Dear Body

In honor of a post that I happened upon in one of my favorite blog haunting grounds (Nat the Fat Rat http://www.natthefatrat.com/2008/10/apology-to-my-body.html) I'm writing a note to my body and giving you and I the chance to be easy on ourselves.

Dear Body,
I'm sorry that I put you through Insanity on Monday and that you are still suffering from it. I'm especially sorry that I made you do it so that you could meet your Triple T regiment for the summer (Thin, Toned, Tan).  In all honesty, sugar is evil and it's your addiction to it that caused you to want to do it in the first place.  So I guess I'm sorry for getting you addicted to sugar, too.  I guess.

However, I'm not sorry for the numerous concerts that you have attended that caused you mild hearing loss.  They were so worth it, right?

I'm sorry for forgetting last week that Seth's carpet is a dangerous shag jungle full of hidden monsters left over from the shattered light fixture.  Your foot wouldn't have bled so badly if I had avoided the carpet jungle.

I'm temporarily sorry for ab workouts. But I promise that if you push through it, you have the potential of having less flab.

Sorry for not sleeping enough. That must suck for you.  And someday I'll stop biting my nails.  Just for you, my friend.

Just have some fun this summer and don't drive yourself crazy, ok?  You'll need the energy for another Utah winter--trust me on this one.

Hugs and kisses,
Michelle


{now comment with your letters to your body.  you'll feel much better, I promise!!}

el padre mejor

My potpourri of a list of things that I like about my daddy:

1. He can give me father's blessings whenever I need one (and, trust me, I have used this resource many times).
2. The way he treats my mom is the way that I expect potential love interests to treat me.  Sorry boys, it's a high standard.
3. My dad has worked hard for everything he has and has been a great provider for my family.
4. Anything car-related and sports-related and classic rock-related I learned from my dad.  Let's just say that I knew a lot of the songs from Guitar Hero before they created the game.
5. Some of my favorite memories with my dad is when he would take time out fo his busy schedule to train with me and then coach my basketball teams.  I only like running when I'm running with my dad, especially in those early autumn mornings around the elementary school's field, kicking the dew-misted weeds and pacing myself with my daddy long legs.
6. I'm not sure why, but I like the fact that if you put our baby pictures side-by-side, you would think we were twins.  That's why I was named "Michelle", because my daddy's name is "Michael."  Get it?
Also, we're both March babies and we think that's pretty cool.
7. He rarely turns down an ice cream run whenever I'm visiting from school.
8. I have achieved many of my academic goals and am attending a university because my dad has always been so adamant about me being studious.
9. He dances like a white boy and he's still a sport when we make him play Just Dance 2.  It's also really funny when he tries to be gangster.

10.  He likes to speak Spanish with me and quiz me before my scary oral exams even though we both know I'm a major gringa.  And when he answers the phone, he says, "hola, mi hija!" (I like that).  The best, though, is when we speak Spanish in front of my mom and she tries to join in with "donde esta la playa" and then starts going off in French.  It's like our own secret language since everyone else speaks French in my house.

I've always been a daddy's girl.

Happy 22nd Father's Day, Padre!

new writing blog!

I have joined a new blog! It's through the English Department here at BYU and about 10 students, including me, submit posts of short creative pieces that we've written and we comment and critique one another's work.  When I found out about it, I was pretty eager to become a part of it, but then as I started to read the others' work, I was intimidated.  And I had an earth-shattering thought that maybe I'm not as great of a writer as I thought I was.  Who was I kidding, putting my work up with these other writers for the world of 70 followers (ah!) to compare to? 
I finally forced myself to write something and just click "Publish Post" without looking back.  I have been nervous the past couple of days, thinking, "Nobody's going to comment because they will be just too mortified at my lack of writing abilities.  They're going to fire me from the blog.  I know it." 
But today, I checked to see if any comments had been made, bracing myself for the worst.  There was a comment from another contributor and, believe it or not, the comments didn't even mention once how awful of a writer I was!!  Yay!!  I don't even care if they tear up my piece with critiques because that's the point of the blog--to critique and become better readers and, more importantly, better writers.  In this case, he was positive and gave good pointers.  Whew.  Maybe this was the best major choice for me.
Anyways, the point is, I think you should read this blog every once and awhile if you desire to read some good creative short pieces from students here at BYU.
Here's what I last posted: http://byucreativewriting.blogspot.com/2011/06/hercules.html
Thank you blogging world, for this opportunity!!

braiiiiiinnnnsss

It's only appropriate to blog about the undead who crave brains when mine is so dead, itself, after finishing finals today.  Blogging about undead things?!! What a treat!

My brother and I finished "The Walking Dead" last week. Less zombies in the later episodes, which is a bummer, but I'm looking forward to more zombie-ness in the next season.
I have caught on to the new, recurring theme of a person waking up from a coma and walking out of an unusually enpty hospital, hoping to see their MIA family soon, but then discovering that the city that he loved so much turned into a hub for starving zombies after an uncontrollable communicable disease plagues the human population and starts an apocalypse that unexplainedly isn't stopped before it reaches the entire population of the country.  (I still don't understand why they can never seem to control it when a threatening apocalypic disease is kind of a big problem)  "I Am Legend" was a delight, especially with my fresh friend, Will Smith.  "The Walking Dead" had phenomenal make-up artists and actors.  I was convinced.  And many more are on my "to-watch" list.

