Nebraska in all it's glory...

So I decided to come home for Memorial Day. Every time I come home I have that realization that I really do like this place. Nebraska really is a great place to live. I don't even mind the weather (ie, the humidity). Roommate and I are still training for the 12k in 2 weeks. I think after this trip we're finally convinced that we might survive it. We ran 6.2 miles through the biking/walking trails of Lincoln. Side note: they ROCK! Side note.5: I didn't say we were fast, I just said we did it. My legs were super tight after the drive. I think they were rebelling to 14 hours in the car. We'll have to see what happens after the drive home. They may not speak to me after it all. Wish me luck...

oh air conditioning...

I'm currently sitting at my car dealership getting my oil changed and having them look at my air conditioning before the wickedly warm summer months arrive. We apparently broke a record last week with 90. I didn't mind the lack of air conditioning in my car, but the girl I carpool with doesn't like being warm or sweating-she's from Oregon. I'm sorry I didn't blog last Sunday. I honestly didn't have time. (It's amazing what you have time to do when you are killing time on the internet all the time.) I chose to spend the day with some old roommates, one of which has recently become a mother. We played with the baby and discussed everything from "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?" to "If you could throw a party with no monetary restraints, what would you do?" I miss those girls. The year I lived with them was a great year. [insert transition] I've recently had a paradigm shift of sorts. I got a new/additional calling at church. I'm going to be the stake leader for Special Needs Mutual. I've only been twice and they are taking their summer recess so I'm going to get a break, but I'm so excited for the calling. The youth amaze me. I could say so much, but I don't feel the need to express this all online so ask me about it someday if you really want to know. Last night was the closing social and I like any other new leader, manned the drink table. It was so fun to watch the kids, but the thing that blew my mind was the music they played: the Macarena, the Backstreet Boys, etc. I remember when those came out. I was riding the bus to middle school the first time I heard the Backstreet Boys. The Macarena phased in to Junior High. Those songs are SO OLD and yet the kids had a great time. I guess some music is really timeless. ***garden update*** My garden is growing!!! I have peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and possibly spinach growing. THEY AREN'T DEAD!!! I'm feeling good about that. Yay me!

I have a goal...

Last week I registered for a 12K. This concept is totally daunting to me, but I think I can do it. Right now, it's not about time. Can I finish in x hours? x minutes? etc. Nope. It's about, "can I finish without stopping?" Friday afternoon roommate decided that she wanted to run a 5k. Currently my favorite idea in the world is that she asked me Friday afternoon and we ran it Saturday morning. No problem. Did I have a fantastic time? Sure. I had a great time. Running around a farm is all sorts of fun in the spring time. I saw lambs, goslings, and a bunch of other delightful animals (including dogs chasing geese and brides posing for bridals waiting for the perfect moment to take the picture so there isn't a runner in the background). My actual time, not that great. The important part was that I finished. I didn't stop. I wanted to. There were hills and I didn't want to run up them, but I did. It was good for me, right? Right. Perfect reward the experience? Breakfast with the old roommate her new baby. Okay. He's not that new, but he's still new to me. We had a good time. Perfect reward part 2? Evening in a hot tub at a resort with old friends. So fun and relaxing. This weeks goal? Go farther. Done. In other news, I also planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. My peas look lovely. Not seeing much of the lettuce and spinach. Don't know exactly how I feel about that, but we'll figure it out soon enough. I may even plant something else over it. We'll see how ambitious I get. Happy Sabbath.

we interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

So I don't journal on the days that I blog and this would have been an awesome journal entry, but for some reason I thought my mom would get a kick out of it, so I'm journaling on the blog today. [I'm typing this in my bed and just realized that my contacts are still in. Probably should take care of that before I go to sleep.] First, a little bit of back story. I'm currently training for a 12k. I plan on running it in Washington with a variety of family members and then my parents have booked us a cabin on the beach for the following week. I don't really know what the definition of "cabin" is, but I do know that there could be some camping involved. More back story of a different variety. My roommate and I were camping buddies long before we were roommates. For as long as I've known her, I have secretly coveted her REI camp bed. It's something like 2 inches thick and is lovely when it comes to camping trips...not that I've ever used it because she's always had it. On our last camping trip I may sat on her bed for a few minutes while I was changing my clothes. It was heavenly. Flash forward to present day. I got a package in the mail today. Roommate has a bookmark on steepandcheap.com on her computer. A couple days ago she found a Thermarest bed pad for 46% off. It was camoflague. That was it's only downfall that I could come up with, I decided to spring for it. When the ad said something about XL we thought it was talking about the thickness of the pad itself. Nope. Its dimensions are huge. We're currently concerned as to whether it will fit in the tent or not. Literally, it's the size of a door. I blew it up and it's probably at least 3 inches thick. I tried it after my run tonight (4 miles!!! I just might survive this 12k). It was lovely. I'm officially preparing myself for accusations of "city folk" from my little brother when he see's it, but you know what? I'll sleep better than he will... And now-back to your regularly scheduled break in internet usage.

