Sam's Floral Arrangements

So Sam has been taking pictures of all of the arrangements he's had to do for his floral design class, and I think they're really pretty, so I'm posting them.

Arrangement 1 (not the first arrangement ever, but of this group)
Arrangement 2 (this was a bridal bouquet)
Arrangement 2 (from top)
Arrangement 2 (these are the leftover flowers that he made a second bouquet with--it reminds me of the bouquet Millie makes for herself in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)
Arrangement 3 (dried flowers from our wedding, our cake top, and the treasure chest Sam used to propose to me. Please disregard how dusty it all is.)
Aren't they all beautiful? I think he does a really good job, and I love getting flowers every week--especially flowers that he's arranged himself. :)

Skiing with Dad

So while my parents were here, my dad really wanted to try skiing, since he hadn't skied since before I was born, I think. He got himself outfitted with some ski clothes, rented some equipment at Outdoors Unlimited on campus, and we were off.

And let me tell you, it was an adventure.

First of all, we were planning on Alta, due to the lack of snowboarders and my dad having never experienced sharing the mountain with them. However, that canyon was closed (for avalanche control or something), so we made a quick change and went to Solitude instead. This was adventure one.

Sam was working, so we planned to met him there and I drove up with my parents. Well, their little California car has never been in the snow and has nothing like four-wheel drive, so when the roads started getting slick, my dad got out to put chains on the tires. This was adventure two.

So Dad hasn't put chains on tires for quite some time, so it took a little while for him to get the hang of it. And then the chains were too long and he didn't have the tool to cut them, so we were like, "Uhhh...what now?"

Here's my worried face:
Well, I'll tell you what now. Sam showed up (he'd been about a 1/2 hour behind us), and we drove up in the CRV, which handles the snow really well (because it was snowing buckets). Here is my parents' car getting left behind while we continued in our adventure.
In the comfort of the CRV, we finally made it to our destination. Then, as I was buckling my boots, this happened.
Yes, that is a ginormous blood blister on my thumb from where I accidentally buckled it into my ski boots. Talk about owwww. That was adventure three.

So we get our tickets and Dad, Sam, and I take a few runs down the tiny bunny hill while Dad tests the adage that skiing is "just like riding a bike--you remember how right away."

Dad started getting bored with the bunny hill and wanted something a little more challenging, so we took a lift up to a harder green. This was adventure four.
Here's Dad and I before adventure five happened.
Adventure five happened when Dad's body realized that he hasn't really been above sea level for the past 20+ years, and it punished him for his audacity in braving 9000 feet. He got altitude sickness really bad and kind of threw up a couple of times about halfway down the mountain. Eventually one of the ski patrol people took pity on him and snowmobiled him back to the lodge, where Mom was doing her homework.

Sam and I were a little worried that this unpleasant experience might ruin skiing for Dad henceforth and forever, but luckily he's a get-back-on-the-horse kind of guy, so he's looking forward to trying it again next year. Yay!

Inkheart

My parents are here visiting this week! They just got in today after driving from California, and we all went to see Inkheart together at the dollar theatre. It was so good! I really, really liked it. They put together an excellent cast that really played their parts well. And the guy who plays Gollum in The Lord of the Rings (Andy Serkis) played the bad guy, which he did really well. It was fun actually seeing him act for a whole movie instead of just watching him in the special features on the Lord of the Rings.

Anyway, I liked the movie so much that I requested the book from the library. And so far the book's really good, too. I definitely recommend both!

Anguished English 3.18.09

[In the window of a Swedish furrier]
Fur coats made for ladies from their own skin.

Sounds painful.

Get Fuzzy 3.15.09

Oh my goodness, Get Fuzzy was so hilarious today that I was honestly laughing for, like, five minutes. Oh my gosh, Bucky, you totally rock.

Skiing at Alta

Holly and Dennis came up to visit us this weekend, and they took us skiing! My new skis handled beautifully. They even make me a little nervous, because they are so smooth and nice.

The maiden run of my skis
This is me chillin', waiting for everyone to get ready so we can get going.
And because I can't ever take a normal picture...

Anguished English 3.12.09

Today's made me laugh out loud (cross my heart), so I'm including it.

[In a radio interview about kosher slaughtering practices]
Killing an animal while it is still alive is unacceptable.

As opposed to killing it when it's dead? Oh dear...

Non Sequitur

This was really funny today, so I had to share it. I was utterly incapable of not sharing it, actually.

Anguished English 3.10.09

An epistle is the wife of an apostle.


These exciting little butcherings of the English language come from my day calendar of Anguished English--something that I, as an English linguistics major and an editing minor, never fail to find humorous. I've decided to spread the joy by sharing the ones that really tickle me.

Calvin and Hobbes

I happened to stumble on this Calvin and Hobbes today, and the little girl is so like me that I had to include it:

I happen to take my sandwich apart to eat each ingredient separately, so it made me feel slightly validated that at least one other person in the world does the same thing. I mean, the author probably noticed someone doing it, right? He couldn't have made something that random up. Hopefully it wasn't me he saw...

Babysitting

So when we're really, really lucky, one of my old roommates asks Sam and I to babysit so she can have some time with her husband sans child. This last time my favorite little toddler came over, she was fascinated by whatever Sam was doing on his computer--homework or something. She just sat on his lap and watched the screen practically the whole time she was here. It was so cute that I had to take a picture.

Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Anguished English 3.9.09

A fibula is a small lie. Genius.

Hooray

Happy 1/2 birthday to me! I'm officially on the way to being closer to 23 than to 22.

Does that sound ridiculously young to anyone else? I guess I always think I'm a lot older than I really am...

I'd post a really cute picture of me as a little girl here, but I don't have any--they're all at my parents' house and not on the computer. So just imagine it. I'm sure that's just about as good.