A Provo Thanksgiving

I've been off of school on Thanksgiving break since Thursday evening, but alas, I still have to work for a living. I've still been looking forward to the holiday though of course. This year I'm staying in Provo and going to my uncle's for dinner so I will have lots and lots of time to do whatever I want. Here's what I'm planning:

• finally upload some pictures
• decorate my apartment
• read lots and lots (Crime & Punishment, Chuck Klosterman IV, etc.)
• watch some movies & television shows perhaps (Bored To Death, Dexter, etc.)
• writing (journal, letters, etc. (Yes, there are lots of et ceteras in this list.))
• download new music

I'm looking forward to friends, family, and free time over the next several days. And then. . . ? It's just a countdown until Arkansas, baby!

I looked outside today

and said out loud, "Oh it's like actually snowing!"

so I bundled up.

mickelle lindsey

Today is one of my favorite people's birthdays! I'm lucky she's also my sister.

happy birthday micky d! love you!

(the yellow was in your honor)

So It Begins

Most of today was in the 30s - 50s range and we have snow on the mountains... It didn't even make it into October. (It's now technically October but it's like 26 mins into...)

/sigh

Time to shop for some new cardigans.

For Your Consideration

Famous People, Famous Fears

Napoleon Bonaparte - cats

Queen Elizabeth I - roses

Edgar Allan Poe - enclosed places

Harry Houdini - enclosed places

Adolf Hitler - enclosed places

Howard Hughes - germs

John Madden - air travel

Whoopi Goldberg - air travel

Aretha Franklin - air travel

Cher - air travel

(Szegedy-Maszak, 2004)

Now if you meet someone that is afraid of enclosed places you can say, "Gosh, you're just like Hitler!"

Married.

/sigh

The average number of times that a man cries in a month is 1.4.

I am obviously not a male, or an average one at that. Here's something that won't make you cry.

AT&T's Hands Ads

Great campaign for AT&T International by BBDO. Check it out.

The hand artist, Guido Daniele, is amazing.

It's campaigns like this that made me want to do advertising in the first place. Well done BBDO.

One out of every one hundred Americans is colorblind.

Check out one of the coolest colorblind kids I know here for music, photography, and the occasional sleep experiment.

I'm in need of some inspiration for my new bedroom.

I usually have a good idea of what I want, but almost 2 weeks in and I'm still unsure. I also just haven't put much time towards it, but if anyone has some ideas, I'd love to hear!

also................ I'm loving this and this!!

Stay tuned...

For Cute!

Tori & Dean don't look too excited about it, but I am loving those baby seats!

Oh Lady Gaga!

You wore an outfit made of Kermits!

Running with too much bounce just makes you look sad.

Last night I finished reading When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris and was literally laughing out loud. That doesn't happen often.

Conglomeration

Fact: The safest day of the week for driving is Tuesday.

Which is good because I was enjoying a cherry sonic chiller from happy hour while driving and it's hard to put that sucker down.

I have Miley's new song stuck in my head right now. (Believe me, that's the best version of that music video, eva!)

On a side note, every time I look at my stats book authored by Bluman I hear Tracy Jordan shouting, "Blue Man! Where your feet at?!"

Brittany The Doctor Is In

Found in notes. Dated 02.20.09. Patient: anonymous for their privacy. [pronounced "priv-acy"]

Symptoms

deep-rooted congestion

sore throat

red, itchy, burning eyes

post-nasal drip

slightly warm, maybe 1.2 degrees above average

dryness - mouth, esp.

discharge from eyes

slight mental confusion - as reported

impaired judgement

fatigued

achy

numbness in L arm - pinky/ring finger to elbow

17 hours - 11:00pm

Diagnosis

fever

pink eye

heart attack

Suggestions

bed rest and laughter with bouts of melancholy

I Jumped Off The Bandwagon

I made it to 8 o'clock yesterday night.

I actually wasn't even feeling that bad compared to earlier in the day. Then the part that's kind of hard to explain because it's kind of personal I suppose...

