Happy New Year's Eve!

Blogging when on vacation is hard. And I've been milking my vacation. Sleeping in late, getting completely hooked on Toddlers and Tiaras (thanks Netflix), seeing lots of movies, eating out courtesy of Papa Richey, and playing games with my sisters.

The pictures I've snapped really don't even come close to showing what a good vacation I've had. But I'm going to post the ones I instagramed here anyway. (Sorry if you already follow me on instagram... you're about to see them again...)

Christmas Eve was spent with roommate Lisa and her family at the Botanical Gardens until my flight to Oregon

Pit stop home from the airport to see the famous Eugene Christmas lights

Our lone, leftover Christmas stocking of Missionary Sister Emma

This picture is actually of Emma. She's on the phone.

My dad's shoes as he gets dressed for us to play floor hockey at the Stake Center on Boxing Day.

We're all excited about the Rose Bowl in Duck country. And if I had a niece she'd be sporting this outfit.

Cami (24) and Rach (18) got their ears pierced for the first time. Look how cute they are.

Puppy Ellie gets a picture, she got a shower after going on a run through the mud in the rain.

Tonight the plan involves dinner with friends and probably games. If I make it to midnight we'll count that a success. (I'm lightweight when it comes to staying up late.)

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

Merry Christmas!

It only took us until 4:00 to finally finish opening presents but we were able to have a lovely church meeting and talk to my sister Emma on her mission in London too. It's been a good Christmas.

And I'm posting this video again because I liked it so much last year.



Merry Christmas! Hope you all have had a most wonderful day!

Party Planning Committee

Somehow I ended up on my bureau's holiday party planning committee. I missed the first meeting due to the National Christmas Tree Lighting. And I conveniently was "sick" during the other meeting. Next thing I know, I'm being totally dragged onto the committee being thrust $500 and sent off to Costco to make sure enough booze was purchased. (Great idea people, send the sober MORMON for alcohol.)

I was informed that all the other meetings were pointless because one person veto'd all the ideas that were different. And then everyone else felt awkward to bring up other ideas. It felt like a scene right out of The Office. So many similarities in this video:

Except Angela veto'ing karaoke and drinking games, it was someone veto'ing African food in favor of Soul food and Popeye's Fried Chicken. Gross.

Two more days of work. Two more days...

Sigh of Relief

Our front window from the outside.

Yesterday I took a sick* day. I was not actually ill. I was more sick of work and needed a lovely day of R&R. It was awesome. I feel so rejuvenated to be at work today. Highlights of yesterday include: getting my computer fixed at the Apple store; putting together** the shelf I bought at Target while watching a really stupid and awesome movie, Christmas Cupid; having my new and lovely roommate Lindi surprise us all by bringing home Cafe Rio for all; and eating the cheesecake*** I made the night before for Lisa's dad's birthday.

Last weekend my sister Jess and I went and sang carols at The National Gallery of Art. It was so much fun because the acoustics were awesome and everyone was singing. There's something about singing the same loved songs with 200 other people that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. Then we went to the Christmas market by the National Portrait Gallery. I love living near a big city. (In the city would probably be even better.)

*when I told my sister Cami I was sick I imitated Karen on Mean Girls. Cami quickly followed up with Regina's response, "Boo you whore." So as I was looking for the clip linked I came across an 8 minute version of Mean Girls dubbed over in Polish and it made me laugh. For the Polish speakers out there, check it out.

**actually I did a terrible job putting together the shelf and couldn't find pliers to pull the little wooden pegs out of the holes when I messed up putting it together (due to lack of direction following) and the closest thing I could find to the strength of pliers was my teeth. Yep, I pulled those pegs out with my molars.

***it was a cheesecake making first. also, I used orange instead of lemon, and decided to go overboard by busting out my juicer to get the orange juice.

Puppies

I'm like extra sappy today or something. I found myself tearing up while watching this video:

I can't wait to see my Ellie in a week and a half!

Hot Chocolate

Apparently I've become quite the racer (meaning I did two races in a week and a half). Not that doing a 5 miler and then a 5K make for being a runner, but, that's all I got pictures of these days.

Last Saturday I ran the Hot Chocolate Run with a million other people in a horrifically unorganized race. (I suspect that since it's the first time they did it in DC there were a lot of unaccounted for problems that occurred. But, they really should have had it at a place with public transportation access. That would have cut out the hour long + wait we had trying to get across the bridge to the National Harbor.)

But never mind that. We ran, we ate chocolate at the end, we were happy.

See?

