gobble gobble visuals

i know, seriously!  it's like you've been waiting your enTIRE lives for a few pictures of my holiday.  you got it!  p.s. this is being blogged while watching D.J. Tanner's TV comeback on the hallmark channel.  moonlight and mistletoe, oh yeah!

i think my sister's rather pretty.

i think i need to learn how to hold my hands still when taking a picture.

this was perhaps the most terrific moment of the entire week.  fact: babies love my dad.  even those babies that each and every beehive refuses to sit for because they FLLLLIP out when their mother is not in sight still snuggle right up to my pappy.  when dad was holding julia, she would not stop staring at him!  they had a most wonderful 5 minute grandpa to grandchild exchange.

ok so only 2 pictures.  i'll scrounge up some more.

storytime: EWWWW!

i've had the notion of a teaching credential flitting around in the back of my head for a few years, and i think that now might be a good time to snatch it up and run with it.  this story, from the reservoir of one of my best friends alyson as she taught 1st grade a few years ago, makes me think it could be a lot of fun:

she sat in circle time with her pupils, discussing the mysteries of the universe.  alyson noticed that one of her students (we'll call her suzy, as i'm of the opinion that all little girls wear the name "suzy" very well) had her shirt on backwards; the tag was exposed.  aly let suzy know and was about to suggest that she slip out to the little girls' room to rectify the situation, but before she could get that far, suzy lifted the shirt and started twisting it around.  she yanked that shirt all the way up.  aly gasped, sure that either suzy would be taunted for the rest of her days for being a flasher or that a law-suit-happy parent would walk in the door for an impromptu visit.  all suzy's classmates reacted with squeals and yells, one little boy loudest of all:

"EWWWW!  i saw her BELLY BUTTON!"

in all fatal sincerity, i'm thankful for:

- the indescribably magnificent gospel.  

- my darling family, in all their silliness and splendor, for the ways they inspire, support, and teach me.

- friends whom i love and admire, with whom it is a treat to pass the lovely time of life.

i really, really dig my life.

balderdash

when i was in college, if the time was ripe for some board game playing, the words "let's play balderdash" were, to me, something like, "hey, you just inherited a villa in tuscany and patrick dempsey asked for your digits."  i always won, every time.  it was easy for me to make my pseudo definitions sound professional, ambiguous, and far fetched.  it was my moment to cash in my bragging chips, because i spent time with people who were ridiculously talented in areas of life or business in which i sit and twiddle my thumbs.

but in the eaton family we don't play this game anymore. with 3 english majors and 1 english minor, plus a genius advertising/journalism father, it is 72 steps past impossible to divine the correct aloof word definition, and we put far too much of ourselves into the game.  this, for the eatons and jexies, is the stuff of potential permanent ego damage, and so, on this, the eve of thanksgiving, we are content to just sit, prematurely snarf pumpkin pie, and talk about cooking and movies.  and coo over julia, the baby of the world.

let me be the first to wish each and every one of my readers the happiest of thanksgivings. gobble gobble.

p.s. first holiday sans cameron.  i hate it.  shout out to the young man in ecuador, sweatin it out.

What Elizabeth got in her fortune cookie:

"Rarely do great beauty (booty?) and virtue dwell together as they do in you."

Elizabeth says she doesn't believe in coincidences. 

What do you think?

top 5 reasons to love this pic:

5. shannon's great, and although she's very smart and well-read, she too saw that film-which-shall-not-be-named.

4. it was taken in a kitchen where dwell many people i love, on an evening of pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving dinner, which i also loved with unprecedented vigor and vim.

3. those flowers are lovely.

2. my casserole dish is teetering on the edge of the stove and the counter but it never ended up falling off to meet its doom.

1. while it looks like i'm pilfering around in the freezer for some sinfully gluttonous treats, i'm actually cleaning up! SEE MOM!  I CAN CLEAN UP VOLUNTARILY!!!!

the end.

this song gets me every time.

