Karma police

I am obsessive about putting my name on books and movies, because I don't want them to be borrowed and never returned. So every media I own is signed.

Since we've gotten engaged I've received or bought several movies and books, and on each I just wrote my name because after we're married (in 3 weeks and 1 day!!!) I'll just change it to include the last name (I know, tricksy and nerdy, but I'll explain).

I've learned I'm fairly superstitious about random things. Maybe superstitious isn't the right word, but I am all about karma. And I haven't written my new last name on anything because I'm not married yet and I don't want to irk the karma gods by using that name too soon.

You never cross karma. Never.

And so I now ask you: before you were married did you label things with your married name? Did you sign the return address on envelopes as your married couple name? Any other instance? (Because we all know we practiced our signatures with our new last names. And can I just say, my new last name is really hard to write in cursive and my signature looks lame. So it'll be a printed signature.)

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

In my 28 years I think I've had three white Christmases (Christmi?). This year I went to Todd's family's house in West Jordan, and we very much had a white Christmas. Lots of snow fell Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning, and although it's beautiful, it's so cold and slick. But it was fun to have new snow on Christmas morning.

We drove up to Utah Friday night and hit a storm going up the mountain near Cove Fort (where a raging fire tried to eat me and Lindsay last summer) but we were very lucky in our drive up there. And the drive home yesterday was beautiful and so nice. It's so much easier to drive during daylight, and also to drive south where it only gets warmer.

I am very lucky to be marrying into a great family. It was nice to spend more than a day and a half with them and to see other families' Christmas traditions. Also it was so nice to relax for a few days. I think I might be finally getting over my cold.

And I am so excited because I finished Todd's stocking before Christmas. I feel so crafty. My mom is great and stayed up with me until midnight to finish it. And I'm pretty proud of it (notice the crooked letters--Jen isn't a master sewer, but her goofs have a cool effect).

Todd got me a ceiling fan/light to put in my front room and I am so excited. I don't have any ceiling lights in my front room and have wanted some for 3 years. Yea for Todd. And his parents gave him tools for Christmas, so we're good to go. Todd rocks.

One very cool thing about getting married three weeks after Christmas is people have an easy wishlist for us, and we were very fortunate to get some great gifts. We really do have awesome families.

OH, and at his parents house on Saturday we watched the Las Vegas Bowl game. Go Cougs. That was such a great ending to what was actually a really bad showing by BYU. I now know another random football play--take the knee! Sheesh.


And of course, here's the requisite Jen's Random Picture of the Trip picture, taken through the windshield of my car, just north of St. George.

My artsy pictures from Europe

Sometimes I like taking pictures that are random but that totally appeal to me. Here are my favorites.

You're so cold keep your hand in mine (or, the Madrid entry)

Europe was cold. Very cold. My nerves were so not ready for it. And you know the saying, "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain"? I believe they're talking about Madrid. It rained every day we were there. But rain makes for beautiful pictures.

We first went to Madrid to get my sister, who had spent the semester in a city near Madrid. Spain was wonderful, probably because Whit had been there for a bit so she showed us some of her favorite places.

Spanish people are beautiful. And they dress spectacularly well. I felt very much unworthy to stand near them on the metro, in my flat sneakers (all the women wear heels. It's incredible and I am sure so bad for their legs and joints and stuff). Also they wear the cutest decorated tights with boots and skirts. I loved that look.

We spent five days in Madrid. The first day we walked around Alcala, the city where Whit stayed. It's beautiful and old. The architecture is phenomenal. Alcala is the city where Cervantes, the man who wrote Don Quixote, was born. I do not love Don Quixote, but it is a famous story, so I'm writing about it.

One of my favorite things about all the cities we visited is how close all the buildings are along the streets, with the buildings rising on either sides of the streets. I know we have cities like that in the US, but not out west, and I think it's awesome.

We toured Madrid for two days. I was amazed to watch people drive past these amazing old buildings like they're nothing, because they see them every day. The buildings are spectacular. I loved European architecture.

We went to the Prado, a famous museum (more on my art non-appreciation in the next post). They had a lot of religious art, which I find to be so weird and kinda depressing.

