Variety is the Spice of Life

1. My first post: My First Memory- Fitting eh? This blog started as a way to write my life story (thus the name...) and I figured what better way to start my life story than to write my first memory?

2. The post I enjoyed writing the most: Dreams- This was a hard decision. There are a lot of posts I like to do. Most of them actually. I really like doing my "I Can Vouch for That" posts and my childhood memory stories, but I think I looked forward to working on this one the most. It was exciting to wake up just about every morning and have at least one cool thing to write about. And it was fun to read back through my dreams and see what the common themes were. It's amazing how much you remember about your dreams when you make a conscious effort to keep track of them.

3. A post which had a great discussion: Then I Wake Up and Realize it Was All Just a Bad Dream- I had fun trying to make my decision on this one. There are so many funny and great comments on a lot of my posts. Ultimately I really liked this one the best. Keep those comments coming! That's definitely my favorite part of blogging.

4. A post on someone else’s blog that I wish I'd written: Thank You, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, or, Maybe I Like Food Just a Little- Geez this was really hard to choose. There are so many wonderful blogs that have so many wonderful posts and I covet every single one of them. However, Rachel, my incredibly witty, funny, adorably fiery sister-in-law garners most of my blog envy. She's an incredible writer and I love how her personality is so apparent in her posts. This post is definitely one of my very favorites.

5. My most helpful post: I Can Vouch for That- I really like doing these posts. I'd say these are my most helpful though because I'm always getting people asking me what that one product was that I recommended on my blog. I'm pretty much like a small scale Oprah. I should be getting royalties.

6. The post with a title that I am proud of: These Mutilated Home-Made Tortillas are a Product of My Love for You- I've somewhat recently discovered that I really like to come up with post titles. It's kind of fun!

7. A post that I wish more people had read: The Ping Pong Table- I don't know if I could really pin point a post that I thought people hadn't read. I think some posts just don't generate as much commenting as others, but I don't think it necessarily reflects the number of readers. However, I think maybe some of my earlier stuff gets overlooked simply because it's too daunting to go through all those past posts and "catch up" on all of them. That's why I picked this one.

8. The post I think is the funniest/most clever: They're at it Again- This pretty much sums up the quirks and craziness that lurk underneath my seemingly calm demeanor.

9. The post I want to erase: Why You Will Never See Ads on My Blog- I was having a bad day and this just ended up sounding like I was fishing for compliments. You all dealt with it very well. I would have written something along the lines of "stop your whining." I really hate this post but I figure it's all part of the learning curve with this blogging stuff. I try to put more thought into whether I really like posts before I post them now.

10. The post that I spent the most time on: Wildflowers 101- You have no idea how much time I spent editing photos and identifying those flowers. It seriously took forever.

11. The post I spent the least time on that produced the most comments: Is Lady Gaga a Man?- Sometimes you write those quick and dirty posts that take about 5 minutes and they somehow manage to generate a large amount of response. I don't know why that is, but I wish I could crack the code.

12. My most visually interesting post: Bragging Rights- I can't really take credit for the visual interest in this post as all the photos are my dad's! But, it's by far the most pleasing to the eye...

13. The post that reflects my personality the most: My Biggest Fan- There you have it. Proof that I'm insane. Or a narcissist. Or possibly both.


I'd like to know what you think are your best posts. Feel free to steal these questions and answer them on your own blog!

I got the idea for this blog post here.

Wildflowers 101

If you'll recall from my last post, I mentioned I would be doing a post about Utah wildflowers. During that hike I started taking pictures of all the different flowers I saw and was amazed at the huge variety! It actually inspired me to go get the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers: Western Region  (I love those books!) so that I could identify the wildflowers I saw. It always drives me crazy when I don't know the names of plants and I am severly lacking in my knowledge of wildflowers.

So, with help from my new fabulous book and our good friend, the Internets, I've identified the flowers I saw to the best of my ability. Feel free to leave me a comment and tell me if I've made any errors (as I'm sure I have!) or let me know if I've captured one of your favorites.