Immediately post race. I'm red. Yeah, also busted out that sweatband again. Genius.

With our fondue goodness. We couldn't tell if it was actually really good. Or just really good post race.

The fondue dish. 

All the happy runners. Allie's so happy she can hardly keep her eyes open.

We finished our runner's high off with Cafe Rio that night. And I finished off my night by going to bed at 10:30 and not waking up the next day until my alarm went off at 9:30. I think I was catching up on missed sleep from other nights. There was no way I was that tired from a 5k.

Other things not pictured from the past week:

1. Went to the White House Christmas tree lighting. Highlights include Michelle Obama and Kermit the Frog reading The Night Before Christmas; and One Republic singing their Christmas song Christmas Without You. Watch what I saw HERE.
2. Saw the latest Twilight movie. It was... interesting... Actually, I was highly entertained the majority of the time. Couldn't help but laugh out loud when the wolves are talking to each other in their heads. Ridiculous is really the only way to describe that.
3. Read three stupid books (and when I say stupid books I mean I read fluff novels, nothing with real substance). Bringing my year's book number to 65. 

PS. Thanks for the lovely race all my racer girls, Domineau, Allie, Stefi and not pictured: Meradyth and Lindsay

Post Thanksgiving Wrap-Up Post 1

I'm at work today. I know. It's so depressing. So I will drown my sorrows in the Thanksgiving leftovers I packed in my lunch and post the first update of Thanksgiving.

Two years ago Lisa and I started a tradition of running a race on Thanksgiving morning. We did a 10K two years ago, a 5 miler last year and yesterday we did a 5K. Except that 5K wasn't actually a 5K it was actually a 5 miler (which incidentally is the same race we did last year but we for some reason kept thinking last year's was a 5K too). Soooo let's just say, I could have run a 5K without a lot of trouble, I was NOT prepared for a 5 miler and am suffering the after affects today of sore knees and legs. BUT, the thing about the 5 miler is that I (with Lisa and Debbie) ran the entire thing. We stopped only once to grab the cups of water around the 3.5 mile mark and walked as we drank for about 20 feet, then we picked up and ran again.

I know it sounds braggy, but I'm awesome. And proud of myself for running the entire race! I kind of can't believe I did it all without stopping and with no training since I had shin splints a couple weeks ago and took a three week hiatus on running. I know for you runners out there, 5 miles isn't really that big of a feat but for those who profess to hate running (cough, cough, me), and is entirely too out of shape, it is a real accomplishment.

And, let me tell you, I'm thankful for friends who cheer me on to keep going, run with me at my pace, tell stories because I can't talk and fist bump me each time we pass another mile marker sign.

PS. Sweat bands? Best invention ever! I don't know why I've never worn one before. I'm totally wearing one every time I run from now on.

PPS. Good thing I ran yesterday because it totally prepared me for running down the street this morning at 7 am in my Hawaiian printed robe and boots pushing our big trashcan because we forgot to put it out last night... Yeah... there's a good chance that trash guy got a peek of more Lauren than he should have...

Thanksgiving Prep

Never plan a Thanksgiving dinner while you're hungry. Otherwise it will look a lot like ours:

Thyme and Sage Turkey

Mashed potatoes

Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Pecans

Green Bean Casserole

Brussels Sprouts (I'm now convinced this is an East Coast thing)

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots with Rosemary and Pecans (sounds a lot like the sweet potatoes actually... perhaps I should search for a new recipe...oooh, found one: Honeyed Carrots and Oranges)

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Tangerine Rosemary Dressing 

Raspberry Jello Salad (and yeah, this is definitely a western/Mormon thing)

Rolls

Pumpkin Dessert (courtesy of Debbie)

Banana Pudding

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Razzelberry Pie

I'm full just looking at it.

 And I'm not going to tell you that there are only six people coming do our dinner...

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Bubbling

The only way I can describe the myriad of tumultuous emotions crowding around in my head and heart is bubbling. The cause of these emotions are not to be posted on a public blog. Lets just say, things aren't peachy in DC Land for Lauren.

SO, to counteract that, I'm posting a few pictures from my weekend:

If you want to read all about the weekend Domineau did a really good write up HERE and HERE. It's worth popping over to read. And really, her blog is always worth a read.

The Parents Visit

I have been a horrifically bad blogger as of late.

My parents came to town for a week a little while ago and it was really fun to have them here (even if it did mess up my Hot Chocolate race training schedule and send my plans for a slimmer waistline down the drain).

