)
Georgia (Atlanta… ASM meeting)

My favorite place: Logan Canyon in Cache Valley

Bad Habits:

1. Ripping my lips off my face (my friend Tim gave me a bag full of lip balms and chapsticks for Christmas because it irks him).
2. Picking my nose in the car.
3. Being late… I don’t have a problem – I can stop any time. I’m serious.

Places I Have Lived:
My mother’s womb, Millville (UT), Jackson (WY), Logan (UT), Teton National Park (I worked for the government), Gotenba (Japan), Nakkon Patthom (Thailand), Georgetown (Malaysia – this was only for a week while I got my VISA, but I couldn’t be living in Thailand whilst I got my VISA, so I had to move), Pleasant Grove (UT), Provo (UT), Cambridge (MA), Somerville (MA)

Things that most people don’t know about me:
I’m not married yet.

Tag: Sarah, Erin, Joanne, Jill

Did you know I was half pagan?

The moon wanted more of my night

I turned off the engine and headlights

The trees appeared as they'd never been gone

I promised the fields I'd return from now on

And the moon kept on rising

I had no more to say

I put my roadmaps away

And surrendered the day

~ Dar Williams

It’s no secret that I’m shamelessly in love with the moon; I’ve even written songs to it. Two years ago, Julie, Ashley, and I took a road trip for the express purpose of paying respects to the exquisite orb. We camped at Capitol Reef on a cliff atop the enormous valley shaped by the waterpocket fold, ate an entire angel cake and several bags of candy, and talked well into the starry night. The desert sky and red rock formations proved to be the perfect backdrop for our full-moon rituals (which consisted mostly of writing poetry and enjoying solitude on individual ledges overlooking the river).

So last night was a total lunar eclipse. Thanks to Cami for reminding me in advance. I celebrated by texting every person I know (whose cell number I have possession of, that is) to alert them that the moon was being covered by the earth’s shadow. My dad called me and we talked about the universe for a good half hour while we watched the moon slowly darken. It was well worth it – I had no idea a lunar eclipse could make my favorite solar body look so elegant. My question to you is: did you see the eclipse, and did you find it as breathtaking as I did?

NEW HAMPSHIRE?

Chris and I went skiing / snowshoing in the White Mountains of New Hamphire last weekend. It was loads of fun, and I have already demanded that we make a return trip so let me know if you're in. Chris always makes fun of my headgear when I ski, bike, snowshoe, camp, or hang out in my frigid house. He says I look like a ninja. In this shot, Chris was trying to be a ninja-snow-master too, but as you can see, he clearly doesn't have what it takes.

I got two huge blisters in the usual places. We didn't have any bandaids, moleskin, or blister strips, so I did what any other self-respecting girlscout would do: I put snore strips over my blisters (which OF COURSE Chris had packed along with his other outdoor sporting gear; I mean, who *isn't* terrified of being caught in an avalanche without the ability to slumber quietly). Incidentally, they worked like a charm.