1. Sego Lily

I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't know this was a Sego Lily. I had no idea what a Sego Lily looked like and I probably should seeing as how it's the UTAH STATE FLOWER. {hanging my head in shame} I figured a Sego Lily was some ugly weed or something after that Seagull state bird fiasco (YES I know the backstory. NO I still don't like your choice UTAH.) I guess you've redeemed yourself a little with this one.

2. Balsam Root Arrowleaf

3. Blue Pod Lupine

(not 100% sure it's Blue Pod, but I'm pretty sure it's at least a variety of Lupine)

4. Nodding Microseris

5. Plains Prickly Pear

6. Roundleaf Groundsel

7. Spreading Fleabane (aka Blue Aster)

8. Bull Thistle

I was pretty excited that I caught the huge bumblebee in this one & his little buddy in the background

9. Utah Sweet Pea

10. Low Larkspur

11. Western Wallflower

Did you know there's actually a flower called a "wallflower"?!

12. Butter-and-Eggs

These looked like wild snapdragons, although I couldn't make them talk...

13. Yarrow (aka Milfoil)

Bonus: Crescent Milkvetch

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The Village Bicycle

This is a list of some of the vehicles I've driven in my lifetime... not necessarily owned. Most model years are approximations.

1. Chevy S-10 Pickup 1996
2. Dodge Ram Pickup 1998
3. Ford Ranger Pickup 2001
4. Jeep Wrangler 1998
5. Nissan Quest Minivan 1994

6. Toyota Corolla 1996
7. Subaru WRX 2004
8. Nissan Xterra 2001
9. Pontiac Grandprix 1998
10. Mazda 3 Hatchback 2006
11. Honda Accord 1994
12. Toyota 4 Runner 1986
13. Hummer H1 1993

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Thursday 13: Things That Must Go

1. "Yellow" trucking company and their ORANGE trucks.
2. Fast food places (i.e. Taco Bell) reinventing the taco every week. It's all the same thing! 
3. Cabelas Catalogs... seriously guys, this is getting ridiculous. First the mother-of-all Cabelas catalogs. As if that weren't enough, we've recently received the following individual catalogs: fishing, fly-fishing, archery, hunting, men's fashion, camping, and boating. I'm sure there are more than that. Seth actually made a comment the other day about how he thought maybe Cabelas had gone out of business because we hadn't received any catalogs lately. I informed him we had in fact received two that week already... I'd just picked up the mail so he hadn't seen them. I half expect to see the following catalogs from Cabelas sometime soon: elephant safari, deep sea fishing for great white sharks, night vision special, and taxidermy.
4. Women's clothes being twice the price of Men's (and they still don't fit right).
5. The built in bagging scale on the 'self-checkout' lanes at the grocery store. I scanned the stupid item... why you need to verify it's sitting in a bag? If I wanted to steal said item, I would have!
6. And along those same lines... grocery stores that get rid of all but two standard checkout lanes (one of which is 10 items or less) and have 15 other self-checkout lanes (all filled with people who couldn't check their own groceries if their lives depended on it). Can you tell I'm the one who does the grocery shopping?
7. Cell phone companies still charging by the minute and for every single little application. Maybe I would buy your stupid iphone if I didn't have to give you the equivalent of a monthly mortgage in usage fees each month. Until you charge reasonable rates for these minuscule services, I'm keeping my outdated flip phone with accompanying antenna. Go ahead and try and take it from me. I dare you.
8. Also related to cell phones is the slang word for application or "App." I hate that word. "Apps" this and "apps" that. You can take your stupid "apps" and stick 'em where the sun don't shine.
9. Refilling my flour container. Or sugar. Or anything that requires me to pour out of one of those giant dog-food type bags. It's impossible to do this transfer without creating a white powdery mess.
10. Twitter. The most pointless and annoying invention ever.
11. The Redbox a block away from our apartment that never EVER works.
12. The typical sunscreen smell. I don't know what chemical gives it that smell but I hate it. Maybe I've just been conditioned to hate it because I'm forced to wear sunscreen wherever I go. Why haven't they invented a sunscreen pill yet? It would probably cause abdominal cramping and cottonmouth, but at least it wouldn't smell or drip into my eyes and sting.
13. Cleaning my computer keyboard. It's pretty much impossible. They need to make these things machine washable.