I watched an episode of "The Office" today and there was a zombie reference:

Pam Beesly: We could get DeAngelo flowers.
Dwight Schrute: No, you can't get flowers for someone who's in a coma. They'll wilt before he wakes up.
[Everybody agrees] Yeah. That's true.
Jim Halpert: All in favor of the baskets, full of chocolates, teddy bears, and balloons. [Raises hand]
[Oscar, Phyllis, Angela, Jim, and Pam raise their hand]
Dwight Schrute: Wait, wait. All in favor with canned goods, chainsaw, gasoline, and emergency radio incase he wakes up post-apocolypse...
[Dwight's the only one who raises his hand]
Jim Halpert: Nope. Baskets have it.

Oh, and have I mentioned that I was getting out of my car last week in my parking garage and there were a bunch of zombies hanging out in the parking lot by my apartment? I asked one of the zombies what was going on and he said that they were filming a commerical. He was a friendly zombie. I watched them outside my kitchen window while I ate lunch and they would all be hanging out, waiting for something to happen, and then someone would yell "action!" and they'd suddenly turn into slouching, brain-craving zombies.  Delightful!

Also, Seth showed me this beepin awesome music video today. 

an apocalypse started by a song. that's just clever.

Should I mention that I love puppies and flowers, too?  Maybe it's too late for that.

another good deed or two

I don't know what it is, but Someone must be looking out for me, lately.  I have been "seriously so blessed" (a hilarious blog, check it out).  But really.  This week has been a particularly stressful one, since I'm going to be out of town the weekend before finals week (thanks, Tualatin High School for not planning graduation around my schedule...).  Yesterday, I was sitting at work thinking about what the heck I was going to do for din din, when I get a text from Anna saying that we should go out to dinner.  Whihc means I get to play with Anna AND I don't have to cook! Yay! We went to Guru's and then tried the new crepe place on State Street, Roll Up.  It was a much-needed break and it's always so so so so so so fun being with Anna.  We have big plans for the future :)
This morning, after another consecutive night of little sleep and paper writing, I went to the computer services place to pick up some printer ink cartridges that I had dropped off to be refilled.  They brought the little baggie out and I said "thanks so much!" and turned to pay for them.  A note on the baggie said my name, number, then "no charge -SJH".  Well THAT'S awesome.  I went to the cashier and asked "Is this note real?" and he said he thought so.  Thanks, SJH, whoever you are! You made my day!  Ok, you may think that it doesn't take much to make my day, but I had 6 cartidges that cost about $7-$10 to get refilled.  That's potentially $60 that I didn't have to pay today.  Day is made and papers are printed.
To top it off, I'm heading back to Portlandia for the weekend for my brother's graduation/Court of Honor/Senior piano recital.  Both sets of grandparents will be there in addition to sunshine in the rainy city :)
I never tire of this video, so I'm posting it again.



In summation: I have a job for the summer that I love doing.  This semester from H-E-double hockey sticks is over next Wednesday at 1 PM.  I get to see my family this weekend.  Life is good.

Memorial Day

Great Scott, have I not blogged about Memorial Day??!!
FRIDAY, Lindsay had a party at her house and it ended up being close to 30 or 40 people. We played night games and ate food.  It was a really fun party that was much needed.
SATURDAY during the day, I got to run around with a bunch of little kids in a park in Pleasant Grove.  We're doing still shots for my term project for my lit and film class. It was SO much fun and the kids were so easy to work with.
Here's a sample:

{John was playing the part of my little brother. Are we convincing enough?}

{The project's for "Catcher in the Rye", so pretend it's a rye field}

{pretty sure we blew out all of the weeds in the field}

{my favorite!!}

That night, Seth, Ali, and I decided to have a BBQ.  Seth made this lime marinade that we put on kabobs and had corn on the cob on the side that was DELICIOUS.

{photo cred to Ali}

SUNDAY night was the kick-off of our "Lord of the Rings" marathon (nerdsss).  We were thinking about doing all three last weekend, but barely made it through the first one haha. For weekly roommate dinner that night, Ali made us a cajun/Southern mix of jalapeno cornbread, jambalaya and sauteed veggies with oreo cake for dessert. YUM! To see the recipes, go here.
MONDAY started off with YogaX with Ali and Liz thanks to the rain which led to failed attempts at both a hike AND tennis.  Then I had lunch at Smash Burgers with the lovely Anna Peterson.  I love Anna and I'm glad that I've been getting to spend more time with her lately.  Did some shopping with Ali, then went and saw "Pirates 4" with Anna.  In order of likeness, from the best to the least, would be 1, 4, 2, 3.  When I told that to one of my co-workers this week she said, "Wait, so how does that work cronologically?"  Haha she thought that I had said that's the order of the movies, not my preferences.
Just doing my best to stay sane this busy semester!!

Station 22 Cafe

Earlier this week, Hayley texted me: "Let's do dinner sometime this week".  And of course, I can't pass up a dinner date with the beautiful Hayley Shauklas.
I was craving some Sensuous Sandwich, but on the way down Center St., we passed the new Station 22 Cafe and we changed our minds. 
I really love this place.  Downtown Provo is my favorite place to be while living here and this place brings it home.  Literally. It reminds me of Portland a little bit.  And I love that. 
So if you're hankering for a sandwich, soup, or a salad, hit that place up, homies.  For real.
I'll blog about my Memorial Day weekend. Someday. But for now, peace and blessings and sunshine (hopefully...).

PS The most crazy thing to happen to Tualatin since they tore down the old Tualatin Elementary and the fake bomb threat is this.