Here are a couple of the highlights:

Tour of Hillwood Estate in DC:

Cute town of Clifton, VA and Manassas battle fields:

Basilica at Catholic University 

and the shrine to Our Lady of Czestechowa (taking me back to my Polish roots)

 Phillips Collection, which on the first Thursday of the month includes hor d'orves and music:

I barely took any pictures of myself the whole weekend and only took pictures because my sister Jess insisted for her memories, but I did go to all these things.

(Highlights not pictured: Frederick Douglass house in Anacostia, Kennedy Center concert, Dumbarton Oaks museum)

Thanks M&D for a good week. Jess, you're welcome for the pictures.

Note to self

Do not eat blue Airheads while working.

Also, exciting fact for the day:

Today's date is a palindrome (you know the same thing forwards and backwards, like racecar or 2002 or boob or as wikipedia tells us, dammit i'm mad-- now spell them all backwards)

So, today's date: 11/02/2011 

Awesome huh? 

Maybe as awesome as my blue tongue?

Happy Halloween!

The Golden Girls graced the DC Mormon Halloween Dance. Though generally a bit of a disappointment, it's still fun, my friends are still there, and it's still fun to dress up and see everyone dressed up. So, we keep going. This year we made ridiculous fools of ourselves dressed up as Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia.

And you thought zombies, axe murderers and Jasons were scary...

And for a little more Halloween joy, I give you The Zombie Song:

Enjoy, I've been listening all morning.

The People Sing

I saw Les Miserables for the sixth time lastThursday. Yeah, that's right, the SIXTH time. (I saw it for the first time at age eight in Denver, Colorado when I had a broken leg encased in a giant full leg cast and crutches.) The funny thing is, I wouldn't even call it the best musical I've seen. Though, I don't know what my favorite is, I've seen a lot of good ones, Lion King, Oliver!, Wicked, In The Heights, Phantom of the Opera, 42nd Street etc, but there is something about Les Mis, that keeps me from turning it down, from saying no, from thinking, "Eh, I've already seen it a bunch of times, I'll pass." Because I've seen it so many times by now.

But this last production was one of the best I've seen. I thought the singers did really well (even if they didn't sound like the original cast recording we grew up listening to); and they compensated for having a small stage my mixing in video for special effects (like when Jean Valjean is taking Marius through the sewers); and I totally embarrassed myself (good thing it's dark) because I couldn't hold back tears at some parts (I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own, Little Drop of Rain, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables).

Wait, did I just admit that I was crying during Les Mis? Uhhh, yep. I did.

I think it's the swelling melodies that illicit emotions out of people. Maybe I keep coming back because I can't wait to be overcome by emotion? I don't know, but whatever the case is, I will probably keep going back and I'll probably wake up the next day with a sore throat from all the tear control I was attempting the night before. 

Axeman

Monday night we headed up to Baltimore to check out the Mat Kearney concert. The venue is great (Ram's Head Live) and the crowd was small (probably because the Ravens were playing). But because the crowd was relatively small it made it more intimate. Mat asked if anyone was from Oregon, a handful of people, including me, cheered really loud. Some (including me) yelled, "Go Ducks!" and then I was convinced into yelling out, "Go Axeman!", my high school mascot, because Mat and I graduated from the same high school, though not at the same time. I don't actually know him. He was really thrown off for a second and it was pretty funny. But what was more funny is that I even did it. "Go Axeman"? Really? How old am I? 15? I guess at heart I am.

Please tell me it's on purpose

I always find myself saying the word verification words out loud when I'm commenting on a blog. Today I had a really good one:

I said it kind of like: kerrrrreeeeeeeepeee like a really dramatic reading of creepy. And obviously I thought that was REALLY funny, maybe even funnier than the blog post I was commenting on (cough, not likely Carly, your post was really funny).

I hope the people that put the words together do things like that on purpose. It sounds like a funny job.

Chastity

On Sunday I taught about the Law of Chastity in Relief Society a couple days ago. It went well. But these cookies were definitely the star of the show.

Psst! I used these cookie cutters.

Obnoxious Commute

picture of me, Meg and Lincoln from this weekend,
it really has nothing to do with this post, i just thought a picture necessary

Today's commute was especially obnoxious. Everyone was bugging me. And when I say bugging me I really mean buuuugging me. Seriously. They were so obnoxious!