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Thursday 13: Fish Porn

 Seth and I have been out fishing a lot lately and have about a million pictures of fish we've caught. So, I figured I'd do a photo montage of our fish porn so I could show off some of these babies! I really should make you pay for viewing these...

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six 

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

 Eleven

Twelve 

I just thought this was a great release shot

Thirteen 

That's right... two fish at the same time... AGAIN!

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Thursday 13: My Favorite Posts

This week just happens to be my two year "blogiversary." I've written over 250 posts. Digging through 250 posts is a pretty daunting task for a newer reader so I figured I'd help you out. As a celebration of two whole years of blogging, I'm re-posting not only the entries that are my favorites, but the ones I think give the best feel of who I am. If you've been around for a while (thank you!), come reminisce with me... there's some good stuff here (if I don't say so myself!)

1. The Ping Pong Table

2. Kindergarten

3. What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?

4. What's for Dinner?

5. Arachnophobia

6. Oh Great We're Gonna Die

7. My Biggest Fan

8. One Fry Short of a Happy Meal

9. Muscle Motion

10. Danger is My Middle Name

11. They're at it Again

12. Retro-Active Fortune Cookies and the Women Who Love Them

13. My New Apprentice

So after digging through all my posts, I realized my favorite ones are about my childhood memories. Of course that's what the original theme of this blog was... to write down my life story one memory at a time. I still try to write about my childhood memories now and then, but I haven't made a concerted effort to do so on a regular basis. I'm going to try and do more of an even mix of the past and the present from now on. Get back to the roots of this blog and what makes it fun.

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Thursday 13: My Maladies

Here are thirteen illnesses or injuries I've sustained in my life thus far:

1. Broken wrist
2. Dislocated pinkie
3. Strep Throat
4. Shingles
5. Hernia
6. Stitches (cut head open)
7. Allergies (weeds, trees and grasses)
8. UTI
9. Pink Eye
10. Gingival Graft
11. Deviated Septum
12. Enlarged  Saggy Nose Balls (aka turbinates)
13. Torticollis

Wow I'm surprised I was able to come up with all that stuff! I'm actually pretty lucky health-wise as I hardly ever get sick.  Must be good genes. Or all that food I eat.

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Thursday 13: My Last Meal

I thought I should get my "last meal" list together just in case I'm on death row sometime. You gotta be ready with that kind of stuff, those prison wardens don't fool around. Plus, it's the responsible thing to do. It's one of those "end of life" tasks you need to prepare. Like a will... or a life insurance beneficiary.

1. Chicken Flavored Rice-a-Roni
2. Stuffing
3. A thick ribeye steak, medium rare with sauteed mushrooms
4. Mixed Berry Pie with Haagen Daaz Vanilla Bean Icecream
5. Roasted brussels sprouts
6. Seafood Pasta from Gabor Bros.
7. Fresh French bread with butter
8. Red Iguana's Puntas de filete de la Nortena
9. Market Street's Clam Chowder
10. Humbolt Fog goat cheese with mini toast crackers
11. Mashed Potatoes
12. Spicy Tuna Tempura Roll from Thaifoon
13. Beer Battered Fries

What would YOU choose?

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Thursday 13: Right Now

1. I am thinking… I need to wash my hands because they smell like sandwiches.

2. I am thankful for… this time in my life. I've got love, sufficient money, and enough free time to enjoy both.

3. From the kitchen… made some Beef and Broccoli stir-fry tonight for dinner. Come back later this week for the recipe and a detailed review!