This will suck the Scrooge right out of anyone. The harmonies and the piano are unbeatable.

chipmunks roasting on an open fire.

fact: the christmas pixie has begun pinching everyone in sight.  

costco and i were up for it weeks ago, but i think even the most frenzied "NOT UNTIL AFTER THANKSGIVING!" of us have felt their chilly crust chipping away.  the season goes by far too quickly, in my opinion, and we must take advantage.  and as if that weren't enough, i double-dog dare you to try to unravel my argument that the thing i'm most THANKFUL for in life is the gospel, in which christmas day plays a most crucial role.  to me, thanksgiving and christmas are siamese twins, the kind that even patrick dempsey cannot surgically separate.

yesterday i was asked what has me the most excited for the holidays.  i responded, "the coziness thereof."  give me a big blanket, a snuggly boy, a christmas movie, and the rest of my most favorite people, and really, does life get any better?  i submit that it does not.

and so, to you my dear friends, i say, "christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please to put a penny in the old man's hat."

i saw it. that film-which-shall-not-be-named.

i started to rip the movie into tiny pieces (not unlike the manner in which one would kill a vampire) but then i erased it (striving to not be such a meanie head oh i've been hanging out with my niece and nephew too much) and decided that it will be sufficient to say there are flames of aggravated annoyance heaving themselves out of my ears, and smoke pouring out of my nostrils.

well, with that, goodnighty night night!

i'm seeing a movie tonight with a bunch of girls. it goes against everything i stand for, but i'm seeing it, and i bet you can all guess which one it is. oh i guess it'll be entertaining if i just take it at face value. still i look at my fandango printed receipt and wonder if this decision to watch that film-which-shall-not-be-named will be the gateway drug, the pandora's box, as it were, to completely losing my sense of self and everything which i hold dear.

ah, but then i remember my parents watched love story, and they turned out ok.

for a really entertaining moment, just quote to my mom the line, "but i thought love meant never having to SAY you're sorry!" an eyebrow lifts, and a tangent ensues.

those eyebrows have their own weather system!

the best thing elizabeth has said in years:

choosing between 2 movies to watch:

"i'm in the mood for something superficial, lame, and...totally against what i believe in."

we went with

baby baby

i'm in heaven.  she coos and gurgles and has the sweetest little nose.  you can't tell from the pictures so much but she looks like my nephew, which means she'll probably look like elizabeth.  lucky girl.

heaven.

i knitted the beanie for the new muffin. i may or may not have made it to match my scarf.  toot too goes m' horn.

another one

no, not another update from an obsessive aunt, another tag from a narcissist. here is one i haven't seen yet, and 'twas plunked upon my laptop lap from natalie cooler-than-your-momma dulaney, featuring:

a bunch of 8s (having zilch to do with a proposition):

8 favorite tv shows:

*please note: i don't have 8 currents, so i'll also list favorite tv shows of the past.

1. grey's anatomy (although the current season is breakin my heart. they're trying too hard.)
2. the office " 'would i rather be loved or feared?' both. i want people to be afraid of how much they love me."
3. gilmore girls 2005 -- horribly bitter that jess isn't rory's husband o' love.  
4. lost -- although i don't know how much umph i have left in me for it.  if matthew fox gets killed off, so does my stamina for the show.
5. the closer 2006 -- i now actually believe deep within myself that kiera sedgewick is southern.
6. 24 seasons 1-3, 5, and i will be on the edge of my seat for the season premiere next week. extra inside track advice: to be a jack bauer protege all you need are 3 ingredients:
a) a flashy sprint cell phone
b) a gun
c) expansive lungs so you can yell out commands, and then yell it a bit louder the second time, and then split ear drums the third.
MOVING. ON.
7. 60 minutes 
8. primetime glick (is there anything martin short cannot do?)

8 favorite restaurants

1. california pizza kitchen -- grilled vegetable salad, please.

2. pain du monde -- greek salad sans olives, please.

3. boudin's san fransisco whatever -- spring salad

4. natraj indian tandoori -- just don't kiss anyone for 36 hours, there's no brushing or flossing that flavor out right away.  time takes time.

5. that one place i ate at one time and really liked.

6. golden spoon (it counts.)

7. yogurtland (yep, that counts too.)

8. the diet cokery

8 things that happened yesterday

1. finished knitting a beanie for a spaycial miss julia

2. went to costco with my mum (which seems to be a new saturday tradition)

3. proceeded to stuff face with many samples at costco with my mum

4. saw lots of prop 8 proteskuteers in costa mesa.

5. talked to my nephew on the pheletone.

