tuesdee

today i

*ate too much crap.  even now i am still stuffing my face.

*worked till 6.  wooooo big guns!

*stayed up too late to sync and register my iphone which was pointless since i'm getting the new one in a few days.

*met my mom for lunch.

*passed the evening with a familiar face.

*watched mona lisa smile from 11:30 to 11:40 pm.  i have no good excuse for that one, either.

*thought about how awesome it is to get friday off.

what did YOU do today?

My name is Meredith, and I am an iPhone Cameraholic.

My office is an approximate 7 minute walk from South Coast Plaza.  3 days this week I had no idea what to do on my lunch break, I just knew that I wanted to move around a bit.  SCP is the best place to do it, and despite the weighty temptation, I haven't bought a single thing!  When I was walking back yesterday I noticed this movie ad.  This orphan (as I presume by the homely pigtails and film title she is indeed an orphan,) looks exACtly like a boy Sarah and I know from way back when.  How do I share this with a girl who was at that moment in Newport Beach?  Why, I think Steve Jobs et al have answer to such a question!  Done and done.

Dre baby.

Martha is funny.  She really does have some great comedic timing and knows how to lure a whole hearted chuckle out of me.

I don't work in the Main & Jamboree Office Ocean, but I do work close to these 2 gems, as well as Ashlee, and so to this I say "Neat!"

Now I have to go figure out what to do with my Saturday.

Some things on the good list:

- sleep. Buckets and buckets of shut eye. Being a bit under the weather, my body didn't even seembto register the extended visit in sugarplum land on Tuesday, but this morning it was duly noted and I feel mostly better. I am off to bed here in but a moment in hopes that one more night filled to bursting with REM cycles will be just the trick to fully supporting the "save the Kleenex" campaign.

- my sister E was born! 20-something years ago today. What a wonder. Love that skally wag.

- my other wee sister gets married one month from tomorrow. This Is terrif news not only because of what it is all on its own, but because of the gem-like people who will make themselves physically present for the whole thing. It's enough to make one willing to go on a date with newly single Jon Gosselin (pfffffft ok maybe nothing is ever going to make thAT appealing).

- I haven't felt truly sucked into a book in a while. I've always preferred short stories but it's been a very long while since I felt connected to the characters and their gig. I've been pecking away at a book of boo's when I'm over there and today I realized I've missed it! I'm excited to know what comes next. A 21 gun salute is in order. Perhaps a woot as well.

It takes a long frickin time to blog on an iPhone.

Recent source of buyer's remorse:

I now own an iphone. That means I stared at a rectangle for about 2 hours straight tonight.

Paternal

I'm always disappointed by the limited amount of pictures I have of my dad. After some digging, I scrounged up this one I don't believe I've used before: When I was on the yearbook committee in 8th grade I learned you can't republish images.

May 2008

He's funny, he's brainy, he's honest, visionary, introduced me to Joni Mitchell and Moonstruck, and underneath his sarcastic exterior he's got a heart of pure mush.

To the man who's wanted a Harley and a Double Neck Guitar his entire life but deferred to fund piano lessons, a steady supply of string cheese, and dance recital costumes, I say I love you, and Happy Father's Day. You are the dad of the world.

Text text text

Text message conversation between Sarah and I whilst I sit in painful, sinful boredom at US Bank one last shift on the Sabbath:

Sarah: Heya, coming over for dinner?
Me: Yes. I confirmed with Mom yesterday and she said you'd all wait.
Sarah: Ah. What time? We're having fish.
Me: I get off at 5.
Sarah: That means you must be here at 5:01 or else you'll have to eat with the birds. If you catch my drift. You know. Seeds. And bugs.
Me: 5:01 and 30 seconds.
Sarah: You're pushing it. How are we supposed to swing 30 extra seconds? I suppose you think we can just wait extra amounts of time willy nilly!
Me: I love willy nilly. I crave willy nilly.
Sarah: What are these cookie sandwiches with mayonnaise in the middle? South Beach diet food? *She refers to the chocoloate chip sandwich cookies I made as goodbye gifts for my US Bank co-workers and also for the Father Figure Festivities and as General Sunday Glutton Resources. I was trying to copy cookies As Seen at Boudin San Fransisco hot spot and put extensive smotherings of frosting in betwixt each cookie. I stored them in my parents' freezer, as I made them at their house.
Me: They're for people who understand the virtues of willy nilly. And that's cream of mushroom soup frosting in the middle. *Maybe I should also explain that Cream of Mushroom soup is sort of a joke in our family...we never saw it around much until Elizabeth married into the Jex family, and now it seems to be in everything E cooks, which is a good thing it turns out. Cream o' Mushroom soup is bomb.
Sarah: Ah, Elizabeth's recipe.
Me: She told me I had to learn to make it before reporting to the MTC or I'd get a spanking or go to hell.
Sarah: She was right. That spanking still smarts, doesn't it.
Me: Sometimes Jeff asks me why I grimace every time I take a seat. Why don't you just pour salt on an open wound? And tell me how your engagement photo shoot went?
Sarah: We wore matching overalls and stood in front of the Roxy store making a jazz hands pose. I like to eat mushroom cookies.
Me: Save some for the rest of us!
Sarah: Oh, ok. I'll save some mushroom filling.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

I would that his movie were out today. I wondered for a second why Hollywood took so long to remake Sherlock Holmes, but then I realized they needed Robert Downey Jr. to sober up and Jude Law to distance himself from the nanny scandal. Time takes time.