I got to thinking. Thinking about my life in general. Thinking and thinking. Then, as far as this goes, I realized that the way I was going with this cleanse right now wasn't doing myself any favors. Yes, it's not easy, but I was making it all the harder for myself because I'm not in a position to do it correctly. I can't go until 6 or 7pm everyday without eating a meal.

I went to McDonald's and got an ice cream cone. That was it for the night, no bingeing on carbs or anything. At this point, I've decided to work on eating 3 healthy meals a day. For those of you who got this "eating" thing down long ago - kudos. As for me, I'll revisit the cleanse once I've mastered that. :p

Feel free to stone me for quitting.

Also, as for all that other thinking that I did... It led to me running out the door with Jules and Mickelle to see 500 Days of Summer, finally. I loved it!

Day II

Hello, all. Honestly, I don't want to tell how hard this morning was. How horrible I felt. But alas, it looks like I just did. I have to admit I had several thoughts of quitting - just giving in and eating as much sugar as I could handle to make my body feel better. I felt ridiculous. One call later, I was still wavering as to what I wanted to do.

I just wanted a muffin.

But I was curious. How would I feel if I push through this? What will happen? Maybe if I don't pass out it'll be amazing.

Let me note at this point that I am guessing I felt horrible because I hadn't eaten anything from about 9 last night to noon today. This has been one of my biggest problems so far, remembering to eat. It may sound silly, but I'm just not used to this! On the cleanse you have to eat and keep eating. It's my biggest stumbling block.

Today's foods: Breakfast/Lunch: baby carrots & 2 hard-boiled eggs.

Snacks at work: pumpkin seeds & pistachios.

Dinner: chicken breast

Day I

Whew! Are you pumped - it's Day 1!

Actually, no. No, I'm not pumped! I broke a cardinal rule of this cleanse first thing. I skipped breakfast and lunch. I believe eating every 2 hours as outlined feels better than this going until dinner without food thing. (Even if you weren't on a cleanse.) Oops.

I made it through work with some snacks I brought - a lovely vegetable medley of cut carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli along with a can of walnuts. Before long I was dying for a hard boiled egg. dying I even sent out texts to two unnamed individuals jokingly asking them to drop eggs by my work.... I wasn't joking folks!

Immediately after work, I started cooking myself some eggs. I then made a call for help and had this wonderful gentleman come over and cook me some chicken in olive oil. Can I just say, it was delicious? Ate a the chicken, a huge salad and two and half hard boiled eggs until I was stuffed. It showed me that the key really is staying full. That felt so much better.

Phase I

So here's the rundown of what I can eat in Phase I which lasts for 2 weeks.

NO

No diary.

No legumes.

No breads, grains, and cereals.

No fruits (2 exceptions, see below).

No red meat.

No juices or drinks besides water or juiced veggies.

YES

Avocados, and tomatoes.

Fish - limit tuna to 1 can/week

Skinless poultry.

Vegetables

Nuts (but note, not peanuts which are actually in the legume family)

Some details: allowed condiments - vinegar, mustard and vegetable oils (safflower, sunflower, soy, olive, sesame). Herbs and seasonings without sugar or MSG. Balsamic vinegar and olive oil make a good salad dressing. Add garlic, lemon juice, tarragon leaves and pepper.

Phase I is about eating very few carbs. Since you are eating less carbs you can eat more meats and proteins than usual. Some sugar/carb withdrawl is expected as your body adjusts to burning fat for energy. Symptoms: cravings, fatigue, weakness, feeling shaky. That's awesome. I mean, that's just how I want to feel. Whoo! "This is temporary." Easy for you to say, paper!

Jumping in today! If anyone wants to join in, feel free. I know... it's tempting isn't it. ;)

Have I Gone Brain-Missing?

Oh hello little blog! I have come here today to tell you about a crazy venture I have just undertaken and it's called the hyperinsulinemenia and detoxification diet or as I like to call it, the cleanse.