One night we ate at what the Guinness World Records says is the oldest functioning restaurant in the world, the Botin restaurant. It opened in the early 1700s. The architecture was beautiful, the food was good, and the atmosphere was really great.

We toured the Royal Palace of Madrid (el Palacio Real de Madrid). I really enjoyed the castles and palaces in Europe. If I ever get to go back to Europe, I'd love to do just a castle tour. The palace in Spain isn't the official home for the royals, but they still hold state functions there. The palace was cold--I don't know how those royals kept their royal bums warm.

Next to the palace is a cathedral that was finished in 1994--it was interesting to me to have this fairly new cathedral next to an old palace. I'm naive but I never thought about how cathedrals might still be built today. The ceilings on that cathedral were very bright colors--it reminded me of the Ukranian eggs my mom paints. Unfortunately it was overcast so I couldn't get a good picture of the colors (not that cathedrals are very bright anyway).

We also got outside Madrid to a city called Segovia. It's about an hour and a half drive from Madrid (or something. I wasn't driving and get really car sick, so I stared ahead and ate my yummy bread. Mmm, European bread was fantastic). Segovia has a castle that we got to tour and I greatly enjoyed it, especially to see the rooms as they used to look. We got to climb to the top of the castle, and it's amazing how well situated it is because you can see a long distance in all directions. Which I know is the purpose of castles, but it was still neat to see. In Segovia there is a very long aqueduct that was built before the Colosseum. And apparently the aqueduct brought the water uphill. Which I do not understand but find fascinating. I don't know how they built it, but it is a really cool piece of architecture. I very much enjoyed Segovia.

We also got to see the temple in Madrid, which was of course beautiful. I love the little touches that make each temple individual.

In Madrid we stayed in an apartment (we stayed in apartments in all three cities), which was really fun because we were far from the tourist centers, so we got to see what it was like to live there. Like that the elevator can't/won't fit more than three or four people. We took the stairs a lot.

We took the metro everywhere and I got very used to hearing "El proximo estacion . . . " announcing the next station. It was very nice of them to announce the next station, because using the metros was surprisingly confusing for me.

I don't speak Spanish very well, but I at least didn't feel completely lost in Spain (like, say, in France). I enjoyed the country, the people, and the food--Spanish tortillas are fantastic. We did have a bit of trouble getting into Spain, but after we caught another flight and left from Philadelphia instead of Chicago, it was ok. Except our bags went to Spain on the earlier flight and got a bit lost (we found them in the airport's lost and found. Except Kelsey's bag, which went to Mexico. Because . . . they speak Spanish too? So random).

Why do you think I have this outrageous French accentuh? (or, the Paris entry)

Ah, Paris. City of gorgeous architecture and baguettes. I absolutely love the architecture in Paris. The roofs are amazing. And again, I loved the buildings rising along both sides of the busy streets, with shops on the first floor and apartments on all the others.

Our first meal there we went to a little cafe on the corner near the apartment where we stayed. Our waitress spoke very little English (she spoke a bit more English than we do French, though) so we had an interesting but entertaining experience there. My dad took French in high school, so he knew enough to get us water. We ordered our food by just pointing at something on the menu and hoping for the best. And for the most part we did very well. The food in Paris is amazing. And nearly every entree comes with fries--what's not to love about that!

There was a transportation strike in Paris so about 1/3 of their trains and subways were working. We were lucky to have even that. So getting to our apartment from the airport was quite an experience. I packed like a girl, so I had a huge suitcase I had to carry up and down subway stairs, push onto sardine-packed subways, and pull for blocks through Paris. It was an adventure. People talk about the stereotype of French people being rude (one of our French waiters even commented on how rude French people are) but I did not experience that. At almost every subway stop different men got off the subway and offered to help me with my bags, even though it wasn't my stop or his. I was very impressed by that. And one morning we went to this fun little busy bakery to buy bread, and the woman was very patient with the two Americans who spoke no French.

We saw many beautiful things, and I can't do them justice so I will just quickly describe everything.

• We went to Notre Dame and climbed to the top of the towers (because we hadn't done enough walking. The stairs were very twirly, which wasn't so good for my already questionable equilibrium). But the climb was totally worth it. The view from there is amazing, as are the gargoyles. Gargoyles are neat and I might have to put one somewhere in my house (if Todd lets me).