Bus: There's this guy who is on the bus everyday. He's always listening to his music. He is always standing at the front of the bus. And you know what bothers me about him? He NEVER moves back when more people come on. NEVER. "The driver on the bus says, 'Move on back, move on  back, move on back...' all through the town." No, the driver says "move on back" and this guy stays right where he is, firmly planted at the front of the bus while I have to squeeze past him, just to find a place to stand, and he DOESN'T. EVEN. MOVE. Gah. It buuuugs me.

Metro: I hate the rolling suitcases/briefcases people carry around. They make it difficult to get in and off the metro because you don't realize there's one in front of you until you've tripped over it. That happens daily. But what I hate even more is the people who don't think consciously about the people around them and whether or not their bags, their briefcases, or their suitcases are encroaching unnecessarily into other people's space. Today, I'm just standing on the metro, minding my own business, chatting with Lisa, when some guy with a HUGE shoulder briefcase/bag thing keeps pushing his way into me. First I feel the bag just below my bum, and that's always awkward when something is touching your bum and you aren't sure if it's a bag or someone else's body (the worst). So this guy keeps backing up, backing into me, pushing me with his bag and if I didn't move I was going to run into someone else who was staking out their spot by the door in the corner. So I moved to be more comfortable. But what does the guy do? He doesn't even realize he totally pushed me out of my spot and he continues to move in pushing his bag into everyone's space. Idiot.

Escalators: The escalators in DC are notorious for being constantly under repair. There are three escalators at my work metro stop, one elevator, no stairs. One escalator is at one end, it changes direction depending on the time of day (up in the morning, down in the evening). And then the other side has only had one working direction escalator for the past month or so. Annoying. Today however they only had the one side open. The other side was being fixed. So what does that mean? A THOUSAND people have to go up and down on the same escalator causing congestion and annoyance to yours truly.

But now it's 10 and I am not so annoyed anymore. Maybe it's because I wrote it all out? Or maybe it's because I had a piece of chocolate? Either way, we'll never know until I step on that bus tomorrow and Mr. I'm-So-Into-My-Music-I-Can't-EVEN-Budge-An-Inch sets it all off again.

(On a side note, I usually don't mind public transportation at all. I enjoy not having to pay a cent to get to work or enjoy my time in the city on the weekends. And never having to find parking? Awesome.)

Hiatus

I seem to have taken an unintentional hiatus in blogging, and received an email from my sister and her roommate encouraging me to post.

I'm tired. I had a really busy weekend. My dear friend Meg was visiting from Provo and I feel like I saw all of Washington, D.C. all over again. We walked so much and saw so many things and ate so much good food I ruined my healthy eating plans every day. But it's always so much fun to have friends visit.

I have nothing exciting to post about. I had a lovely weekend. I realized why I like DC again. And I wish I had some kind of direction in my life. And I hope you're doing well.

I have plans to post about my funny office, but I always forget later what it was I wanted to write about. One of these days I'll make a note and fill you in.

Embarrassing moment?

I was making a beeline for the lunch restaurant yesterday and wasn't thinking and walked over a grate and Marilyn Monroe'd it for the entire intersection.

You know, like in The Seven Year Itch when Marilyn Monroe walks on the grate and her white dress totally blows up and she looks really sexy and provocative while trying to hold her dress down?

But instead of it being sexy it was just really awkward and I threw my arms down to stop my dress from going up. But what do you decide to cover? The front, or the back? I chose the front, which means I knew that entire intersection got a view of my bum. And I know for sure that happened because I felt the bottom of my dress hit my neck. (Yeah... it was really high...)

Basically I looked like the less glamorous and less sexy and less leggy and less everything version of these:

And yes, I had just as much leg and underwear showing as her. And no I don't know who saw me (besides the homeless lady who says it happens all the time) because I couldn't turn around for fear of making eye contact with someone who saw my "unmentionables" and because I was laughing too hard.

Needed a laugh today? You're welcome.

P.S. Thank you everyone who gave me book recommendations! I think I have some really really great ones to read and I better get started!

* all images collected using google image search Marilyn Monroe Seven Year Itch

Recommendations?

Today is the first day of Autumn. Which means, I change the background of my blog to match the new season and mourn the fact that I didn't get to do as much in the summer as I wished and also rejoice in the fact that I will (hopefully) not sweat profusely every day. (Maybe I'll even be able to style my hair!)

Good thing about autumn is the National Book Festival, and it's this weekend! It's one of my favorite weekends of the year and I'll be skipping the ward service project to go. And, don't judge me, but I'm super, extra excited to hear Sarah Dessen* speak... yeah, I'm like a 15 year old girl.