6. attended a susan easton black fireside

7. saw 007 with a lovely group o' peeps

8. played phone tag with alyson

8 things i'm looking forward to

1. the invention of 0 calorie brownies

2. a freaking job

3. teaching credential

4. meeting a spaycial miss julia

5. CHRISTMAS

6. THANKSGIVING

7. the new yanni album

8. my dvd of nightmare before christmas being deposited into my mailbox in a cozy little amazon.com pouch

8 things on my wish list

1. a new mac notebook

2. a husband for erin, preferably one who resembles gregory peck

3. 20 minutes with f. scott fitzgerald, another with my grandpa, and maybe 5 with paul mccartney

4. a summer home in monaco

5. the economy to be on the up and up

6. my beloveds to be sprightly and hap-hap-happy

7. cameron to one day marry a really cool girl (yes i already worry about that.)

8. harry potter volume 8

8 people i tag

1. elizabeth

2. margaret

3. dre

4. lindsey a.

5. aubs

6. erin mc mc 

7. hils mc mc

8. TAMN

6 words that, when combined, equal a truth:

1. Daniel

2. Craig

3. is

4. the

5. best

6. Bond.

here we are, right smack dab in the middle of november, and it is 94 degrees outside!!! 94. 

maybe al gore was right.  right about everything.

[pause]

hahahahhahahaha!

[nervous giggle]

i'm not much of a morning person. no i take it back. i would hedge a bet that i am the least morning of persons ever to suck in some oxygen in the history of the world. my most harmonious companionship on my mission was with hermana lott; we were both horrible in the mornings, and we just had this understanding that not a word would be exchanged until we were eating breakfast, about an hour after we'd arisen. i'm groggy. it's a toss up whether i'm incredibly grouchy and cruel or incredibly giggly and loopy. i'm in a race to get to the bathroom. i'm just...i'm just...i just need a few minutes.

so i've been unemployed for about a month, right? (not abiding the last 7 business days in which i temped for a friend whilst she splish splashed either in puddles or in the surf of my old stomping grounds, ROSTA CICA.) i could and should write another post here about what i've learned in my exclusion from the pay day club for the first time in a decade. but for now, suffice it to say i'm stoked to fill out some new HR forms once again. it's so close, i can taste it. that and the "yogurt" covered almond i just plunged into my mouth. i'm most hopeful for this one job where my dear friend alyson has been working. her husband has had her cell phone for the past month so i've become accustomed to reaching her on her work line or through email.

this morning i was jolted into consciousness by the ring-a-ling-a-linging of my cell phone. i only know that i saw it was aly's work number, and answered it post-haste, "HEEEEYYYYYY!" the person on the other end was not aly.

long story short, i'm 98% sure that somehow in the minutes that followed, her boss and i scheduled an interview, i'm 38% sure i spoke all in coherent english, and i'm 85% sure that they still want to interview me, but i do plan on double checking with aly.

if i ever own my own company, out of decency and respect for my kind, i will schedule all interviews with potential employees at approximately 11:58 pm. give them a real chance to shine.

another update: the she-child has a name and lots of hair and a cute little face!

update: the she-child has a name!

we will be able to sing the beatles song julia to her. actually, they didn't plan it this way, but there is a beatles song about each of their daughters. nice work, e and k. the beatles are, after all, the masters of music.

her middle name is a flower, and there is a breed of this flower that is "of the valley." guess what it is for a...a...a SOMETHING! one of these days i'll think of an e-prize to give out on this blog. here's a guaranteed e-prize: more posts, more phlowery, phresh, phantastic posts, by MOI. i know, the generosity of which i am capable is boundless.

it's a she-child!

after months and months of thinking it was a boy, my sister has birthed another little female muffin. 7 pounds 15 ounces. a crop of dark curls sit atop her wee head. that's all i know for now!