I can hardly wait. (!!!!!)

Behold:

I went to my parents' house today, on my fantastically fantastic day off, with the intent of some laundry cleansing.  There I saw the loveliest thing ever: the hatchlings of the ducks that camp out for spring in the backyard.  There is something so inspiring about new life.  It makes you want to be a better person to match the tender innocence of their fresh little beings.  Those ducklings melted my heart.  

Movin on.

Have you ever woken up one morning and been just SICK TO DEATH of every song you have on your iPod or in the CD case? I have been driving in silence all day, as I can't think of one single song I have within my grasp that I'm NOT overdosed on. I don't want a guy with a guitar (think BYU dorms + acoustic), I don't want a brother with his gold chains, I don't want an AI alumni, I don't want girl power, I have absolutely no clue what my ears are missing.

I need suggestions, my lovelies.

MOOP

If you don't know what GOOP is, I'm not going to tell you.  I invite you to google it if you're willing to expend the energy.  

This is MOOP:

MAKE:

I'm always trying different chocolate chip cookie recipes.  I've been mining for the concoction that would win a place so dear to my taste buds that I could give it the "you and only you."   It will become MY cookie route, and when this phase of life is applicable, every Sunday afternoon I'll bake them with my younglings while Anne of Green Gables streams from the televiz.  It might be too early to tell, but this recipe might be the winner.  I take a couple of liberties -- I used wheat flour, and 3/4 pound of a Belgian Chocolate Bar (with almonds) which I cut into chunks.  "I do not profess to be an expert in the field of [cooking]", but I can say that this recipe has had the most zealous following yet.

GO:

I'm skipping this one.  I've already talked this blog away about Canada, which I obviously and surprisingly loved, and so I shan't revisit that vacay topic now, and everywhere else I might put I haven't been (yet); I only imagine it to be marvelous.  And once I get to thinking about how marvelous some unseen destination might be, I start to get cranky because I have no reason to believe I'll get there any time soon.  Buh.  Not only is my MOOP supposed to be superficially deep, but it is also supposed to radiate serenity, and this section is foiling that.  Buh again.

GET:

A refrigerator.  Oh, you already have one?  Well, my inner MOOP is urging me to just make sure.  My apartment didn't have one until today, and let me tell you, there are only so many times you can enjoy take out for dinner.  I felt at peace with the world while at the grocery store tonight, picking up items that I knew I could stash away in a cold closet.  Dre Filio sighting, by the way.  Albertsons.  10:45 pm.  She's so cool.

DO:

Visit these impossibly perfect dreams as soon as you are able, and squeeze them good!

BE:

A bridesmaid 3 weekends in a row this summer.  I looooove weddings; they're all about the fuuuture, and they're fragrannnnnnnt and pretty and I happen to LOVE the pairings, and nary a Bridezilla in sight, so BING!  I'm down in a most up way.  (P.S. Blogger quirk: My spell check took issue with the way I just typed "future" but not with the way I typed "fragrant."  ??)

SEE:

When I was a wee lass, most Saturday afternoons my dad would rent a movie for the family to watch that night.  My parents had no stomach for new releases like The Mighty Ducks or Free Willy; indeed the likelihood of being rented by Jimmy Eato increased in direct correlation to the film's age.  Most movies I was raised on were thick on the themes of "Improving Socio-Economic Status While Appeasing Demands of the Heart" and "Surviving Child Birth, both Mother and Child".  Nice.  Each flashed a frame of "THE END" in swirly letters at its close, and the credits did/could not scan across the screen.  Good times.  I really wouldn't trade it for all the Emilio Estevez movies in the world.  Here's one of my childhood favorites:

There you have it.  MOOP.

Do you read seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com?

And now I'm going to go jump off a bridge. Good thing I already returned my clock.

I have a class that starts today. I almost forgot about it. Could have been bad. I still need to buy books. I'm not going to beat myself up for this near slip because hey, I haven't been a student since 2006.

Al Roker ripped Speidi apart on The Today Show. Warmed my cold heart.

I was just notified that I can indeed use a space heater at my new job that starts Monday. Saints be praised! I'm that person that wears a sweatshirt in the middle of August.

I bought too many raspberries at Costco on Saturday. I think I might revisit Preserves making. Elizabeth and I made some killer Rubarb Strawberry Jam in September 2007.