4. I am wearing… A light blue Old Navy t-shirt with purple flowers on it, a hooded sweatshirt, jeans and my ugly brown clunky work shoes.


5. I am creating… A test to measure the performance of a heat exchanger.


6. I am going… to run a 5k this weekend. Hope I don't die!


7. I am reading… Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt and My Old Man by Amy Sohn


8. I am hoping… The rain will hold off while I do my grocery shopping this evening.


9. I am hearing… A basketball game on t.v. and the water running at the kitchen sink where my husband is doing dishes.


10. Around the house… I still have several loads of laundry to fold from last week! But at least I dusted.


11. One of my favorite things… When my husband leaves for work in the morning and pulls all the blankets up on me to keep me nice and snugly warm for another hour until I have to get up.


12. A few plans for the rest of the week… Grocery shopping tonight. T.V. night tomorrow. 5k on Saturday and probably a fly fishing jaunt up on the Weber on Sunday.


13. A picture to share…

Seth thought he'd finally tied into a "big 'ol brown" up on the Weber River a couple weeks ago. I think they call them 'suckers' for a reason.

(Borrowed from Fond of Snape)

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Thursday 13: Thirteen Thursday 13 Ideas!

Every week I sit here and try to think of another Thursday 13 idea. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to come up with 13 usable ideas, but here they are (in my opinion anyway). Feel free to use them for your next Thursday 13 and leave me a message if you do. I know I'm set for the next 13 weeks!

1. 13 Favorite Recipes
2. 13 Items in My Shower
3. 13 Pictures of Fish I've Caught
4. 13 Favorite Places to Fish
5. 13 Things That Must Go (things that irritate you)
6. 13 Foods at My Last Meal
7. 13 Hairstyles I'd Have if I Were Brave Enough
8. 13 Favorite Flavors of Icecream
9. 13 Books Worth Re-Reading
10. 13 Maladies I've Had
11. 13 Gifts for Mom
12. 13 Things on My Wishlist
13. My Top 13 Blog Posts

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Thursday 13: My Life in Shoes

This week I chose the 13 pairs of shoes in my closet that I wear the most. Some of these shoes I wear by choice, others are a requirement, but I wear them all for one thing or another.

1. I wear these shoes almost every week day. Not the cutest by any means, but I have to wear steel toed shoes to work and this was about the best of all the shoes I had to choose from. Yeah, they're a bit hashed.

2. These Asics were my first real running shoes. I still think they look hot and they're really comfortable. Sadly, they're at the end of their life, but I still like to walk or run in them on occasion.

3. These are currently my very favorite shoes to wear. They're easy to slip on and off and look good with everything. They are a metallic copper color, so they're not so boring as brown or black. Plus they were super cheap.

4. These are my "Danners." I wear these on any kind of outdoorsy excursion. They're also the shoes I wear as my spare when I go out fly fishing (gotta have some dry shoes to change into!)

5. These shoes are fairly new to my closet. I got them on the spur of the moment so I wouldn't have to wear my grubby work shoes on a date with Seth. Very similar to my copper flats which will need replacing soon anyway!

6. Of all these shoes, I probably wear these the least. Well, at least this time of year. That may change come summer time. Most of my nicer shoes (aka heels) aren't the best for wearing around all day as they start to give me blisters, so they don't come out of the closet too much.

7. I got these as replacements for my other running shoes. They're not the cutest with their Pepto pink color, but I wanted to try a "minimalist shoe" after reading "Born to Run" and I found these for cheap. So far they're working out great and the pink is actually growing on me.

8. These are my Simms fly fishing boots. I wear them just about every weekend. They've got the new Vibram rubber soles instead of felt and I love them!

9. These are my cowboy boots. I don't get to wear these much either, but they're really comfortable and I wear them any time I get a chance. No that's not real ostrich.

10. I wear these shoes anytime I need to do a lot of walking and/or socks are needed. They're my only pair of somewhat stylish shoes that I can wear socks with.

