Up and Running Again

Phewww . . . after about five days with the internet, I am finally up and running. If my DirectTV had been out this rainy weekend as well, I would have died. I would have had to resort to reading a book or something crazy like that. I LOVE the internet and working on the computer. Thanks to Justin and Kelly at RapidWave who spent three hours at my house today fixing wires and connections that were damaged in the huge rainstorm we had a few days ago.

Luckily, I was still able to make it to a cooking class with Melinda tonight. Young Women's was supposed to have been canceled, so I thought it would be fun to sneak in a class that we had been wanting to take. The classes don't usually fill up so quickly. Melinda got signed up right away, and when I tried to sign up a few days later, it was completely sold out. I called and tried to get on a waiting list - but they thought they may just add another class based on the interest. I informed them that this was the only day I was able to go, and couldn't they just take my money and add another chair. Apparently not. I was still holding out hope and tried today to see if there were any cancellations so that Melinda wouldn't have to be the lone participant - but no go. Then, shortly after lunch I got a call that there was space if I still wanted to go. I was back in! I quickly called back and asked if they had a cancellation or were just adding a chair for me. Sure enough, they were just adding a chair - and taking my money like I thought. Unfortunately, after all the work to go to the class, Melinda and I were completely underwhelmed by the recipes, presentation. . . and left a little hungry. We salvaged the evening at one of my new favorite Utah County burger joints, JCW's. The bacon on their hamburgers is crispy and scrumptious and the fries are the best! Thanks to Kathy, my Young Women's President, for introducing me to this little gem. We have capped off a couple of Young Women's activities at this very place for fries. Yummm! -Julie

Not So Helpful

I was in a hurry the other day, and as a result, had to go to a store other than my neighborhood grocer. As I was rushing to the checkout line with my TWO items, I was dismayed to discover there were only self-checkout lanes open. I ran all the way down the line to see if perhaps a live person could help me check out, but this was not the case, and I was forced to proceed to check myself out.

This could be awkward. Not only is there the pressure of everyone in line behind me tapping their toes waiting for me to hurry, but I am deeply scarred by self-checkouts from the Walmart incident of 2006. On that visit, I had only a few meager items to check out, and didn’t want to get in line behind the people who were holding two carts worth of merchandise. So I ambled over the to self-checkout line, naively thinking that as a college graduate, it shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out. So I scan my first item, and put it in the bag, but the system isn’t reading that I’ve placed it in the bag. So, it tells me that I need to place said item in the bag. So I take it out of the bag and put it back in, but the same thing happens. What am I to do? So I decide to scan my second item in the hope that this will correct the problem. Oh boy, now I have made the scanner mad. It starts beeping, and the red light above the lane starts blinking, and it looks like I’m a common perp who is trying to steal a pack of gum. I’m immediately swarmed by some customer service associates, who ironically, couldn’t be bothered to open up another register just a few short minutes ago. So I proceed to explain what has happened, and they have to call the manager over to unlock the register with his special key, and then I have to complete the walk of shame to get out of there while all the little kids are asking their mom’s why that lady was stealing things. So yeah, I haven’t returned to that Walmart since.

Where’s the human interaction, people? Maybe it's just me, but I figure that if I decide to spend money in your store, the least you can do is scan my items, tell me how much I’ve saved, bag my purchases, and tell me to have a nice day. Too much to ask?

General Conference!

General Conference is always a good time to refresh and re-evaluate stuff - and go to church in your pajamas! Some of the talks I enjoyed the most:

I always love Elder Wirthlin's talks. They're always so relevant to everyday life.

Eldar Bednar's are talks I always like to go back and look at again, and this time was no exception! We all need advice on how to make prayers more powerful.

What were some of your favorites?

A Movie I'm Not Ashamed to Love

Crocodile Dundee is a movie I'm surprised I don't own. I love it! In fact, it's one of my earliest movie memories, watching a version we'd recorded off the TV downstairs on our shag carpet. Paul Hogan is not traditionally someone I would think is cute, but as Mick Dundee, dang. This movie has literally has it all: TWO fish-out-of-water storylines, a love triangle, taming a wild bull with one hand, and one of the best "chasing after your true love" climaxes out there. That subway scene gets me every time! If you haven't seen it recently, check it out, if only so you can hear these three words: "THAT'S a knife."

Mission Reunion Crashers

Kristen and I go to a great Institute class at our ward building. The teacher is amazing, and we always learn a lot. However, it’s one of those things that I often have to talk myself into going to every week. I can always find a good excuse for not going; I’m tired, it’s far away, or I just want to sit. But every time I show up, I’m always glad I went.

Tonight was a lesson in what can happen when you try to go where you’re supposed to. I pulled into the parking lot, and it was packed! Which was weird, because there are usually maybe three cars there. When I got inside, the chapel was packed, and much to my surprise, I quickly learned that it was President Monson’s mission reunion. So our instructor turned on the speakers in our room and we were treated to a pre-Conference talk from the Prophet. It was great because he was really casual, told lots of stories and jokes, and was cracking himself up. He said that he had to write five talks for Conference, and was a little nervous about writing all of them. But he said that should any of the other speakers choose his same topic, then he got to keep it as the senior member. Good stuff.

Afterward, Kristen and I jumped into the very long line and tried to weasel our way up to see him and possibly shake his hand. We were pretty much the only people under 60, and were slightly underdressed in our jeans, but I held my scriptures high to show that I did actually belong there. These are my attempts to get a picture with the Prophet. Kristen did a good job navigating the crowds to take the photos, but I had to be ready as soon as she would yell, “Go!” when there was a break in the crowd. So if I look startled, I apologize.

I Heart Advent Calendars

I love advent calendars. Christmas was always a fun time at our house as we had enough different advent calendars for each child and we would rotate which one we got to do daily. It was a fun way to count down to the holidays. Now that the stores are starting to have their fun holiday items, these are some of the advent calendars I am crushing on right now. Pottery Barn has a cute Halloween house and a cute Christmas calendar as well as a countdown Christmas sock.

LL Bean has adorable Christmas countdowns as well that I have been coveting. A log cabin, a lighthouse or a train.

Brownie Bliss

In my days as a Cougar, I had many occasions to sample BYU's mint brownies. Unlike men or my test scores, these chewy little delights never disappointed me. So imagine my happiness when I got a BYU Alumni email that featured the recipe! Click here to go to the recipe.