I've been lacking in my book reading as of late. My New Year's Resolution was to read four books a month. Technically speaking one of those was supposed to be non fiction, but I really struggle with non- fiction, despite feeling like I should like it more. I think it's because when I meet someone who reads non-fiction I think they're smarter, better educated, and more sophisticated than I am. But that's also because I tend to gravitate towards things like Sarah Dessen... But then again, maybe I just don't have a good non-fiction eye to find the good ones. But I'm off subject now.

Back to the resolution. So far I have read 34 books and I'm two books short for this month, and last month I only read one. (Good thing I read like five on my Europe trip this summer!) And I'm going to need to read 14 more to hit my goal by the end of the year.

So, what I'm asking is for a book recommendation from you. I know I have a handful of smart, well read, blog stalkers out there. Please hop over from your Google reader and leave me a comment with a book recommendation. Pretty please? I really want to read some good stuff this Fall and favorite book recommendations are always the best.

I like a wide variety of books, so no recommendation is off. Some favorites and I suppose recommendations for you include: In Cold Blood; Ella Enchanted, Jane Eyre, The Power of One, The Truth About Forever (my favorite Sarah Dessen); The Princess Bride; The Book Thief; The Lost Hero (but perhaps start with Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief--bad movie, fun book, especially if you love Greek/Roman mythology); aaaaand last one, duh, Harry Potter 1-7 (if you haven't read these you're really missing out, even if you "don't like fantasy").


*She writes realistic teen romance novels not vampire stuff. And I like her. Like I said, I'm probably about 15...

Morning Commute: Plus Minus

Plus: Loving my book. 

Minus: Stayed up too late, I didn't have time for breakfast and barely made it to the bus.



Plus: Lisa has granola bars, so I shoved one in my bag for breakfast.

Minus: I shoved half of said granola bar into my mouth before getting on the metro train.



Plus: The cute boy* in my ward (that I have a teensy crush on) was standing in my metro car, right where I wanted to stand. You know, just standing there, waiting to talk to me obviously.

Minus: I had half a granola bar in my mouth.


*no, you (or any others of you out there who live in DC) do not get to know who it is until he decides he has a crush on me too


Edit: Check out the extra big Plus of last night, with no Minus, Domineau posted on her blog.

Cooking vs. Baking

Yesterday at lunch I half read my book and half thought of what I wanted to make for dinner. I thought, "I have chicken and tilapia in the fridge, you could bake one of those, add some vegetables and maybe some rice, or something." Then I felt my mind rebel and think, "But wouldn't you so much rather have cookies? Like those Coconut Lime ones? Or what about those Coconut, Toffee, Chocolate chip ones? Oooh! That Raspberries and Sour Cream thing? Mmmm, that would be good." And then I continue to daydream about things I could make and the thought of dinner comes creeping back in and I have to figure out what (whine) healthy thing I should make for dinner.

My name is Lauren and I'm a sugar-oholic.

I love sugar. I love treats. And I love turning butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking soda, and salt into something that looks, tastes and smells awesome. I love baking.

I mean look. How awesome is it, that all this:

turns into something like this? 

or this?

Really awesome. I know.

 

It doesn't help my sugar addiction that I have a rather large amount of cooking blogs I'm subscribed to, and that means I see the cookies or cakes or whatever is made and it's just so appealing to look at. Or, I type in stupid things like "favorite cookies" into google and the thing to catch my eye is Epicurious and I'm a gonner and start thinking of cookies to make tonight.

But I think I figured it out part of my problem, creating something totally out of some basic ingredients is so much more appealing than cooking some veggies until they're soft and a piece of meat until it's no longer raw. It's partially the process of combining ingredients that's so appealing, but the finished product, that soft, chewy center and slightly crispy edge of cookies or the soft, spongy yet moist cake with frosting, that does me in every single time.

Do-Re-Mi and Blue Pee

Saturday proved to be a first on two accounts.

First, I went to a Sound of Music sing-a-long that ended up being one of the most enjoyable nights of the summer. There's nothing like singing along to The Hills are Alive (complete with people standing and spinning around like Maria does), Sixteen Going on Seventeen, Favorite Things, Do-Re-Mi, The Lonely Goatherd, and Edelweiss with hundreds of other people, many who are dressed up for the evening in dirndls, lederhosen, or as "favorite things". It was an absolute blast. Other highlights of the evening were: hissing when the Baroness Schraeder came on screen; booing when any of the Nazis appeared on screen, including Rolf at the beginning, because we all know what happens to him at the end; and pulling our little firecracker, popper things when Maria and Captain von Trapp kiss for the first time. (Those little yellow bags in the picture were filled with our props for the evening.)