• We spent two hours in the Louvre. I am not appropriately cultured so I do not appreciate things like museums, especially famous huge museums with famous and actually very unimpressive art (ahem, Mona Lisa). But the Louvre itself is a stunning former palace that I greatly enjoyed.
  
• Because transportation in Paris was so crowded, and some subway cars took 30 minutes to arrive, we walked along the Champs-Elysées (which is a very long big road filled with shops and restaurants and lots of people) to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc is beautiful, especially at night. Eight roads lead to the Arc, and then it's a huge crazy roundabout. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the mass of cars navigate it. Europeans and their roundabouts. I don't get it. (p.s. I took this picture from the Eiffel Tower, which is miles away from the Arc. I'm proud of it.)

• One day we took a train to Versailles. The palace is beautiful and the roof on the chapel is phenomenal (I have a thing for roofs and doors. Nearly half of my pictures from the trip are doors). I cannot believe how those royals lived. Total luxury. No wonder the people revolted. Versailles also has gorgeous enormous gardens, which are not as beautiful in the winter (and all the many fountains were turned off and the statues were covered, which sucked) but it was still beautiful. There's a large pond and people were rowing boats in it--I loved that. It was like a postcard.


• We were very lucky to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and we got there right at sunset, so we got to see the city at sunset and then as all the lights came on. It was great. They have flashing lights on the Tower that go off every hour (I think) and we were there when the lights went on. The Eiffel Tower is very beautiful and quite an architectural wonder (for me).


• We took a river tour on the Seine, and although it got SO much colder on the water, I loved the water tour because you got to see Paris from another angle, and because there are so many cool bridges spanning the river.

One interesting thing about being in France is how much they love Napoleon. In Madrid they talked very negatively about Napoleon invading Spain, placing his brother in charge, etc. They do not like Napoleon. Then you come to France where everything is "Yea Napoleon!" I enjoyed that.

Oh, and the omelettes in Paris were so yummy. My family made fun of me for that, but I really liked my omelette. Those French can cook. I'd be so overweight (and happy!) if I lived there.

It's time to try defying gravity (or, London)

England--our motherland. London was the coldest place of the trip--bone-chilling cold. I don't know if the Thames has magical powers or what, but I was so cold. Despite the cold it was fun, especially because they speak English and I could therefore understand 90% of what was said.

The apartment we stayed in was actually right by the Thames. I enjoyed seeing the river from our windows. It was near Woolrich Arsenal, a totally fun name.

We took the Underground everywhere we went (subways are so convenient in huge cities), and the announcer kept telling us to "Mind the gap" (there's a gap between the subway and the sidewalk, so they wanted to make sure we didn't put our feet in it). That announcement made me giggle every time.

We took a bus tour (of course) of London, and on one specific route they have sassy tour guides who are highly enjoyable.

London highlights:

• Big Ben! Absolutely my favorite building in London, and maybe even Europe (which I know is random given all the wonderful beautiful things I saw, but for some reason the Big Ben and Parliament buildings really stuck out to me). We didn't go inside Big Ben, but I took many many pictures of the outside of it.


• London has the largest ferris wheel in the world, the London Eye, which is more than 400 feet tall. Each pod on the wheel is about the size of my kitchen. We were lucky enough to go on the Eye, and it was a great view of London. And I didn't get sick or too freaked out to be so high.


• We saw Buckingham Palace. Which is . . . a big building behind a big fence guarded by men with guns. Unimpressive. And it didn't even have those guards with the tall black hats (you know, THE London photo op). I believe those guards are in the Tower of London guarding the Crown Jewels, but you have to pay to see that and I'd much rather spend that money on food and souvenirs (the value of the dollar sucks. It was $1.50 for a Euro, and more than $2 for a pound. Sheesh.).


• We did walk around the Tower of London, which is a neat castle right on the Thames by the Tower Bridge. I believe it's where they took William Wallace (if it's a true story. And Braveheart is just too good to not be true). It was kind of a hodge-podge of architectural styles, but I liked it. All around the building were cool blue light posts.
  