11. When I need to wear a nice pair of shoes, these are the ones I normally choose. They are fairly comfortable, look nice, and go with everything.

12. These are a second pair of steel-toed work shoes. I think they're cuter than my ugly clunky brown ones, but sadly they're less comfortable and are a bit too narrow for my feet and give me blisters.

13. Last, but not least... my stripey flats. I love these shoes. Like my copper flats, these go with almost everything and they're comfortable to walk around in. I got these as a spur of the moment necessity at Walmart a couple years back in Craig, CO. Sadly, they're starting to wear out and I have yet to find a replacement.

Thursday 13: Stuff I Have On My Desk Right Now

I was having a hard time coming up with a Thursday 13 this week until I looked at my messy desk at work. Here I've listed just a few of the random objects on my desk right now...

1. A big blue stainless steel water bottle.

2. Clear untinted safety glasses

3. 2 dead AA batteries

4. 2, 2 liter IV bags

5. A rubber diaphragm (not THAT kind of diaphragm)

6. A bag of o-rings

7. A radiation badge

8. Various copies of purchase orders

9. A big steel can

10. A dry erase board eraser

11. 3 clipboards

12. An engineering notebook

13. Crumbs from the granola bar I was eating while writing this post

What kind of crazy stuff do you have on your desk?

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Thursday 13: Dreams

This weeks' Thursday 13 was a couple weeks in the making. I wrote down 13 dreams I've had lately.

1. I had permanent retainers on my top and bottom teeth. The retainers fell off and then my teeth started falling apart. I had fillings and crowns on all my teeth and they all started falling off and then suddenly I had braces and all this metal orthodontic stuff in my mouth that was falling off and I was bleeding and my mouth was just full of all this stuff and I was freaking out. So I went to the dentist but I was waiting and waiting all day but there were too many people so I couldn't get in and had to go home. But then I was kind of happy because I knew I'd get to call in sick the next day for work. I woke up before my teeth ever got fixed. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to pay a gigantic dentist bill. And that my teeth were still intact.

2. I'm in Las Vegas for some work related thing. I'm outside in the courtyard of one of the hotels and the sky is really dark and cloudy and it looks like there's going to be a big storm. All of a sudden there's this big gust of wind that blows all the clouds away in just a few seconds. Now it's sunny with blue skies. But then the storm comes back and it's so dense with storm clouds that they are near the ground and are more like shaving cream foam than mist. We all realize this is not a good sign and head for cover.

As I'm running for cover I realize I need to return my rental car because it's due back in just a couple hours. But on my way I'm captured by this group of drug dealers or something and they make me take them back to my room. My dad had given me this big assault rifle to take on my trip along with a big tough looking Harley style motorcycle. The drug dealers are here to take the gun and the motorcycle. I give them the gun hoping they won't shoot me and then they go outside to make a getaway on the bike. A minute later they come in pointing the gun at me telling me they can't start the bike and that I must know how to do it. I've never actually driven the motorcycle but remember it has a choke on it and figure maybe that's all it needs. So I straddle the bike, push the choke, hold down the clutch and pump the starter with my leg. The motorcycle fires right up and I suddenly get a crazy idea. The motorcycle is at the top of a circular stairwell and I speed off circling the stairs and somehow make it out the door without crashing or getting shot. I make it back to the rental car place just before it closes.

After that all I remember is walking around all the Vegas shops, first trying to decide what candy to buy... though I end up being partial to Red Vines and a bag of "fun size" Hershey candy bars. Then I decide to wander around the clothing stores and end up losing one of my hot pink alligator skin print high heels, so I'm walking around in just one shoe. I end up talking to a salesman that says that all my life's questions will be answered by running a marathon. I think he's full of crap and just trying to sell me some ugly workout clothes. I eventually find my other shoe and get back to my hotel with the candy, just in time to hang out with my friends.