Moral of the story: Sing-a-longs, are totally worth the money. Sound of Music sing-a-longs are even better. I probably need to go to a Mama Mia sing-a-long before I can make a final judgment though.

Secondly, and I don't have a picture because that would just be gross, my pee turned blue after eating some brownies laced with Methylene blue in honor of the BYU football game this past weekend. And you know what? That's the only details you're really gonna get on that subject. Is it TMI to talk about pee? TMI for you? or TMI for me? I don't know, but my pee was blue and I only had a bite. That's powerful stuff.

Leap

In honor of today, September 11th:

Leap by Brian Doyle

A couple leaped from the south tower, hand in hand. They reached for each other and their hands met and they jumped.

Jennifer Brickhouse saw them falling, hand in hand.

Many people jumped. Perhaps hundreds. No one knows. They struck the pavement with such force that there was a pink mist in the air.

The mayor reported the mist.

A kindergarten boy who saw people falling in flames told his teacher that the birds were on fire. She ran with him on her shoulders out of the ashes.

Tiffany Keeling saw fireballs falling that she later realized were people. Jennifer Griffin saw people falling and wept as she told the story. Niko Winstral saw people free-falling backwards with their hands out, like they were parachuting. Joe Duncan on his roof on Duane Street looked up and saw people jumping. Henry Weintraub saw people "leaping as they flew out." John Carson saw six people fall, "falling over themselves, falling, they were somersaulting." Steve Miller saw people jumping from a thousand feet in the air. Kirk Kjeldsen saw people flailing on the way down, people lining up and jumping, "too many people falling." Jane Tedder saw people leaping and the sight haunts her at night. Steve Tamas counted fourteen people jumping and then he stopped counting. Stuart DeHann saw one woman's dress billowing as she fell, and he saw a shirtless man falling end over end, and he too saw the couple leaping hand in hand.

Several pedestrians were killed by people falling from the sky. A fireman was killed by a body falling from the sky.

But he reached for her hand and she reached for his hand and they leaped out the window holding hands.

I try to whisper prayers for the sudden dead and the harrowed families of the dead and the screaming souls of the murderers but I keep coming back to his hand and her hand nestled in each other with such extraordinary ordinary succinct ancient naked stunning perfect simple ferocious love.

Their hands reaching and joining are the most powerful prayer I can imagine, the most eloquent, the most graceful. It is everything that we are capable of against horror and loss and death. It is what makes me believe that we are not craven fools and charlatans to believe in God, to believe that human beings have greatness and holiness within them like seeds that open only under great fires, to believe that some unimaginable essence of who we are persists past the dissolution of what we were, to believe against such evil hourly evidence that love is why we are here.

No one knows who they were: husband and wife, lovers, dear friends, colleagues, strangers thrown together at the window there at the lip of hell. Maybe they didn't even reach for each other consciously, maybe it was instinctive, a reflex, as they both decided at the same time to take two running steps and jump out the shattered window, but they did reach for each other, and they held on tight, and leaped, and fell endlessly into the smoking canyon, at two hundred miles an hour, falling so far and so fast that they would have blacked out before they hit the pavement near Liberty Street so hard that there was a pink mist in the air.

Jennifer Brickhouse saw them holding hands, and Stuart DeHann saw them holding hands, and I hold onto that.

Emailed to me by my sister Cami. Frontline PBS. I tried to find an appropriate picture to commemorate the day but couldn't find one I felt was good enough.

I find this piece horrifying and beautiful all rolled into one. But mostly I find the part about the good so beautiful that it's worth reading again and again and I just keep reading that paragraph because it's so simple and so beautiful and so good. I hope that the good can always be highlighted amid the bad.

Have a good week. Find the good.

Not ready for Fall

Went to the beach last weekend for a final summer hurrah, and it definitely felt like the final act of summer because it hasn't stopped raining all week. I popped by my sister and brother-in-law's place tonight and had to go in the back door (which incidentally is actually really the front door, but the back door feels more like a front door) because they have flooding on their patio ankle deep. 

Anyway, enough of me complaining. Enjoy the only pictures I took of my girls beach weekend extravaganza. 

Things not pictured:

• hours of girl talk
• the house that smelled like wet dog
• enjoying the waves
• the strange Eastern European couple (or was it a father and daughter?) taking pictures on the beach
• sunburns 
• SD chats
• enjoying the beach
• enjoying the sun
• enjoying the company of really awesome people