• We walked across the Tower Bridge. Bridges are neat, and this one is beautiful.


• Ha! Oh yeah. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which our guide told us is the steps where the Mary Poppins "Feed the Birds" took place (see, I so do not appreciate culture like I should!). It's also where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married.


• After looking at Big Ben (yea! Big Ben!) we saw Westminster Abbey. It's very beautiful.


• The chimneys in London are really cool.
  

Because I am not very cultured, I do not enjoy most musicals. I cannot stay awake for them and avoid them at all costs. On our last night in London, though, I changed my mind about one musical (there are now three I can sit through!), because we saw Wicked and I LOVED it. I felt so grown up liking a musical.

Instead of dragging our bags around London and the metros and trains, we took a taxi to the airport. My dad told them we had lots of bags, and our driver still showed up in a Toyota Highlander-type car. Which is a good car, but not for 7 checked-size bags and about as many other carry-on bags. But our driver got all the bags in and on the car. I was so impressed. Poor Kelsey sat in a pull-up seat in the very back with the bags. We took surface streets to the airport, which was very cool because we got to see London suburbs and gorgeous houses. Our driver was an excellent guide. I liked the trip to the airport. Then right before the airport we passed rolling hills and trees, exactly the landscape I picture when I think England. It was beautiful.

We flew home on my birthday (how fun to have two different birthdays--we left at like 10 local time AM and got home at 2 PM local time--more time to party!). It was a 10-hour flight, but no layovers was SO nice. No risk missing a connecting flight or having our luggage lost. We flew Virgin Atlantic, and I totally recommend that. It was great. The employees who checked in our bags were actually the rudest airport personnel we encountered the whole trip, but the personnel on the plane were fantastic. Best I've ever had (and we were just in economy class). They were up almost every hour giving us drinks, hot and cold snacks, a meal, and ice cream. It made the flight so much easier. Also nice was the individual TVs we each had and the 10 movies we could choose from. I watched three different movies, which really helped the flight get over quickly. They had a cool map on one of their channels that showed our flight progress. That was fun.

And then there was the jetlag. It wasn't bad going from the US to Spain, but coming back from London, I really felt the 8-hour difference (London is ahead of us). I took quite a while to recover.

I promise . . .

So yeah, the Europe posts. Written, but no pictures are on them yet (that's quite a project) and I like posts with pictures, so I don't want them up yet. So they're not. And I know it's been a month since I went on said vacation, but . . . yeah. Hopefully they'll be up this week, but who knows? If I hadn't gotten the worst cold of my life last week the Europe posts would be available. But I did, in fact, almost get bronchitis, so no posts. Also, I sometimes think I am a traditional LDS woman and can do creative things, so I am making a stocking for Todd, and it's more important than my Europe posts (sorry!).

So in a nutshell, the dog ate my posts but they'll be up soon.

My polls are way more fun than CNN's (and more accurate)

So it turns out I have more than 4 friends who read this blog--apparently there are 13. Woo-hoo! And of those 13 people, 53% think it's not tacky to include in our wedding invitations information about where we're registered. Thanks for the input.

I am in a gray area--I think it's tacky, especially when printed directly on the invitation; but I also know it's a necessary evil to avoid weird gifts, and also to make our guests' lives easier (if they choose to bring a gift. Which is not required, future wedding guests of ours. Therein lies my issue--telling people where we're registered seems to imply "bring a gift if you're coming," which I dislike and is not true.) (that was a very big aside).

We are indeed telling people where we're registered, but printed on an insert. And in small font. And mainly to avoid, as was suggested, hummingbird bookends.

¿Por qué no te callas?

I plan to do a longer post about my trip to Europe. Which was fantastic and fun. And cold. But that post will have to wait until I have pictures to accompany it. I took 19 pictures of Big Ben and Parliament. I really enjoyed that group of buildings. They're stunning.

Until I post about my vacation, I am going to tide you over with this video about the king of Spain, who is my new favorite foreign leader. I love politicians who actually speak their minds and react the way normal human beings should. My sister, who spent three months in Spain, told me about the incident.