I know, I know.

So let's get over the fact that I'm doing it and just talk about it.

This diet is based on the glycemic index - you eat foods that are lower on the glycemic index and your blood sugar and insulin levels stay more stable with helps maintain a healthy weight, stop sugar cravings and prevents diabetes. Or so it claims. We'll see who has diabetes in the end. jk..... Anyways, it's not about weight loss so much as nutrition. It's timeline - forever. We'll see how it goes though.

I've decided to keep track of how I'm feeling while I'm doing this. Who am I kidding, I'm going to complain about all the food I miss. Oh those cheeseburgers!

Coconut Records

Here's a song to start your weekend.

John Vanderslice

Last night Jules and I went to John Vanderslice. The opening group The Morning Benders were great too. Turns out they've played with tons of big groups like Death Cab, then touring with The Kooks and John Vanderslice and performed at Sasquatch this year. Check them out.

*note: The Morning Benders have also played with the Continentals who are coincidentally playing at the (epic) indie summer salutation party. So come on down and party with us.

As for John, he's cool. That's the first thing we decided. And his music was great too. You can actually listen to his newest stuff streaming from his website here. They also played a song for the first time and it was one of my favorites of the night - Plymouth Rock. Here's a video of it I stole from KJ off facebook. :)

Outliers

I always review the books I'm reading on Visual Bookshelf for Facebook, but I decided I would like to post those reviews on here as well and perhaps get more feedback that way.

Outliers: The Story of Success

I first heard Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour theory from his address at the Gain AIGA Design and Business Conference in 2008. (This address is available online and great, by the way.) Since that time, I have been looking forward to reading Outliers and hearing the rest of his thesis.

In Outliers, Gladwell addresses much more than the 10,000 hour rule. He sets about to show us how success is not a meteoric rise, but the result of opportunity and hard work, even for those we might consider the exception such as Mozart or Bill Gates.

Gladwell also shows us the importance of where we come from. For good or for bad, our cultures and familial legacies play a role in our present. Don't think that Gladwell is a pessimist though. He shows how acknowledging the role of those legacies can help us to overcome and succeed.

I found this book to be on my mind even when I wasn't reading it, which to me, means it was well-written and engaging. I find myself to now be studying my own life and how to recognize when hard work meets opportunity and how I can best use both of those factors towards my own success.

On to the next book!

LEGO Does Lloyd Wright

I always loved Lego. And I love these. Sign me up.

School Lunch

Do you remember those delicious square pizzas you could buy at school lunch? So do I... I crave them at the weirdest times. They're so cheap and delicious. Ok, my mouth is seriously watering ...again.

Today I had a conversation with Tyler Severson that led us on a hunt to find out where we could get some. I thought a good place to start would be with the whole school lunch themed restaurants that are all the craze now. There are several in Salt Lake, but after calling this first lead and finding the number disconnected and then browsing the menu of this one. We gave that up.

I then stumbled upon Ellio's pizza. Now after reading a little bit more in forums, etc. I discovered that while some people suggest this to those hungering after these famous little pizzas, most claim, they are in fact just square pizzas and not the square pizzas. (I would like to state at this point that yes, they are more rectangle, but believe me, you refer to them as square. Don't ask questions.)

Finally I found the answer. And no, I'm not going to just hand it over. But I found those delicious 4" x 6" bites of nostalgia. They sell them in packs of 54. The company says they're "ideal for hungry students" and I couldn't agree more. And once Tyler and I figure out how to become an institution so we can acquire some I'm going to throw the biggest little party for pizza ever.

P.S. If you have any information regarding these pizzas please contact me..... it's serious.

It Hurts

I jump away to the freedom., originally uploaded by aliraza*.

I need this. I need this so bad it hurts.

I find it's harder to want to use any type of social media when I'm miserable. I guess that makes sense.

