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I'm home.

I'm dirty.

I'm exhausted.

Am I going to pack tonight?

Probably not.

Will I shower tonight?

Not likely.

Did I wear sunscreen this weekend?

Yes.

Am I sun burnt?

Yes.

Did I wear bug spray?

Yes.

Do I have a large bug bite on my neck?

Yes.

Did I hurt myself rafting on class 3 rapids?

No.

Did I make myself bleed/rip a couple layers of epidermis off my finger while rolling up my sleeping bag?

Yes.

What a weekend!

Laziness and River Rafting

I say this in the most humble way possible, I am an awesome river rafter!

I'm pretty much a pro!

Hey remember when I used to have bad teeth?

For the full caption of this picture go here. But to sum it all up, I am familiar with Olympic Class V Rapids.

Yeah, seriously.

I'm leaving to go tomorrow to go rafting on Kings River. It's been awhile since I've been so I'm pretty excited to go camping and rafting

So I finished everything for work today. I made my last trip to the office, emailed my recommendations, deposited my checks, etc etc.

I had all these wonderful glorious plans to go home, eat a quick lunch and then really buckle down and clean and pack.

But then I realized I had absolutely no energy. So I took a nap. Then I woke up. But then I fell back asleep again. It was just one of those times when you know you should be doing something but you are much too tired to really care. Holding my eyes open was more of an effort than I could manage so how was I supposed to scrub, sweep, mop, and dust my house into submission? How?!

But on the good side, I did eventually muster up just enough energy to get in a short work out and do the dishes. After a shower I hit the couch again.

And here I sit.

But to prove I haven't been completely wasting my life away here are some new songs I really love:

See, I haven't been wasting my life away completely!

Orange

I have recently become enamored with the color orange. Strange, I know, but true. I currently have orange toenails and a sweet new orange jacket I picked up at Ross.

Isn't orange such a warm, friendly, vibrant, happy color?

But of course it is!

I'm going river rafting this weekend (which I'm good at). However, it's going to be able 20 degrees at night at the campsite (which I'm not good at).

Monday I'm going HOME!!!!!

But isn't that an orangey sort of happy?

And so is the fact that Glee comes back on tonight!

GEE

Slacking

I've been slacking off a bit recently with the blogging. With an extended stay in a 3rd world country in my near future, I have devoted myself to watching movies instead.

I watched three this week.

Up in the Air
An Education
Bright Star

They were all beautiful films.

I spent my Saturday morning peeling and packing cabbage and oranges at the LA Food Bank.

After that I had a lunch of tamales I would rather not remember. Weird, stringy mystery meat . . . eww. 

And as of right now The Tipping Bucket is at 42%!! Care to make is 43%?! Give a dollar!

For all you people with disposable income

So I'm not one to beg for money . . .

BUT

this isn't for me anyways so here goes:



Give a dime, a nickel, a hundred bucks. You know, whatever you can afford. (You actually just need to give a dollar!)

This is a project to help implement and sustain eye care clinics in Uganda. Go HERE to check it out!

Tell all your friends!

Please!

Calorie Counting

I was once told by a friend that calories don't count on conference weekend.

The same friend also informed me that calories don't count at Easter.

So it only stands to reason that on a weekend (like this past one) when it is both Easter and Conference that calories actually count negatively.

Yes, that's right -- negative calories!

Which is why I enjoyed this on Saturday morning:

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown:

• 1 cup half-and-half (I used milk instead)
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old or stale country loaf, brioche or challahbread (I used potato bread)
• 4 tablespoons butter (for the pan -- I only used one)

Oh and I added some cinnamon and nutmeg! I was a little skeptical about the honey part but I found the recipe on food network so who am I to question it. And definitely stick it in the oven after you take it out of the pan until you're ready to eat it.

Yum!

I must say I do feel skinnier after this weekend.

Of course, this calories don't count nonsense may have been just to make us both feel better about the copious amounts of iced sugar cookies we were eating at the time. Hmm.

Easter

Easter is a wonderful holiday that I think gets a little short changed.

Let's just be honest here . . .

Christmas wouldn't really matter if there hadn't been an Easter approximately 33 years later.

Let that soak in for a minute.

It's true right?

Sure, Jesus' birth with Christmas. But His atonement, death and subsequent resurrection! That's what we celebrate! That's what should make us dance around filled with joy even when it seems like life kind of sucks at the moment. That was the point of His life. He was resurrected so that one day we can be too.

That's what Easter's all about Charlie Brown!

At first I was a little disappointed that general conference was on Easter weekend, but that was stupid of me because there is never a bad time for conference.

As always, the talks were uplifting, inspired and applicable. Everyone listening with the correct spirit heard exactly what they needed to hear, I am sure of it. Plus general conference always equals yummy breakfast (particularly french toast in my case) and pretty much an entire weekend in my PJs!



Isn't it wonderful to know that at one point before our life here on earth we knew and understood what the point of all of this is? Simply because we are here on our earth we can be sure that at one point we knew our purpose, we sided with God and chose to come here. Our Heavenly Father explained His whole plan and the purpose of our lives. He told us it wouldn't be easy. There will be pain, suffering, unfairness, despair, heartache and death. However, we knew that our eternal reward for passing this test of life would far outweigh the price we were asked to pay for it. We shouted for joy for the chance to live the life we are now living!

We knew that we would sin and it would be impossible for us to return to heaven without the help of our loving brother Jesus Christ. But we also knew that He was willing to do what was necessary to make our salvation possible as well as His own.

Here's President Monson's talk. He explains things much more eloquently that I can.

Death comes to all BUT . . .










And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Revelation 21:4

For the rest of conference go here. I highly recommend listening to it!

He is risen!

Toes and Dresses

I got a long over due pedicure today. I've always wanted to be tan enough to have bright orange toes, and have it look good. However, I came to accept my NC15 complexion long ago and just went for the orange without the tan.

It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself . . . and I do!

You can't even tell that half of one of my toe nails broke off the other day. Go ahead, try and guess which one it was.

I have looked and looked and looked at multiple Ross, T.J. Maxx, Marhsalls, Goodwills, and so on and so forth for a dress like I wanted for my party. Unfortunately, the only one I could find in the color that I wanted was not my size nor would the cut have been flattering even if it was. So after lots of looking I found this one:

it's not this one:

but I do like it anyways.

This is much more pink that coral so I hope you don't mind Jessica. Finding a suitable dress that is both flattering and affordable is much harder than I anticipated. 

Should we get our hair done the morning of . . . maybe a nice big hair do or some pin curls perhaps?

I think that would be marvelous!

I won't reveal me in the pink dress yet because minus accessories, makeup and nice hair it would ruin the effect.

BUT

You can see me in the white I tried on.

I figured I'm already pale enough as it is, and I don't need to beg the comparison by wearing a white dress. If anyone sees anything is a seafoamy green color please let me know. The pink dress still has the tags and a receipt. My choice is amenable if a suitable alternative is found. Maybe I should just dye the white one?