3. I'm on vacation with Seth's family and we're staying in a big cabin in the woods. It turns out it's also kind of a hunting trip. Seth and I are in the basement of the cabin and looking up the long set of stairs we see a huge bull elk has wandered in the front door of the cabin and is standing right at the top of the stairs. He doesn't see us so I quickly get out the hunting rifle. I'm not nervous at all as I put the scope crosshairs right on his head and fire away. He drops like a rock and we run up the stairs to see our spoils. Seth's sister Collette is there and thinks it's cool I've shot my first elk. She asks me what we're going to do with it. I tell her we're not sure, but probably just cut it up into steaks and such and stock up the freezer. At this point I realize I never finished my Hunter Education class and I'm worried I'm going to get in trouble for shooting the elk, so I make everybody say it was Seth who shot it, just in case.

4. I'm sitting outside of a bar by a Pathfinder-ish car that's mine when a tough looking guy comes over with a pistol and tells me he's going to rob the place and I better keep my mouth shut. I guess I'm some sort of hostage, but we walk into the bar like nothing is going on and I quickly walk around telling the people who work there that the guy over there in the red and white t-shirt is going to rob them. Nobody calls the police or anything and they don't seem too alarmed. I end up going outside with the guy and a bunch of other people and the guy gets away in the Pathfinder without any money.

5. I'm feeling kind of sick so I go into my doctor's office to get checked out. I mainly just have a small cold so they give me a shot in my thigh right there in the lobby. I ask them if they can renew a prescription I have that my dermatologist gave me and they say they can't and I have to go back to a specialist. I'm a little bummed, but leave. I walk down the stairs outside the building to the parking lot and get in the car. I notice the dashboard has big piles of cinnamon collecting like dust around the vents. I decide I need to be more careful with my drinks I bring in the car because they're causing the mess.

6. I'm at my parents' house with my sisters, Corinne and Annie. There are dust devil type twisters inside the house (mostly in the main living area) and it's stormy, with dirt and papers and stuff blowing around. There are also "alien" type plants... plants that are very colorful and seem to have a mind of their own. We're kind of scared of them and stay away. Corinne ends up sitting there at one point scraping some sort of blue paste/goo off of something (screws maybe?) with a credit card and wipes it off into a big pile on her jeans... the goo is supposed to be for a sick neighbor to help her feel better. I think we end up taking cover in the basement where it's not so windy and stormy.

7. I notice Seth has a tattoo of Tweety Bird on his abdomen. I wonder why I've never noticed it before and am a little appalled that's what he chose. I thought he would've gone with something more manly and original. (I'm sure this dream was spurred by my Tattoo post the day before).

8. Seth and I are flying up the side of a snow covered mountain in a small helicopter (Seth is the pilot). We are low to the ground, site-seeing I think. As we come over the summit (which isn't very high) there is a small suburban type neighborhood. All of a sudden there are chunks of snow coming at us, kind of like if a large snowman exploded. It's too late for us to get out of the way so we fly directly into the snow chunks. The snow catches the helicopter propeller and sends us spinning out of control, almost in slow motion. We crash into the side of house and I'm panicked hoping Seth is ok. I'm completely fine and start pulling the siding off the house trying to dig him out. I quickly find him and he's ok. We get up and survey the damage. We're standing there talking for a while and finally some people from a nearby home come out and start chatting with us as if we were just out for a stroll and hadn't just crashed in a helicopter. The paramedics and/or police are never called and the incident is brushed aside as if it were some minor kink in our plans for the day. Sometime later on Corinne shows up and we're making smoothies. For some reason we end up washing long stemmed roses of varying colors in the dishwasher.