Thinking on the last week (and what it's summed up), I've had some words come to mind.

if you want to be free, be free

cause there's a million things to be

You can do what you want

The opportunity's on

And if you can find a new way

You can do it today

You can make it all true

I'm trying to remind myself the truth of this. I'm trying.

Once More

Yesterday I completed my second semester in a row of perfect attendance. Go me. 

Dumpster Diving

Mickelle is currently in the process of moving. She's been on the quest for boxes and when I suggested the Barnes & Noble cardboard dumpster she insisted that I come along. Apparently dumpster diving is not something one does alone.

After Mickelle gets her first box she yells, "Oh my gosh there's someone in the dumpster!" I thought she meant the dumpster she just grabbed the box out of. She meant the dumpster across the way, though. I didn't see anything so we sat in the car watching. "Don't you see how it's moving?!" "No..." "Maybe it's just like a dog or something, but how did he get in there?" We sit there for about a full minute, staring at the dumpster waiting for some sign of life. All of a sudden this head pops up and we both scream bloody murder as she slams her car door shut.

"Did you get a picture? Did you get a picture?!" she yells. "No! I was scared to death are you serious?!" After that we tried to snap a picture the next time his head popped up, but I swear he looked right at us as I took the picture so I started yelling "Go! Go!" And we peaced the heck out of there!

We only got one box for all the trouble...

Elder Little Brother

My younger brother Tyler is on a mission right now. I miss him. But is he not the most precious missionary ever? :)

The Saturday Debate

Every Saturday I face an internal struggle. Do I use the day to be productive and "catch up" on things that need to be done? Or do I use the day for fun and relaxation?

Now it's 4 p.m. and I've struggled with this since waking up, (Which, ok, I'll admit was at 1. Listen, I've been sleep deprived this week!) I realized that I know what I should use today for - productivity. My last Saturday was definitely fun and relaxing so this one could be productive. Last Saturday, Jules got me an hour massage and then we hit up the huge Forever 21 at South Towne and the new Nordstrom Rack. So yes, last Saturday was amazing.

Here's the problem though - it's now 4. I'm going to Mickelle's to take care of a little something something and then I have to come home and get ready for my date with Rachmaninoff tonight.

What a perfectly futile debate.

What Do These Things Have In Common?

This morning I logged into my email while enjoy some delicious Farina Cereal, which is to say, the cheap version of Cream of Wheat. What is farina anyways? In my email I had received a CNN Breaking News Alert. Ok, let's see what news happened while I slept.

Well folks, here is the breaking news:

CNN Breaking News

show details 12:19 AM (15 hours ago)

Reply

-- Ashton Kutcher is first to reach 1 million followers in Twitter contest with CNN.

Um... what?! Are you kidding me? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Twitter and I follow what goes on in that sphere, but for CNN to email me this as "BREAKING NEWS" ....

Maybe we need to all remember what classifies as breaking news. You know what this reminds me of? Last night's 30 Rock and poor Kenneth who didn't know what actually classified as "important." Who thought CNN and Kenneth had anything in common besides the gay thing.

The Ting Tings

A week ago today I was on my way to see The Ting Tings in SLC with Mickelle and Jules. Just getting there turned out to be an adventure; Jules blew out a tire around American Fork. Luckily Jules and a friendly stranger fixed it all up and we were on the road again.

Now before I talk about how great The Ting Tings were I have to mention the opening band. Hottub. Want to get a taste for what they were? Click this for a video or their name for their myspace page.

Now, you may have just checked those out and thought, "hey, they're not so bad." No, reader, no they're not. They're not the worst opening band I've seen, in fact, some of it could have been enjoyable. I was kind of into for a minute. That is until all hell broke loose. You see, my dear, what was missing from that video was the crazy, scantily-clad man dancing everywhere. Wait, did I say everywhere? Yeah... I meant it. He barreled through the crowd in his daisy dukes and knotted, sleeveless shirt. He scattered the crowd causing mass chaos as people ran to escape his odor and dance moves. Mickelle was even blessed enough to be one of those he rubbed against. She loved how she smelled afterwards. Needless to say, I was most comfortable that night once Hottub ended.

side note: I am not a fan of their band name/spelling. Also, I don't recommend doing a Google search of "hottub."