Hugo Chavez is the leader of Venezuela and a fairly crazy dictator. We don't like him. In this meeting he was attacking the previous prime minister of Spain and rudely interruping the current prime minister. Juan Carlos, the king of Spain, tells Chavez to shut up. Which is awesome. After this incident the king's popularity rose even more. And this clip became a national hit and Spaniards used the king's reprimand as their ringtones and printed it on shirts. I love that! Coolest story of 2007.

Ask Miss Tacky

Ha, I like that. Miss Manners should totally change her name. Because really that's what people are asking: "Is it tacky for me to not write thank you notes?", "Is it tacky when I take up two or three parking spaces?", etc.

So I pose the question and created a survey: Todd and I are sending out our wedding invitations soon, and I am wondering whether it's tacky to tell people where we're registered. I understand all the arguments for and against, and am wondering what my . . . 4 friends who read this blog think. Then I'll tell you what I think. After I get back from my fantastic vacation.

Finally

Last night I finished Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series.

It's a great series and I have been trying so hard to get through this last book. I have mixed feelings about it, but it was a great read. My mom, sisters, sister-in-law, and close friends are all totally into the books. It's like a cult. Or coven. Or pack.

Here are my thoughts on the book (I don't want to spoil it for . . . whoever, so highlight to read it).

Holy crap Jacob is a baby! I can't stand him. Maybe it's because we've been reading about Edward longer, or because he's just so protective of Bella, or because he's mature and not stupid . . .. Either way, I was totally irked with Jacob pretty much the entire book. My sisters all said Bella was frustrating, but I didn't see that. Indecisive, yes, but understandably so. Jacob is just lame. I am not excited to read another book of him being pathetic in his dealings with Bella and Edward. Speaking of, what's up with how slow this book progressed?! Granted, it makes me want to read the next one, but still. 600 pages of actually very little plot development. At least at the end of Harry Potter major characters die. :)

Fall (a.k.a. "The Most Random Post Ever")

Fall is my favorite season of the year (see the preceding post--odd how my favorite holiday occurs during the fall). I wonder if I love fall precisely because it ushers in Halloween and the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Maybe.

But I do know I don't love it because it gets cold.

I live in here for a very specific reason--heat. People complain about the summers, but I'd much rather have sweat dripping down my face the moment I walk outside than to take baby steps so I don't slip on ice or have my lungs spasm because it's so dang cold.

Right now we're having what is called an "indian summer" and we are setting record high temperatures. It was 83 degrees here yesterday. In November. I love it! So I get to have chilly nights, gorgeous changing colors, AND short-sleeved shirts. It's fantastic.

Speaking of colors, here's a picture I took in southern Utah the first weekend in October. I do love fall colors. And I love this picture. I'm actually really proud of myself for this one.

p.s. Why does the fall season get two names: fall and autumn? The other seasons don't get several titles. That's random.

For no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller

I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday of the year. I love the decorations, the changing season, costumes, and trick-or-treaters. This year the trick-or-treaters were surprisingly sparse. It was weird and sad, because they're so cute. And also sad because I now have pretty much an entire Costco-sized bag of Willy Wonka candy. Which is the kind of candy I eat. Oh well.

Todd and I dressed up for a 5-ward activity on Monday. His costume was hot (literally and figuratively) and my costume "fit me," as several people said. Which is true, and I think was a compliment.

Although if I could get my costume to do this

I'd be happy.

I also dressed up for the actual holiday. As a poor girl with a rat eating her brain. Which we all know is a sad thing to happen. This is me and my friend Amelia from work.

And here's the rat. Notice my bloodless face. It was nice to not have to worry about doing my makeup well. Another reason to love Halloween.

But I also know, that you know, what a weak-willed person I am

I have fought the whole internet networking thing for years. I don't have a MySpace, a Facebook account, a Match.com profile. Nothing. And I was proud. A proud luddite.

But my friends have blogs, and I got blog envy. So I got a blog.

And in an effort to avoid irking the karma gods, I gave my blog an innocuous title, one that does not link me to my 79-days-away new last name and new fabulous husband. Although after said wedding, this will of course be a joint effort (as joint as Todd wants to make it). But with the same title. Because I like it. I have an odd love for this particular quote from Le Shyamalan movie.

Basically, I'm a dork. A dork with a blog.