The world is too much with us....

So this title has a bit of a story behind it. I was hesitant to name it this because I was afraid I'd end up with some 007 junkie looking for THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH so I double-checked IMDB to make sure that it wasn't the same. I totally spaced William Wordsworth. I'm a horrible English major. These are things that I should know!!! Apparently I'm out of literary shape. Urgh. Anyhow-yes. Week one sans internet at home. Honestly, it was lovely. I finished LITTLE WOMEN which I started last June while I was in New York. Once again, out of shape. We ran a 5k. Very exclusive. Roommate and I ran the mileage around Utah lake. It was kind of nice. I had time to garden after work (Our peas are doing very well...the spinach and lettuce are a little lacking). We went on a scooter ride to the cemetery and I found my grandfather's grave. That was a miracle all in itself. I'm the child/grandchild who lives the closest and up until this week I always had to call someone else to help me find it. I think overall, I decided that I like the lack of technology in my world because it allows me to separate myself from the scary world that is out there. I have journaled and read my scriptures every day this week. I ran 5 out of 7 days. I cleaned my room. I was social with people that I'm not typically social with. I enjoyed the sunset (even though it was colder this week than last week). I appreciated the fact that my back lawn isn't a dandelion field like it used to be. I did forget to go pick up my mail, but hey...that's just something else to do next week, right? The chronicles continue...

Experiments...

I really wanted to call this one "Scientific Progress Goes Boink" but then I decided that if I did that I'd end up with a bunch of Calvin and Hobbes junkies reading my Beatrix Potter-esque post. That probably wouldn't be super appropriate so we went more for the Little Women/Louisa May Alcott "Experiments". Whatever. I've been reading a little bit more than I have over the past few years. So. Friday. I slept in a bit to make up for the ridiculous week I had a work. I then decided that I needed to over-compensate for the sleeping in. I cleaned my bathroom, did some laundry and one thing led to another and I found myself in my back yard with a butter knife digging up dandelions. I blame my mother. There were at least two 5-gallon buckets full of dandelions, before I had to quit and shower. As I listened to Roommate read me SALT, A HISTORY OF THE WORLD, I decided that I spend too much time wasting my time on the internet. I should do other things with my life (case in point: read, garden, clean, sew, etc.) Then I remembered the summer I spent in a very Potter-esque garden and how much I loved it. Sorry about the nostalgia. Moving on. Dandelions. Right. More than anything that evening I wanted to keep working in the garden, have a light supper, read a little, and got to bed. I didn't get to because I was being social that night. I decided thought that I was going to do so as frequently as possible this summer. I remembered reading a story about a woman who went an entire year without electricity and all of its subsequent benefits. I think she turned it into a book deal eventually, but I liked the concept. I can't eliminate all of it, but I think I can eliminate the laptop. I think I'm making it an official goal. I'll pull it out on Sundays so I can blog about all my awesome stories and such, but other than that...I think this is the summer that my laptop is going to live in my closet. Wish me luck... Till next Sunday...

waxing philosophical.

So I've been reading a lot of blogs lately and feel like there are so many profound things to be said or read or communicated. We live in a time and place where it is so easy to share things that we are thinking and feeling. At the same time, I feel like communication is something that is seriously lacking in today's society. One of the great ironies of the world? Perhaps. Does that make it okay? Not really. How do I plan to change it? Support those things which I feel to be important.
A few examples:
1) I went to XANADU at the local theater last night. Who knew that Australian accents, roller skates, and obscene amounts of glitter could be so fun? I really would like to try anti-gravity yoga sometime.
2) I'm going to my first caucus meetings tomorrow. I WILL be an informed voter this year.
3) It's pi day. There was chicken pot pie on the menu.
I plan on making my list longer every day.
Happy Wednesday.