Then there were The Ting Tings. Jules and Kate were amazing (Jules De Martino that is, well, never mind, I'll let it stand). I screamed. I danced. I jumped. I think my favorites of the night for exhilarating dancing was "Great DJ" and "Shut Up and Let Me Go." It was a great concert. Great, great, great.

In the words of Mickelle

"I wish I was a Ting Ting."

Housing

Why is housing so stressful? The search for the place you want, the price you can afford, the people you can live with, a good parking situation, the list goes on and on! Argh. Why can't I just find somewhere amazing like the Tietgen Student Housing?!

Also what was with the freaking snow today? I had to scrape my car after work - inches. Inches.

Happy Birthday Erica

Today Erica is 17; can you believe it?!

I love having this little one as a sister. She's a classic. In the words of Erica, "I once taught a fly to fly." ....primetime.

oh, and happy half-birthday Mickelle.

I always remember the Titanic today too, hmm....

Happy Easter

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!

"Nothing done before or since has so affected mankind as the atonement wrought by Jesus of Nazareth, who died on Calvary's cross, was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and on the third day arose from the grave as the Living Son of the Living God - the Savior and Redeemer of the world." - President Gordon B. Hinckley

Boom Boom Pow

by the Black Eyed Peas is the sickest dance beat I've heard in a long time. Love it, love it, love it!

If you don't have an imeem account to hear it, I strongly suggest getting one.

To Whom It May Concern

To sum up my past month...

• I had a birthday (24).
• Saw Andrew Bird in concert (amazing).
• Watched Lost Season 2.
• Revisited my crafty side with Abbey (Jules' Valentines Day present & bottle-cap magnets).
• Mickelle got into the advertising program at BYU.
• Ate tons of sushi.
• Saw Coraline (loved).
• Went to the Draper Temple open house.
• Ate a couple great Sunday dinners at the Wallace's & Ferreira's. (But not those Wallaces.)
• Saw The Watchmen.
• annnnd loving the weather these days!

i have a good feeling about '09.

We Are Not Response For Any Belonging

Love this postcard by Purgatory Pie Press. (postcard is above "House of (Post) Cards") The text is as follows...

New York - Philadelphia Round Trip

2000 Coach New Century Bus Travel

We Are Not Response For Any Belonging

We are responsible belongings

I am not response for any belonging

I am not response for any longing

I am not the response for longing

I am not the response to your longing

I am not responsible for your longing

I am responsible; I belong

I am responsive; I belong

I respond to your longing

I long for your response

Now if only I was on a trip so I could send it to someone.

Artstew

Today I've felt a definite theme in the things the universe is bringing my way - creativity.

I watched this video profile on Holly Stewart. I find her hair and random placement of cats interesting, but I also found her words likeable.

"I don't go out and try to get inspired because that becomes too heavy and too weighty. All I simply need to do is to just be where the tools are and the dyes are, and things happen."

"I'm so on fire... and sometimes I feel like I'm just vibrating from the inside out. I just love what I'm doing."

Shortly after, I stumbled across this video taken from a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul."

So I don't know about you...

(Side note: I remember a junior high lunch where an English teacher walked around wearing a sandwich board stating, "Never start a sentence with 'so!'")

... but I'm ready for another renegade craft.

Everyone's A Poet Now, Eh?

Dang it, in my perusing of the web this afternoon I have now found that the Freakonomics' blog thought posting a birthday poem for Charles Darwin would be cool. Hmm, wonder where they got that idea.

by Jonathan Rosen, author of The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature
(to the tune of Happy Birthday)

Happy Birthday Charlie
You come from the sea
You look like a monkey
And so do we.

Happy Birthday Charlie
We come from the sea
But what’s really odd:
We were also made by God.