This morning before work I went to CVS for some Krazy Glue (a shoe catastrophe needed solving). I had my US Bank pin on because it's hot. The cute little Chinese man who's worked there since the days CVS was Sav-On was there while I paid for my super-human glue. He pointed to my pin and asked in broken English about checking accounts. OOoooh, sales! I started telling him about it and he said he'd come in. When I went on my lunch break I took him the paper work to make it easy on him (nudged by my manager). He said he still wanted to come in and do it there, which was fine with me. I'd fulfilled my obligation. But he must have been tickled that I'd done that for him, because as I was saying my goodbyes he put a Hershey bar in a little baggie and with a little smile said, "A treat fo' you!" It made my day.

So rude.

This morning within 5 minutes of getting to work a customer came in to yell at me. I think she decided to do it on Saturday afternoon and planned for the next day and a half for Monday morning, because she had some good lines in there that could not have been conjured spur-of-the-moment. Brevity was not in her cards. It was of no importance that the error she accused me of was not mine, didn't even exist, or that it didn't even have any impact on her life. She just wanted someone to chuck all her firey anger at, and she picked me. She even brought a friend who sat there with a smirk. It distantly reminded me of when they'd bring a companion to the public hanging of an innocently charged (and probably very kind and dutiful) prisoner. "Hey I hear someone's about to be totally unjustly ended! Can I come watch???!!" "Certainly! Nothing I'd rather do on my Monday morning than enjoy it with you!" After she had her fill trying to squash me, she seemed very happy with herself and left her contact information and barked at me to call her when I had drawn up a letter confirming that the non-existent explosion had in fact, done no damage to her credit. It was kind of fun to do this, for in the writing of the letter I ever so slyly proved that there had been no mistake in the first place, and that she never stood to lose anything. I feel I've edited enough of Jeff's thises and thats to know how to use legal jargon to make it sound very intimidating and high-falooting. Despite the healing qualities of that letter I still felt a smidge deflated and vengeful, but knowing these emotions would come to nothing, I thought to better days...days like the ones that made up this weekend. Please don't expect grammatical structure in the blogging that follows...................


Friday:

• Worked and got off early. Awesome. I loathe the time in between putting in notice and actually returning the proverbial vault keys. It's awkward, it passes slowly, it is bleh. Getting off early was just the ticket.
• Went to my parents' and made some cookies.
• Watched a movie with the bereft-of-fiance Sarah, or at least part of a movie. She fell asleep rather quickly.
• Ended the night with a meaty chat in a room filled with Jeff H., Michelle H., Peter B., and James A.
• Returned to apartment and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
  

Saturday:

• First Saturday off in months.
• Went to brunch (how much fun is it to say that word?!) at a cozy little Galley and pretended to be a Newpsie.
• Toodled around town with Michelle H. and was sufficiently dazzled by her company, and sufficiently heartsick over the unattainable snazziness of the items we browsed in Anthropologie.
• Went to run a couple of errands too boring to inflict upon anyone.
• Went to Hollywood with the two Hayes and was thrilled by the fact that Debbie Reynolds was wearing heels when she left her mark in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater.
• Wondered why I've let so much time slip by in between viewings of the best movie of all time. See Exhibit A.

Exhibit A

• Returned home at 1am with a cookie and ice cream in my stomach.
• Ice cream had been Peanut Butter; there had been no restraint.
• Fell asleep so fast I didn't even notice or care that my apartment was a mad house.
• ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday:

• Ward Counciling. Didn't even mind it. People in ward are funny.
• Consumed copious amounts of cookies on the 7 minute drive home.
• Left remaining cookies in car in between Ward Council and church, thereby allowing the excessively allotted chocolate in cookies to melt in ripening summer weather and ruining possibilities of eating cookies in church. Feel like a bad person for not supplying treats.
• Enjoy church. Good meetings. Missed it a lot working so many Sundays at bank. Wished US Bank wasn't so keen on keeping some branches open 7 days a week.
• Went home from church. Talked to mom. Mom knows everything and is the wisest woman of any I ever knew.
• Ate a DELICIOUS dinner cooked by one Michelle H.
• Went on walk on beach. Felt spoiled to live 1 mile away from the water. Wished Annie Garlock was living closer to water too.
• Received text messages from my brother-in-law on walk. Seems he enjoys his Palm Pre. If you're wondering what that is, talk to him. He'll tell you.
• Ate Fudgsicle.
• Watched Kobe mumble about winning and how cool it is.
• Was perplexed at why the NBA people seemed so determined to extract from the adrenaline flooded professional athletes an answer to the question, "Why is this 4th victory so different?!?!?!" Thought it's probably not that different. They sought victory because it is their job and the obtained it. Just means 5 houses in the Hamptons instead of 3.
• Went to Irvine to watch Ghost Town with Mom and Sarah. Decided a Ricky Gervais movie on a Sunday night with 2 of the most astounding women the world has ever known is a delight more people should know, but I have them to myself -- HAHA!
• ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

My weekend in summation. I like my life a whole lot.