P.D.A.

yesterday i planned to meet my mom at the costco in tustin market place so we could pick up some edamame and samplify.  splendid.  

because my driving style is a bit quicker than my mother's on any day of the week but sunday (when she becomes a car operating banshee of hellfire and screechy brakes to get to church on time) i beat her there.  i called to let her know i was waiting for her in my car.

i was about to pick up my book, but then a big suburban pulled into the spot right in front of me.  the couple looked to be in their late 30s, he had a short beard and she had her hair pulled into a messy bun with very cute bangs grazing her eyebrows.  they looked haggard.  like they hadn't had a good night's sleep since the chandra levy scandal.  disquieted would also be another word i'd use to describe the looks on their faces.  so now my inner cynic was not surprised but curiously hooked.  did they just find shrooms in their 12 year old's underwear drawer?  did he just lose his job?  is their daughter having trouble with friends at school?  maybe their cat was turned into a snack by a prowling coyote?  or are they just sick of the sight of each other, and they want this errand to be over and done with, at warp speed if possible, so they can get back to their separate married lives?  my mind reeled with the possible reasons for the apparent deluge of stress and exhaustion, pointless as it was.  what, was i going to go ask them, "hey, so...how happy are you both?   what's eating you?  looks to me someone could use a hu-ug!"  their problems and their ultimate result would surely remain a complete and total mystery to me, but they were right there in front of me, in the flesh, and i wondered all the same.  then, THEN, to my surprise, as she gathered up her purse and he took the keys out of the ignition, they leaned over the front console and smooched.  and then giggled!  

i could hear the hallelujah chorus.  a chip to throw in the "faith in marriage" bucket!  tired, stressed, but still zesty and enthusiastic about each other, enough to lean over to the other side of the probably apple juice-stained car seats and steal a snog.

then they kept kissing, oh ok great, wow they really like each other...and kissing....

ew ew ew ew ick ick STOP ALREADY!  can't you see i'm RIGHT HERE?!

merciful heavens.  sucking face like 12 year olds in broad daylight!

ahem.  

i got out of the car and waited for mom at the entrance, and tried not to giggle when they walked by me holding hands.

ahem [fidgeting with my jacket zipper].

my baby

i saw this recipe for a cake in better homes & gardens during a day of unemployment at mom and dad's internetly connected home. what attracted me to it were its looks (because i'm shallow) and the fact that there is pepper in it. PEPPER! pepper makes it a good cake because in the movie chocolat, featuring johnny depp and juliette binoche, some of the chocolate delights also feature pepper. what's good enough for johnny depp has always been good enough for me. since lindsey's bday was pulling into the station, and she is most deserving of a culinary energy expenditure, i decided i would bust out the big guinea pig guns and try this out for her.

it wasn't as tricky as i'd anticipated. i realized i was so anxious because the last time i tried to bake un cake from scratch it was a dismal failure, but that was also when i was 10. anyway it was still my baby, and as we drove over to macaroni grill with cake on platter, i clutched it close, fearing that the product of my blood, sweat, and tears would upend itself in a hasty slamming of the brakes, thus spreading its 615 calorie-per-slice self all over the sleek interior of one black audi. it made the trip successfully enough, and i'm happy to say this has been the catalyst for a kitchen enthusiasm renaissance. with the hollydays coming, no, HERE, i am about to kick martha stewart's booty. merry christmas, and a happy bday to linz.anderson.

boo.

a few slices of my halloween: lindsey sommer. i know this girl from byu and have run into her in the most odd places ever since. i guess a laguna niguel halloween party isn't exactly odd, but when she lives in vegas and i in huntington, it's not exactly expected, right? she is the cat's pajamas so i'm happy for the frequent sightings and subsequent chats. i can expect her to come along when i gold digger marry some billionaire from monaco and i'm a lonely yankee with 5 unruly, freckled children. she'll probably haul off and move into my ward there, too, and it'll be swell. you know, i just realized this post is going to be kind of weird, but don't judge me, lest ye be judged. i lost a lot of sleep on election night only to realize that prop 8 was going to be 53% to 47% for hours upon hours to come. i haven't caught up on my snoozes yet. as suzi orman would say, MOVING. ON.a hippie and a french guy. the hippie should have worn a headband or something to make it more obvious. my mom made this dress when she was in high school. check out in the picture with lindsey those large flowers painstakingly embroidered about the front. my mom calls the dress "the ultimate statement of my youth." it's the official name of the thing. it's been recycled between my sisters and i for about 15 halloweens, maybe 7 high school time warp pep rallies, 34 time warp themed parties, etc. each time we use it mom will say, almost verbatum, "if someone had told me while i sat making this while babysitting the [insert name of palo alto family] that i'd one day have 3 beautiful daughters who would use this dress for [insert name of occasion], i'd never have believed them." whether that seemed so far fetched because she planned to only have sons, or she just imagined any daughters she'd have would be too obese to ever fit into it, i'll never know. but i do know i love having the good old standby costume.