You wanna play ball, Freakonomics? Bring it.

Haikus For Your Birthday

Today is the 200th anniversary of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, but also Chelsea's 23rd. In honor of all these celebrations I have penned (er... typed? - no i penned first) a few haikus in their honor.

Lincoln
Four score and sev'n years,
A speech I'll never forget
Your hat was the bomb

Darwin
Didn't read your book
You said the strongest survive
I'm glad dinos died.

Chelsea
Happy birthday Chels!
You used to be my roommate
Now you are married

Welcome to the Twitterverse

It's true. I'm on twitter and I'm on twitter hardcore.

tweet tweet.

2008 Recap

34 days into the new year, and so much has happened. January's always kind of odd to me. You feel new beginnings all around you, but you also feel the oppression of a seemingly never-ending winter. I thought it would be appropriate to finally post my recap of 2008 to resurrect this long-lost blog o' mine.

Trips of 2008
1. February - Disneyland
2. May - Arkansas w/Mickelle for Tyler's graduation
3. June - Oregon for Bland family reunion
4. July - Arizona
5. August - Idaho w/Mom for Steven's wedding
6. August - Arizona
7. November - Las Vegas w/Mickelle for Thanksgiving
8. December - Ogden w/ family to see Grandma & Grandpa Bland & Becky
9. December - Sundance for Bushman family reunion

Books of 2008
1. Love In A Time of Cholera
2. Fablehaven
3. The Virgin Suicides
4. Stargirl
5. Love, Stargirl
6. The City of Ember
7. The People of Sparks
8. The Prophet of Yonwood
9. Why Men Love B******
10. Heal Your Body
11. Guns, Germs, and Steel
12. Life of Pi
13. The Phantom Tollbooth
14. It's Called a Breakup Because it's Broken
15. Good In Bed (not what you think...)
16. The Innocent Man
17. Glimpses Into The Life & Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley
18. Eclipse
19. Breaking Dawn
20. The Host
21. Believing Christ
22. Mars & Venus On A Date

My favorites that I read this year were Love In A Time of Cholera, Virgin Suicides, Stargirl, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Glimpses Into the Life..., and Believing Christ. I know that's like a quarter of the list, but each of those were great and I would reread. Oh wait! Also, Life of Pi. :p

I would recommend any of those. I didn't read as many books as I usually do, but I think I made smarter decisions in what I read because I found some new favorites. (And obviously, caught up on some teen fiction.)

Concerts 2008
1. Eisley w/Mickelle May 8th @ Avalon Theater in SLC
2. Rilo Kiley w/Mickelle May 21st @ The Slowdown in Omaha
3. Jack Johnson w/Cameron, Jason, and Shara August 18th @ Usana in West Valley
4. Rooney w/Jules & Courtney Sept 13th @ Spoon Me in Provo
5. The Mountain Goats w/Tyler, Meagan, Eric, Eliza, Ellen, & more Oct 18th @ In The Venue in SLC

Music of 2008
*Note: I won't explain this list too much, but it is not a list of my favorites of the year...
1. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular album
2. Rilo Kiley - Silver Living
3. The Weepies - Hideaway album
4. Lady Gaga - Just Dance
5. Journey - Don't Stop Believing
6. Brandi Carlile - The Story album
7. MIA - Paper Airplanes
8. Meiko - Boys With Girlfriends
9. Muse - Absolution album

Other Highlights
*Note: I should say, highlights that I'll mention in this blog. ;)
1. Getting in my first car accident in February, then again. (see post about 2nd incident)
2. Crystal coming to visit in April.
3. Tyler's graduation in May.
4. Dropping Tyler off at the MTC in August.
5. A wildly unplanned Halloween night.
6. Voted for the first time in November. (and tried to buy a vote, at least I got ice cream out of it)
7. Chelsea's wedding in November.
8. One year anniversary with SHC in November.
9. Semester of perfect attendance this fall.
10. First Jazz (/NBA) game in December