{verbal snapshots}

We started our family road trip.  posts may be sparse.  but, i am documenting myself, a jump rope, and cardivascular activity at the sites we visit.  a gallery of all the photos will follow the trip.

yesterday we drove from st. anthony, id, through rock creek hollow and martin’s cove to casper, wy.

today we went through crazy horse monument and mt rushmore to keystone, sd.

and yes, i am sending myself postcards this whole trip!!

Which also happens to be my 6 month wedding anniversary.

Yes I planned that.  Ok not really, but it helped to pick the date.

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we parked in china to watch the {slightly disappointing} fireworks show in San Francisco.

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We ate our wedding cake.  It was still quite tasty.

Some things I love right now:

This Alice in Wonderland photo Coryn showed me from Etsy | The Happy Hooker Crochet book | The handblown cupcake stand from Fred Flare | The :’( Sold Out Johnny Cupcakes tee I’ve been eyeing for two years | The For Love 21 picture and floral headbands | As always - self adhesive mustaches from Fred Flare

They make me smile (and cry a little).

Next present I’d like to receive:

—WAS: Art of the Polaroid (perhaps it still is?)

—NOW: Polaroid Film!!! I need to stock up!

Next Nail Polish Color I want to buy:

—WAS: Tia’s Dark blue with sparkles by Nicole

—NOW: OPI’s “Dating a Royal”

Next Plane Ticket will be under:

—WAS: Whitney Horito

—NOW: Whitney Royal

Next Magazine Subscription:

—WAS: Real Simple renewal

—NOW: Country Living? Vogue? Elle? InStyle? Lucky? Perhaps just the Anthropologie catalogs or Eliza Magazine

Next Style Purchases:

—WAS: Classic Chic/Professionally Clean

—NOW: Road Trip Outfits

I was quite pleased with the accessorizing of this outfit.  I had just place the necklace and flower on my dresser next to each other accidentally, but LOVED it and have been trying to figure out how to place them next to each other in an outfit.  For some reason, I had it in my mind that I needed the flower to be on the necklace.  I hadn’t thought of placing them next to each other.

anyways, I was really proud of myself.

So I constantly stalk my wedding photographer’s blog, fotoblog gumbo.  Today he had a picture of his wife (who also helps take pictures and is a creative genius) that I just love…

a: signe is awesome - i love that there is finally a picture of her up.

b: the flower in her hair is awesome.

c: this is the picture for a post entitled “15 years” to commemorate their 15 year wedding anniversary.  yes.  signe with a bear.

I know Coryn is trying to be more positive, but I cannot help but shed a tear for some sad moments that have occurred recently.

- Polaroid. Apparently I missed the memo back in February that Polaroid announced that they will be discontinuing the production of instant film with most of the products becoming extinct by early next year. This saddens me greatly as I a: LOVE Polaroids, and b: own two Polaroid cameras. Luckily, they will forever be memorialized by my wedding guestbook, but I plan on stocking up on film like it’s the Apocalypse.

- Friday the 13th. Yesterday was Friday the 13th. How did I celebrate? By going to work, sitting in traffic for an hour on my way to Costco, visiting the post office, and laying around doing nothing because I was tired. I LOVE FRIDAY the 13TH (and any other meaningless, fake holiday)!! How did I let it pass me by without even the smallest celebration? I have no idea. Painful, isn’t it? And I didn’t even have any great Friday the 13th ideas floating in the back of my mind…

- The Happening is rated R. Even though M. Night Shyamalan has some weird movies that people don’t really like, I tend to find redeemable and entertaining qualities in most of them. He puts so much thought into them. And CleanFlicks/every other editing group has gone out of business. ::sigh:: This one looked really promising. And Zooey Deschanel is so cute.

- Today is June 14. Summer is already one and a half months over. I have not accomplished anything on my goals list. Where has all the time gone?

- Can we please release a movie I want to see!?! I thought there were so many good ones coming out but I can’t seem to find any I want to see…

- The nearest Williams-Sonoma is 30 miles away and the path to get there is very indirect.  ;(

Sorry to be such a downer…

So, my father-in-law set up this little family connection. They have four kids (plus I married Brad so five) and the parents, so each of us have been assigned a day of the week to do a devotional that we email to each other. Thursdays are my day, so I figured I would share my thought from each week.

So on Sunday in Relief Society, we watched Sheri Dew’s Women’s Conference 2008 address, “Awake, Arise, and Come unto Him.” It was SO AWESOME!! She talked a lot about influence, and how much influence we have on others around us. I can’t find a print version of the talk, but there were two thoughts she said that I really liked.
1: We need to be focused. She asks herself, “Why has the Lord brought me here today?” then looks for ways to uplift others around her. I thought of this because so often I am easily frustrated by situations that may put me in destinations other than the ones I would prefer to be in: errands, work, chauffeuring my roommate and her fiance all over napa/vallejo/SFO/china, but I never slow down to look around me and see if the Lord has placed me there for a reason.
2: In her closing, she made a quick but profound statement. “The power to influence comes when we let the atonement change our hearts.” I just love that once we let the Savior’s love change our hearts, we are able to be his servants and uplift those around us (if we open our eyes, listen to the Spirit, and see these situations around us like in 1).

So… Ask yourself, “Why has the Lord brought me here today?” and allow the atonement to change your heart.

i found the perfect gift for myself for my birthday.

i would just wait for it to come out and get a good deal on it (since it’s fifty bones) but it makes me nervous since apparently they’re only printing 500 of them.  each copy comes with the book, a 5×5 print from the book, and shipping included.

granted, i have NO idea what to expect from it, besides the fact that i think i’ve run into on more blogs than one.  pre-ordering starts tomorrow (june 5) at 12 noon cst.

so, if someone could please let brad know that this is an awesome birthday present, i’ll be forever indebted to you.

i went into san francisco  to pick up jenn from the airport and we stopped at the lovely Boudin sourdough bread factory… and jenn bought me these lovely turtles!!

boudin is my favorite ever.  the asiago cheese sourdough is fantastic.