and jeff's baguette was delicious.

and the ciggie is fake. smoking's for morons. i learned that in D.A.R.E.!

weird, right? they're not even related, not by one single slip of a DNA strand. lacey (to the right of the giant banana man) is quite possibly the kindest person you'll ever meet, and has great style. i met melissa in 2003. we'd carpool to the BYU salt lake center together every thursdee afternoon, and we had a great time. then we lost track of each other, and then about a year ago we got reconnected and had been facebook/blogger friends until i moved back and saw her at a goodbye party a few weeks ago. there was a tackle, there was a ruckus, everyone was looking at us like, "wow. those gals are really making a big deal about this. they should get out more, yo."

and i loved this picture just too, too much to leave it out:

mike: did you know pocahontas was a celebrity in london in her last year of life, before contracting an unknown fatal illness? if i'd been in london in 1617, i'd have used my video game super hero powers to save you from such a tragic end."
emily: [speechless, moved to dazzled tears]

just because i don't want to look at giant rory and loralei anymore:

this was 10 years ago:

and it feels like i won't see the big, tall, blondish gringo in the middle-back for 10 more years:

no i haven't voted yet, ok? i'm doing it after work and i'm completely biting my nails off in fear that something will go wrong and i won't make it.

on a totally related topic, did you ever watch the tv show the gilmore girls?

i would see previews but until the 5th season i ignored it. the thing about going home for college summers is you work, you go home, you eat, maybe you go swimming, you eat even more, thus sabotaging BYU skinny efforts, and then after all that, you're either too lazy to be social or all your old friends are married and doing married things anyway. and so it was in 2005 when i was working at a title company, living on a steady diet of yoplait fat free yogurts and ice cream (pro bone density), and mainly hanging out with the fam. it was the perfect time to get my tv show on, and sarah wanted to share her recently acquired addiction to that zip-zany connecticut mother-daughter BFF duo. i was quite impressed. the dialogue is unbelievable, and they cram each minute with nods to the greats of the history of the world and teases to pop culture. it was ridiculously ensnaring. that fall, back at byu for my final semester, i didn't have a tv, but may or may not have made friends with neighbors who ponied up the cable cash so that i could go watch it with them each wednesday night. i was on my mission for the final season, but they changed writing squad in that last minute and i heard it wasn't nearly the same quality. i'm actually afraid to watch this season because i know i couldn't handle watching them dribble in mediocrity. and so my friendship with lorelai and rory is of an unfinished nature, i try to put them out of my mind.

saturday i was admittedly busy doing loads of important nothings. i was running to and fro, trying to get everything done in time for lindsey's bday dinner (post on this to come). by the time our macaroni grill bday food was placed in front of us, i realized i hadn't really stopped for physical nourishment for eons. suddenly realizing my ravenous state, i said out loud, "i have NEVER been SO HAPPY to SEE A SALAD in my ENTIRE LIFE!" then that triggered the gilmore girls memory and i realized where i'd heard that before it escaped my own lips.

if you are a true gilmore girls fan, i want you to tell me who says that and in which episode and season. whoever gets it right first...or whoever takes a stab at it...wins a...a...a SOMETHING! ready, set, GO!

no, really?

read it here.

le scarf

l'écharpe est faite!

if you see me in 3-D very often, you would have maybe observed that i wear a lot of turtlenecks and/or scarves. i don't know why, i'm just a turtleneck and/or scarf kind o' girl. i done made m'own scarf. i call it my prop 8 scarf, because i knitted it while making prop 8 calls. 

and it's DONE!  

this is actually a true personal victory, because i have a way of starting little projects and never finishing them.  somewhere in my closet at my parents' house are crammed evidences of my ADD.  books i got half way through, 3 half finished scarves, and many abandoned drawings, paintings, scrapbooks, etc.  i really disapprove of this habit, and with my size 13 knitting needles and squishy, cream colored yarn, i have witnessed the changing of the tide.

my next project: sticking with detox.  my sister will laugh, but i am going to go off treats (starting tomorrow) without betting on it, without dragging someone into the sadist club with me.  i am going to abstain through the sheer force of my exemplary willpower.

presenting le scarf, my follow-through victory:

now i just have to wait until the weather gets cold enough so i can wear it.