9. I'm at Ruby River with a bunch of my co-workers. My hair is wet as if I just got out of the shower so I try to find the restroom so I can dry it and try to make myself a little more presentable. I can't find the bathroom and ask a guy that works there where it is. He has no idea because he's never actually used it. I wander around for a while and finally find it. There are 2 bathrooms across the hall from each other, with only light blue curtains for doors, no signs as to which one is the women's. I choose the one on the right and go in. The bathroom stalls also only have curtains as doors and the toilets are really low to the ground. The toilet seats are made out of wood and are old and rustic looking...with light blue, almost translucent, faded chipping paint. They look old-fashioned. It's not until I'm squatted down on the low toilet that I realize I'm in the men's bathroom as there are several other guys in there. I don't worry about it too much and figure it's not my fault because there was no sign on the door. I finish up and do my hair and go back to the table with my co-workers. We end up talking about the "Eye of the Tiger" song from the Rocky movies and how awesome it is. Later on we're all back at my parents' house and we're having a pre-wedding dinner for one of my co-workers. He's going to marry Kate Gosselin and he's getting upset because nobody is giving him much support on his decision.

10. Seth and I are at a public swimming pool. We go inside the clubhouse and they're having some sort of an "open mic" thing for entertainment. There is a somewhat overweight middle-aged lady in a swimsuit and knitted cover-up thing. She goes into the men's bathroom and says something about that's the one she's supposed to go into (implying that she's a cross-dresser). He/she comes out of the bathroom and she's still soaking wet from the pool. She picks up two small kid-sized plastic chairs with metal legs and walks over to the piano to do her act. She starts playing the piano using the legs of the chairs instead of her hands, but it is really good. She's playing a really hard classical piece and we're all amazed.

11. Seth and I are wandering around a fly-fishing shop looking at all the merchandise. The shop also has room we rent for the night to sleep in. I have 2 clarinets with me and they both have reeds made out of cork instead of bamboo or whatever they're normally made out of. The reeds are all chipped and broken on the end but instead of making the clarinets sound horrible and squeaky, they sound surprisingly good. I play along a little bit to a CD of pastorial music. In the morning we get up and meet my family at a farmers' market type grocery store. I wander around for a while and end up finding these gigantic blue apples about the size of a volleyball. I show them to Corinne and think about buying one, but then get distracted because I can't find Seth anywhere. I remember that he said something about having a dentist appointment. At this point I'm wearing a dress and small heels and I run across a large parking lot with slushy snow on the ground over to the strip mall where Seth's dentist is. They say he just left so I go back over to the fly shop to see if he's there. He's not there but somehow he's made it back over to the grocery store so we go meet up with my family again. I never did get to try that blue apple.

12. I go back to Lumenis (my old job) to visit. Everybody is wearing the standard required blue scrubs, but I am wearing red ones that are slightly faded. There are 2 young toddlers working there, a boy and a girl who are apparently "dating." They've just had an argument so I take the girl aside in a sort of closet to give her some privacy from the listening ears of her fellow co-workers. I give the girl a pep-talk and make sure she's ok before leading her out by the hand to get back to work.

13. Seth and I are in a somewhat affluent neighborhood. I can't remember what we were doing there, but we end up sneaking inside this house to hide from someone. We hear someone come in the room so we try to hide in a closet, but the person comes right up to the door and starts cleaning or something. We realize there's no way we can get out without being seen, so we just come out and leave. The Hispanic guy that was standing by the closet doesn't seem to care. We run across a couple yards and find a house that is all opened up, or doesn't have any walls. There is a bunch of furnishings and nick-nacks out, like it's some sort of garage sale or shop. We think about stealing something, but there's nothing there we really want or would risk getting in trouble over, so we leave.

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Bragging Rights

I'm going to use this weeks' Thursday 13 to brag about my dad a little. He has been into photography for years and has some of the best work I've seen. I constantly compare his work to the photographs I see in little art galleries and boutiques and his is always at least equal to or far better. He rarely does any editing on his photos and doesn't use a lot of the color filters and such that a lot of people use. He is very skilled at knowing how to compose a photograph and how to use his camera. He puts in the time and effort it takes to be great and it definitely shows.

I've chosen 13 of his photographs that are my favorites. This was incredibly hard to do. Almost impossible. See what I mean by looking through his stuff over on Flickr (or you can click on "Dad's Pictures" on my Blogroll)----->

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